Stupidity Strikes Again

You would think that after spending over 30 years on this planet that I would learn some basic life skills. Namely: IF IT ISN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!

I ride in an Advantage Saddle which is a western based endurance saddle. I like it. Gem likes it. It is the first saddle that has ever truly fit the mare. She has gotten an A for back score at every ride. A normal person would just roll with it. Keep on keeping on and all that.

Not me. You see I suffer from something coined "Destination Addiction". Its the feeling that the next thing will be the perfect thing. The next job, the next saddle, the next house. Seriously, its the reason I've moved a dozen times and still keep looking for that "perfect" place. (Most recently it was asking the hubby if maybe we should move to New Mexico, yeah...I'm that crazy)

So I begin to tinker. Yes, this saddle is good...but what if I can find great?

For some reason my heart is set on a dressage saddle despite the fact that some of the highest mileage endurance people say not to. There are all sorts of reasons for this: the saddles have too small of a surface area, they are meant for flat work and cause odd pressure areas with hills, they are built for uphill horses etc....

I don't care. I want a dressage saddle. Two things have prevented me from jumping off the deep end: 1) I have no money at all and 2) I have yet to find a dressage saddle that fits the mare.

When thwarted by simple common sense and a hard to fit mare, the next best thing to do is ride in your current saddle as if it was a dressage saddle. Makes a lot of sense, no?

The Advantage saddle doesn't really force a chair seat, but it doesn't put you in a dressage position either because, well, it isn't a dressage saddle. I've never been sore in this saddle even after a 50, but that didn't stop me on Saturday from cranking my legs back and riding in a more classic dressage position. It felt good at the moment. My legs draped better around my mare and they hugged her sides. She didn't seem to notice either way.

We finished the ride and I patted myself on the back.

And then Sunday morning I couldn't move. I had a knife like pain in my IT band up in my left hip. I hobbled around and tried stretching it throughout the day to no avail. Dusty laughed at me and shook his head wondering if I will ever learn to just leave well enough alone.

Monday I was a bit better, but still super tight. I went to the barn for Gem's farrier appointment and went into a panic when I went to curry her back and she scooted away from me in pain. She was back sore. For the first time in 6 years. Even in the most awful fitting saddles, she was never back sore.

I flipped out. I texted Dusty that the 100 would have to be cancelled. That I would have to sell my saddle and go on a saddle hunt. That all was lost.

He then reminded me of my hair brain idea to ride in my saddle completely different for no apparent reason and that I was sore myself in a place I had never been sore before. He recommened massage. At least one of us is sane.

I massaged her loins where she was sore and she relaxed and began to chew. I rubbed and rubbed and when I was done she was fine.

I, on the other hand, am still incredibly tight at my left hip and all the stretching isn't doing much good. I am going to call my PT friend and ask them for some advice.

Lesson learned though. For now anyway. Don't fix something that isn't broken. Don't change just for the sake of change. At least not a month prior to a 100.

D'oh!

Conditioning Plan Check In (Weeks 7 and 6)

The first part of a conditioning plan is making one. Putting it in writing and figuring out what to do and when keeping in mind the desired outcome. The second part, equally as important, is keeping to it. I have decided to do biweekly checks on my plan to see what I have been able to do in real life. This will help me stay on track, realize what was actually doable and what wasn't, and will serve to help me look back after the ride to see if what we did worked.

Week 7: Weeknight: hill sets. Weekend: 20 miles, moderate pace with hills. Run Wed and Friday. Begin acclimating Gem to salt water. SUCCESS. 

I did hill sets at the barn and worked in the arena on Tuesday evening. Gem did great and put in a good effort even with the dreaded sandy footing.

I got my runs in as planned.

Sunday was a 15 mile ride at Kings Mountain at a great pace for the conditions. It was 5 miles short because the trail wasn't as long as it claimed to be and I was in no mood to turn around and back track 2.5 miles to just turn around again. Gem wasn't either and the 5 miles shy isn't a big deal.

I totally forgot the salt to add to the water bucket. It was a cool day (high got to be around 45 during the ride and cloudy) and she barely broke a sweat so she didn't really need it anyway.

Week 6:  Weeknight: arena work. Weekend: 20 miles with hills, moderate pace. Run Wed and Friday. Get shoes on Gem. Hope they work out. PARTIAL SUCCESS.

