Global Endurance Blog

Christoph and Dian have joined the blog club! Here's a link to their blog:

http://globalendurance.typepad.com/

Christoph has some great posts up about confirmation for an endurance horse....

Biltmore Recap 5-1-2010

Ah the Biltmore. Well, it didn't turn out so great. But here's the story...

Picked up Legs Friday night after work and headed down to NC with Mary Howell. Great news, he loaded GREAT! Someone was excited to go. Mary brought her horse, Shiloh, just for some company. We drove overnight, stopping to let the horses off the trailer once, and made it into camp around 5AM. After finding a spot waaaaaayyyy in the back of camp (it was SO crowded already!), we set the horses up with corrals and hit the sack.

Friday we slept in a little bit, then unhooked the truck and ran to Starbucks just outside of the Biltmore gate. Yeah, we were desperate. The day was pretty relaxed, I got Legs vetted in and took the horses for a few walks, and also visited with friends. I hung out a lot with Scott and Theresa Carroll from North Carolina, great riders and some overall just good people.

Saturday I woke up at 5AM and started the routine. Legs got his big breakfast with electrolytes mixed in, and licked the bowl! We could tell already it was going to be a hot and humid day. Tacked up and hit the start line, trail opened up at 7AM. The first part was a lot of narrow trail or single track up and down the hills. I was towards the front of the pack but we were all kind of getting bottlenecked in. Not a bad thing, since you never want to start the race going super fast. A few miles in I saw Scott and Theresa breaking through the pack, and made my move to join them. I know they ride smart and fast, and win lots of rides. I wasn't missing my shot! :-p They were very gracious to let me tag along too.

We moved out and held between 10-14 miles an hour through the first loop. We were caught by one FEI rider who passed us. We let her go, we were running 2-3-4 and didn't need to push the horses any harder. It was very hot and humid and the ride was definitely tough, the horses were blowing hard. We electrolyted every hour we were out to keep them going, and they all seemed fine.

First vet check went great, Legs' CRI was 64/60. So far so good! Vet said he could tell we were going fast, but he was handling it great. Just to keep up the EDPP (eating drinking peeing pooping, yes I know it's gross but it's a great moniker).

Set out for the second loop with Theresa with Scott 2 minutes behind. He caught us at our first water stop, along with Valerie Kanavy's rider on King Ali Gould. For those who don't know about Valerie or Ali, look up their records on www.aerc.org. She's a former 2 time world champ and Ali is a MONSTER! We let her go again, and off she ran at top speed! No need to chase, we were right where we wanted to be. I even led with Legs when I could, and he did an awesome job. No spooks! The trail was marked iffy in a few places, tough to see the markers, so it was good all three of us were together. Horses were still working and blowing hard, but everyone was doing fine. Legs drank at every water stop, he's so good at taking care of himself!

About 2-3 miles from camp, I noticed something was off with his trot. To me, it seemed off in the hind. Uh oh....We came into the vet check, his heart rate was down to 60. Then the trot out...no good. I could tell running next to him, he was off on every step. My first clue is that it took him a minute to start trotting...he never does that. Art King was my vet, I know him well from other rides, and we all immediately agreed that he was done. They trotted him again for me so I could see it was his front right. We checked for rocks in his shoes, etc, and didn't find anything. Damn! We gave Scott quite a heart attack too; he thought the vets were coming for him! Yikes! His vet was tough, too, and gave him a hard time. But more on that later.

I took Legs to the vet to be looked at (as required by AERC rules). It was Dr. Lynn who brings a lot of her horses to my friend Judie, and who knows Legs pretty well! She was busy with some horses having tie-ups (severe cramps that can lead to colic) and other metabolic issues, definitely more important than Legs who other than his gimp was very healthy. Her assistant palpated his leg, checked for heat, swelling, and tested the hoof with a big pincher. Nothing, no sensitivity ANYWHERE. Weird. But he was definitely still off so there was no way we were getting back in the race. I took him back to the trailer, where he peed, then checked him again for soundness. I dunno, I'm weird and thought it could help. Nope, still off.

