Far-A-Way Easter Carnival 2017

After two successful training rides to begin our 2017 season, we were in full swing and ready to get to work on our open rides. We had so many goals for the year, starting with getting Aston through his first ride back (check) and Rock through his first rides ever (check and check) and making sure Mizzy was back to himself after the minor injury that had ended his 2016 season early (check again!). Koda and Vegas were having an easy go for the start of the season. The only horse we didn’t really have any major goal for in the short term was Sirahh – ironic, really…

We were off to the annual Faraway Easter Carnival for a few days. The goals for the weekend came out swinging once we had sat down and nutted out the plan. Adriana would attempt to tackle the 120km mini-marathon with Sirahh. Kat wanted to take Vegas around a couple of steady 40’s if she could get there. Bec would attempt to get herself to open while piloting Mizzy around his second 80km. Chintzia was eager for her first 80km which she would do aboard Aston. And lastly, I would ride Rockstar in his first 80km.

Ready for Day 1

Faraway has been unkind to me personally in the past, but I make it a mission in my life to fight back. I was determined to have a good weekend – determined! We (myself and Spencer) headed down to Imbil on Friday the 14th of April with Rockstar and Sirahh aboard so that Adriana would have time to nominate and vet in for the mini – she had a plan of colourful outfits for each of the three rides through the weekend! Rock would spend the day learning about staying sensible when your friends leave you – a lesson he was in desperate need of!

Early on Saturday morning I got up with Adriana to help her saddle up for her first 40km leg of the mini-marathon. I walked Rock away from the yards once Adriana was mounted in an effort to help him settle – by the time Sirahh went by the outer gate he was happy enough to call out to him before digging back in to his breakfast bucket! IT felt odd having only one horse chowing down in the row of five yards. Adriana and Sirahh were back from a steady ride around the first leg at almost half past ten. Along the way they had found some friends to ride with so Adriana was a happy chappy!

After a successful vet-through, we settled in for a nice calm afternoon of waiting for Kat to arrive with Vegas – Kat owned her own single float now, but she had no car to tow it so a friend was driving down to drop her off and her dad would come back to pick her up for the return trip. She was nominated and vetted in for the 40km that would start with the mini-marathon the following morning so that gave us something to do that afternoon!

The next day, I again got up early and helped get the horses ready for my friends – and walked Rock away while they headed off. Adriana was bedecked in purple for the second leg – it had been pink for the first – so pretty, poor Sirahh! Vegas was keen as a bean with Kat aboard and I was glad that Adriana had company since her riding partners from Day 1 had withdrawn. They plodded out nicely together – though I think Sirahh was a little confused about going out again…!

While they were out and about I hung around camp waiting for the rest of the team to arrive and walked Rockstar around the grounds every hour. Chintzia and Bec were due to arrive with the other horses during the morning. The yards were ready so the horses would be able to go straight in for a nibble when they came off the float at least – and Rock would appreciate the company even though he was surprising me with his composure at being left behind by his friends for the second day in a row! He was usually such a stress head, it was nice to see him handling things so well for a change.

Bye friends!

Day 2 of the mini saw Adriana and Kat finishing after a ride of 5 hours and 21 minutes with one of the more challenging legs but they had a marvellous (no pun intended) time. Both of the horses plugged through vetting nicely and with the last of our team arrived we decided it was time to nominate and vet for the Monday 80km. The horses all looked great and Rock had certainly benefited from being at the ride base a few days early!

Day 3 of the mini-marathon would begin at 6am again, while the 80km was intended to start at 4am but it was eventually re-scheduled to being half an hour earlier. The surviving 320km marathoners were due to begin the last day of their grueling challenge at 2am so I set my alarm for 2.30 knowing that an hour before ride start would be more than enough for me to be ready – I usually sleep in my ride clothes the night before a morning start to save dressing in the cold! Adriana had already had an alarm clock scare, so I was setting not just my alarm but Spencer’s and my mum’s also, just in case! I managed to fall asleep easily enough for once.

I was woken by the sound of hoofbeats on the road passing our tent and I swear I hit the roof – literally, I hit the roof of the tent. It look a split second for my brain to register that it was the marathon riders leaving, but the surge of adrenaline that had thrown me sky high had me very much awake now! I laid awake intermittently laughing and sobbing over the loss of an extra half hours’ sleep, at least it would be a funny story one day…

We three 80kmers were up and about and ready to go on time. There was a brief struggle with Aston’s hind boots – he was never fussed on them, having them fitted in the dark was not helping – but he was such a troll for the farrier having just his front shoes done that I would never ask for the hind ones, so boots were the fallback option!

We jogged into the darkness, lights bobbing in the fog. It was the same leg that Bec and I had done a year earlier in her second 40km, it had seemed more difficult then but looking back I suppose there were reasons for that. The horses were fresh and happily plugging through the kms and we made it a good 15kms before we hit a hurdle. Well, we didn’t hit anything, and it wasn’t technically a hurdle I guess – it was more of a projectile and it almost hit me! Mind you, I wasn’t sure what was even happening, all I knew was that Aston appeared to suddenly spook or buck and then bolted!

He spooks, he’s been known to rear on occasion, but he’s not a bolter or a bucker so what the hell had happened?! And what was that thing that had whistled past me in the darkness?? We all managed to pull up and a quick survey revealed that one of Aston’s boots was gone and the other was hanging by the strap, flapping but loose on his ankle. Justified spook and bolt, I’ll admit I’d have probably reacted the same way had I been him!

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Bec held Miz and Rock while Chintz and I wrestled the broken boot of the very kicky Aston. Thankfully there was no damage done to him and we somehow managed to locate the lost boot a few metres behind – in the dark. I strapped them both to my saddle, said a quick prayer that Aston’s hind feet would be tough enough, and on we rode…

We managed to complete the first leg in a little under four hours. The horses had managed well enough, but Aston and Rock were holding the heat. They took a little longer to strap than Mizzy, but they made it through and we got them back to camp for a rest and a feed. Adriana was out on track for the last leg of her ride – Spencer was all ready for them to come in to strap Sirahh.

We headed out on the second leg a little before 8.30am – it was already getting hotter than expected, I was starting to worry that Aston was a bit fat and might struggle with the heat, which proved a necessary worry because by the time we hit the 30km mark we had to slow way down. He had struggled up the hill and now refused to drink. His skin was rippling and he was panting but we had no reception and by now we knew we were the last on track – I knew where we were, I knew how far a walk it was – it was time to get off and take our time.

After another couple of kilometres we decided it would be best for Bec and Mizzy to ride on ahead and finish – who knew how long it would take for us to get home, but I refused to risk pushing Aston. He had perked up now that we were walking in the forestry and he was eating at every opportunity we offered as we briskly walked along – but my gut told me to keep him steady. I was pretty sure we’d not make it back by the cut off time, but I didn’t want to stress my sister out by telling her that – it was already proving a much tougher first 80km than I’d hoped she’d have and she was desperately trying to take care of her horse.

As soon as we walked into a spot with reception I called Spencer back at base to tell him that we were walking as much as we could and would hop back on to ride a bit more soon. He relayed the message to the ride base so that they knew we weren’t lost – he called me back shortly after to tell me that the head vet was on his way out to the last checkpoint to check Aston over for me quickly.

We made it to the checkpoint at a steady jog having got back on a couple of kilometres earlier. We were met by the vet who assessed Aston and said he was okay but we would need to be careful – time was not on our side. We had to hurry back in to beat the clock and we only just made it – with ice and water dousing them both, Rock was soon ready to vet, but Aston’s heart rate just wasn’t dropping enough. After fifteen minutes Spencer took Rock and my ride number to vet him in before he spiked, I managed to catch a glimpse of their trot out while I kept on working on Aston – I hoped that he at least had made it but I couldn’t be sure.

I strapped Aston to the last possible moment. The last time I took his heart rate I had read it at 59bpm – the allowed rate was 60bpm. I prayed and I prayed but it wasn’t enough. As he stood in the heat with no water on  him, Aston heated up again and he was read at 62 and finally 66bpm for a vet out.

