How do I make compromises and keep an endurance horse in shape?
Riding and training for endurance is a huge commitment, especially in the time department. It seems that a large number of people who are really serious competitors in this sport have the luxury of time to commit to it. I am not one of those, especially right now. As Spring weather is arriving, I am going a bit crazy. I work full time (+) and, until May, I am also going to school. Time in not in my favor but I still want to keep my thumb on JB’s fitness level. We are slated for a limited distance, our first ride of the season, the weekend of July 17th. By May, school will be out, but until then, riding time will continue to be limited. So how do I accomplish my goal? and keep my sanity? (I do need at least a few hours of sleep)
For now, I am just trying to do as much as I possibly can because I am a firm believer that doing a little is better than doing nothing at all. But how little and how often? Can I realistically keep a horse fit enough on these time restraints to be ready for my first ride of the reason on July 17th? I’m planning to do the limited distance. I had hoped to have both JB and Maggie ready for this ride so I could ride one horse each day, but that is one compromise I have already come to terms with. I am only going to be able to have one horse ready and that needs to be JB.
Here’s my Plan: I would love to get some feed back.
Session 1:
From now until Mid May – 8-10 miles rides on Saturdays and Sundays, every weekend. Two days a week of 1 hr sessions in the arena of trotting/cantering and dressage exercise. It seems this would at least serve to keep JB legged up and in halfway decent condition.
Session 2:
May 15 – July 12- I can probably manage a ride 2 evenings a week consistently of 8-10 mile from home (since it’s the work week and I won’t have time to haul anywhere after work) and then either Saturday or Sunday as my long day in the saddle away from home. Maybe 15-20 miles, depending on the terrain.
Here are my questions:
For session 1, would 8-10 mile rides back to back from now until May be too much if it’s fairly flat (at 7-8 mph trot)? JB seems to have handled 6-7 mile rides really well right out of the gate a few weeks back after being off for 3 months.
For Session 2- Is one weekend day of longer miles enough when combined with the shorter rides during the week?
For my goal of the July 17th ride, What’s too much? What’s not enough??
Am I being reasonable in my goal to have him sufficiently ready for that date?
Also, to keep in consideration, JB tends to be of the “hardy” sort and seems to recover from a long day in the saddle quite well. In fact, I can see him excelling at multiday rides more than one day 100 milers…but I also don’t want to take advantage of that fact and risk over conditioning.
I realize so much of this depends on the individual horse, but I am looking for guidelines from those of you with the experience that I lack. So, please… share some of your thoughts, experiences, suggestions.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Velcro Butt
I am not sure where the last two weeks went but quick comes to mind.
Before I realized it, too many days had slipped by without so much as even a short condition ride. Between work, work travel, school, and few other family obligations, the horses have slipped a bit.
This past weekend, I did get back in the saddle and was able to get at least a few miles on both Maggie and JB. Tom and I headed out Sunday to scout some of the trail areas. Along with us was another rider/horse. The plan was to ride one loop that she had plotted out on the map and attempt to begin marking potential trails for the July Endurance ride that is being held here.
After an hour and half drive to get to the riding area, rushing to get saddled up , we were all anxious to see some new country. GPS in one hand, map in the other, we headed out , ready for a new adventure.
After over an hour of fumbling around, backtracking and bushwhacking to avoid the massive sheets of ice that blocked large sections of trails, we ended up just riding on the forest service roads, realizing it was still a bit early to be out, unless you had borium shoes on. The roads didn't make for a real scenic ride but there was not traffic and it was a beautiful day. There were long straigh sections and it made nice conditions for long trotting. We did end up doing some unexpected hill work when we couldn’t cross one section of ice and the only safe option was to point our horses nose up the embankment. The steep embankment no less. Thank goodness for breast collars!
With all the confusion in the beginning of the ride, JB was about as irritated and frustrated as I was and then the fight was on. Everything became an issue. We crossed a small running creek once, not a big deal but then, when we had to cross it again, (last in line of 3 horses) he thought he was going to be left all alone and proceeded to launched himself like a pole vaulter, nearly landing on top of my husbands horse and almost swiping me out of the saddle by a huge branch on his less than graceful landing.
I was thankful for three things in that moment, to have been wearing a helmet , sunglasses because the branch hit me directly in the head and lastly that I had a long background in jumping. As JB landed and I got hit with the branch , I was not exactly centered. I scrambled to right myself, just in time, before he jumped a log and scaled up a muddy hill. For a moment I was having a flash back to being on a cross country course…
I finally got JB to WHOA (dammit), gathered my reins back, straightened my helmet, took a deep breath, turned JB around and headed back the way we had just come..
