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

Misty morning magic

Something magical always happens when I start the week with an early Monday morning riding lesson.

Here's the sight that greeted me as I turned up the driveway to Horses of the Sun:

The Under the Covers segment on CBC Radio 2 Morning was a great cover of the David Bowie song, Let's Dance,  that inspired Luba's name  - Serious Moonlight.

This song is Luba in her happy place wearing a pink aura.

And so it is. Thoughts become things.  We danced around the sand ring.

Don't make me angry

Trailer loading has been going quite well with Luba lately. We load to go places and we load to eat supper on the trailer. Lynda's trick of threading the lead rope through the side slats in the trailer has been working like a charm.

This morning I left the partition off to the side, and Luba loaded herself, I put a rope across the back of the trailer and closed the door, so she could travel with more room and on the angle of her choosing. She chose to ride on a slant, with her head tied in the usual place at the front left side. No issues unloading and we had a great ride, with lots of canter work in St Lazare.

On the way home, she loaded up the same way as the morning, but as I was putting up the bum rope, she turned around and decided to unload.  And I got angry. Like the Hulk. All Green and Ugly.

Actually, it was even worse that that. It was like my imitation of King Kong when visited the Empire State Building last fall. 

Here is a close up:

Any surprise that Luba and I started to have a fight? Any wonder that she doesn't want to go anywhere near the crazy angry lady and the metal cave on wheels?

 Thankfully, I managed to get a hold of myself. And when this happened, I looked like Parvati, the goddess of love and devotion.  And Luba loaded on the trailer and we lived happily ever after.

Through all her ordeals, Parvati’s love for Shiva never wavered. She is an affirmation that women can do whatever they set their minds to, no matter what obstacles they face. It is said that Parvati is the source of all power in the universe and that Shiva’s powers derive from her. 

Light and shadow

Sipping a coffee as headed out to the farm for an early morning lesson. Cloudy skies in Ottawa gave way to sweet morning sunshine as we neared Vars.

No green buckets in the sand ring this morning. Just me, Luba and Sonja and scary light and shadows. We start by going to the grove where all the scary fairy folk live. Just standing around. Head down. Relax. Go back and forth through the gate. Slowly and quietly. From light to shadow.

Soon we head back to the ring where light and shadows and water puddles are now less scary, relatively speaking. We practise bending left, right, left, right, ride small circles, halt, head down. Walk towards Sonja who moves around the ring, in and out of the light and the shadows. We have a few spooks. We have lots of nice moments. I start to figure out how to dance with her so that we unblock and direct her energy.

Uwe and Sonja have really helped me to keep things in perspective lately. Yes, Luba has her silly moments about light and shadows (and trailer loading, among other things). The trick is to pay enough attention to keep moving forward, but not so much attention that you turn it into something bigger than it really is. "Don't let it crawl up your ass."

Keep the big picture in mind. Luba and I do lots of things very very well together :)

On the way home, one of my favourite CBC Radio 2 Morning segments, Under the Covers, played a cover of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" in Portuguese. Softens the edges of my rebel child.

Luba, my Rebel Rebel, Calamity's child. Hot tramp, I love you so!

Groundhog Day

The teachings of Pema Chodron come to mind this morning.

“We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart.” 


“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” 
― Pema Chödrön

Luba and I travelled to the Fairy Godmother's farm yesterday to ride in St. Lazare. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ride with beautiful horses and beautiful friends.

The beauty was book-ended with frustrating trailer loading experiences. Luba is no longer worried about being or staying on the trailer. Now she takes a lot of firm convincing to get on. As we were loading her to come home, I remembered 6 years ago when I came to fit Luba for a new saddle, that we had the same story. Groundhog day. Yikes.

Now, Luba has not been a terrible loader for 6 years. Sometimes she loads just fine. Since we have been practising this spring, she has been loading quite well. And I can now load her unassisted, a feat that was beyond the pale as recently as last month. She generally loads better when other horses are travelling with her. I don't blame her. I like to travel with friends too.

But none of this really matters. We travel alone a lot. We travel with others sometimes. Loading and travelling is just part of riding for us because we are distance riders. We do endurance driving and then we do endurance riding. It is like putting on the saddle.

Lynda reminded me that sometimes even horses that are dependable loaders have an off day and decide that they don't want to load.

Wendy and Sonja both pointed out to me that Luba was defying me - some rearing, some pulling back. Temper tantrums. So these are things we need to correct. Little cracks in our foundation.

I left the farm feeling a bit deflated. All that hard work seemed to have been for naught. But what is really going on here is that my ego has been popped.

There comes a time when the bubble of ego is popped and you can’t get the ground back for an extended period of time. Those times, when you absolutely cannot get it back together, are the most rich and powerful times in our lives. 

– from Shambhala Mountain Center’sLearning to Stay,2003

Obstacles are not things that you deal with and they disappear. They come and go. They are shape shifters. What does not disappear is you ability to move through and past and around the obstacles. Again and again and again.

Pema says, “You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.”

And Groundhog Day is a beautiful day for trailer loading and riding :)

Pema Chodron

Little green bucket

Head down. It works. Really.

Lynda reminded me at Aprilfest how important it is to be able to bring your horse's head right down.  Engage the parasympathetic system. No more flight response. Breathe. Focus. Be still.

Sonja reminded me of this again today at our early morning lesson.  She set up a bunch of little green buckets in the sand ring. The same buckets we use for therapy lessons, when we try to drop toys in the buckets as we walk by.

The buckets were upside down this time, masquerading as cones. Luba was very reactive this morning. I think she needs some body work. Very tight in her poll and her usual C3. Managed to get tacked and mounted up without too much drama, but boy the sand ring was a scary place. Especially the far end of the ring that borders on the grove. Horses magically teleport from the pasture to the grove just to freak us out. Sonja says Luba sees all the gnomes and fairy folk in the grove.

So Sonja asks us to work at the scary end of the ring. Is she crazy? Maybe, but there is always a method to her madness. 

So I oblige. After a couple of minutes, she directs us back to the safe end of the ring, that is even safer now that we have forced ourselves to gaze into the depths of the grove.

My instructions are to walk patterns and when we come to a green bucket, stop. We do this, and I also ask Luba to put her head down (from the saddle). Before long this has become a game. Walk to the bucket and touch it with her nose. Nibble it. Push it over. 

We calmly walk around.  We trot around. We stop and stand quietly by the bucket.  

Even at the end of the ring by the grove.

Safe by the bucket. 

Safe in a circle. 

Click to see the video from the Spiderwick Chronicles "Safe in a circle".

I think I will pack a little green bucket for our trip to Cayuse Canter this weekend. Maybe even two :)