What I did this weekend...
May. 3rd, 2004 02:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arwen_luneEndurance competition Ommen-Vechtdal, may 2, 2004
We left the day before they ride to stay at a small camping near the ride site. Rowan was given a nice field, I slept in a tent. Dear Horse did - against all expectations - drink the water over there, which was a bit of a relief. We drove the groom-route to make sure my grooms would know all the crucial points, had dinner, and I went for a short walking-ride to explore the surroundings there. Horse slept well, I didn't. I never sleep well the first night in a tent.
Wasn't too happy to get going in the morning, but got off to an okay start. Fed the horse, packed the car with a gazillion liters water, buckets with different feed, gear, spare gear, coats, horseblankets and whatnot... talked the new groomteam through the ride one more time, and we were off to Manege Laarbrug. When walking Rowan to warm him up for the pre-ride vetting he was bouncy enough to rear at me, but I managed to sort him right out.
I was a little nervous for the vetting; Rowan fell quite hard last week and I wasn't completely convinced he was right sound, but he did okay. Pulse 44, respiration rate 48 (!) which is very high, but the vet put it down to inexperience. He breathed well and easily, so she sent us on to get locomotion checked. Turgor was 1 sec.
We got an A! I was intensely relieved. The vet didn't have any remarks, just nodded, put down the A on the vetcard and wished us a good ride.
Saddled and walked around a bit before the start. I got there a bit early (my watch runs a few minutes early) and Rowan was standing under the banner quite calmly while other horses started from besides us and trotted off. The start-official commented "Sooo... that one's calm!" and finally counted down for me. "30 seconds... 20 seconds.. 10 seconds...yes, you're on, good luck!"
I touched Rowan with my right leg, meaning to cue him into trot, but he shot right off in a gallop, bouncing and snorting. Silly git! Yes, verrry calm this one... *grin*
We bounced happily along the road, over the bridge until the first turn into the forest. There I found out that the Otterlo definition of a rider-route isn't quite the same as the Ommen definition! This path went wildly up and down, with sharp little inclines and truckloads of tree-roots. I wasn't happy, but I assumed that the real paths would come later on.
They didn't. It became a deep, narrow trail, like this:
It was very adventurous, but Rowan and I cover the real distance in canter, and we couldn't canter at all here. A bit frustrating for both! Around the 5 kilometer mark we got drenched by a sudden shower, and me wearing only longsleeves was very wet indeed. Yay for carousel breeches though, my legs were dry again as soon as it stopped raining.
At the vetcheck at 17 km we came in with pulse 57 (60 is the cutoff limit) but turgor not splendid. We attempted to get some water into the horse, but he had decided that drinking was out of the question. He felt good and alert, so I rode on, hoping he'd start drinking at the finish.
Once going I was passed by three Class II riders, and Rowan decided that it was vitally important that he stay with them. Poor sod, he's too small and his trot isn't fast enough to keep up with them, but he tried until I took him back. We climbed the mountain (well, by Dutch standards) and walked it down. The trail here was so narrow, deep, steep and full of roots that I didn't want to risk a trot. Once down there we passed another groompunt, I was fed and we once again offered Rowan water, but he would have none of it. I asked one of my grooms to stuff some bits of apple into his mouth, which he didn't really want (!) but ate anyway. To busy with looking around I think.
We rode on and spirits sank. More of those horrible trails! Rowan lost all motivation at this point (and so did I) and we walked for a while. Then around the 25-km mark finally the paths widened and we had a good long canter. Rowan was back! He seemed very happy about having more room to put down his feet. Ears pinned forward and suddenly a lot more powerful. According to the grooms he looked fresh and strong when we came up to the last groompoint. We poured out the last sloshbottles and trotted on toward the finish.
Went back to a walk at the 1-km-before-finish sign and ended with a riding time of 3 hours exact for a traject of 32 km. that makes 10.78 average speed. Not a great time but considering the terrain not at all bad. Pulse at finish was 60, horse was leering the horse next to him, so we just made it.
Back to the trailer to take off saddle and other gear. He still wouldn't drink, only slosh about in the bucket, but we got him to eat a tiny bit of wet beet pulp and I made him eat bits of apple. He didn't want any - too busy looking around. Hopeless horse! He's turning into one of those divas that need 5 sorts of feed with them on a ride in the hope one of them will please him...
I was very nervous about the post-ride vetting because his turgor wasn't looking hopeful, but the vet didn't think it was problematic if he was just a difficult drinker.
(to explain that, bad turgor can signify a deeper problem, but if caused by a fussy drinker than the turgor itself is the problem, if that makes sense. Just like a high heartrate/respiration rate can signify a physical problem, or be caused by an overly excitible or inexperienced horse.)
At the final vetting we had pulse 48, respiration rate 32 and turgor 1,5 sec. Locomotion was an A again! I was well pleased and we brought Rowan back to the camping to rest and eat more grass, and I ate and changed into dry clothes. Later I went back to the ceremony and found I ended 22nd. Not bad given the circumstances... *grin*
We're on again in two weeks for 38 km in Laag Soeren. Hopefully with better weather...
