Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Took Miss Ali over to the lake for about a 12 mile ride on the hardest part of the trails yesterday. We have an AERC ride coming up on the 22nd and it's practically inour back yard! This mare has done two little CTRs, but this would be her first AERC ride. She was fabulous! One teeny little spook at a squirrel. I teased her and said not to get squirrely girlie. She did a great job for me.

At first, I was thinking she was so slow and tired acting that she'd never be able to finish a 25 next weekend. But as we went along, she got stronger and more energetic! My onboard HRM wasn't working, so I couldn't tell by that, but I could tell that she got better as we went along.

When we got back to camp, she wasn't hardly even sweating. As soon as I dismounted, I used the hand held HRM and she was at 64. I took the saddle off and she dropped to 59 after a couple of minutes she was at 49 bpm.

for you non endurance riders, this is good! It means she is recovering quickly from her rides. If we had come into a vet check at that point, we'd have met criteria as soon as we came in.

But I have a dilemma. The mare's teeth have sharp edges and she really fusses with her bit (a very mild eggbutt snaffle). The vet had to cancel our appointment this week and the soonest he can do her teeth is next Tuesday. which would be only 4 days from the ride, or the following week after the ride.

His assistant suggested we wait because of the sedative used in dental work.

I rode Ali today in the bitless bridle and she went beautifully for me. BUT we were out by ourselves. How she'd go in it with 30 other horses going down the trail at the same time, would be another matter. There's no brakes with the bitless. So at least for the first loop, I'd want to use a "real" bridle and then we could change to the bitless at the halfway check.

So, my dilemma is this. Do I get her teeth done on Tuesday.  Would the sedative be nondetectable by Saturday? do I ride her in the bitted bridle on the 22nd at the ride? Do I try to get her used to a hackamore between now and the 22nd for a little brakes. do I use the bitless and just hope for the best? Or do I not use Ali at all and take Star, my veteran campaigner instead?

chris

"Slowee, slowee catchee monkey," Rudyard Kipling, from The Jungle Book

 

Chris Paus

BayRab Acres http://pages.prodigy.net/paus

Lake Region SWA  http://lakeregionswa.fws1.com