On a very blustery Saturday in August on the top of a hill
Dougal and Steve stood waiting to be vetted prior to the ride, which they
did so shortly. I then took Dougal over to his stable for the night,
where we were met by the very nice yard owner Wendy Johnston who showed
us around and had us very shortly tucked up. Preparation for this event
took the form of clipping Dougal on the Friday and all the usual
associated truck and trailer packing.
Early the next morning I left the venue campsite to collect Dougal
and bring him back for the start of the ride. I was slightly
apprehensive about how things were going to go considering the events at
Ludlow. So we tacked up and prepared everything for the off. Dougal was feeling quite keen
during the pre ride warm up side stepping and reacquainting ourselves
with competitors from previous rides. Then the count down started
and we were off down the hill with Dougal taking his customary hold and
maintaining his head in front. Three of us formed a leading group
during the first part of this loop, which curiously includes a section
where you ride inbetween the two carriageways of the M6. A new one for me. As we
approached the first section of short roadwork I checked our overall
speed and decided to steady up a bit and let the other two horses go away,
so we walked through the village. The route takes a right hand turn
down a little lane out of the village by a church and a farm, where it
was milking time and we encountered some cows that seemed surprised to
see us. We then climbed back up to and over the top of the hill before
dropping down to meet up with the road again. I would love to know
how the stewards hiding from the wind behind a dry stone wall between two
fields in the middle of nowhere by a gate got there. Answers in an E-mail?
A quick slosh when we met Steve by the road, then off down
a short stretch of road. Then on to the road verges heading towards the
vet gate with lots of intervening gates. By this time there were several
of us riding as a group which made the gates easier as we all
shared the opening and closing duties. As we neared the vet
gate the group caught the two leaders who had slowed down significantly,
so about 9 of us came into the vet gate together. Due to the
inclement weather which was getting worse by the second we presented to
vet quickly but had to wait for a vet as there was a queue.
Unfortunately Dougal trotted up lame on his right fore, so our day was
over after 32km. A big
disappointment as we had been going well and the day after he was
perfectly sound.
Below are my heart rate monitor GPS readings from this ride.
|
