endurance, horse, Uncategorized

20 training miles

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As the endurance training continues, the rides get longer.  Today, Anna (on Dakota) and I (on Mistique) knocked out 20 miles in Pachaug.  There were no amazing discoveries or insights.  No real challenges (other than a couple of new trails we tried that went to nowhere).  Because it was the longest ride any of us had ever done, we didn’t push the pace. We planned our route ahead of time and made sure the horses had chances to stop and drink.  It was about 56F when we got up this morning, but warmed up to low 80s by the time we finished.  We stopped to let the horses drink and munch some grass at 5, 10, and 15 miles.

Our total mileage was 20.75 miles and it took 4:10 for an average speed of 5.0 mph.  Once the rests breaks are removed, our average moving speed was 5.3 mph.  Anna and I each probably burned about 1400 calories, so overall, a good training day.

endurance, horse, kids

Endurance Training and pony pictures

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If you aren’t interested in the endurance training discussion, go ahead and jump to the end for the pony pictures.

First, through the support from her original breeder and others, we now have a registered Part-Shagya Arabian (and a slight correction to her name spelling).  The North American Shagya Association has transferred Mistique Lady’s registration to me!

On Sunday, Anna and I each did our training rides alone.  While we plan to ride our first endurance ride together in October, we need to be ready in case something happens and one horse can’t finish.

So, instead of using my Garmin 310XT to monitor Misti’s heart rate on our training ride, I decided to wear my HRM and see how many calories I burned. I keep a separate HRM/transmitter for my running and biking to make it easier to switch between events.
It was in the upper 70s here in CT and we rode 10.8 miles at a 5.8 mph average, which is a normal training pace for us.
I burned an average of 366 calories per hour.
My average heart rate was 112 bpm for 1:52. In comparison, my average running heart rate is usually around 150 for trail running 4-7 miles.

While 366 calories isn’t a big deal, riding for 5 or 6 hours changes things. Suddenly you have burned 1700-2000 hours during a 30 mile LD. While there are many people who can handle that without a problem, you need to know if YOU can. If you can’t handle that much of a calorie deficit, start eating a little snack every hour on your ride to reduce the deficit. It’s just like training for a human only endurance event. The goal isn’t to take in the same amount of calories you burned, but rather to reduce the deficit.

Figure out what works for you during your training rides, even if they are only an hour or so. That Slim Jim may taste good driving down the road, but the greasy chunks might give you an upset stomach trotting along the trail!

Sunday afternoon, Vicki and Devil joined others from Mystic Pony Club for some jumping lessons in preparation for an upcoming rally.  Here are a few pictures of Vicki and Devil.  She has a bad habit of looking down and right as she goes over the jumps.

When we got home, Anna grabbed a quick cup of coffee and at about 5:45, hit the trails with Dakota for her training ride of the day.  She did about 10.2 miles on pace.  She also had the added bonus of riding in the dark as she made it home about 30 minutes after sunset.  All said, both horses did very well riding solo.

Recently, as I was listening to Vicki get told “Don’t look down when you go over the jumps!” it made me think about trail riding.  Where do you look when trail riding.  I frequently find myself looking at the ground right in front of the horse as we go along.  So, during my ride, I did an experiment.  I deliberately spent a long period of time focusing my eyes 15-20 yards down the trail.  Then, I would shift my eyes to a point only about a horse length out in front.  What I noticed (and expected) was Misti tended to stumble more when I was looking down.  Just like a kid looking down causes a horse to be unbalanced over a jump, looking down on the trails interrupts your horse’s balance.  So, whether you are jumping or just riding on the trails, keep your eyes up!  By the way, it will also reduce the number of missed markers on when you are riding a hunter pace.

In other news, Amanda has been riding Huey a lot more recently.  I think the increase in Vicki’s riding and jumping has peaked Amanda’s interest as well.  As a result, she is working very hard at keeping Huey trotting on her own, working him over ground poles and small cross rails, and even asking to canter.  By next summer, she will be ready to ride at the pony club activities too!

