First Endurance ride!!

[KSquared]

I am excited. April 26th is the local Endurance Ride and I signed up. Its a 50 mile and 25 mile.

I have never done this and Myst has never done it either.

What do we need to know?

What do we need to have?

Here is what we have…
We have an Aussie Saddle that is very comfy for both of us
We have an endurance bridle.
We have a great cool back Shaped saddle pad
A nice comfortable girth
Super stylish comfortable riding pants.
A helmet (Of Course)

What we may need:
Comfortable riding shoes
Horn Saddle bag
A sponge on a rope(?)

What else might we need?

What kind of training should we do to get into shape?

[Lieselotte]

What breed is your horse?
What level of fitness is s/he at? What’s your current training schedule?
What experience do you have with trail and distance riding already?

In other words, the ride is less than three months away and while this is probably enough time to get ready if you and your horse are in pretty good shape already and you’re only doing the LD, not the 50, it’s not enough if you are starting from scratch.

With a bit more information from you, we can probably give you better tips.
But in any case, welcome!

[ehwaz]

^^ What Lieselotte said

But, if the ride will be at all warm/hot, a sponge on a string or a scoop (old bleach bottle works well) is a really good idea so that you can cool your horse off in creeks. Make sure to practice with it, both to make sure that your horse does not freak out and that you can tie it to the saddle and get it off quickly without it banging around.

Comfy shoes you can hike in are a must. I use running shoes and stirrups with cages.

A saddle bag is also probably a necessity. You need something to hold water +food for you and carrots for the horse are a good idea. I like the snugpacks and easycare bags as they have enough straps to make sure that they don’t bounce around.

I would also check out Susan Garlinghouse’s articales (http://www.allcreaturesanimalhealth.com/site/view/212994_EquineNutritionArticles.pml) as they have a ton of good horse health information for endurance riders. I would also check out the AERC education page as a way to learn more about endurance. The AERC facebook page / ridecamp can be great sources to find more information or if you are looking for someone close to you to train with.

[The_Equestrian_Vagab]

yay! that’s exciting. Have you checked out AERC.org, click Education on the left menu. they have a lot of good info for getting started, including a list of mentors. Also Aarene Storms’ book Endurance 101 has great info.
good luck and have fun!

[KSquared]

I think we bit off more than we can chew! Which is ok…We can start off with the fun ride.

To answer the questions:

What breed is your horse? Myst is a Lippit Morgan.

What level of fitness is s/he at? What’s your current training schedule? Myst is a pasture puff, I am a pasture puff and we don’t ride that often.

What experience do you have with trail and distance riding already?
On him, only three times on the trail. Myself, I could ride all day.

I do have a friend who is an endurance rider and she will help us out. I went riding with her yesterday…Here is the post I made about it…

“Myst and I went out with a bunch of endurance riders. That was like never running a day in your life and being invited to go running with an Olympic runner. It was a lesson learned. We can only do 6-10 miles right now. Poor Myst had his nose to the ground on our way back. It wasn’t the best ride, but any ride is a good ride. He did well it was me that was the nervous nelly.”

We only did about 8 miles out of the 17 mile loop. I felt bad because I was holding them all up and it was clear their horses were mad they were not going at their usual speed so Myst and I went back.

My friend has set us up with a every weekend work out routine to get us fit and ready for at least the fun (Introduction) ride. To bring my confidence up with Myst and get us comfortable together.

Yes, we are a bit ambitious…but that is a good thing. We might not make the 25 miler, but hey at least we got out and gave it a try right?

[BigHorseLittleHorse]

If your horse is a pasture puff and you are new to endurance, I would not recommend trying to get him fit for an LD in 3 months. I’m not saying it’s an impossible task, but it would be a big challenge, and there would be a much higher chance that you wouldn’t complete the ride. Much better to work towards the introductory ride and have a fantastic first experience, than to attempt the LD and have to withdraw halfway through. It’s good that you have experienced endurance folks to help you along the way!

