Help me not break my 24-yo. :-)

[SharonA]

At the end of April, I’m hoping to take my 24-yo Arab for a couple days of riding in Vermont – ie, big rolling hills. One day of the ride will follow ECTRA rules for a 15-mile ride. Horse and I are two middle-aged pleasure riders, neither of us in the best of shape. Madame is in light work, ridden 3-4 times a week but we work more on balance and stretching, as that was what she has needed this winter, than on stamina. She gets near 24/7 turnout (that she does not take advantage of, as she spends the whole night nuzzling with the handsome gelding in the next paddock, as far as I can tell), and during the day is on large rolling pastures – which until last week were covered in 2 feet of snow and ice such that she barely moved other than to the hay pile, but they’re opened up again now. Once things dry up, her barn has lovely rolling hills – though not as big as Vermont hills – to condition on.

We did a pleasure version of this ride last year. I don’t remember how long it took us, but we did do quite a bit of trotting and some gallops up of the hills, and she was very tired afterwards but in good spirits. She should be in slightly better shape this year, and I have a good trainer who will be honest with me about the wisdom of doing this ride, after we see what the next few weeks bring in terms of conditioning. I will do the ride with a ride-appointed mentor who hopefully will give me tips on how to read my horse and keep our pace appropriate to horse’s age and condition.

Horse is my first and is much loved, and I do not want to break her.

She gets Pentosan regularly, and I will put her on Previcoxx before, during, and for a few days after the ride.

Any other thoughts for a safe and enjoyable ride for her? (We have done a number of 15 mile rides; just not over Vermont hills at any particular speed. And she’s a year older, I’m not any thinner, and it will be another few weeks before trails in this area dry up enough for trailriding).

[5chestnuts]

Just clarifying that this is not competition, is it? Otherwise the Previcoxx is a huge no.

And be VERY careful using any drugs that may mask pain. If the horse doesn’t feel pain, you have a good chance of making a developing problem much worse, especially if you are going to be riding multiple days on Vermont hills, and especially if you aren’t in competition shape.

How many miles a day are you going to be doing, besides the 15 miles for the one day?

[SharonA]

Good points! Very definitely NOT a competition. it’s an introductory & educational event (GMHA Mud Ride – www.gmhainc.org). The role of the Previcoxx is to ease any baseline age-related stiffness such that she is freed up to move well, vs. to mask pain due to acute damage (I hope).

First day is 15 miles total.

Second day is a pleasure ride of up to 15 miles; no requirements for pace or distance. I doubt that we’d do the full 15 miles on the second day unless Madame is feeling awesome with herself and with being out on the trails after a long winter. I was thinking of anywhere between 5 and 10 miles. And if she doesn’t vet well after the first day, of course we won’t ride at all on the second day.

We have never been, nor will we ever be, in competition shape. That ship has sailed, and in fact it never entered our particular harbor in the first place. The idea is just to learn about CTR stuff that can translate to our level of riding.