30 – Keeping Fit Over Winter & Stuff
It was now official, I was on the team!
There were 12 weeks until the horses were flying to Kentucky. This was a week earlier than originally planned as Air New Zealand were changing the flights available for horses to LA, after that there would be no direct flights, they would have had to go via Hong Kong.
12 weeks to try to raise $50,000!
It was a happy coincidence that this year I was due for four weeks extra annual leave – long service leave! This meant I was able to take four weeks in Kentucky AND still be able to take leave days for going to events etc, and afternoons off to ride my pony, how lucky was that!
In order to get long training rides when there were no scheduled events I needed to get a bit inventive. One of the big challenges was to keep Lace’s interest and enjoyment in the work, just training can get tedious and Lace has a tendency to get a bit ho-hum about it all.
Shortly before the Queen’s Birthday ride I had a two day, 72km ride – rode to Nicola’s place, overnight hold, then rode home the next day.
For a long time one of my tricks to make things more interesting was to do what I called “Ride Homes”, rather than an out and back road ride I would get my partner, Bill, to drive the trailer and leave us to ride home from there – Lace already saddled for quick drop off. Initially this had just been a few kilometres down the main road for a 10km ride home, but now we went a bit further.
Lace’s chiropractor/massage guy was notoriously difficult to get hold of, however a student at work’s mother grazed some horses for him and I could get Lace an appointment at their place, and this just happened to be a handy 30 or so kilometres from home. The first time I told them I was going to ride Lace home that afternoon after work the mother would not believe where I lived, 35km away! They had show ponies and couldn’t get their heads around riding that sort of distance just for training. I also rode home from Matangi after Lace had a session with the team equine physio at one of the eventer’s property, also about 30km.
Then there was all the other stuff – team visit/meeting in Wellington. Questionnaires to fill in for profiles. Newspaper articles – that we were hopeful would help with fund raising, but never really did.
Not to mention all the fund raising attempts. Friends and family were amazing so many gifting me money to help. Our approaches to businesses generally did not go well. Because it was later in the year most money had already been allocated, and most companies prefer to give to clubs and teams, not individuals. A local well know entertainer that had horses gave me a substantial donation though.
One of our best fund raising ventures was to turn my family’s annual Pudding Testing Festival into something a bit bigger and charge people to come. $20 per person if your group brings a pudding $25 if you did not. We also got a temporary liquor licence and managed to get cheap alcohol to sell and had raffles. We made about $5000!
Bill had a board game that had been given to his father and uncle when they were young, “The Princes Quest.” It was now very old and had been damaged when a friend had got over excited while playing it and spilt his brandy. So, some years before I had taken the time to trace the game and hand paint it, then got it professionally scanned and printed. I now went back to the company that had done the printing and asked them for sponsorship so I could print and sell the game. They gave me a good deal, we added some counters and a die and sold them for $40. We sold some at Pudding Testing, then Mum helped by organising a stall at Tamahere Market day and they sold quite well. The great thing about this was that we weren’t relying on getting money from the same people all the time. We were even able to print another lot and go back to the market before Christmas to sell more (after we got home from Kentucky). I really enjoy the game, but playing it all morning at the market did start to get a bit much!
One of the more exciting things about being on the team was getting free stuff! All the horses got two special Beryl saddle blankets (BJ Merino) – black with silver ferns – and black Zilco bridles, hackamores and breastplates, and we riders got silver LAS helmets.
There were a bunch of vaccinations Lace had to have… Herpes, Tetanus, Equine Influenza, Strangles. We also had training days where the Chef d’equipe and Coach came along to where you train to help with anything and make suggestions. I managed to stuff that up by organising a vaccination booster only a day or so before a training day. All this time I am taking Lace’s temperature twice a day and recording it (and graphing it). She was fine but her temperature shot up the day after the vaccine. It was too risky to do a hard training ride, so I had to ‘fess up and the training day was postponed to the following week, when only the coach could make it. Oops! Shows how useful temperature comparisons are though.
Incidentally, my training ride was a 31 km road ride, so Kerry and the coach were able to drive along side. Kerry later told me it was very interesting talking to the coach, but that he had spent most of the time telling her how lovely her daughter was. (His future daughter-in-law, six years before the wedding!)
Nine weeks of winter training and the new season began with a 40km ride at Counties – as they often did. Lace and I were SO ready! Even though we were late getting there (poor road signage, got lost) and started well behind the rest of the field Lace and I blitzed them! – as you would expect with a super fit horse when everyone else is at their first ride of the season. But I was really pleased with her, she always enjoyed Counties as in a previous life she was clearly a motorbike hoon! She just loves the narrow twisty-turny tracks through the forest! But that day she was really balanced and responsive and when I asked for canter I could feel her light in front and lifting into it more than usual. And starting behind and getting to pass everyone is definitely her favourite thing!
The daily temperature taking came into its own again less than two weeks before we were due to leave, very slight whitish discharge from her nose, nothing you would normally worry about, but her temperature was up a bit too. Immediate consultation with Team vet, Nick, who contacted my vets to arrange some Sulpha-T antibiotic paste. This meant that when the team all met at Pukekohe and there were interviews and TV I was on a borrowed grey horse pretending to be Lace, best to keep her away from the others just in case. She was fine and able to come up to Pukekohe a couple of days before departure.
There had been some disagreements between some of the team. So now only three horses and riders were going, Myself, Alison Higgins and Debby Worsfold on Lace and Fineness, Twynham El Omar and Bradley McGregor.
Ok, so we were ready to go, and now I’m afraid I’m not going to tell you all about everything that happened over there. As they say what happens on tour stays on tour. The next few chapters will be about Kentucky – with lots of photos! – and I will let you know the gist of what happened, but not the details. It is too emotional and it’s not just my story to tell. Catch up with me on a ride one day and I’ll be happy to chat.