....to cross that damn creek one more time …
and hopefully do it a little more appropriately. Training opportunities don't always come when you want them too.
As I passed my friend, who was eyeing the bits of pine needles and twigs sticking out of my helmet, I heard my husband quietly say... take a deep breath….in a kind but firm voice...
hhmmphh....I thought to myself...
Honestly, my husband is my rock and grounding rod. I tend to flare quickly at times and that never works with a horse, especially one like JB. He was right and I knew it.
So I heeded his advice, took a few more deep breaths and after about 10 minutes of me asking with gentle squeezes with my leg, and encouragement with my voice and seat, JB eventually ran out of dry ground and inched all four of his toes into the creek. He stood there for minute.. I pet him , took another deep breathe, told him he was a good boy and we quietly exited.
Mission accomplished…
....and apparently, I have a new name… Velcro Butt.
My friend , not having known my previous life in riding, was apparently impressed with my ability to stay in the center (sort of) of the saddle through all that…
What can I say?? This ain’t my first rodeo…(hope I am as lucky next time….)
Before I realized it, too many days had slipped by without so much as even a short condition ride. Between work, work travel, school, and few other family obligations, the horses have slipped a bit.
This past weekend, I did get back in the saddle and was able to get at least a few miles on both Maggie and JB. Tom and I headed out Sunday to scout some of the trail areas. Along with us was another rider/horse. The plan was to ride one loop that she had plotted out on the map and attempt to begin marking potential trails for the July Endurance ride that is being held here.
After an hour and half drive to get to the riding area, rushing to get saddled up , we were all anxious to see some new country. GPS in one hand, map in the other, we headed out , ready for a new adventure.
After over an hour of fumbling around, backtracking and bushwhacking to avoid the massive sheets of ice that blocked large sections of trails, we ended up just riding on the forest service roads, realizing it was still a bit early to be out, unless you had borium shoes on. The roads didn't make for a real scenic ride but there was not traffic and it was a beautiful day. There were long straigh sections and it made nice conditions for long trotting. We did end up doing some unexpected hill work when we couldn’t cross one section of ice and the only safe option was to point our horses nose up the embankment. The steep embankment no less. Thank goodness for breast collars!
With all the confusion in the beginning of the ride, JB was about as irritated and frustrated as I was and then the fight was on. Everything became an issue. We crossed a small running creek once, not a big deal but then, when we had to cross it again, (last in line of 3 horses) he thought he was going to be left all alone and proceeded to launched himself like a pole vaulter, nearly landing on top of my husbands horse and almost swiping me out of the saddle by a huge branch on his less than graceful landing.
I was thankful for three things in that moment, to have been wearing a helmet , sunglasses because the branch hit me directly in the head and lastly that I had a long background in jumping. As JB landed and I got hit with the branch , I was not exactly centered. I scrambled to right myself, just in time, before he jumped a log and scaled up a muddy hill. For a moment I was having a flash back to being on a cross country course…
I finally got JB to WHOA (dammit), gathered my reins back, straightened my helmet, took a deep breath, turned JB around and headed back the way we had just come..
....to cross that damn creek one more time …
and hopefully do it a little more appropriately. Training opportunities don't always come when you want them too.
As I passed my friend, who was eyeing the bits of pine needles and twigs sticking out of my helmet, I heard my husband quietly say... take a deep breath….in a kind but firm voice...
hhmmphh....I thought to myself...
Honestly, my husband is my rock and grounding rod. I tend to flare quickly at times and that never works with a horse, especially one like JB. He was right and I knew it.
So I heeded his advice, took a few more deep breaths and after about 10 minutes of me asking with gentle squeezes with my leg, and encouragement with my voice and seat, JB eventually ran out of dry ground and inched all four of his toes into the creek. He stood there for minute.. I pet him , took another deep breathe, told him he was a good boy and we quietly exited.
Mission accomplished…
....and apparently, I have a new name… Velcro Butt.
My friend , not having known my previous life in riding, was apparently impressed with my ability to stay in the center (sort of) of the saddle through all that…
What can I say?? This ain’t my first rodeo…(hope I am as lucky next time….)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Creepy Crawly
As things continue to warm and the ground begins to thaw, I start wrinkling my nose when I step out to do chores. Springtime on a horse farm gets a little .. uh. pugent.. shall we say.. as the snow and ice disappear, giving way to a couple weeks of mud and muck. This time of year also gets me thinking about worms . You know, those nasty little creatures that can cause a myriad of health issues such as colic, heart problems, weight loss and even behavior issues. The mere mention of things like Strongyles or Ascarids makes my skin crawl just thinking about it!
