Alone and Unafraid - the Sequel

After riding with my Fairy Godmother and Yellowhead in the 12 mile Bronze Set Speed on Saturday, Luba and I set out to ride as fast as we could in the 25 on Sunday.

Alone and Unfraid on the trail.

Quick stop to enjoy the view.

Luba and I are much bolder alone together than we were last year at the Stormont 75. We cantered as much as we could, slowing down for the up and down hills. On the second loop, Luba started dogging it a bit. On the advice of Fairy Godmother, I used the HRM. If she was dogging it at 109 bpm, I urged her on. If she was dogging it at 165, we slowed down to a trot to recover.

Smiling our way to the finish line of the 25
photo: wendywebbphotography.com

We finished strong, and Luba's heart rate 30 minutes after finishing was 38. Even though our average speed was only 7.5 mph, her great recovery earned us a Grade 1 in the Gold level Set Speed event.

Luba after over 8 hours of trailering and over 40 miles of deep sandy hilly trail. 

Luba settled quite well into the rhythm of the new ride season. I was able to point her on the trailer to travel to Lynda's.  She happily loaded onto her big stock trailer for the 7 hour trip to ridecamp. She was a bit tucked up when we arrived, but ate and drank well after a little 5 mile stretch out ride on Friday.

She was a bit excited about initial vetting on Saturday, so Lynda reminded me to ask her to bring her head down every time she started to get wound up. It works!!

I was agressive with the Perform and Win and used Equisel-Lyte, which has more magnesium, calcium, potassium than PnW and also has BCAAs. She ate and drank like a champ all weekend.

Can you spot Mama bird on her nest at the base of the tree? I think it is a Wilson's Snipe. She was alone and unafraid, even though the paddocks for the horses were set up close by. Well camouflaged with 4 eggs to keep warm.
 Are you my mother?

We arrived back at Lynda's before the horse trailer turned into a pumpkin on Sunday. I opted to stay the night and load up early next morning. Luba likes it at Fairy Godmother's farm, and did not point and load the first try. I was on my own, so I just kept asking her to put her head down and walk on.  I reminded her that we had all day to get on the trailer. After about 20 minutes she got on. So I asked her off, and loaded a couple more times before putting up the butt bar and closing the door.

Alone and Unafraid on the trailer

Happy to be at home with the herd on Monday morning.

My own Fairy Godmother

I got an email with no subject on Saturday. The body of the message said, "Do you want to go to Aprilfest?"

So after a few phone calls,  I am going to Aprilfest with my Fairy Godmother Lynda. Yellowhead will also be going, so Lia and Luba will travel together in a nice big stock trailer.

With any luck, we will get some riding in on Friday, 12 mile set speed on Saturday and 25 mile set speed on Sunday. The trail at the Dufferin Forest is pretty sandy, not too much rock or road, so we will probably ride naked. I will take my Renegade strap ons just in case.

Hoping that Luba will be in a good space for her first big road trip of the year. She has been giving us some attitude lately. A little bucking and rearing in our lessons. A little separation anxiety about being away from Mama Sera. Add her heat cycle and a nearly full moon for good measure.

Luba is more fit this spring than she was last year at this time. The 12 mile on Saturday is Bronze set speed, so we will aim for the maximum of 7mph. If all goes well, then we will put the pedal to the metal and aim for closer to 10 mph for the 25 on Sunday.  She hasn't seen much hill work lately, but we did an awful lot of plowing through knee deep snow this winter. So it will be interesting to see how things go!

We will try to be home before midnight Sunday.

Bibbity Bobbity Boo!

Biltmore Test Event

Regrettably, I am not going to Biltmore in early May for the endurance ride. But a whole bunch of my friends, including Lee, are planning to go. Lee wanted to see if her mare, Jazzy is ready for the 75,  so she decided to ride two 20-mile loops this week.

Lee was cool with me and Luba joining her for the first loop, so I took the day off work. I wanted to see how Luba would do on her first long ride of the season. With 6 weeks of LSD under our belts, it was time to open up a bit.  Aprilfest is a bust for us, so we have now set our sights on the 50 at Cayuse Canter on the May long weekend with a 6 mile ride n tie as a warm-up.

Wednesday was glorious. Sunny day with high of 12 C. Luba self-loaded and we arrived in Berwick with lots of time to get settled and tacked up. Christina/Keira joined us as well.

