37 – Back to Kuratau for the Nationals 2011

Three weeks after Pukeatua, Waikato had a ride at a new course in Opotiki.  It was very unfortunate that the weather gods had it in for them and the course needed major changes as it under water only days before. 

Our pre-endurance wander (the evening before) was lovely – across the road through the dunes to the beach.  Unfortunately the track to the beach went past a bach (small seaside rustic home) and the owner was decidedly unpleasant, yelling at us while his small dog snapped and barked at Tigger’s back legs, it was lucky Tigger didn’t send it flying he had every right to.  But we all managed to stay on board and relatively calm… Well done Lisa looking after Tigger.

Had it not been for the rain, it would have been lovely, but there were large stretches of mud to be negotiated, not really the quick 40 I’d had in mind for Lace’s final training before the Nationals in only two weeks!    Lisa did well with Tigs, at one point you dropped into a shallow river and had to walk along it for 100m or so! I’m not quite sure how she managed but they got through it, being with Kerry on Henry no doubt helped.

It was to be Tigger’s first 80, but it was a very hard course for that.  Lisa was loath to take him out again, Kerry was pulling Henry out.  Tigs made it easy by having picked up a stone bruise and vetted out lame. 

Then it was back to Kuratau for the Nationals – what a superb effort to host both the North Island Champs and the Nationals in the same season!

There were 29 horses entered in the senior 160 as well as four juniors.  My race strategy was very much first and foremost to look after my pony, this was her first 160 since Kentucky, she deserved a good one.  That aside as always first aim was to survive the first loop, second aim was to enjoy ourselves, third aim – it would be awesome to make it into the Best Conditioned, so within one hour of the winner, fourth aim – a place would be nice.

So with that in mind we didn’t go out with the lead bunch for the first loop.  That is the joy of a larger field you can pick and choose a bit more how you want the first loop to go.  I was pleased that I was back a bit, it’s such a lovely course and the leaders were able to set a cracking pace.

Lace and I did the first three loops at 16, 17 and 16 km/hr, I see that her lag times weren’t that good… not sure why I don’t remember anything being wrong particularly, we were probably just more relaxed after the hype of WEG!?  We were really enjoying ourselves though, tootling along at our own pace… though of course Lace’s “own pace” is not that slow, that we were not up with the leaders just shows how fast they were travelling!  I was really pleased that Lace was happy, she may have been fine but I had a lot of emotional baggage to work through.

As is normal in a 160 the field was being whittled away as horses vetted out or withdrew.  Lace and I kept going.  By the fourth loop we were quite handy as far as placing went, sitting about fifth, but well back from the leaders.  At one point you travel along one side of a lake, go down across a small dam and then worked your way back towards base across the other side of the lake so on a one occasion I watched the leaders cantering along beneath the big hill on the other side.  The leading pair were both bays, the front one definitely looked to be traveling better, unfortunately I feared my friend was the second horse but couldn’t be certain at that distance. But sure enough she vetted out not long after.

Another horse had vetted out. Fourth!  Fourth was now ours to lose… keep going.  That was how I thought about it, rather than focusing on improving our placing I concentrated on maintaining the place we had. Two loops to go.  We passed a horse on that loop!  Not because we sped up but just by being consistent and keeping going when they slowed down.  Third!  Now third was ours to lose. 

The last loop and Lace was getting pretty tired, but there was a reasonable gap behind us now – the horse we’d passed had not gone out on the last loop.  So I kept Lace’s spirits up by telling her constantly how awesome she was and singing her race day song – “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen – yeah right I’m sure she was thrilled!

So we were just trundling in, Sean had been well ahead of me and so I hadn’t bothered pushing it – if only we’d had cell phones at the ready – I got to the base paddock to discover him only just ahead of me – he’d stopped to let Rolly have an eat!  As it was we both just wandered in, I have never yet done a gallop finish, I know I’d be in way too much trouble with Kerry!  And it hasn’t mattered enough yet.  Lace vetted well with final heart rates 60/52, not bad to finish a 160 with a drop of 8 for the CRI! 

We were third!  And in the Best Conditioned.  All four aims achieved!!  And best of all Lace had seemed to enjoy herself.

The BC was to be held the next day and there was a ridden section.  Some people like this, some don’t.  I prefer it as Lace doesn’t have the most spectacular trot, more an efficient robot than a flamboyant arab, but under saddle you get to see her enthusiasm.  So in order to prepare her I did the same thing I had done before the 2010 NI Champs mounted BC, I saddled up and took her for a good long walk.  I know if I’ve done too much exercise and I ache the next day it takes a while to get those muscles working again.  Of course it’s always hard to know when exactly the BC is going to be as you need the vets not to be busy, so my half hour walk then ended with a rest and re-saddle.

Now it was the case then (not sure now) that you didn’t need to ride the BC at ride weight, so I left the 4kg weighted gel pad off.  It’s just around base, base is flat, so no need for the breast plate.  Our turn came, it was the usual requested ride, trot a figure of eight, canter the same and then you can go faster if you want.  So we did that and I said to Lace – by leaning forward and bridging my reins down on her neck – “do you want to gallop?”  “Hell YES!!!”  That was all it took, I made a special point of keeping my legs absolutely still, Lace was doing this, I wasn’t telling her to.  She went flat out, full gallop down the finishing stretch, out of sight of everyone as we dashed behind the trucks.  And then she suddenly started propping, was she going to buck???!!! Really?  “Don’t you DARE!” I went flying… Right in front of the people in the start-finish truck!  I picked myself up, oops, the saddle had gone way back, the girth was halfway towards her back legs!  “Sorry, What a Good Pony”.  She hadn’t been bucking at all, she’d been applying emergency brakes!  Saddle removed we walked back to the truck somewhat shame faced.   The moral of the story?  If you don’t take your weight pad, and you don’t take your breast plate, then CHECK YOUR GIRTH BEFORE YOU GALLOP!

Kuratau special that evening (or possibly the next) – a trip to the nearby hot pools to soothe those tired muscles.

Sunday saw Kerry successfully complete the 120 on Henry and Emma likewise on Shimar.

Also on Sunday was the 60km race.  Huge gallop finish and the winner then fell off and stayed down for a bit.  There were people looking after her so we took over the horse to get it’s heart rate down and ready to vet, a big job to do after that gallop!  It was really sweet, he was quite worried that his person was missing and kept looking over to where he’d left her.  All was well, she was able to join us before he was ready to vet, but I trotted him out for her – all good, they won.

Sunday night – Prize giving – and Lace had won the Best Conditioned!!  And better still Nick our Kentucky team vet was presenting it, that meant so much after he had saved her in Kentucky, to be able to thank him as part of my speech.