Heart Rate Monitors - Final Part

Have I dragged this post out long enough for you? Can you tell nothing exciting has been happening at the barn lately?

Surprisingly enough the heart rate monitor lasted through several rides both on the trail and in the barn's outdoor arena before I gave up on it. The plethora of data I had expected to gain from it just never materialized. I had numbers and more numbers and even more numbers, but in essence they either meant nothing or just confirmed what I already suspected.

So what did I learn?

For starters I learned that the authors of those training plans are full of crap. I'd love to meet one someday and see if they even follow their own plans because I don't see how it is possible. I couldn't get Gem's heart rate even close to their suggested level and even if I could there is no way to maintain it for any length of time. Maybe if I lived in the Rocky Mountains and attempted to gallop her up them full speed. I don't know.

The more important thing that I learned from my experiment was that paying attention to my horse was more important than paying attention to my watch. I had read that the monitor could inform you of when your horse needed a break or if pain was ensuing because you would notice an increase in the heart rate. That is true. But it is also true that just knowing your horse and paying attention to them easily does the same thing.

When Gem is doing a power trot and gets tired she jumps to a canter. I had always figured it was because the canter was easier for her then the fast trot. She is inherently lazy, so I highly doubted she would choose to do a gait that was more strenuous than the one she was already doing. It turns out that I was right - her heart rate would drop considerably in the canter. It was the same on up hills. She chooses to trot hills rather than walk and I let her. Again, it turns out that walking up a hill has a higher heart rate than trotting up the same hill. Her heart rate recovered pretty quickly with the change in gait too. It didn't take a very long walk break before it was back to almost baseline. A long canter stretch would get it pumping, but dropping to a slow trot would cover ground and allow her to recover. Unfortunately, I had already inherently known these things, so it really didn't tell me anything new. It did reinforce my belief that Gem is exceptionally good at taking care of herself and that I really need to listen to her. If she asks to walk it is  generally for a good reason.

So the monitor found a new home in the back of my closet. I did really like the GPS to see how far we had gone and a basic idea of how fast, so I replaced it with my Garmin which I love.

Heart Rate monitors - Part 3

After all that trouble getting the monitor situated and all set up correctly, I was excited to get on and get going. It being winter in Wisconsin, riding outside was "at your own risk" and since I didn't have time to deal with frostbite to all my extremities I headed to the indoor arena. My incredibly bright "pat myself on the back" idea of trialing it at the barn first quickly became a very dumb idea. I hadn't spent a whole lot of time inspecting the construction material of the indoor arena and that lack of attention to detail became my downfall.

I jumped up on Gem, hit the "ON" button and strode off staring down at my watch waiting to see her heart rate data. Nothing was showing. Either her heart rate was so incredibly low that it wasn't registering or something was wrong. I got off and inspected the electrodes. They were well saturated with cold water and pressed firmly against her body. I turned it off and then back on and tried again. Still nothing. Now I knew my horse had to have a heart beat of some sort, so obviously something was wrong. And that's when I noticed the building I was riding in. It was made out of metal. The worst type of material to allow a satellite signal to come through and hit my watch. Darn. All that work for a whole lot of nothing. I was deflated, but rode on anyway and just ignored the monitor. When we were done I untacked her and looked for rub marks and was happy to note it did not affect her at all.

I spoke with the hubs and the weekend was supposed to be sunny and not deathly cold, so we planned to hit the trails to try the thing outside. I made sure to wet the electrodes at the barn before we left and the drive was only 20 minutes, so they remained nice and wet when we arrived at the trail head. This time I noted that we were in a nice free and open spot without cover and when I turned it on I got a nice read out. Her heart rate was low - in the low 40s. Great! We walked off down the trail and I made note to look at the watch periodically to see what it was telling me. It told me that at a walk her heart rate remained very low - upper 40s to low 50s depending on the terrain. Ok, great! I was excited about all this new data. When we picked up the trot and I noticed it was still low it began to dawn on me that I had actually no clue what these numbers meant. I had no actual reference point to compare them to and so while they seemed interesting they were in fact useless.

I did remember a training guide that used the monitor as the main focus of all rides. I recalled a data point that was frequently used - a set of intervals of 10 minutes at a heart rate of 180 bpm. At the time I didn't take much notice of it since I didn't know anything about heart rate, but as we picked up a canter up a hill and I noted that her heart rate remained below 100 I began to question the possibility of hitting that mark and maintaining it for 10 minutes. What would I need to do? I asked her for a faster canter. Nope, nowhere close to 180. I finally asked for a full out gallop and we still only got to 150. The only time during the entire ride that her heart rate came close to 180 was when she spooked at a tree branch on the ground. Ok...I get it...the way to get her heart rate up is to scare the living crap out of her for 10 minutes straight.

With that idea thrown out the window I began to play around with different gaits and looking to see what it did to her heart rate. Was a fast trot creating a higher heart rate than a slow canter? How quickly did her heart rate recover at the walk after a long trot? How about after a canter? How about going from a canter to a trot? Hills? Jumping over logs? I kept track of the impact of terrain and gait on her heart rate as we went down the trail. I found it all very interesting.

Heart Rate Monitors - Part 2

The monitor came in two parts and really simple instructions. Like most things in life, however, it was not so simple. There was a watch for me to wear with a display of the heart rate, speed and distance travelled. It worked ok, but lost the signal to both GPS and the electrodes easily. The second part was a strap with an electrode on either end. The distance between the two was astounding - I swear it could have wrapped around a bull elephant. Ok, maybe not that big, but much larger than any horse wearing a monitor would require. My small Gemmiecakes could have had it wrapped around her twice and still had excess.

