Belated race report - GERA Barefoot Limited Distance Endurance (25 miles on horseback)
Last month, I entered my first horse race in the world of endurance. Well, actually it was what's termed a "limited distance" ride at 25 miles, but it was our first official foray into the sport and our longest ride ever, so to us it was an endurance ride. The ride rules give 6 hours to complete that distance, and that includes a 40 minute required "rest" in the middle. Here's how it works.
The ride starts at 6am, the same time as the 50 mile endurance ride. Riders can start late, and I chose to wait a few minutes for the crowd to go before I headed out. Hubs was excited enough without being caught up in the wake of experienced riders and their ultra-fit Arabian horses for our first experience. I aimed to finish towards the back of the pack after all. I needed to give my boy the chance to start figuring out what this event was all about, since unlike me he couldn't sit in on a "new rider" orientation and would have to figure it out on his own! So, we were the second from last to hit the trail and get ourselves moving forward onto the trail. The first loop would be around 12.5 miles with a deep river crossing and lots of mud thanks to some rain the day before. Indeed, the mud would be even nastier since there had also been a race the day before, so it would be all churned up and even deeper. Hubby hates going through mud. He'll wade chest deep into a river or pond faster than he will walk through a patch of mud! Regardless the terrain though, Hubby knew there were horses ahead, and that they were moving out and that was motivation enough for him to move out at a ground-eating trot through the rolling single-track trail at Dawson Forest in North Georgia. I managed to get him to slow on some of the deeper downhills, but in no time he'd caught a pair of ladies letting their horses get a drink, and knowing I would need to keep his speed in check if he was going to do this ride properly, I decided we would not pass them if they were willing to let me tag on their tail. They acquiesced, and soon we were heading off at an easier trot. I had difficulty keeping him from riding too close to their behinds, which I'm sure annoyed them but I did try. They were kind to me however and gave advice as we continued along, walking only on the nastiest of downhill bits. Soon we found ourselves coming into the vet check area.
Here's how the limited distance vet check and hold work. All the time involved goes against that total 6 hours.
Upon pulling in, your check in time is recorded. You at that point have 30 minutes to get your horse's pulse down to 64 bpm. Obviously, the faster his heart rate comes down, the better. Once it's down (verified in the pulse box by one of the volunteers) your pulse time is written down and your given the time you can return to the trail. For this race, the hold was 40 minutes, and this is to be spent with the tack off your horse. You then take him to the vet check where his vitals are checked over. His heart, gut sounds, skin and expression are checked for signs of distress and graded by the vet. You then trot your horse out so the vet can watch for lameness. If anything is wrong, your horse will be pulled from the race.
Hubby took about 6 minutes to get through the pulse box and was given all As by the vet. We went and relaxed while he drank and ate to prepare for the next round. Of course, he thought he was done for the day, so imagine his expression when I started tacking him back up!
I was two minutes late leaving again. I'd gotten ready and the had to stop, I'd forgotten my helmet and realized "something is wrong" just as I was about to ask for a trot out onto the trail. My friend Caitlin (who had raced the day before) ran and got it for me. That on, I headed off down the trail and found the two ladies I'd ridden with earlier within a mile or two. They'd had a few minutes before me to leave, so Hubs had eaten the ground between us. I once again settled him to stay behind him, but now it was even harder to hold him back. We trotted where ever we could do so safely, but on this stretch there were more very deep areas of mud that could easily injure or lame a horse. There were tougher hills too, and no deep river crossing to cool them just by wading through. Naturally, it was also hotter. I was quickly losing my mental battle to stay in control as my body fatigued with the effort of keeping him behind my two hostesses. I wanted to stay back, I could feel the heat and effort starting to take it's toll on Hubby and he was breathing much heavier than he had for the first half in the cooler morning air. Finally, we had a half mile to go, and Hubby knew it. The trail opened up to a jeep trail, and there was no longer any holding him. Hubby stretched into his ground-eating trot, head pulling like a freight train while I concentrated now on simply keeping him from a canter. We came into the finish and our time was noted. We were only a few minutes behind my friend Kimi, who was mid-pack on time, but that finish wasn't our official finishing time. I had to get his heart rate back down, this time to 60bpm, and again I had thirty minutes to accomplish it. This time though, he was HOT. His effort, the excitement, the hot sun on his dark coat, all contributed to a struggle to get him cooled down and passing the vet check. My friend Caitlin was helping me sponge him off, my friend Kimi started helping as well and we three worked at it. Finally he seemed cool enough that I walked him to the pulse box, bucket of water and sponge in hand. He was still not pulsing down in the box after the short walk through the sun to get there. I hit him with another sponge of cool water, and as soon as that hit his back, his heart rate dropped again. It was twenty-five minutes after our arrival. Barely in time for a completion, and enough time to knock us from mid-pack to 5th from last. That placement did not bother me a bit. We finished, and for us that was a win. We also learned a lot in that race. I now have a renewed passion, and a desire to get my boy conditioned for a bit more activity on a hot day so maybe he'll pulse down a bit better! Hubby clearly learned something too as he was much better at drinking on the trail this past weekend than he's been in the past, and was much more willing to move out despite being alone on the trail. I think he enjoyed the journey as much as I did, which makes our success in the future all the more likely. Who knows, maybe next time it'll be cooler out and we'll be able to show the short little endurance horses a thing or two about thoroughbred toughness? Regardless, I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend than in the woods with my horse!
