RE: [RC] first event, first 50 report - Sharon Levasseur
Keith, I am terribly sorry you had to
endure such comments! I applaud your attitude in the face of it.
- Sharon Levasseur and Zephyr (Arab/RMH
who trots and foxtrots)
-----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Keith Kibler Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 4:47 PM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] first event, first
50 report
On May 20th, My mft, Blues and
I went to the Dead Dog Endurance event in Kinmundy Il for our first shot at a
50. It was definately interesting. We showed up with my spanking new Aerc
card and the entry fee. A nice woman took our money and then the race director
showed up. The first thing she said was " You shouldnt do this race".
That was odd as I had been talking to her by email for months and she had
always encouraged me before. I thanked her for her concern and said
I thought we were ready. After all, she already had my money.
Waiting in line for the
first vet check I was approached by Vickie from Evansville and
her daughter in law looked at my horse and said "I think it
is horrible the way these people are treating you." This kind
of caught me off guard as a little rudeness never wigs me out. But you see
I did not know at that time that there had been a meeting, which I later had
explained to me at which time it was discussed that:
1. I was not on an arab.
2. It was our first event.
3. I was a "local".
So, the plan was hatched to try
and discourage me.
Vickie, who is a lurker here
per what she told me (email me Vickie for the ride information in Shawnee
please) said "I dont know what your horse can do but do your best, we will
be your crew, and please dont let these peoples arrogance stop you" I
didnt.
A small animal vet who
I had talked to by email a few times, but never met in person then stopped by
our trailer and said "You should do this" I had to ask her who she
was.
Race morning started
smoothly. The LD riders started first with a mad dash out of camp. The
endurance event was all arabs and Blues, my beloved 12 year old racking
foxtrotter. He is out of Mr Koscot, Merry Boy Sensation, Golden Governor
and Poole's Blue Boy.
We started with a
controlled start of 2 1/2 miles and then the call of "the trail is
open".
There was a woman there
who told me she had done the Pan Am games and that here arabian had 4000
miles on him. I decided she would be a good one to keep in sight. I did just
that was a protege of hers in between from Dubai. To say the least the woman
was not pleased with my being 20 yards behing her on a fox trotter. Heard
during the first 20 miles into the vet check:
1. What do you do for a living? Your
a lawyer? I dont like lawyers?
2. What do I do? I sell endurance
horses, If you want to buy one I could sell you an endurance horse.
3. You will never win on a
horse like that.
4. I hear you ride like hell.
5. Another arab rider offered me $40
per hour to ride his horse.
6. I guess you dont know
how to post do you?
Well, you get the idea.
We went into the first vet
check at 20 miles in a bunch 2nd, 3rd and 4rth over all. The first place rider
must have exploded at the start because I never saw her once the whole
race.
The 2 arabs with me both veted out
60 seconds faster due to their heart rate falling a bit quicker. But
hey, If my memory serves our lowest score was an A- on the vet check on
the trott out. I had to keep saying , "this horse is gaited, HE WON'T
TROT!" But we do need to work on that somehow to please the vets in the
future.
It took about 15
minutes winding through the LD riders to pull the two arabians we were
following back to us. We did just that and settled in again at a rack at about
10 mph. In studying what gave the arabians an advantage before the event one
thing that seemed apparant was that there shifting from loping, trotting
and cantering allowed them to use different muscle groups. SO, I worked on
Blues' Canter in secret. My trainer hates cantering and I never told him until
after the race and we met up later.
We rolled into
the 35 mile vet check exactly like before. Vickie and her daughter in law
helped me sponge down blues. This time I got a B I think on the
"trott out" GAITED HORESE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO TROT!" O well,
back to the race.
The woman
from Dubai pulled and the Pan Am racer vetted out 2 minutes
faster. (Note to self, use my own heart rate moniter next time to
get the vet over quicker)
Joe, a
rider from St louis was doing the race the next day and asked if he could
shadow us. I told him I would love the company.
I bumped
Blues up to 11-12 mph (arent gps watches useful?) for about 4 miles and never
saw the Pan Am rider again. She must have been positively flying. I
decided we were safe from behind and werent going to move up so I let Blues
walk a few times just to play it safe.
After a
while Joe said:
1. Do all gaited horses move
this quickly?
2. So, you dont have to post at
all?
3. It is an honor being behind you.
4. How much is that horse worth?
Needless to say I liked
his comment alot more that some of the others I had heard.
I slowed down through the
finish line which was on the trail itself and kind of startling to my
horse. We then had about 200 yards to go to the vet check on hard
packed gravel. I collected blues up and set him a slow show rack. He sounded
like a machine gun or a paso on the boards. Our crew (God bless you both!)
gave us thumbs up and high fives.
We were 3rd overall and 1st in
weight class. Folks avoided us like we were lepers or something. The
assistant director came to our camp sight as I was packing up and said "I
gues you know you earned major respect" THen he told me about the
meeting and said "we were just concerned about the horse"
I told him that I appreciated
any concern for my best buddy Blues, whom I love dearly and that there was some
of that concern in their motive, but that since not a single person asked
me about the training we had done I thought the main issue was really
arrogance. He did not disagree. He then said "You will never win
overall on a horse like that" I asked him what the motto of the Aerc
was? He remembered.
We got our awards for
finishing, 3rd place and winning our weight class and left early to pick up
other horses, several gaited buddies and a week of riding and camping at the
Big Creek Trail ride in So Missouri.
What did we
learn?
1. Training for this was just like
training for a human endurance event. Periodazation, Lond Slow distance, rest,
speed work, heart rate monitering, race preperation and proper food all come
into play.
2. A gaited horse, if it is
the right horse can compete quite nicely.
3. There are some lovely
people at these events.
4. Considering that my sample
group is quite small, dont be surprised if you greated with alot less than open
arms if you are new, local and not riding an arab.
5. I love my horse Blues and he
is a champion in my eyes.