This evening, Amanda saddled up Huey and Vicki got to ride Misti.  Vicki has a crush on my mare and is always asking to ride her.  Of course, Amanda had to sponge down Huey when she was done.  Enjoy the pictures!

endurance, horse

A good day for training

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This morning the weather was wonderful: mid 70s with a light breeze through the forest.  Anna and I took Dakota and Mystique out for some training miles.  One of the absolute best things about our farm is the direct access to Pachaug State Forest.

On Friday evening, we did 6.8 miles.  It was hotter, humid, and the air quality was awful.  Today was amazing in comparison.  We rode 15.3 miles at a 5.8 mph average (2:40 total riding time).  We have been slowly tweaking our tack for what we plan to use at the 30 miler in October.  We recently purchased biothane halter/bridle/rein combos and breast collars for both Dakota and Mystique from The Distance Depot.  I am very pleased with the quality and it is so nice to come back from a ride, hose off the tack, and hang it up to dry.

During today’s ride, both horses walked into some water for a drink on 2 occasions.  Both horses were calm and level headed.  Mystique even had a breakthrough when she was willing to continue trotting and pooping at the same time! It’s the little things that make me happy.  The only problem we had was 1 flat tire (boot that came off Dakota) when Anna decided the horses needed to go faster so they could have fun.  Dakota consistently over-reaches and strips a boot at about 16 mph (Dakota actually peaked at 18 mph and Mystique at 19.2 mph during that section).  Luckily, there was no damage (thanks to a bell boot) and it was a quick fix to resume the ride.

Anna and I both ride with a Garmin 310XT and we have the V-Max heart rate kits that allow us to use the watch to monitor the horses’ heart rates during our training.  Just like for people training for marathons or triathlons, the heart rate data is very valuable to evaluate the conditioning of the horses.  It has been interesting to watch the changes in their average heart rate over the summer.  For example, on June 7th we rode in the WGHA 1st hunter pace for 9.4 miles at a 5.7 mph average.  The weather was similar and Mystique had an average heart rate of 119 bpm.  Today, she did 15.3 miles at a 5.8 mph average with an average heart rate of 102 bpm.  For the same 2 rides, Dakota had an average of 111 bpm in June and 101 bpm today.  That’s a significant improvement in fitness.  And even better, I have no doubt both could have handled another 15 mile loop.  We still have 8 weeks until our first endurance ride, and everything is well on track!

 

endurance, horse, Trimming Blog

Easy Shoes or Not-so-Easy Shoes?

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Back in early July, I posted about my excursion into the world of glue-on shoes.  Here is the original post in case you missed it:
https://thesawyerfarms.com/shoes-on-my-horses/.  So, it’s time for a followup.  Most of the blog posts I have seen are about how great and wonderful everything is and how rewarding the experience was.  This isn’t one of those posts.

My first glue up was done on Mystique, and her shoes stayed on 4 weeks.  At that point, I pulled them due to only having a little attachment on the side of each hoof.  Dakota’s were pulled at the same time.  King’s lasted a few more days, but only 4.5 weeks.  Of note, I didn’t follow the entire protocol laid out by Easy Care.  In particular, I didn’t use the Dremmel to rough the bottom of the hoof, I didn’t use the buffy (a sander) on the wall, and I didn’t use a torch to dry the hoof.  I did go to town with a wire brush to prep the bottom and side walls of the hoof.  Let’s just say, trying to use the buffy on Mysti or Dakota would result in them leaving the barn, with the cross ties still attached to their halter, and eyes bugging out of their heads.  We will work on that.  With a lunge line.  In the arena.

For the next round, Mysti and Dakota got shoes on all 4 hooves.  King was left bare (he only got them the first time to give me another horse to play with).  Mysti’s was first and her shoes went on without any real problems.  I did keep Anna in the barn this time to assist with picking up the opposing foot to make the process go easier.  Anna also rode Dakota for about an hour before he go trimmed and shod;  he gets very nervous around farriers and a little work helps take the edge off.