I was devastated – and I wasn’t even his rider. My poor little sister had just vetted out of her first 80km after struggling through, loyally working with her beautiful horse, to end like that was so awful. Rock had somehow made it, but his success did nothing to dull the pain of Aston’s vet out. The only silver lining was that he was sound – his old injury had not flared up at the very least and he had managed to survive the terrain without shod hind hooves. A testament I think to my 13 year old sister’s determination to keep him on safe ground the whole way around.

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Adriana and Sirahh had vetted through sound in the mini-marathon. Bec and Mizzy had made it through the 80km and finished about 45 minutes before we had come across the line. Rock had made it through. We were 4 out of 5 completions so looking back I suppose it wasn’t that bad – but it didn’t feel like it that day as it happened. The head vet came and checked on Aston again before we left at my request – he happened to be the same vet that had treated Bart several years earlier on the worst day of my life, so I think he knew how stressed I was. He even called me on the way home to check how Aston was travelling, and again a couple of days later for an update. It was nice to have someone who really cared checking in.

It was a harrowing day – amplified by the horror of the journey home that had us detouring two hours out of our way to avoid being caught in the traffic jam caused by a serious car accident that blocked the highway home. I don’t even remember getting home, but I know that when I woke up I had Aston and Rock at home so I hadn’t made it so far as to take them back to their paddock. Imbil had kicked the stuffing out of me once more – but I wasn’t beaten. I’m not beaten. That is endurance, after all.

Let 2017 Begin!

2016 was a grand year for us as a team, but 2017 was set to be so much more. I don’t really believe in the fortune cookie thing, but I got one before the first ride of the season that read “This year will be fruitful” and by golly was it ever. There were lows, but the highs were high.

We started out the year at the Stirling’s Crossing Education and Training weekend in February. We had been working hard over the summer training my big bay gelding Aston, he had paired up beautifully with my sister who was looking forward to attempting her second 40km ride and Aston’s first since his injury in 2014. We were focusing on getting Adriana and Sirahh ready for their attempt at the mini-marathon over Easter, I was legging up a new horse for his first ever ride and Bec was starting her second season aboard Mizzy.

 

First day of 2017 – ready to ride Rock!

I’d purchased Rock late in 2016 and he had been more than a little bit of a handful. I actually turned him out for about six weeks just to get the crap out of his system – he was hyped up on an inordinate amount of feed while not getting any ridden work so he was up to his eyeballs in protein that was sending around the twist! I hadn’t even been able to get a saddle on him the day we bought him, he was a complete lunatic, bucking and carrying on as if he hadn’t been broken in – he had been, I’d spoken to his breaker and seen footage of him under saddle for the first time. But the horse in my paddock was nothing like the calm horse in that video – he was identical in appearance, but the Rock in front of me was a nervous wreck.

Mizzy 2017 – growing up!

It took time and a lot of work, but within three months we had turned him around. I was riding him in training, and apart from the occasional pigroot he was fantastic. He had a long way to go as far as balance and cadence went, but he was at least able to be saddled and mounted safely – I was not sure how he’d go at his first ride, he was still reactive and sensitive and terrified of the float, so it was going to be an interesting ride for me at least.

Aston and Chintz were going well in their training, but Aston is quite a hot horse and I was concerned that the heat of the weekend might affect him so since it was early in the year we resolved to take it easy, aiming for a slow and steady ride.

 

The weekend approached and it was indeed a warm one, as expected. We loaded up the horses and headed to the ride with a thankfully uneventful trip – until we arrived at ride base and Rock decided he’d had enough of being on the float. It was only his third time on board one since I’d purchased him and he had traveled much better than I’d expected, but we had apparently waited too long to unload him and he was done waiting! Just as we were preparing to untie him and Aston before dropping the tailgate of the float – all hell broke loose as Rock threw himself around. Aston is not a good traveler by any means, but Rock made him look like an angel! But as suddenly as he started, Rock stopped with a thud as he hit his forehead on the roof of the float and, I think, shocked himself enough to realise how stupid he was being.

Aston-Martin 2017

We then managed to quietly unload all four of the horses and a quick inspection of Rock’s head revealed skin off but thankfully no blood and he was sorry enough for himself to behave himself as we set about setting up camp. With the horses soon vetted in and fed, we all headed to the pub for dinner. It is one of our little pre-ride traditions to have a pub meal together the night before a morning ride and one we very much enjoy!

The following morning I prepared to die – Rock was still very much a question mark for me, I had no idea what to expect and he hadn’t exactly made me easy after his little float hissy fit and cantering in his trot out. He’d also thrown a tantrum about the bridge crossing when we went out to pre-ride – not building my confidence there…! As ride start approached I distracted myself helping to saddle up Aston and getting my sister on board, she was feeling sick but she was getting on anyway. Adriana was just happy to be back at a ride and Rahh and Mizzy were both looking fantastic. The two bay boys would be our focus for this ride.

Just before start, I bit the bullet and mounted – zero fireworks. There were more than five dozen horses milling around in the warm-up area, if there was going to be a crazy moment, it would be now.

Typically, Aston just cannot play ball when there are trails to get out on!

Nothing. There was nothing. Aston jibbed his head, Sirahh was pulling for the gate, Mizzy was perking up but beyond his eyes popping out of his head a little, Rock was absolutely fine. I was pleasantly surprised, but I wasn’t ready to count my chickens yet! As all of the riders headed out toward the gate, we hung back a little to give our horses some space before getting on our way. Barely five kilometres in and I was already feeling burning thigh muscles as I realised just how unfit I was! 35km to go…

About 20km in, daylight was well upon us. It was not an “easy” track, but it was nice, with some good climbs but we were protected from the early sun of the day by the pine forests. It was the heat I was worrying about as I looked over to Aston and heard him panting loudly. The heat was getting to him, so we decided to slow down. The old boy was struggling with is first ride in two years, my main concern was to get him through soundly on the old tendon injury.

We plugged along to finish in a little over 4 hours in total. There was a struggle to cool Aston down and Rock’s heart rate was less than desirable as he became a little flustered by the strapping process, but after 20 minutes we vetted in with entire team making it through – what more could we ask for?

Chintzia was qualified for Novice, Aston had finally got an entry in his 2 year old logbook, Rock survived his first ride (and I survived his first ride…!) Miz and Bec were on their way and Adriana and Sirahh were on the road to the mini marathon.

We were off to Cooyar next to prep Rock and Mizzy for their first 80’s of the season over the easter weekend – bring on 2017!

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Training Tales 2!

We reached the end of the 2016 season in last month’s blog post, so this time I’m going to expand on a couple more of our training stories!

We have countless stories of our travels along the beach. The most entertaining of our beach rides usually involves Koda and her random psychotic spooking at crabs, sticks, or different coloured sand because for the most part our other horses are better behaved than her, well, anywhere! However, the most iconic beach moment happened, not at the beach, but on the way there…

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There is a good section of road that can be a little tricky to traverse because the road edge has barely any shoulder that drops into a deep trench to allow water flow in storms before the fenceline that hems in the farm that fronts the road. When we ride along there we in general go slowly right up against the fence so we are no where near the road and that is where I was, on Koda, when Adriana suddenly let out a shriek. I looked over expecting to see her pulling Sam off the road to avoid a car, but instead I see her preparing to jump as Sam gently lowered himself into the trench as if he was going to have a nap! The little ratbag must have felt a slip under his feet and decided to make the most of the situation by having a break while he was at it!

In a recent beach trip, we took our new horse Jaazy down by float with Koda for a 10km run. Jaazy was as usual pretty perfect – Koda was not, surprise surprise! However, there is one thing Koda does better than him and it was about to happen.

Koda is a cow with most things. She has to be twitched to get her needles because she is, to quote our lovely South African veterinarian, “A little bitch”. He knows something is very wrong when he visits her and she isn’t screeching at him. She’s a twit to be caught – but not the way you think – she’s worse if you aren’t haltering her! If you don’t come to catch her, she will follow you around, threatening to kick or bite and will rear up and scream. Don’t even get me started on how horrid she can be to ride – that will keep you here allllll day! But one thing she does well is load on the float. It’s her one redeeming quality.

On Koda went, zero antics, perfect lady. Jaazy on the other hand got incredibly interesting. He had loaded relatively well on the trip to get to the beach, but it seemed he was having too much fun to go home because he would not put his back feet on the ramp. We tried coercion, bribery and threats in alternating terms over the half hour we spent trying to get him on – and he broke loose and ran into the darkness of the reserve not once, but twice. In the end, he got on – and we learned that Jaazy is a pain to load sometimes…!

