Saturday – March 13Had to help at the 4H gymkhana, and in the afternoon, it was screaming winds. Now, I often say that if you don’t ride in the wind, you won’t ride much in the Antelope Valley. But sometimes when we get wind – we get WIND – this was 40 mph with gusts to 50 – Nobody rides in that.

Sunday – March 14 –

Still struggling with the virus, and being out in the wind half the day at the gymkhana didn’t help. I have lost my voice and woke up worn out. I also had to give some time to husband. So I settled for a free lunge in the arena. This works to bring up her wind sprint ability. I monitored her heart rate and recovery. I need practice with that stethoscope.

After the free lunging at a pretty strong gallop for 6 minutes, I checked her heart rate – it was 27 beats in 15 seconds – so 108. 6 minutes later, she was down to 16 = 64 bpm, and 5 minutes after that it was 15 = 60 bpm. The entry form says the finish line criteria will be set less than 68 bpm but not less than 60 bpm – this must be met within 30 minutes of finishing and when the criteria is met, that is set as the 25 mile finish time. The final pulse criteria will be set by the head vet based on the weather conditions and won’t be announced until the rider’s meeting the night before the race. But basically, I need Belle to get down to 60 bpm as quickly as possible.

I must confess, I am making myself a little nuts with worrying about heart murmurs. I have a Lovely young half Arab mare who failed a pre purchase exam due to a heart murmur, and yesterday, I thought I heard something with Belle. I am going to have the vet give me a lesson in what a normal heart sounds like when he is out later this week to recheck my pregnant mare to ensure she isn’t carrying twins.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Belle and I at the water! I finally had Robin take a picture of Us!

Today we got out the gate early and managed a solid 3 hour ride! We rode down to an area where there is running water (not easy to find in the desert) and I was very proud that Belle didn’t even hesitate. We strolled along in the water going downstream for about a mile before it just disappeared into damp sand. Belle had started out the first hour jigging along in her usual manner – hard to do long slow distance work with her, but for whatever reason, In the water, she settled into a nice long walk on a loose rein! I was very disappointed that the Garmin battery ran out AGAIN! But we estimated that the ride was about 8 miles. We are a long way from our long goal of being able to do 15-20 miles – but both horses handled this long ride with no stress, and came home basically dry. We even ventured riding along Robin’s street. She did opt to dismount Aries when he got worried. They had a very bad experience along that road last week, and both of them remembered it. It is better to get off and walk and maintain a calm state of mind than to stick to the saddle and reinforce the tension. Belle was not afraid of anything! It is funny, her jigging is not from tension, but just energy and habit.

This is Belle standing by the trailer after the 3 hour ride

Because Robin has not been getting out on the trails enough, I am going to start meeting with her on Thursdays also. She has been doing arena work, but both horses need hill work, and LSD (long slow distance).

The other bit of Good news is that today the scale said 140.3 lbs!! I finally have the needle moving in the right direction. I may not hit 130 by May 15^th, but every little bit helps.

Tuesday, March 16

No work today, I figure Belle might need a day off after yesterday’s long ride, Plus the Farrier came and put her first ever set of shoes on! Her hooves were beautifully polished by the wet sand yesterday. I never realized that she had one very black front hoof, while the other 3 are whilte. When she was a baby, she must have had 3 socks. I also gave her 1/3 bucket of ‘Rope n Ride’ – a blended grain supplement. I will probably get some corn oil for extra calories without the ‘hot’ of too much grain.