TRAINING FOR THE TEAM ENDURANCE EVENT
Please do not hesitate to contact the national organisers if you need some help and advice with training for the Team Endurance Event. Any horse is capable of completing a Competitive Ride of 30 to 35km (approximately 20 miles) with a moderate level of fitness.
Below you will find some useful hints for your first endurance ride - again, if you have any questions then do not hesitate to contact the national organisers.
If you scroll down to the end of the hints for your first endurance ride, you will find some articles written by members of Riding Club squads describing their experiences and offering further tips (we hope!).
USEFUL HINTS FOR YOUR FIRST ENDURANCE RIDE
Ride Information Pack
When you receive your ride information pack, study the route map carefully to familiarise yourself with the terrain over which you will be riding. Read all the other information that is included so that you are aware of any hazards or restrictions on the route. Make sure you also identify any directions to the venue or special instructions concerning your arrival.
Check the speed at which you have to ride and work out how long it should take you to reach each checkpoint and the finish. Make a note of your pre-ride veterinary inspection time and plan to arrive at the venue at least 30 minutes beforehand. Remember to fill in the details on the top of your Vet Sheet before setting off for the event.
Arrival at the Venue
On arrival at the event, go to the Secretary’s Office o present your Mastercard and to collect your number bib. Make sure you do not forget your Mastercard as you will not be allowed to start the ride without it. Be sure to read all the information displayed on the noticeboard so that you become fully aware of any route changes and any other last minute instructions. Also make yourself familiar with the layout of the venue so that you know where the farrier and veterinary inspections are being held. There may even be a diagram of the venue on the noticeboard! The Secretary will usually also issue you with two tags bearing an emergency telephone number, which you should ensure is applied to your saddle and riding hat.
Presentation to the Vet
You should make sure that you are wearing your number bib for all the pre-ride inspections during the ride itself and in for the post-ride veterinary inspection. First of all you should present your horse to the farrier for a shoe inspection. You should then report to the Veterinary Steward about five minutes before your allocated vetting time. For this pre-ride veterinary inspection the horse must be presented without tack except a bridle or a head collar (and a rug if the weather is cold). The horse’s hooves must not be oiled. When called to a veterinary surgeon, please remove your horse’s rug if he or she is wearing one. Remember to take your Vet Sheet with you and present it to a veterinary surgeon’s assistant (known as a vet writer) as you enter the vetting area.
Place yourself in front of the horse, making sure that he or she is standing square to enable the pulse to be taken. The veterinary surgeon will also check for any “lumps and bumps” and will then ask for the horse to be trotted up. If in doubt practice the trot up at home, ideally over a 30 metre distance by trotting away and back again, ensuring that the horse moves freely at a steady trot on a loose rein. All the veterinary surgeon’s comments will be recorded on your Vet Sheet that will then be retained for the post-ride inspection when you have completed the course.
Starting the Ride
After the Veterinary Inspection you may tack up and then you are ready to start the ride. Make sure that you have the map and the route description (if one has been supplied in your ride pack) together with your checkpoint and finish times. It is also recommended that you carry a drink with you, especially if it is a hot day.
Do a final check of all your equipment, go to the start (mounted) and report to the Timekeeper at or close to the allocated start time and off you go You will find that the route is well marked, usually with orange tags at eye level or with spray paint arrows on the ground. Sometimes the markers get moved or even removed altogether, so it is essential to carry the map as well.
Whilst on the Route
Whilst on route, always make absolutely sure that that the Steward at each Checkpoint has noted your number as you pass through. This is your responsibility, not theirs! Be patient if there are a lot of horses at the Checkpoint when you arrive.
Whilst riding, if you have not seen a route marker for a while and suspect that you may have gone the wrong way, then check your map. If necessary, go back to the last marker you saw and then retrace your steps until you find the correct path. Also, take a little time to be courteous to other users of the countryside, such as walkers and cyclists who may be using part of the same area. Take care at road crossings and on slippery roads. Always follow the instructions of Stewards at road crossings, remembering that they are not allowed to stop the traffic. Follow the country code whilst riding in fields with livestock.
