Liz Taylor

A Very Busy March for Liz

Well the season has started and it’s so good to be back out again! I have had a busy few weeks. It started with our local group of Endurance GB, Offas Dyke, putting on a training day for people new to endurance. I was one of their ‘experts’ (!) and had to give advice and answer questions on getting your horse through vetgates. It was a really interesting and informative day and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves – as well as learning a lot! Dengie very kindly supplied some feed samples of Alfa-A Oil, Alfa-Beet, and the new Alfa-A Balancer which were snapped up very quickly!

Dengie Nutritionist, Claire Akers also visited the yard to help with our feeding program for this year. Falaina and Karaanza are on Hi-Fi Lite and Alfa-A Balancer, as they are both very good doers. Miyaz our yearling and 5-year-old Enigmatika are now on Alfa-A Original and Fibremix Complement. All look very well on their feeding regime. Karaanza’s diet will move towards Alfa-A and Alfa-A Balancer when she needs a bit more and will also have some Naked Oats added when required. In vetgates Karaanza also eats Fibremix Complement as it is really palatable.

Next stop for us the following week was the Forest Of Dean ride. This was to be Karaanza’s first ride since May last year due to the virus – although she appeared well at home I was quite nervous of how she would cope with some proper competition. The Forest is a lovely ride, but the weather wasn’t particularly kind to us – I got caught out in a hale storm which soaked me to the skin! Karaanza went fantastically well and passed the vet at the end with flying colours, which was a very positive start.

Two weeks later and we were off out again, this time to the Tresham ride in the Cotswolds. We took Karaanza to do 65km. Wow! It was almost like her confidence in herself had completely returned and some attitude I never knew she had popped up! She gave me an absolutely fantastic ride and I was grinning from ear to ear for two days afterwards! She was strong, sensible but forward going and was asking to go faster right the way through. Karaanza finished the ride with a pulse of 39bpm and even the vet exclaimed she looked like she could go around again!!!! This now gives me a huge amount of confidence for the 2009 season and allows me to aim her for her first 160km towards the end of the year. Her next stop is a 90km FEI* at Haywood Oaks on 11th April. We are not aiming to win, but aim to get her around safe and well and use it as a bit of a fitness booster for a 120km FEI** at the end of May. I am over the moon with how well she has come back and am now very excited for the rest of the season!

This weekend we have a training day at my yard for people new to endurance or that are just starting out. We will be using my horses to demonstrate vetting procedures and trotting up. Let’s hope we get nice weather and that my horses are on their best behaviour!!

Liz

2nd April 2009