Here are my two cents about getting started with endurance:
1) Volunter for at least one ride - definitely work some of that time at the vet check. Ask questions. There's a lot you can learn sitting with the vet and other volunteers (usually riders themselves) during the course of a 12 hour ride during which your job is mostly to sit, talk, and wait for a rider to show up. Observe and take in as much as possible about what's going on at camp, the vet check, ride meetings, starting the race, holds, and what riders are saying about the ride. You can learn more from one ride than a year of riding yourself.
2) Get your horse into fit and regular riding shape (you look like you're already there).
3) Get GPS that will tell you how far you've gone and how fast you're going (I have a Garmin Venture HC, about $110). This has been useful in riding in general - I log my arena miles just like my trail miles, and it sure is helpful on a ride to know how far you've gone and how far you have left to go! You'll also need a stethoscope. Don't worry about a heart rate monitor unless you really start getting into endurance. I still don't have one and don't feel any need for one, unless I start competing at the higher distances. Finally, you'll need a watch that shows the seconds.
4) Practice taking your horse's pulse with the stethoscope right behind his front left leg. There's plenty of websites to help you with this. When you start, time how many beats there are in 15 seconds and multiply by 4.
5) Get a good feel for a "working trot" - not a slow job, but not extended either. For most horses, this is about 8-9 mph (yours might be different because if his shape - I'm not familiar with the breed).
6) Take your horse out on a 4-5 mile ride and try to maintain a working jog most of the time. Keep cantering to a minimum, and walk where you need to. Cantering takes a LOT more out of a horse - that's why a good trot is the "working" gait of a horse. Walk the last 10 minutes/last couple hundred yards (figure out how far it takes your horse to walk 10 minutes).
7) Taking the pulse. When you get back, take your horse's pulse immediately, but not while he's eating/drinking/whinnying/being excited. You want an accurate pulse. Your target is 60. If he's already there, you're golden. If he's below somewhere 61-69, keep checking his pulse. As long as he's down to 60 within a couple of minutes, you're good. If he doesn't come down OR he's still very high (70-75 would be "iffy" while above 76 I'd be worried), then you need to go lighter. I highly doubt that's likely, given the work you've put into him and that any fit and healthy horse shouldn't have a problem coming down after only 4-5 miles of a working trot.
8) Adjust your training. If he's coming in at "golden", add distance OR speed - not both. If you're already up to 8-9mph good working trot, I'd just add distance, not speed. Any more speed really isn't necessary and strains your horse's ligaments which take years to build, not weeks. If you're coming in at "good", keep the same training schedule for a few weeks, then start adding distance. You'll get to know your horse. My horse always comes in at about 64bpm or lower, no matter if I went 5 miles or 25 miles.
9) Ultimately, you want to be conditioning at least 20 miles per week, but NO MORE than 30 miles per week. That does more damage than good. At least one of those days, you want to do hill work. If you can get in a short ride with tough hill work, that's great - but make sure it's shorter distance. You can count arena riding as conditioning, too! We were working on discipline at a working trot one day, and I got in all 8 miles. My friend does drill team with her GPS on, and she did even more than that! All riding counts as conditioning - even walking.
As far as nutrients goes, I'd say you definitely need to start with beet pulp, then add grain mixture. Soak the beet pulp to get a mash (you don't want any hard pieces) and it will help keep your horses hydrated. When you're just conditioning, this doesn't matter as much because your horse will have plenty of access to water most of the time. However, you want to get them used to eating it because it'll be a lifesaver at a ride, especially if your horse forgets to drink but is plenty eager to eat your beet pulp, getting his hydration that way. There are already plenty of threads on here about how to feed beet pulp, though, so I won't get into that many details. Just be sure to soak it, since hydration is the whole point of feeding it.
I add a Triple Crown Senior to my beet pulp because it's low in molasses, I'm already feeding beet pulp so I don't need a grain mix with that, it's high in fat, and has lots of other good stuff. I used to mix my own stuff together, but this is way easier and ultimately better and cheaper. You'll also want to get a good mineral powder to put in there, and electrolytes are great, but make sure your horse is used to them. I don't do electrolytes, but I want to explore it in the future. Ultimately, talk to your vet about what your horse needs. Since he's a different breed and build, he may require different supplements, but I don't think you can go wrong with that combination.
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/new-endurance-148510/#ixzz2J3AngBs9
Showing posts with label endurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label endurance. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2013
An endurance ride day...
Basically, crewing is a luxury that means you get to sit down and rest when you get back from a ride on holds and when it's over. It means that instead of having to carry water, clean your horse, give it nutrients, replace supplies in your bags, etc., you get to relax until your hold is up. However, there is no reason you can't do all this yourself, and I prefer to because it's part of the sport for me. Here's my "streamlined" routine:
Night before: Check in and pay. Vet in. Attend ride meeting. Study map. Ask questions. Study map again. Pack saddle bags. Double check all the tack is where I need it to be. Put my easy boots on loosely and anything that involves (taping, rasping, picking, cleaning, etc). Throw check to make sure horses have plenty of hay for overnight. Prepare my bucket of beet pulp and nutrients to soak overnight. Bring keep water buckets full - make sure they're full before bed.
Middle of the night: hear funny noise; check on horses; go back to bed. Hear hoof beats; check on horses; go back to bed. Get up to pee; check on horses; throw more hay; go back to bed. Hear LOTS of hoof beats, snorts, and voices; check on horses; catch random unknown horse and friends; return to owner; check on horses again and fix buckets that have been knocked over; go back to bed.
Ride day: Alarm goes off about 2 hours before the ride; lay there and feel guilty that I don't want to get up because the horses need their breakfast; get up and give them their beet pulp and throw another flake of hay; prepare second bucket of beet pulp to soak in the trailer; go back to bed. Alarm goes off an hour before the ride begins; get up and get dressed, start tacking up, check hoof boots and tighten them, get on 15 minutes prior to ride intending to warm up, realize I forgot something, go back and get it, get back on, check time, realize the ride is starting and I'm at the trailer, trot up the the starting line and check out, and off we go!
Holds: Get off and loosen up tack, lead in at a walk, pulse down, sponge, vet check, ask vet anything I am curious about (if he's not busy), tie up at trailer, make sure water buckets are full, bring out the beet pulp, throw hay, check horse to make sure he's ok and there's nothing I need to worry about, check easy boots, usually leave tack on (unless there is a reason it needs to be pulled), throw on blanket over saddle if it's chilly/wet. Finally get to sit down, eat a granola bar or something light, refill water, drink all the water, refill it again, pack the saddle bag. Go back in trailer/tent, sit/lay down, remember to remove my helmet, realize I only have about 15 minutes of my hold left, drag self up after 5 minutes, unblanket horse and tighten cinch, double check all gear, get on, go to the hold area, wait a minute or two, then start again.
End of race: About the same as at the hold, except I pull tack and have to do all the grooming for BC showing, including washing, brushing, combing and trying to get my horse to look amazing even though I'm a scrub. It takes the whole time to get them ready in time, especially since you're going to want to sponge down EVERYTHING since they should look clean, and then have enough time to hopefully dry out. Then, I finally get to tie my horse back up with all his munchies and SLEEP until dinner.
If it's an out vet check, you have to adjust all of these things in order to stick your "hold" bag in the trailer, including packing a bale of hay, all supplies and snacks you'll want at mid-ride, and soaked beet pulp poses a special problem, but can usually be solved with a bucket with a tight lid since you don't want it spilling on the trailer when they take it wherever it needs to be. When you get to the vet check, the bags will be spread out and you'll need to locate yours and possibly regroup your things if you had more than one bag/bucket that got separated. I haven't even mentioned electrolytes for humans or horses because I haven't started using them yet.
This is a typical 25 for me. I have done one 50, and that was about the same, just longer
And so you need more supplies. You can see how an extra set of hands or two would help with all of that and take a lot of the work out, but I really don't mind it. It's kinda fun being "you and your horse against the world" and it gives a whole new meaning to the word "endurance".
You'll typically have 1 vet check in an LD, usually about halfway. However, I did have one or two where we went almost 20 miles, maybe more, and so the last "loop" felt like a quick jog - it was maybe 5 or 6 miles? They shouldn't be that lopsided, but it's not unheard of!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/crewing-151193/#ixzz2J38iXOyT
Night before: Check in and pay. Vet in. Attend ride meeting. Study map. Ask questions. Study map again. Pack saddle bags. Double check all the tack is where I need it to be. Put my easy boots on loosely and anything that involves (taping, rasping, picking, cleaning, etc). Throw check to make sure horses have plenty of hay for overnight. Prepare my bucket of beet pulp and nutrients to soak overnight. Bring keep water buckets full - make sure they're full before bed.
Middle of the night: hear funny noise; check on horses; go back to bed. Hear hoof beats; check on horses; go back to bed. Get up to pee; check on horses; throw more hay; go back to bed. Hear LOTS of hoof beats, snorts, and voices; check on horses; catch random unknown horse and friends; return to owner; check on horses again and fix buckets that have been knocked over; go back to bed.
Ride day: Alarm goes off about 2 hours before the ride; lay there and feel guilty that I don't want to get up because the horses need their breakfast; get up and give them their beet pulp and throw another flake of hay; prepare second bucket of beet pulp to soak in the trailer; go back to bed. Alarm goes off an hour before the ride begins; get up and get dressed, start tacking up, check hoof boots and tighten them, get on 15 minutes prior to ride intending to warm up, realize I forgot something, go back and get it, get back on, check time, realize the ride is starting and I'm at the trailer, trot up the the starting line and check out, and off we go!
