Still prepping for the Derby

This is a picture from the start of last year's Derby. I love the breathtaking vastness of the steppe. A little intimidating to think I have to ride across that vastness but I still love the image. A benefit of logging all these miles in the saddle, beside the fitness, is that my horses are learning to relax and maintain an even rhythym for a long distance. A recommendation from their endurance trainer is to change your posting diagonal at the trot every 5 strides. Seemed extreme but it works. The horse relaxes and carries himself and I mentally count strides which makes me ride evenly for those strides. I remember Tad Coffin told me once to ride 8 strides at a time. No more. He said a horse can only concentrate for a limited time and if you hold your attention for 8 and then ride the next 8 and so on it becomes very smooth and encourages the horse to carry himself better. It works. I find that even my mare, Polly, who has a very high-strung attitude will relax and even out. I think the mental counting of strides must imitate a metrodome, that thing piano players use to each students. It teaches cadence. At the canter, I sit for 4 strides and stand for 4 and it achieves the same cadence. They can quietly canter long distances. I actually feel OK after 25 miles, my knee is fine and the hydration tips have helped in the heat. 

new training regime....

Well we did not do the 50-mile ride, so onto new and better things! My new training regime is to ride 3-5 horses every morning, galloping them each 6 miles. I have a route around the neighboring farms and mine, that is about 6 miles and the best part of all is that they do not spook so much because it is the same path almost every time. Horses love their routines and I love not being almost dumped every time a deer jumps out. Thoroughbreds are wonderful but most of them have that little spook in them. I save Michael's Quarter Horse, Bob, for last because he is a solid trooper, just canters and trots around with no fuss. By then I am a little tired. But with this training routine I can get in my "galloping 25 miles" without stressing any one horse. I am lucky that I have several horses with which to train, and I will definitely have the fittest horses around, not to mention me!
I practice drinking the whole time from my hydration pack with electrolytes and have found that it really does help. I do not get a heat stroke headache if I drink the full 2 liters for every 25 miles. So, we are getting there. Still working on the packing though! Happy Father's Day to my Dad in heaven ( yes, I was a little cowgirl), and to my husband, Mike  who has always been there for my kids.

Disappointment....

Today I was looking forward to completing a 50-mile endurance ride as part of my Mongol Derby prep. I had been working towards this particular goal for of couple months, having done 2 previous 25-mile rides. These rides were on my foxhunter, Red, as I realized quickly, that if someone has a horse good enough to do a long endurance race they are not "giving" the ride to someone else. So, Red and I had been riding long miles so that I could see how I felt after a 50 mile ride. But, it was not to be. Last night Red seemed to develop some mild gas colic, whether from the electrolyte dose, or some of the new alfalfa hay that I gave him, I don't know, but he was definitely uncomfortable. After walking and watching, having the vets check him and then being unable to find the one vet allowed to treat, I gave him a dose of Banamine. To me this was good horsemanship, as he was uncomfortable and it would help. Unfortunately, none of the vet techs told me it would be cause for disqualification from the endurance ride the next day! I was not an AERC member and was unfamiliar with their rules, so though very disappointed I said I understood, but asked,
could I simply complete a shorter ride, not as a competitor, but just to keep training for the Derby. Red was fine this morning, checked out OK by the vet that I couldn't find earlier.  But they would not let me ride on the trails at all- I was extremely bummed and just came home:(
Hopefully tomorrow I can do a 25 mile ride locally and just move on. I guess I am used to the fox hunting world, which is not a competition per se , so not subject to such rules and we medicate as appropriate all the time. I would not have worried about hunting today at all but oh well.... another time. I am trusting that the world works in mysterious ways and that Red was not supposed to do such a long ride. I made it home to entertain my son and his girlfriend, Annie's  family from Virginia, which was great.

The Mongol Derby: Only 9 weeks away!!!

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I sent 2 wire transfers today. The first was to Bodi Insurance, a Mongolian insurance company, to insure me on this adventure. They will pay for the emergency medical extraction and related expenses if required, that is, if I come a cropper somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Michael, my wonderful husband, who actually knows about these things (the sort of  “I will have to kill you if I tell you what things”) says that he can find me if he had to, as long as I take my cell phone. I do not have to turn it on, just have it stowed somewhere!  That is actually very reassuring in an odd way. 

Apparently Lloyd’s of London quit insuring the Mongol Derby because of too many claims! At least that is what The Adventurist head office laughingly stated.  Not really funny, I thought. The second wire transfer went to Cool Earth, which is the charity The Adventurists support. Part of the entry requirement for The Derby is to raise 500 English Pounds for this charity. I want to thank all my wonderful friends who have generously helped me in this crazy endeavor and donated. I was able to send the full amount and feel good about helping to save a small piece of rain forest.

