Horse
Savvy
Ranch
Cindy Schleuss, Owner
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For the past five years or so I have been teaching endurance riders how their mechanics in the saddle assist in keeping their horses strong and sound. We work through a series of exercises to discover any weaknesses and what factors influence them: including the horse, the rider, the shoeing, the saddle, the teeth, the bridle, and nutrition. In the meantime we continue to build what is already strong and make educated decisions about how to address the underlying problems.
Personally I am an arena rider. In the past I have ridden many trails but never competed as an endurance rider. Recently a long-time friend and endurance rider challenged me to ride with her at the Lake Sonoma 50. She assured me it would be reasonably easy as 50 mile rides go and close enough to home that we could show up the morning of the ride. In the scheme of it all I figured I should at least experience what all of my clients go through. And as it turned out I was planning to go on vacation the Sunday after the ride so my schedule was already clear which gave me the ability to say yes to the challenge.
The weather the morning of the ride was perfect for me. I hate being cold and as luck would have it, it was pleasantly warm. Nancy Kay DVM, whose horse Oliver would be my mount, had him all ready for me. We chose him since I had been training him and he was familiar with me. I prepared myself for this ride the same as I would a horse. That is, do not change anything before or during a race. I felt confident with the saddle since I already ride in a Reactor Panel, but I did have the sheepskin seat cover removed and I put my bow balance stirrups on. I then met up with my challenger, Lisa Jordan and her mount Nikki who belongs to Ashley Sansome DVM. I was to be Lisa’s “junior rider”. After clearing the vet check, we both mounted up to begin my first adventure of endurance riding.
The first loop was a bit annoying for me. It was a lot of fast and slow due to the varying speeds of the starters. Just as soon as we found a good rhythm something would happen to change the pace. The best part of the first loop were the photographers. I had to have at least one picture to prove that I did in fact ride an AERC endurance ride. Since I have studied many endurance photos for rider posture, I knew exactly how to prepare and have my “cheesy smile” plastered on my face. We rode into the vet check with barely tired horses and received A’s on the vet exam. It was now onto the real challenge for me – little did I know.
After warming the horses up from their first rest we began to move them out again. Finally we were able to keep a more consistent rhythm. We arrived at a welcome water stop and let the horses drink from a nice wood barrel with water running into it from a pipe. I knew to be careful of catching a rein on the pipe but neglected to see the piece of metal on the side of the barrel that was a part of the clamp that secured the wood together. Oliver drank well and then went to rub on the side of the barrel. I picked my reins up to stop him from rubbing and felt my left rein caught on something. He felt it at the same time and began to back up. I dismounted quickly hoping to swing the reins over his head and over the clamp but was not quick enough. Oliver did what most horses do - pull back until something gives. The clip on the rein quickly gave way. I opened the rein buckle, removed the broken clip and proceeded to buckle the rein directly to the bit. I was shocked when the bit simply fell out of his mouth. Not only had Oliver managed to break the snap on the rein he broke one of the snaps that attaches the bit to the headstall as well. We moved the horses off the path and began to repair the equipment. Lisa pulled out her trusty knife and removed a clip from the scoop that was attached to my saddle. She then cut the broken snap off of the piece that attaches the bit to the headstall. I attached the new snap and the bit to the strap. I put the bit into Oliver’s mouth only to find that I still had a broken clip. Oliver had broken both clips. One more repair and we were off and running again.
As we were heading up yet another hill with a wide path almost wide enough for a car to drive, we came upon a small group of horses. I had finally found, or I should say that Oliver finally found his engine. He felt so good I asked if I could pass and take the lead. With permission we began to pass on the hillside, or the right side of the horses. The hillside looked as if it had been carved out nice and neat giving me the impression that I didn’t need to look for anything sticking out of it. I think it was a tree root approximately one inch in diameter protruding out of the hillside that caught my knee, pushed my leg backward and shredded my $100 breeches from below my knee to the middle of my thigh. Lucky for me I knew to relax when the root grabbed my leg, otherwise I would have been on the ground. I thanked all of those young colts I had started in the past who taught me that bouncing off of walls was a literal term which conditioned me to just let my leg go with the pressure. I continued on as if nothing had happened. I could see red on my knee and glanced to make sure I wasn’t bleeding too badly. My embarrassment was not the fact that I missed the object sticking out of the hill but the fact that I would have to ride the rest of the time with this huge gaping hole in my breeches that exposed my knee and a fair amount of my thigh.
I found it interesting as we continued on our ride, how the terrain kept changing. Throughout the next section of the trail it appeared that someone had created mounds of dirt and rock. These piles covered the entire trail left to right and varied from two to six inches high. I rode along a bit paranoid that Oliver was going to catch a toe on one of these piles and neglected to notice how close we were to Nikki’s hind end. As fast as I was to pick up Oliver’s face to back him off of Nikki, he tripped, fell, jerked me forward, jerked his neck up to save himself, and bashed me in the lip. Thank goodness I turned my head at the last second otherwise I would have been riding with a bloody nose and torn breeches. “Are you still up there?” I heard Lisa ask as we continued to trot along. “Yes” I replied. I won’t say what I was thinking.
The next water stop was a nice creek. We walked the horses into it and let them drink. Other riders were doing the same. One of them said to me “Do you know that your crouper is hanging on your horse’s side?” I looked down the left side of Oliver and sure enough there was my crouper. Since we were close enough to the lunch stop I just removed it and figured I would fix it during our one hour hold. That idea took a back seat as we trotted down the next hill. We stopped for a tack adjustment and re-fitted the crouper.
We hand walked the horses into the lunch vet check, stopping at the water to cool them down on the way. It was in the 80s and the horses all had their winter coats. Once I saw people, I tried to walk quickly and stay close to Lisa in hopes that no one would notice my pants. I’m guessing it was the arnica tablets I was taking that prevented my lip from swelling and, surprisingly, neither my lip nor my knee hurt. I just needed to wrap my thigh so that I wouldn’t start to rub as the breeches continued to rip. Of course I didn’t bring a change of clothes.
During the vet exam the assistant taking the notes noticed that Oliver was missing his left front shoe. In disbelief I looked down and sure enough it was gone. Lucky for me there just happened to be a farrier there. The vet said he would be happy to put a shoe on for me. So after receiving our next set of A’s we went off to get a shoe.
The rest of the day went much better. I only got my head hit by numerous limbs and scraped my left shoulder. By the last two miles my shins and thighs were screaming at me, however, I refused to allow my posture to compromise Oliver in any way. My feet had to stay under me carrying my weight the same as if I were standing on the ground. My mantra at this point was “bend my elbows, hinge at my hips, and bend my knees”. I stayed focused on the ground I was on and not at the ground I was approaching. This kept me from leaning too far forward or back as we went up and down the unending hills. I have to say I was so happy to see our final destination. We had made it and boy was I ready to get off.
Oliver’s overall score was an A- with a final pulse rate of 48. We came in 28th out of approximately 70 horses. I was impressed that my ACL deficient knees were not hurting. Lisa took great care of us and for that I am grateful. The best part of the day was hearing that my client Cassandra Schuler DVM received Best Condition with her horse Flyer. She has worked hard and so deserved the honor.
For me this was a great experience. I have more knowledge of what it takes to ride the miles and how our body balance and mechanics affect our horses. Any compassion I had for my clients just went out the window. If I can do it then so can they. And although I had more mishaps in one ride than most endurance riders have in their career, I had fun and would even do it again.
My First Endurance Ride
