Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Racing Stripes I Endurance Ride 2/15/14 (Edited to add info about the final score!)

All right!!!! We survived out second LD!!!!!! We had a lot of improvements, some things that were worse, some troubles and some learning experiences, but on the whole I'd say it was a very successful ride and I'm very happy with how we finished!!!

Once again, I have very few pictures as my phone's battery is aging and it was dead for most of the trip. I don't have a single picture from the ride, nor do I have any GPS - I spent valuable battery on my alarm for the morning, and despite charging it in my car repeatedly, it didn't last. Next time, I will be smart and bring a battery powered alarm and shut the phone off overnight to save some juice. And next time I will use the GoPro too - I didn't this time as it is heavy and my neck isn't used to it for long periods yet. I figured with everything else going on, I didn't need a sore neck too!


I felt like our trip got off to as good of a start as last time - O had about an hour to munch hay before we left, I hooked everything up, made sure everything was in order (everyone was attended to and I hadn't forgotten anything in my packing - I try to pack things over the course of the week leading up to the departure date!), loaded up and headed out. On Thursday, I had fixed up my temp fencing (which failed at the last ride, if you remember the middle-of-the-night escape!), cleaned out the trailer, packed all the hay, packed up my tack, and bathed O, so I was ready to leave right after work on Friday. I had a big bottle of Pro CMC with me, and I was ready to use it liberally over the course of the weekend. I dosed her before we left, since she won't eat on the trailer (not even a bite of hay!), and we made the trip in about 3.5 hours, thankfully before dark this time. Last time, we arrived after dark and landed ourselves in the wrong spot to park in (the vet's spot, no good!!), but this time I was able to actually follow directions, see where I was going, and actually park where I was supposed to park!


Yes, the non-generator parking? I actually found it and parked there! Because I'm awesome!

I almost got my truck stuck in the mud as I was parking, which should have been a sign of things to come, but thanks to my 4-Low I managed to get out unscathed. Once I was out of there, I made friends with my neighbors, set up my temp fencing (and was MUCH more efficient and smart about it, and had a much more secure and properly fixed fence), stuck Her Majesty in her pen, dosed her again with Pro CMC, and watched her get to eating the bit of grass and pile of hay that she had. The only water on the property was up near the vet check, so I had to unhook my truck, load the bed up with buckets, take them over to the troughs, fill them there, and drive back, trying not to spill as I went. What a mess!

The ride meeting was boring, but my new neighbor-friends wanted to go, and wanting to be a good neighbor-friend, I went with them and sat through the whole thing. Mostly all I cared about was where I needed to be in the morning and which trails I was on, but I also took note of the fact that the ride manager told us that there were some "wet" spots on the trail, but that "they're not boggy at all." I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I took her word for it. Remember this for later.


Back at the trailer, O ate her dinner, stuffed her face with hay, and I sat for awhile reading a book in the light from my trailer. At some point, she stopped eating and went to the corner of her pen, where she could see her neighbor. She stayed there long enough not eating that I got up, moved her hay pile over to the corner, and then shook my head as she dove in to eat again. She did this at the last ride too... the hay has to be in a particular spot, or she's not interested. (Mares...) I tucked myself in for the night, but admittedly did not sleep very well as I was worried about her escaping again. At some point in the night, she quit eating again and went to the *other* corner to stare at the *other* horses, so I once again got up, put a pile of hay in front of her and watched her dive in again. She drank too, several times - just a few sips here and there, but it was something. She drank maybe a 1/2 bucket overall, about the same as last time. Gogo was a full 2-bucket drinker every single night, so I'm never very happy with O's water intake, but she was hydrated and had a nighttime dose of Elytes on board, so there wasn't much else I could do about it. She thankfully stayed in her pen all night, but at 4:30AM started screaming her head off as the 75 mile horses started being walked around before their vettings. Sorry to everyone within a 50 mile radius that my screaming horse has probably woken you up....