On Completion
On completing the ride, report to the Timekeeper again. He or she will give you a slip of paper confirming your finish time and stating the latest time at which you will be able to present your horse for the post-ride Veterinary Inspection. You will be given up to 30 minutes from your finish time to prepare your horse for inspection and may present your horse at any time within that 30 minutes. The inspection procedure will be similar to that followed for the pre-ride inspection. Once again please make sure that the horse’s hooves are not oiled and that the horse is clean so that any rubs, cuts or abrasions can be clearly seen.
Retiring or Not Completing
After all this we hope that your horse has completed the course and passed both veterinary inspections. If for any reason your horse does not pass a veterinary inspection or you retire on course, then you MUST get permission from a veterinary surgeon to travel your horse home before leaving. So if you retire on course then you MUST bring your horse back to the venue (by lorry or trailer if necessary) for inspection. Contact the nearest Checkpoint (who will have communication back to the venue) in the case of a serious injury so that your horse can be treated by a veterinary surgeon on course.
Awards and Going Home
Finally you and your horse can prepare for the journey home. Remember to return your number bib to the Secretary and collect your rosette. However please be patient as the officials have a great deal of work to do at the end of a ride, so you should allow at least 30 minutes before going back to the Secretary’s Office for your reward!
ARTICLES FROM COMPETITORS
A report from Lynda Warth, a "first-timer" at Kings Forest on Sunday 27 March 2011
Things were not going as well as I had hoped. My new boy had ‘issues’ and we were struggling to find some common ground where we could enjoy each other’s company. We had postponed the hoped for dressage and discovered that hacking out with a friend was something he liked doing. So, when Helen Gipson was encouraging H&DRC members to try out her chosen sport of Endurance, I thought yes, let’s give that a go – one day – put my name down and thought something might happen - at some time in the future.
Next thing I knew, Helen said she would ride with me and I had agreed to do the Kings Forest Ride at 32 kms as a member of the club team. Panic set in. I try to ride about five times a week but I don’t do anything like 32 kms – in fact, I had never done 32 kms.
We had a 16 kms practice run with Bridleway Group friends at the Red Nose Pleasure Ride at Euston Park but at a very relaxed pace.
I was really nervous. What if I couldn’t keep up? What if we weren’t fit enough? What if ….a myriad of things.
But Helen and her friends got me sorted. At the vetting, Fonzie’s heart rate was 58. Good job they didn’t take mine - it would have been off the clock.
Then off we set. The route was really well marked and the going was superb. Amazingly, the pace was well within our capability. We had some fabulous, long canters and a few walks but our relaxed trot just seemed to eat up the miles. I was lucky to have Helen with me – she kept an eye on our progress and the route so all I had to do was enjoy the ride.
We were twice met by the friends who crewed for us – the drinks were very welcome and we sloshed the horses down with water – then off we set again. It was such a friendly atmosphere.
Did we enjoy ourselves? We certainly did! And such good value – all that riding for one entry fee. Has it benefited Fonzie and me? It certainly has – our confidence in each other has soared as well as our fitness. Did we do well? Apparently so - a perfectly respectable finish time and a heart rate of 38. Will we do it again? Absolutely …. just need to find that padded underwear website first ..….
An Endurance Virgin / Convert
The Cambridge Royals at Wimpole Way Ride, Sunday 12 June 2011
Cambridge & District Riding Club had yet to try their hand at Endurance, so Jane & Rachel decided that it could be a fun day out hacking with friends, so they roped another two friends into the team, and the ‘Cambridge Royals’ were born - The Cambridge Royals as two of the team’s horses are called William and Harry!!
