[RC] Trens Tesmen (Translation: Trans Tasman) Part 3 - Jay Randle
"The Pressure Cooker"
Saturday night we were treated to dinner at the woolshed and a pre ride briefing.For those of you that have never been in a woolshed you can smell sheep.Very strong smell of sheep and the timber floorboards were well oiled with sheep grease.(I think it's called lanoline but I like to say sheep grease).What else would you expect to eat in NZ other than sheep and deer.I had both and made sure that I had at least a small serve of salad even if I just wanted to eat more venison. Derek made a short speech and so did his Kiwi counterpart Chris King.The pre ride talk was oh so short and sweet.They basically said get on your horse and follow the markers.Very refreshing to not feel like you need a pillow for pre ride. Tracks in NZ are not marked with arrows but rather roadside posts.You know like the reflective guide posts on the side of the road.There are few trees in the paddocks to attach an arrow to.Also they use milk containers painted fluro orange.There are very few gatesitters and many,many gates so the riders have to open and close the gates themselves.I can just imagine how we would whinge if we had to stop every 2k to open a gate whilst our competition caught us up and then hold the gate open for them whilst they wait for you to close it again.A good system in many ways and not so good in others. So back to the hotel for some shut eye dissapointed that I didn't get to eyeball the opposition strippers (strappers) as they did the Haka.I think we should make an official request for a Haka when they arrive here next time.Derek has a Haka joke that I'm sure he'll tell you if you ask Up early for the short drive to ridebase and time to saddle the steeds for ride start.A daylight start at 6am which saw all riders happy as and off up the sheep covered hill and over the top not to be seen again for around two hours. I should explain now for those that don't know how the crewing system works on the squad.The rider is of course responsible for all on track.Once the rider returns the horse is handed over to the stripper who is then responsible for all decisions thereafter.The groom strips the horse,trots the horse out,returns the horse to the yard,feeds the horse,re saddles the horse and presents the reigns back to the rider who is seated upon a goose down throne asking for more grapes and wine.You must at this point remind them that it is important that they remount their freshly stripped steed and join the throngs of competative riding again.Strippers could also be called the riders "bitch". So first leg was 30k.I had expected Tarni to do just under 2 hours.There was a stripper call at 3k from base.It was a big call with from memory 18 horses coming in together.Guess you can blame the gates for the traffic jam. Now this is where it becomes interesting as the stripper.We didn't know our horses much at all and from looking at the logbooks we had a reasonable idea of how they pulsed.Rios is a very pushy,arrogant horse who really isn't much interested in standing still or being polite.He throws you around like a rag doll and the more you give him back the more he fights you.Off with the saddle,a quick wipe on the neck and we went straight in at 68 after he came in at 72.It really was a punt at that stage and by the time we got to the vet he was 64 with a CRI of 60.So we were 1st in and 1st out.Great result.All of our horses made it through the first vet check and really the difference in times was of no consequence at that early stage.One of the other Kiwi juniors was only 30 seconds behind Tarni. The second leg was again 30k although travelling a different direction.All of our horses looked great heading out and they came in a little more spread out this time.Little did we know that one of the fellowship was about to fall.Who fell?You will have to tune in for the next thrilling installment and see. G