Holds: Get off and loosen up tack, lead in at a walk, pulse down, sponge, vet check, ask vet anything I am curious about (if he's not busy), tie up at trailer, make sure water buckets are full, bring out the beet pulp, throw hay, check horse to make sure he's ok and there's nothing I need to worry about, check easy boots, usually leave tack on (unless there is a reason it needs to be pulled), throw on blanket over saddle if it's chilly/wet. Finally get to sit down, eat a granola bar or something light, refill water, drink all the water, refill it again, pack the saddle bag. Go back in trailer/tent, sit/lay down, remember to remove my helmet, realize I only have about 15 minutes of my hold left, drag self up after 5 minutes, unblanket horse and tighten cinch, double check all gear, get on, go to the hold area, wait a minute or two, then start again.
End of race: About the same as at the hold, except I pull tack and have to do all the grooming for BC showing, including washing, brushing, combing and trying to get my horse to look amazing even though I'm a scrub. It takes the whole time to get them ready in time, especially since you're going to want to sponge down EVERYTHING since they should look clean, and then have enough time to hopefully dry out. Then, I finally get to tie my horse back up with all his munchies and SLEEP until dinner.
If it's an out vet check, you have to adjust all of these things in order to stick your "hold" bag in the trailer, including packing a bale of hay, all supplies and snacks you'll want at mid-ride, and soaked beet pulp poses a special problem, but can usually be solved with a bucket with a tight lid since you don't want it spilling on the trailer when they take it wherever it needs to be. When you get to the vet check, the bags will be spread out and you'll need to locate yours and possibly regroup your things if you had more than one bag/bucket that got separated. I haven't even mentioned electrolytes for humans or horses because I haven't started using them yet.
This is a typical 25 for me. I have done one 50, and that was about the same, just longer
And so you need more supplies. You can see how an extra set of hands or two would help with all of that and take a lot of the work out, but I really don't mind it. It's kinda fun being "you and your horse against the world" and it gives a whole new meaning to the word "endurance".You'll typically have 1 vet check in an LD, usually about halfway. However, I did have one or two where we went almost 20 miles, maybe more, and so the last "loop" felt like a quick jog - it was maybe 5 or 6 miles? They shouldn't be that lopsided, but it's not unheard of!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/crewing-151193/#ixzz2J38iXOyT
Starting endurance horses
AWESOME quote - I was looking up the decade teams (which I hope to join), and at the top of their page was this quote that I absolutely love and want to keep in mind as I'm bringing up my horses now and in the future:
I believe in the "2 years or 1,000 miles of competition before going fast" theory. I stuck to that with Shayne and again on the horse I'm bringing along now and it seems to work well for my horses and me. When I started endurance riding I heard that phrase (2 years or 1000 miles) allot and many people were pretty religious about it when bringing up a new horse. It has really stuck with me even though I don't hear it much anymore. I need/want/like my horses to last a long time and I believe that this is one way of stacking the cards in my favor to make that happen. I don't creep along the trail by any means, and I do spend a great deal of time conditioning my horses for the rides. But, I try to be conservative/middle of the pack"ish", for the first 2 years or approximately 1000 miles. I have also learned to be focused but flexible; that competition is not only about coming in first, and that nothing lasts forever.
Don't let your competitiveness carry you away. Put the horse's well being before your own. If you think your horse is off...he is. And, realize that at this time next year (or possibly even next month) no one is likely to remember, or care, where you placed at this ride or any other ride. So, take advantage of opportunities as they come but don't spend your time worrying over placings at a ride or push too hard to try to make something happen. The things that people will remember are how you treat others and how you treat your horse. Suzanne Pindar
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Correct Movement - Engaging his back
After a 50-miler in July, Snickers came up with a sore back. After time off and trying new saddles, he seemed fine but came up with a sore back at the next ride. The vet and other experienced riders advised me this was probably due to the previous injury not entirely healing up. Some other contributing factors may also be my riding and my boy's movement.
Now, he's had over 2 months off and we are riding in a different saddle. We are moving soon, and I plan on taking equitation lessons to be improve my riding and his movement. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to pick up nuggets here and there and teach myself. Forgive me if I don't have correct terminology or skills - I was raised riding Western under my dad's instruction and attending 4-H shows, and while I do feel like I'm a pretty good and successful rider, I know there are a lot of things I don't know.
Right now, I mainly want to make sure he's engaging his hind end and raising his back so that he's using his body correctly. After doing some research, I thought it was best to start working "long and low" to get him to collect and round himself up. I recorded myself to get some feedback (click the link for the video) from everyone - this is the first time I've ever approached "collection" from this point of view and with these goals - I was always taught collection was a low head and western-pleasure jog.
Let me know what I can do better, and please let me know if I'm actually doing something right lol. I'm mostly concerned about getting him moving correctly, but anything that might help with my English riding abilities might help, too. Hopefully, it won't be long before I have a trainer to help me in person!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/correct-movement-engaging-his-back-143910/#ixzz2J3Nh00EB
Now, he's had over 2 months off and we are riding in a different saddle. We are moving soon, and I plan on taking equitation lessons to be improve my riding and his movement. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to pick up nuggets here and there and teach myself. Forgive me if I don't have correct terminology or skills - I was raised riding Western under my dad's instruction and attending 4-H shows, and while I do feel like I'm a pretty good and successful rider, I know there are a lot of things I don't know.
Right now, I mainly want to make sure he's engaging his hind end and raising his back so that he's using his body correctly. After doing some research, I thought it was best to start working "long and low" to get him to collect and round himself up. I recorded myself to get some feedback (click the link for the video) from everyone - this is the first time I've ever approached "collection" from this point of view and with these goals - I was always taught collection was a low head and western-pleasure jog.
Let me know what I can do better, and please let me know if I'm actually doing something right lol. I'm mostly concerned about getting him moving correctly, but anything that might help with my English riding abilities might help, too. Hopefully, it won't be long before I have a trainer to help me in person!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/correct-movement-engaging-his-back-143910/#ixzz2J3Nh00EB
Friday, November 16, 2012
Winter Fitness
I'm going to do my best to keep up conditioning through the winter, but I'm in the northwest and will likely have to forego usual conditioning, especially when the ground freezes and the snow falls. What do you do to keep up fitness through the winter? Or, do you give them the winter off? When do you begin conditioning again and for how long before your first race of the season (since horses tend to hold their fitness pretty well)? Any change in supplements and feed?
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/winter-firtness-143762/#ixzz2J3Ona900
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/winter-firtness-143762/#ixzz2J3Ona900
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Miles or wins?
This is the quote that I keep in mind when deciding how I'm going to ride, and I believe it with all my heart:
"There are two kinds of riders - those who compete for miles, and those who compete to win. These are rarely in the same rider."
I'm not necessarily saying one is "right", but you have to decide what your goal is and how you plan to ride.
I, personally, am in awe of Dave Rabe, who I met at the City of Rocks ride. He currently has 55,000 endurance miles and is set to beat the all time record (around 75,000) in a few years. Holy crap! I had the pleasure of seeing exactly how he's managed to get all those miles, and he had a 4-day horse at that ride completing a total of 200 miles in those four days. It was quite inspiring.
I've decided that I'm going to compete for miles. After placing well in the first few LD's I did, I realized I enjoy taking the ride easy and slow, and even getting off and leading and/or tailing in areas. I'm still competitive, so I get to set my goal of getting the turtle. I find it more of a challenge to gain as many miles as possible, but that means I have to pass up some rides until my horse is ready. That's ok - we've got plenty of years ahead of us.
Plus, someday, I may decide to compete to win, but I will likely decide to invest in a top-of-the-line endurance horse bred and trained to win if I want to go that direction.
On the other hand, I can see the appeal to those who compete to win, including the effort they put into their strategy. Those around here that I know at the most competitive levels, including the Tevis, only pick the rides they believe they can win and then go all out. So, they don't get a ton of miles comparatively (at least not on the same horse) since they're not riding every ride and rather putting it all out there on one ride, including skipping the rides they don't think they have the best chances of winning. But, the ones who do it right still have good, sound, healthy horses.
So which are you? Or which do you hope to be?
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/miles-wins-132348/#ixzz2J3QaHyYO
Monday, July 16, 2012
Finally a real endurance rider!
We completed our first 50 Saturday! It was completely unplanned, but that is just what we did!
Our first two rides were LD's at Owyhee Fandango and Eagle Spring Fling (both in Idaho), and this ride was our first where we planned to ride multiple days at the City of Rocks ride (on the Utah-Idaho border), a brand new ride this year. On Thursday, I rode with the same person I usually do, but, while we haven't had a ton of issues and no pulls, I wanted to go ahead and ride apart for Saturday's ride (we'd planned on another LD together) due to pacing. My solution? Ride the 50! It was beautiful country and I'd already ridden part of it on the previous ride, so why not? I checked with the vets and other people who know me and my horse, and we got lots of encouragement and confirmation that we should be good to go!
So Saturday I was up bright and early for a 6am start. I wanted to go slow since he's never gone more than maybe 30 miles within a week with conditioning and rides, and now I was asking him to do 75 miles within three days. I set the goal of turtleing and found a great group to ride with to take it slow and they have lots of experience. Snickers was losing his mind at the start since he was leaving his buddy, so we went ahead and rode out to the first trough. By then, he'd gotten over leaving his girlfriend and I got of and waited for my riding partners to catch up. I rode with them for the first loop, which was very steep but absolutely gorgeous! They get off and walk a lot, and I even learned to tail with them - WAY easier than trying to lead a horse uphill! It really makes a huge difference and I really recommend trying it if you have a horse that will do it ;) It saved a lot of energy for Snickers on quite a long climb, and I wasn't even winded even though I was exhausted after attempting to lead him for about 100 feet lol.
