Heather and Jeremy Update: They have moved down to Florida for the winter (like Canadians?) and are training and competing down there. Heather contacted me this weekend to let me know they have an extra horse for me to compete on the FEI 50 at Goethe on 12/17! SO EXCITED! Just renewed all my memberships for AERC (including International), FEI, and USEF. If anyone is curious, all together it costs about $150 and you can find all the links and connections you need at AERC's International section of the website (click HERE). Everything is online and very fast, granted I'm a computer nerd but it only took me about 15 minutes to get through everything!
Any questions, as always, feel free to email me or contact me through Facebook!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Fort Valley Recap - finally...
Finally am getting around to posting my recap of Fort Valley. Sorry for the delay, was waiting for all the photos to come in. Also, I apologize for the weirdness with the formatting. Blogspot is not cooperating and it took me several hours just to get this formatted legibly, so I'm giving up at this point.
Kricket did great at the vet checks; she was calling for her friends and looking for th
em a lot but still eating and drinking through the hold. Not bad for her first time by herself! Her heart rates were pretty good all day, in the 50-60 range and I took her in within 2-3 minutes of coming in off trail.
The second loop starts exactly the same as the first, but once you get done with the pretty grassy part you head out a different direction. This part of the trail was my favorite, windy through the trees and soft dirt where you could really move. Also a lot of water stops, one at a beautiful stretch on the river where the cliffs jump out.
This loop is also home of the infamous Indian Graves. I was very happy to have help/leaders up this stretch, as it made me very nervous (having talked to riders who had accidents in previous years). The good news is that i
t is not as bad as I thought; it is a very very very looonnnngggg stretch of uphill, but it is not steep or technical except for a few short spots. Most of the trail is pretty broad along the side of the hill.
Around this time, Kricket started looking for something to eat on trail but there wasn't a lot of options. Thankfully I had some cheese crackers in my pack, remembering that Amy had given some to her as a treat while we were training in the weeks leading up. So as we walked up the mountain I was hand-feeding her cheddar cheese crackers from my hand. Pretty funny!
Once we got up on Milford Gap she was eating tree leaves: bite right, walk 4 steps. Bite left, walk 4 steps. We got a great rhythm going! Once up the "scary" part of Indian Graves (narrow technical stint with two big step ups) we were back on Milford Gap, then over the top of the mountain and back down to camp. They say this trail is the same length as loop one, but it seemed a bit longer to me. Might have been because we went easy going up Indian Graves for the most part, but we were booking along the flatter stretches so I don't think so. Would love to get out there with my GPS one day to see.
I should also make brief mention in memorial to the heart rate monitor at this point. It had come apart on Loop 1, but all the pieces managed to stay attached to us. At the vet check, since I had everything still I made the decision to put it back together and try again with it on loop 2. Wrong choice; it came apart again only this time I lost the main central piece that hooks into the sensors. Whoops. Sorry Amy, I owe you half a heart rate monitor. Guess you know what you'll get for Christmas! Also a learning experience for me; I think that the HR monitors are good to train with but I'm not as much a fan during a ride (except at the vet check, I love having a hand-held to see when they come down). I like to be able to "feel" what kind of shape my horse is in and run where they feel good. But I can see in conditioning where that would be very handy, so you can see how hard you're really pushing them during a workout.
Loop three is down at the base of the mountain, mostly along private property. The trails for the most part are wide soft dirt and not too much climbing. There is one nasty technical stretch with mud and big rocks, and a few shorter but steep uphills. It was on the first few of these that Kricket finally started to tire a bit, so being in good position I let her slow down and take it easy. She was not upset at all about letting the group go, which is good (and also shows me how tired she was). But we soon met up with another rider who had decided to back off a bit on her horse, so we walk/trotted into the finish line together, finishing 9th and 10th. Not bad for her second 50! We decided not to show for BC because her butt was pretty sore from the climbs and she was tired, plus we came in 10th so it really would have just been for the practice anyway. I was also VERY sore; Kricket is an anglo-arab and has much bigger gaits than Helo or Aleah (who both ride like Cadillacs), so my muscles had to do a little more work than they were used to. :-) You can bet I hit that ibuprofen as soon as we got back to the trailer!