Spring time worming is just around the corner and normally, like thousands of other horse owners across the country, I would be getting ready to dose everyone with a syringe full of whatever I had on the rotational 10-12 week worm schedule.
.....Not this year folks. This year, I am taking a little different approach and I invite all of you to consider doing the same.
40 years ago, when effective wormers entered the market, worming became part of the regimented schedule of equine health care maintenance.. Initially, the vet came out twice a year, wrestled with your horse to stick a tube down his nose and then poured some foul looking liquid into his stomach. Life got easier for everyone shortly thereafter, when paste dewormers came available. All you had to do was read the directions and figure out when to rotate the wormer type every 8-10 weeks. A few people took this one step further and thought well, if a little is good, a lot is better….
All that enthusiastic deworming has now caused us a bit of a problem.
Research has shown that the worms have developed resistance to deworming drugs, of which fenbendizole (Panacur), oxibendizole (anthelcide) and oxfendazole, have seen the most widespread resistance. So, as resistance increases, the ability to use these drugs effectively decreases… What goes up, must come down….
I decided to see how my little herd was fairing in this department. The last thing I want to deal with is issues in my herd with heavy worm loads due to drug resistance. You know what they say about an ounce of prevention…
What’s a responsible horse owner to do?? Well for starters, only deworm when necessary and in order to determine when that is??? Contact your vet and have them do an FEC, or Fecal Egg Count.
I have made arrangements with my vet to do an FEC for each one of my 6 horses. It will be a bit pricey but I suspect in the long run, it will be offset by what I spend in wormer over the course of time. Unfortunately, there is some strategy to getting this done. In order to get the best results from an FEC is all about timing. Based on the last time I wormed and with what product, I have to wait so many weeks beyond that time for the vet to be able to do the testing at the potential heaviest egg count, if there is one…Mid to late March is the window for me.
So, in a couple of short weeks, that time will arrive and I will start the tedious process of collecting a fistful of manure from each individual (with gloves ofcourse) I hope the kids will cooperate in supplying those samples on command (cough) but if not , I am prepared to wait them out... glove and baggie in hand.
I hope that the FEC will shed some light on which of our horses needs worming more , or less, and if we have any resistance. This new information , combined with our pasture management methods will certainly give me a little less to worry about.
Here is a link on the subject that I thought was interesting to share.
So, bloggers....Have any of you done FEC studies on your herds/horses? What have you found? I would love to hear about it.
Spring time worming is just around the corner and normally, like thousands of other horse owners across the country, I would be getting ready to dose everyone with a syringe full of whatever I had on the rotational 10-12 week worm schedule.
.....Not this year folks. This year, I am taking a little different approach and I invite all of you to consider doing the same.
40 years ago, when effective wormers entered the market, worming became part of the regimented schedule of equine health care maintenance.. Initially, the vet came out twice a year, wrestled with your horse to stick a tube down his nose and then poured some foul looking liquid into his stomach. Life got easier for everyone shortly thereafter, when paste dewormers came available. All you had to do was read the directions and figure out when to rotate the wormer type every 8-10 weeks. A few people took this one step further and thought well, if a little is good, a lot is better….
All that enthusiastic deworming has now caused us a bit of a problem.
Research has shown that the worms have developed resistance to deworming drugs, of which fenbendizole (Panacur), oxibendizole (anthelcide) and oxfendazole, have seen the most widespread resistance. So, as resistance increases, the ability to use these drugs effectively decreases… What goes up, must come down….
I decided to see how my little herd was fairing in this department. The last thing I want to deal with is issues in my herd with heavy worm loads due to drug resistance. You know what they say about an ounce of prevention…
What’s a responsible horse owner to do?? Well for starters, only deworm when necessary and in order to determine when that is??? Contact your vet and have them do an FEC, or Fecal Egg Count.
I have made arrangements with my vet to do an FEC for each one of my 6 horses. It will be a bit pricey but I suspect in the long run, it will be offset by what I spend in wormer over the course of time. Unfortunately, there is some strategy to getting this done. In order to get the best results from an FEC is all about timing. Based on the last time I wormed and with what product, I have to wait so many weeks beyond that time for the vet to be able to do the testing at the potential heaviest egg count, if there is one…Mid to late March is the window for me.