After I finished Dakota’s first shoe, I realized I was out of new glue.  I had 3 tubes of Adhere that were 2 years old and had been stored in the garage through heat of summer and cold of winter.  Since it was all I had available, I decided to give it a try and hope for the best.  Dakota isn’t the most cooperative horse.  When I did his back left hoof, he didn’t exactly load it evenly as he put it down.  Instead, he decided to stomp his toe into the ground and knock the shoe off.  I got it back on, but after the glue cured, it was clear the shoe had too much twist on the hoof and couldn’t stay.  I was after 8:30,  I was hot, tired, and frustrated, so I pulled both back shoes and called it a night.  I wasn’t happy as I tossed $50+ in the trash (the shoes can’t be reused once they have glue on them).

Additionally, I had serious doubts about the glue.  Everything Easy Care had warned me about the signs of bad glue were present – grey and grainy look, not mixing well, etc.  So, I ordered some Equilox from Meader Supply, but just enough to do 2 shoes.  With shipping, it was about $30 worth of glue.  So, 4 days after the previous episode, it was time to try Dakota’s hinds again.  The Equilox I chose was a small container that you mix for immediate use.  You have 6-8 minutes before it cures.  I had enough to do both shoes, but I was “on the clock” once I mixed it.  I decided to do the left hind first.  Guess who managed to stomp a toe down again before the other hoof could get lifted?  That’s right – Dakota knocked the shoe off again, but this time, smeared the glue all over his sole, and managed to get dirt all over the shoe and his hoof.  I just threw away the rest of the Equilox and the now ruined shoe.  Dakota is turning out to be an expensive test subject.

So, we had a hunter pace on Sunday.  Saturday, after trimming 11 other horses, I decided we were going to get some shoes glue on those hind hooves!  Anna rode him to calm him.  He was hot, I was hot, and we were both sweaty.  Neither of us felt like arguing.  We cooled the glue and the shoes before application to give a little more cure time.   By the way, I still only had the 2 additional tubes of old glue available, but that was all I had.  So, I got to work. Amazingly, 20ish minutes later, Dakota had shoes glued on both hind feet and it was the prettiest glue up I had accomplished, with very little excess squeezing out around the edges!  But don’t celebrate too much…

The next morning, we went off to Arcadia and the WGHA Hunter Pace #2.  About 1.5 miles in, I looked down at Dakota’s hooves in front of me and noticed both hinds were oddly lacking shoes.  That’s right – the glue didn’t hold.  Needless to say, all that glue is in the trash can to be removed tomorrow morning by Willimantic Waste.  Dakota’s front shoes did fine on the ride and Mystique’s stayed on all the way around.  Mysti was being a complete idiot for the first 5 miles, but that’s another story.

So, tonight it was time for a short training ride.  What good news does Anna greet me with when I arrive at home?  Mystique has lost a back shoe.  It only made it 9 days.  So, I pulled the other hind and we went for a short ride.  The last shoe on Dakota that was put on with old glue isn’t going to make it much longer.

I’ve already sent an email to get more shoes, more glue, a buffy, and other supplies.  Next week it’s time to do another round of gluing on shoes.  We will also have to do some serious training so the horses tolerate the other portions of the gluing regime without killing me in the process.

Why am I so committed to this project?  I could just go back to using the boots that have served us to this point.  To a certain degree, it is the challenge of getting this right.  Trust me, it’s turning out to be a lot harder than I expected.  I have considered trying Equilox instead of Adhere, but I don’t really think that is the biggest problem right now.  Also, I want this to be an “arrow in my quiver” so to speak, I am not comfortable doing it for a client until I know I can do it correctly.  Luckily, we have plenty of horses here on our own farm that I can continue to use as test subjects.

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WGHA hunter pace #3

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Today we rode in the last of the West Greenwich Horsemen’s Association hunter paces. It was 11 miles long and the hunter division ideal time was 1:49:50. IT WAS HOT!!! The temperature was in the upper 80s breaking 90 after lunch. These hunter paces are held at Arcadia in Rhode Island and are a convenient 20 minutes from home.
We rode in the Hilltopper division and the ideal time was 2:09:50. We rode 2:06:23 which was good for 6th place.

Alexis and Vicki rode with us and that time was good for 1st place in the junior division.

Vicki fell off in one of the fields when Devil spooked sideways at the canter, but got right back on. Rob had a hand full of horse today, but stayed on through rearing, bucking and other excitability issues. At the 5-6 mile point she settled down. Apparently i should not feed her electrolytes. Dakota was a trail rock star as always.

