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Sunday 4th August was the warmest day of the year to date and, like a pair of nutters, we were off to West Moor, Cornwall to take part in the Endurance GB ride - only the 33km pleasure ride but that was more than enough for some........
Starting a stone's throw from the A30 dual carriageway that links Devon & Cornwall to the M5 Motorway this ride is very easy to get to - large field to park in with lots of grass for the neddies to munch whilst their humans attend to the paperwork required before vetting and setting off. Taking part in a 'pleasure ride' means that vetting is fairly perfunctory compared to the more serious classes but, nevertheless, must be passed along with farrier checks before you can start. Gæla was treated to a free pulse check and got a sleepy 46 - Húni wasn't but that's most likely because the vet couldn't find a pulse to take (Húni is the sort of horse that hibernates between meals). )
The ground rules for a pleasure ride are that the )
horse should complete the course at an average speed not greater than 13km/h and not less than 8 km/h. We set of at the usual 'eyeballs out' Icelandic speed for the first few kilometres but the horses soon settled down to a much more sedate pace and we went through the first checkpoint at 8km in about 40 minutes. We then hit the next two checkpoints in steady times that would put us home comfortably under the cut off time but then - disaster.
Gæla had been plainly starting to feel the effects of blazing sunshine, hills, no shade and a fat git sat astride her until, after checkpoint three she dissolved into a blob of sweat and it was quite obvious that the heat had taken its toll - she was not dehydrated but just tired. A slosh down at the checkpoint helped cool her a lot but then it was 'get off and hoof it' for her human - 14 kilometres left and I got to walk most of it with Gæla grinning along behind me.
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So we dilly-dallied along for the rest of the ride, towing Gæla on the uphill sections. Húni thought this was great as he could skip on ahead then stop and eat lots of grass whilst waiting for us. We eventually squeaked home at an average spped of 8.1 km/h. Twenty minutes later we presented for the post ride vetting after cooling the horses down externally with lots of cool water and internally with loads of cool grass - both passed the trot up fine and Húni had a pulse of 51, the vet did not take Gæla's but I estimated it at near 60.
In retrospect I would most likely have been better taking Hetja as Gæla's build (big and chunky) does not lend itself to very warm conditions - she recovered quickly enough after the ride but it was obviously hard work for her in the heat and she also needs more time before her fitness level is as high as Húni's - never mind that of the Ginga Ninja (muscle bound Hetja type neddy).
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