Shakedown Cruise

I lied.

Studied hard on Monday evening and Tuesday at lunch and then decided to play hooky and go ride my horse.  It was 75 and sunny, with a rest-of-week forecast for rain.  No jury in the world would convict.

I have been thinking about the June ride and about how I have frankly no idea whether we’re remotely ready.  I wanted, before I decided whether to enter the 15 or the 25, to get in some semblance of a test-ride.  I am fumbling; I have zero practical knowledge.  But I have read that one marker is, you can go out and do 10 miles in two hours comfortably.  So I thought, Okay.  We will go out for two hours, I will turn the tracker app on, we will move out as feels comfortable and just see what happens.

12.5 miles.

I feel much better now.

Did the first hour down in the flat park across the street (and walking the mile there and the mile back along the road).  Second hour was back on the mountain, up and down and along the dirt road at the bottom.  I tried to trot where we could trot, but gave myself permission to be conservative where that felt more comfortable.  We walked the roads instead of trying to trot on the shoulder, and pussyfooted down the steep bits, etc.

It did occur to me while we were down in the park and Tuck kept saying, Let’s go, that Tucker?  Is an event horse.  Which: obviously, right?  But I had somehow not thought about what that means when I try to take him out and do long trots on good open-space footing.  Tucker is not accustomed to doing long trot on good open-space footing.  Tucker is accustomed to walking forever, and to trotting 15 or 20 minutes to warm up and then doing gallop sets.  Why was I ever for one minute confused about how easily he switches back and forth between those two options and how baffling he finds it to trot and trot and trot?

So, change of plan.  Accepted the offer when he said he wanted to canter a bit.  He loped along very politely with me in a half-seat (though if I closed up and clucked at him, he was of course gone) and then settled back into a trot again when asked.  Much better!

My approach yesterday was in general to be less fussy about how he was going – wanted him straight and even, in at least level balance, but tried hard not to nitpick every step – and to put my brain in gallop-set mode and go along running a constant survey of, Where are my feet?  Where is my weight?  Worked on wrapping around the horse instead of bracing in the stirrups.  I have suspected for a long time that 80+% of my own crookedness is a problem with how I interact with the stirrups; I am convinced that this a big part of why Tuck went so well during our T3D season when we were doing a ton of hacking and conditioning and it’s one of the things I want to work on this summer, and part of my excuse for skimping on the arena dressage.  He seemed to like the results yesterday, so I guess that’s a start.

Tucker?  Rocked out.  Sassy and spicy, but sane, for which I was especially grateful when we encountered two noisy motorcycles simultaneously on our way out.  Wanted to go go go but listened when asked to wait, and very willing to let me ride him.  He is pretty sure that practicing pausing-to-eat-grass is the best thing ever, and was game to walk into the lake though only interested in blowing bubbles once there.

He started to feel really good around the 90 minute mark – locking into a trot that felt all-day rideable – which makes sense.  He is smart, which can make him a pain when he thinks he knows better than I do (to be fair, he often has a point), but also means that he is pretty good at figuring out what’s in his best interests.  This is how he learned to gallop, too; he just had to be out there doing it long enough to understand why efficiency matters.  Finished up like he’d be happy to go around again, and with his back in good order.

I, meanwhile, am making lots of gear-related notes to self.  I am really trying to minimize the amount of equipment-related fussing I do for this first season and definitely for this first ride.  But I can tell that I’m going to want a more forgiving and supportive stirrup iron at some point (and in the meantime, hopefully this will provide me with incentive to mend my wicked ways…).

Discovered why distance riders use saddlebags instead of backpacks.  I was all, I have a great little pack! I love it for hiking! It has a hipbelt and a chest strap; I can snug everything down; it will be fine!  Yeah, no.  It probably would have been better if it had been a little more fully stuffed, but still no. On the other hand, I now have an greater appreciation for a what horse goes through with a rider who tends to bounce…

Also, apparently my beloved wide-mouth Nalgene is not a good water bottle from which to drink while riding a horse.  I feel like I should have seen that coming.

All in all, a successful voyage.  I feel much more confident in our conditioning now.  Hoping to get out again on Friday evening before I head to King Oak Farm to jump-judge this weekend.  I hear it’s supposed to be rainy in the meantime, so studying lockdown should not be too onerous…