Dorothy how was your AERC ride?

[ride4fun]

I think I saw a pic of you and another rider on FB after the Dec 2? ride but I really miss your wonderful descriptions of riding Shiloh. If you can carve out time I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love hearing all about it.


Thanks in advance

[DorothyB]

OK - this will be multi-part . . .

History:

I got Shiloh when he was 8. After taking several years of lessons at a barn on other horses both before and after getting Shiloh, I was still unable to canter without my heart racing afterwards. I had a good instructor who tried various horses to find one that clicked with me, etc - and I got very slightly better, but still lots of heart racing afterwards, etc. I boarded Shiloh there for a few weeks and did lessons on him also.

Eventually I stopped the lessons. I got better at cantering to the point that if I was with keet and it was the end of a ride and Shiloh had been nearly perfect the entire ride and the terrain was perfect and there weren't other distractions . . . then I could do a short canter on Shiloh. Keet always had to be behind, not in front.

Can't remember which order the next two came in, but . . .

1) I fell off Shiloh twice. Both times were the same sort of scenario. The first time keet and I were seeing which horse could trot faster. Keet & Holly won and Shiloh started cantering when he couldn't trot as fast as Holly. I tried to stop him, he swerved, I fell off. The second time I was riding w/ keet & her mom. Her mom was trotting in front, I was in the middle. Shiloh started cantering, I tried to stop him, he swerved, I fell off. No serious injuries either time - big bruise the first time.

2) Being a wimpy rider and working full-time (and more), I didn't ride when it was too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. One fall after taking the summer off, I suddenly found myself able to canter Shiloh without fear!! I still didn't canter curves or downhill slopes, etc. but was able to canter much more frequently and with joy.

More later . . .

[DorothyB]

Another very short installment:

What I learned from falling off Shiloh those two times is that I MUST make sure that I am balanced before I ask him to stop.

During this time period, keet discovered endurance and started doing LDs (Limited Distance - 25 to 30 mile rides). Shiloh LOVES trail riding, does NOT like arena work, but he and I also enjoy just walking along trails enjoying ourselves.

Fast forward a couple of years - I continued to become more confident with cantering, started doing better trotting up & down small inclines and around corners and ducking for branches while trotting. Then I retired in fall of 2014.

I started doing "Intros" at endurance rides. These are 8 to 15 miles long and do not have a time limit. LDs have a time limit - 6 hours for 25 miles which includes a vet check and mandatory hold usually at least 45 minutes in the middle and getting your horse's pulse rate back down to 60 at the end.

to be continued . . .

[DorothyB]

Backing up a bit (well, a few years) . . .

When I got Shiloh, he was an ex-showhorse with very little trail experience. He is very good on trails EXCEPT when he is worried about his footing. He has always had HUGE issues with water. Teeny, tiny bits of water would cause a HUGE "deer jump". He would and has jumped 3' high and 3' wide over a 2" stream of water. This was very unsafe and there were times that I actually would get off and send him across the water, then re-mount.

I ride in a Little Joe and, with two hip replacements, getting back on is not an easy task.

I sent Shiloh for a month of water training. They changed his bit from a snaffle to a dog bone w/ shanks and did a lot of water work with him. Once he got back, I still had to do a good bit of work with water and mud, but he is a thousand times better than he used to be!

[DorothyB]

So, I retired in fall 2014 and did my first intro endurance ride in March 2015. Between March 2015 and Sept 2016, I did TEN intro endurance rides. They are actually designed for newbies to try out the sport or for those w/ green or recovering horses to do a short ride.

The first ride I went with keet and camped with her. She did an LD so I did the intro by myself. The ride manager almost didn't let me go out because Shiloh was acting like an idiot. keet and Holly had left at the start of their ride from near our trailer. The intros went out from the other side of camp about 30 minutes later. Getting Shiloh across camp was interesting. The ride manager doesn't know that he backed into someone's trailer. She did see him almost back into an electric fence and almost back into a barbed wire fence. I assured her that he would be fine once we left camp. Sure enough, once we got out of camp, he was fine.

In order to complete a 25 mile ride in 6 hours, you have to average over 5 MPH. With not starting the second that the trail is open (when all of the really fast horses go out), the hold in the middle which involves first getting pulse down to 64 and then the hold of 45 minutes or more begins, and having time at the end to get pulse down to 60, you really have less than 5 hours of actual riding time to do the 25 miles.

Since I was never able to complete an intro at that pace, I said that there was no way I could double the distance and finish on time.

