Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller

If you lean to the left, you will estimate quantities, like the height of the Eiffel Tower, to be smaller than if you were perfectly upright or tilted slightly to the right.  This is further scientific evidence of the mind/body connection.

The mind influences the body and the body influences the mind. Bodily sensations, like sight, smell, posture, etc. can affect the way you feel and what kind of decisions you make.

Leaning to the left makes the Eiffel Tower seem smaller: posture-modulated estimation. Eerland A, Guadalupe TM, Zwaan RA.

Psychology Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. eerland@fsw.eur.nl

Left lead canter has been an elusive goal for me and Luba. We worked on this a lot last year, but we are still pick up the right lead more often out on trail. To the extent that Luba's right pectoral is becoming slightly more developed than her left!

We had a lesson with Sonja this morning in the field. She observed two things. First, I tend to check Luba more to the left than to the right. So if I want her to slow down, I tend to check harder with my left rein and even turn her head towards the left. Secondly, I still tend to ride with my hip flexors too closed up. I need to open them, especially the right side, so that when I give the aid for left lead canter, I am lengthening and opening my right hip and allowing her to step through onto the correct lead. Can you say yoga yoga yoga this week?

So Luba has learned that when I checking to the left, it means slow down. Then I ask for the left canter with a slight bend to the left (and with my right hip closed up) and she she picks up the right canter instead.

To remedy this, we practised figure 8's at the trot, first to the right and then to the left, sling-shotting ourselves into a straight line canter on the left lead (reminiscent of my warm-up-and-leave-camp-at-a-canter strategy at Coates Creek).  If Luba picks up the right lead, I am to try to check her to the right, bring her back to trot, open up my right hip and ask for left lead again when I am in the sitting phase of a posting trot on left diagonal.

They say a good horse makes short miles, but I may also try leaning to the left during the latter stages of the Stormont 75 on Saturday :)

No fuss, no muss

Miss Charlotte, Miss Luba and I had a great girls weekend at Summer's End Ride.  We enjoyed the ever gracious hospitality of our friends, the Wright-Woodhouse's who live about 15 minutes from ridecamp.

The main event for us was the 6 mile Ride and Tie. Charlotte's intense black belt training schedule meant missing most of the rides so far this season. Now that she is Sempai Charlotte, she is back on a more regular routine at the do-jo. And has time to travel to riding competitions with her mother :)

Summer's End Ride also offered a 25 mile set speed after the RnT, so this was bonus training for Luba and I before the 75 at Stormont. I was a bit concerned about doing the RnT *before* taking the wind out of Luba's sails, but I was also glad to run before the day got too hot.

Miss Luba was a perfect lady. She has settled right in to the routine of travelling and competing. No fuss trailer loading. No fuss about tying to the trailer in a field away from the main ridecamp. No fuss trotting out for Charlotte, even during the educational component of the vet check, when Fred coached her about how to trot back to the vet in a straight line. No fuss at the shotgun start. And no fuss settling into a pace that I could keep up with on foot.

This "no fuss, no muss" attitude carried on during the 25 mile Set Speed ride, which came to be known as the Cinderella Set Speed.  Although the trail was quite barefoot friendly, I didn't want to take a chance with a random stone wreaking havoc with our plans to ride 75 miles two weeks hence. So with the encouragement of my friend, Chrystal, I booted up with Renegade strap-ons for the ride.

I am a big fan of Renegade hoof boots and have had much success with both strap-on and glue-on models.  I currently have two sets of strap-ons that are between 3 and 5 years old. The tread is starting to wear on one pair, but the great thing is that you can order spare parts! So it is pretty easy to repair and rebuild the boots to get extra life out of the good parts.

About 1/4 mile out of the start for the 25, Luba blew a front boot cable. Sarah and Bentley, our starting partners, kindly waited for me to dismount and assess the damage. Since we were so close to the start, I decided to go back and get a new boot, and they continued on to win the Bronze division!

Luba and I had a great first loop, riding on our own together on the beautiful sandy and mostly shady forest trails. By the time we got back to the vet check at noon, it was decidedly hot and humid. It took Luba an uncharacteristically long time (nearly 10 minutes) to pulse down to 56, the set speed parameter. However, once she cooled down, she was all As, so we went back to the trailer for the rest of our half-time hold.  I removed her boots, washed them and put them back on before heading for the second half.

