Lessons learned on training ride by beginner

[keithr@nocdc.bc.ca (Ann Hatfield)]

Despite advice to the contrary from this group I was going to go the night
before and use electic fencing to contain my horse- who stays within it
fine at home (4 years in polytape here).  I ended up going very early the
moring of and the forst people I met, parked next two, were two very upset
women munus their horses who had left in the middle of the night through
their electric fence complete with trailing fence, and halters and
blankets!   Their horses, too, were fine in tape 'at home'.  I've now truly
learned that lesson!  (The horses were found thanks to the couple who
caretake the chalet at the cross-country ski area in which we were riding.
The area is wilderness which literally goes on to the centre and north of
the province, just close by is hundreds and hundreds of miles of bush
broken by some major highways.  The caretaker's wife is a tracker and
managed to not only figure out where to go to begin looking but sorted out
the tracks from across the forestry roads over which all of us had ridden.
The couple rode all afternoon tracking and found the horses and returned
them.  Amazing!  So electric fences were lesson number 1 for me.

Don't start with the rest.  i decided there were only 8 riders in the 12
mile so I would start with 4 who said they were not going to travel too
fast.  Their horses were fitter and experienced and everyone moved pretty
fast for the beginning to my way of thinking, so after pushing along with
them for 10 minutes I slowed my horse and made him walk while the others
pulled away.  Though not happy about it he was very well behaved and
settled as soon as they were out of sight-I was pleased with him.  By about
the 4 mile mark we had caught up to them-2 more lessons learned-the latter
along the lines of the tortise and the hare.

We pushed briskly along in the middle of the ride and I learned that I
haven't been moving fast enough for long enough periods of time in
training-time to pick up the pace a bit at home.  My little green horse
began to flag and again I let them go.  Again he was good about it.

Picked up another horse who wanted to go slowly and ambled along on foot
with the horses snatching grass and us eating wild strawberries admiring
the glades of wildflowers. (Sounds highly competative, huh. but we would
have been way too early at the original pace-there was a minimum time set
so we trainees couldn't supposedly go faster than trot and walk all the
hills-a good idea, I think.)  The ealrier group had been doing lots of trot
and canter and trotting most of the hills, all of which were gentle so
their fairly fit horses could do it readily. Our horses  came in completely
dry and relaxed, went straight to P &R and the fellow with whom I was
riding got highest vet score for the young filly thanks to his gentle and
wise way of taking her along,  My horse had a slight wind puff-the speed in
the middle section perhaps, so I learned yet another lesson.  Puff went
down in about an hour.

My horse learned to drink odd tasting water from assorted odd containers,
behaved reasonabley at vet checks but must be made to stand completely
quietly-another lesson and some more homework to be done.

This was the Lil Schmidlt Memorial and they ran the 12, a 25 and a 50 and
had a large turnout and did it all very, very well.  I had a lot of fun and
it was a great start for a green horse.

Guests arriving-no time to edit errors.

Ann H