endurance

Lessons Learned: Bumble Bee edition

/ Ashley Wingert / 2 Comments

Had to cogitate on this one for a few days…didn’t have any major revelations after the initial writing of it, so time to post it.

And now for the ever-popular, “What Worked, What Didn’t, and Other Random Musings.” [Complete ride story here.]

What Didn’t Work

– Time-keeping. Obviously. I still don’t know how we got so far behind on getting ready. The only thing I can think of is not being used to starting early on an LD, and it was cold and dark and we were slow.

– Self care. More fail. Because of the whole time thing, I managed a cup of coffee and banana for breakfast. And then I ate nothing on the first loop (too busy active riding), and nothing on the second loop. I did semi-okay drinking…probably an entire 20 oz bottle on each loop. The only reason I got away with this was it was 25 miles, and the weather was cool. This is kind of a new challenge for me…I’ve been spoiled by the autopilot pony over the years.

– Stirrups. A-freakin’-gain. I hate stirrups. I’ve yet to find ones I truly love. I do like my Cloud Stirrups, but they are so heavy, and on a saddle that’s already on the weighty side, it’s just that much more. So I found a pair of Gaston Mercier stirrups used on a great price, and picked them up…but after riding in them this weekend, I don’t know if there’s enough weight distribution in the footbed, at least not for how heavily I tend to weigh my stirrups when I’m actively riding. Partway through the first loop, my feet were starting to go numb just a bit. I’ll still keep messing with them…I think I also might have had my stirrups a touch short, but that’s my default security setting on a new/young horse.

– Saddle. Still not 100% ideal. Liberty was a touch sore on her loins, but not as bad as after Prescott Chaparral. Still…I don’t want to see any soreness, especially after 25 miles, since distance rarely improves that condition. And I’m still so sore where I was getting slammed into the rise on her abrupt stops.

– Goatheads. Bleh. Goatheads in the camping area. Still picking them out of my boots. Note to self: Invest in doggie booties and bring them to rides on the off-chance there will be goatheads. (They weren’t there last year.) There were some unhappy dogs this year, mincing their way across the ground. Note to self: Buy dog booties to just keep as part of the ride gear.

What Worked

– Tack. Libby and Mimi use the same set-up, sans crupper (for now) on Libby. I just have to let everything out by a hole or two on Libby. (Note to self: Use sharpie to mark the different holes, for ahead-of-time adjusting next time.)

– My clothing. The “Lady GaGa” tights are from Evelyn the Tights Lady, and they got more comments than just about any pair I’ve worn. Funky, they coordinated well, and with the full sheepskin saddle cover, not too slippery. I had a polyester tech-material tank top on under a long-sleeved denim shirt, and topped with a lightweight soft shell windbreaker for the first loop. I ditched the jacket at the lunch hold, and kept everything else the same. First ride for my fringed Just Chaps half chaps and they worked excellent. What’s nice about them is they’re short enough that they don’t run into the back of my knee at all, and the suede is super-flexible and soft.

– No martingale. Libby did some head slinging at Prescott Chaparral, and I threatened to put a martingale on her the next ride. I decided to start without one, since I’m a minimalist that way, and add it if needed. I never needed it, and her worst behavior indiscretions (happy feet hopping) wouldn’t have been solved with the martingale anyway.

– No leg wraps. Yay, she doesn’t interfere. As long as she doesn’t I will continue to not use any kind of splint/ankle boots.

– Camera. I remembered to take more photos this time. Why I could do this, and not eat, I’m not quite sure.

– Riding buddy. Gina and I always have fun when we ride together. And Libby and Wicked paced well together. Riding with Wicked helped Libby discover that she just might have a decent walk, and she started learning to stretch out her trot when she realized I wouldn’t let her canter.

– Boots. Liberty’s Renegade Vipers worked perfectly. At Chaparral, we pitched a hind boot on a water crossing/uphill climb. The only difference was size. This time, we had the next-longer size of Vipers available, and that extra 5mm of length on both fronts and hinds altered the size enough to be exactly what she needed. They didn’t budge this time around.

– The horse. I love this mare. She reminds me so much of Mimi. I can’t wait to do more with her.

– The ride. Ride management puts on an awesome ride. I’ve been able to peripherally appreciate it, as I’ve been part of the volunteer staff for Bumble Bee and McDowell, but being able to participate in the ride and really benefit from the work management puts into it was fantastic. Well-marked trail, great volunteers, enthusiastic management, and a well-run ride. I’m just sad I didn’t get one of the cute mugs they did for completion awards.

