My First 25 mile LD ride

["Carol Gillies" <cgillies@telusplanet.net>]

Hi to all on Ridecamp

I am fairly new to distance riding, so I thought I would share my story.

My first 25 mile ride.

This past weekend, I finished my first official 25 Mile LD ride. The ride was put on by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and held just outside of Saskatoon. I was a little nervous at the thought of starting this adventure. I don’t have a horse myself as of yet, so I was also riding a horse I had never been on before. But, I decided there is no better way to start, just jump right in.

So, off I drove from Edmonton Friday morning with my friend Paddi Sprecher, who introduced me to the sport last fall.

When we got there we were informed that we were in charge of marking trail. That was our room and board fee for the weekends’ accommodations, which were graciously donated by Dr. Trish Dowling, and her herd of Shelties. So off we went across freshly plowed fields, putting surveyor flags every 50 feet or so. After what seemed like miles (and probably was) of walking we finally finished with the trail. (The only advantage to this was that I now knew the trail route-no map needed and NO getting lost!) Paddi informed me that this was the endurance part of it, "the ride" she said "comes tomorrow."

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early, and after a quick breakfast, headed out to get ourselves ready for the ride. I met my horse and had a quick briefing on her habits, then got out the brushes and dove in. We went for the ride briefing, and then we were off. We let the "real racers" take off quick, while us newbies, headed by Paddi left a bit behind. The first few miles were fine, just walking, trotting and a little cantering. We got to the vet check at mile 12.5, where we were greeted with coke & donuts. 1^st tip I learned – Sugar goes a long way on a ride. "The 2^nd and most important tip" Paddi told us newbies – "always carry toilet paper."

After our 45 minute hold we were off again. Paddi had left us, hoping to somehow beat out the guys who had left racing out of the yard first, or at least the little Fjords. So I rode the last half with Angie, a 16 year old that, like me, was tired of riding in the arena. We trotted and talked, and then cantered a bit. The second half was not quite as exciting as the first, just down the grid road for nine miles straight. (In Alberta there are a lot more trees and trails, not so many roads) We finally found the finish line (Trish’s house) and we were so excited that we let go of the reins and cheered. (I think we were also tired). We decided to canter into the finish, only caring that we were done and not thinking of the pulse rate of the horse, but we weren’t worried about time anyway. Back at the house we had tons of food, tons of coke and tons of laughs. Jerald won best conditioned because, according to Trish, "You don’t have to be fast, you just have to be fat." (His weight was the deciding factor, the rest of the scores were too close) I also received my very first completion certificate, which is now in my scrapbook at home. It was a very memorable and very fun experience, aside from the fact I couldn’t walk properly yesterday, but I plan to continue doing it. Its lots of fun!!!

Thanks!!

Heather Gillies