Topic
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Cheff Center Distance Ride
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to share that Rocky and I completed our first two LD (limited distance) rides July 12 & 13th. We completed the 25 mile ride Saturday morning, and another 25 mile ride on Sunday. What an experience!!!! I thought I knew what to expect, but oh boy!! There is nothing like having a ton of Arabians snorting and racing around your campsite warming up to take off at a flat run!! Even level headed Rocky had big eyes, and made me more than a little nervous. For those of you that don't know this was the first Endurance ride for both Rocky and I. And this is far enough into the season that people are getting VERY competitive and trying to secure there spots in year end awards.
Anyways, the ride was 3 hours away from my house, and thankfully my mom volunteered to crew for me. We had a late start, and did not get to camp until a little after 8pm and missed the ride meeting. We were able to get the bare minimum set up, and I had to quickly get Rocky vetted in before the vet left for the night. By the time we were completely set up it was after midnight, and I realized that I had been drinking Pepsi. Caffeine is not a friend to me, and I only slept about 1/2 hour all night. Saturday morning was full of storm clouds, and it sprinkled off and on. My ride time was 6:30 am, and I was up by 5am, getting ready to ride out. Rocky is normally very calm, and nothing much fazes him. This is the first time I have ever seen him really worked up about anything. As soon as I swung into the saddle he started dancing around, and was not using his "thinking brain".
We followed a gator out of camp to a starting line, and as soon as we reached the beginning, large open green field, everyone took off at a dead run. My original plan had been to ride a very slow ride, and come in dead last. I consider this year as my learning experience and want to rack up miles and have no intention of "placing". All those thoughts came to a crashing halt as my horse starting lunging forward trying to keep up with everyone else. Thankfully the last person was kind enough to hold back and stay with me. This helped Rocky calm down, but he could still see everyone else ahead of us, and decided to buck about every 4th stride for the 1st 1/2 mile. He was not trying to throw me, but he was definitely expressing his frustration. If Christine had not stayed with me I would have dismounted and headed back to camp. As soon as we made it across the fields, and to the trail he calmed down, and within a mile his head was down, and his stride was loose and relaxed. It was wonderful to have my normally very docile horse back.
After that "interesting" first mile I thought it would be in my best interest to stay with Christine, and not try to hang back. As soon as Rocky had relaxed she started to move up into her normal pace. Come to find out she had been placing at the top in all her previous rides, and had started this ride hoping to win. The pace was much faster than Rocky and I were accustomed to, 10-14mph trots, and often we would jump up into a canter to keep up. Towards the end of the first loop, 15 miles, I had already made the decision to hold back for the last 10 miles, and ride at a much slower pace. When we road into the vet check I did not know what to expect, and watched Christine. We unsaddled the horses, and started pouring water over the backs, necks, and legs. Most of the horses pulsed down within a few minutes, but it took Rocky and I longer to meet criteria. Once we met criteria and passed the vet check we had a mandat