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On another of our treks we had the thrill of watching Katy’s first fall. It was quite epic by most standards, Sally does epic so well after all. We’d already had an entertaining afternoon as Rockstar had already made a spectacle of himself with his bronco antics while carrying a new rider, but Sally was about to cap it off in quite a stunning way!

Sal is not the best jumper in the world, she’s quite uncoordinated in that sense to be totally honest! Picture legs getting tangled in mid-air and you are on the right track. We were walking by this point as we were all on edge about Rock’s bad behaviour, so as we approached the creek we had to cross we were taking it easy. All of the horses had crossed it earlier on the way out and Sally had been no exception. On the way home was a different story as she once again took exception to being on the other side of the creek from her friends and at the last moment she squealed and I turned to see her fling – and I do mean FLING – herself into the air, all four off the floor in a spectacular cat-leap with Katy sprung an couple of feet extra out of the saddle. They landed on the other side, but Katy couldn’t save herself – she was hanging from Sally’s neck and finally let go a few metres after the landing! I was impressed she had made it that far to be honest, it was a pretty epic fling!

Here are two more short training tales – because I can’t not tell these ones! The horrific one first. In the slideshow of photos below you’ll see Chintzia posing on Aston, and a photo of Adriana and Sirahh standing nicely. About 10 seconds after the photo of Adriana was taken, I had just put my phone away, when I suddenly felt the world spin and heard running hooves. All four of our horses had gone from a total standstill to flat out spook at the exact same moment – none of us know exactly what set them off and at the time we didn’t have a chance to work out what it was because all hell had broken loose! I distinctly remember seeing my right foot up near Koda’s head and she whip-lashed me backward. I don’t know how I stayed on but I did! From the corner of my eye I saw Chintz get Aston back under control and Bec was miraculously still aboard Mizzy too – but Sirahh and Adriana had parted company.

Adriana was still exactly where I had last seen her – but minus the horse. He appeared to have teleported out from under her and she was in a heap on the grass. Chintz jumped off Aston and darted off to catch Sirahh while Bec and I both went to Adriana. I could see she was fine, but Adriana is hard to convince when she’s had a shock – she was certain she had broken something and I was pretty sure she was going to break my hand with the death grip she had on it! We were soon all back on our ponies and we continued on a gentle ride – no more excitement necessary!

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And, now for the funny one! My husband Spencer doesn’t ride a lot these days, but when he does, something always happens. This particular time, while we were tacking up, he had decided it was a good idea to pick up a rock and throw it into the distance. No idea why, it must be a boy thing, but he speedily regretted it when my dog ran in the same direction as the thrown rock and promptly got whacked by it! We gave him a hard time about it, but Revan was fine – thankfully it wasn’t a big rock! Anyway, karma was about to bite him in a big way with an event that would forever overshadow the rock-dog incident.

Spence likes to talk and joke when he rides, he enjoys the social aspect of training. That particular day he was riding Mizzy. Elena was aboard Rock and they were having a laugh when suddenly Rock decided it was time for a toilet break. Spencer being the chatty social butterfly that he is was not paying any attention to the fact that Elena’s horse had stopped right in front of him, and Mizzy being very much an auto-pilot pony, just on kept walking – sure, he dodged the poop as he went by so it didn’t touch him, but he made sure to graze up closely enough for Spencer’s knee to end up right under Rock’s tail as it was all coming out. The manly yelling and cursing will go down in history as he realised what was happening – really, it could have been prevented but then we wouldn’t have a story to bring up at every social occasion!

Next month’s blog will take us into the QERA 2017 season. It was an eye opening ride and the first back for Aston after his 2015 injury. 2017 was an amazing year with highs and lows – but amazing nonetheless!

Run Koda, Run

Riding Mags and Orrie at Kilkivan 2016

After the Biggenden event, we took a ride on the wild side at Kilkivan piloting my dear friend Yvonne’s youngsters around the 40km. It was certainly an interesting one and a learning curve too – proving once again that every horse has something to teach you.

With Kilkivan done and dusted, we were headed for Murrumba next! My friend Kath, who I originally met because she used to own a lovely mare Brookleigh Scarlett, lent us her float to get our ponies down to the ride.

Now, I have to go off topic for a moment because there is a side-story that happened on the trip there that cannot go un-mentioned. Our dog Revan is regularly called by his nickname, Poopy, on a daily basis – to the point that one day when he was in trouble my mother had actually forgotten his real name and had me in stitches as she yelled POOPY! over and over while telling him off for what ever it was he had done. How did he come to have this name you ask? No, it actually pre-dates the Murrumba story – he had some terrible tummy trouble as a puppy and Poopy became his nickname as a result. By the time this story rolled around he was well and truly grown up and hadn’t done anything embarrassing in a long time and that was about to change…

Revan is a very good traveller. He generally sleeps or hangs his head out the window but he never makes a mess beyond his dirty feet and he knows he is never allowed to sit on the person in the front passenger seat. In reality I think he doesn’t like to sit on people so he just doesn’t do it – but I like to think he’s just obedient. On this particular day it was me while Spencer drove and we had Kat in the back seat with us. We had been in the ute for a two and half to three hours since early morning and everything seemed fine as we got into Landsborough.

That’s where the signs started – Revan was suddenly restless and wouldn’t stay still in the back seat with Kat anymore. A few minutes later he was pawing to get onto my lap in the front seat until Spencer told him sternly to go back – which worked for a few minutes before it started again. At that point I thought perhaps he wanted to hang out the window while we went through the busier streets – he likes to look at people and cars, so I let him on my lap and opened the window.

At first all was okay, until he started to hang too far – almost as though he would jump out into the traffic! It was very unlike him and it got me annoyed that he was being so cheeky so I sent him promptly to the back seat again.

All seemed well, he was still upset and we put it down to his not being allowed to hang out the window – he regularly makes a lot of noise about the window situation if it is raining or too windy so we thought nothing of it. But ten minutes later, Kat piped up from the back seat saying, “Um, I think I know why Revan was acting weird…” and I turned around to see him taking a dump on his spot. He’s a very emotive dog and there was so much shame on his face in that moment I felt so horrible for laughing my head off as it all became clear!

Somehow we managed to find a spot to pull over as we climbed the range on Peachester Road. There were public toilets and we cleaned up the mess diligently before heading back on our way – and that seat got a thorough steam clean the day after we got home from the ride! Poopy will never live that trip down…

Back to the ride!

We had four horses for the 80-100E – Koda, Sirahh, Mizzy and Vegas. We decided to split into two groups to better manage our strapping and since we had two novice horse/rider combinations and two open horse/rider combinations it seemed logical to group that way. After Koda and Sirahh had done so well going a little quicker at Biggenden, Adriana and I were keen to push some boundaries and test our horses and our own abilities, while Miz and Vegas would need a nice steady ride for a completion and they would not be elevating. It was Mizzy’s first 80km and, we hoped, Vegas’s second after her vet out at Biggenden.

The morning of the ride Koda was keen as a bean, Sirahh was fighting fit, Mizzy was less convinced and seemed happy to sleep, Vegas was mirroring Koda’s enthusiasm and was going to need a bit of convincing to stay steady! Just before ride start Adriana and I split off and headed over to the marshalling area, Kat and Bec would leave at the back of the pack while we intended to get out with the front runners – a first for us, we were usually to be found heading out slowly!

We headed out quickly and hardly had time to wonder where our friends were as we trotted out the gate, under the overpass and over the scary metal bridge. It was dark and it was cold – but it was invigorating.

Before we knew it, we were back at base – in 2 hours and 50 minutes – not lightning but quicker than anything we’d done before. The horses strapped and vetted easily, the TPR that took Koda was amazed at her loud heart and I was thrilled with a 46bpm after very little strapping and Sirahh breezed through at 45. They had plenty of time for the hold and then we were saddling up and heading back out. As we were riding out, Kat and Bec were riding in from their first leg – at a little under 3 and a half hours ride time, they were doing well! So far so good. We didn’t have time to wait to find out if they would vet through, so off we went while the team strapped and vetted.