I got up too, fed her at around that time (mostly to shut her up), dosed her again with her next dose of Elytes and Pro CMC, and tried to sleep for another hour. I more or less succeeded, but at some point just gave up, sat in my car with the engine on and heat blasting (SO COLD, it was only about 36), and looked at my supply of Clif bars and Gatorade. I felt completely queasy, and managed to drink a small bottle of Gatorade and take a few bites of a Clif bar before my gag reflex kicked in and I couldn't eat anymore. This was the same problem I had last time - I'm not hungry that early in the morning, and my body angrily rejects food until around 8am or so most every day, so I think part of this may be conditioning on my part. The *other* part that should have been a warning sign was that I had been building up to an increasingly bad gastric problem over the past week, and I should have taken that problem into account. I felt fine enough to ride (although I definitely don't feel fine enough to even get off my couch right now), so I choked down what I could manage and got my magnesium pills down, but one preemptive Ibuprofin and I was gagging, I couldn't do it. With that in mind, I *knew* I was going to feel horrible after the ride, but I figured it would be worse to try and force more food in and make myself vomit the little I had managed to get down. 

I headed over to the vet check, and vetted in with all A's and one A- for her jugular, first one I've gotten that was less than an A for her jugular. I was very happy with the A for gut sounds, and was happy with all of the hay that she had stuffed herself with all night. Technically I know that all of the hay she ate on Thursday is the important hay, since that is what is still hanging out in her hindgut on Saturday, but it makes me feel SO much better to see her stuffing her gob all night, since it really helps with tummy problems. She drank water - not enough in my mind, but she did drink some - and she was hydrated. We marked her with a big washable marker, and went back to the trailer to tack up and get ready to ride. I tried to eat more (tried, really tried), and got her to eat some more too before dosing her again with Pro-CMC right before I got on. I had to get off again one minute before we were released to fix a stirrup, failed to actually fix it, got back on, and hoped it would sort itself out as my bad calf stretched out. We checked in, milled around for awhile, and then the gate was open and we were off! 



Last time, I let O start mid-pack and cruised around people to eventually get up to the lead and run with the frontrunners. She got hot and bargey going around horses to actually get up to the front, but once we were in the front, she relaxed and settled and was happy to canter along and leapfrog with the other horses. She got very hot and sweaty in the process, and vetted in at the first check with a lot of Bs (finished with As though), so I wanted to try and avoid that this time. My plan for this ride was to start at the front, keep out in front of or with the people frontrunning, and canter along to keep her brain intact. Unfortunately, this COMPLETELY failed at this ride, as about 15 other people were racing as fast as they could in the front! Once O was caught up in that crowd, it was a lot of work to keep her under control. She dolphin bucked, tried to kick out at her neighbor, barged along, tossed her head, and pulled on me like a freight train. I tried to get her to fall back a bit, but that only increased her frustration and she was bolty until we caught up. I had more or less no choice except to keep her cantering along behind the frontrunners, just because it was the best thing I could do to keep her head on straight. It was frustrating though - at the water stop, she came in behind the others, dropped her head to drink, and all of them galloped off when she stopped. Of course there was no drinking after that.... sigh. 

The trails were not good at all. They were FULL of mud, slop, boggy areas, and areas of water that were deeper than her hocks and knees and wider across than the eye could see. I felt like I was about to dislocate my shoulders and just about broke her nose hauling on her to slow down through these areas. It was easy to follow the other horses, but as far as I could tell, the trails markers were very hard to see.

Obviously no pictures from me, but here are some pictures of the trail from the FB page of the ride:





A few of those arrows here and there, but most of the markers for the trail were on little brown sticks, in the middle of the cow pasture full of white-brown grass. White ribbon on light brown stick in white-brown grass = impossible to see. This will come into play shortly.


