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To say I was not nervous would be lying, after the cancellation earlier this year of the Hop
Was Hop Ride this was now Dylan’s first ride. As usual all the packing was done the day before hand and
as the venue is only just over an hour away we would not be going away over night. So we hitched up the
trailer ready to go the previous evening so we just had to load and go. After an uneventful journey
over to Newark Steve unloaded Dylan while I sorted out our paper work and collected my number bib. We
then mooched Dylan over to be vetted, with a starting heart rate of 40, which I was pleased with as he
was a tad excited and showed this by cantering back instead of trotting when we trotted up.
I am really pleased to say that up to about 20km he behaved himself perfectly leading older
horses by the scary donkey, then wanting to talk to it. He was not bothered about leading or going
behind others, being passed or left behind. Only twice did he put his ears back when a horse came up
behind him and bunch up as if to shoot off but did not. We had a couple of fun bucks while cantering.
Then while cantering along a short distance behind two other horses on a perfectly smooth grass track
I asked him to move over and he tripped over his own two feet, dragged his head along the ground and
ejected me out the front. I landed rolling on the back of my left shoulder, fortunately I have already
broken this collar bone and the doctor said I never would again. I pretty much rolled back on to my feet
got up and turned round to find Dylan lying down facing the opposite direction to that which we had been
travelling in. I walked back to him and gave him a gentle rub and a steady boy. He calmed down, not that
he seemed overly bothered and then carefully got up. I gave him the once over and he looked none the
worse for tripping over his own two feet. The other two riders carried on as they did not know this had
happened!
So I walked along beside him in the direction the course took and he was sound and more then
keen to get going again. When I got to a suitable piece of ground, one where I could put him in a small
depression I remounted. We walked on for a bit then he offered to trot and was sound so we carried on
along our way completing the remaining 10km in snow, sleet and very strong, 30mph, winds to finish the
ride. I was a tad sore on my left shoulder to say the least, the ground is hard at that speed. I hopped
off and walked over to the trailer untacked popped a thermatex rug on him and the heart rate monitor.
Then we went off to vet, I had Steve trot him up to check he was sound, which he was, then we vetted with
a heart rate of 46 having completed the ride at 11.56kph.
Luckily by the time the weather turned nasty again he was tucked up in the trailer doing what
he does best, eating. The drive home was uneventful and he was very happy to see his crime partners and
tell them all about his big experience. He will now have the week off and seeing as he took a spill I
will get the physio out to check him over.
Below are my heart rate monitor GPS readings from this ride.