Tuesday night we did work in the grass jump field working on staying soft and fluid. We did serpentines, figure 8s and circles with canter work thrown in as well. Gem was on her A game and we had a lovely ride as the sun set.

I ran as scheduled.

Shoes were put off until the following Monday due to the farrier's schedule, so only a day off from the week's plan.

The weekend was fantastic and left me grinning all weekend, but yo already read all about that. 20 great miles at a great pace.

Gemmie's New Kicks

One thing I adore about endurance is the constant learning curve that comes with it. I fully believe that you have to have a 100% open mind when it comes to this sport plus the ability to understand that there are about 1000 different ways to achieve the same thing and no one way is better than another or written in stone. What works today might not work tomorrow. What works for one horse, might not work for another. What works for one rider, might be detrimental to another. Constant learning, constant changes, constant challenges. 

What has worked for us thus far has been going barefoot. At a back of the pack pace for LD type distances, I still think barefoot is fine. When I jumped to 50s though, I began to get a bit iffy on the whole barefoot idea. To be clear, by barefoot I mean 100% barefoot. Not booted.  Gem did fine on her 50s barefoot, but the rocky one made my stomach turn a bit and the sandy one wore her hooves down so much that I worried she wouldn't have any left.

The biggest issue I have with barefoot isn't lameness or hoof wear though. It is all about ride strategy. The best thing I was ever told regarding endurance was the following which came from a 10,000 mile plus rider:

"Never tarry, never hurry"

It is a quote that runs through my head every time I ride. Look at the trail and make speed when you can and slow down when you need to for safety and longevity.

When going barefoot this doesn't always work out. Most trails I have ridden, whether for conditioning or in a ride, have been fairly technical with some flatter, easy gravel roads thrown in. Those flat, gravel roads are perfect for making up time and allowing you to slow down over the harder portions of the trail. Except, when I am riding barefoot I need to slow down on the gravel and then make up time on the hills or twisting forest trails. Not the best strategy.

I tried boots and loved how they reduced my stress regarding the trail. I could let Gem boogie on down the trail knowing that her hoofsies were protected and then let her slow down to pick her way around the tougher sections. Of course the boots didn't work out and added their own level of stress trying to make sure they were on, getting off to fix them and in general causing strife, but the feeling of freedom to move down the trail didn't leave me and made me ache to have it once again. If you don't already follow Liz over at In Omnia Paratus, please read her last post. She articulates the frustrations boots can bring and the decision to go with shoes very well.

So that meant shoes. But what type of shoes? I spent countless hours researching this, reading websites, looking up sources, talking to professionals and picking the brains of long time, high mileage endurance folks. Steel, aluminum, composite, ground control, epona, easycare, Razor, some fancy British racing shoes I can't recall the name of....so many shoes. So many promises of greatness. So much baloney.

In the end I decided to go with the Easycare Performance NG shoe. It fits in well with my own beliefs and functions as I would want a shoe to function. I had talked to my farrier in February about them and it turned out they were also his favorite shoe as well. I 100% trust my farrier. Not only is he the ride farrier at Biltmore (a huge plus), but has been the USA endurance team farrier in the past and was asked to be the team farrier this season as well. I think I can trust his opinion when it comes to shoeing the endurance horse.

Yesterday was shoe day. He pulled in 20 minutes early. I was shocked. Happy shocked. He had an apprentice with him who got busy trimming Pete while main farrier talked to me about what I wanted, my plans and why what I wanted wouldn't work. Wait...what?

I asked for NGs all around and he laughed. The NG is a round shoe. They are made for front hooves and while he will put them on hinds when made to, he thinks it is an expensive waste of a shoe. Gem's hinds are very narrow and long (the reason the boots wouldn't work) and he said they would be too wide for her which would not only make them function improperly, but would have a high risk of her stepping on them and ripping them off. I was thankful that he was honest and didn't waste my money. She ended up getting hot shod with steel on the hinds. I asked a dozen times if it would throw her off having two different types of shoes on and he said no about a dozen times.

