Liz Taylor

SG Enigmatkia undertakes her first Endurance Ride!

Well, with both mares having foaled I finally made it to Enigmatika’s first endurance ride, we had entered her in the 32km Novice CR at Ludlow Racecourse. Ludlow is an absolutely fantastic ride which takes you up into the Mortimer Forest, and despite crossing over the A49 at the start, you barely touch a road for the rest of the route, there are some fairly tough climbs but the tracks are lovely at this time of year and it makes for a very lovely ride.
Ludlow venue is the excellent spacious racecourse, which is fantastic to take a young horse to as there is plenty of space, so you aren’t cramped and the horses tend to be rather ‘chilled out’ here.
I felt we were well prepared for her first outing, we had put in the work at home and Enigmatika was going well, my only slight concern is that with the foalings keeping me busy in June (and working full time!), she probably hadn’t had the work I would have liked over the preceding 3 weeks. The work we put in at home actually paid dividends, she stood silently and relaxed for the vet to take her heart rate (40bpm so she was slightly nervous – its normally 32bpm at home), and then performed a foot perfect trot up. On my way back to the trailer I then saw another novice horse refusing to be led over the railway line (the route out), Ennie had never seen a railway line before, but she strode right over the level crossing without a care in the world – giving this much older, more experienced horse a lead!!
We tacked up and headed out on course, she was more forward going than usual, and we did have a couple of bucks but she behaved perfectly, we met up with two other riders, she did take a few miles to settle nicely, but was then happy going in front, behind or in the middle, or letting them go off ahead without too much bother, at a walk trot or canter.
The aim of our ride was essentially for Enigmatika to complete the course having found it ‘easy’ and with lots of fuel left in the tank, I wanted her to still be as forward going at the end as she was at the beginning (to an extent!) – I didn’t want her charging round the first 10miles, then me kicking like hell around the second 10! Enigmatika’s aim is to be a 160km endurance horse, and the most efficient way to cover a distance is to regulate your pace, keeping a steady pace throughout the ride, ideally keeping the horses heart rate in the aerobic threshold, reducing lactic acid build up and therefore reducing fatigue. Ideally a nice swinging ( and balanced) ground covering trot interspersed with walks over the bad ground should be ideal for a novice (and some nice ground covering working canters if the ground allows/horse is fit enough). When you move up the grades I aim for a nice steady canter / trot all the way round (ground permitting). I think it is important that the horse understands it needs to stay settled and relaxed, if you go off at a gallop, then walk for a bit then gallop again the horse will never find its happy rhythm and will talk longer to settle into it, also speed wise, you will be much quicker keeping a nice steady pace – as its amazing how much time you loose when you walk.
Ennie followed this to the letter and gave me a fantastic, responsive, balanced forward going and sensible ride around the route, she settled into a gorgeous ground covering rhythm and would easily have kept this up for miles upon miles, she trotted back up the racecourse with the same enthusiasm and spring in her stride as she did on the way out, quite obviously having really enjoyed her first taste of Endurance.
As it was a competitive ride we had another vet check to get through before we had officially completed the ride, so we set about crewing her to ensure her heart rate was below the required 64bpm, as it was a fairly cool day crewing was kept to a bare minimum – literally just a wash off and encouraging her to have a good drink. The final vet check comprises of the pulse being taken again (it must be under 64bpm to pass the ride) and the horse is also trotted up (it must be sound to pass the ride). Enigmatika once again stood like a true pro to be vetted and then once again performed a foot perfect trot up, with the same bounce in her stride that she had at the beginning. An added bonus was that our speed and heart rate were such that she achieved a grade one.
So all in all we had a great and successful ride. I’m sure she will misbehave at an endurance ride soon (they seem to go through a cocky ‘must go faster’ stage at about ride 2 or 3!), but she has started off very well indeed – like a true pro!
Her next trip is off to the Ridgeway Barbury Castle ride for another 32km Novice CR on 8th August... I’ll let you know how we get on!

Liz