The vet check was an out vet check, which was new to me for these two rides. All you really need is horse snacks and hay, people snacks, and a re-supply of water. All packed neatly in a gear bag. Easy!
On the second loop, there was a point where you could see a long way behind you on the trail, Snickers kept stopping and looking back. Turns out there were two more riders behind us! And I wanted that Turtle!! I kept riding with my group since I didn't want to get lost or into trouble, but kept an eye on the riders behind us when they were in sight. About halfway through the second loop, there was a large area where you could see a long ways and the other riders had caught up a little, so I walked and let the two riders behind me catch up. They were quite fun to ride with as well! Unfortunately, about 15 miles out, we got caught in an absolute downpour! We knew the rain was going to come (the ride was changed the day before to avoid getting caught in the highlands in thunder and lightning) and it came right on time. There was one thunderclap that was really close - turns out there were two right in camp that caused all the horses and people to freak out - and Snickers started but got under control right away. After that point, we pretty much walked because of how slippery the mud got. The lady I was riding with even had to take off her Renegade boots because her horse was slipping so much. Her husband rode a little ahead of us, and her horse did a little "jig" trot for a few miles until he came back and rode with us. It was quite funny and very slow, not even really fighting her, but not wanting to walk because his buddy was too far ahead of him!
Well, we finally all made it back safe and sound. I was absolutely soaked as my "rain gear" consisted of a hoodie. At one point just before the finish, it looked like there were two riders still behind us! But there was no way I was waiting for them. Good thing, too, because I ended up getting the turtle after all! (wonder what that was we saw??). Anyway, I had a total blast. I loved riding for the turtle rather than trying to get the best placing we could because I was able to take in the landscape and finally took a ton of pictures of the ride! We hurried where we wanted to, and had more of a "trail ride" when we felt like it. Plus, I was much less worried about vet checks and how Snickers was doing, since he usually pushes through everything and never lets me know when something is wrong (even when his easyboot is hanging off his leg instead of over his foot!). The turtle tiles were way cute, too. I think I'm going to ride 50's and turtle from now on, it was just that much fun :) And now, I'm officially an endurance rider having completed my first 50!
Our next ride will most likely be Old Selam, in the beautiful mountains of New Centerville, Idaho. I'm going to shoot for back-to-back 50's and hopefully get the turtle! In the meantime, I need a new saddle (Snickers got a C at the end on back/whithers and was pretty sore, even though he's always gotten A's before on the 25's) and am probably going to get a ghost treeless saddle so that I don't have to get a new saddle for each horse and every time they change shape. Two weeks off for now, then down to conditioning for back to back 50's! Woot!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/finally-real-endurance-rider-131156/#ixzz2J3Q6e5YB
Sunday, June 3, 2012
First LD Down! (Owyhee Fandango)
Well, we did it! Snickers and I came in 12th out of 14. Tip #1 - get up early and tacked up ASAP so you don't start the race 15 minutes late! Lol everything that could have gone wrong without being absolutely tragic did. It's never rained on that particular race, but we got more rain than they've had in the last 12 months on the day before and day of. Turns out my coat isn't waterproof per say - just thick enough to keep me slightly damp in the 50 degree windy weather all day. Oh, and don't forget your gloves. Even if the weather is in the 80's the whole week before. Take them.
I wasn't sure about riding with another person since we wanted to make sure we went our own pace, but my buddy's QH had a super fast trot and Snickers was extending his/loping to keep up, but apparently we did a good job conditioning and his heartbeat was down each time we came in. It also helped that her horse had to walk every now and then, especially with the mud and hills, so he got a quick rest. If it hadn't been for her and her horse (aka Snickers' new girlfriend who he is absolutely in love with), I'm not sure we would have completed the race, whether it was due to Snickers getting lonely and stressed, making a stupid decision in the mud (two heads are better than one when deciding the pace!), not seeing a ribbon and getting lost, or even not noticing the mud had halfway taken off one of our boots. Snickers sure didn't seem to notice his boot was halfway off as he cruised right along!
Anyway, even after all that, we had a total blast :) Even some of the more experienced riders (most of our club is over 50) said it was the worst conditions they'd ever ridden in, but we didn't have a single pull on our day in any of the races. It can only go up from here! And I am absolutely in love with this sport!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/first-ld-down-125735/#ixzz2J3Pfvj7U
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Volunteering at a Ride (Tough Sucker II)
The best advice I was told before starting into endurance was to volunteer at a ride before I ever entered one. A second person told me that I'd learn 10x more from volunteering at a ride than I ever would riding in a ride. I figured it was a good suggestion, albeit slightly exaggerated... Turns out it wasn't exaggerated even in the slightest.
If you have any interest in getting into endurance riding, I really suggest you do it. It was an absolutely eye opening experience. Here's what I picked up (key words are bolded for what you might be interested in):
Prep for the ride: Get there the night before - there's a dinner and the ride meeting. We didn't make it to this, but that'll have to wait until our actual ride. You can get to know your way around and plan for what is going to happen the next day, as well as receive last minute information about trails, conditions, cautions, etc. What I did get to see was the variety of ways people camped overnight. It was a bit cold, so everyone was in their trailers (I didn't see a single tent). There were high-tyes, portable panel corrals, and portable electric corrals, all of which I expected. My pleasant surprise was the availability to RENT a pen from the ride manager (depending on the ride) - which I plan on doing. Here, they generally charge $5-10/night for renting a pen. When I do get my own trailer, I also plan on making the investment for a portable corral - those things are frikken nifty and many people used the panels along with their truck and trailer hookup to make a nice, big corral for multiple horses.
Start of the Race: There was an area where the water troughs were located, the table for checking in and out, handing over your vet cards, and the vet checks themselves were located. It's also where the start of the ride was. It was pretty low key with a smaller ride (Four 75-milers, fifteen 50-milers, twenty 25-milers). When the time came for the race to start, riders came up, told us their number from their horses, got checked off, and took off. Everyone kind of came up at their own speed when they were ready, though of course there was an initial group that took off right on time. The 75-milers started around 6AM, 50-milers around 7:30am, and 25-milers around 9am. The trail riders took off a while after that. Had you been watching without knowing what was really going on, you'd just have seen a table with some people around it and bunch of riders that came up to the table every now and then to shout their numbers and head down the trail - not exactly how I imagined the beginning of a race. On the LD's, quite a few people left 15-30 minutes after the race had begun!
Then we waited. Here's where I learned SO much - since all the riders were gone, I was able to observe and ask questions about everything I'd seen and wanted to know. The vet was able to answer any questions I had about the vet check and I was walked through the process of taking pulses, recording times, and the things they watched out for. In addition, quite a few people had their gear like boots there, so I was able to see what tack the riders were using, then ask the other volunteers to show me theirs and explain what and why they were using what they were. I also got to hear the types of things said about the riders and their horses, so I could get a 3rd person perspective about how everyone was doing.
Vet Checks and holds: THe manager and other volunteers had a good idea about who would (and should) come in when and told me why they were expecting that. They also told me about what the riders were doing as they approached the vet check area. Most of them walked their horses (and many dismounted) between 200-300 feet away from the vet check to allow their horses to start to come down. Some that weren't in as good of shape dismounted further away. As soon as they got to the vet check, I took their pulse (though some asked me to wait until their horse was done drinking). The people at the table recorded the arrival time, the "down" time (when the horses pulse was down to 60bpm), and then the time that they were able to leave, which was the "down" time plus the hold time. Most of the horses were down already or within 1-2 minutes. A few took 3-6 minutes to come down, and one LD took 19 minutes to come down. You're not pulled from the race as long as you come down within 30 minutes, but generally if it takes 9-10 minutes or longer to come down it's a red flag and the vet will tell you to slow down or another precaution. That rider voluntarily withdrew from the race (they'd gone 17 miles). Of course, this all depends on the horse (the in-shape Arabs with good conditioning and light riders were down almost immediately, one black QH with a heavy rider who doesn't have good balance took 6 minutes to come down, but that's about normal for that horse and just fine - with the Arabs, it would have been a red flag). You HAVE to know your horse, inside and out. Again, I got a running commentary on each horse and how they were doing and why, as well as recommendations for what I should be doing with my boy during conditioning. After pulsing down, they went to their vet check right next to the tables and water, got their scores on their vet card, then went to hang out for their holds.
Vet cards and maps: DON'T loose these! And pay attention to them! And keep them dry!!! We had to replace a handful of lost/ruined vet cards either because something wasn't zipped up, misplaced, or wet from.... well, you can imagine lol. And one rider missed a sign and did an extra 7 miles on one of her loops - she'd been in first for the 50 and went down to last when she came in about an hour and a half after we would have expected her. She wasn't too happy, obviously, though she did go out for the second loop to complete the ride.
End of the race: We stayed until a lot of the LD's had come in, around 2pm, as well as the 50-milers. The LD's have to pulse down at the end of the race, and their placings are determined by the order in which they pulse down - in other words, you cannot run your horse through an LD, come in first, and win. Even if you are the first back and pulse down in time not to be pulled from the race, you may get second or worse if another horse comes in and pulses down before you do. This is to prevent people from running their horses top speed through an LD without proper conditioning. The endurance races (50+) were placed in the order they arrived. Each was asked whether they want to stand for Best Condition (though the vet's wife, who was riding, was not allowed to for obvious reasons), then did their CRI and weighed themselves, which must be done within 10 minutes of completing I believe.
The 75-milers still had another loop to complete (all the rides are completed in loops that come back to the vet check, then head back out again on a different loop). The awards were given at dinner that night, which we weren't there for.