Random Musings

– Battle of Wills: Stubborn Horse vs. Stubborn Rider. This is an interesting one, in that it both did and didn’t work. The “didn’t” part would be I would have just preferred she not pull out the “stubborn mare” card…but what worked was that I had to deal with it. At Chaparral, she pulled that and we sent Uno out in front and she happily followed. This time, she didn’t want to lead, but she started wanting to hop/pitch a fit when following. So she had to lead. She didn’t get to bow out this time. Based on how dominant she is, I fully suspect this was a test to see if I was “worthy” of leading her and whether or not I was sending her to her doom. Overall, I think I did pretty okay…ultimately, she didn’t win on the “dig heels in and refuse to move forward” front. But next time, crop. And she needs more arena time to get sensitized to leg cues. (The good thing: She’s not an over-reactive, emotional horse who goes into hysterics when she’s thumped in the side or swatted on the rear. Subtle riders ‘r us.)

– No tire issues. Good start to the year, since the first ride of 2013 was the one that started all of the tire issues…

Ride Story: Bumble Bee 25 2014

/ Ashley Wingert / 3 Comments

Bumble Bee…otherwise known as the ride with the really long name, or “Lead, Follow or Get Out of My Way @ Bumble Bee” ride. I volunteered it last year…this year, I had the chance to ride it. Gina brought Liberty down for me to ride again — our second ride together.

I’m going to segue for a moment to detail out a theory I have that’s tended to hold true over the years. For me at least, on the horses I’ve really clicked with, the first ride has been magical. Heavenly choir and hallelujah chorus echoing in the distance, and the feeling that I can go anywhere and do anything with this horse. The feeling that sears into your subconscious and stays with you forever. A good thing, too…because inevitably, the second ride is when all hell tends to break loose and you find out what you’re really dealing with.

I had that happen with Mimi…my first test ride on her was amazing. And I had to keep reminding myself of that feeling for the next couple of years as we argued and struggled…it was something to cling to, that we could one day reach that level of partnership again.

Guess what happened this weekend? Yep. I got to experience the “other” side of Liberty. But knowing what I know now, coupled with the horse herself…her “other” side is still not going to be that difficult to work with, and most of it will be solved with experience, exposure, and wet blankets.

The very shortened cliffnotes version of the weekend? We finished…but overtime. The fact we got a late start, coupled with a number of “baby horse brain” training moments meant we came in about half an hour over…and I’m okay with it. It was my decision to deal with the issues as they came up, before they turned into major problems down the line, and my decision to back off and not push it as soon as I realized there was no way we were making time. That didn’t take away from the fact I had a great ride in gorgeous scenery on a really fun horse who has a ton of potential. We all finished in one piece, riders stayed on top, no one tripped and face-planted, no one kicked, and there were no tears or blood involved.

Sooo, now for details…

Friday afternoon saw me and one stuffed suburban heading out, leaving Future Ridecamp Dog in the extremely capable hands of my parents for the weekend. Much as I would have loved to bring her, she’s just a little young still. Hopefully sometime this year…

overlooking the Bradshaws

The last four miles of the dirt road into Bumble Bee wasn’t quite as icky as I remember it being…but that could also be because I remembered that I have a 4-wheel-drive vehicle…and remembered to use said four-wheel-drive this year. (Blonde moment? What blonde moment?)

pretty sure they have more cattle than that now…

arriving to basecamp

I had a chance to meander around camp and visit with friends while I waited for Gina and Kirt to arrive. Once they did, we whisked the horses out of the trailer and vetted them in before we ran out of daylight.

Liberty watching the vetting area

Liberty vetted with all As, except for a B on guts, and 40 pulse — not bad for just hopping out of the trailer, being near-dusk, and being several horses away from her travel-and-riding-companion-horse. I would also like to remind people this is only her third ride, at a brand-new basecamp she’s never been to, and only the second time I’ve handled her.

Yeah, pretty sure she’s got a good (if young) brain between those ears.
ranch pavilion where ride meeting was held

After we vetted them in, we found the permanent ranch corrals we had reserved for the weekend. The horse Gina had brought to ride hadn’t been tested on the hi-tie, as since there were permanent corrals available, we figured that would be the better way to go. And was it ever. The corrals were 35×50, so gave the horses a ton of room to move around all night. There were also feeders (no need to hang hay mangers) and large auto water troughs, so no hauling water. I could get used to this.