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The second leg flew by – or did we fly? It hardly seemed possible that the horses we had babied through a season and a half were suddenly fit and capable and pulling to run! A year before, I had pretty well dragged Koda around the ride after the first leg because she had been so pooped – yet here she was, striding out next to a horse that seemed twice her size and certainly had five times the stride length! Then she gave me a wake up call – right as we came into a clearing toward the end of the leg I felt her skinny little twig legs stiffen. She moved on from it in a heartbeat, and then a moment later she startled again – but this time it was a violent shy and then my head and helmet made a huge cracking sound as it met the ground. From my view on the ground – upside down – I saw Adriana acrobatically sliding from her saddle while reaching out and forward for Koda’s reins. It seemed quite impressive in my brain addled state! But I shook it off as a rider or two passed by us, got back on and then we were back on track.

In two hours and twenty minutes – breaking the record of our previous leg – we had finished the second 40km and vetted through it! Were we going to elevate – by heck we were! The TPR taking Koda’s heart rate jumped back in surprise when she put her stethoscope to her, apparently she’s got quite a loud heart and it was beating at a steady 49bpm. The TPR just loved her and marveled over her tiny size and big heart – she asked me to let her know how we went on the last leg.

Photo by Denise Keelan

We went back to camp, fed the horses and let them relax while we re-filled our water bottles, changed socks, slathered on sunscreen and had some food (my head was thudding so badly I wasn’t sure it was going to stay down..!)  All the while we were expecting Kat and Bec to ride in, but we weren’t really concerned when they didn’t. Maybe we would see them as we headed back out again – and if not, surely up the common track we’d pass by them, nothing to worry about!

We saddled up and headed back out. As we went we expected at any moment to see our friends riding toward us – but we didn’t. It’s okay – we’re going quite quickly – nothing to worry about…

The second leg was flat. Our kind of flat. Koda and Sirahh breezed along, still pulling and arguing about who should be in front. Along the way we met another rider at a water point – it seemed we had been playing cat and mouse most of the ride, constantly passing one another the entire way but this leg was different. We decided to ride together for the last leg – we’d all worked hard, our horses were doing great – lets finish together!

In one hour, we were back from the 20km final leg, passing the line holding hands with Clare on her lovely big gelding Thor, for a finish time of 6h 19m. Spencer was not expecting us so soon, it was a surprise to us all and all the more sweet was the finish and our first time presenting for BC – equal 5th place! We’d never get it of course, but hey, its still nice to be invited to the party right?

Photo by Denise Keelan

We headed back to camp, and then it hit us – the yards were empty. Where were Kat and Bec? We’d completed the entire 100km in a much better time than we’d ever expected – but surely we hadn’t done it quicker than their 80km?! Yes, yes we had..

To be perfectly honest, I was more than a little worried. I was imagining a lot of terrible things. Legs broken, bleeding riders, crashes, stacks of all kinds – or maybe I was overreacting… With a ride time of 8h 8m we finally heard the strapper call with their numbers and hurried over to help. Poor Bec was feeling the heat and didn’t look well – she was worried Mizzy was lame. Vegas seemed fine and strapped easily, Mizzy took a little cooling but still – the time to strap was pretty good since the leg had been so slow.

Mizzy vetted through for his and Bec’s first 80km completion, they were both absolutely stuffed. Vegas unfortunately did not fare so well – she had stepped on a stick or something like one and opened a cut on one hind foot and she vetted mildly lame which had us all a bit down.

The ride was done and dusted – Adriana and I got to take part in our first BC workouts which was a little extra fun – we attended presentations and then we were headed home. It had been a learning curve for us – we certainly learned a lot about how capable our horses were if we took care! Next up – Sparkler!

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Biggenden 2016

Our beautiful Biggenden club was putting together its’ second ride of the season, this time a full card of rides including the 80km main event. It had taken a bit of time to dust Rockybar off but we were keen to get back in the saddle, it would be my first 80km of the year with Koda.

We’d had a private little tragedy of our own only four weeks prior to the ride with the loss of our beautiful little foal, but on the strong advice of friends and our amazing vet, Koda was given some time to recover before being put into work for the rest of the season. She bounced back, I think it was us humans who really suffered from the shock and loss.

Mizzy all rugged up the night before

As with every ride, we go with a plan – the plan always includes who is riding which horse, in which ride, how fast or slow and at the tail end of the plan is to ignore the plan and ride to what the horse feels on the day. I must say, the girls always do a fabulous job at doing exactly that! For instance, Koda is strong – if she feels strong you know she’s fine, if she’s had enough she will say so very loudly. Sam always feels fresh – but what he thinks he can do and what he can actually do are two different things, so he can be quite a challenging horse as his rider really needs to know when he’s had enough! Mizzy is a lazy little sod, but he’s more than capable of speed if and when he wants to, so nine times out of ten he’s pulling your leg when he seems to be fizzling out! Each of them and the others have their little quirks, and we all do our very best to learn those quirks so we can manage each horse safely.

Most horse sports require a good relationship between a horse and their rider – but few require the level of knowledge that endurance does in order to be successful. And by successful I mean finishing rides with happy healthy horses, no matter the distance, speed or place in the field. Winning is not a priority and management is everything!

Sam was a bit chilly too!

By the time Biggenden rolled around, I had not finished an 80km since August the previous season and I hadn’t done a quicker-than-novice pace ever, despite having achieved the status of an open rider more than 13 months prior. It was a minor goal for me to just one time ride on or a little quicker, though I had no intention of pushing Koda beyond her limits. Knowing that the track was relatively flat made meeting that goal a little more likely since we train on flat ground at home and we as a group find hillier tracks more challenging. For once I was going into a ride on an Open horse. Adriana too had the same goal of at some point doing a quicker-than-novice ride, but as always with Sam we really needed to play him by ear!

At this ride we had Mizzy and Bec in the 40km, while Kat, Adriana and I were entered in the 80km with Vegas, Sam and Koda. Kat and Vegas had completed their first 80km at Spring Mountain about a month prior to Biggenden so they were still a Novice duo. Bec and Mizzy would use the opportunity to get another ride under their belts before attempting their first 80km at Murrumba later in the year.

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Our plan was set, flexibility was agreed on and we were ready to go. The first leg seemed to breeze by so quickly – it was a fantastic track, perfectly suited to our horses! Mizzy and Bec finished the 40km in 3 hours and 7 minutes having found our friend Bridget on track with her horse Champ. The three of us in the 80km zoomed around in 3 hours and 3 minutes, all vetting through nicely.

We were back on track in no time and before we realised it we were seeing the familiar landmarks that were taking us back to home base. For part of the ride we played cat and mouse with the lovely Junior group from America who would end up taking home the Cullen Cup in competition with our Australian Junior team.

Bec and Mizzy earned another 40km completion!

As we came under the rail bridge it registered in our minds that we were close to home and, after checking our watches, realised we were going a little too quick for Vegas and Kat to meet their minimum time. It suddenly dawned on Adriana and I that both Koda and Sam were travelling marvelously well and still felt fantastic – our goal of riding a bit quicker for the first time was within reach! So after a quick toss up we collectively decided that we were close enough to home to split up, Adriana and I kept up the pace we were already travelling at while Kat dropped back so that she wouldn’t come in under time.

We jogged along nicely, the horses had sensed home and were keen as beans to get back! I think they had gotten used to our routine of going at a reasonably slow pace so being allowed to pick up a canter so close to base was a pleasant change for them! Koda in particular was bouncing!

Koda leading out nicely on Leg 2

I just love the photos from the ride. We were only 10 minutes quicker than the allowed novice time, but it felt like a really big achievement for both of us as riders to bring our horses home happy and fit and sound at the end of our first “fast” (haha!) ride. We were really proud of Koda and Sam, though it turned out that the best was yet to come in that area.

Unfortunately we had a vet out with Vegas and a real scare when we realised that she was showing some puffiness around her tendons. It turned out to be farrier related – and that farrier would never again be seen! I always admire how Kat takes everything in her stride, she would be back on track very soon after.

