You know when people tell you ‘everything happens for a reason’ and it’s usually when something bad has happened or something has gone wrong, at the time I feel a tiny urge to punch them and say there’s no reason for my horse being injured again, it’s just cr*p and can we leave it at that……but it’s funny how the ups and downs of life, the big decisions and the small all add up to get us where we are right now.
Without Azid’s injuries I’d have never had the opportunity to ride Roo, without Qantas injuring himself I’d have never taken Roo to Red Dragon and without taking Roo to Red Dragon I’d have never fully appreciated how amazing Tissy was. I’ll explain….
I entered Roo into the 42km Novice at Red Dragon and I had no idea how it would go. Roo hasn’t had that much training with me yet and although he aced his 25km pleasure ride it was flat and at a laid back small venue. From home Roo isn’t the most forward going little pony (unless you box him out, Tissy was the exact same at his age) and in training and at his pleasure ride whenever a horse comes up behind he just stops. So I had visions of having to ride him across the start line, hop off and lead him out the venue.
Red Dragon is a fairly tough course but I’d only ever ridden it on Tissy so I don’t think I appreciated how tough it actually is as Tissy just aced the terrain, flew over the hills and sped back down them with ease. It’s not until I’d experienced it on a different horse did I realise how special Tissy was, how lucky I was to have her. But also it’s really taught me to appreciate the little things about my other horses too, to really be happy about completing a 40km.
Roo arrived at the venue on Friday a little tired from the journey. He went in the stable without fuss, settled beautifully, lay down and proceeded to snore…..actually snore, he didn’t even twitch an ear! It was so cute.
The next morning I took him for a walk around the venue and he just munched grass had a little look around but no drama, no pulling, no freaking out, just chilled. Qantas has really made me appreciate just a well behaved chilled out horse! He vetted nicely, not minding the atmosphere of the barn, he stood still to be tacked up and bimbled off to the start without a care in the world.
And then he TROTTED out the venue, ears pricked and forward going, not bothered with any other horses, I was so pleased he was up for it, I was having the best time just in the first 100m! I made him walk up the big hill, our plan to get a ride speed of 10kph, but in my head between 8-10kph was realistic and we may need all our available ride time due to the tricky terrain and Roo not being that fit and balanced yet.
Roo rode in company, by himself, in front, at the back and even for a short moment side by side, he doesn’t seem to like this and usually gives the other horse a funny look and tries to stop. He rode in a group, then let them go without too much protest when I asked him to maintain his own pace and not go at theirs. He listened to my legs to move from side to side of the undulating rutted tracks, I rode every metre picking the course out for him, left to his own devices he doesn’t make the best route decisions. Whereas Tissy seems to pick out the best track for herself and actually would probably do just fine without a rider, Roo would most certainly end up in a bog, tripping up and landing on his face or crashing into a tree….
He did on the move sloshes, stood still at the crew points, he drank water when offered later in the ride. When he was tired and I asked for him to keep going he put his head down and showed a true grit I didn’t know he had, he gave his all, absolutely everything I asked of him, he did without question. *I’m definitely not feeling emotional typing this, nope, not me, I’m fine, not overwhelmed with pride and admiration at all*
When we got back to the venue he just burst into a canter, like he knew we were home, he cantered over the finish line as if to say ‘look everyone, I’m doing it’. Sadly my crew missed Roo finishing so it’s not on camera but I was bursting with pride.
His heart rate was 54bpm in under 2 minutes, despite being tired, so his natural recovery is pretty good. We gave him another 10minutes as he was very hot, before going down to the vetting. Roo was undoubtedly tired, he’d tried so hard for me and it was a tough course for a first 40km, his heart rate was 42. Our trot up away was a bit dodgy, he kind of stumbled into it/wasn’t keen to trot, maybe I needed to circle him away and walk a bit before asking him to trot, because it was like he’d switched off during the heart rate and having to move was a bit of a shock. But once we got to the bottom cone and had woken back up his trot back was lovely. The vet very fairly gave him a B for gait due to our less than graceful start but he was sound and we had passed!!!
We took him back to the stable and I swear you’ve never seen a more snoozy pony. He had lots of food, lots of cuddles a couple of hours rest and then we boxed him up and took him home. The next day he was feeling the effects, a little stiff and a little muscle sore over the shoulders, back and hamstrings but he was sound and full of energy. I couldn’t have been happier. I’m so excited to get Roo strong and fit over winter and see what next season brings.
Beth Endurance 