So, in a couple of short weeks, that time will arrive and I will start the tedious process of collecting a fistful of manure from each individual (with gloves ofcourse) I hope the kids will cooperate in supplying those samples on command (cough) but if not , I am prepared to wait them out... glove and baggie in hand.
I hope that the FEC will shed some light on which of our horses needs worming more , or less, and if we have any resistance. This new information , combined with our pasture management methods will certainly give me a little less to worry about.
Here is a link on the subject that I thought was interesting to share.
So, bloggers....Have any of you done FEC studies on your herds/horses? What have you found? I would love to hear about it.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Saturday Sunshine, More Miles
The day started out on the chilly side but the sun was out. I would take JB out first. Things got off on the wrong foot while I was trying to get him ready. His deep seated fear of motorcycles, 4 wheelers, snowmobiles, (or anything in that category ) came bubbling to the surface when a neighbor from down the road came by our house on a scooter. JB happened to be tied to the trailer, far out of harms way , but it doesn't matter with him. It could be a mile away and he gets worried about it. He paced frantically at the trailer as the scooter passed by. I am not sure how I am ever going to get this horse through this now. He was actually doing quite well until last fall when he was traumatized at the ride in Washington when we had to pass right through the middle of a dirt bike rally.Anyways, I could see that the scooter set things in motion for our ride today and I almost decided against going since I was a bit on the edgy side now, and I knew I had seen a couple other 4 wheelers go by earlier. If I went out, there was a good chance I might run into one of them. I really didn't want to give JB another bad experience but at the same time, I need to continue to expose him to it and hope that eventually I can get him over this fear. I took my time saddling and and getting him ready trying to decide what to do. I decided to handwalked him up and down my dead end road for about 15 minutes to see if he would settle in a bit(and it would give me a chance to settle my nerves) It seemed to work and he started relaxing a bit. I walked him up the road until I hit the dirt road and then got on. JB was pretty tense but after about a mile, he settled in. No dirtbikes or 4 wheelers to be seen.
Most of the vehicles that came by were courteous today and slowed way up. Ofcourse, I stop my horse and face the oncoming car. It seems to send the message loud and clear to "slow down"! Not sure why it works but I am going to keep doing it. We made it back and the last mile of the 4 we completed was probably the best. Just as we were coming over the last little hill before my house came in to sight, the 4 wheeler came down the road. JB ofcourse locked on and tension ripped through him again. Luckily the 4 wheeler went the other way.. thank goodness. JB relaxed again and we made it home with no further incident.
Since the sun was still shining, I quick grabbed a snack and caught Maggie.
The photos posted below in the reverse order that I wanted them to post in. I tried everything and cannot resort them on the page. I even tried refreshing my blog by clearing my cache, but it didn't work. I gave up after fiddling with it for a half hour. (If anyone has any suggestions, please do tell because it's absolutely maddening not to be able to organize the photos the way I want to)
Anyways, Maggie is saddled and ready to go in the first photo. I have to ride her in my western because its the only saddle I have that fits her table back. She is ridiculously broad. Scroll down to see the before and after She was an absolute mess when I caught her. She apparently has been enjoying the mud a little too much.
Maggie and I went about 4.5 miles. This was the second time I have had ridden her with out a companion. She's very honest when she is unsure about something. She just stops short(very short) and looks. Sometimes she shies a bit but so far nothing too out of control. All in all, I was quite proud of her today.
Most of the vehicles that came by were courteous today and slowed way up. Ofcourse, I stop my horse and face the oncoming car. It seems to send the message loud and clear to "slow down"! Not sure why it works but I am going to keep doing it. We made it back and the last mile of the 4 we completed was probably the best. Just as we were coming over the last little hill before my house came in to sight, the 4 wheeler came down the road. JB ofcourse locked on and tension ripped through him again. Luckily the 4 wheeler went the other way.. thank goodness. JB relaxed again and we made it home with no further incident.
Since the sun was still shining, I quick grabbed a snack and caught Maggie.
The photos posted below in the reverse order that I wanted them to post in. I tried everything and cannot resort them on the page. I even tried refreshing my blog by clearing my cache, but it didn't work. I gave up after fiddling with it for a half hour. (If anyone has any suggestions, please do tell because it's absolutely maddening not to be able to organize the photos the way I want to)
Anyways, Maggie is saddled and ready to go in the first photo. I have to ride her in my western because its the only saddle I have that fits her table back. She is ridiculously broad. Scroll down to see the before and after She was an absolute mess when I caught her. She apparently has been enjoying the mud a little too much.
