Item Subject: Message text
Sallijan wrote:
>
>I'd love to know more--such as what the weather was like and
>what breeds of horses and ponies competed. The comments of
>"lovely tracks and fantastic views" indicate you enjoyed GOOD
>riding weather!
>
The weather was superb, Saturday was hot and sunny, temp. was about 82
deg. F. The sky was cornflower blue and cloudless(poetic eh?)Sky was so
clear you could see for miles. Humidity was low and there was not a
breath of wind. Sunday was less hot but more humid, but later in the day
a gentle breeze helped the heartrate of the horses and riders. High thin
clouds gave intermittent shade, and out on the course a few spots of rain
were felt. Just don't mention the flies!!!!
The horse that won the 100 mile class, Spirit of Darkness, is a pre bred
Arab, 17 years old, bright chestnut, white blaze and white socks(?), 15
HH. Wonderful nature and one of those beautiful floaty Arab trots.
Highland Trooper, winner of the 75 mile class is Highland PonyxArab. He
is quite stocky dark dun almost bay coloured. Approx.14.2HH looks like a
lean highland pony rather than anything with Arab in him. His heart rate
was 46 at the end of day 1(33 miles) at a speed of 7.36mph, and 50 at the
end of day 2 at 6.53mph(42 miles) his rider is a junior and did all of
day 2 on her own as the rest of the class had withdrawn or been
eliminated. The 3 entries for the 50 class again saw a diversification
away from the Arab, one arab cross, a Cleveland Bay and a Highland
PonyxThoroughbred. This was a race ride with second place going to a 69
year old Grandmother. The 42 mile race ride saw the return of the Arab in
the form of pure and cross breds. An Irish Draught cross came fourth at
7.14mph but a pure bred Morgan Horse was eliminated with a high HR. The
42 mile competitive had the usual arabs, a thoroughbred and an Appaloosax
Quarter horse, the 50 over 2 days introduced a Connemara cross a Cob of
indeterminate breed and highland x arab.
The 33 mile classes(open and Novice) were dominated by arabs, though a
Quarter Horse and an Appaloosa did get into the Rosettes with slower
speeds but good heartrates. Sad to note that the 3 Highland ponies in the
novice class were all eliminated for going too slowly and one had a
finishing heart rate of 76. These are real traditional Highland Ponies of
original Stalking stock. They would have been used to carry Shot stags
down the hill after a days shooting and are designed by nature to stay
sound and go for miles and miles at a slow pace. That is why the crosses
with Arabs work so well. The 20 mile class saw a greater breed
diversification, It was won by a Hanoverian x Arab, second was a welsh
cob, third was a thoroughbredx then came arabs, angloarabs, QH crosses,
Icelandic, Irish Draught, Orlov Trotter, TBXHackney, Appaloosa, Fell and
Connemara crosses. Standardbreds, Haflingers and a Shire(yes) made an
appearance in the Pleasure ride.
The great diversity of breeds seen in the Scottish club is due in part to
our rules allowing(in the competitive rides, not race rides)a slower
speed with no penalties to beat a faster time with penalties. Penalties
are awarded for heart rates of above 48bpm up to elimination at 65bpm. In
the race rides though it goes on speed and a final heartrate of below 65.
As most of us start endurance riding with the horse we happen to have at
the time, the Scottish grading system enables people with a wide range
of breed types to achieve Gold awards.
So, a bit long winded but one more piece before I go.... travelling up
from Glasgow on the Friday one of the competitors was driving too fast
and when overtaken by a Lorry, the trailer started snaking. The tow car
was of the family saloon rather than 4wd type and both car and trailer
flipped over onto thier rooves. Car dented, Trailer written off, horse &
owners walked out okay. Farm nearby had trailer for sale, competitor
bought trailer, horse walked straight in and travelled rest of journey
without incident. Horse(Druids Hill) won 42 mile competitive ride on
Sunday!!
Better get some work done,
Angela