I actually went to my second intro all by myself since keet had school stuff and couldn't come. It was a few hours away, east of Dallas. It had one ditch that had me in tears because I couldn't get Shiloh to cross it without feeling like he was going to jump, but finally got across. After the ride, Shiloh wouldn't eat or drink and there was a storm expected that night, so we packed up and went home. It was a tough drive home because there were a couple of times that it rained so hard that I had trouble seeing the road. Unfortunately, I have found that Shiloh can not go to a ride alone. He did the same not eating & drinking at my 8th intro when I took him alone. He has to have a friend.


My favorite was my 4th intro - awesome ride manager, good trails, a little shade, space to make larger pens, etc. I told that ride manager that if I ever did an LD, I would do my first one there.

I came the closest to doing a ride pace at River Run (my 6th intro) just south of San Antonio in Dec 2015. There were only two of us doing the intro at that ride and the other was a true newbie, so the ride manager asked us to ride together. We were averaging over 5 mph until the other girl's horse fell with her. Neither were injured, but it took a few minutes to catch & check the horse, then walk to a place to mount and then the other rider was a bit cautious for a while so we finished with a way slower total speed.

[DorothyB]

My 5th intro was at Parrie Haynes. I had rented an RV hook-up so I could have water and electricity. This ride was on Nov 1st, so might have needed a heater. Keet's mom was going to come to this ride also, so I took my truck & trailer and keet came later with her mom and their horses. I brought Lucky (my rescue horse) to keep Shiloh company in the trailer and to learn how to camp.

I went through pouring rain getting their. My GPS thought I could get there faster if I took the tollway with the 80 mile speed limit - which wasn't happening w/ trailer in pouring rain. I drove through standing water twice. The second time a police officer was blocking 1 1/2 lanes and I was in 1/2 lane and on the shoulder where the water wasn't as deep. About 15 minutes later, I heard on the news that the road was now closed. I got to the ride site and went in to register with the camp staff. I walked in, they asked how I was and I started crying. Keet and her mom got there a few hours later. They saw lots of flooding but the drive wasn't as scary.

It POURED during the night. Keet did a 25 mile ride the next morning (Saturday). At the ride meeting Sat evening, they said that the water crossing was now too muddy and that we should go down to the edge of the creek and go along the creek looking for a safe place to ride.

So, Sunday morning keet, her mom & I headed out to do an intro. I went ahead of them. When I got to the creek (remember Shiloh's fear of water . . . ) we turned and were walking along huge rocks next to the creek looking for a crossing. Shiloh freaked and scaled a 4' cliff to get away from the water. He lost one back book and broke the other - and I fell off. This was the only ride I had ever done with the phone on Shiloh instead of on me. He went a few yards, then stopped and waited for me. I called keet and re-mounted while waiting for her.

Keet and Holly went down to the creek and along it a bit. Keet determined that it was best to go through the very boggy regular crossing so we did. I left them not long later and completed the intro. We went really slow on the rocks because Shiloh now had no back boots on. We completed sound. Keet and her mom came in over an hour later.

[ride4fun]

Those adventure rides make for good stories later but they are not a whole lot of fun at the time. Who was Keet's mom riding if I may be so nosy.

[Idaho Linda]

I have seen it rain in Texas. Unbelievable!

[kerryc]

Yes when it rains in Texas many times it's by daluge.

[DorothyB]

Keet's mom was riding Zab (the horse she bought from ChrisNStar)

[DorothyB]

The 8th intro that I did was near Bandera. I went by myself as Denise had sprained her ankle. I took Shiloh by himself. This was his second solo trip with the first being the ride I already posted about where I brought him home afterwards because he quit eating & drinking. This ride was the rockiest I have done. Shiloh did not eat or drink well the night before or the morning of the ride, but he did graze as I walked him around before the ride. I had to get off twice to fix his boots. My GPS said we were almost finished the third time one of his boots came loose, so I just took both back boots off. Turns out we were over a mile from camp and we walked the entire way, but he was sound.

After 10 intros, we got serious about training to do a real LD (limited distance - 25-30 mile) ride.

[DorothyB]

I did my first Limited Distance 25 mile ride in Oct 2016 at my favorite venue.

In my region most trails are marked with ribbons and you follow whatever color that tell you. Sometimes you switch colors mid-loop. Ribbons hang on the right. A single ribbon just means you are on trail. Three ribbons on the right means turn right. The only time there are ribbons on the left are 3 ribbons when you need to turn left.