We finished our first 14 mile loop intact thankfully. She took a minute or two to pulse down once we finished our first loop, but not long. I felt a bit out of place as all the other 25 mile people had crews and buckets and things all set up by the vetbox.... I didn't do that, didn't know I should have. I obviously will be alone for most of these things, but I think next time I will set out some buckets.
Once in for the vetting, we got all A's again (yes!! Not expected as she had wasted a lot of energy pulling on me), and went back to the trailer to rest. She was tired at that point and not that interested in eating or drinking, but I knew she needed to get *some* liquid into her, so I spent a minute syringing some liquids into her mouth until she decided she should drink some by herself. She munched a small amount of hay and cookies, but mostly I had to stick it into her mouth and make her chew. I was feeling very stressed at that point, understandably... mare you HAVE to eat and drink. At some point it occured to me that the grass near the water was quite green and tasty looking, so we went over there to graze. Success! She was very happy to snarf down the yummy wet grass, and I was happy. I considered, hemmed and hawed, and then decided to give her another dose of Elytes with her next dose of Pro CMC. Once our hold was over, we mounted back up and headed out with one of the 50 milers, a nice old man riding his 25 year old Arab in nothing but a big nylon halter and lead rope.

Unfortunately, right off the bat, we were lost. The trails passed through huge cattle pastures, and finding the actual trail markers (little white ribbons on little brown posts in the middle of acres of white-brown grass) was insanely difficult. We went about a mile out of our way trying to find it, then I eventually passed him on and moved forward. Unfortunately I lost the trail two, three, four, five times.... I had to turn around again and again when I looked everywhere and couldn't find the ribbons. Ugh, so frustrating! My phone died partway through the loop, but the last I heard it say was that I was at the 23 mile mark... and I went at least another 5 miles, if not more. We probably did more like 30 miles.


On the second loop, I had a few moments of "ok, so this is what actual long-term long-distance endurance is like." We trotted along by ourselves for a long way, cantered where we had some space, walked for a bit, and stopped in puddles to get drinks. I had a minute to drop my reins and stirrups, drink some water, stretch out, and then continue onward. We were in no hurry and had no other horses to get upset about - and the other horses that she saw off in the distance, or the ones she passed, were of no concern to her since she didn't spend more than a few minutes looking at them. She went along on a long and loose rein for a very long time, happy to trot and canter along with no pulling and no fuss. She stopped at about mile 18 at a puddle and started tanking up, much to my surprise and delight - she did this last time too, she didn't really start to drink until 15-18 miles in. She drank heartily at the next water stop, and drank heartily at the finish as well, twice!

It was nice just cruising along. A group of other 25s came up behind me at some point, and I left them behind (still with a small competitive streak, I didn't want them to get ahead of me if I had gas left in the tank!). Unfortunately every time I got lost, they caught back up again. I finished before them, but they pulsed in before me, and I figured it didn't matter at that point because I had gone so slow on my second loop that there was no way I placed well. Then they announced that we were top 10 again! What! That's awesome!

I don't really have official results yet, but I supposedly finished 8th. Had I gotten into the vetbox before the other 25 milers, I would have been 5th or 6th, but oh well! I let her drink drink drink before we vetted in, as I figured that was more important anyway. Our vet scores went down - some A's and several B's - but she looked pretty good and once back at the trailer she started to gobble hay. She did this last time too, didn't eat a ton at the hold but ate a lot afterwards. I weighed in with my tack, then flopped in the front seat of my truck and tried to eat and drink for a few minutes while waiting to present for BC. I was worried that I had overtightened her girth again (remember the weird swelling she got?) as it was slightly puffy and a little sore to the touch there, but I dosed the area with Sore-No-More and within 10 minutes everything was normal again. A little odd....! I was also extremely unhappy to see that my pad, the ONE pad I have found that doesn't rub her anywhere, rubbed her side. I also ended up with HUGE bruises on my calves from deciding last second to wear a different pair of jeans than I had been. Normally, the jeans work great for these shorter distances, but this time it backfired on me badly. Definitely need to make some changes here.

She looked just awesome after the ride:



She ate some hay, snoozed, ate some hay, snoozed, took a drink, ate some hay, snoozed. I was very happy with how she was taking care of herself post-ride, and before I knew it it was time to haul my butt up and take her over for our BC check.

