Category Archives: endurance

endurance, fitness

Distance riding attire from a male point of view

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Having spent a fair amount of time in the saddle, I decided to document what does, and does not, work for me.  Disclaimer – I am still only riding LDs, so I can’t ensure what works for me now will still work as I move up to longer distances.  But I am sure if it doesn’t work for 25 miles, it won’t work for 50!
Since getting into endurance last year, I have constantly been trying to figure out what is the most comfortable riding attire for me. Let’s start with I am an English rider. I ride in a Bates all-purpose saddle. I do put Easy Ride stirrups on for rides over about 10 miles and ride with Ariat Terrains and half chaps. I’m not thrilled with the Terrains because they have stretched out (like every other pair of Ariats I own).  Eventually, I will replace them with Merrell or some other high-end hiking boot with a smooth sole.  As for the half chaps, I have the Ariat Terrain Half Chaps. They are fine for now.  I won’t  spend the money to replace them until they are damaged or worn out, but I will likely try a different brand that has some ventilation for the outside of my leg.  
Having spent plenty of time in standard breeches, I knew those were not what I wanted to wear for long periods of time. Last year, I bought a pair of Rackers tights. I also do some triathlons, so I decided to wear my triathlon shorts under the Rackers in order to eliminate cotton underwear.  I like the little cell phone pocket on the leg of the tights.  They fit nicely and have belt loops which makes it easy to tuck in a shirt and keep it there.  However, the tri shorts underneath doesn’t really work.  The bottom edge of the shorts ends up right where my thigh contacts the saddle and rubs about a couple of hours of riding.  
I finally ordered a pair of Saddlebums Racing Tights and today was my first ride in them.  We went 16 miles and I was in the saddle for 3 hours.  My first impression was the material is very similar between the Rackers and Saddlebums.  The Saddlebums do not have belt loops and the cut of the waist made me feel like I would have plumber’s crack every time I bent over and probably in the saddle too.  With the Rackers, I had tried riding in a cycling jersey, but it was uncomfortable with the belt on.  So before heading out this morning, I changed out of my shirt and into a cycling jersey.  Since the cycling jersey has an elastic waist and comes down lower in the back, it solved my problem!  The Saddlebums also have an integrated chamois pad, so they are designed to wear without underwear.  As a guy who has spent time in bike shorts and tri shorts, it feels quite normal to me.  I put the amount of padding much closer to tri shorts than bike shorts.  The optional pocket on the Saddlebums is much larger than the Rackers and actually has a velcro top (which I like).
Overall, I give the nod to Saddlebums for distance riding and will likely be ordering a second pair.  That said, I think my Rackers will become my go-to schooling attire for jumping.
I have found that cycling/triathlon tops make great crossover for endurance riding.  I have a Pearl Izumi cycling jacket that is my go-to rain top for horses.  It is very compact and fits in my cantel bag with all my other stuff.  If you are looking for solutions for men’s attire, check out a local bike shop!
Mojo
Riding Mojo (aka Money Shot) at the 2016 NEATO LD
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Quality time with Mojo

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Since Anna and the kids are out of town, I went out for a solo ride on Mojo today.  WGHA was having a full camping weekend at Escoheag with rides yesterday and today, so Mojo and I went for a day ride.  I had plans of getting there early to have lots of time to ride.  Those plans didn’t work out.  We finally left the house just after 9 and hit the trails at 10.

Today’s ride was all about working on riding without his best friends and trying out some new gear.  I ordered some new riding tights from Saddlebums and wore them today.  I was very pleased with them overall, however, I did forget my half chaps and my calves paid the price.  I have decided that I prefer to do my distance riding with a biking jersey top.  The elastic around the sleeves and waist keep the shirt from flapping around and the pockets on the back come in handy for snacks, cell phone, trash, etc.  I also got a new hackamore for Mojo and I love it.  He isn’t a heavy horse in the first place and the hackamore lets him eat whenever I offer a stop without getting grass all stuck in his bit.  We also did some tweaking of existing gear such as how the saddlebag was attached.  There are little things that add up to annoyances or actual rubs/problems over longer distances, so it’s important to get it right.

It was hot out there (mid 80s with high humidity).  The humidity definitely impacted our speed.  In the end, we rode 16 miles at a 5.3 mph average; just a hair over 3 hours of saddle time.

Mojo definitely enjoyed the 3 stops where I let him wade into the water (2 creeks and a lake).  I have no doubt this horse will swim with me if I give him the chance.  We did a lot of trotting, but I did let him run a couple of times.  He gave me a new top end speed of 23.3 mph!  Overall, we had a great ride and we are looking forward to our next endurance ride in 10 days.