A few miles out, Solstice and Angel caught up with us. The mares paced well together so we happily flew through the bush. We were half way up the road to pick up a playing card at the turn around when Bang! We blew another front boot cable! Luba stood quietly so I could remove both front boots, even while Solstice and Angel carried on. I tied the boots to my saddle, but as we started out, one of them fell off. I decided to collect my card and pick up the boot on the way back. I left both damn boots with Rick at the water stop, set off at a canter, hoping to catch up with Solstice and Angel.

We were making good time, when Bang! We blew a rear boot cable. Luba stood quietly while I took both back boots off. Now we were riding naked!

Despite all the Cinderella shoe-throwing, we completed the 25 miles in a respectable 2:51:50. 

No fuss, no muss, no bother!

Run Luba Run!

One of the key principles in conditioning your horse for distance riding is to increase either speed or distance, but not both at the same time.

A big goal this year has been to increase speed. Over the past couple months, this has included interval work at home and several trips to St. Lazare to ride on the trails maintained by the Club Equestre les Forestiers.  Luba and I have had the good fortune to practise group riding, often led by seasoned endurance rider, Wendy MacCoubrey. She has an uncanny ability to hone in on our weaknesses and ruthlessly turn them into strengths.

Going faster means more cantering and less trotting. We pace very well at the trot  - 6, 7, 8, 9 mph - no problemo. Pacing well at the canter is a work in progress. There is a great 1.75 mile canter loop at St. Lazare where we have been working on this. Luba settles into a comfortable canter around 12 mph, so I have to work hard to keep her steady at 10 or 11 mph. When she gets going too fast, I bring her back to a slower trot and then ask for canter again.

We have also been working on changing position in a group, and in particular, in passing, leading and leaving the group if we want to maintain a faster pace. Important skills if you want to ride your own ride.

So our objective for the Coates Creek 50 last weekend was to pace as close to 10 mph as possible for the whole ride.

The 50 started in the dark at 5:30 am. Luba and I set out with our friends Mecca and Denise on the white loop. Both gray mares paced well side by side and soon we were enjoying the beautiful sunrise and talking about how fun it is to ride together, la la la.  We soon caught up with our friends, Yellowhead and Lia, who said she hadn't seen a ribbon in a while on this concession road. There was a cross road not far ahead, so we checked the map and continued on to see what road it was.
YIKES! We had missed a left hand turn two concessions back. By the time we were back on trail, we had added about 5 miles to our 50.

LESSON 1: If you don't see a ribbon for a while, turn around and go back to the last ribbon on trail.



It was a cool day, so Luba pulsed down to 58 as soon as I took off her saddle. We were trying to leave promptly at our out time for every loop, so we left on the green loop a minute or two ahead of Mecca and Denise. They caught up to us a after a few miles and the girls paced well together for the rest of the loop averaging 10 mph.

Luba was eating well, but in hindsight, I was not. I was definitely the weak link on the team.  I had a Larabar,  lots of fruit and Green Goodness smoothies. An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but endurance riders need more serious carbs.

LESSON 2: Make some sandwiches for your crew cooler.

photo: T. McGee

The girls pulsed in together after the green loop and we completed the first trip around the red loop at an average pace of 10 mph.

Luba and I left on time, alone and unafraid, for the second and last red loop. All day my strategy was to mount up about 10 minutes before our out time and to warm up doing walk/trot transitions on 20 m circles and figure 8's near the out timer. When it was time to head out, she was already wound up and ready to slingshot onto the trail. Ready, Set, GO! and we cantered out of ride camp. This was a big improvement over past events, where I would have to get off and run out of camp with Luba in hand until we were in the bush and she was convinced that we really were going to ride another loop.

LESSON 3: Warm up your horse and canter out after every hold.

Turns out that Luba can run at close to 10 mph for over 50 miles and with great recoveries.  She finished all A's, ride time of 5:46, with a heart rate of 48 just 10 minutes after crossing the finish line.

RUN LUBA RUN!

photo: wendywebbphotography.com