Last time, I didn't get her Elytes right by ANY stretch of the imagination. She finished the last ride with mostly A's and a B, but by the time we got to BC she had deteriorated some in condition, and was a little muscle sore in her haunches and back, and had some slightly discoloration in her veins in her gums (it was hard for me to understand exactly what the vet was talking about, but basically he explained that it was because the Elytes were off). Her scores included a lot of 10s, but a lot of 7s as well. This time, I was REALLY on top of the Elytes and Pro-CMC, and it paid off. Her condition improved in the hour after the last check and the BC check, and she scored exceptionally well in every category. No muscle soreness, no back soreness, legs looked great, she was well-hydrated, and the trot out was "the best I've seen all day," according to the vet, who had been standing around for 6 hours doing trot outs! Her CRI was 13/12, meaning that her heart rate before the trot out was at about 52bpm, and after her extensive trot-out her heart rate was down to 48bpm within a minute. That's pretty good for a big beefy girl like her! The only thing the vet could maybe fault us on, in her own words, was that if she were scoring the top top score for loudly gurgling gut sounds it would be a 1, and O's was like a 2 on that scale. But that was the only thing she had to say about it. Otherwise, she said she looked great and well-recovered. Wooo!

I don't know who actually won BC yet, since nobody seems to want to get back to me about it via email, but hopefully sometime in the next century somebody will let me know. They only took a month to get the High Roller results up on the website, sooo...

Back at home, she gobbled more food and settled right in for a long drink. The next day, she trotted out willingly, sound and happy to move. She was a little stocked up all the way around, but considering the slop we went through, I wasn't surprised at all. She looks like she never even went to the ride at all.




Three cheers for a happy fresh mare and another top 10 under our belts!

EDITED TO ADD: We got in some more info on the final scores! We did in fact finish 8th, and while we did not get BC likely due to our slower speed, we did get the High Vet Score! A short explanation of BC, or Best Condition: the top 10 horses in each mileage division have the option of presenting for BC, which takes place an hour after the final vet check. After your final vetting, you and your tack have to weigh in, and your weight and finish time get recorded. Your horse has an hour to hang out, get groomed/bathed, eat, drink, nap and generally recover, and then they re-present for a secondary (and more thorough) vet check. You do an extensive jog out (or big huge trot out, if you are O), have the horse's Cardiac Recovery Index taken, and get checked for all the same criteria as the normal vet checks, only they are more thorough and tough about it. She scored exceptionally high in all categories. The only one that she scored *slightly* lower in was in her gut sounds category... if 1 is the best score you can get, she got a 2, according to the vet, but she said it would have scored an A in a normal vet check. She also said that the trot out was "the best she had seen all day," which is high praise seeing as she had been watching horses trot out for literally about 6 hours already! Basically it means, O looked awesome and fully recovered after the ride was over. BC goes to the person who gets the best score out of all of the combined scores of weight, speed, and vet criteria, so BC went to someone who went faster, but the High Vet Score went to me! Had we gone a bit faster, we would have gotten it most likely... but I went just as fast as I felt like we should go, and am happy we didn't push for more, as I don't think we would have scored as high. A high vet score is MUCH more important to me than the speed!

As of today, I crawled onto her bareback despite my illness and went for a little walk.... and you'd never know she did an LD on Saturday. She was spooking, prancing around, slinging her head (note to self: bring back out martingale), and being a general goob, like she had been off for weeks. Her legs look great, she is eating everything in sight, and is acting like her totally fit totally idiotic self. Woo!

34 comments:

  1. Woo hoo! Congrats on the top 10 and for having a good ride!

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  2. Woohoo O!! And congrats to you too :)

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  3. Nice job! Especially with the hard to see ribbons. I'm jealous of your season already starting, ours isn't till May :(

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  4. Congrats on your second ride. Just as a little word of advice, it's not legal to use anything off the banned substance list (Sore No More) prior to showing for BC and is grounds for forfeiting completions/placings. Welcome to AERC ;-) Regarding your mare not eating well at the hold, it sounds like she eats better on the second loop where things are more relaxed. You may want to try doing negative splits (slow and easy on the first loop, faster on the second) to see if that helps at all. But I warn you, if you keep starting with the frontrunners or trying to catch up to them you'll ruin her brain so quickly you won't be able to get her back. If you are just looking to race a few LD's a season it might not be a big deal at all but if you're looking to stick around for the long haul you might consider making a few changes now :) ~ Amanda

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    1. Sore No More is illegal! Ahh! I thought I checked for that one and it wasn't. I had her on MSM last time and realized almost too late that it was illegal too, and pulled it. Man there are SO MANY things that aren't allowed.... what kind of liniment can you use?