 

 

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Teddy hits the trail

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It’s been a long day.  I did some trimming this morning while Anna and the kids did chores.  After lunch, we had a swim with some friends, then back home to ride some horses.  Vicki spent some time riding Devil bareback, including jumping him to get ready for the show tomorrow.  Of course, tomorrow she will likely be using a saddle.  Alex and Vicki both rode Nike for a short session.  After that, Vicki rode Dakota (her third ride for the day), Amanda rode Huey, and Alexis rode Ace.  Anna and I were able to go for a short trail ride to evaluate Teddy on the trails.  Teddy is making great progress with he fear of ears being handled.  We are able to halter him reliably and bridle him, although it requires disassembling the bridle.  He is not ready to have a bridle passed over his ears and it requires patience to put the brow band back across his head.  Anna has been working on this with him every day, and he is showing a lot of improvement.  I am confident he will continue to get better and we will get past the problems eventually.

On our trail ride, I was on Mojo and Anna was on Teddy.  We just did a 5 mile ride because it was late and the deer flies were ridiculously bad.  I had a few that made it into my mouth, my ears, and swarmed my eyes.  Teddy is definitely an Arab.  He has a nice solid trot, but does have that Arab mindset that large rocks and logs could be a hiding place for a mountain lion.  Nothing too dramatic, but just enough to keep the ride interesting.  We have introduced Teddy to Glove boots.  He wasn’t too fond of them on his hind feet, but once we got moving, he didn’t have time to worry about it.

I did manage to take a short video while we trotted through the corn fields.  Anna thinks maybe we should invest in a GoPro to mount on my helmet.  Teddy walked through water, has a nice ground covering trot, and Anna looks good on him.  His first trail ride was an overwhelming success.  The only thing he is lacking is conditioning, but we know how to fix that.

 

 

 

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Introducing Teddy!

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This morning we left on a short trip to check out a new horse.  This afternoon, we arrived at home to a herd that was anxious to find out who was on the trailer since the seven of them were all in the pasture.

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Teddy is the newest member of the herd.  He is a 15.1hh, 9-year-old, bay Arabian gelding.

The rest of the boys are hoping he gets to come out and play with them soon.

Teddy has been acquired because Alex is ready to move back onto Dakota for his primary mount.  Nike has been awesome for Alex for the past two years, but Alex will always have a stronger love for Dakota.  The two of them have an amazing bond.  With that in mind, we have consented which meant Anna needed a different horse.  We were expecting that Teddy was a 14.2hh Arabian, but he felt bigger when we rode him.  Once we got him home and saw him standing across the fence from the others, we grabbed the tape and checked.  Sure enough, he is a solid 15.1hh.  The plan is for Anna to ride him through the fall and into next year.  At some point, we will decide if Vicki gets him for her next mount (which she is convinced is absolutely the case) or if we need something different.  If these kids would stop outgrowing their ponies, life would be much easier.

We have a few things to work on with Teddy.  He has some serious head shyness around his ears (worse than Dakota was when we bought him) which makes it difficult to put on a bridle.  He also needs work on his trot-canter transitions.  Since the kids will be at 4-H camp next week (including Amanda at day camp), she will have 5 days of nothing else to do, so she should have everything fixed before next weekend.  Or not.  Either way, he is in good condition, barefoot, and a good size, so we have a solid starting point.  The million dollar question is, will he be ready for his first 25 mile ride in 4.5 weeks?  Stayed tuned for updates!

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NEATO 25 2016

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This morning, Anna and I rode the NEATO 25 mile Limited Distance Endurance ride at Arcadia in RI.  Anna rode Dakota and I rode on Mojo.  Since Mojo only arrived on Sunday, this was a bit of a gamble.  He has experience in LD rides, but the longest I had previously sat on him was about 45 minutes.  We took the horses over yesterday afternoon and vetted them in.  We set up some corral panels that were tied to the side of our trailer and the horses shared the space (Dakota and Mojo get along great).  Alex hung out with me at horse camp while Anna took Vicki and Amanda to their music concert.  The girls stopped by on the way home to drop off a few things forgotten in the barn and to pick up Alex; I really like the 15 minutes from home rides.  I camped over with the horses.