All in all, it seemed the 25-mile LD's were completing in about 5 hours (the results for the Tough Sucker I, a month ago, had the winning time at just over 4 hours), the first 50-milers were coming in at 6.5 hours, and I have no idea how long the 75-milers were taking. This was a bit of a surprise because I was basing "completion time" on our conditioning time and speed. Of course, this also accounts for the 1 hour hold that the LD's and 50-milers had to have (45 min for the 75-milers), so I guess that makes it 25 miles within 3-4 hours riding time, plus the hold.
Anyway, I really recommend that you volunteer before riding, or if you have been riding, do it anyway! Volunteers make the endurance world go round, but you also get the commentary and see the differences between all the riders and horses. So, instead of learning about just ONE endurance ride experience (like I would have if I'd just gone out and done it), I was able to take in experience from 30-40 different riders on the same ride and learn a LOT of invaluable information. And now, I'm ready and confident for our first ride, hopefully next month!!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/volunteering-ride-tough-sucker-ii-121747/#ixzz2J3PDCHGF
If you have any interest in getting into endurance riding, I really suggest you do it. It was an absolutely eye opening experience. Here's what I picked up (key words are bolded for what you might be interested in):
Prep for the ride: Get there the night before - there's a dinner and the ride meeting. We didn't make it to this, but that'll have to wait until our actual ride. You can get to know your way around and plan for what is going to happen the next day, as well as receive last minute information about trails, conditions, cautions, etc. What I did get to see was the variety of ways people camped overnight. It was a bit cold, so everyone was in their trailers (I didn't see a single tent). There were high-tyes, portable panel corrals, and portable electric corrals, all of which I expected. My pleasant surprise was the availability to RENT a pen from the ride manager (depending on the ride) - which I plan on doing. Here, they generally charge $5-10/night for renting a pen. When I do get my own trailer, I also plan on making the investment for a portable corral - those things are frikken nifty and many people used the panels along with their truck and trailer hookup to make a nice, big corral for multiple horses.
Start of the Race: There was an area where the water troughs were located, the table for checking in and out, handing over your vet cards, and the vet checks themselves were located. It's also where the start of the ride was. It was pretty low key with a smaller ride (Four 75-milers, fifteen 50-milers, twenty 25-milers). When the time came for the race to start, riders came up, told us their number from their horses, got checked off, and took off. Everyone kind of came up at their own speed when they were ready, though of course there was an initial group that took off right on time. The 75-milers started around 6AM, 50-milers around 7:30am, and 25-milers around 9am. The trail riders took off a while after that. Had you been watching without knowing what was really going on, you'd just have seen a table with some people around it and bunch of riders that came up to the table every now and then to shout their numbers and head down the trail - not exactly how I imagined the beginning of a race. On the LD's, quite a few people left 15-30 minutes after the race had begun!
Then we waited. Here's where I learned SO much - since all the riders were gone, I was able to observe and ask questions about everything I'd seen and wanted to know. The vet was able to answer any questions I had about the vet check and I was walked through the process of taking pulses, recording times, and the things they watched out for. In addition, quite a few people had their gear like boots there, so I was able to see what tack the riders were using, then ask the other volunteers to show me theirs and explain what and why they were using what they were. I also got to hear the types of things said about the riders and their horses, so I could get a 3rd person perspective about how everyone was doing.
Vet Checks and holds: THe manager and other volunteers had a good idea about who would (and should) come in when and told me why they were expecting that. They also told me about what the riders were doing as they approached the vet check area. Most of them walked their horses (and many dismounted) between 200-300 feet away from the vet check to allow their horses to start to come down. Some that weren't in as good of shape dismounted further away. As soon as they got to the vet check, I took their pulse (though some asked me to wait until their horse was done drinking). The people at the table recorded the arrival time, the "down" time (when the horses pulse was down to 60bpm), and then the time that they were able to leave, which was the "down" time plus the hold time. Most of the horses were down already or within 1-2 minutes. A few took 3-6 minutes to come down, and one LD took 19 minutes to come down. You're not pulled from the race as long as you come down within 30 minutes, but generally if it takes 9-10 minutes or longer to come down it's a red flag and the vet will tell you to slow down or another precaution. That rider voluntarily withdrew from the race (they'd gone 17 miles). Of course, this all depends on the horse (the in-shape Arabs with good conditioning and light riders were down almost immediately, one black QH with a heavy rider who doesn't have good balance took 6 minutes to come down, but that's about normal for that horse and just fine - with the Arabs, it would have been a red flag). You HAVE to know your horse, inside and out. Again, I got a running commentary on each horse and how they were doing and why, as well as recommendations for what I should be doing with my boy during conditioning. After pulsing down, they went to their vet check right next to the tables and water, got their scores on their vet card, then went to hang out for their holds.
Vet cards and maps: DON'T loose these! And pay attention to them! And keep them dry!!! We had to replace a handful of lost/ruined vet cards either because something wasn't zipped up, misplaced, or wet from.... well, you can imagine lol. And one rider missed a sign and did an extra 7 miles on one of her loops - she'd been in first for the 50 and went down to last when she came in about an hour and a half after we would have expected her. She wasn't too happy, obviously, though she did go out for the second loop to complete the ride.
End of the race: We stayed until a lot of the LD's had come in, around 2pm, as well as the 50-milers. The LD's have to pulse down at the end of the race, and their placings are determined by the order in which they pulse down - in other words, you cannot run your horse through an LD, come in first, and win. Even if you are the first back and pulse down in time not to be pulled from the race, you may get second or worse if another horse comes in and pulses down before you do. This is to prevent people from running their horses top speed through an LD without proper conditioning. The endurance races (50+) were placed in the order they arrived. Each was asked whether they want to stand for Best Condition (though the vet's wife, who was riding, was not allowed to for obvious reasons), then did their CRI and weighed themselves, which must be done within 10 minutes of completing I believe.
The 75-milers still had another loop to complete (all the rides are completed in loops that come back to the vet check, then head back out again on a different loop). The awards were given at dinner that night, which we weren't there for.
All in all, it seemed the 25-mile LD's were completing in about 5 hours (the results for the Tough Sucker I, a month ago, had the winning time at just over 4 hours), the first 50-milers were coming in at 6.5 hours, and I have no idea how long the 75-milers were taking. This was a bit of a surprise because I was basing "completion time" on our conditioning time and speed. Of course, this also accounts for the 1 hour hold that the LD's and 50-milers had to have (45 min for the 75-milers), so I guess that makes it 25 miles within 3-4 hours riding time, plus the hold.
Anyway, I really recommend that you volunteer before riding, or if you have been riding, do it anyway! Volunteers make the endurance world go round, but you also get the commentary and see the differences between all the riders and horses. So, instead of learning about just ONE endurance ride experience (like I would have if I'd just gone out and done it), I was able to take in experience from 30-40 different riders on the same ride and learn a LOT of invaluable information. And now, I'm ready and confident for our first ride, hopefully next month!!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/volunteering-ride-tough-sucker-ii-121747/#ixzz2J3PDCHGF
Tough Sucker II
Yesterday I volunteered at the Tough Sucker II - and Trevor came with me :) We were going to go the night before so we could attend the meeting and camp, but it just turned out to be way to cold, no showers for Trevor, and I ended up wanting a good night sleep after a week of sleep deprivation. Rather, we left for Oreana around 6:30am and found our way to Regina's (the ride manager) place. Melba is gorgeous, all green with a river in a valley and the mountains right there :)
We took in the scene when we got there, then went and found Regina to figure out what we were doing. She was going to have me take pulses and Trevor record in, down, and out times for the riders since he's not a "horse person". Apparently Trevor thought he'd be following me around all day, not actually put to work. He was a good sport about it though :)
The 75 and 50-milers had already left, and the LD's were about to leave. So I did get to see the start of the race, which was way lower key than I'd expected. Granted, there weren't a TON of people this year, but there were still about 20 people riding in the LD (15 in the 50 and 4 in the 75, though a few had to drop out because of injuries before the race). I think Snickers will do just fine :)
As we were sitting there, there was a very familiar chestnut getting ready to go out a bit later than everyone else. The horses' conformation, size, color, markings, attitude, and behavior were almost identical to Snickers'. Turns out it was his half brother! The horse was a year younger than Snickers and it was really interesting to talk to the owner about the two. We'll have to ride together sometime :) I saw on the SWIT&DR emails that she had won the Tough Sucker I LD with a "Gold N....", so it was exciting to see the horse and rider in person. However, from a few comments made and from her overall behavior, she's not necessarily someone I would trust to mentor me with endurance or would take advice from. Plus, and it may have just been from the race, but the way she was talking about him and watching him seemed like he was where Snickers was a while ago. She's had the horse for a year, but it doesn't seem like there's been a lot of progress made with him, though she bought him with no training and was taking him out to Spencers. On the other hand, Snickers has come so far and learned so much in the last 3 months that I've been with him - and have owned him for less than that. We've worked through pretty much all of his major issues. He can still be a nutcase at times, but for the most part he works though it and is quite a lovely horse that I'm very proud of and can even look very professional in my opinion. But like I said, maybe it's just the race...