The incident really taught me how critical farriery is for endurance horses and made me all the more determined to find the right one for our horses. It had been more than 8 months since our previous farrier had moved on to other work and we really were struggling to find someone who would work with our particular style of riding – and our particular style of shoe! Blue Pegasos poly shoes have been and will continue to be our shoe of choice. They are completely worth the expense – however finding a farrier in our area who is open minded enough to try them is hard, convincing them that they need to listen to us on how to apply them is even harder…! I know I sound like one of those “know-it-alls” who tell their farrier’s how to do their job, but when it comes to a specialty shoe on a horse that is involved in a high-intensity sport, I’m willing to earn that badge.

Sam and Adriana flying home off Leg 2!

In 2016 we went through farrier after farrier after farrier in our quest to find “The One”! I missed Stretch and his willingness to learn about the shoes and his skill at applying them. Blue Pegasos shoes have been a god-send. They provide support and protection like no other besides being Australian owned, designed and made! They are worth much more than their weight in gold for us. It would be a little longer before we found the farrier that would come to agree with me on that score – but he was out there!

Blue Pegasos poly shoes are available in several densities to suit different disciplines and horses, whether they be recovering from laminitis or require superior shock-absorption in activities such as show-jumping, dressage, eventing, campdrafting or endurance!

https://bluepegasos.com/

Road to Rockybar – Part 2

So, it had already started out being rather a traumatic experience in our efforts to attend the 2016 Rockybar ride. My poor dog was hit by one of our cars, and by some miracle was remarkably unscathed by the incident. My brother missed the turn to Biggenden and almost took us to Woolooga (again). And now here we were, waking up in our tent early the next morning after the disaster of having one of our floats come loose from the car towing it.

Surely that was enough, right? Nothing else, please!

The horses were not in the least phased by the events

Our tent set up a bit off the highway

We checked and rechecked the newly repaired towball assembly, and checked again for good measure. The tents were re-packed, the yards disassembled and the horses were ready to load up and make the last half of our journey to the ride base. Koda and Mizzy loaded back into the float without hesitation, after the fright they’d gotten the night before I had worried it wouldn’t be an easy conversation. Sirahh then charged up the ramp and Bec tied him in while I came up with Vegas. I handed the lead to my sister who took her up the ramp, but she balked halfway up and refused to budge – here was the mistake.

As I came up the ramp beside her, Sirahh’s ears went back and Vegas’s attitude suddenly changed – rather than accepting the hand I put on her hip, she threw her head up and lashed a hind foot out, catching me in the thigh.

I’ve been kicked before, but never by a shod horse. There was now a beautiful impression of a Blue Pegasos shoe tread in the middle of my thigh. I didn’t even have the protection of pants, the shorts I wore were absolutely zero help. At my yelp of pain Sirahh decided to remember his manners and Vegas went the rest of the way up into the float. Trying to ignore the throbbing I put the tail gate up, limped to the front of my ute and got in before the pain could stiffen my leg. Yeah, not liking my chances of doing that 80km. Mum didn’t even realise what had happened until we were well on our way to Gayndah and I could feel the bruise tightening my skin.

A little over an hour later we stopped for fuel in Eidsvold and I came to a very painful realisation that considering my inability to walk without looking rather like a one-legged seagull, riding was not going to be possible either. I’d rather have had a twisted ankle. My sister would have to ride, but she was only eligible for the 40km so she would go along with Kat and Bec.

Bec and Mizzy at pre-ride vet in   Photo credit: Sarah Sullivan

Surely that was the last thing that could go wrong, right? Oh, no no no. Not off the hook quite yet…

We arrived at ride base with barely enough time to nominate and vet the horses. It was a mad rush, but somehow it was done and the riders were soon off to pre-ride talk. It was an evening ride so at least we’d all be able to sleep that night before the drive home the next day. That is what I love about night rides, the knowledge that even if you start a bit warm, it’ll only get cooler and when you are finished – bed awaits! No packing to head home straight away! A few hours of quiet, a nice breakfast, then pack up and head home. Ahh, all was good now except for the fact that I had to hobble around rather than walk or run.

Kat was going for her third 40km, Bec and Chintzia both for their second and Adriana was attempting to do her first ride of more than 80km by attempting to finish the full 100km elevator. The horses were all fighting fit and the stop over clearly hadn’t done them any harm. With luck (which we so far hadn’t had much of) all would be finishing the ride successfully! There didn’t seem to be any reason to expect otherwise.

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The riders were off in the late afternoon. Mum and I waved them all off with Adriana’s dad there to film her departure in the elevator ride. We went back to camp to sit down and have a cuppa – the 40km wouldn’t be in for another 3 hours, so it was going to be a nice quiet evening! And so it was for a time.

My brother decided to go out exploring, though I insisted that he stick to the main driveway – he went off in his ute and I didn’t expect him back for a while – but no sooner had he driven off that he reappeared in a bit of a fuss. He was clearly trying to be calm, but he sucked at calm as he told my mum and I to get in the car. What the hell was going on?

The training riders had been out for barely two hours – and yet there was my younger sister sitting on a chair by the amenities block with the first aid crew clustering around her. She’d fallen off and just been returned to camp by the driver of a car who had happened along the moment after the accident. Mum went a bit crazy, but my stoic little sister wasn’t even crying, more than anything she seemed annoyed!

The source of the annoyance soon became apparent – the nurse at the first aid station was insisting that an ambulance be called and my sister was having none of it, even though she wasn’t at that point able to walk. She explained that Koda had shied at a lizard or some other such creature and she had been flung into the dirt – which is rather like hitting concrete at speed, especially when it hasn’t rained in a while! Her right hip and taken the most of the impact and she was having trouble stretching the leg out to walk – the fact that she couldn’t weight bear made everyone panic. Except me, I didn’t panic. I know how it feels to have a broken bone and this was not a child with a broken leg.

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My mum hadn’t up till then ever dealt with a broken bone herself and no matter how much my sister and I tried to make her understand that the amount of pain she would be in if her hip was broken, she was too manic to listen. My sister was desperate not to go to the hospital, which was an hour away, but my attention was drawn away from the situation by the arrival of Koda on the rescue float. I left my sister arguing her cause against the well-meaning first aid crew and our anxious mum while I went to deal with the horse and the withdrawral. Yep, I was going to have to run the pocket rocket out and I was still more than a little lame myself!

Koda waltzed off the rescue float like bratty little princess she is, completely oblivious to the ruckus she had caused and without a care in the world. I took her heart rate and led her straight in to vetting after pulling off her gear. As I stood by while the vet took her heart rate, I looked up to see my sister, arms folded, hobbling over to us. Still no tears, just a jut of determination in her jaw as she buried her face in Koda’s neck and said she would not go to the hospital.

I had to laugh – everyone was arguing that she had to go because she could have fractured her hip, their argument for it being that she couldn’t walk – yet here she was, determined not to let them win. I finished up with Koda and while we made her comfortable for the afternoon I told my sister to just go and get in the ambulance – no one was going to let it go otherwise! She grumbled and groaned and stropped about it, but in the end she went.

I told my brother and my mum not to let Adriana know what had happened, I didn’t want to upset her or distract her – the last thing she needed was to worry about Chintz while she was out there on track. Unfortunately, Adriana’s dad didn’t get the memo. When she came back into camp after vetting for the first leg she noticed Koda was in her yard, but she didn’t ask what was going on – the usual routine is strap, vet, then take care of the rider so she was sticking to that when Gary unfortunately mentioned that Chintzia had been taken to hospital in the ambulance earlier. Ooops..!

Adriana and Sirahh on Leg 1

Thankfully she didn’t let it shake her, I told her I was heading into Eidsvold to pick mum and Chintz up later. Adriana saddled Sirahh back up and they headed out on the second leg. Bec and Kat came in off the trainer while I was on the road to town and both were through successfully. I almost hit a very pretty looking spotty pig in the dark on the way back to ride base, which I can still see perfectly clearly in my minds eye even now – it really was a pretty pig! And thankfully nothing else untoward happened. It seemed the bad luck was at an end.

Endurance – I always took it to refer to the event itself, the training that it takes, the care and dedication, to complete. But after that ride and all it took to get there, I came to the conclusion that “endurance” is all encompassing. In the end we made it and the horses did well.

