I didn’t know I needed this! I’ve done a few Pleasure rides this year. One on Tissy, who of course I love to ride, but I expect her to do well, you’d hope so after all her training, I expect her to ace the terrain, be good to trot up. I know her every move, I know she’ll throw in totally random spooks and bucks just for the sheer hell of it, she loves her job and I love her, but there’s still an expectation. One on Qantas, that was brimming with anxiety (on my part and his) because it’s been such a tough road getting him there, he’s a difficult horse on the ground, to ride, to manage. When he’s good he’s incredible when he’s bad he goes all out.
And my third of the year on Roo, who is laid back, up for anything and who I had absolutely no expectations, pre-conceptions or idea of how he’d be at a ride. So I went with an open mind, the goal of just to go with it and enjoy, and that is exactly what I did. I had a great time at the Ranskill 24km pleasure ride. I hadn’t realised up until that point that I hadn’t really been enjoying the rides themselves but expecting the results and using them as a tick box. It was an excellent reminder that although I want to be competitive and I’m always going to have structure to my goals, I also need to prioritise fun!!
Anyway, onto the point of this blog! I’ve had a couple of questions about how you’re meant to conduct yourself out on course so I thought this would be a good time to go through them. It would be interesting to hear if other endurance riders have other ‘unwritten rules’ or things that they expect from their fellow riders out on course?
Firstly I always ask if I can pass, I then always wait until there is a safe space to do so, if I’m behind a slower rider on a narrow track I’m just going to slow down and wait at a respectable distance so they don’t feel pressured into going faster.
When I’ve been given the ok to pass I kind of assess the horse as I’m approaching, if they’re chilled I’ll trot past, if they look anxious I’ll walk. Once I’ve overtaken I will then look behind me for a while to make sure they’re not having any difficulty and the horse isn’t chasing after us.
If you come across someone in need of help or a loose horse, always help them, but only if it is safe for you to do so. Don’t worry about your time, there are more important things in life. But also when you make it to the next check point, let them know you’ve been helping someone and how long it took, because the Technical steward may then grant you that time back.
When opening gates with other people around, say thank you to whoever the opener is of course, but also stay on the other side, a safe distance away so none of the horses have the opportunity to kick each other and don’t continue until everyone is safely back on board. There’s nothing worse than trying to get back on a horse that’s been hyped up by others careering off into the distance without it. Always check the ride schedule too, as if there is a lot of gates out on course, there is usually a gate allowance and that will effect your average speed.
As for checkpoints I always think it’s my responsibility to make sure they have my number so I always shout it out to them and of course thank them for their time. The same with all stewards out on course, without them we wouldn’t be riding, so make sure you say thank you to everyone.
If I come into a crew point and there is a horse across the track but it’s drinking I wait for it to finish drinking before I ask to pass. Now, there’s another point here that crew should really try and take their horses off track for crewing if possible so that they’re not blocking the track but sometimes there’s just not enough space.
Beth Endurance 