Endurance in THREE Weeks!

Was planning on riding spirit tonight but got caught in traffic and didnt get home till after 6:30 so I figured I can't go back Leland's tonight, sunset is at 7:10pm. Then I thought, wait a minute, you have a helmet light sitting on your dresser gathering dust....never used...and you've got an ENDURANCE ride in thee weeks! So, still all fluffed up from my great trip to Virginia, I tacked the boy up, and headed down Leland's. Warmed him up for the first quarter mile (driveway) then hitched him into a canter and cantered the 1.25 miles to the end of Leland's. Was planning on cantering back but spirit was pretty bossy so I thought I'd walk/trot him to remind him who is boss and there was a problem....it wasnt getting dark enough for the helmet light to be effective! here I was all pumped up, and...nothing. So, we cantered back to the trees a few times. Finally about the third time back, spirit noticed the light! I had read that helmet lights can scare a horse until they get used to them, and oh yeah the books are right. He went from a canter into a stop that would do a reining horse proud. Holy mackeral. All my bluster was gone. He was scared and I was scared. He made it through all the scary things created by the lights ( dog eyeballs being the hardest for him to handle) and so did I. Next time it will be a little easier, it always is. Tonight we survived. Tonight we got one step closer to being a real endurance team.

Home

We are home. (can't say the same for our luggage). The farm looks great, animals well cared for, outdoor arena has received a facelift ( will try to post a picture tomorrow). Thanks to everyone for taking care of things. Gary and I are slowly recovering. Tonight I went down, took spirit out of the paddock and just gave him a nice massage, tried out a few new stretches I've learned (for the horse!) he looks great thanks to Shelley for riding him and Troy and Tammy for feeding him. Although, I have to say ...he is FAT!!! Too much of the good life. Horse and rider on diets effective immediately!

Virginia /north Carolina/New York City???(12)

We finally. Arrived home. Have a few more horse stories to share but battery is running low and plug is in luggage and luggage is lost (including the suitcase containing my saddle). Our connecting flight From new York was cancelled so we ended up in new York city overnight, no luggage, not even a toothbrush ( yech). Made the best of it, helped a few other people find hotels and get to their hotel. Walked all around manhattan and then back at the airport five am this morning. But today things didn't go very we'll, trouble getting a flight, hours at the airport here and in new York, and still no sign of our luggage. Just getting home and goin to bed!

Virginia /north Carolina (10)

Sara Fletcher top 10 at Biltmore !!! Very interesting and exciting day. Sara has worked so hard. Couldnt have happened to a nicer person. Congrats Sara!!!!!

Virginia/North Carolina (9)

TENNESEE ?????? We were supposed to be on a seven hour trip from Virginia to north Carolina and eight hours in, we were inTennesee with no sign of north carolina! Troys gps almost became TENNESEE road kill"! Anyhow, it all worked out. Biltmore is huge, thousands of acres I would think. There are somewhere between 50 and 100 horse trailers! gotta hop in bed, gotta get up at five (groan) so that's it for now!

Virginia\North Carolina ( 8)

Biltmore!!!! National endurance championships here we come! Jeannie Waldron invited us to come and see first hand what it is all about! So excited. Will try to take lots of pictures.....never thought this trip would be taking us to North Carolina!

Virginia (7)

Currant

Virginia (6)

One of the most spectacular things about our trip has been these incredible, narrow, windy roads with all these horse farms on them. Huge properties for miles and miles. Towns full of tack stores, feed stores, vets, etc. here are a few pictures of our daily to Jeannies equine clinic

These things are called coups. They are built so tha t when the local landowners (not called farmers down here) want to do fox hunting they can cross on everyones property. Fox hunting very popular. Ten of them scheduled on Jeannie's road. Often followed up with serious injuries each season

Virginia (5)

Spent the day sight seeing and hanging around Rectortown Equine Clinic watching Jeannie treat and assess horses. Great day!

5 weeks to Endurance!

Really enjoying my "cross training". Reports from the farm suggest that Spirit is also enjoying all the riding he has been getting, especially from Shelley. Looking more forward then ever to our first endurance ride. Thought it would be tough to stick to a diet but truth is, I haven't had time to eat!

Virginia )5)

Today was a typical Sunday morning trail ride in Virginia. People meet up at a designated place, ride around fields and up the sides of mountains for a few hours, and then everyone packs up and goes home!

We rode a loop, around the field into the woods and up a big hill on the woods, back out into the field. Sometimes Serafina and I were in a group of ten and other times just two or three. The hill in the woods is a version of the hill in the woods at Pam thornton's ride, only about five times (if not more!) longer!!!!!

Gary did some sight seeing while I rode in the morning. We spent the afternoon back at Jeannie's farm, learning so much and getting to know some of these wonderful people even better. We watched and learned as everyone else was sorting out the last minute details of preparing for the national endurance ride in Biltmore. Good luck everyone!

Virginia (4)

Today I rode a horse (a beautiful horse) for four hours on the OLD DOMINION!!!! Up and down a mountain side, with little rock "steps" criss crossing the path every 50 feet or so. We trotted up and up and up, up over each "step" and up the mountain. Later we came down the same way, sometimes trotting down the steps!! Wow. I was 100 percent the "student " way out of my league with this group which included (see photo) Jeannie Waldron, five time winner of the OD on the horse she won it with last year. Trisha Jerling , 2nd place last year and winner of the best condition award, and Rambo . Jeannie's 26 year old horse He holds the record for the fastest horse to ever finish the old old dominion. This horse has travelled the world. I will fill in everyone's name in the picture and fix up the pic once I get home. They were all wonderful to me and to Gary. Right now....sleep. Because I have to get up bright and early to go on ANOTHER trail ride with Jeannie tomorrow.!!! I am such a mix of exhaustion and excitement that I don't know what to do with myself!