Day 2 with Helo went v
ery well, though unexpected. My original plan was to go slow just to finish and have fun, as well as get some practice in. I even paired up with Roberta Young and her Tennessee Walker, Smokey, who had done the 50 the day before and would be going easy. Well, Helo had other ideas. Like Kricket, he was wound up the start so I let him out a bit in order to burn off some steam. Only Helo never slowed down! He was sooo strong that I could only rate him a bit for the first 25 of 30 miles of the LD. He even was a brat down the technical downhill mountain trail; he jigged and fought me the whole way! We even took a fall when he lost his footing while cantering the grassy part on Loop 1, and he STILL was pulling on me. BTW, he handled the fall very professionally. I didn't take too big of a hit since we were on soft dirt/grass and he tried to catch himself halfway down, and he stopped and waited for me once he got back up (thanks to Roberta and the other riders for stopping too!). After checking tack and making sure he was sound, it was OFF TO THE RACES once again!
The LD is Loop 1 and Loop 3 of the 50, so I knew the trail pretty well at this point. He was still keyed up and riding butts halfway through the last loop, so after the nasty technical climb we checked with everybody and made the decision to push ahead. Helo handled this pretty well, we had one "discussion" when he spun and tried to go back to the group while heading slowly downhill, but once I turned around and explained what we were doing (in a mean mommy voice of course) he moved on ahead. This was the first time he actually slowed down and went steady all day. We also met up with some other riders pretty quickly and helped them navigate the last few pieces of trail, so once he figured out the game he was all go again. We also lost one of our glue ons about 2 miles from the finish, which was halfway expected because they were sized for Aleah, who was originally supposed to go. Since the trail pretty soft dirt with limited gravel (what we train on at home), I decided to finish the trail with that foot bare. It was a good decision, the vets said he was perfectly sound and gave him all A's at the finish! We completed in 7th place (though for an LD they don't really take places), and his heart rates were fantastic all day. It wasn't until his final CRI, 56/60, that he finally showed he was a wee bit tired.
So, Fort Valley was a huge success! Both Amy and Mariah finished two days on their horses on the LD, and I top 10'd both days on 2 different horses. The trail is absolutely beautiful, but I don't recommend the 50 unless your horse has had extensive hill-work. It was also very well-marked this year, and ride management did a great job making everything run smoothly. We also had a newer head vet that I didn't recognize; she did a great job and of course Nick and Art were there too.
Plans for now are to have fun riding and taking it easy through the winter; I recently got a promotion and will be looking to by MY OWN horse in the Spring (I'm trying to convince Sarah that she should sell me Helo, he has turned out to be AWESOME on trail by himself and I absolutely love him!). But if not I'll find an arab or arab cross I can bring along and condition (suggestions are welcome!). I'm also hoping to convince some of my mountain friends to come down and ride with us one weekend; we aren't far and our weather is much milder so you can ride fast year-round! Come play with us!
Any questions or comments feel free to email me at samschic@live.com, or find me on facebook. Photos from me all taken from Kricket on day 1, the ride candids are by Becky Pearman who was the ride photographer that day.
Fort Valley this year ended up being kind of crazy for me; Sarah Seashols and I were originally going to take both Aleah and Helo. Unfortunately, Sarah ended up not being able to make it and the horses didn'tget the kind of conditioning I like for the full 50. But Amy Smoot (Gloucester, VA) asked me to take her horse Kricket on the 50. So, the plan changed to take Kricket on Day 1 on the 50 and Helo on Day 2 on the 30 (I was originally going to take Aleah, but she was not great about getting on the trailer for conditioning rides so Helo went instead). Amy and her friend Mariah were doing the 30 on both days on the same horses, so we had four in total (Helo, Kricket, Savannah, and Remington). We left in the early morning on Thursday to avoid traffic in a caravan, with me leading the way. Yes, I did warn Amy ahead of time that I tend to drive like a grandma so she better just get used to it.
The trip up was pretty quiet, though we did meet up with some other riders who had gotten lost trying to get to camp and let them follow us in. I love this ride, but the directions were definitely lacking once you get off the highway. If you ever have questions on it be sure to look me up, it's a LEFT turn off of the interstate, then a RIGHT after the bridge, and then you take the SECOND left onto the road to camp (it's a loop, if you take the first turn you go through some windy one-lane farm road that is not necessary).