I decided to try it out at the barn first which was both very smart and incredibly stupid at the same time. My first problem was that it was winter in WI which in general is a problem, but for this specifically it made applying the electrodes difficult. They needed to be against the skin. Gem in winter looks more like a yak than a sleek endurance machine and there was about a foot (ok...maybe 10 inches :) of hair between her skin and the electrode. I stubbornly refused to shave her, so I just cleaned the area super well and hoped for the best. The one electrode was to go under the girth and the other on her shoulder under the saddle. I was concerned about anything being smushed up against her causing rubs, but in the end I needn't have worried. She never had a sore from it. The main difficulty with this set up was the aforementioned long strap. With both electrodes tucked safely into place, I still had a large amount of strap to deal with. With no good solution coming to mind I ended up just placing it under the saddle and as expected it ended up coming loose about 30 seconds into the ride and annoying me the entire time. I never did come up with a good solution for it.

Once I had the entire thing set up I decided that it might be a good idea to turn it all on and see if it worked. It didn't. Huh. Apparently the instructions were missing one key element to the entire thing: a medium through which the current could work. Theoretically a horse wearing a monitor works hard enough to sweat. Sweat just so happens to be a great electric current medium with the salt and other minerals in it, so I suppose the manufacturer just assumed it would be ok. They overlooked one main fact: a yak horse just starting to work is not sweaty. Gemmie was drier than dry. Nothing was flowing through those electrodes. This is where my idea to ride at the barn was a smart idea: I had water readily at hand. Had I been out on the trail I would have been SOL. Go me! Unfortunately, this meant that I had to undo the tack to get the electrodes off her, soak them in a nearby bucket of frigid water, and then replace the set up and the tack. A major pain in the butt.

Once it was all back in place I turned it all on and was excited to see a signal from the strap to my watch. Now I could have information galore!

Heart Rate Monitors - Part 1

“Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.”  

 

- Edgar Allen Poe

 



Oh, the joys of being naïve. You know that point in a new interest/hobby when you have just enough knowledge to be dangerous? You are gung-ho about it and want to do it right, but you actually have no clue what that really entails or means? What do you do? You turn to books, the internet and friends who have been at it longer than you (not hard since you just started) and ask so many questions that they are no longer your friends. The onslaught of new information makes your head spin and you pick a spot and jump on in head first hoping that the pool is filled with water. Later, you look back in disgust at all the money and time you wasted on useless things, but it is all necessary to help you figure it all out.

That was me in the winter of 2011. I was a newbie to the endurance world, but I was hooked and I wanted to do it right. Endurance places a unique amount of responsibility on the rider - you are not only responsible for your own fitness and nutrition, but that of your horse as well. You don't have to worry about that with a bike or running shoes. I take that responsibility very seriously. If Gem gets hurt, it is my fault. She didn't wake up that morning and decide to trot for 10 hours. She wanted to bask in the sunshine eating herself into diabetes. It was my idea and because of that I need to make sure we do it right.

I went to the internet and books for help and found a whole world of useless gadgets that were deemed absolutely essential for proper endurance riding. Never mind the fact that we completed 50 miles without all that stuff. Now that I knew it existed, I had to have it. I could no longer plead ignorance. One gadget that seemed promising was a heart rate monitor. Many touted the usefulness in both training (use target heart rates as goals) and monitoring how the horse is doing during a ride (a sudden spike in heart rate may be an early warning sign of pain or fatigue). I got a basic, entry level unit for starters and prepared to be inundated with charts full of useful data that would get me across the finish line in tip top shape.

My 2nd Not-So-Solo Solo Trail Ride Adventure

"Take things for what they are, when they are"

- Unknown

Here was the plan (and we all know how I feel about plans):

I would go to the barn and load up Miss Thing. The hubs would take W and head to our friend, B, house which is right across the road from the trail head. While I rode they would put new brakes on hubby's car to prepare for the BIG MOVE. B's daughter, D, would watch W while we were all busy. Once finished, I would drive over and hang out with them. Simple. Easy. Clean.

Here is what really happened:

I got to the barn and began to brush Gemmie. The BM was there and we began to chit chat. I mentioned I was going to trail ride alone. She then told me that there was a girl riding on property who loves trail riding and would love to join me. Hmmm...I was about to say no when she told me that the girl had tried to ride along the busy road to the forest but never made it and was really hoping to go. Well, I figured if she was that determined to get there and I had an empty spot on my trailer, it would be mean to say no. What I forgot to do was ask how experienced she was.

The BM caught up with the girl and said she could join me. Now, if I was bumming a free trailer ride and I was barging in on someone's plans, then I would be up that person's butt ready to help in any way I could and I would be ready jump the moment that person said go. Sigh. Instead, once Gem was ready to go, I had to track her down which took about 15 minutes. I loaded Gem and looked around. Where was she? Oh. She had decided to switch tack from English to western. Why didn't she do that while I brushed out Gem? Your guess is as good as mine. Eventually she was done and loaded her horse nicely proceeded to stare at me. I told her to load up. She told me she never had before. Oh no. I got her horse on just fine and we were finally ready to head out. This was about an hour after I would have left had I gone alone.

On the way to the Forest I stopped at B's to drop the dogs off and then we made it to the trail head. I decided to get her horse off first. I opened the trailer and went to put the lead rope on her horse so I could back her off. I told her to just wait at the back and when I said I was ready, she would lower the butt bar (preventing horse from backing up) and I would back her off. She listened and did that. Of course, she also decided to lower Gem's so that while I was backing her horse off, Gem did as well and was now loose in the parking lot. *Head. Desk*. I threw her lead rope at her and ran over to grab Gem. This was not going well.

I tacked up...or at least tried to. Trail etiquette has its own rule book, but the basics are that you stand still with your horse until everyone is ready. Why? Because horses are herd animals and I don't care how well trained your horse is, it will follow the herd. She mounted up immediately and started to ride while I tried to tack up my jittery "oh my god! I'm being left behind!" horse. Eventually it was finished and up I went and off we went.