Koda was written in as a withdrawral – funnily enough it says “withdrawn on track at rider’s request” in her logbook which makes my sister snort when she flicks through and sees it. The hospital visit incidentally had turned up nothing, the doctors didn’t x-ray her hip since she could hobble around even without pain medication so they deemed it not worth the risk. In the end she was sent back to ride base with the instruction to stay out of the saddle for at least a fortnight, and that was about it!

Another successful completion for an awesome pair

Adriana chose not to elevate at the 80km mark, she had dealt with severe pain in her side for much of the second leg so she opted to take her completion and rest. Unfortunately that meant she missed out on meeting her goal of doing her first 100km ride – that would shortly be rectified, but she was a little disappointed at the time anyway.

The first of many well deserved awards

Kat and Bec both finished the 40km. That qualified Bec to start riding 80kms as a Novice, but it was only Mizzy’s first season so he wasn’t quite there yet. She would go on to take him to another 40km before they stepped up in distance. Kat was now contemplating 80km rides with Vegas too, especially after being awarded the Best Managed rug in the training ride!

When life gives you lemons – make lemonade. We endured the long road to Rockybar that year and we were determined to not let anything stand in our way from then on. This sport takes grit and determination, not just from the horses but from the riders and crew too. We were bound for Biggenden next with our horses, which would have something new for us in store. But before that, Kilkivan was going to teach Bec and I a lesson or two..!

Road to Rockybar – Part 1

The trip to Rockybar was one that I will never forget in a hurry. In 2015 we had gone for the first time and it was lovely – except for the two hour detour when Spencer missed the turn off to Biggenden and took us out to Woolooga before going back the right way toward Ban Ban Springs! But other than that, nothing untoward happened on our journey so it was overall a great trip! 2016 was much different. As far as success goes, we had 3 completions and a single withdrawal so it was good in that sense – but the road to Rockybar was horrendous in the extreme.

The plan was this – Bec and I, along with my mum and sister, would tow Vegas and Sirahh. My brother was towing Koda and Mizzy. Kat was meeting us at Rockybar, she had already left earlier. Adriana was also meeting us there with her dad the following day, they were spending a night on the road and would head out to the station from their motel the morning of the ride.

Hitched back up at Ban Ban Springs

It all started before we had even gotten the horses on board when my brother was backing his Ranger onto one of the floats and he hit my dog. Sammy is a rather dopey old shepherd and he was not at all listening when I called the three dogs away – by the time we saw that he hadn’t come it was too late. By sheer luck he was saved by the gutter, the tyre seemed to have bounced over rather than actually going over his body. There was a lot of shrieking – from me and my mother and sister – and Sam looked battered as he hobbled toward me. Thankfully Bec kept a cool head and went to work checking all of his limbs and bones – nothing broken and no blood! Poor Sammy was very frightened, but Spencer arrived in time to keep him under watch – Rescue Remedy and a pain killer later and Sammy was snuggled up on his bed for the evening. Spence was not coming to Rockybar so he was under strict instructions to keep a close eye on Sammy and the vet was aware and on speed dial just in case. I was in a bit of a panic, I didn’t want to leave him!

But after all of the work that had gone into planning and with my long-suffering husband on hand to care for my poor Sammy, I got back to the job on hand. The horses were soon loaded with no further incidents and we were finally on the road – I had no idea how much things were going to go wrong otherwise I probably would have just stayed home!

It was almost dark when my brother, towing the float ahead of mine, drove straight past the Biggenden turnoff, just like Spencer had done the year before! We managed to flag him down and turn him around before we got to Woolooga at least, so there wasn’t a huge amount of time lost. We made it to Biggenden and decided to stop and pick up some drinks from the pub, but we were soon back on the road. Nothing major had happened so I was starting to feel a little more comfortable driving all the way out to the station. Bec and I were accompanied by my mum and sister so we were having a nice trip at least! Little did I know what was about to happen.

We reached Ban Ban Springs and the little service station that we always pass was there on the right. We would turn onto the highway and follow it for another hour before we finally reached Eidsvold. My brother was behind me, I looked at my mirror to check and I was comforted to see the ute and float following faithfully behind mine. We turned and continued along.

As we drove we sang to Taylor Swift and laughed and joked with eachother. We’d been going along nicely for about fifteen minutes when I saw the indicator on the car behind me flick on and begin to overtake – well, didn’t I get cranky! What was he doing? Overtaking me and my float with his ute and the two horses when we were easily doing the speed limit as we were? Why did he need to be in front? I knew where we were going, he didn’t! Then it dawned on me as the car went by – it wasn’t my brother’s ute, there was no float and worst of all, there were no lights behind me either.

I felt my heart stop, everyone in the car went quiet as we all registered that we were missing a driver, a Ranger, a float and two horses. Then there was a flash of mobile phones being pulled from handbags and pockets, but there was no use there – we had zero service. Bec sat beside me, calm as ever and told me to pick a nice spot to turn the float around so we could go back. I still don’t remember doing any of it – but somehow we were headed back toward the service station.

I was in a total panic, looking for the white ute and float upside down on the side of the highway and the screaming in my brain wouldn’t stop. But ten minutes later we saw them – my brother standing on the roof of his ute with his phone in the air trying to get service – and the car and float in perfectly normal condition. What the hell had happened?

We were soon very painfully aware of the hell that had happened. Ben was barely 200m from the intersection where I had last seen him and his car behind me, off the side of the highway now as one would park a car with a flat tyre – but there was no flat tyre. If it had been a flat we would have been speedily back on the way, but no, this was much much worse. The A-frame of the float was hanging, suspended barely inches off the ground by the chains and the towball was also hanging! It was still attached by the ball to the float, but the tongue was completely detached from the car!

What the hell. How did this happen? I was thanking my lucky stars that my mother hadn’t been in the car with him when it happened, Ben was clever enough to have heard the thud of the A-frame tapping his bumper bar as he had straightened from the turn and had slowed the car gradually so that it hadn’t suffered more than a small scratch – and the float was still upright, attached and the horses were fine. I cant remember exactly what we did after that but we somehow determined that the pin and clip that keep the tongue of the towball attached had somehow come out.

It was time to do something. I drove my float and horses back to the service station where my mum and sister unloaded them and I unhitched. Vegas and Sirahh happily mowed the small garden near the station while Bec and I went back to my brother where we somehow managed to get his towball off and the float attached to my ute instead. I do faintly recall a panic attack – Bec may be able to clarify it but I remember shaking and crying and freaking freezing cold in the middle of it all – seriously, why does she put up with me! We soon had the two floats and four horses safely off the side of the road and it was time to make a flurry of phone calls – with the almost non-existent phone reception!

I managed to get in contact with Spencer. He was on the road to us with a replacement pin but it would be a couple of hours before he even arrived – what could we do? It was well into the night now, even when he finally got to us we couldn’t keep driving out to the station in the middle of the night! I was exhausted, we were all a little more than frightened and stressed, and then there was Kat who was no doubt waiting for us to arrive with her horse at the ride base! We had to get a message to her, but how! Someone got a hold of Adriana momentarily, who then tried to contact the station. I don’t know if Kat ended up getting our message or not but she’s a hell of a lot more chilled than I would have been in that situation!

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We decided it would be crazy to push on through the night, so while we waited for Spencer we set up camp down a track well off the highway and yarded the horses for the night. They were happy, watered and fed and completely uncaring about the situation at hand. The humans on the other hand were all wondering what kind of crazy people camp on the side of the highway…

Spencer arrived and the boys fixed our towball issue. In their deliberations it was ascertained that the chains on the second float were a bit short and appeared to be the problem – they had popped the clip off allowing the pin to come loose. Check your chains and pins everyone! We ended up settling in for the night and after Spencer assured me that Sammy was totally fine at home, walking, eating and drinking normally, he stayed to sleep and would head out early in the morning to go home and head to work.

The next day was going to be as challenging as the first, but we couldn’t imagine anything worse happening. Surely we had more than our fill of bad luck!

 

To be continued in Road to Rockybar – Part 2

Work of the Heart

Late in 2015 I had been approached by the wonderful ladies who made up the hard-working committee of the Biggenden Endurance Riders Club. They had heard we had been talking about running a ride in our district and they generously stepped forward and offered to help us run one under their club banner.