We met a couple of times prior to the day to arrange team colours and timings and tactics. None of us had ever ridden endurance before, so we really did not know what we needed to be planned! Jane was in contact with a very helpful chappie called John Hudson, who gave us lots of tips and hints for the day and made sure that we got our entries in on time.
So, Sunday 12 June came quite quickly, with our trot up time of10.08, start time 10.38. We all arrived in plenty of time, and the horses were fit and ready to go. Joshua, Jay, William & Harry all wondered what they were about to commence when we walked them to the trot up area to have their shoes checked by the farrier and their hear rates taken by the vet, followed by a trot up to ensure they were sound enough to compete. All the ponies got the OK, so we went to tack up ready for 2hours 37 minutes of work. We had calculated our time at the fastest 15km per hour to try to come in at the fastest time we could without penalty and we roughly knew how long we had got between each checkpoint. What we didn’t know was how fast 15km an hour was!!
We set off at a decent paced trot, and wondered if we needed to keep this up all the way round. We let the ponies tell us what speed they wanted to go, but they were all happy to keep at a decent pace trot, until we got to some lovely grassy tracks where we had a good canter!!!
Check point 1 came pretty quickly, in 39 minutes to be exact, very close to our planned time of 28 minutes. We were very glad to see our road crew waiting for us. Our road crew consisted of Tony, Dave & Mark (3 of the teams other halves) who we could not have competed without - they were all fab. They ensured that they were at the checkpoints in time for our arrival, and offered the ponies drinks and a sponge down and the riders a well needed slurp of water before we cracked on again.
The weather wasn’t great on the day, fine rain most of the way round, but we were all glad of it really as it kept us all cool. The route of 34km took us all round the grounds of the gorgeous Wimpole Hall and the tracks around the countryside were excellent. There was very minimal road work, and the woodlands were lovely to trot through.
When we realised that we were not far from home, we let the boys have a few minutes stretch in walk, and William and Harry even managed a pee J. It is important with Endurance that you get your horses heart rate right down for the final vet inspection within 30 minutes of your finish time.
So we finished in 2hrs 42 mins, only 5 mins over the optimum time of 2hrs 37 mins, so we were extremely pleased that we had managed to keep a good pace!!! We all returned to our transport and frantically washed off our horses to ensure that they were cooling down well (as this brings down their heart rate) ready or our final vet inspection at 13.48.
We made our way over to the vet inspection area, all a little nervous as to what out horses heart rates would be. William managed to keep his heart rate the same as when it was when it went out, Joshua’s had come down by 2 beats a minute, as had Harry’s and Jay’s was 1 beat a minute less, so we either guessed that we did ok pacing ourselves on the ride or cooling off our horses, or they are all mega fit J.
When we came to get the results, Harry was awarded a Grade 1, with William, Joshua and Jay all been awarded Grade 2’s, but we really didn’t understand what these meant so we asked another rider who gladly explained that Grade 1 & 2 were very good scores!!!!
We were a little confused as to the qualification process, but after a quick phone call to John, we found out that the scores from each ride go onto a league table and the best scores qualify. We got 106.5 which put us into 2nd place in League Table 7. We are determined now to come first, so we are entering the next qualifying ride at Kings Forest on 3 July. We have now all got the bug, and are training hard to ensure that we can do better next time J.
The Cambridge Royals team would like to thank our Road Crew Mark, Tony and Dave for being at every checkpoint, and to John for being such a great help but before and after the event. And not forgetting our ponies, Joshua, Jay, Harry & William. William, who is just 14.2, has now been given honorary thoroughbred status J.
Endurance is a fun sport, and you do not have to spend lots of money on equipment or a flash horse. Any horse and rider that are reasonably fit can complete the distance. We have only completed one ride and already have our next ride booked. Our ponies are not bred specifically for endurance, Joshua is an ex racehorse who now events, Jay and Harry are general all round riding club horses, and William is a 14,2 Connemara pony who competes at Elementary dressage, so it just proves that anyone can give it a go. We all had a fab time and are all looking forward to the next one.
