 |
| Shoulder-in during our warm-up. Photo by Mike Turner |
Back to the beginning... this week was too busy for a pre-ride post so it is an all-in-one read. I clipped Sunny the week prior to the ride with temperatures forecasted in the upper 60's (maybe even 70's)
Then, per Murphy's law, a cold front came through and the temperatures plummeted to the mid-teens with snow at home. Thankfully the ride still had beautiful weather with sunny skies and temps around 50 degrees F. The week prior to Blackwater, the 20 Mule Team endurance ride was held out west. 20 Mule Team was also a cooler temperature ride and had lots of early pulls; I carefully read all the sage advice from facebook (wink, wink) but truly did pay attention to Bruce Weary's post regarding Dr. Garlinghouse's advice on electrolytes during cooler weather. The recommendation was to pre-load before the ride and for the first part of the ride with plain salt, NaCl, rather than an commercial e-lyte preparation. The reasoning behind this was to stimulate the thirst response to encourage drinking early on in the ride. Horses may not choose to drink as readily in cooler weather (ie especially if their ride water bucket has a sheet of ice in the morning) and the increase in plasma NaCl concentration directly stimulates a thirst response. At this point the horse has not significantly sweated and does not need the potassium and other electrolytes found in commercial preparations. Simply, you want to prevent dehydration by encouraging drinking early in the ride. As the horse sweats and the temperatures warm up you start dosing with your normal e-lyte mix for the rest of the ride. Made sense to me! I also decided to administer preventative Gastrogard as Sunny hasn't been a great eater on our conditioning rides and I wanted to make sure he wasn't fighting heartburn (ie gastric ulcers) in addition to going on a long-trailer ride and riding 50 miles for the first time. I get heartburn when I run sometimes and it really is uncomfortable.. so anthropomorphizing away, I decided to prevent this for Sunny (and I took my Pepcid too!).
On to the ride. I packed up, triple checked my list, re-packaged all my stuff into containers for switching into Roberta's rig and then checked my list again. Set the alarm for 4:30 am, had both Sunny and myself fed, loaded, and on the road by 6:45 am. Stopped at the rest-stop off 1-81 for a potty break, opened the trailer door for a soda and out darted my beloved Truman (our much loved barn kitty). He ran in and out of the idling semi-trucks and finally picked one to hide under. Thankfully he did not dart into I-81 and he eagerly let me scoop him up. I backtracked 10 miles, each way, up I-81 for a weekend of unplanned cat boarding at Copper Ridge Animal Hospital (thank you CRAH!!).
 |
| Traumatized Truman |
We got on the road again, met up with Roberta and I was appreciative of how well Sunny loaded into the new trailer and made another new best friend, Roberta's handsome TWH, Trace. A few hours later we pulled into ride camp. After camp set-up and vet-in, Dale and I went for short warm-up ride to check out the trail. WOW!! It was better than beautiful arena footing. Sunny decided he was actually a gaited horse and kept pace with Cheyenne's mustang shuffle in a smooth 4-beat, umm.. something very nice. WOW again!! Considering the footing and Sunny's amazing barefoot hooves I decided to go ahead and start the ride barefoot, with front renegades in the saddle pack if needed.
 |
| Pre-Ride check. Photo by Melissa Limzi |
 |
| Fire next to ride-camp. A little scary at first, until we learned that it was a controlled burn. |
The next morning I followed my electrolyte plan (and actually had pre-loaded the previous night in addition to salty mashes for the past few days) and dosed Sunny with 1 fluid oz of plain salt mixed with 1 oz of Magnalax as a tasty carrier and buffer. Sunny seems to actually semi-like the Magnalax flavor and did not object to the electrolytes and even kept eating afterwards. We dosed another 1 oz of NaCl at the courtesy stop 12 miles into the first loop, and again at the first hold. After that I switched to 1 oz Enduramax with Magnalax for the 2nd hold and after the ride. I also sometimes 'dose' him with a carrot instead of an electrolyte syringe just to keep him on his toes ;)
I also stuck with my warm-up plan, following what we do at home and on conditioning rides. I started with a circle or 2 of shoulder-in and counter-shoulder-in in-hand, and then asked for a few steps of shoulder-in on a straight line. I asked for neck flexions initially and again before mounting. Sunny has really learned that the neck stretches feel good and means it is time to relax. After mounting, I basically repeated my in-hand warm up with neck stretches, shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in, and added in some renvers on the circle and travers on the straight line. We also walked out on a loose rein, then started with some trot transitions, working especially to maintain relaxation amidst the growing adrenaline in the air as the start time came closer. I like doing a small amount of the slow lateral work prior to the ride to make sure we stretch and warm-up the whole body, not just the straight-line 'go' muscles! It also helps to keep Sunny focused on me and not all the other horses warming up around us.
Sunny and I started mid-pack with Dale and Cheyenne. Roberta had loaned me her rump rug which was definitely needed with the below freezing temperatures. The start was nice, the horses were eager to go but still easily rate-able. Amanda Humphrey's team videoed the start and captured us too, check out Sunny's gait!
Sunny was strong the first 12 miles of the first 24 mile loop. I had to keep re-balancing him, keep him at a reasonable pace, and continue to insist on lightness to the rein. He thought it would be fun to gallop and catch up with all the other horses. As Roberta preached (per Julie Bullock, DVM) don't go faster than 10 mph on the first loop. We tried.... but we definitely had some nice canter stretches that pushed that a little. Actually, we did do a good job of keeping under 10 mph for the first 12 miles until the courtesy stop, sort of the first loop (or so I told myself!). This ride moved a lot faster than we can condition at home due to the differences in terrain. The ride was flat with beautiful footing, home is very steep and rocky. I was hoping that the slower conditioning on steep climbs would adequately prepare him and balance out with the faster speed on flat terrain.
 |
| Blackwater Swamp with Ann and myself -- Sunny loved the water and I had to change into dry socks after the first loop. Photo by Dale Weaver |
Turns out I was right! We passed each vet check with flying colors, reaching pulse before I could get him untacked and presented. He was a little skeptical when I re-tacked him after already riding 24 miles (and even more so after 38 miles!), but he was game and eagerly followed Cheyenne and Tink back out on trail. By the 3rd loop he still had plenty of go but I could tell he was getting a little tired. Initially, he offered a beautiful collected canter on the turns around the fields; I swear I could feel him elevate his forehand and almost pirouette the turns. He even offered a few flying lead changes when we approached a turn in a counter-canter, I told him he was the best horse in the world and we kept moving along. During the 3rd loop he was like -- nah, I'll just slow to a trot for that turn, so much easier.. LOL! I also felt the same way during the 3rd loop ;) I re-pulled my groin muscle less than 3 miles into the first loop when I used it to balance myself on sharp turn, and while Sunny passed the vetting with flying colors, I was clearly lame. Luckily the no-drug rule does not apply to the humans so 2 Aleve later I was good to go. Interestingly enough on the 3rd loop I felt a small pop in the area of the pulled groin muscle and since then it has stopped hurting-- maybe all the riding re-adjusted me?? (I originally injured it while cross-country skiing in January).
Decompression... What a great ride! Fantastic management, trails, and friends. Sunny found his rhythm with a balanced, loose rein 10 mph trot. My tack and management plan worked. I picked up my cat on the way home. My muscles keep getting more sore as the day passes. Tomorrow I finish unpacking and Sunny has an osteopathy appointment then a few weeks of rest. I can't wait for No Frills and all the rides in-between.
 |
| Post-ride |
Great seeing you! The new guy is very handsome :) Congrats on your completion!
ReplyDelete