After settling in Liberty and Gina’s horse Wicked, we scuttled back over to the pavilion where they were just starting to serve the ride dinner (spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, and brownies with ice cream). We munched down on dinner and listened to the ride meeting, including fun things like the “horse name raffle” in which all of the horses who are entered in the ride have their names put into a jar and a random drawing is done for various door prizes. It was kind of strange listening for a horse’s name other than Mimi’s. Liberty’s name wasn’t drawn, but it was still fun.
And then ride meeting was over, and it was back to the trailer to throw the horses another flake of hay, pack saddles, and socialize with friends before bed. I got a nice sofa bed, with a heater down on the floor and Gina’s Rottweiler as a foot-warmer.

As is typical for me on Friday nights before a ride, I didn’t sleep all that well…but new settings combined with the always-present pre-ride nerves mean this is pretty much standard practice for me. It’s always kind of a relief when the alarm finally goes off and I can wake up for good, get dressed, and get on with things.

Ride morning was when we made our first tactical error. I don’t know what it was, but it seemed like time flew by. I had allowed almost two hours before the start, and I was still scrambling, to the point where I forgot my vet card as we were walking up to go check in and had to run back for it. (Yay, early morning cardio.)

Liberty was somewhat up, but still well-behaved, with the exception of trying to paw the air when I wanted to pick her hooves and put her boots on. Least they go on easily…

Liberty is currently running in Renegade Vipers, 140×135 on the fronts and 140×130 on the hinds. To put that in perspective, I can fit Mimi’s boots inside Libby’s with room to spare. This mare has nice, big, lovely feet.

I had the same set-up from Prescott Chaparral, with the exception of a different girth and Woolback pad instead of Skito (my Skito foam inserts have just about had it and I really need to get them replaced). I don’t know if it was the pad, or her being slightly more trim, but my saddle fit her better this time around.

We probably should have allowed more time to get ready, but it’s hard to think about that when it’s cold and dark out, and you’re not used to starting an LD at 7:30 in the morning. Oh, well…now we know…

So we hand-walked over to the start (halfway down, I discovered I’d forgotten my vet card, prompting the aforementioned dash to the trailer and back), Kirt gave both of us a leg up (which I need to practice…I was about as graceful as a flopping tuna, not being used to this whole “leg up” concept), and we made our way out of camp.

mares moving out from the start

“Out of camp” meant down a dirt road and through the ranch barn yard…past things like ranch equipment, wired horses, and…goats. Here, Liberty’s lack of exposure to a lot of things made itself known, as it took us probably another ten minutes to make it through and out to where the actual trail started. (Hindsight: Should have hand-walked. But I didn’t relish remounting, since Libby’s a little taller than my usual pony fare.)

indecisive mare ears…not sure if she wants to lead or make
Wicked go first

I gotta say, the ride name is kind of ironic…”Lead, Follow…” since neither mare wanted to lead particularly well, but neither did they necessarily want to follow. In their pasture, Liberty is boss over Wicked…but Wicked is the more experienced of the two out on trail and at rides.

We did quite a bit of frequent trading off and on of who was leading for the first half of the first loop, which was a mix of sand wash and road like the above photo. Liberty also started drinking when we hit the water at 7 miles, and proceeded to drink at every available opportunity afterwards. Hydration will not be a problem with this mare.
About halfway through the loop, we hit the Black Canyon Trail, which was an awesome section of single track with some technical sections. Liberty excels at this kind of trail. For being 15.1 (or thereabouts) and somewhat rectangular in her build, she can compact herself up and motor right through those twisty trails. Of the two, she did much better at leading through at a speed faster than a walk, so she got elected to lead for the next 7 miles. We had a couple of battle of the wills, that involved her planting her feet and me convincing her that forward was actually the order of the day, but overall, I was extremely pleased with how she did. She did some smart footwork, and really, really tried. There were a lot of large rocks and rock piles along this section that were quite scary, and she was brave as long as I was right there with her. It was definitely a lot of active riding on my part — rein contact, leg contact, core muscles engaged, steer the horse, look ahead, pay attention, let Libby know she’s doing good…no autopilot today.
cross-country section that routed around a rock slide on the
Black Canyon Trail

Gina and Wicked behind us on the Black Canyon
Trail. Wicked is every bit as big as she looks — at
least 16 hands tall.
short climbing section on the BCT…Libby acts
like the hills aren’t even there.

The last bit of loop one took us off the Black Canyon Trail and down into a wash that lead back to camp. The wash actually had a flowing little stream-lette going through it, and ride photographer Susan Kordish was there to take what I’m sure will be awesome ride photos.

Heading back through the wash and stream was a blast. Liberty was a bit unsure of the water, so as long as Wicked went ahead, we were actually able to trot through the wash, splashing through the water. (Next time, I must remember to get video.) 
Yes, this is the AZ desert. Really.