Gem isn't a natural leader, but she can get very competitive with horses she doesn't know. As we followed the ridge top trail, the girl's horse started to trot. I was game for that as I wanted to get some conditioning in to prepare Gem for the BIG MOVE. We trotted. The trail is wide enough to ride two abreast and so I moved up next to her so we could chat. It went really, really well for all of about 1 minute. Her horse jumped over a small puddle (she informed me her horse hates water of any kind) and took off at a canter. Maybe I should have better brakes, but it was the first time out, Gem was full of herself, and she was NOT going to lose this race. She cantered. The girl was looking not so very much in control and then her horse broke into a full fledged gallop. I kept Gem at a canter, but I could tell this wasn't going to end so well with two horses racing across the ridge top. I finally told the girl we needed to slow down now. She told me she couldn't and oh by the way, this is the first time she has ever gone faster than a walk. What?!

At this point all I could see was a tangle of horse and human legs on the ground from a nasty spill, so I forced Gem to a trot hoping her horse would do the same. She didn't. I took Gem back into a canter and got ahead of her then slammed on the brakes. That worked. The girl was grinning and I was feeling pretty pissed off. My lovely trail ride was a disaster. Just as the girl was about to move I noticed her horse was missing one nice, shiny horseshoe. Perfect! I told her it was unsafe to go in just 3 shoes and convinced her to turn around. Trail ride from Hell over. No one hurt. We went a whole 2 miles and all it taught Gem was how to be out of control. How fun!

We returned to B's house to let them know and headed back to the barn. I unloaded her horse all on my own to avoid another mishap and gave her the lead rope. I then went back to get Gem. When I put Gem out, the girl was nowhere to be seen. I unloaded the tack from the trailer dumping hers in the tack room. Still no sign of her. I scooped out the horse manure from the back (both her horse's and Gem's) and still no sign of her. I backed the trailer up and unhooked it and still no sign of her. As I pulled up to head out, she finally appeared and thanked me for the ride. Maybe she had no clue what all needed done with the trailer, but she sure should have asked instead of doing whatever it was she did.

Mental note: next time, just say no.

 

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Winter and Spring 2012/2013

As the weather changed and the trails closed down yet again, my life changed in the most extraordinary way. My beautiful son, W, joined our family. Life warped and priorities changed and he became the center of my universe. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Winter came fast and hard and lingered forever. I grew weary of late night treks to the barn in sub zero temperatures with a foot of snow on the ground. I didn't want to spend time away from W and knew something had to give. I could no longer fit work, W, hubby, Gem and running all in if I wanted to remain sane. Unfortunately, work had to remain if we wanted to eat and live indoors. W and hubs were here to stay. That left Gem and running. Running went away. I do miss the races from time to time and may pick it up again when he is grown, but for now I am perfectly content to leave my running shoes in the closet.

Gem did get ignored quite a bit though. It really had little to do with W and more to do with my lack of cold tolerance. Usually, the hubs and I spent winter snowshoeing and playing in the snow with the dogs, but this year we stayed inside with W. We also jacked up the heat from the usual 58 degrees to a balmy 65 so he wouldn't freeze which meant going outside felt even worse. I probably rode on average every other week. My portly pony got even bigger. I had the second most annoying conversation with the BM about it one day. Gem wasn't in much work at all. She had free access to hay both inside and out. She didn't need grain. The BM said that all horses in the barn got the same amount because it was easier. Um....? I asked her to change, she declined to do so. I couldn't go every day to feed her myself and we weren't going to move them, so Gem ate.

Spring came or at least per the calander it did. I thought I'd have more time to ride, but life got in the way time and time again. There was work. There was W. There were job interviews all over the place. There were my surgical boards that I studied endlessly for (good thing to because I passed!) and eventually there was the BIG MOVE to prepare for. I did get out once a week in the beginning and then about twice a week once it actually did start to warm up a bit.

The hubs and I wanted to get one last trail ride in before we left Wisconsin and it never really happened. I tried to go solo once and that was a mistake. Maybe that will be tomorrow's post. It is kinda funny. We managed a one hour ride at the Experimental Forest and had a decent time. Both horses were out of shape and we took it slower than usual. It was nice to just stretch the legs and we wanted to get them into the trailer again before the BIG MOVE.

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La Rivier Horse Park

"O! For a horse with wings!"

- Shakespeare

Gem has blessed me with one of the best gifts a horse can give: the sense of freedom and flight. It happened on a whim on a beautiful fall day and it is a memory I cherish. It made all the work, all the tears, and all the frustration worth it.

With the trail closure date quickly descending upon us, the hubs and I loaded up the horses one gorgeous day in late September 2012 and headed 3.5 hrs southeast to La Rivier Horse Park. The weather was perfect: sunny with a cool breeze. Most of the bugs had died off, or migrated or did whatever bugs do in the fall. We were all in good spirits and ready to go.

I look back now and this day still makes me smile especially after the entry from yesterday. Gemmie was....portly. The summer had been terribly hot and work had been terribly busy. I had focused more on running and just relaxing with Gem and it showed in her pot belly appearance. We had planned on taking it easy and headed off into the woods.

The trail began with single track weaving through the trees (our favorite) and then began an uphill climb that lasted quite some time. They handled it well and we were rewarded with a beautiful meadow with a double wide grassy lane at the top.

As we trotted along, Gem began to ask for more. Pete was already bored with the slower pace and the footing was perfect, so we took off. We galloped off across the meadow racing behind Pete (who is much faster than Gem) with the fall wind blowing in our faces and it was heaven. None of us wanted to stop. Eventually we neared the woods again and pulled up. Neither horse was breathing that hard. We snapped some nice pictures and then headed into the woods on the backside of the hill.

I told you she was portly

 

 

Crazy Gemmie mane

 

We wandered in the woods for a long time and finally decided to turn back around. We didn't know where the trail went or for how far and we loved where we had been so why not do it again?