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    2. And, her brain came a bit pre-fried as it was, so it's damage control from here on out I think ;) In actuality I make it out to be WAY worse than it is, and I definitely don't want to cook her any more than she is already cooked - my plan this time to let her lope along in front of the others was just a failure. It is hard for her to be behind other horses to start out with - when she is in front of them, she is MUCH quieter, so trying to find out exactly how to do that and stay competitive without turning it into a speed thing is going to be a challenge. At least we don't do the panicked Dancing Mexican Horse whenever horses leave her sight like she used to do. She about killed me every time I rode her the first few months!

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    3. For training purposes, don't even get on her until they call the start. The line stays open after everyone floods out. Ride her out of sight BEHIND all the other horses. Teach her to go slow and steady and listen to you FIRST, then worry about speed. Being able to do fast LD's does not equal being able to complete at the longer distances. That's part of why many riders never move up.

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    4. Andrea, stay away from any liniments/topicals/etc until you are completely finished. If that includes BC showing, then don't use anything until afterward. Sore No More contains Arnica, which is why it's on the prohibited list. Menthol is also prohibited, which is why liniment is a no-no until completely done. While I totally agree with Dom, I don't know your goals. I only do 50-75/80/100's so the first few rides on a new horse for me are huge and actually set the horse up for his or her career, but like I said, if you're only looking for a few LD's a year, then whatev :)

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    5. I haven't decided if I want to stick with the sport yet. I've meet a lot of very wonderful bloggers, but most of the actual endurance people I've met have been awful, and they make it very off-putting. I might not stick around long :/

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    6. I think most of us have seen enough excited newbies who are so focused on "racing" that their horses end up underneath a tree with bags or worse. You may have better experiences with people if you take a few rides to go slow and set your mare up for success. The people who ride slower are generally more laid-back and not worried about the competition aspect, thus are usually friendlier. People really competing are very focused on themselves and their horses that the attitude can seem unwelcoming. I fully admit this is me, but, I put so much time, effort and money into preparing my horse it is what it is. Is there a ride around there that you can go to volunteer? It's a lot easier making friends without the stress of competition, and people *really* respect newbies who make an effort to help out and learn. It is amazing how much you can learn hanging out at a vet check all day. Regarding the comments below about substances, I understand what you're saying and wish the rules were more along the lines of other disciplines (minus the NSAIDS), but I also understand the danger of opening the door just a little bit to let certain things through. As far as joint supps, the withdrawal time is really only two or three days so not really that big of a deal. You can resume your normal program after completion/BC showing.

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    7. I'm surprised to hear this. I met so many fantastic people when I started the sport. Then again... I wasn't running top ten in my early rides. I just finished tied for first at the FEI level this past fall. On the first loop, we encountered a newbie whose horse was basically bolting with her... going way to fast, and already sweaty just 10 miles in. I'm sure our attitudes put the rider off, but she was about to run her horse into the ground. She wound up getting pulled at the first hold, which was probably best for the horse. Same horse jumped out of her pen in camp... twice. Trust me, our bad attitudes came out of a place of concern for the horse. You see a couple unfit horses crippled by irresponsible riding and you develop a disdain for anyone who puts racing before training. The fast ride times come with time, conditioning, and miles, miles, miles.

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  5. Hooray! Getting lost is so frustrating on stuff like that. :/

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  6. Congrats! But boggy paths and getting lost sucks.

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  7. Congrads for another top 10, despite all the ickiness on the trails. I hope you feel better soon too!

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  8. Congrats on your finish (and high vet score). Boggy paths are part of endurance. If it was all easy, well-groomed trails, it wouldn't exactly be a challenge. I am concerned that you seem more worried about going fast than teaching her to mind her manners and take care of herself. You may be able to get away with it for LD's, but she won't hold up to 50+ that way. Seconding what RidinFar said about SoreNoMore. There are pretty much NO legal substances for AERC. I don't know if she's on any kind of joint supplement, etc., but other than Adequan, everything else is pretty much illegal within two weeks of the ride. If you keep running top ten, you'll get blood tested sooner or later.