Cambridge Royals
Jane & William, Rachel & Joshua, Shirley & Harry, Karen & Jay
North Mymms Riding Club at Wimpole Way, Sunday 12 June 2011
At one point we didn't think we'd have a team, with Ellie's horse unfortunately out of action and then the morning of the ride Ros' lorry not starting! But with a lot of help and support we got the lorry going and managed to get there no too late. A bit of a rush to vetting and rather excited horses meant that Skippy and Whisky had rather high heart rates, which we'd later realise wasn't a good starting position.
The ride started off lovely with slight drizzle, but still bright and warm. The Wimpole Hall parkland was amazing, with lovely long canters between avenues of trees, although it was hard to convince Skippy and Whisky that we had 34km to do and it wasn't a race! As we reached the farm land the drizzle turned to driving rain and the hills became slippery, but we still managed to make good time and thanks to Glynis and Ros' brilliant map reading and my arrow spotting we didn't lose our way once.
Thanks to Glynis' partner's help, our support crew was fantastic and we really realised how much we needed then, with sloshing for the horses and food for us. It was amazing how organised and well equipped support crews are. Although by the end of the ride both us and our support crew were finding it hard going, as we were all very wet, tired and cold. The sight of the lorry park was then a very welcome sight, although on this home straight all the horses seemed to get even more energy! 34km in 3 hours 12 minutes was not bad for a first attempt.
After a quick wash down of the horse and revive of us, although dry clothes seemed a bit pointless in the still heavy rain, we headed back to be vetted. This time Whisky and Skippy where a lot calmer, so their heart rates were lower than the starting ones! Warm rugs for the horses and hot tea for us was very welcomed. An even bigger boost was to find out we had won best turned out team! Thanks to Barbara, Linda and Sally for the loan of the NMRC sweat and polo shirts, as with the matching numnahs and hat silks we obviously looked the part. Glynis got Grade 1, Ros ungraded and I got Grade 4.
It was a great day and my thanks go to everyone who helped us get there and on the day especially to Glynis for showing us the ropes. Also to the organisers and stewards who were still there in the cold and driving rain when we left.
Dawn Grocock, North Mymms
Two teams from Ingatestone and Blackmore at Kings Forest on 2 July 2011
Like so many others, the idea of putting together some teams was born out of the blue. Ingatestone & Blackmore is very much a showjumping/eventing club with winter dressage and an annual showing show to boot. We had no recollection of any member having been involved in endurance, but then let’s face it Essex is not exactly known for it’s hilly terrain! Fortunately my good friend Annie Ings (resides and trains in mountainous Shropshire) has ridden at FEI Level so I was able to pick her brains for information and tips with regard to getting our act together. A one-off spell crewing for her at Kings in March also gave me an insight of the crew’s role ……but still by no means an expert.
Team A was born with 4 interested members, but then team A grew as another member showed interest, and then another, and then another……such that the squad was too big and we had to split into two teams. Team A was no longer a viable name and after a grand 5 minutes of brain storming we arrived at IBRC Chelmer Chargers and IBRC Foxtrot Fillies. Next came the driest hardest spell for many a year…..great, horses to get fit and not a drop of rain seen for 12 weeks. Luckily with many interactive club activities and clinics we were able to tick by. In the meantime questions came my way: How fast do we go….or not go?. What tactics do we employ? Wish I knew the answers - just keep riding!!. At last the route arrived and with said scientific bit of string Katie, Annette & I measured the route and determined the minimum time and the maximum time for everyone as well as an expected half way min/max time. Poor Katie and Annette thought we were simply having a social evening so the boys could meet and kinda understand what they were going to be asked to do…… not a whole interactive affair with string, calculators and brains !!