Gem out in front

When we got back to the meadow I urged Gem into a nice canter. Pete was ahead of us and the hubs held him back to a trot so we could pass. He gave us the most surprised stare followed by the nastiest glare I had ever seen. How on earth could Gem be passing him?! It was too funny! I kept her to a nice canter and off we went in the lead for a long ways. It felt amazing. I'm so used to staring at Pete's butt, but this time all I saw was grass and sky and I felt great. She spooked only once at a trail head sign, but I was prepared and we just kept moving. Thinking back on our beginnings together, I never would have imagined we could do that. It was a magical day.

 

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First Solo Trail Ride

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  

- Brown

 

Every once in a while inspiration hits, the big girl panties come out and I tackle a previously daunting Gemmie task (jumping a certain obstacle, cantering, going down the lane at the barn etc...). I almost always wish I had done it sooner and that task becomes a regular in our rides until it is mastered. Well, one morning I woke up and declared that it was the day for my first solo trail ride. Having been married for 8 years at the time, the hubs was used to this and just told me to have fun and be safe.

 

I took the truck to work and, at the first chance to escape, I headed to the barn. The plan was to load her up and head to our favorite Experimental Forest trail. I would text hubs at the trail head and again at the end and stick to the main trail. If I didn't check back in, he would know where to look for me. I got to the barn and got Gem ready. I then backed the truck up to the trailer and hooked it up. Or tried to at least. Having never actually been in charge of hooking up the trailer, I wasn't 100% sure what I was doing. An hour of pulling forward, backing up again, getting out and lowering the trailer, cursing the stupid trailer for not working and beginning again, and I was flustered. I called the hubs and it happened that he was slow at work, so he came on out to help me before I called it quits. When he got there, he looked at the trailer and told me it was hooked up just fine. Huh? It had looked that way for the last hour. You mean I could have left an hour ago!? Sigh. Lesson learned. Pay better attention.

 

Gem got on just fine and we headed out. I immediately regretted my decision to not stop and get something to drink, but it was too late now. Thankfully, the parking lot was empty and I unloaded Gem and tacked her up. I have never been a fan of her being in the trailer tacked up. Too much can go wrong. She was on high alert, but calm enough to mount on up. I texted the hubs that we were on our way and headed out. And here is where the story gets....boring. She did really well. We mostly walked because I just wasn't ready to trust her out on our own at anything faster, but we did trot a little here and there. She spooked at a corn stalk for no reason, but other than that she went down the trail without a complaint. I was shocked.

 

I planned to ride the ridge top trail which is 5 miles round trip. It dead ends at a fence separating the park land from private land and we had been there numerous times. We rode on out and just keep going. At one point I got a little curious as to why we hadn't reached the turn around, but figured it was just seeming long due to the slow pace and my nerves. At around that point, the trail became really narrow and overgrown, two things that the double wide ridge top trail doesn't do. Hmmm...this is interesting. Eventually, I turned her around and headed back. Apparently, the ridge trail veers off to the right at some point and another, smaller and overgrown trail heads left. We went left. Sigh. I swear I can get lost in my own house!

 

Back at the trailer I showered her with praise for being so good and went back to the barn. I told you it was boring! I don't know why she was so good. When I try to get her to lead in a group she is horrible. She moves at about 1 mph and stops frequently to check every tiny thing out. She tries to spin around and get behind another horse at every opportunity and is just a big pain in the butt. Out on her own, she was alert, but moved on out and was ok. My theory is that when she leads she feels responsible for all the horses behind her and worries that she will miss something that will get someone hurt. She is low woman on the totem pole in the herd, so leadership just isn't in her blood. Take that responsibility away and she is happier to move on down the trail.

 

 

 





Summer and Fall 2012

"To live greatly we must develop the capacity to fave trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility"

-Unknown

I ride because it is my stress relief. It is the only time that my brain shuts off and all the annoying thoughts about my day, my to do list, the next day, my future plans, money concerns, etc... all go away. From the moment I see Gem out in her pasture all I think about is riding. As I brush her out my brain is blissfully quiet and I think of nothing at all. I always start on one side up by her head and work my way to her butt. I then go to her head and say "can I have my Gemmie hug?" and wrap my arms around her neck and give her a huge hug followed by a kiss on the nose. I then brush her other side, pick out all 4 feet and go get her tack. In the beginning she was super tense and had her ears back (a sure sign of an unhappy horse) with the hug. Now she lowers her head over my shoulder and hugs me back :) I let out a big sigh and all my stress is gone. Once I am up in the saddle the whole world melts away except for the view between her ears. It is amazing.

With my endurance spurs metaphorically hanging up on the wall, I needed a new focus for Gem and a new outlet for "competition" for me. I put that in quotes because with endurance and running I was pretty solidly middle pack, but still the feeling of accomplishing something was what I was after. I turned to running and worked hard all summer. I completed 3 additional half marathons. I really enjoyed it and even now I look back on those and feel the pride of crossing the finish line 13.1 miles away from the start. I no longer run, but hope to again someday.

For Gem, I wanted to continue trail riding with the hubs and Pete because we loved it. My biggest hurdle with her was/is riding in new places alone. She gets so worked up and her primary response is speed. If she goes fast enough she won't have to look at scary things. She spooks like crazy too. Not being the bravest sort myself, I needed to find a way to get her out and remain safe. So, I began to take her out jogging with me. I swear all the ladies at the barn thought I had completely gone off the deep end finally. I would show up in running clothes, attach a lead rope to Gem and head to the fields and trails across the street. 40 minutes later I would return sweaty and out of breath. I actually really enjoyed it. She was horrible at first. She would get tense, look at everything and almost run me over. I was constantly elbowing her to move out of my space. The first few times we barely made it 10 feet jogging before she would either plow ahead of me or try running me over. I would make her stop immediately, back up and stand. Once she calmed down we would go forward again. We did the every 10 feet the first time, maybe every 50 feet the next and slowly worked up to only doing it on rare occasions.

Ninja Gem

The hubs and I had some amazing trail rides that summer. We found two new parks within 3 hours and frequented them about twice a month. And finally, that summer was the debut of my first true solo trail ride on Gem.

