13 – Lace to the Rescue

Emma was hoping to qualify to represent New Zealand in the World Junior Endurance Champs in Argentina.  The only problem was that she had one more 120km qualifying ride to do and her horse was injured.  Other horses were sought but it fell to Lace, with only two open rides completed, to be Emma’s mount for this important qualification.  They needed to complete at 12 kilometres per hour or quicker, and Lace hadn’t been further than 100km yet.

There was a logistical problem with Emma’s ride on Lace before we even left home.  There was a fund raising charity auction evening on Saturday night in Hamilton for Emma and Sian (also on the team),  and the ride started at Matiere at 2:00am Sunday – over two hours drive away.  We tried to convince her that it would be ok, people would understand if she wasn’t there, or even if she went for the start and then left early.  But Emma, Kerry and Richard all felt that if you’re asking people for money, she really had to be there, until the end.  At least she might be able to sleep a bit in the car, and would hopefully get there with enough time to go to bed for a couple of hours.

So on Saturday Richard and I took Lace to the ride base, Richard driving the truck, me in a car so that he could return for the auction.  Then that was it, I was on my own organising everything until they got back that night.  Remember this is a big thing for me back then, I was barely out of novice myself.

I remember setting up a pen, pre-ride vetting – all good –  and taking Lace for a ride.  She was very full of herself and clearly ready for action. 

So I camped down in my normal spot in the back of the truck and proceeded to sleep fitfully, worrying about Kerry and Emma arriving and having trouble finding the truck.  The things you worry about!   1) Richard would have told Kerry where the truck was parked and 2) the base wasn’t so big that they wouldn’t be able to find their own truck!  Oh well.  I think it was about 12:30am when they eventually arrived, not really enough time for Emma to go to bed as we would need to be up again at 1 for the 2 am start.  But we had a quite half hour rest anyway.

Then it’s up and action time,  have breakfast and then get Lace ready.  I’m leading her around in the semi-dark waiting for Emma, there was a little bit of light from somewhere, probably some car headlights I think, but not much.  People were peering at Lace through the dark, “What horse is that?”  How had Emma come up with a 120km horse that no one recognised!  Kerry stays secretive “You don’t know this one yet.”

  The junior 120 had been put on solely to help two riders qualify, and with the short notice they were the only two starters.   We watched the two horses head off into the dark, first loop 31km.  Kerry and I go back to bed.

They do the first loop at 12.5 km/h… perfect, remember to qualify it needs to be 12 or faster.  Lace vets quickly, but we didn’t get her to the vet quick enough, her heart rate was 48, all it needed was to be 64 or lower, we should have taken her in a minute ago!  She’s been pulling like an idiot – poor Emma, at least she wasn’t in danger of falling asleep!

The next loop is 38km and they do it at 14km/h.  Thus the scene was set for the rest of the ride, Kerry was a nervous wreck.  “They’re going too fast”, to be replaced with “They should be here by now”.  Often only minutes apart!  Again Lace vetted quickly, we got it right this time, HR 60.

On the third loop Kerry and I were taken out to a point on course where the horses passed close to the road.  Up on the ridge far away you could see a little gap where the track came through and could just make out the occasional horse.  We watched and waited, horses came through the gap, not Lace (as far as we could tell it was a long way away).  The other junior came through, we were sure of that, distinctive cages on the stirrups.  Still no Lace, Kerry getting really worried.  Other horses are coming past just in front of the car from time to time, not Lace.  But then here she is! Kerry immediately swaps to “Too Fast” mode!  Emma is happy, Lace is happy, reins are loose, “Just like riding my Shimmy”.  “Stop worrying Mum, she’s fine”

Back to base, ready to crew.  14.6 km/h, vets well again, but again we’re too slow getting her in to vet –  HR 48.  So far they have done 102km in 7:28:10, 13.7 km/h, they have time to spare.  Last loop 18 km and they have two and a half hours to do it in.  Should be easy, doesn’t stop Kerry worrying though!

We’re out in the field near base waiting to catch a glimpse of Lace and Emma.  Initially Kerry doesn’t want to see them, “too soon, too soon”.  And then I swear only minutes later, “Where are they, they should be here by now!”    Lace and Emma appear in good time, Emma had let Lace stop for some nice clover.  1:18, 13.7 km/h, just the vet check to go.  We’re even more conservative this time, 10 minutes strapping, HR 44, CRI 44*.  I’ve been trotting Lace up all day, no pressure, all good.  Final speed 13.7, mission accomplished! The other junior also qualified and made the time so a good day for all.

Emma slept all the way home…

This was the first time Richard started pointing out to me that Lace had pretty good lag times, 3 minutes 34 seconds, heart rate 48, 2 minutes 24 – 60, five minutes – 48, he was starting to suspect Lace might be ok at this game!  Just as well he knew what to look for, I pretty much still didn’t know what I was doing.  I was only just starting to realise that getting to the vet ring as fast as you could was a thing…

* CRI is the Cardiac Recovery Index, it is a second heart rate taken one minute and a trot up later… so the vet takes the HR, you do the trot up, and then about 30s later they take a second HR.  It is a good indication on how the horse is coping.  If the CRI is the same or lower than the first HR then your horse is doing well and you could even perhaps afford to step it up a bit.  If the second HR is higher (and the horse isn’t being an idiot!) then it is possibly starting to get tired and you may need to slow down.