We had a good time and enjoyed lunch afterwards, tacos, salad and desserts.

Alex went with us to the ride and hung out reading while we rode, then had lunch.

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kids, Uncategorized

How did we end up in August already?

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Every summer, July seems to be our busiest month.  This year was no exception.  Keeping up with blog posts seems to fall on the back burner as the days get long and filled with activities.  Evenings are spent riding horses and we come in from the barn around 8:30 to eat some dinner and get kids in bed.

So what have we been up to?  Early July included a week of Pony Club camp for the kids.  Vicki got cleared by the doctor to resume riding after her broken arm, just in time for the last 2 lessons at camp.

Towards the end of the month, we had a short trip down to Washington DC.  It was a down Sunday, back Wednesday trip.  But while we were there, we did take the kids to the National Archives, outside the White House, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and Mount Vernon.  We camped in our travel trailer at the campground on Joint Base Andrews.  Here are a bunch of photos from that trip.

Right after we got back, it was a quick turnaround and the New London County 4-H fair started on Friday evening.  Since we sold the goats, it we only had 2 rabbits and 1 dog to take with us, in addition to a lot of exhibit hall entries.  We camped in the trailer on the fairgrounds and it was a good weekend.  I set up an amateur radio station to run a demo, but also to have something fun for me to do.

Sunday afternoon, Alex and Vicki left directly from the fair to 4-H Camp for the week.  Unfortunately, Alex managed to slide playing kickball and broke his wrist in 2 places on Sunday night.  He still finished the time at camp after getting a cast, but he’s off horses for 2 months.  Amanda was the big farm helper while the others were gone.

horse, Trimming Blog

Shoes on my horses?

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Yes, it’s true.  There are now front shoes on Mystique, Dakota, and King.  I know, I know.  You are thinking, “but Rob is a barefoot trimmer!”  So I guess now, I am a farrier, and not just a barefoot trimmer.  But before everyone gets all “I knew it wouldn’t work” let me explain.  Last year, I debated very heavily about getting into gluing on Easy Shoes.  I even got a whole delivery of inventory.  But I sent it back unused.

This year, Anna and I are planning to do a 30 mile endurance ride in October.  As a result, we have been spending more time trail riding than in year’s past.  Dakota in particular, is very hard on boots and tends to over-reach and tear up the gaiters.  So, after a lot of consideration, I decided to take the plunge and try out the Easy Shoes.

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This afternoon was my first gluing session, and I learned a lot.  For example, when it’s 85F, the glue doesn’t set in 5 minutes; it sets in about 90 seconds. Also, don’t work on Dakota alone in cross ties, because he might freak out, break the cross ties, almost trample me while trying to finish the glue, and take off out of the barn.

 

Of course, after putting some new shoes on, I had to take them for a ride.  So Mysti and I went for a trail ride, alone, starting at 7:30 in the evening. I’ve only ridden her alone a couple of times, and it’s something we have to work on in case Anna and Dakota couldn’t finish a ride.  So, we went out for a nice 4.4 miles as the sun set.

Mysti still needs some confidence; she gets nervous about things like rocks on the side, trees, changes in the color of the ground, wind in the trees, and basically anything else you encounter on the trails.  But she did go out alone.  And she trotted the whole time (when she wasn’t slamming on the brakes due to a puddle in the road).  I took her riding fly mask off and that actually helped her calm some.  And as it got dark, we headed on the last mile back towards home and Mysti was very confident, which really surprised me.  But my biggest surprise of the evening was, Mysti really liked the shoes.  She moved awesome and her front end was very light.  She definitely liked the shoes better than the boots.

So now, it’s just a matter of determining how long the glue ups last.  Easy Care says farriers are getting anywhere from 4-8 weeks.  One benefit of having a whole herd is there are plenty of test subjects.

kids, Uncategorized

Father’s Day 2015

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Yesterday was Alex’s 12th birthday.  On Friday evening, he got to have a few friends spend the night.  For that age group, it basically means lots of time playing video games and watching a movie.  The boys stayed up late and got up early.  On Saturday evening, he requested pizza for his birthday dinner, so we went to California Pizza Kitchen at Foxwoods.  Alex almost fell asleep in the back seat on the way home.