 

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Halloween Ride Oct 2011: Ride Story

"Only two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity and I'm not so sure about the universe"

-Einstein

I don't have any pictures of this ride except for the ones I bought from the ride photographer and those aren't on my computer, so this will be text only. Sorry.

We drove the 5 hours on Saturday and got into camp late. There was a costume contest going on that we watched and that left no time to ride. I vetted Gem in without issues and was actually commended for how well she trotted out. The nerves hit hard and I stooped so low that I begged the hubs to vet Pete in and join us (why I have no pictures). Pete is a draft cross and looks extremely out of place at a ride camp filled with thin legged, narrow built, short Arabians. The vet looked at him oddly, but passed him through and all was well. He hadn't planned to ride, but Pete joined us on all our conditioning rides so I figured he would be ok.

I had bought a bunch of food to bring to the pot luck dinner and so we headed over. Wow. I have never, ever come across such a rude group ever in my life. It was horrible. We sat around talking and happened to be right next to the door to the food room. When dinner was announced, we watched as everyone literally ran, pushing to get in. We decided to wait a bit. Someone laughed at us saying that if we didn't hurry, we would go hungry, but we thought little of it since we had seen the enormous amount of food. Then we began to notice that a lot of people were leaving with two or three plates heaped with food. Hmmm...maybe they got it for someone else? Then we saw people who had brought their own big tray and covered that with food. By the time we got in there was absolutely nothing left. Not a scrap and we weren't even at the end of the line! We sat down empty handed and got laughed at with a big "I told you so" and then watched all those adults throw away most of the greedy food they had hoarded onto their plates. We managed to make it through the riders meeting and slunk back to our camp to eat PB&J and vowed to never attend another potluck like that again.

The only memorable thing about the meeting was the older vet yelling at everyone. Apparently the trail had claimed a lot of horses that day and even more turned up lame Sunday morning. People were riding too fast for the trail conditions and he was angry.

It was a month later now and even colder and the tent looked even less inviting. We decided that sleeping inside the trailer with our sleeping bags would get us a little off the cold ground and might be warmer. It was warmer, but the smell of the new rubber flooring combined with horse manure made for a night of little sleep. Gem and Pete were safely in their new corral or so we thought. A big storm blew in overnight and the hubs and I woke up in the wee hours to a sound like a horse galloping around. Hubby went and checked it out, but all looked okay so we went back to sleep. Morning came eventually and we had a new reason to love our horses. The storm had blown part of the corral down so they could have easily wandered off. Instead they stayed right where they were and acted like it was intact.

With frozen fingers we gave each a half dose of electrolytes, looked up at the cloudy sky threatening to rain and tacked up. We started off toward the back of the pack and headed out. This ride had the same loop twice with the 50 minute hold back at camp. The trail started off sandy and wide, but quickly delved into the woods and became a single track that twisted and turned like crazy with little rocks but a ton of roots. It just so happens that this is Gem and Pete's favorite type of trail so we were set. We immediately got lost due to a complete lack of trail markings and the presence of a huge intersection of 5 trails all with hoof prints. We ended up waiting for the people behind us to catch up and followed them.

We played leap frog with them for the entire first loop and ended back at camp in decent time. Gem pulsed in a 46 bpm and Pete right at 64. Pete trotted out poorly like Gem had the ride before and the vet worried about his hind legs, but gave the ok in the end. We threw blankets over them because it had gotten really cold during the ride and settled in for the hold. Pete ate and drank like crazy, but Gem just nibbled. She continued to drink well.

Off we went again. When we got to the trail head Pete did a quick u-turn and looked at the hubs like he was an idiot. He had really enjoyed the first half, but was not ready to go out again. The hubs just urged him back around and we continued on. We knew the way this time, but somehow managed to be dead last and only saw riders as they past us going the other way. The sky let loose somewhere around mile 15 and we finished the last 10 miles getting wet because we had no rain gear with us. Ooops.

As we came into camp we got the distinct impression that we had just inconvenienced everyone by taking so long to complete the ride. Nevermind that we had 6 hours to do it in and came in with a total time of 4 hours 32 minutes, 3 hrs 42 min ride time, and we looked at each other and seriously thought about turning around and going again just to piss everyone off. We didn't want to do that to the horses though so we continued to vet them in. Gem came in at a pulse of 48 and Pete at 64 but the requirement was for 60. After a few minutes of hand walking him around he came down and was awarded a completion. Go Pete!

We stuck around, in the rain, for the award ceremony, but shouldn't have. As they read off the completion names they ran out of prizes and said that they had forgotten about the Sunday people. Also, the night before they had given a special award for the last place person (a common occurrence at rides) called the turtle award for spending so much time in the saddle. Since the hubs had been last we figured he might get a bottle of wine too, but alas they had forgotten about Sunday events. I almost raised my hand to ask if I could have forgotten to pay for my Sunday events as well, but the hubs stopped me.

All in all the actual riding was fun, but camp was a disaster. On the way home we talked about it and if that was how it was going to be I decided it wasn't worth spending my hard earned money to be treated that way when I could trail ride with the hubs for free. I seriously thought that was the end of my endurance days.

 

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Four Weeks To Make Changes

"Don't take things too seriously - live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets"

- Unknown

Four weeks wasn't enough time to make any major changes and have time to make sure no new problems were created. There were some areas that definitely needed tweaking though.

 

On my end it was camping supplies for the horses. There was no magical barn at the next ride, so camping it was. The hubs had spent his time in camp looking at the various methods. Three stood out as the most common: creating a high tie for the horses, adding an extended arm to the trailer, or using a portable corral.

High tie example

Trailer example

Portable corral example

 

Well, the high tie seemed like a royal pain in the butt to set up and it required either trees or posts to be present. It was highly unlikely that we would do this. The trailer arm was interesting, but I worried how Gem would sleep without getting caught in the rope. That left the portable corral. The hubs agreed it was the best option for us and he researched what was out there. It arrived just before we left for the next ride.