We stayed until a fair amount of the LD's had finished as I wanted to see a race from start to finish, so we left around 2. In that time, I learned a LOT about what I need to be doing with Snickers - I have no doubt that what I was told about volunteering at a ride first was absolutely true. I feel much more confident in knowing what I need to do to prepare and how the race will go. Here are some of the nuggets I picked up:
Pulsing down: It all depends on the horse. You may not be pulled from the race as long as you pulse down within the 30 minutes after you get back, but if it takes you even 10 minutes to pulse down, then you're in trouble. You probably need to be riding slower. Rather, most of the horses walk the last 200-300 ft and were already pulsed down (60bpm) by the time they reached the vet check. Some walked further, many got off for that part, but some also trotted all the way up and only stopped trotting and got off when they reached the vet check. Even so, may were pulsed down when the reached the vet check, and the rest pulsed down within 2 minutes, sometimes 3. It was rare for them to take much longer - a couple took 5-6 minutes, but that was because they were heavier muscled quarter horses, black, carrying heavier riders, and the rider couldn't balance themselves as well. One horse took 19 minutes, and was pulled from the race (voluntarily I believe). What I need to be doing: Walk the last stretch before I reach the first gate on the way back, then get off and take his pulse. It should be close to 60bpm, and if it isn't there yet, I need to stay there and wait until it reaches that. Many times, if the horses were around 72 bpm, I was able to keep the stethoscope on their chests and wait until they came down, not taking breaks in between. I was a little worried about that, but I did this yesterday after a 7 mile run (all at a medium trot), and he came right down within a minute or two, just like the well-conditioned horses :)
Boots - A lot of people wear them, a lot of people don't and might wear shoes or even go barefoot. I don't know whether they put boots on later, but I saw quite a few taking off barefoot. I'm still planning on getting Easyboot Gloves, and Beth is coming this week to trim and fit my boys.
Vet Checks and Best Condition - It's hard to really describe the process, but it looks a lot less stressful than I was expecting, especially if you don't come in with a huge group.
Electrolytes and other supplements - Not a lot of people give electrolytes, but some do. I'm not going to worry about it. I did see one person giving their horse some of the beet pulp and bran mixes that I do daily, but I'm sure more people did it at their trailers.
Overnight setup - I really like the portable corrals, but they cost $750 (They were at the same booth as the rope halter stuff at the Horse Expo). Those are probably the best, followed by the high-ties connected to the trailer. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me since I don't have my own trailer, though I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with Snickers tied with how much he can move around and get excited. There were a few people with a portable electric fence set up, but I still don't know how comfortable and competent I'd really feel with those. The best news, at least for now, is that the main managers here actually rent out pens, and that's what I think I will do for our first ride in May. They're pretty cheap - yay!
Trevor helped with the first horse coming in for their vet check on the 75 and then hung out for a while, but it was pretty cold and he was tired, so he stayed in the car for pretty much the rest of the morning. I really appreciated the effort he was making and he wasn't complaining at all, so even though he stayed in the car, I was really appreciated it - especially since it was the beginning of the NBA playoffs :S. All the other people there were really impressed with how much he was supporting me and being a good sport. He did come out to take a few pictures for me, though. He said he'll be more engaged when he's more comfortable with the horses, but he was really a good sport about the whole thing. I have an amazing husband :)
So anyway, it was an exciting day and I learned so much! I absolutely agree that, if you want to do endurance, definitely volunteer at a ride first. It went by really fast and I learned a ton! And now, I'm ready to ride!!
This is what I wrote on Horseforum.com:
The best advice I was told before starting into endurance was to volunteer at a ride before I ever entered one. A second person told me that I'd learn 10x more from volunteering at a ride than I ever would riding in a ride. I figured it was a good suggestion, albeit slightly exaggerated... Turns out it wasn't exaggerated even in the slightest.
If you have any interest in getting into endurance riding, I really suggest you do it. It was an absolutely eye opening experience. Here's what I picked up (key words are bolded for what you might be interested in):
Prep for the ride: Get there the night before - there's a dinner and the ride meeting. We didn't make it to this, but that'll have to wait until our actual ride. You can get to know your way around and plan for what is going to happen the next day, as well as receive last minute information about trails, conditions, cautions, etc. What I did get to see was the variety of ways people camped overnight. It was a bit cold, so everyone was in their trailers (I didn't see a single tent). There were high-tyes, portable panel corrals, and portable electric corrals, all of which I expected. My pleasant surprise was the availability to RENT a pen from the ride manager (depending on the ride) - which I plan on doing. Here, they generally charge $5-10/night for renting a pen. When I do get my own trailer, I also plan on making the investment for a portable corral - those things are frikken nifty and many people used the panels along with their truck and trailer hookup to make a nice, big corral for multiple horses.
Start of the Race: There was an area where the water troughs were located, the table for checking in and out, handing over your vet cards, and the vet checks themselves were located. It's also where the start of the ride was. It was pretty low key with a smaller ride (Four 75-milers, fifteen 50-milers, twenty 25-milers). When the time came for the race to start, riders came up, told us their number from their horses, got checked off, and took off. Everyone kind of came up at their own speed when they were ready, though of course there was an initial group that took off right on time. The 75-milers started around 6AM, 50-milers around 7:30am, and 25-milers around 9am. The trail riders took off a while after that. Had you been watching without knowing what was really going on, you'd just have seen a table with some people around it and bunch of riders that came up to the table every now and then to shout their numbers and head down the trail - not exactly how I imagined the beginning of a race. On the LD's, quite a few people left 15-30 minutes after the race had begun!
Then we waited. Here's where I learned SO much - since all the riders were gone, I was able to observe and ask questions about everything I'd seen and wanted to know. The vet was able to answer any questions I had about the vet check and I was walked through the process of taking pulses, recording times, and the things they watched out for. In addition, quite a few people had their gear like boots there, so I was able to see what tack the riders were using, then ask the other volunteers to show me theirs and explain what and why they were using what they were. I also got to hear the types of things said about the riders and their horses, so I could get a 3rd person perspective about how everyone was doing.
Vet Checks and holds: THe manager and other volunteers had a good idea about who would (and should) come in when and told me why they were expecting that. They also told me about what the riders were doing as they approached the vet check area. Most of them walked their horses (and many dismounted) between 200-300 feet away from the vet check to allow their horses to start to come down. Some that weren't in as good of shape dismounted further away. As soon as they got to the vet check, I took their pulse (though some asked me to wait until their horse was done drinking). The people at the table recorded the arrival time, the "down" time (when the horses pulse was down to 60bpm), and then the time that they were able to leave, which was the "down" time plus the hold time. Most of the horses were down already or within 1-2 minutes. A few took 3-6 minutes to come down, and one LD took 19 minutes to come down. You're not pulled from the race as long as you come down within 30 minutes, but generally if it takes 9-10 minutes or longer to come down it's a red flag and the vet will tell you to slow down or another precaution. That rider voluntarily withdrew from the race (they'd gone 17 miles). Of course, this all depends on the horse (the in-shape Arabs with good conditioning and light riders were down almost immediately, one black QH with a heavy rider who doesn't have good balance took 6 minutes to come down, but that's about normal for that horse and just fine - with the Arabs, it would have been a red flag). You HAVE to know your horse, inside and out. Again, I got a running commentary on each horse and how they were doing and why, as well as recommendations for what I should be doing with my boy during conditioning. After pulsing down, they went to their vet check right next to the tables and water, got their scores on their vet card, then went to hang out for their holds.
Vet cards and maps: DON'T loose these! And pay attention to them! And keep them dry!!! We had to replace a handful of lost/ruined vet cards either because something wasn't zipped up, misplaced, or wet from.... well, you can imagine lol. And one rider missed a sign and did an extra 7 miles on one of her loops - she'd been in first for the 50 and went down to last when she came in about an hour and a half after we would have expected her. She wasn't too happy, obviously, though she did go out for the second loop to complete the ride.
End of the race: We stayed until a lot of the LD's had come in, around 2pm, as well as the 50-milers. The LD's have to pulse down at the end of the race, and their placings are determined by the order in which they pulse down - in other words, you cannot run your horse through an LD, come in first, and win. Even if you are the first back and pulse down in time not to be pulled from the race, you may get second or worse if another horse comes in and pulses down before you do. This is to prevent people from running their horses top speed through an LD without proper conditioning. The endurance races (50+) were placed in the order they arrived. Each was asked whether they want to stand for Best Condition (though the vet's wife, who was riding, was not allowed to for obvious reasons), then did their CRI and weighed themselves, which must be done within 10 minutes of completing I believe.
The 75-milers still had another loop to complete (all the rides are completed in loops that come back to the vet check, then head back out again on a different loop). The awards were given at dinner that night, which we weren't there for.
All in all, it seemed the 25-mile LD's were completing in about 5 hours (the results for the Tough Sucker I, a month ago, had the winning time at just over 4 hours), the first 50-milers were coming in at 6.5 hours, and I have no idea how long the 75-milers were taking. This was a bit of a surprise because I was basing "completion time" on our conditioning time and speed. Of course, this also accounts for the 1 hour hold that the LD's and 50-milers had to have (45 min for the 75-milers), so I guess that makes it 25 miles within 3-4 hours riding time, plus the hold.
