ridecamp@endurance.net: Aussie 80km Endurance Ride Story

Aussie 80km Endurance Ride Story

McClements Darryl (dmcclement@infotech.agric.wa.gov.au)
Wed, 13 Aug 1997 23:55:58 -0700 (PDT)

Hi all!
Just thought I'd write a few lines about an Aussie ride, as I haven't seen
many on the list. I love to read all about your rides over there, they are
very interesting to compare to ours in ride conditions, vet checks and
weather etc! The weekend gone we participated in the Pickering Brook
endurance ride, which comprised of an 80, 40 and 20km ride.The Arabian Horse
Society of Australia sponsors this ride, with some smaller breeders also
helping out with prizes etc. The previous week had been terrible weather,
with inches of heavy rain - at one stage I wondered if I was going to be able
to get all my gear dry before the ride! At 4:30am on the morning of the ride
it was still pouring, and I have to admit I thought about backing out and
staying in bed! Luckily for me, I live only 15 minutes away from the ride
site, and so was able to enjoy the comfort of a warm bed and hot shower the
night before, so slept very well, which I find is impossible at a ride. You
are usually cold and damp, there's always the sound of the horses moving
about, and if you can't hear them, you wonder where they've escaped to! It
was still raining as we loaded up, (we being my trusty strapper and me!) but
it had ceased as we pulled into the camp site, although it was still dark.
Everything went well, from finding a good camp site through to no waiting
line for the vet check, due in part to the inclement weather, I'm sure! This
is usually a very big ride by our standards, but our Association has had a
ride a week for the last month and I think a lot of people find it a little
too much. Most of our competitors have to drive vast distances to get to
rides and don't have the luxury of days off to travel. I remember when I
lived in the country, driving 10 hours to ride one night and then starting
the ride the next morning, only to turn around and drive back that night!
This ride is situated in the top of the Darling Escarpment hills about 30km
from the city of Perth in Western Australia. It is known as a difficult ride
due to the hard, rocky ground and gravelly outbreaks, often causing lameness
and stiffness in horses. The sun was out, although there was a cool breeze,
but this made for a very quick first leg of just under 2 hours over 40kms
for myself, but those in the lead did this in much faster time! A lot of the
ride was through lovely state forest with many wildflowers and yellow wattle
blooms now out due to a warm season and plenty of rain. There was plenty of
water in the form of winter creeks and streams and large puddles on the
course, which was well marked with coloured tape and lime on any places we
were not to cross. All hazards were also well marked and the local State
Emergency Service manned the radio points, doing an excellent job and always
with a ready smile. The second leg was a lot slower for me, but I was able
to really enjoy the scenery as we ambled along in 3 hours over 40km. I think
the worst part of it was wanting to make a pit stop but not being game in
case someone came up from behind, as I knew that there were riders not far
off my tail! I was so pleased and proud of my little mare who just cruised
along by herself which she hates, (oh mum, can't we turn around now, I know
there are horses behind us?) and came in with a heart rate of 36bpm!
Enjoyable as it was, I was pretty happy to cross that line and head straight
for the coffee pot! We still had to vet through, and with the cool breeze,
I was concerned about her stiffening up, but my wonderful strapper kept her
moving whilst feeding her from a bucket. I have never seen her eat so much,
and we sure did get some strange looks and comments when she had her heart
rate taken at the vet check with her head still in the bucket munching away
and even so only 36bpm! (Well her eyes were closing from relaxation, how
could her heart rate be any higher!?) We got through all this with all A's
except one B for stiffness in her gait, so I was pretty stoked as she
has never got so many A's. This put us in 3rd place for Lightweight
division-Yay! This was her first trophy for the season, after 2 years
off, and at 14 y/o, I think she has done very well. (She is a partbred Arab/
Australian Stockhorse cross, and up until five years ago when I bought her,
she was a fat show horse, so she's really a late starter.) What a lovely
finsh to a ride that has always been a favourite of mine, even though I have
had some near disasters there - but that's another story!
There is only one other comment I'd like to make, and that is about the
minority of riders who flog their horses around a ride and then proceed to
argue with vets and ride organisers about certain decisions which are not to
their liking - they need to GROW UP! Bullying other people is not always
going to work, and unfortunately it is the horse that will suffer, not to
mention the integrity of the sport. If you continue to carry on like that
we will not have vets willing to work for us, and if this happens we have no
sport. O.K. I'm off my soapbox now!!
Happy trails, Carol and gang.

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