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    1. For a sport that is supposed to be all about horse health, they sure don't want you to give your horse anything to keep it healthy do they?

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    2. Using SoreNoMore to cover up an issue caused by poorly fitted tack, etc. isn't exactly benefiting the horse. The point is not to compete your horse unless your horse is ready to compete. For example-- if your horse needs bute to be sound, he shouldn't be doing endurance. If your girth doesn't fit, you should get a better girth, not try to fix the soreness after the fact. Etc, etc. Now... CTR doesn't even allow you to put ankle boots on your horse, which I think is taking it too far.

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    3. The horse is supposed to be fit on its own... not because you drugged it to make it so.

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    4. It's not ill-fitting tack. It's a girth I've been using for 6 months that I once before over-tightened and it caused some puffiness and tenderness in her girth area. I was worried that I over-tightened it this time as well. It's a Woolback and it is one of few girths that keeps her rub-free.

      So far this has been my problem with endurance people. They immediately jump to a conclusion about something they hear a blippet about and then they judge, and they'll tell you right to your face how crappy of a person they think you are. I spent a large part of my ride walking with my feet out of the stirrups, but I still got top 10 and therefore I am a Bad Person. I got High Vet Score and had a fresh bucking horse the next day and I STILL am a Bad Person because now I'm labeled as an abusive racer. They assume that if I am getting top 10s and am new, I am a total horse abuser because how can I possibly know how to condition or train a horse, I must have just galloped it flat out the entire way.

      Sorry for the vent. I like the help and the constructive criticism but it's hurtful to be told that I care more about winning than about my horse. If people knew ANYTHING about me at ALL, they'd know that was the FURTHEST thing from the truth and THE most hurtful thing they could possibly say to me.

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    5. For the record, I have not called you an abuser. I mentioned that I am concerned about the way you tell of your approach. Maybe your attitude in real life is different than what you reflect on your blog, but what I see on some of your entries makes me raise my eyebrows.

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    6. Well, if you really think I'm an unethical person who cares more about winning than my horse, you're welcome to stop reading right now.

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    7. I didn't say any of that. I'm sorry I said anything at all. Congrats on your finish. I will keep my opinions to myself. I thought maybe you'd want some input and honest advice. If all you want is a cheering squad, I am happy to post nothing but happy, supportive comments. I'll just scroll past anything questionable.

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    8. For the record, YOU'RE the one doing nothing but bashing the sport, the ride organizers, the trail markings, and the people who weren't super welcoming of your attitude IRL. As someone who knew O when she was Gabby, all I have to say is that at some point YOU will have to accept some of the responsibility.

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    9. For god's sake. I am NOT bashing the sport, the organizers, the trail markers. The trail had some mush and the trail markers were hard to see, that's what they were and that's just fact. I'm not bashing ANYTHING. I'm just describing what make this particular ride difficult.

      There is helpful advice and then there is implication that I'm a bad person who doesn't care about this horse. As someone who would quite often rather be dead than anything else - and actually has a really nice horse who is giving me half a reason to not off myself - it pisses me off to NO end whenever people keep implying that I'm doing bad things to her. Constructive criticism and implying abuse and cheating are extremely different.

      I've had quite enough of endurance at this point. I've seen enough to know that this is not for me.

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    10. I am sorry that you feel that way. And I am sorry if you feel that I was doing anything other than trying to be helpful. I will not do it again.

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    11. Mostly it's that endurance people and eventing people are incompatible thinkers.
      My train of thought, after a ride: "Wow that was a hella long way, bodies sustain microdamage after workouts because that's just science, I want to minimize the microdamage in her legs immediately and help her feel better and make sure any minor thing doesn't ever turn into a major thing. (Goes for girth - saw puffiness, panicked and worried that I had overtightened girth, wanted to do something immediately for her because I wanted to minimize it and because I didn't want her to have to hurt for a second, not because I wanted to cheat.)"

      Endurance people: "Wow that was a hella long way, bodies sustain microdamage after workouts because that's just science, I need the vets to be able to see just how much damage I did or didn't do, all swellings included."