We hand-walked back down the same road we had left on, and back into camp. Both mares were pulsed immediately (Libby was at 44(!)), and she vetted through with all As, except a B on gut sounds. She also pawed the air because there was alfalfa on the ground right. there. and I wouldn’t let her grab it, and cantered and leaped through part of her trot-out. Yeah, worn out, that one.

We were in for our hold at 10:52…recommended in-time was 10:30. So if we hadn’t started late, we actually would have been right on target, pace-wise, even with the young horse training moments.

Back at the trailer, she tucked into the bucket of soaked pellets Kirt had made up, and proceeded to slop and scarf her way through the next hour.
“I shall call you Mush Face, and a lovely Mush Face you shall be.”

Gina, Wicked, and Kirt at the hold

We were actually early for our out-time (and yet another graceful leg up into the saddle for me…), and I laughed as Liberty stood in the road, doing her trademark air-pawing. As soon as we hit our time, we were off, and as soon as we cleared camp, both mares sprang into a trot and booked it out of there. 

Okay, cheerful willingness to leave camp is good.
The second loop was only 9 miles, but we had been warned it was slow-going. A lot of the trail followed the Black Canyon River (which is a tiny stream by most definitions), crossing over the river bed and paralleling it for over half of the loop. Which meant we had a ton of water crossings, and sand, and climbs. (Otherwise known as rigorous conditions for hoof boots.)

This loop, even though it was slow-going, was So. Much. Fun. I’d call it alone worth the price of admission. Water is a novel concept for this desert rat, as well as for my desert rat horse, but Liberty was with the program, and she proceeded to drink out of every single stream crossing. I wasn’t going to discourage the hydration, but this wasn’t helping our time…
paralleling the Black Canyon “River”
Partway through the loop, we had a big climb up a steep jeep road, and she powered up it, pausing only once for a brief moment. Her heart rate peaked at 160, then immediately started dropping, and she was back down to 80 in under a minute, and not even breathing hard. I cannot wait to see what this horse does when she’s in shape…
After the climb, we were on a jeep road that slowly started winding back towards camp. With the internal compass pointed due “trailer”, both mares perked up even more…perhaps a bit too much so, as Wicked started trying to canter the small uphills, which in turn meant Liberty also wanted to canter…and exercise her canter-induced “happy feet” (read: crowhops that threatened to turn into some bucks). Uh, not in my world, sweetheart. 
She definitely wanted to go faster, but some of the footing was tricky (lots of embedded rock slabs in the road), and she had started doing a bit of tripping — I don’t know if it was because she was getting tired, or just not paying attention to her feet — but either way, it meant it was time to slow down and re-group the baby horse brain. It was also at this point that I realized we were still roughly 4 miles out from camp and had 15 minutes before cut-off. Unless the two mares magically sprouted wings, that wasn’t going to happen, and there’s no sense in pushing it.
So we proceeded back at a sensible, not-rushing-the-clock pace, treating it as we would have had we still been on time…trotting where it was good, walking the rough, keeping brains intact. We also got more great photos from Susan as we crossed the “river”, and I had a “discussion” with Liberty about making nasty faces when being passed, as well as the inappropriateness of spinning and trying to take off after them.
We headed back in the same running-stream wash, and back into camp the same way.
We were officially a touch over 30 minutes over…so, our late start, plus the fact we just meandered the last few miles in. But we pulsed down to 48 immediately, and vetted out with As, and a B for gut sounds. When I asked Dr. Rick about the B on guts and whether that was just “her”, he said that, at least to him, a B is what he considers “normal” and As are “exceptional.” She also trotted out great…keeping it to a civilized dull roar this time.
And then we were done. :) We went back over to the trailer, un-tacked, and pulled and examined boots. I hadn’t touched Liberty’s boots all day, including at the lunch hold, and they hadn’t budged, even through all the water, sand, climbs, and fancy footwork. Safe to say we’ve got her boots ironed out.
We were even able to give the mares a bath afterwards, then put them in their corrals to roll, dry off, and eat some more while we went back to the trailer for food and to do some Renegade customer service.
Requisite goofy picture of normally-attractive mare

I love this part of going to rides and working with Kirt and Gina in a hands-on setting…I always end up picking up just one more tip or trick on fitting/sizing/troubleshooting, or learning something I hadn’t previously known or thought of.

