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29 January 2009
What Happens to a Horse...
...over a thousand miles? No studies seem to have been done on relatively slow long distance riding, compared with, say, competitive endurance horses. We hope to find out, by running a small study looking at the ponies' metabolic profile, weight change, resting heart rate etc. Hopefully the ponies will show no signs of muscle damage or heat damage (rubs and galls from tack) but these will be monitored.
The vets will also be looking as things like parasite load, hoof growth pattern or damage, changes in enzymes and waste products, red blood cell count etc and recovery after the ride. The ponies will have a full vetting pre and post ride, as well as periodic monitoring during it.
As well as being helpful for looking after the ponies' welfare (even before visual signs might be apparent), we hope it might be helpful in providing some ideas for practical solutions for long distance riders - or at the very least, point out some of the problems!
The study will have input from Bill Everett MRCVS ( a familiar face for many years at SERC vettings!) with support from Thrums Veterinary Group in Kirriemuir. Many thanks to them all, and to Thrums for offering veterinary/ equine first aid supplies for the trip.
From a Ball of String - to Digital!
Now the route is being worked out in detail, I have been using a digital map measurer to calculate mileage. This cunning little device (less than a tenner from Blacks) is excellent for working out mileages without fiddling about with string and a ruler.
As usual with clever modern gizmos, it also offers me a calculator, a thermometer, a compass, a countdown timer, a mini LED torch and a world time clock! How handy! The only feature missing is free glasses, so I can read the displays...or indeed to find the thing itself when it's got buried under a pile of maps. That was never a problem with my string.
Scottish Endurance Riding Club
A special mention to all those SERC members from all over Scotland who have been in touch offering route advice - I can't tell you how helpful that has been. These are the people who know - as they do prodigious mileages in a season, both training and taking part in endurance rides.
I've only taken part in pleasure rides - and great fun they are - but I am just in awe of the tough athletes who zip past us on their cracking little Arab types. Not just Arabs either - just about every conceivable breed and non-breed. I am always struck by how well-looked after the horses and ponies are, and the strong bond so apparent between rider and horse. A very friendly organisation ...could that be because the sport (at club level anyway) is not directly competitive, by any chance?
More information can be found about SERC here.
The Snorting Pony
I have been working away with a couple of our young Highland mares recently. One of them, a five year old, is due to go to a new home a bit later in the year, so she's been getting some tuning up, and one is a back-up pack pony for the long ride, in case either of the boys needs some time off.
As a breeder, I think we have a kind of moral duty to send ponies to new homes with good manners. I'm not talking about schooling them to advanced medium dressage, (phew!) but they should know things appropriate to their age and stage of training, including being easily caught, tying up calmly, travelling in trailers, behaving for the farrier, not barging or generally misbehaving. You can't control what happens after a pony leaves your yard to go to a new owner, but good manners will hopefully help ensure that he or she has a good life ahead of them and doesn't end up in a spiral of ever-worsening homes. We will always take a home-bred pony back, if the owner's circumstances change.
Amy, the five-year old who is going to a new home, is a willing, friendly pony who likes to please. She just has one slightly odd characteristic - she snorts. At everything. Her feed bowl, her saddle, the dogs which she has seen a thousand times...she never does anything else, like shy or spook - just snorts, and has done ever since she was a foal.
As she is going to a home where she will be used for hacking, we have been doing some traffic training and this week, crossing water. In general I start this water training leading a pony off an older, more experienced one. That way they gain confidence, and are naturally inclined to follow on quietly. Oh, OK then, I don't want to be sitting on them the first few times!
Good decision - Amy approached the small stream, snorting (of course). The older pony I was riding stepped into the shallow water and halted, to let Amy suss things out for a while. He was slightly surprised when Amy gathered herself together and leapt from one bank to the other - about fifteen feet or so. (This is why I don't care to be sitting on them...)
However, much praise, and a few more tries at crossing in a slightly more orthodox manner, with lots of encouragement, and soon Amy was crossing the wee stream like an old hand.
I report this trivial incident, because since that moment, Amy appears to have given up snorting at anything, even strange things she hasn't seen before (which would have previously led to a major snort-a-thon). I would love to know why she has suddenly stopped - is it related to the stream crossing, or perhaps a general boost in confidence? Any theories - I'd love to hear them...