Going back to Oct 2015 and my 4th intro which was my first ride at this favorite venue . . . I left out a bit about that intro ride. This is the only intro I have done that included a vet check in the middle. I did most intros solo as keet was usually doing a longer ride. I did that one solo. At one point we were walking along a dirt road, I was talking to keet on the cell phone and the trail turned into the woods, so we turned and Shiloh started trotting while I was still talking to keet. Hung up the phone and continued on. Didn't see the ribbons for my trail, but there were ribbons of other colors on the other side of the trail. Decided to go a mile and see if I saw any ribbons. I got to an intersection and saw my color ribbon!! I thought maybe I missed a bit of the trail as it was supposed to cross the road and come back per the map, but since it was just an intro, I decided it didn't matter. We continued on and on . . . and then we came to a pond that I had already passed . . . My options at that point were to do the rest of the whole loop again or to go back and find where we got off trail. I opted to go back. I also called keet to warn her that we would likely be passing her going the opposite direction. We did pass her, but the horses did quite well considering that their buddies were going the other way. I finally found my way back and what I had missed was when I turned off the dirt road to the right was an immediate left turn with the ribbons hung on a bush because there wasn't a tree there . . . We completed that loop, but added something like 5 miles to the total ride. I don't go nearly as far before I start trying to figure out if I am off trail now

Back to my first LD at this venue:
Keet did the ride with me on Holly. We did the first loop (a bit over half the ride) with the vet that does our horses' teeth and her boyfriend. At the hold, they asked her to help vet as they were overwhelmed and I stayed to help get her horse through vet check while she vetted and keet took care of our two horses once they passed the vet check. When it was time to go back out, I couldn't find my helmet . . . the vet & her friend went without us. I got my spare helmet out and we headed out. Eventually we came to the place that I got off trail the year before. Keet was in front. She turned right off the trail and I called out "Turn!!" and she said "I did". I said "no, turn again" and we managed to not get off trail more than a hundred feet. I remember towards the end of that loop telling Shiloh that he could walk or he could canter, but he could NOT trot. It hurt me too much for him to trot.

I was the last horse off trail for the LD. I was not the last pulsed down so didn't get the turtle award because someone had taken their horse back to their trailer to finish pulsing down and came in to the pulse taker after me. I was a bit upset because the vet had said that some people do things like that to "get turtle". However, after I got home and read that rider's record, I saw that she had some overtimes, etc and remembered from facebook that her gaited horse never pulsed down as fast as the arabians, so was OK with it.

[DorothyB]

My 10th Intro was before I did my first LD, but I forgot to write about it It is the only one that I considered a "fail". We started out and less than 1/4 mile from camp was the first water crossing. It was a steep downhill at an angle through trees, across a short stream, turning as you crossed, to go up a steep hill through more trees. The trail was pretty skinny and looked skinny going up the other side. There was a volunteer there who led one horse across, etc. It totally scared me. I know Shiloh and I knew he would jump the water and take off up the hills through the trees probably hitting my knee assuming I was still on at the time. I did approach the top of the downhill and Shiloh turned around. The volunteer offered to lead him, but I knew Shiloh would run right over her to save his life. I turned back and went to rider option, almost crying. The ride manager said I could go out the other side where the riders come in off trail and told me how to get from there to the trail I was supposed to be on. The other crossing wasn't nearly as bad. Good wide trail on both sides and the slopes on either side were shorter and gentler. Because Shiloh had gotten away with refusing the other crossing and because he could tell that I had been upset, he had a hard time with this crossing also. It probably took us 10 minutes to get across - one step closer, stop and think about it, another step, etc. We did get across We had been told that there would be water at a particular place on the trail. Got there and no water for Shiloh. It was October, but very hot. I called keet who was doing a 25 and should be way ahead of me. She said that she didn't see water there either. (I found out later that they didn't drop off the tank until later when the 50's were doing that loop.) We made it through the rest of the intro including a few water crossing and ended with crossing the one we crossed at the start, but with no issues. We got through the vet check and then keet called. This is the only ride she has ever done where Holly just "gave up". She actually had gotten off and walked her a bit because she was concerned. Keet was now overtime so I went out on trail to meet her - doing the same water crossing with no issues. When Holly saw us, she trotted to us and was fine the rest of the way as we walked into camp. I hated that Shiloh and I couldn't do that water crossing. That, and the fact that this ride is always in early Oct while it is still hot and we don't ride much in heat of summer to be in great condition, means that I will not ever do an LD here.

My second LD was the only ride I've done outside of Texas and the longest solo trailering trip I've done with horses. Since I now knew that Shiloh MUST have a buddy, I took both Shiloh and Lucky to Oklahoma for this ride. This is the only venue I've been at that I could actually rent a small trailer that was parked there. I tried to sign up for a trailer for this coming April and they aren't doing that any more This ride was in November (rescheduled from a bit earlier in the year).

I signed up to ride on Friday. I trailered up there on Wednesday. I unloaded the horses halfway for a little while in the hopes that Shiloh would think we were at our destination and would eat. He didn't eat very much. I missed one turn and their was construction so got there a little later than I wanted. I also found out that my cell phone would only do text there. I had also reserved stalls since I was going to be leaving Lucky alone while I rode Shiloh. There were 12? pipe stalls all under a huge roof. Stalls were 6 across and 2 deep (back to back).