Kirt and Gina headed back home later that evening, so I shared my friend Angie’s living quarters for the night, since I’m not overly fond of driving I-17 at night, then headed home the next morning, where I had a very enthusiastic puppy welcoming committee.
Officially, we might not have “completed”, but we ended up with a great 25-mile training ride over some gorgeous scenery with good company on a great horse. I call that a win.
until next time, big mare… *kisses*

Ride Story: Bill Thornburgh Friends & Family Ride 30 & 25

/ Ashley Wingert / 4 Comments

(Only two months late…)

My 2013 ride season has come full circle. I started the year in January with the Fire Mountain ride on Kaity’s horse Kody. Last weekend (last weekend being the last weekend of October), I did what is likely my last riding ride of the season (since I’m committed to working the McDowell ride next month) on Kody. As in January, our purpose was again companionship and babysitting of “greenie-brain” Ani, Kaity’s up-and-comer.

In between January and now, Kody has done three 100s, including Tevis and Virginia City. Needless to say, I felt very privileged to get to ride Kaity’s Tevis!pony.

I also decided against a repeat of the tire incident from the Fire Mountain trip and elected to fly out to Kaity’s this time. (Turns out this was also more economical than filling my gas guzzler.) I flew out bright and early Tuesday morning on a packed Southwest flight, stuffed my bags in Kaity’s car, and we zoomed back up the hill to her place, with stops along the way for Starbucks, pony food, and girl food. (Did you know you can fit two girls, two suitcases, two sacks of feed and a dozen grocery bags into a four-door Chevy car? Neither did I. But you can.)

Packing and prep went without incident, including being warm enough to give the boys a bath. (“Woe is us,” says Kody and Ani.) We pulled out of Kaity’s mid-morning on Friday with one very stuffed truck and trailer, since apparently packing for two girls + two ponies + two days = a lot of stuff.

The Bill Thornburgh ride is located in Inyokern, about 2-1/2 hours or so from Kaity’s place. That is, if 395 isn’t shut down due to a shooting/police chase in Ridgecrest that detoured us out and around the long way. We did go through Red Rocks State Park, so got some pretty scenery.

Just a small sampling of the pretty. If we didn’t
have Places To Be, I would have loved to explore.

Once we checked in and got our rider packets, we set up camp (weather was nice enough to tent camp this time), then took the boys out for a leg stretcher. Since I’d flown out, I decided against trying to wrangle my own saddle through the airport, instead electing to ride in Kaity’s FreeForm. I’d had a chance to do a couple of short training rides in a FreeForm this summer, and didn’t dislike it as a saddle. And I figured I could put up with almost anything for 25 miles…but it would be nice to know what I was in for by doing a short pre-ride.

Turns out that once you get the stirrup length right and the stirrup position/leg hang right, the FreeForm is wonderful. Not to spoil the ending, but this is the first ride I’ve ever done where I haven’t come off of the weekend with tight, crunchy calves. Two back-to-back days with lots of trotting and I felt fantastic. One of them has definitely been added to my wish list.

Derp faces all around.

Kaity and Ani on our Friday leg-stretcher ride.

We vetted the boys in after our pre-ride, and Kody vetted in “nearly dead” with a pulse of 30(!). We also continued our trend of completely sucking at trot-outs. (At least we provide entertainment, since it was soft sand and I thought I might fall down at least once.) The rest of the afternoon was spent packing the crew bag and hauling it back to the vetting area — camp was about a block and half away from the check-in/vetting area, so we treated it like an “out check” with everything at the check area instead of traipsing back and forth to the trailers.

Per the ride meeting, we would have two loops: Loop one was 11 miles out to the water/number-check/turn-around point, and back on an approximately parallel track into the check for a half-hour hold, then back out for a 9-mile short loop. Vet criteria was 56. It was warm and ponies were woolly, but there was lots of water along the way, with enough to sponge/scoop, and as far as I know, there were no treatments and only a few minor pulls over the two days. And the start time was an incredibly civilized 8AM. 
Every other time, I sleep like the dead. But for whatever reason, the Friday night before a ride is usually more like zombie-apocalypse restless dead, and this Friday was no exception. Not made any easier by the water truck pulling up right outside our tent and re-filling the giant water trough that we had so conveniently parked right next to. Sleep happened, but it didn’t seem like it at the time. I’m also not used to this “sleeping in” concept, so was up before the alarm, slowly pulling on my riding clothes and shivering.

Surprisingly, the typical “Battle of the Breakfast” was not a part of the day’s scheduled programming. I was able to eat a yogurt, a hard-boiled egg, a banana, coffee, and juice without any protest and/or mental trickery.

The boys got festively adorned with Halloween decor all around.

Kody’s witch hat and mane clips
The boys ready to go.