Upon arrival, the girls and I set up camp and started prepping for the next day. We got the horses checked in and went for a warm-up ride, a
nd the usual dinner/ride meeting. Claire Godwin has been the manager of this ride for the last several years, and she does a GREAT job. Once the meeting was over we settled in and went to bed for the night. Because it was very brisk (in the low 40's) and windy I decided to try sleeping in the trailer as opposed to the tent. It worked out great, I have a cot now instead of the air mattresses so I was elevated off the floor a bit. Only awkward thing was getting in and out, I need to oil up the joints on my divider so I can slide it over more easily for camping. I also had several heavy blankets and Jack to keep me warm through the night, so I was definitely comfortable.
50 day went great, Amy wanted Kricket to go at a steady pace with her heart rate around 130-150. This was my first time riding with a heart rate monitor, needless to say I had the "constant checking" syndrome for a
while. Kricket was very excited and hyped up at the start, so rather than make things worse I did decide to let her go for a little bit to get it out of her system. It ended up working great, the trail starts with a long steep incline then levels out and heads down the mountain in some very technical rocky stuff, so it was easy to slow her down. She's also very well-behaved so it made life easier. Once down the hill we hit a cruising pace, which depending on the incline/decline ranged from 110-130. It felt right to me, she seemed to be working hard but not running herself out so I decided to stick around there. 
I met up with a couple of riders going the same pace and we ended up with each other for most of the day. Unfortunately I didn't catch their names but one is a vet and seasoned endurance rider, and we all were very friendly and helped each other so it worked well. Loop 1 has two big climbs followed by some technical stuff, but in the middle is a nice long stretch of downhill that switches from wide flat grass to smooth semi-gravel road so you can really move out. The road runs along the river in between mountain passes, so it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The second climb puts you up on Milford Gap, after which you hit the main trail straight down hill to basecamp.
Kricket did great at the vet checks; she was calling for her friends and looking for th
em a lot but still eating and drinking through the hold. Not bad for her first time by herself! Her heart rates were pretty good all day, in the 50-60 range and I took her in within 2-3 minutes of coming in off trail.The second loop starts exactly the same as the first, but once you get done with the pretty grassy part you head out a different direction. This part of the trail was my favorite, windy through the trees and soft dirt where you could really move. Also a lot of water stops, one at a beautiful stretch on the river where the cliffs jump out.
This loop is also home of the infamous Indian Graves. I was very happy to have help/leaders up this stretch, as it made me very nervous (having talked to riders who had accidents in previous years). The good news is that i
t is not as bad as I thought; it is a very very very looonnnngggg stretch of uphill, but it is not steep or technical except for a few short spots. Most of the trail is pretty broad along the side of the hill.Around this time, Kricket started looking for something to eat on trail but there wasn't a lot of options. Thankfully I had some cheese crackers in my pack, remembering that Amy had given some to her as a treat while we were training in the weeks leading up. So as we walked up the mountain I was hand-feeding her cheddar cheese crackers from my hand. Pretty funny!
Once we got up on Milford Gap she was eating tree leaves: bite right, walk 4 steps. Bite left, walk 4 steps. We got a great rhythm going! Once up the "scary" part of Indian Graves (narrow technical stint with two big step ups) we were back on Milford Gap, then over the top of the mountain and back down to camp. They say this trail is the same length as loop one, but it seemed a bit longer to me. Might have been because we went easy going up Indian Graves for the most part, but we were booking along the flatter stretches so I don't think so. Would love to get out there with my GPS one day to see.
I should also make brief mention in memorial to the heart rate monitor at this point. It had come apart on Loop 1, but all the pieces managed to stay attached to us. At the vet check, since I had everything still I made the decision to put it back together and try again with it on loop 2. Wrong choice; it came apart again only this time I lost the main central piece that hooks into the sensors. Whoops. Sorry Amy, I owe you half a heart rate monitor. Guess you know what you'll get for Christmas! Also a learning experience for me; I think that the HR monitors are good to train with but I'm not as much a fan during a ride (except at the vet check, I love having a hand-held to see when they come down). I like to be able to "feel" what kind of shape my horse is in and run where they feel good. But I can see in conditioning where that would be very handy, so you can see how hard you're really pushing them during a workout.