On Gem's end it was trotting on the lead. Of course this wasn't her fault because I had never bothered to teach her. It took all of 10 minutes. She is a very smart horse. I took her to the indoor arena and made her stand. Then I said "ready? Lets go" and jogged off. At first she walked along behind me but I encouraged her to trot (she knows voice commands) and eventually she did. I stopped as soon as she trotted 5 steps and praised her. Lather, rinse, repeat. By the end she was trotting off smartly each time I said "ready? Lets go". I made a huge difference at the next ride. Other than that I just rode her as normal which at the time was 2 days a week in the arena and 1 day on trails.

Finally, I looked into electrolytes. Pretty much every rider uses them for the horse to some degree or another. Some add it to the grain daily, others have it in liquid form and syringe it into the mouth after rides, others mix it with applesauce and syringe. Each rider has their own equation as to how much and how often to give it. I still have no real clue what works best for Gem, but I planned on giving her a half dose the night before the ride, a half dose in the morning, a half dose at the hold and maybe another at the end depending on how she was doing.

Then ride weekend came and it started all over again :)

 

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Draw-o-Rama: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Overall it definitely could have gone worse. I knew so little and was so unprepared and still managed to finish with a sound and relatively happy horse. She was tired when we got back and slept the whole next day, but was otherwise fine.

So what went well?

1. Stalling the horses. We were woefully unprepared to camp. We aren't completely stupid though and spent time spying on other people's set up to figure out what we would do
2. Riding with the ladies. Like I said before, I do believe I would have finished, but it would have been stressful and no where near as fun or as educational
3. Pre riding part of the trail the day before. Gem knew the trail and I had a decent idea of what to expect and the distance for at least half of it
4. She drank extremely well. She even stopped at puddles to drink when she was thirsty. She definitely takes care of herself in this regard
5. No lameness and no sores from tack for Gem
6. Having the hubs to crew. The check was in camp so technically I had everything I needed, but having him there to hold her and help figure out the vetting process was a big bonus
7. Her pulses were awesome. Half way she was 48 and at the very end she was 50, well below the required 64 and 60.

So what went poorly?

1. Gem didn't eat much. She would graze on the trail when given a chance and munched on her hay at the trailer at the hold and end, but didn't touch much of her grain
2. The bridle had to go. While it didn't rub, it was a royal pain in the rear to take it all the way off and exchange it for her halter so I could vet her
3. The saddle was ok for her, but my left knee ached from mile 20 to the end and put me in a horrible position
4. She rode up the horses butt in front of her annoying both that horse and rider and myself throughout most of the ride.
5. The photographer took pictures Sunday, but never posted them so I missed out on getting a ride photo
6. We felt like complete outcasts and besides the ladies during the ride, nobody gave us a second glance even when we tried to start a conversation. This was a big bummer since the rides cost quite a bit not including the gas to get there and time. We figured it would take time and this wouldn't scare us off just yet
7. She refused to trot out on the lead line because I had never bothered to teach her to do it. It almost cost us the ride

Gear used:

• Wintec AP English saddle with regular English stirrups. Fit Gem, but hurt my knee and put me in a bad riding position
• Fleece lined square cotton saddle pad with pockets in red and black - loved this pad
• Leather bridle with full cheek French link snaffle bit. Pain in the rear
• Regular cotton riding pants, leather half chaps and Ariat tennis style riding shoes. Ok, but not great
• Hay from the barn grown on the property, her regular Strategy grain, carrots
• Barefoot. I did get a bunch of comments about how terrible it was to ride her barefoot and a lot more glares. She does very well barefoot, wasn't foot sore at all and I'd do it again barefoot in a heartbeat

I had a serious post ride high that lasted 3 solid days. I'm not sure Gemmie felt the same, but I gave her the week off entirely and then light work the week after. I wanted to do another one and knew the season ended at the end of the month. I found a ride 5 hours away in Illinois on Halloween weekend and the hubs okayed it so I signed us up again :)

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Draw-o-Rama: Oct 2011 Ride Story

"It makes an enormous difference to the enjoyment of life if one is able to get out and stretch one's legs every day"

- Robert Falcon Scott

Sunday morning arrived and I was frozen, tired and sore. I cursed myself for having this stupid idea in the first place and put on as many layers as I could and still be able to function. I can't recall exactly what breakfast was, but it was something unhealthy and not filling. We broke camp, loaded the horses and went to base camp.

Surprisingly we got a great spot right next to the vetting area for the trailer and I began to get Gem ready. I also began to have a mild panic attack at this point. I could barely get Gem calm in an arena alone and had never gone down the trail solo before. I had a half hour before starting out on 25 miles alone. Was I that insane?

Eventually I got on and began to ride in small circles as tense as possible warm her up. Remember that horse and rider equals 10 thing? Yeah, that went right out the window. She was tense, I was tense and it was going downhill fast.

Who is more tense here?

Then the best thing happened: a family group that I will call "the ladies" (a granddaughter, mother, and granddaughter) came over and asked if I would like to join them. Are you serious? YES! I most certainly would! Just having them around calmed me down which in turn calmed Gem down. I do believe I would have finished the ride on my own in the 6 hours allotted, but I doubt it would have been enjoyable. I honestly owe this completion to them.

The trail opened and off we went at a brisk trot. I had imagined a group of horses galloping to the trail head in a rush to get the lead. In reality, a few people headed out while everyone else waited to get some space and eventually the ride got underway. The first loop ended up being the exact trail the hubs and I rode the day before. The trail was double wide track winding through the woods with mostly sand and some rocks. There were rare flat stretches, but it was mostly up and down short, but steep hills. It was really interesting to see the pace they kept up over the various footings. Lesson #3 learned: quit being a wuss about footing.

Heading out. See you in 12 miles!