 The deer flies are just starting and the young mare I rode this afternoon was not very happy with them so we kept a brisk pace to avoid a buck. Between riding an hour or so, several days a week and working with the yearlings, I hope I am getting fit enough. I spoke with a writer today, who is doing a story on foxhunters doing the Mongol Derby, for Covertside magazine. She asked me what I was most excited about and I said, “Being able to do this; I am excited about being physically fit enough to do a race like this and to experience Mongolia, which seems incredibly exotic and beautiful.” Then she asked me what I was most afraid of and I laughed and said, “Not being able to do this; not being fit enough to race 600 miles across Mongolia!”

Springime babies

On my early morning ride yesterday I came up on a
doe that had just delivered a set of twin fawns. She jumped up and bolted off. I felt so bad and hope she came back for them. Not that I need anymore deer around here but they were so beautiful and so brand new! A little later in a back field I saw another fox and family of kits playing near the edge of the woods. The fox kits ran away immediately but the vixen watched me for a awhile. So lovely in the early morning to see the natural wildlife just doing their thing. We scared up a couple of turkeys but thankfully Red doesn't spook with them very often.
It is warm enough to sit out on the patio now and enjoy my morning coffee. I asked Lynne , the competitor from last year, if there was coffee available in the mornings in Mongolia and she said NO!. I was horrified and the prospect of 10 days without coffee was the worst news I had heard about the Derby. She suggested Trader Joe's had these little pre-measured packets, coffee, cream and sugar, to which you just add hot water. I found them the next day and they are definitely going in my 10 lbs of gear! Mornings without coffee are awful. All my gear is now upstairs, strewn on the guest bed. I keep riding with the GPS to track my miles but I need to start putting in "Waystations" and learning to navigate to them. I hope YouTube has a tutorial! On the Mongol Derby site they are putting up rider profiles and I am starting to feel seriously outclassed. Some of these participants are real adrenalin junkies, world-class adventurists! I am getting excited though.

25 mile ride at Rosaryville

This is the beginning of Week 11. I took Red to Rosaryville State Park and went for a twenty-five mile ride. We averaged about 7 mph and did the 25 miles in 3 1/2 hours. Red seemed fine. He canters and trots, picking his own speed for the most part. I think he got a little tired but finished well. He finished better than I, because as we approached the van to go home, just walking, he suddenly jumped to the side and dumped me hard. I was completely taken by surprise and called him a few nasty names. Another rider on a Western pleasure horse trotted over to see if I was OK and I nodded, "Yes", while explaining that I thought Red had just "gotten me back" because we had just finished a twenty-five mile ride. My back was sore and I was hoping several Advil would do the trick. It does feel better now. Earlier, we had been galloping away from a property that we hunt, down a section of power line that we do not usually cover which was high with grass and he had jumped sideways again. This time at a puddle and I hit the ground a little more softly this time. What is it with Thoroughbreds that they can switch their whole demeanor in an instant and be airborne in a millisecond. All I can hope is, if the Mongolian ponies dump me, that it is closer to the ground from a 13 hand pony than from Red, who is 16.2 hands high. I am a little sore, but good news is that the 25 miles was pretty easy. So, we are going to register for the 50 mile ride in June and keep training! Red is awesome.
Today on the remote power line stretch, I viewed  a fox "couple" and 5 kits. I made the pass twice and they were out sunning both times, the cubs playing in the dirt. Very cool and because we have had such trouble with trappers this year, it was wonderful to see a whole family. Closer to out regular hunting area I viewed a bald eagle in the new-mown- hay fields by Donnie Christmas' farm. He circled once as I rode by, then landed again. There must have been a mown-over snake or something. They are impressive birds. There were also wild turkey that flew up and luckily Red did not spook. We see a lot of them. Oddly I saw very few deer. Came head to head with several groups cycling and realized as I kept riding the perimeter of Rosaryville that the bike-riding trails are better maintained than the horse trails. Many old ones are becoming completely overgrown. As I passed Greg Bush's house his brindle dog happily joined me for the last leg of my ride. I finally called Greg to let him know and swung by his house as he blew his hunting horn. His dog ran home thankfully.
So, I can do twenty-five miles fairly easily. Now I have a month to get myself and Red fit for a fifty-mile ride.

Preakness 2014

Preakness Day was wonderful. California Chrome won the Preakness and is headed to the Belmont. What a wonderful boon for racing to have a modest horse with regular working owners grab the national spotlight . Everyone cheered when the horse went by and every time the announcer said "California Chrome" the crowd erupted again. Carol and I went both Black Eyed Susan Day and Saturday for the big race, Preakness Stakes. Donned our fancy hats and partied turfside.