26 January 09
Go Girls Go!
I've mentioned before (and I'm pretty certain I'll mention again) the immense help and hospitality which has been offered on my forthcoming long ride - often by complete strangers. Except people in the horse community are rarely strangers after the first five minutes, are they? Although we may have different ways of doing things, we are pretty much united by that 'horse-bond', forged through a shared common experience of pain, disappointment, penury, hairy clothing and usually hideous nails.
Talking to a helpful 'track-expert' this week I was enchanted to hear her story of three gallant ladies from the south who, fed up with the rotten hunting due to the weather, had decided to bring their horses up to Scotland for some fun off-road riding for a few days. They (and their horses) were delighted by the superb trails and forestry tracks (as well as the hospitality of the locals...) - what was most inspiring about this story is that the 'girls' are all now in their eighties! Sure beats watching daytime repeats of Location, Location in the old folks' home, don't you think?
23 January 09
Happy Burns Night
On Sunday it is the 250th anniversary of of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet (A Red, Red Rose, A Man's A Man for A' That, To a Louse, To a Mouse, Tam O'Shanter and Ae Fond Kiss to name a few of his works). Not to mention, of course, the ubiquitous Address to a Haggis, which will be trotted out worldwide this weekend.
I can never hear this without thinking of a friend who attended a Burns Supper in Germany a few years ago (in German). He tells me that the immortal line 'great chieftain o' the puddin' race', when translated back from German, became 'All hail, o captain of the sausage people'(!) Haggis uber alles?
What's any of that got to do with long distance riding? Well, it turns out that Burns, carrying out his duties as an exciseman, routinely rode in excess of 400 miles a week...as well as fathering at least 14 illegitimate children. Whether or not you enjoy his poetry, you've simply got to admire that!
Performance Equestrian
I am delighted to welcome Performance Equestrian as sponsors of the forthcoming Hoofprints Over Scotland ride. Performance Equestrian specialise in equipment for endurance, Le Trec and long distance riders.
Two items which I have got from them in the past I wholeheartedly recommend for long riders: one is my Troxel helmet which is so light and comfortable you hardly know you've got it on. It has also stood up to some pretty abusive treatment on long rides! The big advantage for me is that it's very easy to change the sizing, (it has a natty size-altering mechanism) so that I can wear a light balaclava under it on cold mornings riding out. Probably contrary to the Terrorism Act, but toasty.
The other item is the Soft Tread stirrups with cages. My greatest fear is getting my foot trapped on a long ride if a horse goes down, so I feel much safer with caged stirrups, particularly as I tend to prefer to wear light walking boots rather than riding boots (as I sometimes have to do a fair bit of walking, if the ground is steep or the terrain difficult).
The stirrups (which are lightweight but robust) also have an extra-wide tread - since I started using them I have had no recurrence of the ankle pain which used to plague me after riding for a few hours with normal stirrup irons. They also do a version without the cages.
This is a helpful company with some very interesting products for long riding - why not check them out?
20 January 09
Conditioning
Conditioning for the trip has started! Being naturally on the greedy, fat and lazy side, I never like this part. However, I know that being in reasonable shape will make the trip more enjoyable (and physically easier), give me more stamina, and reduce the risk of injury. As well as being just a little easier on those poor ponies...
My friend Mary has suggested that I should ask people to sponsor the trip based on the total number of kilos we lose as we slog round (ponies and me!) I thought it was a good idea, but Doogs reckons that's a little too personal.
So, working on two things - cardiovascular (brisk walking up hills). I can see the results already - my dogs have never been in better shape!
Plus, flexibility. I highly recommend Dan Millman's Peaceful Warrior Workout for long riders of a certain age. You can usually get it off Amazon. It only takes a minimum of 4 minutes per day (although you can make it much longer, if you're inclined and have time)... I've used it preparing for long rides before, and never had hip or back trouble.
When Things Go Wrong
Quite a few people have been in touch asking what happens when things don't go to plan...a very good question. Being prepared for emergencies makes the whole deal safer and more enjoyable. So I've started to put together some new pages in the Training section which I hope those riders will find useful, called When Things Go Wrong . I will add to it as we go along - please keep those questions and comments coming!