Anyway, I really recommend that you volunteer before riding, or if you have been riding, do it anyway! Volunteers make the endurance world go round, but you also get the commentary and see the differences between all the riders and horses. So, instead of learning about just ONE endurance ride experience (like I would have if I'd just gone out and done it), I was able to take in experience from 30-40 different riders on the same ride and learn a LOT of invaluable information. And now, I'm ready and confident for our first ride, hopefully next month!!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/volunteering-ride-tough-sucker-ii-121747/#ixzz1tSVproDp
We took in the scene when we got there, then went and found Regina to figure out what we were doing. She was going to have me take pulses and Trevor record in, down, and out times for the riders since he's not a "horse person". Apparently Trevor thought he'd be following me around all day, not actually put to work. He was a good sport about it though :)
The 75 and 50-milers had already left, and the LD's were about to leave. So I did get to see the start of the race, which was way lower key than I'd expected. Granted, there weren't a TON of people this year, but there were still about 20 people riding in the LD (15 in the 50 and 4 in the 75, though a few had to drop out because of injuries before the race). I think Snickers will do just fine :)
As we were sitting there, there was a very familiar chestnut getting ready to go out a bit later than everyone else. The horses' conformation, size, color, markings, attitude, and behavior were almost identical to Snickers'. Turns out it was his half brother! The horse was a year younger than Snickers and it was really interesting to talk to the owner about the two. We'll have to ride together sometime :) I saw on the SWIT&DR emails that she had won the Tough Sucker I LD with a "Gold N....", so it was exciting to see the horse and rider in person. However, from a few comments made and from her overall behavior, she's not necessarily someone I would trust to mentor me with endurance or would take advice from. Plus, and it may have just been from the race, but the way she was talking about him and watching him seemed like he was where Snickers was a while ago. She's had the horse for a year, but it doesn't seem like there's been a lot of progress made with him, though she bought him with no training and was taking him out to Spencers. On the other hand, Snickers has come so far and learned so much in the last 3 months that I've been with him - and have owned him for less than that. We've worked through pretty much all of his major issues. He can still be a nutcase at times, but for the most part he works though it and is quite a lovely horse that I'm very proud of and can even look very professional in my opinion. But like I said, maybe it's just the race...
We stayed until a fair amount of the LD's had finished as I wanted to see a race from start to finish, so we left around 2. In that time, I learned a LOT about what I need to be doing with Snickers - I have no doubt that what I was told about volunteering at a ride first was absolutely true. I feel much more confident in knowing what I need to do to prepare and how the race will go. Here are some of the nuggets I picked up:
Pulsing down: It all depends on the horse. You may not be pulled from the race as long as you pulse down within the 30 minutes after you get back, but if it takes you even 10 minutes to pulse down, then you're in trouble. You probably need to be riding slower. Rather, most of the horses walk the last 200-300 ft and were already pulsed down (60bpm) by the time they reached the vet check. Some walked further, many got off for that part, but some also trotted all the way up and only stopped trotting and got off when they reached the vet check. Even so, may were pulsed down when the reached the vet check, and the rest pulsed down within 2 minutes, sometimes 3. It was rare for them to take much longer - a couple took 5-6 minutes, but that was because they were heavier muscled quarter horses, black, carrying heavier riders, and the rider couldn't balance themselves as well. One horse took 19 minutes, and was pulled from the race (voluntarily I believe). What I need to be doing: Walk the last stretch before I reach the first gate on the way back, then get off and take his pulse. It should be close to 60bpm, and if it isn't there yet, I need to stay there and wait until it reaches that. Many times, if the horses were around 72 bpm, I was able to keep the stethoscope on their chests and wait until they came down, not taking breaks in between. I was a little worried about that, but I did this yesterday after a 7 mile run (all at a medium trot), and he came right down within a minute or two, just like the well-conditioned horses :)
Boots - A lot of people wear them, a lot of people don't and might wear shoes or even go barefoot. I don't know whether they put boots on later, but I saw quite a few taking off barefoot. I'm still planning on getting Easyboot Gloves, and Beth is coming this week to trim and fit my boys.
Vet Checks and Best Condition - It's hard to really describe the process, but it looks a lot less stressful than I was expecting, especially if you don't come in with a huge group.
Electrolytes and other supplements - Not a lot of people give electrolytes, but some do. I'm not going to worry about it. I did see one person giving their horse some of the beet pulp and bran mixes that I do daily, but I'm sure more people did it at their trailers.
Overnight setup - I really like the portable corrals, but they cost $750 (They were at the same booth as the rope halter stuff at the Horse Expo). Those are probably the best, followed by the high-ties connected to the trailer. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me since I don't have my own trailer, though I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with Snickers tied with how much he can move around and get excited. There were a few people with a portable electric fence set up, but I still don't know how comfortable and competent I'd really feel with those. The best news, at least for now, is that the main managers here actually rent out pens, and that's what I think I will do for our first ride in May. They're pretty cheap - yay!
Trevor helped with the first horse coming in for their vet check on the 75 and then hung out for a while, but it was pretty cold and he was tired, so he stayed in the car for pretty much the rest of the morning. I really appreciated the effort he was making and he wasn't complaining at all, so even though he stayed in the car, I was really appreciated it - especially since it was the beginning of the NBA playoffs :S. All the other people there were really impressed with how much he was supporting me and being a good sport. He did come out to take a few pictures for me, though. He said he'll be more engaged when he's more comfortable with the horses, but he was really a good sport about the whole thing. I have an amazing husband :)
So anyway, it was an exciting day and I learned so much! I absolutely agree that, if you want to do endurance, definitely volunteer at a ride first. It went by really fast and I learned a ton! And now, I'm ready to ride!!
This is what I wrote on Horseforum.com:
The best advice I was told before starting into endurance was to volunteer at a ride before I ever entered one. A second person told me that I'd learn 10x more from volunteering at a ride than I ever would riding in a ride. I figured it was a good suggestion, albeit slightly exaggerated... Turns out it wasn't exaggerated even in the slightest.
If you have any interest in getting into endurance riding, I really suggest you do it. It was an absolutely eye opening experience. Here's what I picked up (key words are bolded for what you might be interested in):
Prep for the ride: Get there the night before - there's a dinner and the ride meeting. We didn't make it to this, but that'll have to wait until our actual ride. You can get to know your way around and plan for what is going to happen the next day, as well as receive last minute information about trails, conditions, cautions, etc. What I did get to see was the variety of ways people camped overnight. It was a bit cold, so everyone was in their trailers (I didn't see a single tent). There were high-tyes, portable panel corrals, and portable electric corrals, all of which I expected. My pleasant surprise was the availability to RENT a pen from the ride manager (depending on the ride) - which I plan on doing. Here, they generally charge $5-10/night for renting a pen. When I do get my own trailer, I also plan on making the investment for a portable corral - those things are frikken nifty and many people used the panels along with their truck and trailer hookup to make a nice, big corral for multiple horses.
Start of the Race: There was an area where the water troughs were located, the table for checking in and out, handing over your vet cards, and the vet checks themselves were located. It's also where the start of the ride was. It was pretty low key with a smaller ride (Four 75-milers, fifteen 50-milers, twenty 25-milers). When the time came for the race to start, riders came up, told us their number from their horses, got checked off, and took off. Everyone kind of came up at their own speed when they were ready, though of course there was an initial group that took off right on time. The 75-milers started around 6AM, 50-milers around 7:30am, and 25-milers around 9am. The trail riders took off a while after that. Had you been watching without knowing what was really going on, you'd just have seen a table with some people around it and bunch of riders that came up to the table every now and then to shout their numbers and head down the trail - not exactly how I imagined the beginning of a race. On the LD's, quite a few people left 15-30 minutes after the race had begun!
Then we waited. Here's where I learned SO much - since all the riders were gone, I was able to observe and ask questions about everything I'd seen and wanted to know. The vet was able to answer any questions I had about the vet check and I was walked through the process of taking pulses, recording times, and the things they watched out for. In addition, quite a few people had their gear like boots there, so I was able to see what tack the riders were using, then ask the other volunteers to show me theirs and explain what and why they were using what they were. I also got to hear the types of things said about the riders and their horses, so I could get a 3rd person perspective about how everyone was doing.
Vet Checks and holds: THe manager and other volunteers had a good idea about who would (and should) come in when and told me why they were expecting that. They also told me about what the riders were doing as they approached the vet check area. Most of them walked their horses (and many dismounted) between 200-300 feet away from the vet check to allow their horses to start to come down. Some that weren't in as good of shape dismounted further away. As soon as they got to the vet check, I took their pulse (though some asked me to wait until their horse was done drinking). The people at the table recorded the arrival time, the "down" time (when the horses pulse was down to 60bpm), and then the time that they were able to leave, which was the "down" time plus the hold time. Most of the horses were down already or within 1-2 minutes. A few took 3-6 minutes to come down, and one LD took 19 minutes to come down. You're not pulled from the race as long as you come down within 30 minutes, but generally if it takes 9-10 minutes or longer to come down it's a red flag and the vet will tell you to slow down or another precaution. That rider voluntarily withdrew from the race (they'd gone 17 miles). Of course, this all depends on the horse (the in-shape Arabs with good conditioning and light riders were down almost immediately, one black QH with a heavy rider who doesn't have good balance took 6 minutes to come down, but that's about normal for that horse and just fine - with the Arabs, it would have been a red flag). You HAVE to know your horse, inside and out. Again, I got a running commentary on each horse and how they were doing and why, as well as recommendations for what I should be doing with my boy during conditioning. After pulsing down, they went to their vet check right next to the tables and water, got their scores on their vet card, then went to hang out for their holds.
Vet cards and maps: DON'T loose these! And pay attention to them! And keep them dry!!! We had to replace a handful of lost/ruined vet cards either because something wasn't zipped up, misplaced, or wet from.... well, you can imagine lol. And one rider missed a sign and did an extra 7 miles on one of her loops - she'd been in first for the 50 and went down to last when she came in about an hour and a half after we would have expected her. She wasn't too happy, obviously, though she did go out for the second loop to complete the ride.
End of the race: We stayed until a lot of the LD's had come in, around 2pm, as well as the 50-milers. The LD's have to pulse down at the end of the race, and their placings are determined by the order in which they pulse down - in other words, you cannot run your horse through an LD, come in first, and win. Even if you are the first back and pulse down in time not to be pulled from the race, you may get second or worse if another horse comes in and pulses down before you do. This is to prevent people from running their horses top speed through an LD without proper conditioning. The endurance races (50+) were placed in the order they arrived. Each was asked whether they want to stand for Best Condition (though the vet's wife, who was riding, was not allowed to for obvious reasons), then did their CRI and weighed themselves, which must be done within 10 minutes of completing I believe.