I quickly became aware of an issue that kept occurring throughout this ride: Gemmie trotted faster than their horses. I had no interest in yanking on her mouth for 25 miles to get her to do a slower unnatural pace.This put her up their butts making both rider and horse unhappy and she eventually got kicked. Knowing what I do now, I should have parted ways to allow her to ride at her own pace, but instead we kept with them and at some points we were able to get in front for a while which gave Gem a break.

We got to the turn around point and here is where the riders meeting really let me down. Apparently there was a bag of clothes pins on a tree and you had to grab one to prove that you didn't cheat and cut the trail short. If it wasn't for the ladies informing me of this small, but crucial fact I would have been disqualified and extremely angry. As it was, I had help and we were off again. Gem drank really well from the water trough both times and even stopped at a puddle to get a drink as well.

At some point on the way back she got annoyed with the deeper sand on the trail and began to hug the side by the woods. I generally allow her to choose her own footing, so I was okay with this. Lesson #4 learned: pay attention. I smacked right into a tree trunk, ok it was a limb but it felt like a tree trunk, right across my left ear. It felt like my ear had been ripped off. I felt it and noted some bleeding, but it was still attached and so I kept my mouth shut.

As we neared camp for the 50 minute hold I began to worry about her recovery. Lesson #5: at least have a basic understanding of your horses heart rate at baseline and with activity prior to doing a ride. I told the ladies to go on ahead of me if we didn't pulse down, but they said they would wait anyway. As it turned out Gem came off the trail at 48 bpm (64 bpm max limit). Gem thought I had lost my mind when I asked her to trot out for the vet. She had just gone 12 miles, wasn't that enough? Lesson #6: teach your horse to trot on the lead line before the ride. I eventually got a kinda trot kinda walk out of her which made the vet concerned that she was lame and she told me to try again at the end of the hold. I let Gem eat (which she didn't do), drink (which she did do) and nap while I failed to try to get myself to eat whatever garbage we had brought.

Coming in from loop 1

50 minutes later I took her back and she trotted and we were allowed to continue on. The granddaughters horse took a while to pulse down so the ladies had 4 minutes longer to wait and then we were off again.

Heading back out on loop 2

Loop 2 was very similar to loop 1 in terms of terrain and happenings. We continued to fight to keep off the horse in front of us and she kept drinking. For some unknown reason there were no clothes pins at the turn around point on this section. On the way back I got out in front and allowed Gem to just go and we were doing fine until mile 20. I went up in my post. She went down and to the left. I came down on my feet next to her looking very confused. She, on the other hand, was looking smug. The ladies were trying not to laugh. Apparently, they said, she had been timing it all along and hit it spot on. At this point I no longer felt sorry for dragging her through this and was very glad she had 5 miles to go. Served her right!

We came to the "2 miles to camp" sign and I decided to tell the ladies to go ahead without me. Gem had started to ask to walk some of the hills that they trotted and I wanted her to be sound and happy at the end. I also figured she was too tired to pull too much crap and it would be a good chance to get some solo miles in. And lastly I felt like I had intruded on their family ride enough and they deserved to finish without me. As I waited with Gem for them to get out of sight another lady passed us as well. This actually does matter in the end, so hang in there!

We survived those 2 miles just fine. We had some issues with her trying to canter when I just wanted to walk, but she didn't spook or try anything funny.

Almost finished

One of my fav pics

We came in to camp and stripped her tack as quickly as possible (stupid bridle!) and vetted in. She was at 50 bpm (60 bpm max) and actually trotted sorta better and.....we completed! We actually came in 8th place with a total time of 4 hrs 21 mins, ride time of 3 hrs 29 mins, which means we top 10ed. I didn't know at the time, but that is a big deal. Had we kept with the ladies I would have had a chance to be in the top 6, depending on how everyone pulsed down, and got a water bucket as a prize. I was still glad I did it that way and got my baseball hat as a completion prize which is my favorite hat to this day.

To end quickly, we stayed for the awards ceremony and then packed up and headed home healthy, happy and tired.

A very tired Gemmie

On a side note:

Apparently the hubs got bored on the second loop and decided to ride Pete bareback around camp. Pete was bored as well and took off bucking. People screamed that there was a loose horse in camp until they saw the hubs and then they laughed and got back to whatever it was they were doing. They are such a great team!

 

 

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Draw-o-Rama: Oct 2011-Saturday

"Those who guide the world now may think they are doing quite well: so perhaps did the dodo"

-Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Nothing beats being completely ignorant and naive when walking into a new situation. At least that way you can be happily unaware of all you are missing, all you don't know and all that could go wrong.

Saturday morning we loaded Gem and Pete up along with a bunch of hay and grain and headed out. For about 5 minutes until I realized we left our Coggins papers at home (needed to ride to prove the horse didn't have a disease). This posed a problem. We lived up a very steep, narrow and twisting road and didn't want to take the trailer up it, but also didn't want to unload the horses and unhook the trailer. That left one option: park at the bottom and have the hubs run the mile up the 12% grade, get the papers and come back down. He needed the work out anyway.

Off we went again and 3 hours later arrived at camp. We were totally unprepared to camp having no clue what to do with the horses. It didn't matter tho because an amazingly nice woman from an online forum lived just down the road and had offered up her barn for us to use. Sometimes people rock. I was totally lost at camp. People were everywhere and I had no clue where to go or what to do. I found an official looking guy with a clipboard, walked up to him and told him I was new and confused. He handed me a ride card then promptly took it back an folded it properly since he could tell I was bound to screw even that up and pointed me to the vets.

Base Camp

I vetted Gem in which surprisingly went smoothly even though neither us of knew what was going on.

Gemmie being vetted in

Filling out the rider card

My first riders card

We then tacked up the horses and took a short, slow trail ride. We mostly walked, but trotted some. I wanted to get a feel for the trails and we wanted Pete to have some fun. The trail had some decent, short hills and some really rocky areas, but was wide enough for two horses to ride side by side. I was pretty wimpy about where we could trot thinking most of the trail was too steep or too wet or too rocky. Looking back I was being an idiot.