Shiloh had cut the back of a front heel a week or two earlier. The ride "recommended" foot protection and Shiloh is ouchy on gravel so I almost didn't go. I was afraid boots would rub the healing cut. I decided to go and ask an experienced boot person at the ride. The ride manager whose property we were riding on said that there were only a couple of places that we would have to walk and that she rode her tender-footed horse barefoot on the trails. So, I decided that we would just do the ride without boots.

Wednesday evening I put Shiloh and Lucky in stalls next to each other. The mare next to Lucky threatened to kick him and he spent the next half hour trying to get into Shiloh's stall including scraping his face a little on the pipe fencing. I swapped the two horses. The mare threatened Shiloh and he didn't care.

Thursday morning I went out on a short ride to stretch Shiloh's legs. We went a ways and then could hear rushing water. We rounded a corner and there was the water! Only a few inches deep, but very wide - wider than a 2 way street. The footing was solid large rock and there was a small (less than a foot?) waterfall just to the side of the place where we would need to cross. Shiloh was scared to get close and I was scared to try the crossing. I headed back to camp. Shiloh wouldn't walk. I was riding in a snaffle and he wouldn't listen to me, I thought I might fall off, etc. Got back to camp almost in tears . . . thinking "I can't do this ride". (to be continued . . .)

[DorothyB]

I had met a few people at the camp - turns out the mare that scared Lucky was owned by someone who boarded less than 4 miles from my house in Houston, but had moved her horse a couple of months earlier. She was there with two friends from the Houston area. The two horses on the other side of my horses were owned by a grandmother who lived in OK. She is experienced and was going to do her granddaughter's first LD with her.

So, I ride into camp and the grandmother & granddaughter were adjusting stirrups, etc. I told them how defeated I felt about the water crossing / waterfall. They invited me to ride out with them and let them help me through the water crossing. We headed back out. Shiloh just followed the other two horses down to the water and across the water crossing with no issues at all. After we crossed and went up the hill on the other side, I thanked them and said that I was going back to camp. Although I was not concerned about the water crossing any more, they insisted on watching from the top of the hill until we were safely across.

When I got back to camp, S (owner of Gypsy - the mare that scared Lucky) started asking me how I knew if I was going fast enough, etc, etc. Turns out that her two friends were not doing the LD the next day. S had attempted her first LD at the same ride that I completed my first LD - but she was unable to complete. This was going to be my 2nd LD and her 2nd attempt. She had heard about the water crossing (or maybe had seen it since they had arrived at least a day before me). She was afraid that she wasn't going to be able to cross it. I invited her to do the LD with me the next day and assured her that Shiloh and I would get her across the water crossing.

[DorothyB]

It was very nice having the camper to sleep in. Turned the heater on and was very comfortable. It was cold enough in the morning that I took hot water from the camper for the horse feed and wore gloves & hat. In the afternoons it was hot enough that I used the a/c.

So, ride morning, Shiloh was his normal almost out of control self. Gypsy was also acting a bit wild. After the first group of fast riders left, we headed out.

Turns out that Gypsy doesn't like to be passed (by anyone other than Shiloh ) Anytime anyone wanted to pass, we had to get off the trail and come to a complete stop facing the trail. That was a bit of a pain.

Pretty soon after leaving camp, we passed the buffalo. The buffalo that Shiloh ignored the day before. The buffalo that wanted to walk along his side of the fence as we rode along the alleyway between two pastures. . . Shiloh was NOT happy, but we made it past that area without any huge incidents.

We got to the water crossing and Shiloh led Gypsy right through it - with no issues at all.

There was more rock than I had been led to believe. The fourth time we went over the rock sort of near camp, I promised Shiloh that we wouldn't do that rock again. There were also a few other places where he was ouchy. However, much of the trail was beautiful, nice trails some of which went along a river. There was one other water crossing, or maybe two, but they seemed very safe and easy.

There were two places that the trail wasn't well marked. The first place we were actually on trail, but thought we weren't and turned back . . . meeting up with another horse & rider that also thought they weren't on trail, but we figured it out. The other place a rider passed us as we started over a "hill" and then as we were going down & around, the same rider passed us again figuring out that she was off trail as she shouldn't pass us twice. We almost got off trail in that section also.

One place we could see our ribbons way, way, way across a huge field so far away that we thought we would never get there, but we did.

We came in pretty close to the deadline. I guess we were too tired to discuss turtle, but I got it because Shiloh pulsed down after Gypsy. Both had pulse takers at the same time. 2nd LD completed!