ETA: You could also potentially do harm to an unfit horse by pushing him too hard, too fast. The best way to build bone, muscle, and wind is LSD (Long Slow Distance) – starting slow and gradually increasing over time. That is the best way to put a foundation on an endurance horse that will stay sound and happily competing for years.

Oh, and good luck, welcome to the sport, and most importantly, have fun!

[KSquared]

In theory you know it sounds doable. 25 miles, that doesn’t seem like a lot. Then you get on your greenie and realize 8 miles and you are done for! It was an eye opening experience and even though it wasn’t the best ride, it was the perfect ride to find out where we are. A couple issues need to be worked out.

1. He is not so keen on horses trotting up behind him, that give him the wigglies.

2. He doesn’t like to be passed.

3. His rider is a nervous Nelly.

He will excel, as he clearly LOVES to be out there and wants to go, go go. If I had been more comfortable and balanced I would have let him trot out. Its ok though, we will do the free intro ride and introduce a lot of fun stuff to him and make the first time fun and stress free for us.

[chicamuxen1]

I organized a training ride one year in the George Washington National Forest, from a parking lot in Fort Valley, VA. A few of the riders had already begun competing their horses or were experienced but bringing green horses.Some were trail riders looking for a sport to compete in, and some were eventers or fox hunters who wanted to get a taste of endurance. What some of the riders learned was they do waaaaay too much riding alone. I think this is often the case with eventers as they just never compete in groups, but more and more riders of all types seem to be riding alone. Many people will say they do trail ride with others but it may be largely at a walk and if someone’s horse gets antsy at a trot everyone has to WALK NOW! OMG I HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE BARN!!!

The OTTB can get quite stirred up when first going out in groups. I remember this eventer on her lovely TB who was jigging, plunging and head tossing as all the Arabs were warming up, head slinging and just generally having a grand, fun, time. The poor woman pulled her horse to the back and was going to quit, her horse was pretty agitated. I talked her into continuing with just me on my steady horse and we discussed the training while riding with companions as we managed to do a much calmer trot leap frogging up the forest service road. She was quite upset at the Arab riders behavior! Ha, ha. I guess they did look like a bunch of hooligans. It isn’t any fun to be on a powerful horse that is having a melt down!

Training with other riders is one of the most important steps of bringing along a distance horse. It can be hard to round up riding friends to help you with this training. Three riders is a nice number to begin with, then do the leap frog game while going down the trail, at a walk, then adding in very short trots, then longer trots and stop to graze. That’s a big one in my book, frequent stops to grab bites of grass and you don’t get to go until you grab that grass. I actually train with the words “EAT,EAT” and “DRINK, DRINK”. I may not get them to drink in the first 15 miles of a competition but they will begin grabbing grass within the first few miles or they don’t get to go forward. Just a quick snatch of grass and go on. The eating will keep their stomach in good shape and stimulate drinking.

And speaking of mileage. I have carried a GPS while on pleasure rides and hunter paces. One hunter pace touted as being 12 miles was 8 miles. The pleasure rides are typically far shorter than advertised. I suggest getting a GPS to do some measuring as you ride.

chicamuxen

[brightskyfarm]

Hi Bonnie !
Excellent advice :). I am working with a ottb. He retired sound, still eligible to run, VERY fit,and a distance racer. To him, the leap out of the starting gate was 18’ in the first stride, he didnt see any reason to not do the same in the transition from trot to canter! It took 3 yrs to get him in hand enough to enter the Foxcatcher 2013 LD 25. Then it took the rest of the year to ready him for the Mustang Memorial 50 in November - he breezed through that ride – hand galloping the first 20mile loop, jogging the 2nd 18miles in 2hrs and finishing off the last 12 coming in with a group of 12 finishing at the same time. He was a perfect gentleman, - and what made it all possible was hours on hours of walking, walk-trot transitions, and training rides with endurance friends. Time is never wasted sitting in a saddle :

[sbwinde]

There is some helpful info on this site for new endurance riders, including what to bring, what, how to care for your horse afterwards, equipment, etc. Good luck!!!