I had never taken Gem for a trail ride where water was available and actually never even thought about it. Apparently drinking can be a problem for some horses, especially ones new to the sport. Again, ignorance is bliss. There was a water trough that we came across and Gem was either being super brave or she was thirsty enough not to care because she took a nice long drink. We continued down the trail and then figured we went far enough and turned around about a mile farther down. As we came back across the water trough I figured we didn't need to stop since we just did and walked past. Gemmie was not happy with that decision, spun around with her ears pinned back, went and drank again. Ooops. Lesson #1 learned: allow Gem to drink at every opportunity.

We ended back at camp in time to untack and head over to the house. We dropped them off in the paddock she had available and went back to base camp for dinner and the riders meeting. I had high hopes for the meeting. I had read about all the information that I would glean about the next days ride from the incredibly important meeting. That might actually happen at some rides, but definitely not this one. What I learned was that we would start at 8. The first part left from camp heading right and was roughly 6 miles out and then turn around and come back. 50 minute hold with a 64 bpm pulse requirement then head out of camp to the left, across the street and 6.5 miles down turn around and come back. There were some crucial tidbits left out like what color ribbon to follow, were they on the left or right side of the trail, completion time, oh and something else I would learn the next day that could have led to a big DNF.

We stuck around for a bit, but completely felt like we were outsiders begging for a friend. We sat around the bonfire and tried to talk to people, but got ignored and eventually gave up. We headed back to the house and that woman was awesome! We stayed up way too late laughing and joking around and she made the whole trip worthwhile. We pitched a tent in her barnyard and crashed for the night.

Lesson #2 learned: October in Wisconsin is cold. When you haven't camped in 10 years and didn't remember to bring half your stuff, that tiny cramped 2 person tent that you fit in alone at 16 years of age isn't so great when you try to fit in two 30 year olds. And the ground is a lot harder than you remember it being. And colder.

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New Barn, New Attitude

"In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefor, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high"

- Thoreau

The new barn was great. An indoor arena, outdoor jump arena with a full set of jumps, outdoor dressage arena with the gazebo and plastic geese of doom, and trails with cross country jumps. Gem and Pete had a pasture all to themselves and I could take riding clothes to work and stop on my way home.

New spaces meant new reasons to act like she had never been ridden before and we began the process of learning how to be calm all over again. She settled in pretty well to the indoor and outdoor jump arenas but I never did get her 100% relaxed in the dressage arena. The gazebo and plastic geese that were behind it were just too scary. It didn't help that the one time I finally convinced her that there were no monsters in the field behind the arena, a baby deer jumped out and caused her to have a meltdown. Oh and there were chickens around there too and she hates chickens. You just can't trust a chicken.

The property was set up with a lane that ran from the barn and indoor arena to the owners house with the pastures on either side. It was perhaps 0.15 of a mile long, maybe 0.25. One day I decided that we were going to ride down the lane to cool down. All by ourselves. I rode her out of the jump arena, turned left down the lane and 40 minutes of my life that I will never get back later we arrived at the dressage arena of doom at the far end of the lane. She would walk 2 steps, turn 180 degrees and try to charge back to the barn. I'd turn her back around and repeat. Ok, that sucked, but we got there in one piece with me still in the saddle, so I let her graze as a reward and then turned around. 30 seconds later and we were back at the barn. I was still in on piece and in the saddle, but that wasn't acceptable behavior either so, to torture myself even more, I turned her around and back down the lane we went. When we moved out 2 years later I had her trotting down the lane without a fuss. It may take us forever, but we get there eventually.

Things kept progressing fairly nicely at the farm. I had at some point decided to become an adult and put my big girl panties on and really began to ride Gem. Oh, she still threw her tantrums and had days where she just wouldn't listen to a darn thing I said, but I learned that if I just sat up there calmly and ignored her she would get bored and settle into work. I read something online that stuck with me and helped a ton:

A horse and rider should always equal 10. If the horse is a 2 that day and being lazy, the rider needs to be an 8. If the horse is Gem and is a spaz at a 9, then I need to be a 1.

We even began doing gymnastic jumping lines. We rode in every arena and down the lane like big girls and had fun doing it.

Then one day at work something remarkable happened. Ok, I'm exaggerating again, but it was pretty awesome. One of the docs I worked with mentioned that she had a friend who did endurance riding. Would I be interested in having dinner with them? Um...you bet! I had researched endurance numerous times and been to the AERC (American endurance ride conference) website and read through all the education materials, but it seemed daunting to me. The conditioning plans seemed impossible to follow, the rides confusing and the rules numerous. I gave up before I ever began. Now I could talk it out with someone and learn from an experienced rider.

 

We met for dinner and I learned a ton. She had been at it for 10 years doing shorter distances on her mare and longer on her gelding. No, I didn't need a special saddle. No, I didn't need a special bridle. No, I didn't need a specific 6 day a week training program. No, I didn't need a house on wheels rig and could just use a tent. All I needed was passion and a sound horse. Well, I had that for sure. She suggested I start with a shorter distance and work my way up. She also pointed me to the local endurance club website for rides.

 

I was pumped! I looked at the ride calendar and luckily for the hubby (isn't he such a lucky guy?) there was a ride 3 hours away on our anniversary weekend. What better way to spend it than camping and watching me ride for hours on end? For some odd reason he actually agreed to it and I signed up for the 25 mile distance on Sunday. Actually, he agreed to it I because I had spent a Saturday morning in May freezing my butt off at 5 am for 4 hours watching him run his first half marathon (no, he wasn't that slow, but they had to be dropped off at the start super early and I didn't want to miss anything) only to cross the finish line swearing, bleeding and in a generally crappy mood and he owed me. Freezing in May? It was Wisconsin and it snowed. In May. My God am I happy to be out of there.

 

You want me to go how far?!

 

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