Monday, March 26, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Boy Scout Powwow and Season Update!
Once again, I'm SUPER slow at updating this. Apologies, I'll try to get better!
Amy Smoot and I took her two horses, Remington and Kricket, down to Georgia for the Boy Scout Powwow last month. It was a haul, but I had heard good reviews about the ride and we wanted to get some good miles on Kricket towards getting her qualified for Nationals. Remy has been having some internalizing issues too, so we were hoping if we went together and just took it easy we could help him work through it.
The drive down was rough, we went overnight and had to switch off a lot to stay awake. Also, if you're ever driving from the North DON'T follow GPS directions. Hit me up, I'll get you better ones, otherwise you'll end up spending the last 3 hours on Georgia backroads driving 35mph. Blegh.
We got to the campground on Friday morning and set up camp. The camp area is really nice, pretty wooded so there's shade and real bathrooms. There are showers too but they are across camp (no problem for us, we were just happy to have them!). After setting up camp we took a nap and then vetted through. Both horses looked great, very relaxed and happy. We also ran into my good buddy Heather Reynolds; she had brought two youngsters up from Florida and was looking to get a 50 in both days on them as well. After vet in we went for a quick warm up ride with Heather to stretch out (everybody was feeling feisty) and then went to dinner. The dinners every night were GREAT! Hot food and we got to eat inside in the dining hall.
The next morning we tacked up as usual and headed to the start line. Remington was doing his normal "trembling" which didn't bode well for him; Amy hasn't quite figured out what's going on and why he does that, but we're working on different supplement combos (leaning heavy on the magnesium right now) to try and get him settled back down. The start was kind of crazy, they let all 120 riders and horses go at once! Thankfully, the trail was nice dirt with lots of winding through the trees which gave us an opportunity to slow down.
Both our horses were pretty keyed up for the start and it took them a little while to settle down. Kricket was awesome, forward but listening to me. I did suggest to Amy that we start her in a stronger bit, just to give my arms a break (she has since ridden her and agreed haha). The first loop was 15 miles, then a trot-by, then another 10. The trail was pretty nice wide dirt with very little climbing. There were some spots out around the fields where the dirt was very deep like sand, so we slowed down for those. Remy looked a little iffy coming in off the first loop and unfortunately got pulled at mile 40; his trembling had tightened up the muscles in his hind end and he had a really bad cramp. Boo. Kricket rocked it, she held nice and steady all day and when Remy pulled, she looked around for him but kept heading on down trail with minimal issues. Her vet scores were all A's all day (except for the last check, her gut sounds were a little quiet but I think it was because she was looking around for Remington).
Remy's cramp was bad enough that we decided not to start him the next day and let him take it easy. Kricket rocked it even more on Day 2, the trail was almost exactly the same and she did not seemed fazed at all. She went alone or with other horses and just held a steady 9mph with little to no effort. We ended up riding a lot of day 2 with a vet who was going about the same pace but stopping every 45 min or so to let the horses get a grass snack. We cut an hour off our time from the day previous and again she had all A's on her vet cards. The vets seemed really impressed with her, her metabolics were great and she was super-solid on her trot outs. Not bad for a big anglo-arab!
I highly recommend this ride to anyone; it's very well-run and organized, the trails were nice, and it's good for both beginning and advanced horses. There is some deep dirt that resembles sand (especially because you repeat trail and it gets really churned up) but not so much that you can't still make time easily. And despite the long drive, it is actually really easy to get to. Just have to have the right route mapped out!
After we got back from Georgia, Amy offered to let me take Kricket to Nationals in September no matter what happens with Remington. Needless to say I am SUPER excited and this is a huge deal and very generous of her. She still needs two more races to get qualified but based on her performance in GA, I don't see her having any trouble. We're also going to continue to work with Remy to see if we can't figure out what's going on.
Next weekend we'll be in New Jersey for Rabbit Run! Amy is taking Remington and I'll be taking Helo (owned by Sarah Seashols). Helo has a very busy season planned too; in fact if all goes well he will also be qualified for Nationals, so I have convinced Sarah she should go if possible. We're also planning on Foxcatcher, Biltmore, and Old Dominion.
Oh, and in other news...I brought home MY first horse about a month ago! Her name is Fine Ali Bey (bred by Melisa Trott) and she is a 4 year old purebred Arab. She is small right now but definitely will grow, and what I really love is her mind. Inquisitive but level-headed, very solid and smart about what's going on around her. Best part, she loads and unloads on the trailer beautifully! We went for our first slow trail ride at Sandy Point last weekend and she did fantastic. A few little starts when she caught something in the corner of her eye, and she jumped over a trickle of a creek instead of stepping, but everything was very quiet and easy. My plan is to bring her along very slow and maybe do an LD in the fall to see how she does. I want to make sure she gets plenty of time to learn and GROW so that she has a good successful start to her endurance career.