We left the day before they ride to stay at a small camping near the ride site. Rowan was given a nice field, I slept in a tent. Dear Horse did - against all expectations - drink the water over there, which was a bit of a relief. We drove the groom-route to make sure my grooms would know all the crucial points, had dinner, and I went for a short walking-ride to explore the surroundings there. Horse slept well, I didn't. I never sleep well the first night in a tent.
Wasn't too happy to get going in the morning, but got off to an okay start. Fed the horse, packed the car with a gazillion liters water, buckets with different feed, gear, spare gear, coats, horseblankets and whatnot... talked the new groomteam through the ride one more time, and we were off to Manege Laarbrug. When walking Rowan to warm him up for the pre-ride vetting he was bouncy enough to rear at me, but I managed to sort him right out.
I was a little nervous for the vetting; Rowan fell quite hard last week and I wasn't completely convinced he was right sound, but he did okay. Pulse 44, respiration rate 48 (!) which is very high, but the vet put it down to inexperience. He breathed well and easily, so she sent us on to get locomotion checked. Turgor was 1 sec.
We got an A! I was intensely relieved. The vet didn't have any remarks, just nodded, put down the A on the vetcard and wished us a good ride.
Saddled and walked around a bit before the start. I got there a bit early (my watch runs a few minutes early) and Rowan was standing under the banner quite calmly while other horses started from besides us and trotted off. The start-official commented "Sooo... that one's calm!" and finally counted down for me. "30 seconds... 20 seconds.. 10 seconds...yes, you're on, good luck!"
I touched Rowan with my right leg, meaning to cue him into trot, but he shot right off in a gallop, bouncing and snorting. Silly git! Yes, verrry calm this one... *grin*
We bounced happily along the road, over the bridge until the first turn into the forest. There I found out that the Otterlo definition of a rider-route isn't quite the same as the Ommen definition! This path went wildly up and down, with sharp little inclines and truckloads of tree-roots. I wasn't happy, but I assumed that the real paths would come later on.
They didn't. It became a deep, narrow trail, like this:
It was very adventurous, but Rowan and I cover the real distance in canter, and we couldn't canter at all here. A bit frustrating for both! Around the 5 kilometer mark we got drenched by a sudden shower, and me wearing only longsleeves was very wet indeed. Yay for carousel breeches though, my legs were dry again as soon as it stopped raining.
At the vetcheck at 17 km we came in with pulse 57 (60 is the cutoff limit) but turgor not splendid. We attempted to get some water into the horse, but he had decided that drinking was out of the question. He felt good and alert, so I rode on, hoping he'd start drinking at the finish.
Once going I was passed by three Class II riders, and Rowan decided that it was vitally important that he stay with them. Poor sod, he's too small and his trot isn't fast enough to keep up with them, but he tried until I took him back. We climbed the mountain (well, by Dutch standards) and walked it down. The trail here was so narrow, deep, steep and full of roots that I didn't want to risk a trot. Once down there we passed another groompunt, I was fed and we once again offered Rowan water, but he would have none of it. I asked one of my grooms to stuff some bits of apple into his mouth, which he didn't really want (!) but ate anyway. To busy with looking around I think.
We rode on and spirits sank. More of those horrible trails! Rowan lost all motivation at this point (and so did I) and we walked for a while. Then around the 25-km mark finally the paths widened and we had a good long canter. Rowan was back! He seemed very happy about having more room to put down his feet. Ears pinned forward and suddenly a lot more powerful. According to the grooms he looked fresh and strong when we came up to the last groompoint. We poured out the last sloshbottles and trotted on toward the finish.
Went back to a walk at the 1-km-before-finish sign and ended with a riding time of 3 hours exact for a traject of 32 km. that makes 10.78 average speed. Not a great time but considering the terrain not at all bad. Pulse at finish was 60, horse was leering the horse next to him, so we just made it.
Back to the trailer to take off saddle and other gear. He still wouldn't drink, only slosh about in the bucket, but we got him to eat a tiny bit of wet beet pulp and I made him eat bits of apple. He didn't want any - too busy looking around. Hopeless horse! He's turning into one of those divas that need 5 sorts of feed with them on a ride in the hope one of them will please him...
I was very nervous about the post-ride vetting because his turgor wasn't looking hopeful, but the vet didn't think it was problematic if he was just a difficult drinker.
(to explain that, bad turgor can signify a deeper problem, but if caused by a fussy drinker than the turgor itself is the problem, if that makes sense. Just like a high heartrate/respiration rate can signify a physical problem, or be caused by an overly excitible or inexperienced horse.)
At the final vetting we had pulse 48, respiration rate 32 and turgor 1,5 sec. Locomotion was an A again! I was well pleased and we brought Rowan back to the camping to rest and eat more grass, and I ate and changed into dry clothes. Later I went back to the ceremony and found I ended 22nd. Not bad given the circumstances... *grin*
We're on again in two weeks for 38 km in Laag Soeren. Hopefully with better weather...