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This morning, we had a sitter at the house at 6 so Anna could get back to the ride.  We tacked up and waited a few minutes to head out after the ride started at 7:15.  I had been warned that Mojo tends to be strong and hot for the first few miles.  I was pleasantly surprised that he wasn’t crazy, he just wanted to go.  We held back some and worked on patience and listening.  After the first 4 miles, we had been averaging a 7 mph pace which was faster than we planned.  We slowed the horses and made sure we didn’t overdo it.  Anna was concerned that Dakota was not as fit as at the GMHA ride last fall.  We also had some technology issues.  While we love our Garmin 310XTs for tracking distance and speed, we also use them for watching the heart rates on the horses.  Today, we didn’t have good connections and Dakota’s heart rate reading was running about 35-40 bpm higher than it should have.  There was a lot of discussion during the ride about whether or not Dakota was in distress.  Of course, every time Anna put him in front and let go of the reins, he started trotting at 12+ mph.  I voted that he was fine.

When we came in from the first 15 mile loop, Dakota actually pulsed down to under 64 bpm (the required level) faster than Mojo.  That ended the concerns about his fitness and proved that technology isn’t always great.  I ended up riding the second loop without the heart rate monitor recording on Mojo because of the bad data.  It is just a distraction that isn’t needed and I think Anna and I are both going to shift to using heart rate as an occasional training tool, but compete without it.  Maybe.

NEATO 25

After our 45 minute hold we headed back out.  We ended up averaging about 6.2 mph on the first loop which was fine.  We took it easy on the second loop of 10 miles.  In the end, we completed the 25 miles with a ride time of about 4:15 and averaged just over 6 mph.  Both horses cleared the vet check at the end and were deemed fit to continue, which is the criteria to be awarded a completion.

NEATO 25 Mojo

Mojo and I had a good ride together.  We have a few things to work on, such as personal space.  Mojo likes to be in my space and stood on my feet more than once.  He also likes to use me (and Dakota) as a scratching post for his head.  Despite these minor things, he moves out very nicely on the trail and has a powerful trot.  He had no problem holding a trot up to 12+mph.

I do have a few things I want to change before another distance ride.  Anna and I have both been somewhat unhappy with the halter/bridle combos we bought last year.  She has recently switched to using a rope halter and adding a basic trail bridle.  I think I’ll be making the same change.  Also, I got a few rubs from my clothing (like sock tops on my calf where the calf and saddle touch) that require fine tuning before going up to any longer distances.

In the end, it was a good ride, but now we have to get ponies ready for the kids to show tomorrow!

 

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Got some Mojo!

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Last night about 9:15, I unloaded a new horse from the trailer into the barn.  He had spent 6 hours getting hauled in from VT.  Since we took this one sight unseen, Anna and I put him in the cross-ties and checked him over.  At the end of the barn, there was a 10 year old girl sneaking around in the shadows trying to catch a glimpse of the new pony.  When we spied her, she darted back into the house.  I went inside and told Vicki it was ok for her to join us in the barn, so with a huge grin, she grabbed her jacket, slipped her boots back on, and happily followed me back out.

He was a little lonely today, turned out in a paddock alone, so Devil got to join him.  They made fast friends and spent the afternoon mowing any new shoots of grass.

After work, I had a few trim appointments and then finally got home to get to know my new mount.  His shoes were just pulled this weekend, so the first order of business was to get him fitted with boots.  One benefit of being a dealer (and having 6 other horses on the farm using boots) is I can usually fit a horse with something we have on hand.  Once that was taken care of, we tacked up and headed to the arena.

Introducing Mojo!  He is a register Half Arabian (the other half is Dutch Harness Horse) and his registered name is Money Shot.  Mojo is owned by a local farrier who has been following our story and thought we were the right match for her horse.  Mojo is 10 years old, 15.3 hh, and 850 lbs.  He has long legs, a long back, and a narrow barrel.  He spent the early part of his life as an arena/show horse and has spent about the last 3 years as a trail, endurance, and CTR mount.  He seems very well matched for our desire of a versatile horse for some dressage, eventing, and endurance.  We are a little concerned that Vicki may try to claim him.

As the light was fading fast, I did manage to get about 30 minutes of saddle time on him tonight.  This weekend we are doing a 25 mile Limited Distance endurance event with NEATO, so that will be a true test of our compatibility.  We have him on an extended trial, so stay tuned for more Mojo!

 

 

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Perhaps a bush.