He did like the idea of NGs on her fronts though. She got trimmed and I was happy to see that after about 8 months she has a brand new hoof capsule to the floor. All the weird flaring is now gone and the vertical line from the injury in the medial hoof wall is remaining superficial. The scar tissue has made her heel bulbs contract pretty significantly which was a known potential complication, but there isn't much to do about it but trim and work her. Main Farrier did say that he has yet to see a horse not increase the heel width in these shoes after two cycles. We will see.

I watched the process like a hawk and annoyed the snot out of him with a million questions. I wanted to learn all I could about the application process. He began with the trim and then scuffed up her hoof wall with the rasp. He did not use any flame to dry the hoof wall as I have seen on the Easycare videos and in his experience has not had any lost shoes.

He placed Adhere glue to the medial and lateral cuff , but did not use any on the sole of the hoof. He then slapped it on and nailed two nails per side. Borium nails were mentioned to me by two different people and so I asked him his thoughts. He stocks the nails, but in his opinion they are too much for normal conditions and he only uses them is really wet weather. He said that he would have them available at Biltmore and if it was wet to stop by and he would add them.

Once the glue dried, he added more to the outer cuff to seal the hoof wall to it. It wasn't the prettiest job since he didn't have latex gloves, but it was functional. After both shoes were on, he went back and added Equipak soft packing material to the center of each sole. He only filled it to the foam dam to prevent any sole pressure, but he said that leaving it open was just asking for a stone bruise. It dried quickly, he rasped the glue on the hoof wall to make it smoother and we were nearly done.

The last step was to rasp the sole at the toe to make a better break over point. He does this on every horse to reduce the torque.

Throughout the process he kept telling me that I should just apply them myself. He could come trim if I wanted, but that I was wasting money getting him to apply them. I am very much uncomfortable with the idea of nailing anything to my horse, but he was adamant that I should at least try it next time with his supervision. I may. We will see.

Gem looked great and moved off well afterward. I am giving her a couple days in the pasture to get used to them before working her. It is supposed to be very wet Thursday and Friday, so we will see what all I can get in.

Farrier will come out the week before the ride to put new shoes on her. If it was a 50, he would just have me run her in these, but for a 100 he likes shoes being a week out. The plan is to see how she does with conditioning in them and throw the next set on before the 100 and then pull them afterward. I don't have another ride on my calendar, regardless of how we do in the 100, until the fall due to a jam packed summer so there is no need to keep her shod.

Checking all these items off my to do list is feeling really good and making me super excited for the ride!!!

Clemson...How I Miss Thee

The last time I rode at Clemson was last fall when I RO out of the Equathon after a major boot failure. Prior to moving on this side of town, Clemson was the only place I rode due to the close proximity. Now it is 90 minutes away and that just isn't all that doable that often.

Saturday though, I made it happen. I wanted a solid 20 miles and I knew that if I went back there and did my favorite green (6.5 mile) loop to red (9 mile) loop and back to green (6.5 mile) loop that it would be just right. 

I took Karen's advice from my Kings Mountain post and fed Gem pre ride. I fed her at the barn before loading her and hauling the 90  minutes. She ate like a pig, licking the bucket clean and then munched on her hay the entire ride. I offered her some water to start, but she declined. While I waited at the trail head, I let her hand graze on the grass as well as have at her hay net.

My friend Sheree has been bringing her mare back from Lymes disease and met me at the trail head. The day was overcast, cool and threatened to rain, all of which were perfect conditions for a long ride. Gem rides super well with her mare and we hit the ground running.

I didn't take pictures because I was having too much fun and I already have about a thousand pictures of these same trails. The forest floor was a bright green that nearly hurt the eyes after a long colorless winter. The wild wisteria, dogwoods and apple trees were all in bloom overhead creating a dazzling array of colors throughout. We passed several other riders, hikers and mountain bikers along the way.

Once we were on the green loop I remembered why I adore these trails. They are probably my favorite trails I have ever ridden. It is pretty much all single track super technical trail with some stretches of access roads to move out on. The footing is near perfect with some roots and rocks here and there, but is mainly hard pack forest dirt and clay. The best is that the trail is rarely ever flat. It is almost always going up or down. It is the perfect place to condition.

The miles flew by under the mares' hooves and Gem was a saint the entire time. I rode in the side pull again and she seems to have really taken to it now. I'm not sure I trust her enough at race start, but I believe that eventually we will get there.

