24 – 2009-2010 Season Begins… I want to go to Kentucky!

The first ride of the season was Counties again, but not until the middle of September.  Lace had been in work a couple of months by then so we started with a 60km.  She was fit enough but was so excited to be back out and about that she had the shakes really badly before the ride and didn’t eat much during the hold but was still fine on course and three of us had a lovely ride – me, Emma and someone else?  Angela? 

Lace is like that when she’s a bit stressed, she doesn’t run about or call out or look at all worried, but if get close you will notice she’s actually shuddering under her cover.  One of the things that used to be guaranteed to set her off was if another ride left before hers!  She got so used to being in the ride that started first in the morning that seeing other horses leave without her – “and mother hasn’t even taken my cover off, let alone got the saddle on!” – would have her trembling in the corner.  Usually she would also always be shaking as we saddled up in the dark at the start of a ride.  Never seemed to have any ill effects though, I guess it even helped warm her up. 

While in the vet ring at Counties – actually in the firing range at a gun club – a selector for Kentucky was going around several of the riders and came to me… “Did you know you are qualified for Kentucky?”  (there are a certain number of two and three star FEI rides that need to be done.  The 160 at least 13km/hr) “Yes, and I want to go!”  I then went back shortly after to point out that although Lace was qualified I still needed one more two star.

40km a week later at Putaruru, then it was a one star 80 at Tokoroa in the first week of October.  A lovely course and being in the pine forest it was always our club’s first ride of the season… didn’t matter if it rained…. And it bucketed down! 

I had recently made a special underwear buying expedition, and had several different types I was trialling… this was the day I discovered that one pair, although usually lovely and comfortable did NOT cope with being saturated and really there’s nothing for it when your knickers start rubbing and you have 40km still to go, but to get changed into yesterday’s knickers… Ok, peeling off the wet jodphurs wasn’t too bad… but getting dry pants on cold wet legs and then having to put the cold, wet jods back on again was HORRIBLE!!

But still the ride was enjoyable.  Emma and I rode together mostly and Lace and Shimmy were really  enjoying themselves egging each other on.  But then on the last loop Shimmy lost a shoe and had to walk in… and then got really cold and I think may have vetted out.  Lace and I continued on by ourselves, sliding around on tracks that had literally become streams. 

So Lace and I won the one star and the Best Conditioned  – although I was the only one stupid enough to present my horse for BC, the other rider eligible wasn’t interested in coming back out of his truck!  But I thought at that point that, as Lace does not have an impressive, bouncy, arab trot, more of an efficient robotic like one, I would take a certain win at BC while I could!