Liz Taylor

Liz Taylor Tackles the Golden Horseshoe Endurance Ride

It's been seven years since I last tackled the famous Golden Horseshoe, notorious for its steep ascents and descents, easily one of the toughest rides in the country.

Starting from the very hospitable village of Exford, deep in the heart of Exmoor the atmosphere is always fantastic with the locals welcoming us with open arms and not appearing to mind having their village hijacked by Endurance riders!

We decided to take the trip down there with Karaanza, my 15.2hh 9 year old pure bred arab mare, to use it as a fittening ride on her way to her first 120km*** in June.  The weekend did not get off to a great start as I managed to dislocate my shoulder leading a horse on the Friday morning (we were travelling Saturday) but, after a very uncomfortable couple of hours in Accident & Emergency at Gloucester Royal we decided we would still go.

After a successful vetting (horse, not rider thank goodness - I am not sure I would have passed) on Sunday afternoon we were given the all clear to start the ride on Monday morning.  We had opted to do the new class, the two-day Exmoor Experience, 40km on both days.  The Golden Horseshoe is unique, although not a "race" in itself you can race against the clock with set speed parameters - 12kph+ being gold, 11kph+ equalling silver and 10kph+ giving bronze.  Your horse's heart rates also have to be under a set parameter within 30 mins of the finish (55 beats per minute) or you will incur penalties which will drop you down from gold/silver/bronze or completion.

Day one proved to be very tough, with a lot of the route over the moor, which was wet, deep but ride-able.  We spent a lot of time climbing down steep hillsides and into the valleys - only to find ourselves heading straight back up the other side!  The course was very rocky and stony which made it difficult to make a good speed.

Karaanza is a tough little mare who seemed to enjoy the challenge and bowled along enthusiastically, bravely facing the river crossings and whatever else the ride organisers threw at us - all very different from the fast, 80km rides she has been excelling in lately!!  Coming in to the finish on day 1 we achieved a speed of 12.8kph - fast enough for gold speed!  She presented to the vet with a pulse under the required parameters and into the overnight hold was one of only 4 horses on Gold.

She tucked into an extra portion of Hi-Fi Original, Alfa-A Original and Natural Vitality Performance Vits & Mins that night for her efforts and to prepare her for the following days route!  The course had taken its toll on her shoes - so we had her re-shod behind that night as well.

We started the second day with Karaanza feeling fresh and up for the challenge, it was the same route but ridden in reverse.  We were okay for time and Karaanza was going well unitl I felt her take a lame stride...she'd lost a front shoe in the rocks.  We slowed up and continued to the next crew point where the farrier was.  15 mins later we had four shoes again and a sound horse so decided to continue - however this "pitt stop" had slowed us down sufficiently to make gold speed look almost unattainable over this demanding course.

However, with a horse that was bounding  - she didn't understand the hold up - we set off again (at speed) over the moors and down in the valleys.  There were some really long pulls but Karaanza seemed to paticularly enjoy having a good long canter up and along the tops of these.  Approaching the last crew point I was informed by my crew that we had less than 29 mins to do the final 6 miles of this hilly and technical course home if we were going to maintain our gold speed.  This was just about achieveable, but we'd have to see what we could do...!

Karaanza rose to the challenge and took off across the moors - crossing the line with less than 2 minutes to spare and achieving gold speed - pending the vet check!  It was then imperative to get her cooled off and presented to the veterinary panel for inspection - which I am very pleased to say she passed with flying colours!

With the help of Dengie and their team of feeding experts we appear to be providing Karaanza with enough energy to excel and also combat her slightly lazy demeanour!  For this ride she was fed Alfa-A Original and Hi-Fi Original with Dengie's new Natural Vitality Performance Vits & Mins supplement.  It is a testament to this feeding plan that not only was she one of only two to get the gold award in all of the Golden Horseshoe classes, but she also won the best condition award for her class!  This is awarded by the veterinary panel to the horse they think is most capable of travelling for another 20kms.

We are now looking forward to a slightly different type of ride on 26th May with Falaina who is going up to Nottingham's "Dukeries" ride to do 120km FEI***, an assessment ride for those long listed for the European Championships....this will be fast and flat with not a hill in sight....wonderful!

Karaanza's next aim is a 120km FEI***, probably at the Cirencester ride in June, so we'll be doing a few more trips to the gallops to get her in peak fitness for this!

Until the next time,

Liz