16 January 09
Run for the Roses
One of the great things about doing long riding is the people you meet...Someone who has been a mine of information about tracks and estates, and a big source of support and encouragement to me is John Tytler Thomson. Those of you who have done any endurance may have met John and his wonderful gelding Prince Omar.
What you may not have realised is that John, a very successful competitor, only took up riding as an adult after a near-death experience. As he lay dying, John met a very special horse - one that was to change the course of his life.
John has started a blog about his remarkable experiences - highly recommended reading!
http://runfortheroses-john.blogspot.com
14 January 09
Books
The next best thing to riding horses is reading about them, don't you think? In this cold weather, I have been doing some reading (should probably have been hoovering, but hey...) I justify it as essential research for the upcoming trip.
On my long ride, I am going to pay a respectful visit to Gartmore House near Aberfoyle, the long time home of RB Cunninghame Graham, (the 'Gaucho Laird') - an inspirational horse traveller at the beginning of the last century. In between riding across swathes of South America, Cunninghame Grahame also found time to found the Scottish Labour Party and later, The Scottish National Party, before his death in the 1930s.
The house was built by William Adam in the 18th century, and subsequently partly remodelled by David Barclay, a student of Charles Rennie Macintosh. The current owner has arranged for me to be shown round - (hope the ponies behave!)
"Don Roberto's" books - and a biography of this fascinating man by his great niece - are available via www.HorseTravelBooks.com (A division of The Long Riders' Guild Press). Warning: don't visit this site unless your credit card is feeling healthy - acres of great stuff for the armchair horse traveller!
I'll get round to the hoovering...sometime. Maybe when I've finished...
... Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin
As a change from rummaging through maps, I have been reading this extraordinary book by Temple Grandin. Subtitled 'The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow', it is written by a noted animal scientist who is also autistic.
From the 'blurb':
She argues that while 'normal' people convert their experiences with animals into words and abstractions, animals and autistic people process the world as sensory information - specific pictures, sights and sounds. The difference is the key to understanding how animals see, think and feel.
It is absolutely fascinating - I guarantee you won't look at your horse (or dog) in the same way ever again - as well as being an insider's guide to autism. Dr Grandin is particularly noted for cattle handling - friends who saw her demonstration at BeefExpo last year said it was very enlightening: they had to walk through the cattle handling gates, chutes and enclosures while she explained what it looked like to a cow - and why cattle might be reluctant to pass through, as they see details which escape most of us. Lots in there for horse trainers to ponder, too!
January 2009 - Happy New Year
Website News
This is the first website I've done - can you tell?! I've used Incomedia software which is fairly easy for the computer nincompoop, mostly 'drag and drop' so I haven't had to use any of that html stuff. I'm attempting to add new material every day or two, as I have been astounded by the number of visitors - there's obviously a huge interest in long distance riding. Most of us tend to do it alone, or in small groups, so it's difficult to get accurate numbers. But if you are considering giving it a try, beware - it's more addictive than Thorntons chocolate truffles!
I really welcome feedback on the site, or suggestions of things you would like to see. You can contact me at mail@afinehorse.co.uk.
Hoofprints Over Scotland News
Plans for the trip are advancing. I now have a 'paper route' on the map - what I have to do now is recce it in more detail, arrange some places to stay and negotiate with landowners for access in some places. Oh, and arrange to meet farriers, plan emergency contacts in case I need veterinary help, where to get fresh supplies and meeting places with friends. Nothing to it really...
Huge thanks to everyone who's offered help and advice.
I am to be joined now and again by friends with their horses for a day or two, which will be tremendous fun. One thing's for certain, after three months on the road they won't be clamouring to share my tent...
And the Horses?
The coldest winter for some time has curbed the riding recently - for most of December the farm has been covered in sheet ice. I've just started some 'legging up' round the local roads and tracks, mostly at a walk. Well, trying to walk...young Yeoman, having had several weeks off, thinks it's all very exciting!
At least the cold weather has given an opportunity to catch up on some tack cleaning and repair (ahem, not before time), in between lugging hay about, keeping water troughs ice free, etc. I must say, though, the horses and ponies have never looked better in the winter, they obviously prefer this cold dry weather to the usual rain and wind and mud!