Green is a nice warm up with less steep climbs and better views of the lake. Once you hit red, you are in for it. The trail never goes straight for more than a few feet and a lot of turns are 90 degree or more. I was grinning as we flew through them and at times even held my arms out like an airplane and said "zoom!" I think Sheree thought I had lost my mind.

Ok...I'm not a cartographer or an artist, so this map kinda sucks but it gives you a general idea of how the loops are set up:

Green takes off going counterclockwise from parking and then about 5.5 miles later you get to a road crossing (the double black lines) and can cross the road and head back to camp a mile later or make a right turn and start on red. Red then loops around and comes back to itself and you can turn right and head back to parking or make a left and follow green the opposite direction to do it backwards.

Once we hit the end of red, Sheree headed back to parking and I pointed Gem left to go do green backwards to get the rest of our miles in.

She wasn't too thrilled with the idea and was pretty pokey and annoyed about parting ways with her friend. It took about a half a mile or so to make her focus again, but once she did she was on fire. She moved out beautifully after already having gone so far over really hard trail and by the time we reached the 20th mile she laid down a 7 mph mile and I was thrilled.

Back at the trailer, I gave her a wet mash (I keep playing around with the consistency of it making it more and less wet and think I have finally found the consistency that she likes) which she ate, but not as ravenously as before so I think feeding her prior to loading her up was a great idea. Thanks Karen!!

She looked awesome at the end. Wasn't tired and could have gone back out and done more.  We finished the 20 miles in 3 hours and had just shy of 2,000 feet of elevation gain.

The Effect of Boarding Far Away

Gem has now lived at two barns in OH, two barns in WI, two barns when we lived an hour from where we do now, and three barns over this way. That's nine different barns. We left each one for very different reasons (moving, barn foreclosed, BO issues, feed issues, etc..) and each had its pros and cons.

With all the moves Gem has lived as close as being in my back yard to as far away as an hour down the turnpike with a toll every time I went to see her. By far my favorite location was the second barn in WI when she was only 10 minutes away, but right smack on my way home from work so it was super easy to bring clothes with me and stop after work. My least favorite location was an hour up the turnpike because not only was it super far away, but paying a toll each way was really annoying.

The last barn was seven minutes from the house and now she has been moved to just about forty minutes away (thankfully no tolls though). This has produced some interesting effects.

I would have thought that moving her further away would be a royal pain in my butt. I would have guessed that I would have seen her less, rode less often and not wanted to go see her due to the long drive. Lets face it, an eighty minute round trip drive basically means that a ride at the barn takes up at least half a day even when I only ride for an hour.

Now, after her being up there for nearly three months, I can honestly say that I am surprised with the reality of it.

I have found myself being at the barn more regularly, but wanting to trailer to trails less and less.

The second is easy to explain. After driving forty minutes there and knowing that I will have a forty minute drive back home afterward, my desire to then add an hour trailer ride on top of that is severely diminished. I do it because I need to for proper conditioning, but I believe that if the endurance ride wasn't looming in the distance, that I would instead choose to do more arena work versus trail riding. Hopefully, once I get a pass to the local FETA system the ten minute haul to the trail head will resolve this new found malaise.

The first part is more intriguing. When Gem was so close, it was easy to say "I will go later today" and then later becomes even later and next thing I knew I hadn't gone at all. With a longer drive, planning my visits is more important and I find myself looking at the weather, scanning my work schedule, and plotting with Dusty for Wyatt's pick up from school well in advance so as to get to the barn and enjoy the time there. This forces me to go at a scheduled time rather than just playing it by ear which usually resulted in not going at all.

In addition, I adore the location of the farm, the semi private nature of the barn, the happy nature of my beast and the ability to use an arena or jump field for training. Last night, I left work in a funky mood and yet still needed to get to the barn as it was my scheduled day. I arrived debating on not even riding, but saddled up and had the most beautiful sunset ride. Gem was responsive, moved fluidly and lightly, and was an overwhelming pleasure to be with. I ended the ride a bit early to snatch the last bit of daylight to hand graze her in the upper field.

There are some downsides to having her so far away. A quick stop isn't in the cards. An afternoon at the barn is truly an all afternoon affair. I liked being able to just drive by randomly and see her out in the pasture, but the BO is great at sending me text updates and pictures randomly which helps.