Maggie and I went about 4.5 miles. This was the second time I have had ridden her with out a companion. She's very honest when she is unsure about something. She just stops short(very short) and looks. Sometimes she shies a bit but so far nothing too out of control. All in all, I was quite proud of her today.Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Conditioning in Full Swing
I love long weekends but I usually come out of them totally exhausted because I crammed so many things into the schedule. This past weekend was no different. Now, I am feeling the effects of just that. I guess the conditioning season has officially started for me, but I am afraid to even say it, lest there be a snow storm to stop the progress I feel as thought I am making. (knock on wood) Compared to the last two years, I am getting riding time in way earlier than usual.
First order of business; ....News to share
The weekend started off busy with non-riding activities. The distance riders group I am a member of, Hooves and Company, has started the planning process for the July endurance ride that will be held in this area. Guess who is part of that planning process? We’re a small group so it takes all of us to get things accomplished. Since I plan to ride both days, my contribution will be in pre planning instead of volunteering this year! The ride is on the AERC website as Hooves & Company for the NW region. CHECK IT OUT! The location is new for the ride this year and if you haven’t ever been to this area for an endurance ride, consider putting this one on your ride calendar. It’s July 17th and 18th. The scenery, trails and camping accommodations are going to be fantastic. If you want more info, email me. I will be glad to tell you what I know, which at this point, isn’t much but stay tuned!! I should be getting some first hand knowledge over the next several weeks. Here’s the scoop; We were granted permission to use a large guest/cattle ranch west of town, which is surrounded by National Forest. This is new territory from where we have held the endurance races in the past. Given the new territory, Hooves and Company members have lot of new trail to identify. Thank goodness for Google Earth, GPS and nice ranch owners!.
Back to the riding part of the weekend;
Riding was first on the list for Sunday. I wanted to get both JB and Maggie out for some miles. Tom, also getting the spring riding itch, decided to come along for a ride when I took Maggie out. I was happy to have the support and company of him and Cassidy. Maggie started out a little strong and ramped up but listened well when I asked her to check back. Of course, being young, she had to be reminded frequently for the first 2 miles. After that, she seemed to catch on and realize we didn’t need to hurry. She only argued with me once when I asked her to stop and wait for a truck to come by. Her argument was a shake of her head. For the rest of the ride, she settled into a nice flat footed steady walk, on a loose rein! This mare definitely has some “smoke” so my focus with her is keeping things quiet and relaxed. She has a real knack for going from 0-60 in nothing flat! Tom tells me it’s pretty common in these little Lippitt Morgan’s. I guess he’d be the expert having raised and trained them for as many years as he did. She is surprisingly very responsive to half halts and is responding well when I ask her to “chew the bit” down and travel long and low. Overall, I think we are off to a great start.
Focus area with her:
Be choosy about who I ride with, when I ride her . No fast rides! No nervous riders!
Continue to keep the rides quiet and easy
Exposure to new things to help build her confidence
Do not get caught up in enjoying her speed!!! (We’ll save that for later)
One thing that stands out to me about Maggie is that she has such a willingness to go, and keep going, that I will have to be careful about distance. Her strength, both mental and physical, can be deceiving on how tired she truly might be. We went 6 slow easy miles with her felt like a good starting point for her fitness level. I will keep her between 5-8 mile rides over the next several weeks and pay careful attention on her recovery. As soon as my arena is snow free, we’ll be back at working on basics. She is still very green so basic training will take precedence over distance work. If all goes well, I hope to have her ready for her first limited distance at the July ride. Our plan is to get the turtle award.
By the time I finished with Maggie, grabbed a snack, rehydrated and got my self geared up to go back out and do it again, the day was getting away from me. I saddled and booted JB in a big hurry. We only went 3.5 miles. I would be meeting a friend the next day for a longer ride so I wasn’t too concerned about mileage. I just wanted to get him out to stretch his legs a bit. My ride on him had me working full time to keep him between the “navigational lines”. He wanted to look everywhere but straight ahead and we looked like a drunken sailor as we wandered back and forth along the road. After about a mile and a half of this ever so fun exercise in patience (on my part) he finally settled in and started listening. He has developed a nice rhythmic walk. The trot however is a different story these days. A year ago, I was peddling him along, fighting for forward every step of the way. Looking back, I know this had to do with how his feet were feeling and that he was also stallion. While he still gets a bit concerned about who were leaving and often tries to look behind us, the need for peddling has long since gone away. JB has found his big horse trot and Sunday’s ride had us cruising along pretty nicely. As much of a thrill it is to ride him in this big trot (which is amazingly smooth) it is early in the season and I don’t want any injuries!!
