The run up to competing Qantas for the first time in 2021 has not been smooth. His sarcoid wounds took much longer to heal, he was being funny about having a girth on and it seemed like the weeks were flying by without us even starting training. But thanks to Readwood reahabilitation livery Qantas had three weeks on the water treadmill and then I got a solid three weeks of riding in before our first 40km of the season in July, better late then never!
It’s not my normal pre-season routine and without that usual structure I wasn’t exactly my usual confident self. In the week running up to the ride Qantas got me off twice, he’s just so spooky, but, he was going well and all his pre-ride checks were great. So I packed everything up the night before. I use this list to help me:
I gave the horses a bath and off we went to Cirencester. Last time Qantas went to a ride we didn’t make it into the vetting so in the hope of giving him time to settle we decided to go the night before. He also had the added advantage that Tissy was coming too.
Once I got to the venue and set up the corral I gave him a couple of hours to take it all in before taking him on a walk around the venue and most importantly practicing getting into the vetting and doing his trot up. This actually went remarkably well, by the end he was actually getting in the entrance tent and his trot ups were perfect. I went to sleep hopeful that we may actually get to start our ride tomorrow, but the big question was, would he be settled enough to have his heart rate taken and do the 40km GER or would we need to downgrade to just a trot up and do the 30km PR.
Beth Endurance 