Ani’s pumpkin heads and mane clips
glittery spider on the tail

And us riders didn’t do too bad in the festivity department, either.

Orange in my helmet, tights, and Kody’s boots
Kaity wins (this time) for most orange, an honor (?) usually
taken by myself

Ride start was a very civilized 8AM, IIRC. (I think…I stopped this partway through, and am picking up writing it again two months later.)

dust cloud of the rest of the pack ahead of us

We casually meandered out of camp, pretty much the last ones to leave, and tiptoed past the scary stuff along the road. (The usual suspects: tires, trashcans, other horses, barking dogs.)

And then we were on the trail, and this series of photos shows a pretty good idea of what the next 11 miles to the turnaround point looked like:

turnaround point is a water stop just past those vehicles

Yup…flat, straight, sandy. I was warned ahead of time that the Inyokern rides are “good ones to do with a good riding buddy.” And it’s true. Kaity and I chattered and laughed pretty much non-stop through both days. To me, at least, I found the scenery to be interesting and pretty, since it’s a different desert than my desert. I was on a good horse, the weather was good…and flat, fast trails are their own challenge, since you the rider have to consciously think about things like changing gait, changing positions, and making sure you and your horse don’t get sore from the “sameness” of it.

at the turnaround point…Kody noms alfalfa
while I rummage for something
(probably food)

lava flow — we rode right at the base of it to the turnaround
me-n-Kody, heading back after the turnaround point

Kaity and Ani on the trail back to camp, part of which was an
old railbed trail

baby pistachio trees

heading back into camp for lunch

shabby view, eh?

monitoring the hoover’s food intake at lunch

I don’t remember how long lunch was — 30 minutes, maybe? I just remember thinking, “Ugh, not long enough.” I don’t like having to eat that fast…but whatever. The thing about riding with Kaity is she makes sure I take care of myself — “Are you drinking?” “Are you eating?” “Ash, leave the horse alone and sit down and eat.” Yes, ma’am. So I sat. And I ate. Bologna/cheese sandwich, tapioca pudding, Kern’s nectar.

And then it was time to put bridles on, tighten girths, and head back out. (Yes, I used the big water trough for a mounting block. No, I did not fall in. Yes, this is considered a bloggable accomplishment.)
Loop two was shorter — approximately 8 or 9 miles…whatever made up the balance of mileage after the first loop (22ish miles) to get the distance up to a 30.
And loop two was fun.
It was a lot of single track, which Kody and I lead through at a great, zoomy canter. (Hey, cantering through the desert…I feel almost like a real endurance rider!)
skeeery tire. brave Kody had to lead past it.

more pistachios

the start of the really fun single track

I’ll let the next series of photos speak for itself. This section of the loop was gorgeous, with the Sierras always in sight.

And then we were out on a road that paralleled Hwy 395…

And then turning off onto part of the trail we had pre-ridden the day before…
And then we were done! Both boys pulsed down immediately, giving Kaity and I finishing places of 12th and 13th, respectively. (Out of 18. Started dead last and still made up a few placings.)

(photo actually from Friday pre-ride, but you
get the idea…snorkeling pones)

And then we took advantage of the perks of riding the LD: shower, sit in the sunshine, nibble on snacks. Watch exhausted (uh huh…) ponies nap.

poor 100-mile pone, exhausted after 30 miles…not

Ride dinner was delicious…tri-tip with all the appropriate sides. (Beans, corn on the cob, salads, and a huge dessert table.) Day one completion awards were t-shirts, and Kaity won a Halloween bucket of goodies for “Best Coordinated Horse and Rider”.

Fortunately, I made up for my Friday sleep deficit on Saturday night, and it probably would have taken something running over the tent to actually wake me up.
Sunday morning was a repeat of Saturday, food-wise, and Halloween decorations were once again installed on pones. (Except Kody lost one of his little witch hats from his mane somewhere along the way.)
Sunday’s trail headed us out in the vaguely same direction as Saturday — towards the lava flow — but we paralled Hwy 395 for a while before peeling off, doing some loops through the desert, and coming back in the same way.
even more orange today…

Lather, rinse, repeat for lunch…

And then back out on the same loop two as Saturday. More cantering, more views. And because we knew where all the dips and soft spots were, we made better time.

photo by Tony Wilkie

We finished in 12th and 13th again, out of 24 on Sunday’s ride. And Kaity and Ani won the overall LD horse of excellence award for the weekend!