      I can't sit there and see a problem and not do anything about it. It's not ethical and if I get pulled because I put liniment (that I didn't know wasn't allowed) on my horse, then so be it and who cares because I did the right thing by helping my horse.

      But, that makes me incompatible with the other people in this sport.

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    12. I don't think it's that much of a difference in thought. My thought as an endurance rider is, "This is a long distance. I better take it easy so the horse can go as long as possible before the microdamage occurs. Then I want the vet to look my horse over to assess how he did, and pull him if necessary. THEN, I want to do whatever he needs to help him recover from the workout." You'll see many endurance riders giving their horses bute or liniment or leg wraps AFTER they stand for BC. If the horse NEEDS that treatment BEFORE BC, they opt out, since the horse is unlikely to win BC, and because they want to prevent further damage.

      I did not at any point think you were cheating. At all. There are a LOT of rules and regulations to learn. Of course you're going to accidentally miss one here and there in the learning process.

      My point was just that there's a reason those rules are in place the way they are, and it's not because us endurance riders don't want to do anything to help with the welfare of our horse.

      In eventing, my thought train is more, "This is a workout against the clock. Let's get 'er done, and then immediately address any fall out."

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    13. As a somewhat related thought:
      Eventing used to have an endurance phase, and I think the lack of the long format is part of what is causing more breakdowns in the eventing world. Many newer eventers (and, no, I am not referring to you or anyone in particular) never learn how to take care of their horse over any distance greater than what it takes to run XC. I think it's a shame and a detriment to the sport in general.

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    14. There is certainly treatment that would not be permissible during an event, including after XC at events (national and international) that run dressage -> XC -> stadium. Yes, the lines are drawn in different places, but I'm sorry, Andrea, I think it's a mischaracterization to say that the thought processes are incompatible.

      An individual rider's thought processes, sure. Yours? That's fine; that's your call to make. But neither sport -- by rulebook or by custom -- has an anything-goes ethic re: treatment during competition and both offer options to address a developing problem that the rider feels requires treatment beyond what the rulebook allows: withdrawing or retiring on course in eventing, rider-optioning out in endurance. Not very different at all.

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  9. Congrats for such a successful finish! Looks like both you and O are liking this LDs!

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  10. Hello! I just wanted to drop a quick comment. First, congrats!!! I remember getting a totally unplanned on 8th in my first ever LD and was sooo happy. My next one I went the exact same pace and came in 2nd to last. Oh well.

    As for her "race brain" I second keeping off the trail until all other horses are out of sight and long gone. That way she won't have anyone to compete with. In the beginning it is so important to teach them that it isn't a race and to listen to you and keep taking care of themselves. Since you know you wont have an issue completing in 6 hours, you could easily start 10 minutes late and have no issues. That way you are riding your own ride.

    Everything is banned so that things such as a bad fitting girth (not that yours necessarily was) isn't hidden by placing a drug to relieve the inflammation. Endurance is all about preparation and knowing your horse inside and out. They want your horse to complete "fit to continue" without the need for medication to hide potential problems.

    Keep with it if you enjoy it. I hear it gets easier and better with time!!

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  11. Very interesting stuff in your post and the comments. LD interests me not to try, but I love learning about it regardless. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. Just wanted to say well done. I can absolutely tell that you have your horses best interests as number one. Seems much friendlier and less complicated in little NZ :). We have a thoroughbred mare who is so similar to O and it is a delicate balance when they just want to go for ever.

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  13. I can't eat first thing in the morning either. Just thinking about it makes me nauseous lol! It sucks doesn't it?

    Congrats on your ride and getting the electrolytes figured out this time around. :D I wouldn't worry about the sore no more and liniment thing. You didn't know, but now you do. It's no big deal. I know it's hard not to get upset when it feels like everyone is bashing you, but I really don't think they meant any harm. It's all a learning curve with a new sport and you will get it all figured out.

    This does make me realize I'm a looooooong way from ever being anywhere near ready to do a CTR (my truck is broken down right now so it's not even on the radar right now anyway). I appreciate you sharing your experiences so I can learn more about distance riding. I hope you won't give up. You will figure out O's demons in time and it will get better and better every time. :)

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