How many ways to sore a horse's back...let me count

["Judy Finchum" <judy@telecomm.umetel.maine.edu>]

Our riding club put on a "mock" 14 mile CTR to help prepare new 
riders and new grounds people for the "real thing" Sept. 11th.  I 
sure learned a lot!!  Luckily, our club has endurance & CTR riders as 
members.

Although I will be the Lay Judge's recorder for our club's ride and 
not riding myself,  I did trailer my mare over to participate in this ride,
as we hope to do our first 25 miler in Oct.  The distance she was trailered
was less than 5 miles.  I checked her back prior to trailering and she was fine, as 
she has been ever since I started rehabbing her last April.  Believe 
me, we've gone through the elimination process for sore 
back....saddle fit, rider, ect.  A vet  finally determined that uneven front 
legs had a *lot* to do with her soreness and she has been sound with 
proper shoeing.

Got to the ride, and took her over to vet in.... resting pulse 
28, skin tenting  fine, gums fine, respiration fine, back....sore, 
sore, sore!   I couldn't believe it.....she was dq'd.

I lucked out and ended up riding an experienced endurance horse who knows
his job and  just goes to work.  What a joy  : )  (He's a standardbred and 
really does everything you'd want a horse to do).  I took off on him, 
on his saddle, leaving all my gear on my saddle in the barn.  I wore my heart 
monitor watch because the numbers are large enough for me to see 
without reading glasses <g> I lost my time on this watch after the 20 
minute hold when, as I bent my wrist to reach for my crop ( which I had 
left behind after the hold) that a grounds person was trying to pass it to me as we 
trotted by on the last loop of the course.  This put enough pressure 
on the button to zero out my time....oops)  I never did use the 
crop...Benny's owner thought  I ought to carry it....just in case.  I 
then spazzed out because I began checking through my fanny pack for 
my time slip, thinking I might be able to guestimate my time.  I 
couldn't find it and thought I had lost it  and  that I would be disqualified and
have to go home in disgrace.  I asked  Amy, who had left the hold at the same 
time as me, what her time out was, and she wasn't sure....she was all mixed up
about keeping her time, but she did tell me that our time slips were 
kept by the time keeper, so I hadn't lost mine.  So, we  winged it.  Finished within the allotted 
the allotted time and had a great ride on a super horse.  Maybe this is the way to 
start the sport?  I sure would have had a * very*  different ride on my 
mare  ; ) 
  
Got Benny  all through the vet check and trot out and  everything was 
fine.  He relaxes completely once he stops...he was in much better 
shape than I was.  Through the ride I worried about my mare,  I 
was thirsty because my water bottle was on my saddle,  I was 
concerned about my time, but the whole time loving it, too.  Probably 
the only reason I didn't get lost was because I was out in the 
downpour the day before, helping mark it!

When Benny was all set,  I hurried over to see my mare.  I checked her back
and it was fine, no reaction....applied more pressure, no reaction.  I  Asked the
lay judge to check it again for me, thinking it was either the way I check her 
or she was so tense on the trailer that she made herself sore.  The lay judge 
re-checked and with raised eye brows, said "She's fine...It'll be 
interesting to see how she is when you get her home"   When we got 
home, she  was sore again, dipping away from pressure as much as she 
had earlier in the morning.  

So, I learned something very important about my horse, even though I 
did not ride her.  This is something I think I can massage out before 
a ride.  Any other suggestions what I might do to get her to relax 
while in the trailer?  She doesn't seem to eat while en route, but eats 
fine when we're stopped.  She has always been tense on the trailer 
and this is the first time she's been on one in about a year.  She 
is hard to load.  She was in a trailer accident before I got her, 
but she loaded well when I got her, but over time has become 
resistant to trailering.  

We've been doing ~20 mile training ride each weekend in 4 hrs, 20 
minutes.  She has been sound and happy.   We have 2 months before our 
ride....what should I do next and when should I start?  (During the 
week we also do 1 or 2 trail rides @ 1.5 hr each  and a night or two of 
dressage.  I kind of mix it up.  She has a day or two off  before we 
do the 20 and a day off after.)  The better conditioned she becomes, 
the happier she becomes and is much more "alert" and forward   hahaha
She has been only ridden lightly the last 3 years and I had forgotten 
this about her <g>

Thanks for any suggestions

Judy, working our club ride &
MSA Hilary, working the Oct 2nd ride
  





















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