I took Mary's truck (she was also riding the 50 for a friend on a first-time youngster) to find some ice for Legs. Just like people, horses need to ice their injuries too! Got my cry out there, texted the right people to let them know what was going on. Then I drowned my sorrows in McDonalds. Hey, don't judge, it was my birthday after all! Got back to the trailer, Legs was fine. He seemed to understand that it was a sad day, he seemed very down and let me hug and cry on him. We attempted to stand with his leg in the bucket of ice; he lasted 5 minutes, and only had a minor freak out. Much better than I was anticipating! I went to Teddy (Running Bear, she's an endurance tack dealer) to get some ice boots. She sold me a self-cooling wrap, since it was cheaper than getting a full boot. It's a pretty cool little thing, kind of gel-like and reusable. And it sticks to itself! I'd like to stick it in the fridge and see if I can get it a little cooler, though. Legs did much better with this method. After icing, I poulticed all four legs. Still hadn't noticed any swelling or sensitivity.

The day went on, Theresa and Scott finished right where we were planning at 3rd and 4th, respectively. Mary finished 9th with her little guy, right behind Steven Hay. All in all, it was a very tough day. The vets were mostly FEI, and were making some questionable pulls. Don't get me wrong, there were also some very correct pulls (especially mine). There were a lot of metabolic issues as well due to the heat and humidity. But listen to this completion rate: 70% on the 50, 50% on the 75, and 50% on the 100. Hmmm....it seemed like at every other trailer the rider had been pulled, some deserved and some not. It seemed like some horses were pulled just because they were tired or stiff. Of course they're going to be tired, it's a race! And they're going to be stiff too, there are hills! All in all, it was just kind of "interesting" to say the least.

After completing and making sure the horses were set, Mary and I went to dinner and got some margaritas while watching the Kentucky Derby. Thanks for the birthday dinner, Mary! Then we stopped off to get some beer for Scott (I drank a bunch of his the night before) and some supplies for those still on the 100. Mary went to crew for her friends, while I celebrated/drowned my sorrows with Scott and Theresa. It was a fun night, despite how the day had gone! Theresa and Scott are really great people, I'd love to ride with them again some day!

The next day, we went to awards and packed up and headed home. I'll say this at least, the awards were pretty blah so I didn't miss out there. I said hey to some friends (including Jeremy who had flown in to crew for a client on the 100), and headed back to the trailer to pack up for the drive home. Mary and I made it back, and other than Legs not wanting to load on his little trailer to go back to Joy's (can you blame him? he'd already been going for 8 hours) we had no issues. It took me 20-30min of the Judie method to get him on the trailer, by the way. I think we've got this thing down now!

I don't really think there was anything I did or Legs did wrong during the race. It was a tough ride, with lots of hills, technicality, and small dips that he hit pretty hard. He also had some bad stumbles, and there was a lot of downhill. He very easily could have done something there. I had Theresa and another vet check him in the morning; he had a little swelling up near a splint by his knee. Hmm...maybe he threw the splint during the race? I hadn't noticed one before...definitely a possibility. The vet also said it might be his "catch" tendon (I think that's what he called it, don't quote me though). Worse case scenario is that it's a suspensory injury, which would mean he needs to be out the rest of the season and bye bye Nationals. He is only 6, though, and it would give him a chance to put on weight and grow. But who knows when we're going to have that race so close again!

So Legs will be going back to his owner, Lisa, for the next few months to get checked by the vet (he needs and ultrasound and maybe xray to make sure he's really fine). Lisa also needs to save some money so that will help on the board. He will hopefully be doing the Old Dominion 50 with Lisa's husband, Andy, if he is deemed well enough. Then I will hop back on him for VA Highlands and hopefully Nationals in October. Don't know if I'll ever get him back full-time, though.

Joy is taking him up next weekend to the Old Dominion Training Ride for Lisa to pick-up. I can't go because I have a wedding shower back home. Sucks, because I really wanted the opportunity to take him up and say goodbye myself, but what can you do. I think I cried the whole way home from the barn on Sunday night when we got back and then some more. Sad sad.

In the meantime, I will be working with Joy's young gelding, Bad Boy. He's not really a Bad Boy, it's just his name. He's a sensitive horse with some head shyness that just needs a quiet but confident leader. I'm very excited to work with him, I've enjoyed playing/bonding with him in the pasture the last few months! I'll also be working with her young paint filly, Winnie, just to get her some schooling. Back to being a "horse slut," as Scott so aptly put it! I think it's a good thing though, I've been really burnt out these last few months and it would be good to take a step back and just ride other people's horses for a while. Heather and Jeremy are also looking for some riders again to come out to CA and help some horses get their CEI* (FEI certs), and since my second job started this week I'll be trying to save money to go do that.

So long, Legs. We had a good run, and you're a great horse. If it were up to me, you'd be mine. Hopefully I'll see you in a few months and we'll push onward towards Nationals...