The trails were too soft, so we stuck to the roads and the old railway bed. Good company and good horses made short miles. I even managed to push Luba's heart rate into anaerobic zone at least once.

Around 17 miles, Luba seemed to prefer cantering to trotting, so I got worried about tie up and tried to keep her under wraps most of last few miles home. Turns out she was just fine. Lemonade pee back at the trailer. Still had gas in the tank and was none too happy to be left behind when Lee/Jazzy and Dessia/Parker set out for the second loop. She recovered to 64 within about 3 minutes and was at 44 when I checked her after the other horses were back on trail. All A's. Here are Lee's GPS tracks.

Luba ate and drank a bit on trail and when we got back, but not as much as I would have like to have seen at a vet check. About 45 minutes after arrival, she had a couple of big drinks and started tucking into her hay. So if this had been a real ride with only a 30 minute hold, maybe it would have been a good idea to stick around a bit longer until she started eating and drinking in earnest?

I experimented with an electrolyte from Omega Alpha called Equisel-Lyte. Luba got 25 cc of PnW in her breakfast as well as 60 cc of Ulcer Therapy Plus. She got three 50 cc scoops of Equisel-Lyte on trail and another 60 cc of Ulcer Therapy Plus, 25 cc of PnW and a dose of homemade BCAA at the end.

We hung out in the sunshine until the girls got back. All the horses looked great! The Friendly Neighbourhood Trimmer came by to buff up Luba's feet and it was time to go home.

No point and load on the way home. But after moving the partition off to the side and leading her on a couple of times, I was able to put the partition back and point her on for the trip home.

There's no place like home.

Oh yeah, and always wear sunscreen. I got a sunburn that makes it look like I am down a quart.

to load or not to load

Spring is here. Really. It is.

Especially if the amount of horse hair in my car is any indication.

We spent the month of March putting in as many long slow miles as we could. 74 to be exact. All of this on the same 2 miles of road and driveway, the half mile paddock track and the trails in the bush when the footing was good. And sometimes even when it was not so good. We are itching for some new scenery.

So I decided that it is time to tackle my bad karma for loading Luba in the trailer. I enlisted the some on-line help from Parelli trainee Kellie Sybersma. After about 2 weeks of almost daily practising without actually going anywhere, Luba is self-loading like a pro. I tried to take some video evidence of this last week, and she got on so fast, I barely had time to start the video :)

Today, my friend Andrea invited me to go to St. Lazare to ride the trails. Andrea has a lovely two-horse straight load Sundowner with a ramp. I figured with all the loading practice lately, that this would be a piece of cake.

However, Luba was of a different opinion. She would get her front feet on the ramp, but was worried about going all the way in.  I kept my cool and we kept trying for about a half an hour before Uwe came to help us out.

His firm no-nonsense approach and some encouragement from me and my carrot stick behind got Luba convinced to load up into that metal cave on wheels. Backing out was a bit exciting, as she is not accustomed to a ramp.  She kept expecting the big drop off. We loaded her 4 times and each time was less exciting.

The trip was uneventful. Both horses calmly unloaded and stood quietly tied to the trailer while we tacked up.  Luba boldly led most of the way on the slushy, icy trails. The sun even made an appearance!

For the return trip, Luba let me lead her on the trailer without fuss. But Skye was not so keen. Luba stood quietly on the trailer while we all took turns trying to convince Skye to hop on. After a while, we unloaded Luba. This seemed to work, as Skye loaded, and then I again led Luba on.

What I learned today is that is it good to load your horse on as many different trailers as you can. Sometimes on the right stall. Sometimes on the left stall. Step-ups. Ramp loads. Slant loads. Rear facing. By themselves. With another horse. First to load. Second to load.

Ay, there's the rub...

...But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

the eternal optimist

I have been home the past couple of days with a mild case of stomach flu. This has left me with ample time to reflect.

Spring is here, but it looks like winter.
I got new runners, but my right calf muscle got sore after my 6.5k run on Monday (gastrocnemius my massage therapist says).
I plan to ride the 50 at Aprilfest, but my trailer is still frozen in a snowbank and the roads are now icy making it hard to condition Luba.

Wah, wah, wah. If you reread all the sentences above, replacing the part that comes after "but" with an exclamation point, it says:

Spring is here!

I got new runners!

I plan to ride the 50 at Aprilfest!