The boys got to snooze in the sunshine while we packed up camp — the wind had really picked up, and predicted to get worse, so we wanted to head back before Hwy 395 got closed due to blowing dust.
We got back to Kaity’s early enough to unload the boys, clean up, then head out for Mexican food and obligatory celebratory margaritas!
 I still had a couple of days to spend at Kaity’s, and we filled the time with things like off-roading with Kaity’s boyfriend KC:

And admiring the high desert mountain weather:

And the general, life-enjoying shenanigans that Kaity and I manage whenever we get together. Woe, as always, that we live in two different states, but glad, as always, that I’ve got such an awesome friend that shares in the craziness of endurance, horses, and life.

2013 ride season wrap-up

/ Ashley Wingert / 3 Comments

Considering this weekend is the last weekend for the 2013 AERC ride calendar, and I don’t have plans to be anywhere, I can safely call it a wrap on the 2013 ride season for myself. And what a season! I ended up doing more endurance miles in one season than I had done to date, and almost as many LD miles.

Final tallies:

— 8 rides (4 endurance, 4 LD)
— 210 endurance miles
— 115 LD miles
— 4 different horses
— 4 different rides I’d never been to before
— first back-to-back 50s
— 2 100s crewed
— 2 rides volunteered at

I had a great time this year, and can’t wait to see what the 2014 season brings!

love-hate relationship: heart rate monitors

/ Ashley Wingert / 7 Comments

As you might have guessed from the title, I have a love-hate relationship with using heart rate monitors on my horses. I will say that they have their benefits, but they also come with a full set of hair-yanking annoyances.

To start, let’s discuss technical details. There are two main brands of equine Heart Rate Monitors on the market: Polar and V-Max, and two styles, either the belt or the electrodes. I have one of each brand and one of each style.

The Polar HRM I have is actually a human chest belt, the T31 transmitter, adapted for equine use with a homemade neoprene belt. They do have an actual equine belt now as well. I have an extremely basic Polar HRM watch that does nothing more than give you the heart rate reading when it’s connected.

the belt style in approximately the correct position

The nice thing about the belt is that it can stay on the horse once you pull the saddle, so you don’t need a handheld unit to monitor the heart rate. 

The cons that I experienced with the belt where that, due to Mimi’s barrel-like conformation, it was extremely difficult to keep the transmitter in the proper position. It had a tendency to slide around her barrel, sending some truly outrageous readings to the watch, and when I would glance down in alarm (“Surely we’re not walking at 200+ bpm!”), I would see the transmitter had migrated to the top of her withers. There’s a velcro strap around it that you can wrap around the breastcollar to keep it from migrating backwards, but that doesn’t help with the spinning around.
I will say I never experienced that problem on horses with high withers.
The other major problem was the lifespan of the belts: Short. They are homemade from neoprene weight belts, so I can’t speak for the quality of the ones directly from Polar. I started using the belt style back when they were a DIY affair cobbled together from various offerings and the imaginations of creative people.
Although I never had a problem with it, something to watch would be the belt under the girth, and positioning of the transmitter so that it doesn’t encourage girth galls. A horse who is sensitive in the armpit area might have problems with that much “stuff” in there.
electrode style, showing the electrode that gets placed
under the saddle. second electrode gets placed on the
opposite side under the girth, approximately level with the
elbow, in the area you would place a stethoscope. The wires
attach to the transmitter, contained within the black pouch,
which can then get clipped to the saddle d-rings.

The other style I own is the electrode style, this one from V-Max. This one is also very basic, although the watch displays both the heart rate and the time at the same time.