With maps, master cards, times and final instructions delivered to all team members – not sure I like Team Manager job – the day dawned and with an afternoon class we had plenty of time to compose ourselves, our crew and our ponies………or so you’d think! How can a morning disappear so quickly ??? Before we knew it, it was time for the farrier inspection ....for which there was a queue. Trying not to get anxious and thus upset the pony (instruction number 1001 – keep calm to keep pony HR down) I turned to see Katie and hubby having a domestic – instruction 1002: NO DOMESTICS! Fortunately all members from both teams passed the farrier and the initial vetting. Poor Linda however had a rather high HR as her mare followed in a stallion. Of course we had plenty of time really to pass through this phase, get back to our wagons, boot and tack up and back to the start for our designated time. In fact we were ahead of ourselves.
My team, Chelmer Chargers was made up of 3 nine year old boys, my Anglo Arab, Katie’s Irish Sports Horse and Annette’s 12.3 New Forest – we must have looked an odd bunch. Our strategy was to set out at a steady trot to warm up muscles and see how the horses get along. That lasted all of 30 seconds as Loopy Leo (my Anglo) leaped, bucked, danced and pranced from the off, such that once through the first gate – errr, 60 seconds away from the start – we hit the canter button. Hey ho all best laid plans…….. actually despite my rodeoing the first leg they did then all settle into a rhythm and worked well together in the various paces. Most of the time we were in a good energetic trot, cantering with every opportunity but allowing our horses to take breath in between times. Zac our comatosed (massively low HR at start) 12.3 mascot was an absolute credit as he kept up with us big horses all the way, only getting a little behind on one or two awesome stretches of canter.
Rule 1002: NO DOEMESTICS was quickly forgotten again at the first crew point. The boys weren’t ready for us……OK they didn’t really know what they were doing at this stage……and we were 12 minutes ahead of what we said…….and we had suggested it was more of a photo shoot opportunity……… but c’mon, we are female and can change our minds. I later heard they were drinking lager – hey who was supposed to be enjoying themselves, them or us??!! By the 2nd crew point full marks to the boys, everything was ready: various drinking water for the ponies – plain; quencher; pulp, slosh bottles, water for us, timekeeping. Spot on. Although a domestic must still have slipped in as another crew lady suggested two of us must have been married we were doing such a good act of it – yikes!! By crew point 3 – we took advantage of all 3 which paid dividends as the first one proved to be a good training stop – there was hardly a murmer – very slick indeed. We think we now have to take them out to dinner and grovel big time…………………..especially as we want to do it again.
Our second team was made up of 2 girls and 2 boys however I understand afterwards they split into twos, and then one pair split out again half way round. By the looks of their faces at the end they too had had a fantastic ride, and I have since had one member contact me to say she think she’s hooked ! Who can blame her, the opportunity to ride in new places with long long canters.
Back at the finish it was all systems go to strip, wash and cool down the ponies. Again time disappeared. I went in first – Leo forms life long buddies too easily and would have been devastated had Ship or Zac left him and gone in first. Bloomin girl ! Phew, first team member though the vetting passed. Next Zac – hurray – he passed too. Last was Ship. It seemed to take forever. They came out with gloomy faces…….failed – lame! Ha ha ha ha no he wasn’t, in fact the vet told Katie he was the fittest non-arab she had seen in a long time. How made up was she….before we got her for having us on.
We then waited anxiously to see how Foxtrot Fillies had got on. Hurray – they all passed too. What a great result so far. Next for our grades. Well can you believe it we averaged speeds of 12kph and were all awarded with either Grade 1 or Grade 2’s !!! What a fabulous day and all first timers too. Now we have one last ‘wait’ which is to find out our scores as a team and where we sit in our league. We have no expectations of making it to the Final……………………….but there’s still a little (well huge actually) hope that we could qualify.
A big thank you to the organisers of the BRC Team Challenge and also to the organisers of this ride – and every other. Such huge effort must go into holding such an event. Well organised, the route so well marked and a real friendly atmosphere. All for £28 – a bargain !!
Justine Rodgers
IBRC Team Manager (Endurance)