Monday’s ride we completed 6 miles of mostly trot work. Other than his melt down with having to get by a grain truck filling up at the silos, and the noise and sight of the auger, he was a real trooper. I worked on switching from leading to following with Debbie and her horse and maintaining a steady pace.
Focus areas for JB:
Develop various speeds within the trot
RATING, RATING, RATING ( if you had asked me a year ago about having to do this with him, I would have laughed at you)
That’s all folks.. now back to work…
First order of business; ....News to share
The weekend started off busy with non-riding activities. The distance riders group I am a member of, Hooves and Company, has started the planning process for the July endurance ride that will be held in this area. Guess who is part of that planning process? We’re a small group so it takes all of us to get things accomplished. Since I plan to ride both days, my contribution will be in pre planning instead of volunteering this year! The ride is on the AERC website as Hooves & Company for the NW region. CHECK IT OUT! The location is new for the ride this year and if you haven’t ever been to this area for an endurance ride, consider putting this one on your ride calendar. It’s July 17th and 18th. The scenery, trails and camping accommodations are going to be fantastic. If you want more info, email me. I will be glad to tell you what I know, which at this point, isn’t much but stay tuned!! I should be getting some first hand knowledge over the next several weeks. Here’s the scoop; We were granted permission to use a large guest/cattle ranch west of town, which is surrounded by National Forest. This is new territory from where we have held the endurance races in the past. Given the new territory, Hooves and Company members have lot of new trail to identify. Thank goodness for Google Earth, GPS and nice ranch owners!.
Back to the riding part of the weekend;
Riding was first on the list for Sunday. I wanted to get both JB and Maggie out for some miles. Tom, also getting the spring riding itch, decided to come along for a ride when I took Maggie out. I was happy to have the support and company of him and Cassidy. Maggie started out a little strong and ramped up but listened well when I asked her to check back. Of course, being young, she had to be reminded frequently for the first 2 miles. After that, she seemed to catch on and realize we didn’t need to hurry. She only argued with me once when I asked her to stop and wait for a truck to come by. Her argument was a shake of her head. For the rest of the ride, she settled into a nice flat footed steady walk, on a loose rein! This mare definitely has some “smoke” so my focus with her is keeping things quiet and relaxed. She has a real knack for going from 0-60 in nothing flat! Tom tells me it’s pretty common in these little Lippitt Morgan’s. I guess he’d be the expert having raised and trained them for as many years as he did. She is surprisingly very responsive to half halts and is responding well when I ask her to “chew the bit” down and travel long and low. Overall, I think we are off to a great start.
Focus area with her:
Be choosy about who I ride with, when I ride her . No fast rides! No nervous riders!
Continue to keep the rides quiet and easy
Exposure to new things to help build her confidence
Do not get caught up in enjoying her speed!!! (We’ll save that for later)
One thing that stands out to me about Maggie is that she has such a willingness to go, and keep going, that I will have to be careful about distance. Her strength, both mental and physical, can be deceiving on how tired she truly might be. We went 6 slow easy miles with her felt like a good starting point for her fitness level. I will keep her between 5-8 mile rides over the next several weeks and pay careful attention on her recovery. As soon as my arena is snow free, we’ll be back at working on basics. She is still very green so basic training will take precedence over distance work. If all goes well, I hope to have her ready for her first limited distance at the July ride. Our plan is to get the turtle award.
By the time I finished with Maggie, grabbed a snack, rehydrated and got my self geared up to go back out and do it again, the day was getting away from me. I saddled and booted JB in a big hurry. We only went 3.5 miles. I would be meeting a friend the next day for a longer ride so I wasn’t too concerned about mileage. I just wanted to get him out to stretch his legs a bit. My ride on him had me working full time to keep him between the “navigational lines”. He wanted to look everywhere but straight ahead and we looked like a drunken sailor as we wandered back and forth along the road. After about a mile and a half of this ever so fun exercise in patience (on my part) he finally settled in and started listening. He has developed a nice rhythmic walk. The trot however is a different story these days. A year ago, I was peddling him along, fighting for forward every step of the way. Looking back, I know this had to do with how his feet were feeling and that he was also stallion. While he still gets a bit concerned about who were leaving and often tries to look behind us, the need for peddling has long since gone away. JB has found his big horse trot and Sunday’s ride had us cruising along pretty nicely. As much of a thrill it is to ride him in this big trot (which is amazingly smooth) it is early in the season and I don’t want any injuries!!