This was the first HRM I got, and aside from changing out the batteries in both the watch and the transmitter once, it has held together really well.
My quibble about this style is that it is fussier to put on: you have to position the electrodes correctly so that you get a good reading, and I would caution on placement of the under-saddle electrode that you use care to not place the electrode right under the stirrup bars or any higher-pressure area. While they are low profile, I have seen horses that develop white hair patches in the exact shape of the electrode over time.
It’s also something to pay attention to when unsaddling, particularly the electrode attached to the girth. It’s pretty easy to drop the girth and yank it away without disconnecting the electrode, which then might end up yanking the leads (wires) out of the electrode. But this style also doesn’t move once you have them in place, so as long as they are positioned well, they tend to given pretty accurate readings. (However, if you are walking along at 200+ all of a sudden, lean down and check that your girth electrode hasn’t gotten yanked out and is now merrily dangling next to your horse’s side.)
Those are some of the mechanical/technical pros and cons of HRMs. Let’s talk about my own personal philosophy and approach to their use.
A heart rate monitor is a TOOL. It is not a substitute for the FEEL of a horse. 
It is not a speedometer, or tachometer. It is a piece of electronic equipment designed to give you feedback you might not otherwise get. I do not ride based off of the HRM, but I use the HRM’s feedback to support what I’m feeling or not from the horse.
I would say learn to feel your horse and know them before relying too much on technological input. I put a lot of stock into gut instinct, and I generally think I have a pretty good read and feel of a horse. I know that I personally like getting feedback: It’s really great to know how fast the horse is recovering, or what their HR tends to be at various gaits, or determining what speed within a gait might be most efficient for them.
But if you’re a worrywart like me, a HRM can be an instrument of torture if you pay too much attention to it. Which then goes back to my original approach of “treat it as a tool.” If you have a high reading, take a quick stock and assessment: Did the belt rotate? Is an electrode loose? Bad connection? If a reading that is concerning persists, that’s when the feel of the horse comes in to play. Are they trotting along happily, breathing steady, feeling “normal?” Then it’s probably a technological issue, or a temporary blip. What’s your gut telling you? Is there something about your horse that is not quite “right?” If so, maybe the HRM is backing up what your gut — and your horse — is telling you.
Here are some specific-to-me examples of when I’ve benefitted (or not) from using a HRM:
— Mimi can be a very subtle horse about telling me when something is wrong. Both times she had a tie-up, the main indicator was a hanging pulse. Not high, just hanging — extremely uncharacteristic for her, coupled with a lack of enthusiasm for moving out willingly. The lack of wanting to move out — probably the most uncharacteristic sign from her there is a problem, since she is the Go Pony — was what made me look at the HRM, and the hanging numbers confirmed by suspicions. Fortunately, both times were caught very early on in the process, before they could become a major problem.
— When I took Beamer to a ride, using the HRM was extremely beneficial because he could be somewhat of a sandbagger. He might act like he was all used up…but when he’s walking at 48 bpm in a sand wash after 25 miles, he wasn’t too exhausted…he just thought he was. In that case, having the HRM didn’t actually help me get him to go faster — when he decided he was done, that was that — but it did reassure me that I hadn’t actually pushed him too hard.
— It’s been a handy tool when I’m riding horses I’m unfamiliar with. Not that it helps a ton while riding, since I’m usually not familiar with their standard working pulses — a bit alarming at first to be used to one who trots at 120 only to get on one whose trotting average is 140 and you start to wonder if there’s something wrong…no, that’s just the horse — but it does help to establish some basic patterns. It doesn’t matter the actual numbers in the sense that, if they’re going along at one close range for a while, then it starts shooting up, now might be a good time for a breather.
  • When riding Liberty at Prescott, the HRM actually was a good tool in helping me figure her out. She’s a brave, bold, forward horse who is happy to motor along pretty consistently (especially for a greenie), but she wasn’t showing signs of wanting to take a breather on her own. From what I remember, her trotting average was around 120, so when her HR started to jump to 135-140, that’s when I would ask her for a walk break, and usually several minutes later, she was ready to go again.
    • She did hit a wall partway through the ride, but based on her HR, it was more mental than physical, and I actually chalk that one up to rider error. I got pretty caught up in how solid she was and how much fun I was having riding her that I, quite frankly, forgot she was still a green horse on only her second ride. She led the first 9 miles of the ride, and I think she probably got a little bit overwhelmed mentally. Rather than freak out, she just stopped and asked, in her own way, that the other horse be the one to lead for a while. She was more than happy to keep following.
      • I monitored her HR, and it stayed in the same low patterns, so my conclusion based on that was she was still physically feeling good and not being overly taxed — but she needed the mental break. It worked. She got a good break for the next third of the ride, and then after the vet check, we made a point of alternating who was leading or following much more frequently — switching off every mile or so — and by that point, she was happy to take the lead and move out again.
— It’s a pretty nice tool to have at a VC, to be able to know when your horse is down, or for learning how fast they take to drop to ‘x’ point.
  • I “hide” my HRM screen from pulse-takers, so as to not accidentally influence what they’re hearing. I want to know if they’re hearing something different than what I might be getting.
    • That said: This is again another area for “technical difficulties.” Don’t rely entirely on the HRM — know how to take your horse’s pulse manually or with a stethoscope, since the monitor might not be reading perfectly accurately (one of the rides I was at this spring, my HRM was consistently reading four beats higher than what P&R people and vets were getting) or may be having some issues.
I think that just about exhausts my HRM repertoire…I’m by no means an expert, this is just personal opinions gleaned off of the past ten years of experience in messing around with them.
For those that are curious, I am currently using the V-Max electrode system. After going back to it, I’m on the fence as to if I like the belt system anymore or not.
If there’s something I didn’t cover, or any questions I raised, please ask!