Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

  We did the 3 day LD.  I'm an LD rider by preference, my partner has 
done mostly endurance.  We wanted to ride all 3 days with him riding 
the experienced mare,Sky, and me on the 6 year old Teddy, who only 
has 7 months of conditioning (and not particularly hard conditioning 
either).  We figured 3 days of riding would tell us quite a bit about 
where we stood in the program.
  Well, the first bit of riding was beautiful: a lovely 8AM start, 
cool and overcast, fantastic trails marked well enough that we didn't 
get too confused and co operative horses.  We  wandered into our hold 
at about 10:30, pulsed down quickly and tried to feed ourselves, the 
ponies and get vetted within our 30 minute hold. Success.  Then the 
drizzle started.  Then bigger droplets.  Well, we got good and wet on 
the way back but the horses didn't seem to mind the sloppy 
conditions.  Nothing, however, is wetter than wet full seats.  Yuck! 
It did stop raining just before we finished at about 2PM.  Happy 
horses eating hay, happy riders in dry clothes!
  My partner opted out of the second day because he had brought one 
(!) pair of riding pants, which of course were still wet.  I went out 
on the more experienced Sky, giving Teddy a rest day.  I was lucky 
enough to ride with the Heasletts from the Eastern Sierra's and we 
had a great day trotting and cantering on the open fire roads with 
wonderful footing.  We don't usually canter very much in our training 
rides but these trails were so inviting and safe, it was a blast! 
Sky did well all day and I think she also enjoyed flying along the 
trail well within her capabilities.  She also made me very happy by 
being reasonable about slowing down when asked.  It is a pleasure to 
ride a horse who knows her job and enjoys doing it.
  We started the third day with me still on Sky and my partner on 
Teddy.  We tried to keep a pace peppy enough to keep Sky happy but 
not too fast to tire Teddy.  Again, lots of trotting, some cantering 
and walking through sand.  My favorite bits this day were windy 
single track trails with very quick changes of bend.  Teddy took a 
few minutes to pulse down at lunch, but both horses looked good. 
This time lunch was back in camp and our last trip out left Sky 
convinced that we were wrong, wrong, wrong going out on that trail 
again.  But she perked up at the junction and we repeated our morning 
loop to finish, albeit more slowly than in the AM.  Both horses 
looked good at the end.
  What we learned: Teddy needs a saddle adjustment but can handle the 
work.  Teddy needs some training at home to reinforce pacing even 
with the distraction of horses ahead of him.  Sky is one tough 
cookie.  Bring more than 1 pair of riding pants for a multiday.
  Thank you management, volunteers and vets for a great trail, enough 
water and great flexibility in changing conditions.  Thank you for 
the wonderful campfires and the wine and cheese reception (we are 
Californians, after all)  I'm really sorry I missed meeting Bruce 
Weary, who always adds good stuff to ridecamp.  Next time you need to 
wear a big nametag.

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