Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:07 am Post subject: Exmoor Golden Horseshoe
Any of you endurance bods competing this year? We are taking 3 along to the pleasure ride on the Sunday, and if any of you are down, it would be fun to meet up
I was going to take you up on your offer and come and stay this year, however, my priority is to advance Medraar and get Saqr through a novice season.
However, it would have been a good year for Abu he feels his fittest yet. I will have to make it a priority next year.
You should make good times judging by you video's best training, hunting on the moors!
Are you aiming for the fastest time of the day with three this time Nic?
Of course Although as we are taking Wacko Jacko, Bailey and Hector, none of whom have been before, this may be a bit ambitious
They are fit enough - after all its only 15 miles, and they should be able to trot and canter that in a couple of hours fairly easily.
Terry, you really should I have a friend with a shod horse competing this year, as she has done regularly, and she is coming to stay next year too, so there's a challenge for you
Vicky, I will definitely take the Bakhu cam - whether I get to use it depends on whether we have 2006 weather (lovely sunshine) or 2007 weather (torrential rain like having buckets of water thrown at you for 2 hours on the moor...!)...As you know, you can get both up here with little warning
Well a perfect day, weather wise, for the GH pleasure ride - sunny, breezy, not too hot and the moor was looking absolutely breathtaking.
We had a friend riding Bailey, I took Hector and Andy took Jacko, and we set off breezing along, as you do - but after the first mile or so we realised that Sam, who has been riding Bailey regularly, was out of breath and red in the face Bailey can be quite strong, and although Sam is very fit and active, she doesn't ride more than once a week, and I hadn't realised how much the ride would take out of her...
Andy offered to swap with her, as Jacko is as light as a feather, but she was determined to stick it out, and over the next hour or so she and Bailey relaxed and began to enjoy themselves. We made sure she was in front and could go at the pace she was comfortable with, and I resigned myself to the fact that we would definitely NOT get the fastest time this year
Actually, it was such a beautiful day, and the horses were on such good form, that it didn't seem to matter. Jacko, (formerly "psychotic and dangerous", now perfect-mannered hunter ) was clearly up for this new style of party, and had a marvellous time, behaving impeccably. Hector was a star, and bowling along at the back (terribly good for his manners!).
We also met Basil, the Exmoor pony who lived here a few years ago, and whom we backed - now a little dynamo, fit as a fiddle and storming along with his rider - still with perfect little rock-crunching hooves
Then we came across a client of mine, doing the ride on her cob mare, so there was quite a barefoot contingent.
And once we were back at the trailers, a farrier came up, who recognised me from a talk I gave last year. He recognised Hector too (who was at a very early stage when he last saw him), and said "what a good advert for barefoot"
He said he had a client who wanted to go barefoot, and he had told them in no uncertain terms that there was a lot more to it than taking the shoes off - kudos to him
He is the farrier for the main ride, I think, and a really nice guy.
So all in all a very successful and fun day, and we got home to discover that despite everything, we did it in 2hr 5 mins (12kph) and there was only one person faster than us
brilliant! I love the fact that the farriar for the ride said that to you! that is the coolest thing! was thinking of you all today as it was lovely weather here too...
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best training, hunting on the moors!
I have a friend with a shod horse competing this year, as she has done regularly, and she is coming to stay next year too, so there's a challenge for you 
) was clearly up for this new style of party, and had a marvellous time, behaving impeccably. Hector was a star, and bowling along at the back (terribly good for his manners!).