All in all this move has been a wonderful change for the Dynamic Duo and has helped keep me on track with my riding and the care they are getting is top notch.

King's Mountain Ride

I apologize right off the bat for no pictures. My hands were warmly tucked into my gloves which are apparently not touch screen compatible. 

The hunter pace got cancelled again last weekend. I don't know what is gong on with the season. On the plus side, it saves me some money so there is that. Saturday was a gorgeous sunny day with a mild breeze and we spent the afternoon at the barn so Dusty could get Pete out. He has lost a good bit of weight since moving him and now he just needs exercise to tone up. We are really hoping to lease him out this summer to a friend of the BO which would help us with board costs and help Pete get some exercise.

The BO was busy mending fences and I mentioned to her that I would be trailering out the next day to ride if she wanted to come with. She was game and so Sunday morning Gem and Tristan found themselves heading to King's Mountain for a 20 mile ride.

Gem was hilarious. BO has opened up a new section for them which abuts her geldings' pasture so that they can talk over the fence and it gives them access to a small shelter as well. Most of the time, all four horses are chilling near each other. I pulled in, screamed my typical hello and then proceeded to go behind the barn to hook up the trailer. Gem watched me like a hawk and as I was hooking everything up, I heard thundering hooves as she took off snorting to the other end of her pasture. The BO laughed and asked if I wanted some treats to get her.

I never bribe my horse to come to me mostly because it doesn't work but also because I don't want Gem coming to me just because I have food. In fact, I rarely give her treats at all these days. After I loaded the trailer up with my tack and made room for BO I went to get Gem. She was hiding behind a small strand of trees. I called for her and she went screaming past me snorting and farting and carrying on. I turned and stood still watching her as she pranced, tail flagged. About a minute or so later, without me moving a muscle, she came trotting over to me and stood as I patted her head and put the bridle on her. She just always needs to have her opinion heard.

Bonus with having to make room in my extremely messy trailer (hey, it happens when you live out of it for all riding needs and have no access to a tack room for over a year): I found my red mohair girth!! I thought I had lost it back at the Clemson Equathon debacle last fall, but it apparently just fell into the dark recesses of the trailer and then got covered in hay. Yay!!

King's Mountain is a great little trail system. It only has one trail for horse use which online states is 20 miles in one description and 15 miles in another, both written by the State Park Foundation. The trail head is beautiful with a generous area for parking, a bathroom and a handicap accessible mounting block. There were several other trailers already parked when we arrived around 9:30 am. I decided to forgo the bit and just use the side pull since we had company along.

The trail is like a lollipop with about a 1.5 mile section of "stick" common trail leading away and back to the trail head and then a long "sucker" circle portion. The only other time I had been there, I rode out about 5 miles to a picnic area and then headed back, so I was excited to see the entire thing this time.

The trail began with bowling ball sized rocks which the horses picked around carefully. From there it narrowed down to a single track trail with mostly hard packed dirt footing with areas of large rocks mixed in. We covered the ground in a steady trot for mile after mile. The trail is nice in that it is rarely ever flat. While there are some steeper climbs/descents the trail is mostly rolling hills up or down the entire way. The BO, an eventer, was getting tired of posting and endless trot work when we came upon a lovely double wide section with no rocks and she looked back to ask if we could open it up a bit. I was more than game and we headed off at a nice little hand gallop.

From there we crossed several streams and continued to chat as the miles went by. At one point Tristan put on the breaks and snorted. Coming towards us was a whole pack of hikers, probably boy scouts, and he was none too sure about the back packs they were lugging. A big bonus of having a toddler is that Gem is pretty much accustomed to all sorts of weird gear including kid carrying back packs, strollers and wagons and she barely batted an eye.

Once those monsters were passed us, we carried on like before walking where the trail became super rocky, trotting most of it, and cantering where able.

It wasn't long before we reached the picnic area I had turned around at before and I knew we were about 5 miles out.

Gem was still going strong at the end although she was getting a bit snarky about 2 miles from the end. I was getting a little worried about her thinking maybe all the rocks had caused her to be sore or worse a stone bruise, but then she peeled off the trail and emptied her bladder with the most melodramatic moan of all time. Mareface hates to pee under saddle and will typically go in her pasture when she sees me coming, but didn't take the time to do so that morning.