 

This morning, it was pouring rain.  After morning chores were done, I spent some quality time in the garage organizing and cleaning.  Then, later in the afternoon as the showers cleared, Alex and I went to the range to do some shooting.  We had the place to ourselves for the 2 hours we were there and we had a great time.  He really enjoys shooting his rifle.

Once we got home, I groomed Mystique and snapped a few new pictures.  It was hot and humid, and I was tired.  We can ride tomorrow after work.

Overall, it was a good day.

endurance, horse

Endurance training has begun

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As some of you may have seen Anna’s Facebook post on Friday, we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary.  We didn’t go out to dinner or do anything special.  We are saving our celebration for later this year.  Anna and I have decided to ride in a Limited Distance (LD) Endurance race in October.  The one we have chosen is in Vermont and is only 30 miles long.  Others will be doing 50 miles that day, but we want to start out smaller and try it out.  Right now, the plan is Anna will ride Dakota and I will ride Mistique.  I’m pretty sure Dakota is already in good enough condition to handle the distance.

To support our plan, we are working to have at least 1 longer ride each week (typically on Sundays since that is the only day Anna and I are both available).  Since we will be logging a lot more time in the saddle this year, we decided to try out some different trails in Pachaug today.  Anna on Dakota, Alex on Nike, Alexis on Ace, and me on Misti.  We were planning for about 10 miles, but we took a few new trails.  One of the problems is the trails in Pachaug are not really maintained, so we end up riding the gravel road a lot.  That’s rough on the horses and not as much fun.   Unfortunately, the trails we tried out today are not the ones we will be using for regular training.  We hit some trails that were wicked rocky and there was no going faster than a walk.  We also went through a lot of areas where we were hugging the necks of our mounts to avoid having our eyes poked out by the pines branches.  I actually had to get off and walk with Misti for a while it was so bad.

In the end, we covered 11.8 miles and it took 2:53!  It was a significantly slower pace than our hunter pace speed last weekend, but the trail was much more technical.

What we have learned so far in our endurance training:

1.  Dakota can destroy some boots!  We ride all the horses with Easy Care Gloves on their front hooves.  Dakota tends to over-reach with his hind left, step on the neoprene gaiter, and inflict a mortal wound on the boot.  So far, he has proven this ability 3 times this season.  All 3 times occurred on the same hill as his speed exceeded 15 mph.  Something about his canter and over-reaching.  We are going to try him in bell boots to see if that fixes the problem.

2.  It’s time for some endurance style stirrups.  Both Anna and I will be upgrading to wider, padded stirrups to ease the strain on our knees.

3.  Triathlon shorts under riding breeches are much more comfortable than cotton underwear during a 3 hour ride.

4.  We need to do a shorter loop of 5-6 miles and then drop the kids at the house with the sitter keeping Amanda before going back out.  Alex and Alexis did great today, but they were pretty tired by the end.  After Alexis got off, I asked how she felt and she said “My legs are shaking.”

5.  There are no shortcuts in Pachaug.

6.  Both Anna and I need to drop a few pounds and spend some time running/jogging to be in condition to handle the mileage.  Anna is headed off to ice her knees as we type. I’m just going to bed.

Here are a few pictures.  Amanda was waiting for us when we got back and insisted on helping me wash Mistique.

 

horse, Uncategorized

2015 WGHA Hunter Pace #1

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Today was the first hunter pace of the year. It was 9.4 miles and we finished in 1:38.  This year we moved up 1 division to the Hilltoppers, which is supposed to be mostly trotting, with some canter and some walking.   We did that, but apparently our horses trot too fast or too much because we were more than 16 minutes too fast. In fact, we were only 3 minutes and change off the pace for the hunter division. I think we will move up again next ride.
Last month,  Ace joined our farm as a boarded horse. Alexis, who used to lease Huey, got to do her first hunter pace and Ace did great. In fact, all the horses did great. Alex and Alexis got 5th in the Jr division.

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The story of our lives with horses. And goats.