Love the one you're with

Got some great mail from the AERC - 750 endurance miles with Luba! This includes our first 100 mile completion after two false starts.

In the big scheme of things, I am still a grasshopper.  An old grasshopper.

Wax on, wax off.

Here are the AERC endurance mileage numbers for some of my mentors:
Chrystal: 1,850 with five 100 mile starts
Wendy: 3,375 with eight 100 mile starts
Wendy: 4,040  with twenty 100 mile starts

Deb: 5,860  with seventeen 100 mile starts

Nancy: 6250  with twenty-seven 100 mile starts

Carol: 11,080 with thirty-five 100 mile starts

Dennis: 18,565  with sixty-five 100 mile starts

Sue: 18,490  with fifty-nine  100 mile starts

Patience, grasshopper.

Luba is a homebred backyard pony.  I was into dressage, local fairs and Arab shows, and did my first few CTRs the year I bred Sera.

I did not specifically breed for endurance, but she's an Arabian, right? And Luba came out looking pretty cute in 2003.

While Luba grew up, Sera and I rode a lot of CTRs. I definitely had the distance riding bug and couldn't wait to start Luba.

Despite being an Arabian, Luba was not the perfect endurance prospect. If I were horse shopping today, I would not have given her a second look as a 2-3 year old. She went through a distinct banana phase. I did not even get on her back until she turned 4.

Luba wearing a saddle for the first time at 3 years old, 2006

But she was my baby. When she turned 4 in 2007, we entered every intro distance training ride within a 5 hour drive and ended the season with a 26 mile novice CTR.  My friend, Donna, rode mama Sera, so Luba learned how to trailer, camp, navigate trails and deal with vet checks from her mama.

Total 6 rides = 97 OCTRA miles.  0 AERC endurance miles.

Over the next two years, we continued to add ride camp experiences and miles to our OCTRA record, doing a few more training rides, some 25 milers and some CTRs.

By the time we entered our first endurance ride in July 2009 - a 55 miler -  Luba had 15 starts and 239 OCTRA miles to her credit.  And we completed!

Luba is 6 years old at her first endurance ride, New Lowell, Ontario, 2009

After that, we kept riding 50s, and I kept wondering if we could go farther...

With help from my friend and mentor, Chrystal, Luba and I upped our game, aiming for a 75 mile ride in the spring of 2011. I got serious about conditioning, even in the cold depths of winter. Deep snow is your friend!? Sometimes it was not fun. But Chrystal kept reminding me that it would all be worth it in the end.

The 75 was in May - our first outing of the season -  and we did it! We did not break any speed records (reserve Turtles), but to finish is to win!

Our next goal was a  local 100 miler that fall, but summer pasture injury sent those plans out the window.

We entered the Pine Tree 100 in June 2012, but Luba tied up after the first loop. Very scary, but a great learning experience.  And we finished the season with a comeback 75 in the fall.

Pine Tree 100, June 2012 photo: Clowater Photography

By this time, we were qualified for 100 mile NAETC in Florida. We knew we could go far. Now I wanted to see if we could go faster. I started running and entered a half marathon in the spring to be in shape. Lots of training with Wendy in St. Lazare helped Luba develop a steady canter and get experience riding in a group.  We rode some faster 50s and another 75 leading up to to the mid-December event.

Leaving for loop 2 of NAETC, Bronson, Florida, December 2013 photo: D. Ramsay

However, it wasn't our day, as Luba was pulled at mile 35 for mild lameness.

2014 was a bitterly cold, intolerably long winter. The horses were landlocked in their pastures for months on end due to the icy conditions. While nekkid race-clipped Luba ate hay sporting a lovely turquoise heavy duty winter blanket, I hatched a nefarious plan to enter the Vermont 100.

Winter 2014

We completed the VT Moonlight 50 in 2011, so I had some inkling that this 100 would be a big challenge for my flat-land horse.  But with some hard work, lots of determination and a little help from our friends, we did it!

Ridecamp VT100. Green hills everywhere! 

On trail VT100 photo: D. Ramsay

So, first 50 at age 6, first 75 at age 8 and first 100 at age 11. Six years to hit the 750 endurance mile mark. For some, the glacial pace of our endurance progression wouldn't be worth the effort. But as my backyard home-bred pony, we were in this endurance thing together, for better or for worse.

Do I sometimes wish I had a seasoned endurance horse that regularly top 10s and BCs at endurance rides?  Sure.

But, wait a second.  I DO have a seasoned endurance horse, one who is just hitting the prime of her life. And we have taken every step of the way together. She has made me a better horsewoman.

And we try to up our game with every ride. Who knows where we might end up?  Keep an eye out for us over your shoulder.

Giddy-up!