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Today, we joined a group ride with NEATO (New England Arabian Trail Organization) at Pattaconk State Forest, which was a new venue for us.  We rode just the single 10 mile loop.  We were originally planning to do 18 miles, but the day got started a little later than planned and we had 5 flat tires on the trail.  A “Flat Tire” on the trail is our code word for a boot problem.  We have been having a lot of boot problems lately, but we have some Renegade boots on order and hopefully, that will reduce the number of boot casualties.

perhaps a bush

This comic is such an amazingly accurate illustration of my relationship with Echo.  Don’t get me wrong, Echo and I are getting along great.  But out on the trail, he goes into full Arab mode.  Last summer, Misti literally spooked at a Butterfly crossing the road ahead of us.  It seems Echo is quite untrusting of rocks.  In particular large rocks on the side of the trail, flat rocks in the road, and rocks that are a different color than other rocks.  Throughout the ride today, as Echo would veer to the side, Anna would laugh and say “Perhaps a bush.”  It was the scary mud puddle that caused a spook resulting in my forward somersault over Echo’s shoulder.

Even though we didn’t ride as far as originally planned, it was a good training ride and I think we are still on track for Alex and Vicki to do their first 25 mile ride in May.  Echo, Dakota, Nike, and Devil all did great.

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A cold, blustery day

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This morning we awoke to just under an inch of snow.  This has been one of the weirdest winters (and now springs) since we moved to CT 10 years ago.  By the time we went out for morning chores, it was still snowing, but the snow on the ground was melting.  By lunch, the wind was blowing enough to drop the wind chill a fair amount and the snow on the trees was turning to ice.  So we went for a trail ride.

Amanda came to breakfast in her mermaid wrap that was made for her at Christmas by a family friend.

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Today’s trail ride featured 6 miles of an air temperature about 37F, wind chill in the 20s, and ice constantly hitting us (and the horses) as it blew out of the trees.  There were only 4 of us on today’s ride: I was on Echo, Alexis on Ace, Vicki on Devil, and Alex on Dakota.  The 3 ponies did great.  Echo was great for the first half.  When we hit the turnaround point, I moved him from lead horse to last horse.  He didn’t care for that and it made the second half of the ride more interesting.  He wasn’t bad, but he didn’t want to trot behind the others.  It is definitely an area we will have to keep on working on.  I did decide to run him out a little to burn off some of the energy (the ponies were all happy to keep trotting along quietly as we pulled away for a couple of minutes).  Echo established a new top end speed today at 25.8 mph.  He sustained higher than 20 mph for 1/4 mile, but we had to pull up when 3 of his 4 boots had come off and were holding on by the gaiters. I’m not really convinced the Gloves (hoof boot) are designed for speeds above 20 mph because that seems to be when we consistently have problems.  I also rode Echo in an S Hack today for the first time.  I was overall satisfied with the control and stopping power.  The advantage of riding in a hackamore when doing trail/distance riding is it is easier for the horses to stop and eat/drink at breaks along the way.  Next weekend we will do a longer conditioning ride with  at least Dakota, Devil, and Echo as we continue to prepare for our first 25 miler of the season in May.

 

endurance, horse, kids

Easter Fun

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This morning the kids were up and hunting eggs at 7.  There are no pictures, because like I said, the kids were up.  They did follow the “rules for the egg hunt”.  Vicki decided to make up rules for the Easter egg hunt and posted them on the fridge yesterday. Here are the rules:

  1. No waking anybody ’till 7:00.
  2. No starting to gather eggs ’till everybody is up and ready.
  3. No opening eggs ’till you are inside (plastic eggs filled with candy).
  4. No stealing eggs from other egg hunters. (Amanda’s rule)
  5. No bikes. (Amanda’s rule to prevent the older siblings from having an advantage)
  6. No candy before breakfast.
  7.  Have fun!

Apparently, it was also a competition (because Vicki is quite competitive) and there were pre-determined criteria for the winners.

1st place – Golden egg

2nd place – Silver egg or most eggs

3rd place – Least eggs

It took about 30 minutes for the egg hunt to be completed and judged.  I know this, because at 7:30 Amanda showed up in our room crying because she lost.  Actually, she got second, which was evident when Alex got upset because a 5-year-old beat him.   Vicki collected 70 eggs including the golden egg (can you tell she is competitive).  Amanda had 43.  Alex had 39.  There was no sympathy for the losers.  We had a discussion about losing.  Not everyone wins in this family.

Earlier in the week, we spent almost 6 hours (4 of which included all the kids) working on cleaning up the tack room in the barn.  Saddles and bridles were cleaned.  Tack was reorganized.  Items were identified to be sold.  This morning, we cleaned up the tack room in the horse trailer and then loaded the trailer to haul out for a trail ride.