Monday’s ride we completed 6 miles of mostly trot work. Other than his melt down with having to get by a grain truck filling up at the silos, and the noise and sight of the auger, he was a real trooper. I worked on switching from leading to following with Debbie and her horse and maintaining a steady pace.
Focus areas for JB:
Develop various speeds within the trot
RATING, RATING, RATING ( if you had asked me a year ago about having to do this with him, I would have laughed at you)
That’s all folks.. now back to work…
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Signs
I know alot of endurance riders around the county are getting anything but spring weather, like Endurance Granny, who keeps getting hit with huge amounts of snow. For whatever reason, things seem to be moving in the right direction here in Northwest Montana. I am hoping it continues on that path.
Just the other night, I noticed one of the first signs. It's a yearly event that I eagerly wait for. Y'know, that time of year when you go to pet your horse and your glove becomes one big mat of horse hair??? Well, it's happening here at Acer Farm. The horses are shedding and I am ecstatic. (they say it's the small things , right?)
Ofcourse, in another month , when every garment I own has remnants of horse hair, I may not be so ecstatic.
Time to dig out the curry combs and face mask....
Just the other night, I noticed one of the first signs. It's a yearly event that I eagerly wait for. Y'know, that time of year when you go to pet your horse and your glove becomes one big mat of horse hair??? Well, it's happening here at Acer Farm. The horses are shedding and I am ecstatic. (they say it's the small things , right?)
Ofcourse, in another month , when every garment I own has remnants of horse hair, I may not be so ecstatic.
Time to dig out the curry combs and face mask....
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
1st Ride Away from Home
Yesterday there was achange in my schedule and I had an unexpected , but welcome gap of time available. So, when given the choice of what to do with a free afternoon, what would one trying to condition two horses for endurance do??? Boogie home, change and halter up Maggie for a ride, but ofcourse!
She was not expecting to see me and I interupted her afternoon nap. I don't think she was all too pleased about it either. I had to halter her while she was laying down and it took some coaxing to convince her to get up. Eventually she groaned, stood up and looked at me as if to say.."thanks alot"
I decided that I would put the saddle on her today and see about actually making her carry me for today's ride. I hand walked her until I got to the gravel road, about a 1/8 of a mile, tightened the girth and proceeded to try to climb on. Maggie decided right about then that maybe it was time we turn back to the calling companions we had just left. As I was in mid swing with my right leg, she did a nice quick turn and pivot. I managed to land fairly squarely in the saddle, keep myself from plunking down, and got her stopped and turned back , all in one not so graceful motion. My saddle was also turned.
........... "All I need now is someone to come by with a truck and scare her" I thought to myself.
I got everything situated, took a deep breath and we set off at a brisk walk, pondering how it would be riding this mare over distance. She has absolutely NO withers. She's as table backed, mutton withered as they can come.. Getting on her without twisting the saddle is nearly impossible, even with an athletic leap to launch myself, and a good handful of mane.. the darn thing still comes over. "Deal with it...."
Up ahead was our first obstacle to get through. A truck with a flatbed trailer parked in the middle of the road. Its occupants were mulling back and forth, trying to fix something on the trailer.
.................Walk, stop, look, head up like a Giraffe, step, step.. stop...look... blow....
This is how we proceeded towards this horse eating monster, while I tried to gently talk to her , encouraging her it was okay. As we got closer, I decided, based on the tension rippling through every muscle in her body, and remembering the saddle rolling issue, it might be best if I just hopped off and led her through this. I didn't have much room to squeeze by them and the last thing I wanted was for her to decide to stop and spin and potentially running into the truck or trailer. Ofcourse, I had to really think twice; was it worse to get off and have to fight the saddle again or take my chances I could get us both through this while staying mounted. The logical side of my brain won out, wanting to make sure I do everything I can to build her confidence in sticky situations. I reluctantly hopped off and we walked by, said hello and made it through with no incident. I've learned that pride will often get a person hurt.
Shortly thereafter, I did the mounting dance once again, using a snow bank as an assist. As we made our way down the road, she began to settle in a bit and I took a deep sigh, which in fact prompted her to stop holding her breath as well. (funny how that works). This was our first ride away from home afterall. So I was a bit tense.. ok I admit it...
We got to a long straight stretch of road and I asked her up into a trot. What started out as a nice quiet easy jog started to build into a bigger, more impulsive, famous Morgan road trot.