It all became very real very fast. Within weeks we were scouting trails together, searching the forestry and negotiating with the management of our local facility and paperwork-paperwork-paperwork! For those of you who have not seen our Maryborough Park, there are few places like it. The majority of our endurance rides are run in small towns with varying levels of facilities on offer, but Maryborough is one of those that takes the cake. It is not purpose built for endurance – but it is pretty damn close! From the grandstands, centre ring, indoor arena, canteens and pavilions, toilet and shower blocks, wash bays and endless rows of stables and powered camp sites – the possibilities of the place blows my mind. I can envision a state championship, or even a Quilty taking place – the top two riders battling neck and neck for the finish after a 160km test of horsemanship, right down to the line as strappers scramble to manage the horses and bystanders cheer. The centre ring is flat, grassed and fenced – the perfect place for vetting or mounted best conditioned workouts. I can see the pavilions filled with excited happy riders and crews enjoying the night before a big ride. It is all there – someone just has to be willing to make it happen.

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In 2016 I was determined to run an awesome first ride and it gave me an amazing insight into just how much effort goes on behind the scenes at every single ride. There is nothing quite like putting in the time and effort to make a ride run like a well oiled machine – and the Biggenden ladies sure know how to make it happen! Within weeks we were on. It was early in the season and we had only a 20/40km ride – our expectation of maybe 30-35 riders was blown out of the water when we received a stunning 68 nominations.

Rarely do rides run with zero problems – our first was when my car decided to crap out the week before it with the track barely marked! We ended up borrowing another ute to tow the water trailer and rescue float and I scurried around the track in my husband’s beat up Subaru hoping not to get stuck anywhere. We somehow managed to finish marking the track the day before the ride and I still had six horses to check on. Rebecca and Mizzy were attempting their first 40km and my sister was also trying for her first with Sally. Jas, Erin and Adriana were riding along with them and Kat was taking her Vegas in the 20km.

I wont list everything that went wrong over those two days, it was one that gives you grey hairs! The successful completion of all of my horses and riders made it a great end for us. Being a ride organiser is a work of the heart. I realised in those weeks that it wasn’t just about the ride but about giving back to the sport, being involved, sharing my backyard and the scenery I get to enjoy here. Sharing is what I love about being in the horse world to begin with! I love to share horses with people – why not a ride too?

Sue and Chatelaine having a whale of a time

It was later decided to retire Sally from endurance – while she did successfully complete, it was clear that she didn’t have the right personality for the sport, so my sister would graduate to a different mount for her future rides. Bec and Mizzy were pooped but ready for round two and Adriana had set her eyes on a 100km while I was dreaming of running an 80km. A bit over a year later that dream would come true, courtesy of my amazing friends in the Biggenden club.

Murrumba Magic

After the disaster that was our morning (see last month’s edition if you missed it…) we were finally on the road to the Murrumba Magic 100km. I had an awful feeling that we were going to have a terrible ride, I was not in a good place after enduring the terror of missing horses, my stallion getting caught in a cattle grid and a crazed call to the vet.

Siri was safe and sound at home being watched over by my mother and sister, my dear friends were plying him with antibiotics and pain medication – and my husband put me in the car and started driving. I was the least fun person to be around that day.

Camp all set!  Photo credit: Adam Perrier

 

We finally arrived at the ride base, Jasmine and her dad and our friend Rob had found us a spot to set up our yards in the main ring. We were right next to my friend Tasha who was riding in the 40km with her mare Miss Jayne, her second horse was being piloted by Mindy in the 100km. The horses were soon fed and watered, the boys were setting up the campsite, we grabbed our gear and headed to the secretary’s tent to weigh in and nominate. Seeing the horses happy and eating after travelling so well, I was starting to relax. I still needed a bit more of a pick me up though, so I detoured by the Dixon Smith tent and bought a new helmet – yep, that helped….!

Time to make sure the horses were ready to vet in. A little feed with their electrolytes and they were ready to go down to the ring. Sahala, Milton and Koda vetted in with HR’s of 29, 30 and 31 respectively and trotted out well – except little miss Koda who still hadn’t gotten the hang of trotting out, Erin wrestled her from start to finish much to the amusement of the vet! On my way to vetting I was approached by several people enquiring about Milton and sent them straight over to Rob.

We were ready to start and it was time to chill out and rest before the early morning start. We had our traditional pub dinner at the Woodford pub – by far the coolest pub we had found so far – which was packed to the seams with riders, strappers, drivers and friends. We had our pre-ride discussion about our strapping system while we waited for our dinner, the boys watched a bit of the football game playing on the tv and then we headed back to camp while they continued their philosophical chats – us three girls went to bed for the night as soon as the horses were fed and watered again.

Ready to go    Photo credit: Adam Perrier

When morning came we all saddled up silently. I stupidly lost my gloves – or left them behind at home during the confusion of the morning – so Adam gave me his gloves as I climbed up into Milton’s saddle, shaking from the cold. It was misty and freezing but the horses were feeling great. Time to go!

Jas led us out,Sahala pulling to follow the faster horses ahead of us. It was Milton’s third ride as a novice and Koda and Erin’s second big ride ever so we had no intention of going flat out, it was going to be a long road for the younger team – an extra 20km longer. We managed the first leg in 11.9kph and the horses certainly felt good so far. What a shock we were about to have.

As soon as we came in, Rob, Adam, Craig and Spencer appeared to strap the horses. Rob had his stethoscope out and checked each horse as we went. So far so good, except that Hala was higher than usual. Ten minutes later it still hadn’t dropped, we were scratching our heads as he seemed fine – then the tell tale off-colour urine gave us all the information we needed to know.

Jas-Cam on Leg 1

Metabolic problems can affect any horse at any time. Careful management is needed – especially in the case of endurance horses. Some horses are particularly susceptible and some research shows mares to be more so than geldings, however there are many exceptions. Episodes can be triggered by many different things too, it can be a stressful thing to try and figure out what is causing such problems in your horse but in many cases once you know what it is you can manage it! In our case, we found the problem quite quickly.

Never ever ever give an endurance horse an electrolyte containing bi-carbonate. I mix my own electrolytes so that I can be sure of what my horses are getting, but there are plenty of pre-mixed electrolytes that do not contain it and are suitable for endurance horses. Lite salt, iodised table salt and dolomite mixed at the correct levels have worked for my horses so I have stuck to it.

Hala was ruled as lame by a vet panel and they requested a re-present in 30 minutes so that the vets could re-check his status. He was fine and Jas diligently monitored him while Erin and I quickly fed and watered our horses, then ourselves, before we saddled up again to head out.

Jas and Erin keeping an eye on Hala ❤ Photo credit: Adam Perrier

It was sad to leave our team mates behind – and I immediately felt their absence as Milton reminded me how much he hated being in the lead. Koda was not as perky as she had been on leg one, but she followed none-the-less. We struggled on this leg, it was not an easy one. It was hot and we were tired but we plugged on with endurance. Somehow we made it through at a pace of 11kph.

Our strappers met us at the line to take our gear and help us get the horses sorted. Milton vetted in at 39bpm and trotted out nicely. Koda came in at 43bpm – and trotted out terribly. The vet almost called a panel as he requested a second trot out. She was not lame, but she was tired. Erin and Koda were allowed to continue, but we were warned to take it easy and get some electrolytes in her.

Once back at camp we realised why Koda’s hydration was off and why she had drank so poorly on the second leg – she hadn’t eaten her feed and missed out on her electrolytes while we rested off leg one… Tasha had just finished her ride with Jayne, so she hurriedly mixed up a cup of electrolytes in yoghurt for us to syringe into Koda’s mouth. By the time we were saddling up we had managed to get her to drink a little of her molasses water.

 

Photo credit: Denise Keelan – Erin and Koda after the first checkpoint on Leg 2

Erin and I had a very stop and start third leg as we sooked, babied and shoved Koda through the final leg. She is a stubborn little mutton and when she is tired (even a little) she will plant her little hooves and refuse to move. Somehow we managed to convince her to push on and got her home again – this time she vetted through with her first well behaved trot out, though I am not sure if it was because she was too pooped to fight or if it was Erin’s dad refusing to let her run him over!

That’s when it hit me. The overwhelming feeling of accomplishment, excitement, joy – knowing I’d trained these horses and they’d made it through 100kms! I had come back from the despair of losing my horse and feeling like a failure to this – two horses solely trained by me completing a big ride successfully. It was pure amazement, happiness and relief.