Today was the first time we ever hauled 5 horses and ponies in our trailer so the whole family could ride off-site.  We have a 4 horse slant load trailer, but the rear tack folds flat.  Devil and Huey have no problem sharing that space.  We left them loose like in a stock trailer and they had plenty of room to move and turn around.  We hauled out to Arcadia, which is less than 20 minutes away.  Amanda has been on many trail rides with Huey at home, but this was the first time she got to ride him at an away event.  Anna still keeps a lead line from Dakota to Huey.

The weather was nice in the mid 50s by the time we were ready to ride and we opted to ride from the Midway parking area, which gives immediate access to nice open fields.  The ride wasn’t as peaceful as some, because Amanda kept yelling “Faster!”  “Canter Huey, Canter!”  We knew her stamina wouldn’t be great with the trotting and cantering (and the temps).  Huey was a rock star.  He walked, trotted, and cantered at all the right times.  Amanda had a blast.  She is definitely a speed demon.  While she probably isn’t ready for the hunter paces quite yet, she is light years ahead of where Alex and Vicki were at her age as far as trail experience and confidence goes.

Amanda was satisfied after 4.3 miles in 50 minutes (a 5.1 mph average).  When we arrived back at the trailer, there was a quick change of Alex off Nike and onto Dakota.  Nike and Huey stayed at the trailer with Anna and Amanda while Echo, Dakota, and Devil went back out with Alex, Vicki and I for another 5.7 miles.  The second outing was almost all trotting except for short walk breaks and a little cantering at the end.  Alex and Vicki have decided they plan to join me for a 25 mile ride in May and it’s time to get kids and ponies ready for the ride.

The second round was a good workout for all involved.  Devil is the one we are most concerned about because his legs are so much shorter than Echo’s and Dakota’s.  We determined that Devil was able to maintain a nice consistent trot up to almost 8 mph.  We were able to average 6.3 mph on our second round, which is well above what we need to average to complete the ride in May.  With the kids, faster is actually better because time in the saddle and keeping them fueled with calories will be the biggest challenges.  Alex and Vicki tested out wearing their Camelbacks during the ride and that seemed to work.  It eliminates them needing any kind of saddle bags and allows them to sip water continuously during the ride.  We also bought both of them triathlon shorts to wear under their riding pants to reduce the risk of rubs from 4-5 hours of saddle time as we increase the distances.

By the time we wrapped things up, temps had dropped back into the 40s.  Everyone was happy to get home, unload all the gear, do evening chores, and head inside for dinner.  We enjoyed some Easter cupcakes for dessert made by Anna, Vicki, and Amanda.

endurance, horse, kids, Uncategorized

Riding weather!

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This year has been one of the mildest winters we have ever experienced in CT.  The nice weather means more time in the saddle on the trails.  On Sunday, Anna, Alex, and I went out for a ride with some new friends (including Echo’s owner).  We rode about 8 miles and the temps were in the upper 50s.

Our long time friends, Jeremiah and Tracy Minner have been in the area for a few weeks while Jeremiah is in school in Newport.  Anna and Tracy have been getting together with the kids for activities a couple of times each week.  Today, Anna took the kids to Newport where she and Tracy took them to The Breakers and spent time walking along the cliffs and shore.  Then they headed back to the resort where the Minners are staying for some time in the pool.

When I got home from work and it was 70F outside!  Anna and the kids were still in Newport, so I saddled up Echo for some solitude on the trails.  This was my first time taking Echo out alone and it went great.  We headed out without a specific agenda.  I put some Gloves on him for the first time before we went out.  It is quite rocky on the forest roads and I see it as cheap insurance.  Echo has been ridden in Renegades in the past, but I prefer Gloves for jumping and wanted to see how he did in them.  We didn’t have any issues with interference or boots coming off.  It was a short sleeves day when I headed out, but I put a lightweight wind breaker in my pack just in case.  By the time it was getting dark, temps had dropped to around 60 and there were a few drops of rain hitting me, so I put on the jacket.  Echo kept on moving while I flapped a jacket around and got it on – it didn’t phase him in the least.  The last mile and a half was a good 30 minutes after sunset.  Echo didn’t have any problems continuing to trot down the trails in the dark.  It was nice to do a ride on a horse that moves forward and isn’t afraid of every shadow.  I a really enjoying his pace and I think we will be a good team.  When it was all done, we had covered 9.5 miles – not bad for a weeknight.

I’m looking forward to more riding in the early spring weather!