When I say there were so many opportunities for this ride to go wrong for us I really do mean a comedic series of events that felt like it just wasn’t meant to be…but we kept trusting in our preparation, the process and Estrid. She just kept pulling it out the bag and quite honestly I just can’t believe my luck.
First of all I’d like to thank our Physio, Priestwood Physiotherapy and our Farrier Ben Wyles, alongside Legacy Equine rehabilitation and Reactor Panel Saddles who helped us prepare for the event with expert care, advice and training. Estrid’s performance and resilience has been excellent so far this season and it certainly helps to have a superb team around us.
Hurdle number one at 4:30am on the morning of our ride: Road closures, followed by traffic jams. Were we even going to get to the venue in time? We got there 30mins before our vet time, not the casual mooch around the venue and relaxing start to the day I had planned. But we deployed Mum to the briefing, Dad to get the bibs and Tom the treatment vet checked us in super quick so Dan could take Estrid for a leg stretch and grass munch.
Hurdle number two: Estrid was hyped, we knew she would be and keeping her heart rate low was always going to be a challenge but we didn’t quite anticipate the leading group of 160km riders coming into the vet gate at the same time as our initial vetting. Despite the excitement Estrid passed with a HR of 58bpm. I was so proud and so excited to get the opportunity to tack up and ride around Windsor great park!
She was keen out on that first loop, she is naturally quite fast but she was really wanting to go for it, most the time it’s safer to let her travel than try to hold her back, she is more than capable of speeds above 16kph and she wasn’t puffing so I let her get on with it, knowing that our presentation times were never going to be great so would bring our average speed down and hopefully ensure we remained under 16kph for our FEI qualification.
Hurdle number three: Estrid tripped and went sprawling! She kept spooking at trees…and let me tell you there are quite a few trees in a PARK! She spooked, slipped on the dewy short grass, slid around like Bambi, managed to tuck a front leg underneath her and slide on her knee, while her back legs almost overtook the front…miraculously I stayed on and she recovered back onto her feet. I really thought that that might be it for us, but she had no tenderness and was completely sound, so we carried on, while my paranoid brain was constantly scanning for the smallest sign of discomfort.
We made it through the first 40km and into our first vet gate. This is where we made our biggest mistakes of the day, we got excited that she was allowing us to pour water on her, we overcooled her and then failed to acknowledge it, and didn’t put a rug on her while we waited in the que for vetting, I thought her shivering was excitement/anxiety, none of the other horses had rugs on, but she really was just cold. Her heart rate was 74 and even her little nose was quivering with cold. I felt like such an idiot. We didn’t have time to do anything else other than rug her up and re-present immediately and hope, as we timed into the vet at 19:59, just one second to spare. Partially not our fault due to the long vet que but, the long que should really have been a blessing, allowing her heart rate to drop more than we needed had she been looked after properly. Instead we turned it against ourselves. Luckily the second presentation was fine and we were all set to head out on loop 2.
I was so proud of her heading out of the venue with ears pricked ready to tackle another 20km. We had a mix of riding with others and being alone but she did the majority out in front and passed other horses with minimal drama. She is still hesitant to go past and she always drags her heels a little if she feels the horse isn’t coming too but she’s improved so much!
The second vet gate went without another major mess up by the humans, we immediately put a rug on her bum and after a few buckets of water just waited for he heart rate to drop. A not too shabby presentation of 5mins and we were through to the final loop. Estrid’s heart rate was always lower in the hold than in the vetting, you could see her tension go up and she left the other horses and was stood in the shade of the vetting tent, but there’s nothing we can do other than give her more experience in these situations and build our bond so that she can take comfort in her humans. She ate and drank like a pro and happily wandered around the vet gate trying to visit everyone else’s hay station but her own.
Hurdle number four: I need to thoroughly check my tack before getting on. I feel so bad about this mistake as it could have been so uncomfortable for Estrid. My saddles panels are velcroed in place. Mum changes the numnahs when I’m in the vetting, as she’d swapped over to the fresh ones for the final loop the panel had come loose and moved over towards the centre, I didn’t notice until I took the saddle off later, but Estrid essentially had done the last 20km with the panel in the wrong place. I am so grateful that this silly mistake didn’t cause her any pain, her back felt completely fine at the end and the next day, but I still feel so guilty for not noticing.
The last loop feeling is always incredible, Estrid cantered out the venue like she’d been doing this all her life. I even shed a tear of happiness and appreciation for her tough little spirit. So many combinations had been vetted out through the day and I was so aware of how hard the ground was and how baking the sun felt.
Hurdle number five: Barely 2 km from the venue Estrid and I had a disagreement about line choice, meaning we trotted straight into a boulder and tripped over the top of it…for that split second I felt all the emotions but she picked herself up and resumed on her merry way as if nothing happened, could I be so lucky to have gotten away with another trip?
Her recorded loop speeds were 13.7, 14.9 and 15.7kph, never once did I have to ask her to kick on, I spent most my time slowing her down. Our final speed across the finish line was 14.6kph, we had kept under the 16kph threshold to gain our FEI qualification, all we had to do now was pass the vet.
I barely put any water on her, wary of our earlier mishap, so we tipped a total of 4 buckets over her, put a rug on and just let her eat and drink and wander around. Her heart rate was steady and consistently in the 40’s so I was pretty confident heading into vet.
Hurdle number six: Royalty arrived so there was a pretty big crowd next to the vetting and it seemed that most the other horses were back out on course…leaving Estrid pony-friendless and surrounded by noisy, excited humans. Her eyes were out on stalks, she would not stand still and the shivering was back. I so desperately want her to feel confident in these environments and I would never shy away from a situation like this but my heart did sink a little as the vet tried to follow her around with a stethoscope. When he said 62bpm I was astonished, we had made it through by the skin of our teeth, just the trot up to go. Estrid’s trot ups are quite enthusiastic and, if I do say so myself, she looked great!
I think I was a little bit in shock and disbelief at the end of the day, we had done it and she still looked ready to go back out. She spent the next hour whinnying at all the horses leaving on their next loops before we headed home and she looked incredible the next day, not a sore muscle or hot spot to be found. I am so so proud of her, she’s turning out to be quite a tough cookie despite her anxious nature. We have learnt a lot about how to manage her and have had a kick up the butt to up our crew and vet gate game. I just can’t wait to see where she’ll take me next!
Beth Endurance 