Milton was open and Rob and I were both so happy. Koda and Erin were well into their Novice status with two down and one ride to go. Although Hala hadn’t completed we were relieved to know the cause of the problem so we could avoid it in the future – and he was well recovered before we had even finished our ride. All was sunny, all was good – onward to Kilkivan!

My very first Yellow Book!

Hang up the hang ups

I’d never been to the iconic Murrumba Magic 100km before and I will never forget my first time and all that happened before we got there. I try to focus on the positives rather than the negatives of the experiences but for the purpose of telling the story I kind of have to paint the whole picture!

A few weeks before the ride, we had moved some of our horses to a new paddock not far from home. They had lived there previously and it was a lovely paddock full of grass surrounded by cane fields and a gate close to a road for us to access. Unfortunately, we had a little issue with fences – someone kept opening our gates. We had managed to catch the horses before any trouble came about when it had happened the first couple of times, but the third time was a complete disaster and happened on the morning we had planned to travel to Murrumba. Here’s the story.

Erin had stayed the night as we were planning on an early morning and her dad was going to meet us there. Jas and her dad were also making the trip while Spence and I towed the three horses down to the ride with our float and ute. The night before, Erin and I had meticulously packed down to having the three horses we were taking in the back yard with their halters and leads hanging on the fence and their morning feeds ready. It was fantastic. I went to bed with a feeling of complete preparation!

Packed and ready!

At 3.30am my phone buzzed. I ignored it at first thinking it was just an email alert, but when it buzzed again  and again a few moments later I was awake and decided to have a look. An urgent post had been put up on the local equestrian Facebook page saying there were four horses loose around the corner from my house – and the descriptions matched some of my horses!

I was up, dressed and in the car, float in tow, within minutes, racing around to the paddock and past the spot the loose horses had been seen on my way, but I saw nothing! At the paddock, the front gate leading to the road was closed, but there were three more that led into the cane fields so in I went with the float and ute, racing along the cane rows and praying that the horses had just turned around and gone home. There were still three others in the paddock if four were loose – and yes, there they were! Near the dam, sleeping under the trees were three of my geldings dozing – but my stallion, his old companion and two geldings were no where to be seen. But the gate in the far corner was indeed open – it almost looked like someone had driven over it.

I drove along the lane way in the direction that they had been spotted and prayed that I’d see them grazing in the cane fields, but they weren’t there. By this point I decided to alert the troops and darted home to wake Spencer and Erin. With both of them along we went back out to search. It was starting to get lighter when I saw Mister, my sister’s stock horse gelding, strutting up and down a fence across the road from the farm they were paddocked at. He looked in a panic, where were the others? Then it hit me – he was pacing back and forth next to a cattle grid, and the other three horses were on the other side of it.

Mercy, a week before the “ordeal”

There was no way around that grid, it was a fenced in driveway – the only way those horses had crossed it was by walking or jumping. Thankfully the property was owned by a family friend who happened to be the man we were agisting with so I knew there was a little walk down the driveway, two gates to pass through and maybe an awkward conversation with the tenants about why we were there, but it was a safe route nonetheless. But just as I was climing across the grid myself, Mercy, the big mare, decided she’d had enough of that side of the and walked straight back across it! I panicked for a moment, but her big dinner-plate feet served her well and she walked straight up to Spencer and Erin who were standing by holding Mister on a lead.

My moment of relief was extremely short lived though, because Sizzy had a meltdown on seeing Mercy walk away and decided to follow her on his much daintier and slimmer legs! He made it half way before he fell through it and without thinking I leapt on him, fighting with all of my 55kg to hold him down and stop him from struggling and breaking his legs. I fathomed in the space of a second that he was up to his flanks with both hind legs and a front under the grid – then I was looking for something to knock him out with – I faintly remember Spencer or Erin screaming something. Or maybe I was the one who was screaming as I realised there was no possible positive outcome in all of this.

Suddenly I was flung out of the way as Siri threw me off his head. I don’t know how he did it, I don’t know how it was possible, but he was up and he was out and he was running to Mercy. My brain was in such a state but I heard hooves behind me and then I was up, untying my jumper from my hips and wrapping it around Jett’s neck as he too went toward the grid and his friends. I caught him in time though, thank goodness. He stopped, shoved me a little indignantly and then I dragged him the long way around through the gates – and all the while my mind was racing.

Jett – the mischief man

I couldn’t look toward Sizzy as I led Jett away. All I kept telling myself was that he was up and if he could walk nothing was broken, he was okay! He was going to be alright! We got through the gate and Erin strapped a halter on Jetson – then I looked at Siri.

There was blood, it was gushing with every step he took from a cut above his hoof. There were grazes and small cuts all the way up to his flanks though none of them bled like that foot. It looked almost arterial, pulsing blood every time he took a step. My favourite jumper – a blue cookie monster one that I call my “lucky jumper” – couldn’t contain the bleeding for more than a few minutes even though we had it folded almost four inches thick. My vet was called, but he was away at a conference so he had me call the vet at another clinic – who happens to be an endurance vet – and she was soon on her way to us but it would be a 45 minute wait at least! There was so much blood, but the legs weren’t bent at odd angles, everything looked as it should other than the surface trauma! What could I do? There were three other horses standing idly by the roadside and Sizzy was off his tree with hysterics. The float – the float was still attached to the ute!

We decided it would be best to keep Mercy – since she was his companion and would help to keep him calm – but the two geldings were a hazard as Sizzy paraded around dominantly and consequently gushing more blood out of his foot while the adrenaline ran high. Jas and her dad arrived, they and Erin loaded Mister and Jett up and took them back to the paddock, Spence went to wire up the open gate, and help arrived for me in the form of my amazing rescuer Abbie. Seeing my appeal for help on Facebook, she arrived with bandages and cloths to help stem the bleeding while we waited for the vet.

Much of what happened is a blur to me, I’ve listed the important stuff but I could have things very much all over the shop as far as order goes! I remember talking to Rob, Milton’s owner, who did a good job of calming me down as I screeched about all of the blood coming out of the wound. Somehow he managed to convince me that legs always bleed badly, especially right above the hoof, which echoed what the vet had told me. I was far too hysterical to be thinking rationally when I spoke to her though!

All patched up and considering some hay

After talking to Rob who was waiting for us at Murrumba, we had decided that if the vet visit would take us past a certain time, Adam would float the three horses and the girls to Murrumba, then Spencer and I would follow when we were able. If I was at all in a safe enough mental state to attempt the ride at all!

When the vet arrived I was much calmer – and so was Siri. Once the geldings had been taken away he had settled down, then I think the pain kicked in because he stopped prancing about and shrieking, opting instead to stand over my shoulders and rest his foot while I sat between his knees and Mercy grazed nearby. The vet took quick stock of Siri’s condition and gave him a painkiller then asked whether he’d been tetanus vaccinated – the grid was rather rusty. Thankfully, I’d kept him up to date with that jab!

The vet showed me how to wrap the leg and the layers of items to use to keep it from slipping and getting dirty, then gave me a week long supply of antibiotics. He’d need a needle twice a day. Abbie came to my rescue again and offered to visit and check on him while I was away at the ride – she really was my hero that weekend! She got plenty of practice with needles too, which was a new thing for her. Our friend Maddie came out and taught her how to do it, then she was on her way. Thankfully Siz is gentlemanly and behaved himself for them despite the needles. I couldn’t ask for better friends, I have so many amazing ones!

With Sizzy in safe hands, all three of the paddock gates wired shut and time to spare, we were ready to put the three endurance horses on the float and head to the ride. The three halters neatly lined up on the fence were popped on and the horses stepped aboard kindly. It was almost like they knew I’d had my fill of stress for the day.

A week later, on the mend and playing with the hose!

But my stomach was still in a knot and even when we were on the road there I said to Spencer that I didn’t feel right; so much had gone wrong; we should just go home and be glad that the worst hadn’t happened; lets not ask for trouble by going to the ride. He shook his head – No, we were going. The three horses in the float were ready. They were eating, drinking, calm and happy – there was nothing wrong with them, they had no idea what had happened and there was nothing that would give us reason to go home. Time to hang up my hang ups. Get my head in the game – get on with the ride.