We attended another Leicestershire & Rutland ride, this time the Lion’s tail, they didn’t disappoint with another great venue and route. Estrid’s prep for 80km was less conventional than my usual schedule but I was confident that she was fit enough and the comfort of knowing we had two vet gates for a re-fuel and to decide to elevate if need be was an extra confidence boost that we had every opportunity to make good decisions.
We travelled the day before, despite being just over an hour away, but Estrid needs the stay away practice and she was certainly more confident this time. I was even surprised that when I took her for a walk around the venue to scope out the vetting area that she didn’t mind being taken away from all the other horses.
Initial vetting went really well and I was pleased to see 9 other horses vetting for the 80km, it was not only good to see a nice size class but it meant that hopefully Estrid would always have company at the venue to make out vettings that bit easier.
Estrid seemed really excited to be going out and I set out hoping to go between 14-16kph depending on what the terrain threw at us. The going was perfect, the set aside around the estate rode beautifully and Estrid was having a blast, she could see a horse in the distance and she loves to chase them down so we had a bit of negotiating to do for the first 10km. We caught up with Kate & Luna but then Estrid’s trot is so big the gap widened between us and we were back on our own, averaging 14.7kph for the loop.
The vet gate was deserted when we came in and I wondered what she’d be like, we had our fastest presentation yet, no shakes and she vetted beautifully all by herself. I could have gone home happy on that vet gate alone. She then proceeded to stomp Dan around the venue (which is very reminiscent of Tissy) for the whole 30minute hold time.
Back out on loop two of 23km and we didn’t see a single horse until 19km in, Estrid wasn’t lacking in enthusiasm, she was still super forward and setting an excellent pace and averaging the exact same as our first loop, which I was super pleased at our consistency. But I did feel that she was a bit bored by herself, or maybe I was too.
The second vet gate went even better and I think we’re starting to understand what works for her, no sponging down or going anywhere near her back legs but just buckets poured over her shoulders. I’d like to get all the mud and sweat off but it just winds her up so we’ll keep working on it and hopefully one day she’ll just settle into it. This hold was 40mins and she ate and drank like a pro, favouring the electrolyte and sugar beet water and of course her favourite fibre cubes.
Our last loop was 17km, I wanted to really make sure we completed our first 80km so I had decided to purposefully back off the pace, not something I’m that comfortable with doing as I hate to see speed creeping down as the distance goes up. It usually signals to me that it wasn’t a well managed horse or ride plan by the rider but also this ride meant so much to me that I didn’t want to blow it. On the plus side dropping down to 12.7kph meant that Kate and Luna caught us up and we got to ride the last 10km with them. Estrid was still full of running and on the sections we let them canter she covered the ground effortlessly.
Estrid settled for the final vetting really quickly but I wanted to be extra sure so waited for a sub 55 heart rate before presenting. She wasn’t even fussed when Luna left her to go vet which I was super impressed with. When we went to vet Kate very kindly delayed her trot up while our heart rate was taken and I was delighted to get another heart rate in the 40’s. I could not be prouder of Estrid, she has learnt so much and made so much progress this year. It meant the world to me that she is now an advanced endurance horse and even more importantly that we had fun doing it.
Thank you to everyone who helped run Lion’s tail, a shout out to the man on D who even moved his car to make sure none of us went wrong on the third loop, everyone was lovely and we had an absolute blast.
Beth Endurance 