Virginia (3)

Rode this nice 6 year old arab mare of Jeannie Waldron's today. (Serafina). Jeannie Waldron, DVM (AERC hall of fame)...won the old dominion 5 times. Lovely lady and teacher. Tomorrow she and a group of her friends are taking me along for a ride On the old dominion!!!! No sleep for me tonight. If I had a bucket list, this would be on it!

Virginia (2)

We are on our way! We've arrived at the airport in NY. ( didn't tell Tammy we had a layover in NY. Thought it best not to go there!)'.

We landed at Laguardia airport and then took a shuttle bus to the next terminal. Tried to get a picture of Gary standing on the bus (because it is not polite for a man to sit when the bus only has a few seats empty. I don't get it..no one ended up sitting in the one or two empty seats that were left!)

We arrived at 7;30 am. Just in time for a leisurely ( we have a four hour layover)'
"vacation breakfast". You know the kind.....nice restaurant, sun streaming in the window, eggs benedict. Look at Gary. It is starting to sink in.... No chores this morning, fancy restaurant instead.

Oh man, this is the way to drink a cup of java. R.e.l.a.x.

So, the airport is full of iPads and Gary was right into it for a while, researching blue ridge mountains while I typed this up..but after 15 minutes or so.....

Then, He found a corner for his favorite pastime when there's nothing to do...and he is napping away amidst all the hustle and bustle of a NY Airport!! Guess its up to me to do a little extra research! That's it for now.. Am managing to eat sensibly...still dreaming of losing a few pounds before the endurance ride, but think I'd better be satisfied with just maintaining current weight for now!

Virginia (1)

That's a picture of the Old Dominion ride in Virginia. One of the most famous annual rides in the world. Why am I showing this picture? Because Gary and I have made a "snap" decision to take a trip to VIrginia. (if you can call our first vacation together in 10 years a "snap" decision!) We are really excited. We are big John Denver fans. Shanandoah river here we come! We are going to hike parts of the OD. OMG I'm going to see the OD!!!! Blue ridge mountains here we come.

Training for our endurance ride will continue. Others are slotted to ride spirit while I'm gone and I will be riding while I am away (more on that later). When I come back Spirit and I will only be stronger (sounds like the beginning of a poorly written romance novel!). Gotta go. It's late and there is a lot of packing left to be dome. Virginia Arabs look out, Lynn is coming to town!

6 weeks to ENDURANCE

That's Troy Beazley on Wind with Lynn and Spirit - I think he may be smiling too...30 miles and the boys did another 15 the next day!

Six weeks? How did that happen? This is soooo exciting! 50 miles (yikes!) of riding! Are the boy and I ready? Well, let's take stock. We've just finished amigos 30 mile CTR so I have something to use for measuring. I've been doing core exercises and it is helping me stay balanced on my horse (I tend to get off center and forward as I get tired). I have not been jogging since the warm weather and think this did not help overall stamina/ wind....need to get back at this and six weeks of jogging will help. I am about 3 pounds heavier than I was hoping...we will see what the next six weeks does here.

What about Spirit? Well as you can see from the picture above he is looking darn good after a 30 mile ride. We've been doing arena work...lateral bending, working off his back end etc (hmm "core" work for the horse) and it did help. He placed 4th in a field of about 30 of the most fit horses I've ever competed with. ( obviously we are not the only team gearing up for the 50!).

ENDURANCE RUN GOALS. (here we go..I'm writing them down..)

Goal 1 .... To finish is to win. I agree.....sort of. It is a major accomplishment and I intend to continue to work to get there, but I also have goal 2

Goal 2......(it's a lofty one for me and my good ol Morgan/ quarter horse), .....to be in the top 5!!!

Goal 3. Stretch goal.... To be in the top 3. It's a long, long shot ( I will talk about the amazing equine athletes planning to enter this run as the date gets closer and you will understand I am talking s.t.r.e.t.c.h goal!!) but I want to be totally honest here and I love to push myself so I'm going to do my best, and dream of great things, odds be damned!

I'm going to chronicle this journey over the next six weeks so I have something to look back on. I am happy to share with my "competitors" because anyone crazy enough to do this is more a "kindred spirit" than a competitor and because, really the only true competitor I have is myself....did I do enough to get my boy where he needs to be to achieve our goals on October 20th (yikes, I get heart palpitations every time I write that date)

Feel free to follow the experience if you are interested. There is more information about the ride on the blog under "NS Autumn Run"

PS. Things I've thought about recently
-need to know more about "endurance" it is not the same rules as Limited Distance AERC website will help with this
- never rode in the dark before. Which means my horse has never been exposed to a flashlight on my forehead or glow sticks.

Amigos Judged pleasure. 15 mile ride!

Video of the beautiful trails in Belleisle NB. Great ride hosted by the Gillies family and Donna Munn. Marie and Kathleen competed in this and did a great job!

2012 Amigos Do JP

2012 Amigos Do CTR and JP - four riders!

Horses loaded on Friday afternoon, Gary doing a vehicle check!

This is Martin, showing Marie how to feed Baby Tammy.

Finally getting the pictures up of our latest ride. It was in NB over two days - the 1st was a Competitive Trail ride which Lynn/Spirit and Troy/Wind rode 35 miles, the 2nd was a 15 mile Judged Pleasure ride which Tammy/Wind, Lynn/Spirit, Kathleen/Caddy and Marie/Willow rode. It was a challenging ride that had difficult moments but the weekend was a lot of fun. This was Marie's first JP and she loved it! She even got to feed a bottle of milk to a day-old calf, named Tammy after you-know-who!
Here's a link to more pictures:
Tidal Treasures rides the Amigos Do CTR & JP