The 75-milers still had another loop to complete (all the rides are completed in loops that come back to the vet check, then head back out again on a different loop). The awards were given at dinner that night, which we weren't there for.
All in all, it seemed the 25-mile LD's were completing in about 5 hours (the results for the Tough Sucker I, a month ago, had the winning time at just over 4 hours), the first 50-milers were coming in at 6.5 hours, and I have no idea how long the 75-milers were taking. This was a bit of a surprise because I was basing "completion time" on our conditioning time and speed. Of course, this also accounts for the 1 hour hold that the LD's and 50-milers had to have (45 min for the 75-milers), so I guess that makes it 25 miles within 3-4 hours riding time, plus the hold.
Anyway, I really recommend that you volunteer before riding, or if you have been riding, do it anyway! Volunteers make the endurance world go round, but you also get the commentary and see the differences between all the riders and horses. So, instead of learning about just ONE endurance ride experience (like I would have if I'd just gone out and done it), I was able to take in experience from 30-40 different riders on the same ride and learn a LOT of invaluable information. And now, I'm ready and confident for our first ride, hopefully next month!!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/volunteering-ride-tough-sucker-ii-121747/#ixzz1tSVproDp
Horse Expo
On April 22, I volunteered at the Diabetes Ride booth, shared with SWIT&DR, at the Horse Expo. I let them borrow my computer and monitor to show videos from the rides and a slide show - it turns out I probably should have been there from the beginning because I had to work out some technical stuff to get it to work smoothly, like turning off the sleep feature and putting the video on loop. It went by pretty fast, especially since I got to wander around and look at stuff. I wanted to find some DAC to help with Snickers gaining weight, but didn't see it. Instead, a booth selling rope and books on how to make your own halters caught my eye, and I got a lot of info. I also got in trouble taking pictures of the decorative knots done on the nose, which weren't in the book, so that I could replicate them. The guy said pretty sternly that I really should ask before I take pictures, but let me continue to take them anyway. Meh, I bought $60 worth of rope and books on how to make the halters for Snicker and Flash, so I think we're good. The halters were pretty easy and fun to make (of course, I'm the little girl who made all those friendship bracelets years ago, so I'd love this!) and I've received lots of compliments for them. I'm going to try to make custom halters for people around here if I can get enough intrest. That would be a fun thing to do to make money :)
I got to talk to a lot of the other SWIT&DR people, including Sandy's husband. Turns out, there are a bunch of rednecks out further east of Dusty Acres, where I haven't made it to just yet, that will shoot first and ask questions later, so I'm going to have to take a little extra precaution if I do venture any further. He basically said I needed to make sure I don't go through any shut gates out there, and avoid areas where there's any Confederate or US flags hung upside down.... weird.
I got to talk to a lot of the other SWIT&DR people, including Sandy's husband. Turns out, there are a bunch of rednecks out further east of Dusty Acres, where I haven't made it to just yet, that will shoot first and ask questions later, so I'm going to have to take a little extra precaution if I do venture any further. He basically said I needed to make sure I don't go through any shut gates out there, and avoid areas where there's any Confederate or US flags hung upside down.... weird.
Snickers has come a long way!
Ok, so it's been a while since I've posted, and there's so much to write about! I'm going to separate this into a few posts, since they're different subjects and whatnot over what has happened.
Snickers has come a really long way in the last month and is almost like a whole new horse. He's excited to see me when I come to get him and willing to go to work, though, of course, he still whinnies but only on occasion. I don't think that will ever go away haha. We've been going out on the trails quite a bit (check the miles log!), but that doesn't even come close to reflecting the miles we're ALSO covering in the arena and round pen. His entire attitude and obedience has changed, and he seems to enjoy our down time together when we're brushing rather than being preoccupied about getting back to the pasture.
On the trails, we've been really watching our speed and I started taking his pulse, then waiting for him to come down. I've gotten decent with the stethoscope, at least on his body (sometimes other horses take a bit to figure out). The only trouble is that he has a hard time standing still, though we've been working on that a lot and he's doing much better. I've gotten a little aggressive with him :( but not bad, and it seems to have gotten my point across. Plus, when he does stand still long enough for me to get a good read on his pulse, he gets a treat. I've started carrying apples and carrots on me, which never fail to make him happy (as Trevor recently helped me discover, he actually drops for carrots lol).
It's been raining a lot, which is why we have a lot of miles we've covered in the arena and round pen, but it's helped us get a some good discipline work done. I've been working on his head, neck, and topline (with many questions to and suggestions from the English riders at the barn! Horse people are - generally - so nice), and the other day I set up the poles, a cavaletti, and a low jump to go over. He had to take a look at them first, but after that he worked over all of them quite willingly. I did raise the jump up little by little and was working on jumping a tad at the end (Trevor wasn't too happy about that when I told him....) and Lou took a look and said we were looking good - I just need to sit a little more forward in the seat. Overall, I was really proud of him and have been in general.
Last night the paths had dried up, so we finally got to go out for a trail ride. The trails were good, but there were still a few muddy spots and puddles so we put those to good use. We worked on just powering right on through them without having to stop and sniff every one. He caught on pretty quick and is trusting me more and more, so by the end we were doing pretty good, though he still wanted to dodge around the ones he could of course. On the bigger puddles, we're pretty successful as long as we slow down to a walk just before it, which is safer anyway so he doesn't slip. On the biggest one, he did stop and sniff it, then took a few steps and sniffed it again, then proceeded to get a good drink! I guess he's fine with the water then haha. It'll be interesting to see how he does with actual running water now...
I finally got all of Snicker's papers back and my registration card for AHA. They have the Frequent Rider Program (FRP) and Distance Riders programs, and so I signed us up for both! I need to log my hours and I'm excited to get credit for our competition miles, though I'm tempted to also sign up for the other distance program that requires a competition membership. For the first two, you get certain prizes when you reach the milestones, but this other one sends you a plaque and then little plates for every 500 miles you complete to add to your plaque. That's pretty cool! But it seems pretty expensive - I'll have to check it out later.
Snickers' stall hasn't had any covering on it, and it went from 90 degrees last week to lows in the 30's this week with rain and even some snow and hail, so it's been a tough week. Yesterday, I noticed they've got the first tarp up over the stalls where he is at, so hopefully they'll finish that up soon. It'll be nice for him to have some shade :)
I think that's about it! I'll have to post more often, but we'll see. Life is just so busy!
Snickers has come a really long way in the last month and is almost like a whole new horse. He's excited to see me when I come to get him and willing to go to work, though, of course, he still whinnies but only on occasion. I don't think that will ever go away haha. We've been going out on the trails quite a bit (check the miles log!), but that doesn't even come close to reflecting the miles we're ALSO covering in the arena and round pen. His entire attitude and obedience has changed, and he seems to enjoy our down time together when we're brushing rather than being preoccupied about getting back to the pasture.
On the trails, we've been really watching our speed and I started taking his pulse, then waiting for him to come down. I've gotten decent with the stethoscope, at least on his body (sometimes other horses take a bit to figure out). The only trouble is that he has a hard time standing still, though we've been working on that a lot and he's doing much better. I've gotten a little aggressive with him :( but not bad, and it seems to have gotten my point across. Plus, when he does stand still long enough for me to get a good read on his pulse, he gets a treat. I've started carrying apples and carrots on me, which never fail to make him happy (as Trevor recently helped me discover, he actually drops for carrots lol).
It's been raining a lot, which is why we have a lot of miles we've covered in the arena and round pen, but it's helped us get a some good discipline work done. I've been working on his head, neck, and topline (with many questions to and suggestions from the English riders at the barn! Horse people are - generally - so nice), and the other day I set up the poles, a cavaletti, and a low jump to go over. He had to take a look at them first, but after that he worked over all of them quite willingly. I did raise the jump up little by little and was working on jumping a tad at the end (Trevor wasn't too happy about that when I told him....) and Lou took a look and said we were looking good - I just need to sit a little more forward in the seat. Overall, I was really proud of him and have been in general.
Last night the paths had dried up, so we finally got to go out for a trail ride. The trails were good, but there were still a few muddy spots and puddles so we put those to good use. We worked on just powering right on through them without having to stop and sniff every one. He caught on pretty quick and is trusting me more and more, so by the end we were doing pretty good, though he still wanted to dodge around the ones he could of course. On the bigger puddles, we're pretty successful as long as we slow down to a walk just before it, which is safer anyway so he doesn't slip. On the biggest one, he did stop and sniff it, then took a few steps and sniffed it again, then proceeded to get a good drink! I guess he's fine with the water then haha. It'll be interesting to see how he does with actual running water now...
I finally got all of Snicker's papers back and my registration card for AHA. They have the Frequent Rider Program (FRP) and Distance Riders programs, and so I signed us up for both! I need to log my hours and I'm excited to get credit for our competition miles, though I'm tempted to also sign up for the other distance program that requires a competition membership. For the first two, you get certain prizes when you reach the milestones, but this other one sends you a plaque and then little plates for every 500 miles you complete to add to your plaque. That's pretty cool! But it seems pretty expensive - I'll have to check it out later.
Snickers' stall hasn't had any covering on it, and it went from 90 degrees last week to lows in the 30's this week with rain and even some snow and hail, so it's been a tough week. Yesterday, I noticed they've got the first tarp up over the stalls where he is at, so hopefully they'll finish that up soon. It'll be nice for him to have some shade :)
I think that's about it! I'll have to post more often, but we'll see. Life is just so busy!
