Liz Taylor

Forest of Dean and bottle fed lambs

It has been another busy month! Not helped by the fact I decided that 11 bottle fed lambs needed to come and live with us to help with the pasture management...little did I know just how much work these would entail! Not only did they end up taking up a valuable stable, but they also managed to take up a lot of hours between them. However, now they are much bigger they are just starting their new jobs as grass mowers!

The horses are all well, SG Enigmatika competed in her second 50km at the Forest Of Dean ride in April. The route for this ride has been much improved from recent years and provided an excellent opportunity to give the horses a good early season workout. Unfortunately due to the extremely dry and hot weather we have had lately the ground was even harder than usual, but still provided an excellent ride.
I think this route was far improved, it managed to incorporate some lovely grassy canters, along with some good steep climbs to get the horses working, the majority of the route is on hard forest tracks and you barely see a road – I would definitely encourage anyone thinking of having a go at this ride!
Enigmatika kept up a good, consistent speed all day and completed the ride at 13.16kph – a speed I was very happy with for only her second attempt at this distance. She had a good forward going attitude throughout and showed her strength of character on the longer pulls uphill (unfortunately we don’t have much in the way of good hill training at home – something that needs to be worked on.)
Despite the excellent ride she gave me, we were disappointed that she was eliminated lame at the final vetting, although she had felt sound throughout, she did trot up ‘not quite right’ at the final vetting. I have a sneaking suspicion that it maybe a saddle issue as she has obviously changed shape dramatically over the last 12 months with her increasing levels of fitness – so I have had a fitter take a look at it and make some adjustments.

As she has coped so well with the increase of distance, we are aiming her to complete a 65km (40mile) ride at the Dengie Sponsored Ludlow Endurance Ride being held at Ludlow Racecourse on 18th & 19th June (information on this ride, including the new route map can be found at http://www.offasdykeegb.co.uk/rides-events/ludlow/ludlow-home.htm), this with the aim of being able to complete her 80km rides by the end of the season so that she can start her FEI Qualifications next year.

Also in April I held our local groups Novice Training day at my yard. This was once again very well supported with people new to endurance wishing to know more. We provided lots of information on fittening your horse, types of equipment and rules of rides, as well as practical demonstrations on taking heartrates and trotting up. I believe most local groups hold these types of events, so if you are interested, you can find your local groups by visiting www.endurancegb.co.uk

I am also now waiting the (fairly) imminent arrival of Karaanza’s foal, she is due on June 8th, however she is rather large already and has recently developed some rather full udders... so fingers crossed she can hang on a bit longer!

Liz