I was chatting with my friend, Mel, on the phone the other day. She called me the "eternal optimist". I was not feeling very optimistic from the couch yesterday, when I saw this video of a 109 year old woman, Alice Hertz-Sommer, on FB:

What is the secret to feeling so good? 

“Optimism,” she said, “and looking for the good. Life is beautiful. 
You have to be thankful that we are living. Wherever you look is beauty.”

I also connected with Kellie Sybersma, who is training to become a Parelli instructor. She is offering free on-line Parelli lessons. I have always loved the way Parelli people can point their horses on to the trailer, so I messaged her. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Parelli videos. My big take away was the focus on PLAY. They are playing with their horses.

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both."  - James A. Michener

I just ate a banana and some porridge. Life is beautiful. Now it's time to play.

How's your leg?

Training for long distance running has really made me think about how my horse feels when we train for long distance riding.

I am aiming to complete the half marathon in Ottawa at the end of May. Here is what I have learned so far:

1. You might have a sore muscle even if you aren't lame and there is not heat or swelling. So sometimes taking a few days off "for no apparent good reason" makes good sense.

2. You need good equipment. My shin splints have disappeared since I bought a new pair of runners.

3. When you train faster than usual, it makes your usual pace seem easy.

All of this seems self-evident when you stop and think about it. The challenge is putting it into practice.

"Constant, you should be."
 - Yoda

Use your Garmin. Track your runs/rides. Write a few notes about how you (and your horse) are feeling. Analyze and adjust your plan if necessary. Take a break here and there for no apparent reason.

I keep going back to this blog by Kevin Myers after his stellar 2012 Tevis experience.
And  I keep re-reading Dennis Summers' book, The 4th Gear.
4th-gear-here-we-come by Kevin Myers

The formula seems easy. The proof is in the pudding.

Show up.
Put it into practice day after day after day.
Even when winter just won't go away!!
Late season storm targets Ontario and Quebec

Less is more

Devote yourself to your heart's desire with unflagging shrewdness. Make it your top priority. Let no lesser wishes distract you. 
But consider this, too. You may sabotage even your worthiest yearning if you're maniacal in your pursuit of it.
Bear in mind the attitude described by Clarissa Pinkola Estés in her book "Women Who Run with the Wolves:" "All that you are seeking is also seeking you. If you sit still, it will find you. It has been waiting for you a long time."
- http://bit.ly/Pronoia

"Less is More" is my mantra for 2013. This is the third year that I have had the goal of finishing a 100 mile ride with Luba. Three time's a charm?

First lesson was taught to me by M&M. Sue invited me for a mellow resolution ride on New Year's day. I rode M&M, her FEI horse. Seen it, done it, been there, got the T-shirt. Tied him to the trailer to tack up. He calmly starts emptying the hay net. Don't waste an opportunity to eat. We rode out last, behind Sue/Hummer and Angie/Stella. M&M knew this was a mellow ride and he wasted no energy. No spooking, no looky looky, no wanting to go faster than the walk. You could put a 5 year old on him and he would take good care of her. Fast forward to the following weekend at the Bumblebee Lead, Follow or Get out of my Way Endurance Ride. M&M and Sue win the 50 and BC.

Being in a sunny clime also meant no excuses to get my running program back on track. I ran with Steph, on my own and with Ross.  Started with pyramid running - run 1 minute, walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes walk 1 minute up to 5 or 6 minutes and then down the same controlled way. The next thing you know, running 5 kms with few or no walking breaks is totally do-able.  The magic of progressive conditioning. Make haste slowly.

Less is more with Masterson Method as well. At a weekend workshop in Tucson, I learned that sometimes the biggest releases come from the lightest touch - even just "air gap".  Breathe and soften. Wait for the release. Let the horse come to you.

Same message from Sokolowski clinic I audited last weekend, hosted by Seaway Valley Arabian Horse Association. Let the horse move you. Don't work so hard. Let your body be loose.  Keep springy legs and soft hands, soft eyes. Softly gaze in the direction you want to go (drishti).

In his new book, Endurance: A French Perspective, Leonard Liesens writes about Jack Begaud's uncanny ability to pick a good horse. "When people tell him he was there at the right time, Jack answers with an Arabian maxim borrowed from his sponsor [Sheikh Mohammed]: 'The one catching the bird was hidden in the bush with an open hand'".

So, I am keeping an open hand. I wonder what I will catch?