......."damn hard wired genetics..." I was really hoping she would be reluctant to get into that big trot that is so bred into her, atleast for a little while!
As much as I was enjoying the impulsion and burst of effortless speed, I realize this mare needs to be contained a bit. She needs more encouragement to stay quiet and relaxed at this point. Forward is NOT a problem with her, the total opposite of JB. She can tend to get "caught up" and has way more go than I need or want with her at this point. I must say though, I think I'm in love!!!
The rest of the ride went fairly well. There was one other point in the ride that I opted to hop off again, as we were passing a narrow section of woods , woods that were making crunching sounds, which were apparently alarming. Nevertheless, she is much more brave and confident when I am out in front and I have no problem letting that be the case for now.
We managed to go four miles and she had adequate (ok more than adequate) energy at the end of it. She got warm but did not sweat, which was good since it was only 32 degrees out and she has a coat like a big brown bear! She got a good rub down, a mud removal scrub and a couple carrots.
Mission successfully accomplished.
She was not expecting to see me and I interupted her afternoon nap. I don't think she was all too pleased about it either. I had to halter her while she was laying down and it took some coaxing to convince her to get up. Eventually she groaned, stood up and looked at me as if to say.."thanks alot"
I decided that I would put the saddle on her today and see about actually making her carry me for today's ride. I hand walked her until I got to the gravel road, about a 1/8 of a mile, tightened the girth and proceeded to try to climb on. Maggie decided right about then that maybe it was time we turn back to the calling companions we had just left. As I was in mid swing with my right leg, she did a nice quick turn and pivot. I managed to land fairly squarely in the saddle, keep myself from plunking down, and got her stopped and turned back , all in one not so graceful motion. My saddle was also turned.
........... "All I need now is someone to come by with a truck and scare her" I thought to myself.
I got everything situated, took a deep breath and we set off at a brisk walk, pondering how it would be riding this mare over distance. She has absolutely NO withers. She's as table backed, mutton withered as they can come.. Getting on her without twisting the saddle is nearly impossible, even with an athletic leap to launch myself, and a good handful of mane.. the darn thing still comes over. "Deal with it...."
Up ahead was our first obstacle to get through. A truck with a flatbed trailer parked in the middle of the road. Its occupants were mulling back and forth, trying to fix something on the trailer.
.................Walk, stop, look, head up like a Giraffe, step, step.. stop...look... blow....
This is how we proceeded towards this horse eating monster, while I tried to gently talk to her , encouraging her it was okay. As we got closer, I decided, based on the tension rippling through every muscle in her body, and remembering the saddle rolling issue, it might be best if I just hopped off and led her through this. I didn't have much room to squeeze by them and the last thing I wanted was for her to decide to stop and spin and potentially running into the truck or trailer. Ofcourse, I had to really think twice; was it worse to get off and have to fight the saddle again or take my chances I could get us both through this while staying mounted. The logical side of my brain won out, wanting to make sure I do everything I can to build her confidence in sticky situations. I reluctantly hopped off and we walked by, said hello and made it through with no incident. I've learned that pride will often get a person hurt.
Shortly thereafter, I did the mounting dance once again, using a snow bank as an assist. As we made our way down the road, she began to settle in a bit and I took a deep sigh, which in fact prompted her to stop holding her breath as well. (funny how that works). This was our first ride away from home afterall. So I was a bit tense.. ok I admit it...
We got to a long straight stretch of road and I asked her up into a trot. What started out as a nice quiet easy jog started to build into a bigger, more impulsive, famous Morgan road trot.
......."damn hard wired genetics..." I was really hoping she would be reluctant to get into that big trot that is so bred into her, atleast for a little while!
As much as I was enjoying the impulsion and burst of effortless speed, I realize this mare needs to be contained a bit. She needs more encouragement to stay quiet and relaxed at this point. Forward is NOT a problem with her, the total opposite of JB. She can tend to get "caught up" and has way more go than I need or want with her at this point. I must say though, I think I'm in love!!!
The rest of the ride went fairly well. There was one other point in the ride that I opted to hop off again, as we were passing a narrow section of woods , woods that were making crunching sounds, which were apparently alarming. Nevertheless, she is much more brave and confident when I am out in front and I have no problem letting that be the case for now.
We managed to go four miles and she had adequate (ok more than adequate) energy at the end of it. She got warm but did not sweat, which was good since it was only 32 degrees out and she has a coat like a big brown bear! She got a good rub down, a mud removal scrub and a couple carrots.
Mission successfully accomplished.
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