Poor Flash waiting patiently...
Still waiting....
All decked out in our endurance gear :)
Sunday, March 18, 2012
A week's worth of riding
It's been raining and windy pretty much all week, so I couldn't give horse lessons except for Saturday. However, that means there was plenty of time for me to ride! I figure I can't decide what the weather will be like during my endurance rides, so I might as well get experience in all types of weather that's reasonable (though, here in Idaho, the endurance season months are generally dry and sunny, though they can occasionally get windy, like on the day of my outdoor wedding reception!) I've got four trail rides to catch up on, plus one day's work in the arena....
Sunday was windy, but I went ahead and saddled up. Snickers wasn't too keen on being caught, so I worked with Flash first and did some ground driving. He did really well! He's not fast by any means, but he gets that when I pull one direction, he turns that direction, and visa versa. I did get it on video, too. I don't think he's nearly as frustrated as he was during our first attempts at ground driving, with the bridle and bit and a makeshift surcingle. The right tools make all the difference. And a patient horse! Good job Flash!
I did catch Snickers, and we went for a ride similar to our first one, to the mangled car. He really fought going out on the trail and kept turning back toward the pasture - can you say herd-bound?? - but we eventually got going after a little antsy dance, particularly when he saw the dogs at the house. It's not bad, especially once he gets going because he's a LOT better, but at first he was really fidgety and ornery (sp?). It's amazing the difference it's made to get him out regularly and work him around things he tends to be afraid of. He did stop to look at the car from a short distance and was a little shifty going past it, but all in all it really wasn't a big deal. Now that I've seen it closer, I really have no idea if it's a car or not, but it's definitely a giant heap of rusty mangled metal! We followed the trail to where it bends left at a fence, where we trotted a ways. There were a couple of shiny, flappy silver board things on the ground that he shied at, but all in all he really works through things well. Out that direction, we did see the train go past and I thought about riding all the way to it, but we came to a spot where the entire trail was covered by a mountain of tumbleweeds and decided it was probably a decent turning back point. All in all, it came out to a little over 6 miles.
Monday or Tuesday I went out there but didn't ride at all. Instead, I caught Snickers, who was being his little Prima Donna self and whinnying and dancing all over, and decided to leave him tied while I worked with Flash first. Oh my goodness he was NOT happy! Oh well - that's what a good knot is for! With Flash, I groomed and groomed him, (as usual), and then set up a bunch of small jumps for him to work over. I figured that would be good trail experience for both of them just in case we ever have to step over something. Flash was so funny! He willingly tried all the "jumps", though he knocked down every one that he could. I love it though - even when the jump was falling down under his feet and the poles on the side were falling on top of him, he stood there like it was nothing. Good boy! I definitely need a horse like that to contrast Snickers, who, as expected, wasn't exactly calm when he worked over the same jumps lol. I eventually put Flash away, and then Snickers was up, who had at least stopped whinnying constantly and was pawing instead. I brushed him down, rearranged some of the jumps, and then off we went. As we started walking up to the jumps, he suddenly realized there were all these scary monsters around him and went into "OMG" mode, dancing around wide-eyed and shaky-legged. I was patient and led him up to each one and gave him time to figure out what it was, then coaxed him to step/jump over it, which resulted in much praising. In the end, I got him to go over each one multiple times, and he didn't hesitate too much over the ones that were just low poles. He just always needs to sniff things first, but that's ok. I was so proud of him working so hard and being so "brave"! Where Flash isn't phased by really anything, Snickers has such a big heart that he'll work to overcome what he is afraid of. I'm so proud of him :) It is pretty funny to see the contrast between the two on video, since it was the first time for each of them seeing these jumps.
Wednesday was another windy day, but we went ahead and braved the weather! As I started out, there was an older gentleman starting out just ahead of us with his dog. I recognized the saddle as the one that sits next to mine in the tack room because he has the same endurance stirrups as I do. I struck up a conversation and it turns out he did do endurance, but not anymore. His name is Lou and his horse is the one that Sandy's (the lady from SWIT&DR) daughter is riding for endurance. Snickers was being a herd-bound turd again, but we got out there ok. It was hard to talk to him because we kept getting ahead of him thanks to Snickers. After a bit I said goodbye and trotted on ahead. Snickers could not figure out what the heck the grain stuff was on the ground though and kept dancing around it as I tried to get him to look at it. He seemed to do ok about the dog - he was just spooky all around though! Once we got out there a little more on our own, he did fine. I wish that was the Snickers people could see more often! He can be such a scaredy-cat at the barn, dancing all over the place. We ended up going under the power lines and following the trail left to Kuna Mora Road and then back, just over 8.5 miles round trip. Overall, once he got over the stuff at the barn in the beginning, he did great.
That night was the SWIT&DR meeting, where I sat next to Sandy and her husband. I am now an official member with dues paid and all, and I met and talked to a few more people, particularly about volunteering at the Tough Sucker in April. The lady I talked to (I believe she's the treasurer...) suggested I get my own stethoscope and learn how to take a horse's pulse, especially because that's what I'll be doing most likely for my volunteering day. Plus, then I'll get used to taking Snicker's heart rate. I really enjoyed the meeting and learned a lot (though the speaker was talking about composting, something I can't really do since I board and, though I did mention it to my dad a little, I doubt he'll ever take the initiative to do it). I'm glad I joined the club! Also, Sandy said she'd trailer with me to rides she goes to that her daughter doesn't, so maybe that will work out! I really want to get some award next year, and I think the Rookie Rider award should be easy enough to get (there wasn't even a rookie rider last year), but it would be really cool to get the rookie horse award for Snickers. That means I'll have to make going to rides a priority and maximize the amount of riding we can do! It's a cool goal to work toward!
Thursday we rode again, and it was a pretty sweet ride. I worked him a little on the lunge line first, and I think that helped him use his brain a little more. He was a lot better about striking out for the trail. It was still windy, but we just struck out under the power lines and then back again in a straight line. Past the trail intersection, the trail wasn't as good, but good enough and I could still see any holes. The best part of the ride was that we totally had a Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron moment - There was a bald eagle flying along with us! I couldn't believe what I thought I saw, so we did some loping to catch up. At one point it landed on one of the poles, and I'm fairly positive it had to be a bald eagle. It was pretty sweet :) It was a really nice ride, and the loping was great! I felt a little more secure in the saddle, something that still feels weird to me on Snickers and in this English saddle. We didn't do a whole lot, but Sandy suggested doing a variation of speeds so we threw it in there. Plus, it was pretty sweet to be loping along in the wide open with a bald eagle flying above us :D We went just over 8 miles.
Shelley called and said my tack was in, so I went to pick it up before class Thursday. I picked up the pad and breast collar, and grabbed an English hackamore while I was there. The bridle came in, but it turns out the bridle/halter combination she ordered was one of the ones that clips on the bit and the halter has a brow band on it. I wouldn't have been able to use the snap-on headstall with it, so I decided to wait until Shelley was in to figure out what I should do. Then I decided (mostly out of impatience and the weak rationale that with Snickers's bridling problem the snaps would probably cause more issues anyway) to go back and get the combo. Then, as I was pulling out, I realized that since it had a brow band, I would need to pull the halter over his head (and that's when he freaks out) in the pasture just to get the halter on, and that wouldn't go well. So I brought it back. Shelley called the next morning and is going to order the right halter for me. Hopefully it gets here soon!
We took a break Friday since he got a really good workout Thursday, but Saturday we went ahead and did a "short" ride. It wasn't raining while we were out there, but the ground was really wet and muddy. We tried a new trail going right at the first fence, which leads west. It went into the area where there was a fire - I think that may have been one of the fires last summer from this really strange electrical storm that started a bunch of fires around our house. We came out toe Pleasant Valley Road, and there is a track along the road, probably for ATV's. Either way, it was really nice and wide, as well as flat, so we went ahead and rode South along the road. At one point, there was a giant puddle that covered almost the entire track, so I decided to take advantage of it and work with Snickers on water. He was pretty funny, but so brave! It was wide enough that he couldn't dance around it, and finally realized he was going to have to go through it. He put his nose down and sniffed it a few times, blowing the water away in ripples. Finally, he decided it was safe, and took a couple of steps, then sniffed it again to make sure it was still water. He did the routine a few more times until he was all the way through the puddle, and I told him how good of a job he did :) We went a little further, loping some of the way, until we reached the railroad tracks. There was a cattle guard there that I got him decently close to, again just letting him get used to anything and everything, then turned back. I let him lope a little bit and let him lengthen out pretty fast, but then practice slowing down in between trotting and loping. I think we need some more collecting lope, which I plan on doing today in the arena. We went through the big puddle and a few smaller puddles, and he did really well! He still had to sniff the puddles every time, but didn't have to stop and sniff again once he was actually walking through them. He felt a little funny coming back, but I think that was because of the mud and that he really wanted to get back! Again, we'll need to work on some discipline today in the arena. All in all, we did a little more than 6 miles, totaling about 41 miles for the last two weeks. That's great! I'd like to average about 20 miles/week in conditioning, and so far, so good! I'm setting a goal to make it to the Owyhee Fandango at the end of May, but MAYBEEEEE we can make it to the second Tough Sucker. That might be pushing it, though, so I'll really want someone to check him out for me to tell me if they think he's ready. I should go ahead and get that stethoscope soon so I can start checking Snicker's heart rate myself and get a good idea of where he's at physically :)
Well, that's about it for my horse exploits for the week! It was a good week. I'm excited to get Snickers's bridle - I'll have to take a picture of him all decked out in pretty blue!! IT looks really good so far, so I can't wait to complete the set!
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