SportEndurance

[Emma S]

Hello.

I've finally plucked up the courage to actually print off the application form for SportEndurance !

Any other members out there to help me with the transition from Scared New Member to Competant 20 Miler ?!

Emma S
;D

[Louise C]

Hi Emma! How is that different from normal Endurance? Flynn did about 12 miles in March of this year, it was brilliant!

[Emma S]

Hi Louise

I'm not really sure on the difference, but it seems more of a 'club' than a 'competitive association', if you get my meaning.
SE seems to do more 20 milers than EGB, especially in Shropshire - which is very convenient for me ! Partly due to transport & partly cos i'm not sure my back would take more than 20 miles in one go (but never say never as i was managing 2 lots of 15 miles every week in the summer !).

How's Flynn ?

Emma S
;D

[Louise C]

Wonderful as usual thanks! I guess it depends on the region, our local EGB have a big variety, but I don't get to many because of transport.

[Oranges]

hey, good luck with it all i'm joined with SERC but i have some EGB rides planned for next year. you will have to keep us updated on how you go

[Emma S]

Hi Oranges

Any hints & tips on training ?

Emma S

[gemma]

I could do with some tips too as I plan to start EGB rides with Marigold next year!

[Oranges]

hey, the best thing to do when training is to find out what sort of terrain your horse is good on and what terrain will slow you down. also find some hills to practise up and down. also careful you don't start to fast at rides, at oxnam it was fields on the first half and we just flew through it, then ran out of steam on the first decent hill lol, still got a ok time though.

[Karon]

One tip would definitely be, don't set off with me and Ash (assuming I manage to get my act together and actually get to a ride) - unless you want to break the land speed record for 20 miles.....

I'm hoping I can get to a SE ride or two next year too, Ash is easy to get fit but if I get the babies (ha!) to a ride or three, I'm planning on taking upwards of 3 months to get the basic fitness in. When I started competing on Ash, we started off quite steadily (Naz struggled to make the time to start with, Ash never had that problem!) and just stuck to a steadyish trot and slow canter. If you can work out how fast Skotti goes at an average walk, trot and canter (and tolt?) and faster/slow of same paces that'll help you to get an idea of how fast you are travelling which I found was really helpful with Ash. Especially when it turned out to be waaaaaaaaay too fast... Oh, and I don't know how well marked SE rides are but learning to map read competently helps especially if some kind soul moves the markers

Good luck, bet you love it ;D And you know who to ask if you need a crew!

[Emma S]

Hey Karon !

A bit of company on my first ride would be great ! Hows Rasheeka getting on ..... (not that i have favourites you understand).

I've e mailed SE & they've said 20 milers are marked out well (but take a map cos sometimes they get nicked).
And so far i've worked out that he walks at 5 miles an hour, so just tolt & trot to figure out. (not intending to canter as he doesn't 'canter' as such - he gallops ! Gotta sort it out at some point though !)
Skotti's easy to get fit as he's naturally powerful but i would still like some pointers as to which way is best to encourage lean Endurance fittening rather than being powerful & muscularly fit. One friend suggested hacking as normal and then doing one session of interval training per week as that worked for her horse - any other suggestions ?
I'm hoping to do quite a few 20 milers next yr and then maybe something a bit longer at the end of the season ... !
But i need to sort out transport. I'm gonna post a thread about horse box hire - just a 3.5t would do. I don't have a car that would tow a trailer (skotti's small but i think my fiesta would struggle).
And I'd like to get down to Dorset for some Icey shows at some point - blimey i'm gonna be busy !!

Emma S
;D

[Karon]

To be honest, for 20 milers just normal hacking would get him fit enough - maybe increase the length of one hack a week - but you don't need to do anything specific. Ash loves long rides so I do take her out for longer distances when I can but someone I know got her horse fit for 100 mile rides without riding more than 15 miles at home.

Rash is fine, busy losing her sarcoids at the moment (I hope..... - second time around, they'd better go!). They all look like little hairy ponies at the moment, except Ash who looks like a hairy racehorse! Rash has grown up now though, she looks like a proper horse instead of a cute little baby Three of them are still out 24/7, Khafif is in full time though and Shantih comes in at night to keep her company. They've got the run of a small yard but seem to prefer to stay in the stable and make it as messy as possible each night (Stable is big enough for 3, BTW!).

I've got to start getting Shantih and Shefali hacking out soon - don't think I'll be taking Rash to any rides next season unless I have a death wish Mind you, taking Ash to a ride would be just as bad and she's old enough to know better! She's calmed down a bit at the moment but a couple of weeks ago her and Daisy, who we ride out with most weekends, were having races up the road - when I stopped Ash from trying to race off, she cantered sideways up the road at 1 mph, threatening to explode. And I want to start doing endurance with her again??? Trouble is both of them have done endurance, both of them are fairly fit and their paces are quite well matched despite Daisy being a heavy cob and Ash an Arab. Plus they set each other off - I rode Ash out with a TB about 3 weeks ago and she couldn't have been quieter!

[Emma S]

Well thats not too bad then - as soon as it lightens up in the evening i'll be riding most nights & tend to do around 10 miles a night, and do 15 miles sat & sun.
But i have to admit most of it is at walk ! Trot is his favourite gait & can go forever, so its me that needs to get trot & canter fit !!

From the sounds of things Ash & Skotti would wind eachother up dreadfully - he HAS to be at the front ....

Would be great if we could meet up for a ride sometime .....

[Karon]

Ash has to be at the front as well - can you imagine it? She'd beat him up if he tried to overtake, too! She's such a sweet mare...

We ought to meet up - fancy a ride on the Long Mynd some time?! We'll be the ones going sideways! We met a couple of rather smart riders on very well behaved horses when we'd just come off the Mynd having had our first trip up there in company and Ash was behaving like a racehorse. I couldn't tell if the smart riders were laughing at us (probably!) or impressed with what looked like an endurance horse still full of herself. Probably glad they weren't going the same way as us

You'll easily get Skotti fit, just need to work on your own fitness. Maybe we should meet up and go running together... I need to work on my fitness as well! Drastically!!

[Emma S]

eeerrrrrr ..... running ?

you cannot be serious !!!!! ;D

unfortunately my joints won't stand up to that - i have to go swimming

[Karon]

Swimming sounds far better - don't think I'll be doing too much running either, it's far too dangerous (people from work might see me...)