Loop three is down at the base of the mountain, mostly along private property. The trails for the most part are wide soft dirt and not too much climbing. There is one nasty technical stretch with mud and big rocks, and a few shorter but steep uphills. It was on the first few of these that Kricket finally started to tire a bit, so being in good position I let her slow down and take it easy. She was not upset at all about letting the group go, which is good (and also shows me how tired she was). But we soon met up with another rider who had decided to back off a bit on her horse, so we walk/trotted into the finish line together, finishing 9th and 10th. Not bad for her second 50! We decided not to show for BC because her butt was pretty sore from the climbs and she was tired, plus we came in 10th so it really would have just been for the practice anyway. I was also VERY sore; Kricket is an anglo-arab and has much bigger gaits than Helo or Aleah (who both ride like Cadillacs), so my muscles had to do a little more work than they were used to. :-) You can bet I hit that ibuprofen as soon as we got back to the trailer!
Day 2 with Helo went v
ery well, though unexpected. My original plan was to go slow just to finish and have fun, as well as get some practice in. I even paired up with Roberta Young and her Tennessee Walker, Smokey, who had done the 50 the day before and would be going easy. Well, Helo had other ideas. Like Kricket, he was wound up the start so I let him out a bit in order to burn off some steam. Only Helo never slowed down! He was sooo strong that I could only rate him a bit for the first 25 of 30 miles of the LD. He even was a brat down the technical downhill mountain trail; he jigged and fought me the whole way! We even took a fall when he lost his footing while cantering the grassy part on Loop 1, and he STILL was pulling on me. BTW, he handled the fall very professionally. I didn't take too big of a hit since we were on soft dirt/grass and he tried to catch himself halfway down, and he stopped and waited for me once he got back up (thanks to Roberta and the other riders for stopping too!). After checking tack and making sure he was sound, it was OFF TO THE RACES once again!The LD is Loop 1 and Loop 3 of the 50, so I knew the trail pretty well at this point. He was still keyed up and riding butts halfway through the last loop, so after the nasty technical climb we checked with everybody and made the decision to push ahead. Helo handled this pretty well, we had one "discussion" when he spun and tried to go back to the group while heading slowly downhill, but once I turned around and explained what we were doing (in a mean mommy voice of course) he moved on ahead. This was the first time he actually slowed down and went steady all day. We also met up with some other riders pretty quickly and helped them navigate the last few pieces of trail, so once he figured out the game he was all go again. We also lost one of our glue ons about 2 miles from the finish, which was halfway expected because they were sized for Aleah, who was originally supposed to go. Since the trail pretty soft dirt with limited gravel (what we train on at home), I decided to finish the trail with that foot bare. It was a good decision, the vets said he was perfectly sound and gave him all A's at the finish! We completed in 7th place (though for an LD they don't really take places), and his heart rates were fantastic all day. It wasn't until his final CRI, 56/60, that he finally showed he was a wee bit tired.
So, Fort Valley was a huge success! Both Amy and Mariah finished two days on their horses on the LD, and I top 10'd both days on 2 different horses. The trail is absolutely beautiful, but I don't recommend the 50 unless your horse has had extensive hill-work. It was also very well-marked this year, and ride management did a great job making everything run smoothly. We also had a newer head vet that I didn't recognize; she did a great job and of course Nick and Art were there too.
Plans for now are to have fun riding and taking it easy through the winter; I recently got a promotion and will be looking to by MY OWN horse in the Spring (I'm trying to convince Sarah that she should sell me Helo, he has turned out to be AWESOME on trail by himself and I absolutely love him!). But if not I'll find an arab or arab cross I can bring along and condition (suggestions are welcome!). I'm also hoping to convince some of my mountain friends to come down and ride with us one weekend; we aren't far and our weather is much milder so you can ride fast year-round! Come play with us!
Any questions or comments feel free to email me at samschic@live.com, or find me on facebook. Photos from me all taken from Kricket on day 1, the ride candids are by Becky Pearman who was the ride photographer that day.
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