As always, feel free to hit me up if you have any q
uestions!
Amy Smoot and I took her two horses, Remington and Kricket, down to Georgia for the Boy Scout Powwow last month. It was a haul, but I had heard good reviews about the ride and we wanted to get some good miles on Kricket towards getting her qualified for Nationals. Remy has been having some internalizing issues too, so we were hoping if we went together and just took it easy we could help him work through it.
The drive down was rough, we went overnight and had to switch off a lot to stay awake. Also, if you're ever driving from the North DON'T follow GPS directions. Hit me up, I'll get you better ones, otherwise you'll end up spending the last 3 hours on Georgia backroads driving 35mph. Blegh.
We got to the campground on Friday morning and set up camp. The camp area is really nice, pretty wooded so there's shade and real bathrooms. There are showers too but they are across camp (no problem for us, we were just happy to have them!). After setting up camp we took a nap and then vetted through. Both horses looked great, very relaxed and happy. We also ran into my good buddy Heather Reynolds; she had brought two youngsters up from Florida and was looking to get a 50 in both days on them as well. After vet in we went for a quick warm up ride with Heather to stretch out (everybody was feeling feisty) and then went to dinner. The dinners every night were GREAT! Hot food and we got to eat inside in the dining hall.
The next morning we tacked up as usual and headed to the start line. Remington was doing his normal "trembling" which didn't bode well for him; Amy hasn't quite figured out what's going on and why he does that, but we're working on different supplement combos (leaning heavy on the magnesium right now) to try and get him settled back down. The start was kind of crazy, they let all 120 riders and horses go at once! Thankfully, the trail was nice dirt with lots of winding through the trees which gave us an opportunity to slow down.
Both our horses were pretty keyed up for the start and it took them a little while to settle down. Kricket was awesome, forward but listening to me. I did suggest to Amy that we start her in a stronger bit, just to give my arms a break (she has since ridden her and agreed haha). The first loop was 15 miles, then a trot-by, then another 10. The trail was pretty nice wide dirt with very little climbing. There were some spots out around the fields where the dirt was very deep like sand, so we slowed down for those. Remy looked a little iffy coming in off the first loop and unfortunately got pulled at mile 40; his trembling had tightened up the muscles in his hind end and he had a really bad cramp. Boo. Kricket rocked it, she held nice and steady all day and when Remy pulled, she looked around for him but kept heading on down trail with minimal issues. Her vet scores were all A's all day (except for the last check, her gut sounds were a little quiet but I think it was because she was looking around for Remington).
Remy's cramp was bad enough that we decided not to start him the next day and let him take it easy. Kricket rocked it even more on Day 2, the trail was almost exactly the same and she did not seemed fazed at all. She went alone or with other horses and just held a steady 9mph with little to no effort. We ended up riding a lot of day 2 with a vet who was going about the same pace but stopping every 45 min or so to let the horses get a grass snack. We cut an hour off our time from the day previous and again she had all A's on her vet cards. The vets seemed really impressed with her, her metabolics were great and she was super-solid on her trot outs. Not bad for a big anglo-arab!
I highly recommend this ride to anyone; it's very well-run and organized, the trails were nice, and it's good for both beginning and advanced horses. There is some deep dirt that resembles sand (especially because you repeat trail and it gets really churned up) but not so much that you can't still make time easily. And despite the long drive, it is actually really easy to get to. Just have to have the right route mapped out!
After we got back from Georgia, Amy offered to let me take Kricket to Nationals in September no matter what happens with Remington. Needless to say I am SUPER excited and this is a huge deal and very generous of her. She still needs two more races to get qualified but based on her performance in GA, I don't see her having any trouble. We're also going to continue to work with Remy to see if we can't figure out what's going on.
Next weekend we'll be in New Jersey for Rabbit Run! Amy is taking Remington and I'll be taking Helo (owned by Sarah Seashols). Helo has a very busy season planned too; in fact if all goes well he will also be qualified for Nationals, so I have convinced Sarah she should go if possible. We're also planning on Foxcatcher, Biltmore, and Old Dominion.
Oh, and in other news...I brought home MY first horse about a month ago! Her name is Fine Ali Bey (bred by Melisa Trott) and she is a 4 year old purebred Arab. She is small right now but definitely will grow, and what I really love is her mind. Inquisitive but level-headed, very solid and smart about what's going on around her. Best part, she loads and unloads on the trailer beautifully! We went for our first slow trail ride at Sandy Point last weekend and she did fantastic. A few little starts when she caught something in the corner of her eye, and she jumped over a trickle of a creek instead of stepping, but everything was very quiet and easy. My plan is to bring her along very slow and maybe do an LD in the fall to see how she does. I want to make sure she gets plenty of time to learn and GROW so that she has a good successful start to her endurance career.
As always, feel free to hit me up if you have any q
uestions!
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