Jay and Chesca try endurance

Jay and I have been really busy over the last few weeks, and certainly making up for lost time now the worst of a difficult winter is behind us. Isn’t it glorious now to be waking up in the (almost) daylight, with the birds starting to sing, and coming home after work without the need for headlights?

Probably the most notable outing this month was our debut endurance ride, a Training Ride with the South East Endurance Group. Rather a soggy few days in the run up to it, but fortunately on The Day the weather had settled and actually was pretty glorious for late February.

The starting venue was about 45 minutes away, and we made it in good time to go and get our bearings, our number, and a last minute loo-stop! First impression – endurance events are pretty busy! (However I was later informed by the pre-ride vet that this was ‘quiet’ by normal endurance standards – yikes!) Despite all the comings and goings Jay was remarkably chilled and stood very patiently while we waited for our turn with the vet. She trotted up beautifully, and I was reassured that her resting heart rate is considered very low.

So with all that boding well, we set off, a little later than our designated start time due to the queues for the vetting, but everyone was so friendly and assured me it didn’t matter.

The route was well-marked, but early on I did have a few heart-in-mouth moments consulting my ride map! Jay took advantage of one of those moments very early on, when a group of three horses over-took us while I fumbled around trying to get my bearings, and decided she wanted to join in that little group, so without much say in the matter (as I was trying desperately to get my map safely back in my pocket!) we suddenly found ourselves cavorting after them.

I had a chance to over-take at the first road crossing, Jay’s natural stride being quite long, and after that we were off on our own. From there on in, she was absolutely hoof perfect. We had some superb long trots and canters, and there was one rather out of control power-trot along a very boggy section I’d really rather have walked, but we’d ended up sandwiched between two much more experienced endurance arabs and were just swept along with them! Jay was happy to join in with other horses when we matched paces, but equally happy to be overtaken, or indeed overtake ourselves which we did a few times – and we both ended up back ‘home’ very happy and in a much quicker time than I would have expected.

So that’s it – we’re no longer endurance virgins – and I am actually already working towards our next slightly longer outing at the end of the month!