The ride starts at 6am, the same time as the 50 mile endurance ride. Riders can start late, and I chose to wait a few minutes for the crowd to go before I headed out. Hubs was excited enough without being caught up in the wake of experienced riders and their ultra-fit Arabian horses for our first experience. I aimed to finish towards the back of the pack after all. I needed to give my boy the chance to start figuring out what this event was all about, since unlike me he couldn't sit in on a "new rider" orientation and would have to figure it out on his own! So, we were the second from last to hit the trail and get ourselves moving forward onto the trail. The first loop would be around 12.5 miles with a deep river crossing and lots of mud thanks to some rain the day before. Indeed, the mud would be even nastier since there had also been a race the day before, so it would be all churned up and even deeper. Hubby hates going through mud. He'll wade chest deep into a river or pond faster than he will walk through a patch of mud! Regardless the terrain though, Hubby knew there were horses ahead, and that they were moving out and that was motivation enough for him to move out at a ground-eating trot through the rolling single-track trail at Dawson Forest in North Georgia. I managed to get him to slow on some of the deeper downhills, but in no time he'd caught a pair of ladies letting their horses get a drink, and knowing I would need to keep his speed in check if he was going to do this ride properly, I decided we would not pass them if they were willing to let me tag on their tail. They acquiesced, and soon we were heading off at an easier trot. I had difficulty keeping him from riding too close to their behinds, which I'm sure annoyed them but I did try. They were kind to me however and gave advice as we continued along, walking only on the nastiest of downhill bits. Soon we found ourselves coming into the vet check area.
Here's how the limited distance vet check and hold work. All the time involved goes against that total 6 hours.
Upon pulling in, your check in time is recorded. You at that point have 30 minutes to get your horse's pulse down to 64 bpm. Obviously, the faster his heart rate comes down, the better. Once it's down (verified in the pulse box by one of the volunteers) your pulse time is written down and your given the time you can return to the trail. For this race, the hold was 40 minutes, and this is to be spent with the tack off your horse. You then take him to the vet check where his vitals are checked over. His heart, gut sounds, skin and expression are checked for signs of distress and graded by the vet. You then trot your horse out so the vet can watch for lameness. If anything is wrong, your horse will be pulled from the race.
Hubby took about 6 minutes to get through the pulse box and was given all As by the vet. We went and relaxed while he drank and ate to prepare for the next round. Of course, he thought he was done for the day, so imagine his expression when I started tacking him back up!
I was two minutes late leaving again. I'd gotten ready and the had to stop, I'd forgotten my helmet and realized "something is wrong" just as I was about to ask for a trot out onto the trail. My friend Caitlin (who had raced the day before) ran and got it for me. That on, I headed off down the trail and found the two ladies I'd ridden with earlier within a mile or two. They'd had a few minutes before me to leave, so Hubs had eaten the ground between us. I once again settled him to stay behind him, but now it was even harder to hold him back. We trotted where ever we could do so safely, but on this stretch there were more very deep areas of mud that could easily injure or lame a horse. There were tougher hills too, and no deep river crossing to cool them just by wading through. Naturally, it was also hotter. I was quickly losing my mental battle to stay in control as my body fatigued with the effort of keeping him behind my two hostesses. I wanted to stay back, I could feel the heat and effort starting to take it's toll on Hubby and he was breathing much heavier than he had for the first half in the cooler morning air. Finally, we had a half mile to go, and Hubby knew it. The trail opened up to a jeep trail, and there was no longer any holding him. Hubby stretched into his ground-eating trot, head pulling like a freight train while I concentrated now on simply keeping him from a canter. We came into the finish and our time was noted. We were only a few minutes behind my friend Kimi, who was mid-pack on time, but that finish wasn't our official finishing time. I had to get his heart rate back down, this time to 60bpm, and again I had thirty minutes to accomplish it. This time though, he was HOT. His effort, the excitement, the hot sun on his dark coat, all contributed to a struggle to get him cooled down and passing the vet check. My friend Caitlin was helping me sponge him off, my friend Kimi started helping as well and we three worked at it. Finally he seemed cool enough that I walked him to the pulse box, bucket of water and sponge in hand. He was still not pulsing down in the box after the short walk through the sun to get there. I hit him with another sponge of cool water, and as soon as that hit his back, his heart rate dropped again. It was twenty-five minutes after our arrival. Barely in time for a completion, and enough time to knock us from mid-pack to 5th from last. That placement did not bother me a bit. We finished, and for us that was a win. We also learned a lot in that race. I now have a renewed passion, and a desire to get my boy conditioned for a bit more activity on a hot day so maybe he'll pulse down a bit better! Hubby clearly learned something too as he was much better at drinking on the trail this past weekend than he's been in the past, and was much more willing to move out despite being alone on the trail. I think he enjoyed the journey as much as I did, which makes our success in the future all the more likely. Who knows, maybe next time it'll be cooler out and we'll be able to show the short little endurance horses a thing or two about thoroughbred toughness? Regardless, I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend than in the woods with my horse!