After our performance at the Bluebell ride I was confident
that we would be able to complete the distance in our ER within previous
years winning speeds, 16-17kph. To maximise my horse's readiness for
his ER I travelled him up the night before and settled him into his pen
for an overnight stay, even though it was only about an hour and 20
minutes drive from Bristol. My Crew and I returned home preferring the
comfort of our own bed to a B&B, with the intention of driving up in
the morning. My only slight worries about this ride were the weather
possibly being very hot and the fact that we were competing on the same
shoes we had used at the Bluebell ride.Sunday morning dawned bright and
early despite the torrential thunder storm at 3.00 in the morning which
woke me up and I enjoyed watching from my bedroom window. Apparently
at the ride venue the power was knocked out by this. After a quick breakfast
and food packing session we hopped into the car and proceeded on our
journey to Wantage. On arrival Steve took Dougal for a pick of grass
and a leg stretch while I collected my bib, checked for course changes,
briefing times and carried out my sponsorship duties. I
then met up with Steve and Dougal and presented to the farrier and Vet.
Dougal has surprised me this season as he appears to have learnt to
contain himself at the vetting instead of taking off at 100 miles an hour
in trot with me struggling behind. We proceed to the trailer where
our tack was and I asked Malcolm if he would mind taking a look at Dougal as
I was not 100% happy with his back. Malcolm very kindly came and
checked his back for me and watched me site the saddle then kindly
reminded me where to fit it correctly. I was placing it slightly too far
forwards and therefore causing the saddle to bridge and hence the
problem. He advised me to massage along Dougal's back for 5 minutes
then give him a rest and to come and see him when I had tacked up and
warmed up.
About half an hour before the ride start time I went to ride briefing
and then returned to tack Dougal up and warm him up, presenting to Malcolm
5 minutes before the off. Given I was unsure of my breaking capacity
I had fitted a long shank Mylar combination bit for the first section of
this ride with the intention of changing to our more normal hackamore for
the remainder of the ride, in hind sight a wise choice. We lined up
at the start on the third row and stood very patiently waiting for the off
along with 11 other combinations. Wend Dunham counted down the last
5 seconds then we were off, at trot for about two strides then Dougal put
his head down to knee level and we were at the front, not what I had
intended at all. We stayed in this position and at canter all the
way to the first check point where I was ahead of my crew and Jim Lane
kindly provided a slosh bottle. I was just about to leave when my
crew turned up and I took a second slosh bottle then was off down a short
piece of road in about 5th place with Fiona Hamilton in front. When we got
back on the grass Dougal once again took charge and off we cantered
gradually working our way back to the front of the group, with me constantly
checking both his HR and our speed. Due to the fantastic going it
was possible to canter virtually the whole route. My crew and I managed a successful
second crewing then it was home to the venue. Again with Dougal
pulling like a train and us sitting in the top 3, going into the first vet
gate I decided to hop off 100yds from the finish in an attempt to help
Dougla's HR to drop. However on landing on the ground I discovered how much
more fitness work I needed to do to approach the horses. Note to
self: get back on the bike.
We completed the first loop of 32km in 1hr 30 minutes at a speed of
21.33kph. Dougal despite my hopping off was very hyped up and was not
keen on standing still to have his tack removed and heart rate read.
So I asked Steve to walk him about while I copiously sloshed him. After
about 10 minutes he appeared to calm down and his heart rate was dropping.
We then decided to take him up closer to the vetting area. However this
managed to wind him up so we walked away to the grassy area near the
stables and when I was happy with his heart rate we returned to present
with a HR of 52. Unfortunately this error of judgment on our parts
caused our first present time to be 30 minutes. Something we need to
make note of for next time. Our hold of 40 minutes then ensued with
Dougal changing his bridle for his hackamore allowing him to eat a mixture
of Grass and Hard food, being drenched with a salt water mix, but not
drinking. I managed to eat two sandwiches clean all the tack off and
drink plenty. By this time it was getting towards midday and the
weather was heating up to in excess of 15 degrees C. Five minutes
before our out time I tacked up and warmed up. Three other riders in my
class had set off ahead of me then we were off. Again Dougal took
charge cantering to catch up the horse in front and then the next horse.
Our crew met us at check point one this time with no hitches. However as
we were trying to leave here and trot down the road a car who's occupants
were lost blocked the exit and were trying to ask us all for
directions. Not a great idea as few of us were from this area.
Dougal was not keen on the idea of standing still so squeezed through a
gap and we were off trotting down the road. Again we hit the grass
and there was a group of about 4 of us keeping pace with one another and
passing graded and set speed competitors who very kindly moved out of the
way to allow us to pass. We quickly found ourselves at check point 2
where the steward had very kindly placed water buckets for our horses and
Dougal very sensibly stopped and took a long draft. I was hoping he
would do this again on our return to checkpoint 2 and was pleased when he
did so. At this point we were about 3rd or 4th and coming into the
2nd vet gate, again I hopped off and walked the last 100 yds, again
thinking need to cycle. Steve had parked very sensibly on the verge
shielding Dougal and I from passing horses once we moved in front of the vehicle
on to the grass. Dougal took about 7 minutes to calm down this time
and then about 6 for his heart rate to drop, a vast improvement. Then off
to vet passing with a HR of 54. As the hold here was only 20 minutes
it seemed to go very quickly again with me tacking up five minutes before
our off time. Dougal did drink here and eat as well as being dosed
with a salt water mixture. Then we were off with 3 horses in front
of us a small head start over those behind. Dougal was happily
trotting at 16.5kph however on two occasions when I asked him to canter his
heart rate shot up to 160 bpm which I was not happy with and therefore we
trotted until we reached the Ridgeway path and turned for home. At
this point we were caught up by the 4th placed horse and Dougal once again
put his head down and cantered off refusing to be overtaken. We held
this status quo till the road crossing when the other horse took a small
lead which it held till the end. I decided not to make a racing finish to
try and grab 4th place as although since being caught and cantering
Dougal's heart rate had been in the 130-140s I was well aware that to
complete we had to achieve a heart rate of 56 within 30 minutes of
passing. We cantered past the line in 5th place I hopped off and
Steve collected our time card. We went straight to the trailer
untacked and proceeded to slosh Dougal then walk him then slosh him then
walk him. The time seemed to pass rapidly and we were off to
present. At this point Steve noticed that our present time was an
hour out so while Dougal and I waited in the shade, after a quick word with
Wendy Steve went back to the finish and they amended the card. By
the time Steve got back we had to go and present, we passed with a heart
rate of 55, one beat inside the maximum allowed.
The award ceremony was due to start at 5.15 so we all mooched about for about an hour
and a half with Dougal eating grass and
drinking occasionally while Steve and I ate sandwiches and drank. I packed
everything away and mucked out my stable then it was off to the Awards ceremony
where I discovered we were 5th out of 8 finishers and the winner was Fiona
Hamilton. After this I collected my paper work and we then departed another
good day's outing over with a lot learned and ideas on where to improve things
for our next ER.
Below are my heart rate monitor and GPS readings from this ride.
|