The last two miles were back along the bowling ball sized rocks and we picked our way back. Both horses were barely sweaty at all and neither looked overly tired at the end. Gem was starving though. She had started to look for anything edible along the trail around mile 7 or 8 and once back at the trailer she devoured her hay bag in record time. Tristan barely touched his and she was greedily eying it up when I unloaded her back home.

My Garmin read about 13 miles, which given the history of using it means it was more likely 15 miles. We finished it in just over 2 1/2 hours which I was pleased with given the need to walk a good bit and the stops for the backpackers.

I typically don't feed Gem right before a ride. The feed won't be usable energy by the time we are finished riding and we leave early enough in the morning that she generally had breakfast within a couple of hours of loading up. She always gets feed at the end, but if she continues to get hungry while out on trail, I may begin to give her a smidge before we head out.

I forgot to take some salt with me to make a salt water bucket for after the ride. It wasn't really needed anyway given the weather and the tiny bit of sweat she produced under the saddle, so I am not sure she would have even drank it. I want to start getting her used to it before the May ride though.

It was a fantastic day out on the trails with good company, both horse and rider and I know Gem always appreciates the mental break that having another horse brings.








 

Organization. 7 weeks left!

I'm obsessed. Seriously. It isn't healthy.

All day long my thoughts drift off to the first weekend in May. I've read the website for the ride about a  hundred times. I could probably re write it by now. I've made plans in my head of when to head up, then changed them and then changed them back again.

I think I may need some intervention.

Last night I realized it is only 7 weeks away. Somehow that sounds shorter than saying 2 months. EEK!!

With so many thoughts banging around in my head at all times, stuffed between work and home life concerns, I think I need a single place to organize things. The plan below includes Gem's conditioning, my own conditioning and all the thiings that need to get done before the ride. I am back dating it to when her official conditioining began for the April ride since those  miles all count towards her fitness entering the 100.

Week 11: Weeknight: 12 miles. Weekend: 10 miles, fast pace.

Week 10: Weeknight: hill sets. Weekend: 10 miles, fast pace.

Week 9: Weeknight arena work. Weekend : 10-15 miles, moderate pace. Run Wed and Friday.

Week 8: Weeknight: arena work. Weekend: 10-15 miles, moderate pace with hills. Run Wed and Friday.

Week 7: Weeknight: hill sets. Weekend: 20 miles, moderate pace with hills. Run Wed and Friday. Begin acclimating Gem to salt water.

Week 6:  Weekight: arena work. Weekend: 20 miles with hills, moderate pace. Run Wed and Friday. Get shoes on Gem. Hope they work out.

Week 5: Weeknight: hill sets. Weekend: 10-12 miles, fast pace (hunter pace scheduled). Run Wed and Friday. Double check all gear for any signs of wear or weakness. Go over portable corral for missing parts and functioning charger. Order anything that requires replacing. Have dental work on Gem. Spring vaccines and new coggins.

Week 4: Weeknight: arena work. Weekend: 10-12 miles, fast pace (hunter pace scheduled). Run Wed and Friday.

Week 3: Weeknight: last hill sets. Weekend: 20 miles, moderate pace. Run Wed and Friday. Check supply of Grand Vite and alfalfa cubes. Wash and organize trailer. Turn 34 and hope hubby purchased the saddle pad I asked for.

Week 2: Weeknight: work in grass field to keep muscles loose and moving. Run Wed and Friday. Weekend: 10 - 12 miles, moderate to fast pace (hunter pace scheduled). Purchase compressed alfalfa. Confirm grass hay requirements with BO. Make sure all grain is fully stocked. Go over camping gear and portable corral to make sure everything is in working order. Order electrolye syringes from Running Bear to confirm they will be there upon arrival in camp. Figure out where to get some dry ice. Confirm plans with Liz about arrival.

Week 1: Rest for both of us. Wash all riding gear: pad, saddle, girth and bridle. Make sure headlamp has new batteries. Make sure Garmin is fully charged. Shop for human food and drink.  Pack up all camping gear and ride gear. Label buckets and tubs for ease of crewing. Get new set of shoes on Gem. Begin daily Grand Vite/alfalfa cube slurry. Don't forget to breathe.

And then we will be off!!!

Anything glaring I am missing from all of this??