Laura - Petplan Equine Ambassador

Like many other equestrian disciplines, the endurance calendar was not immune from the exceptionally wet winter with a number of competitions cancelled or postponed. The wet ground also made training much more challenging, particularly when it came to faster work.

It came as a huge relief to finally get out to our first competition in April. This was to be my first competition since my accident last year and my excitement quickly turned to anxiety. I decided to take Pearl. She is such a sweet, and most importantly sensible mare with four hooves at each corner, so I knew she would give me a good ride and boost my confidence. We entered a 30km Graded ride at Clent Hills, for this type class you are awarded a grade based on pulse and speed. The going was quite testing which meant we had to take it particularly steady but we had a great time catching up with friends. Pearl, despite being very excited to be back out competing, was foot perfect. She finished with one of her lowest heart rates yet, which would normally result in a grade 1, but the challenging going meant our speed was much lower than normal resulting in us gaining a grade 3. I was so relieved to have got over the first hurdle, to be back competing and thrilled that my leg didn’t cause me any problems. Pearl’s next competition is hopefully a 64km at Wirral in June where we get to ride across a beach!

The following weekend Farrah and I headed to an International Squad Assessment day down in Bristol. It was absolutely freezing and a real struggle to keep her warm but we came away with some useful pointers following ridden and unridden assessments by the team vet, farrier and physiotherapist.

Over recent months we’ve been working on Farrah’s fitness and core strength with a mixture of schooling, hacking and canter work on the gallops. Having reached a basic level of fitness we moved to interval training and made use of our grass canter tracks which are on a steady incline, to up the fitness level. We had hoped to enter our first 120km FEI 2* ride at the beginning of June but following the cancellation of Belvoir Castle we had to reassess plans. The FEI classes due to run at Belvoir were moved to Cranwell 3 weeks earlier. As Cranwell approached I felt Farrah wasn’t quite fit enough and needed a run before we tackled the 120km so we entered the national 80km Competitive Endurance Ride instead. These classes are based on first past the post and subject to a final vetting to ensure your horse is sound and fit to continue. Having decided to enter the 120km FEI 2* at Seacliffe in Scotland 3 weeks later I planned to ride a steady pace aiming for a safe completion. To start with Farrah wasn’t completely convinced with this plan but soon settled and gave me a fantastic ride.

Heavy rain the night before the competition made the first part of the 3 loops quite treacherous and had to be ridden very carefully. Thankfully the going on the remainder of the 3 loops was mostly grass tracks allowing us to pick up our speed to finish at 14.09kph. Imagine my delight to come second! I was even more chuffed to be awarded the Leading Rider Award for the class. This award is designed to reward consistent riding and good horsemanship over the course of the whole ride. Farrah is now having a well-deserved break and being wrapped in bubble wrap ahead of our trip to Scotland.

I have recently brought Indie back in to work with the aim of taking her to her first competition in July/August. Meanwhile Sox is being restarted down in Wiltshire. Those of you that have followed my Facebook page will know that he found the transition to a ridden horse quite an anxious time. His mum is a worrier and I think she’s passed on this trait! It is fair to say that his anxiety levels seemed to have increased following his time off but he has now turned a corner and seems to be enjoying ridden work which is a relief. Much to my delight he has recently been joined by Lark who is starting ground work and will be lightly backed. It was decided in conjunction with our vets that this was the safest way to manage the strengthening of her damaged shoulder muscle. When all 4 are in ridden work I think I will need to split myself in 2!

Hopefully I’ll have some fun tales to share from our trip to Scotland next time!