9 Lace is now an Endurance Expert – her Opinion!
Three weeks later and we were at our second endurance ride… 27 km at our Whatawhata training ground. Even though we rode there regularly Lace was on to the fact this was different. Not settled, she pulled back at least once possibly more. Then we were on our way, through the flags, up a slight rise and there, just over the top of the rise was a small chunk of concrete….Shy, leap, buck and I’m on the ground… no hiding this one, everyone watching! A slight tear in my tights but otherwise uninjured. The other horses were ahead and kept going, but Karen and Motu stayed and helped and then rode with me for a while as we tried to get Lace settled. Thanks Karen!!!
But settling down wasn’t really happening that day… Lace now KNEW what it was all about, and clearly in spite of novice times etc, also knew it was meant to be a race! Now came the Lace that a lot of Waikato Endurance folk can well remember, her over enthusiastic, slightly manic period… having other horses in front of you was NOT acceptable and being passed WAS actually a National Tragedy of Epic Proportions. We did actually end up first novice home that day, but only three completed, the other five novices withdrawing. I don’t think it was that hard, but because it was a small property you came through base half way and so people were clearly tempted and thus stopped. 2:45 so not too fast considering how stroppy she’d been.
We then had an eight week break before doing our first 40 at Waimiha in May – I guess everyone else was busy going to Nationals during that time… I was not yet in to following all the endurance events around the country, and knew nothing of the Championship rides.
Waimiha was Lace’s first overnight stay. I had done some work on my float, got a cover made for the back, made a bed that folded down on to the top of the partition and fitted some lights and a battery. I was set, no more sleeping in the back of the car. A slight misunderstanding in directions to the ride base saw me coming in on a very narrow gravel road from the Taumarunui side and before that there were major road works – the “cement splashes wash car today” sort, and it was wet. The car was absolutely caked so the first strapping at that ride was of the car with the bucket and sponge!
That night I was snuggled up in my new bed listening to the farm dogs howling… while I read a book about werewolves! Lace was completely unfazed by the night out and was lying down happily in her pen. I came to learn that Lace always lies down at night, if she did not it would mean something was very wrong.
It was a lovely ride, Richard and Julina were also doing novice 40 so we just chatted our way around very pleasantly, I think Lace even managed to stay fairly calm. It was also our first ride in a hackamore – we had done a bit of practicing but her steering was still pretty dodgy so I had two sets of reins, one on the hackamore for brakes, the other on a rope halter for steering. Initially with the hackamore we had padding on the chain. It was not long before she learned to avoid that though by putting her head down and poking her nose out. Thus I continued experimenting with various different bits for a while, trying to find one that would give me control of my rather keen pony while still allowing her to eat, the snaffle and noseband combination had let me down on the eating side although had cured her tongue over the bit problem.
I tried a kimberwick as I had had good success with one previously, but the first I tried was a little small – it appeared fine but then rubbed her cheek when it pivoted as she got keen. That rub later developed into a sarcoid, which I managed to cure using the old wives tale/home remedy of saliva 2-3 times a day! It was interesting to see that the hair below the sarcoid actually started retreating as the saliva ran down, which I took as evidence that it isn’t just slightly gross saline! A bit weird though to be rubbing spit on your pony’s face every day! Not something I usually tell people…
A second, larger kimberwick didn’t rub her but was actually too big so I ended up going back to the hackamore. I still remember the day at home when I first took off all covering on the chain… she was so cross! She does go much kinder in the hackamore when it has a bit of authority though!
It always comes as a shock to non-endurance people that our horses are allowed to eat while we’re riding, in fact we encourage them! However Lace was always in too much of a hurry… so later, as we started increasing the distance, I actually needed to teach her to eat while riding. Nice patch of grass on the side of the road? Let’s stop and eat, no Lace, let’s stop and eat… Stop. And. Eat! She got the hang of it but during an event she will usually be eating in the direction of the markers!
Another 40 followed two weeks later at Counties and that was the end of our first season. One horse broken but recovering, the next one well on the way, with her two 40s done we were only two 80s from open! Of course with a holiday now over winter we wouldn’t be starting the new season with 80km so I was destined to be novice for a while longer yet.
10 – Getting Going Again – Fresh Horse & Too Much Mud
