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With all the talk about the recent PanAm - I figured I'd tell our story -
nothing glorious, but basically a successful ride. I'll give a little
background on getting to the ride first -

I started training and preparation for the PAC as soon as Jaziret got his
shoes in February. My plan was to do a 50 in April, then a 75 the end of
May, then a demonstration 100 in late June, and a 'toner' 50 in late July,
and the PAC 100 in September. So much for plans - here's how it really went:

The horse: Jaziret is an 11 yr old 15.1 hh Arabian, 2000 AERC miles,
excellent feet and bones, good conformation. But difficult to ride - I have
to rate him constantly, he wants to go very fast all the time, and could
easily push himself over the edge in a competition.

Training:
February, March - 3-4 training rides per week, mostly legging up. Late March
started doing more distance and more speed, but nothing longer than 15-20
miles at pace (around 10 mph) once a week. April 6, first ride - 55 miles of
hilly desert, good footing, cold and windy day. We did the 55 in 4:45 - a
fast pace, but he 'felt' tired at the end of the ride. Ok - not bad for the
first ride. Now - more conditioning, still 3-4 rides per week, but a little
more speed on the shorter distances, some short sprints (what fun!!). Next
ride the end of May, planning on a fairly fast 75 miler. Well - the ride
weekend was the first heat of the year, our spring had been unseasonably
cold. I figured I'd have to slow down for the heat, plus Jaziret was still
on the plump side. My plan was that as the training progessed during the
summer, the weight would eventually come off - and didn't want to risk
dropping too much weight too soon. So the brain said - it's hot, he's fat -
be careful. But the horse and the trail said, this is fun, lets go. So much
for the brain...At 50 miles we came into camp in a mountain meadow - very
hot, and humid from all the rain, and he didn't pulse down to criteria. In
retrospect I should have gotten more aggressive with cooling - but I wasn't
sure why he wouldn't drop (pain? heat? exhaustion?) - he was bright and
well-hydrated, but after 20 minutes above 70 bpm I figured we'd better call
it a day. I'd never had a horse fail to reach criteria before - very scary.

So... what next? Drop the PAC nomination?, hope I can figure out what the
problem was by our demo ride in late June? Or - 'brilliant idea'! enter him
in an FEI 100 a week later, and see what happens. I changed my mind several
times a day for the next week, finally the day before the ride I decided to
go ahead and try it. (this was the Pac South 100 held at our ranch in
Oreana - so logistically it was hard to resist). Leonard was coming from
Belgium to get his CoC on Great Santini - so I figured we could ride
together and I could keep a close watch on Jaziret.

The ride went well - we left after all the others had started, rode
conservatively but steady - and maintained a 9-10 mph pace. At 70 miles we
had a problem again - it was very hot and still (a thunderstorm was brewing)
and we came in off a fast 20 mile loop, through a sandy draw - very hot.
Jaziret pulsed down ok, but his CRI was not good - 56/68. Jim said to cool
him down and bring him back after the hold. So I hosed him down for 20
minutes, his pulsed dropped, his exit CRI was 52/52 and voila! I realized I
had to manage this horse better regarding heat tolerance.

Our demonstration ride was scheduled for 3 weeks later - but now my plans
for the ride had changed. I felt (in my own mind) that I had already
demonstrated Jaziret's speed at the Pac South ride(we finished 1 hour behind
the winner and finished with a lot of horse left) so the goal was to finish
the demo ride sound and healthy and try to manage the heat. I started
training during the heat of the day - not much distance, but a lot of
short,fast rides. Trying to improve his heat tolerance. It was actually
pretty impressive seeing his body respond to the increased speed, and the
heat - his veins became very prominent under his skin, especially in the
hind quarters. I also decided to give him a body clip before the demo ride
(which requires sedation with this horse - he can be a bit emotional...).

We arrived at the demo ride (Sunriver) on Thursday. On Friday a cold front
blew in, and when we started the ride Saturday morning it was 27 degrees in
camp!!! So much for demonstrating heat tolerance. I rode with Rusty Toth and
Wyatt - we planned on a solid finish to secure a place on the Mtn Zone
squad, didn't need to do more. We had a great ride for the first half
(though Jaziret was a raving lunatic for 35 miles...) but Rusty's horse was
showing discomfort in his hind quarters and he pulled him at 65 miles. It
turned out to be sand balled up under the pads! I finished the ride alone,
passed several riders the final 25 miles, and finished just at dark, with a
horse that looked/felt like he had done nothing! It wasn't fast - 17th
place - but I felt good about the ride.

We had planned on doing one more ride (50 miler) before the PanAm - a
tune-up - but the ride was cancelled at the last minute, so that was it for
competitions until the big one.

- more later - ride day

Steph


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