SEPTEMBER 2013 BLOG

Saying goodbye to winter has not come a day early. I can finally pack away the myriad of jackets, gloves, Kathmandu socks & scarves that adorn my room & car, & replace them with a towel, bathers & a pair of thongs! I love my job, but when it’s hailing, muddy, windy & freezing, there are plenty of other careers that look faaaaaar more appealing! Daylight saving can get a wriggle-on too.

Life has been fairly hectic recently, which I guess, is far better than the alternative. Equestrian Australia held their National Conference at Sydney University a few Fridays back, & I was invited to talk on the importance of rider fitness. This is my major passion next to riding itself. It’s become my intention to badger riders into submission, via guilt trips or just plain annoyance, until everyone makes an effort to a) eat well, & b) do at least minimal exercise aside from riding! The actual trip to Sydney & back was a pain in the rear however, starting with a no-show taxi… then nearly missing my flight… followed by sprinting the entire length of the domestic terminal… only to be topped off by extreme turbulence, resulting in myself & almost every other passenger puking on the flight! Awesome.

The next two days were spent teaching a clinic (no puking thankfully), then home for most of Monday to ride, followed by trip #2 to Sydney (to look at a horse for a client) on Monday night. I felt like a reluctant mule being dragged onto a truck… the jet fuel reminded me of the puke-flight three days ago! I’m not religious, but I was praying to the god of paper sick bags not to go through the same experience again!

On the home front, the ponies are back into the swing of things. I’ve been playing with heart rate monitors, an iphone app for triathlon called Strava (I entered the boys fitness work as a ‘bike ride’!), as well as digging out the horse weighing scales. William was rather reluctant to get on the scales… we realised why when he topped 576kg’s – fatty boomba!!  Forest weighed 552kg’s, & Hammer 538kg’s. Everything was then thrown on the scales – the dogs, people, all the horses! Poor Willy, he’s so hard to keep thin, I think I’m going to have to lead him when I go running!

It’s really interesting when you compare the way a number of different horses respond to fitness work. Of the four horses on which I compete, the two bays are thoroughbreds, & the rangas are warmbloods (colour coding is mandatory to breed, obviously!). The TB’s can go all day, but are stiffer over the back & take more to settle. The WB’s don’t possess that relentless flight response, yet are more supple. I’ve been focussing on really round, soft frames up & down the hills, really making them use their backs. Willy needs to cut more cardio lap efforts as he is a) fat, b) round & supple, & c) fat, whereas the TB’s don’t need to do heaps of cardio – they have a great base from their racing days.

Heart rates vary a little from horse to horse, so I’ve been getting to know their numbers at rest, walk, trot, canter, gallop, hills, jumping ,& back to recovery. By knowing each horses individual HR pattern, I’m then able to assess how quickly they recover after an effort, how much difference the weather affects their working & recovery HR, alerts me to any irregularities (ie a higher than normal HR may indicate the horse isn’t 100%), & generally gives me an idea of how much fitter the horse is becoming over time. Respiration rate, the amount of sweat lost, the amount they drink, how much filling their legs contain after work, the dehydration pinch test, how sound/stiff they feel the next day are all things I need to know like the back of my hand. Call me fussy, but that’s the reason I like to do all the work on the boys myself… apart from not trusting them to buck people off!

My team’s first start for the season, Friends of Werribee Horse Trials, came & went in a blur… four rides is a busy schedule! However, anything’s possible with an amazing team behind the scenes, all on strict instructions to follow THE LIST. I have bought an enormous whiteboard, on which everything anyone needs to know is written, so that when I go MIA, the team still runs! Amazingly enough, Werribee turned on some pretty special spring weather, & the boys all performed really well. Willy beat Forest in the CNC** dressage by less than 1 point. Both then showjumped clear & in fine style. However, Willy is still not over his fear of keyholes (now having weighed him I understand why!), so he gave up the winners crown to Forest, who moonwalked around the course wit his eyes closed! Hammer is the King of Perk, loves going on outings & has seemingly endless energy, but I can’t complain because he’s always in the money – 2^nd this weekend. Riddick (owned by Sarah & Joel Tipping), placed 5^th in the prelim, only hampered by an 8am dressage time & a slightly fresh demeanour! He kept lining up the 3* fences whilst on XC, so he’s been put up to pre-novice for Avenel.

With the horse trials over, it was back to Werribee on Thursday for a state talent squad clinic with Prue Barrett. Forest was rather fresh, & when he’s in this mode, he’d be more suited to navy employment as a submarine periscope than a dressage horse! Then Boneo Park combined training on the Saturday… I love the 8 minute drive from my house to the venue!

This week? Friday – Boneo Park showjumping. Sat/Sun – teaching in Ballarat. The following week – Mansfield & Melton clinics. The rest of the month – Exhibition eventing at Melbourne Show, Avenel HT. And that’s September gone!

My super new sponsors KER have started the ‘Educating Amanda’ program, with a visit from Dr Peter Huntington to see the boys.  Peter discussed the various feeding & management options for each horse, each one receiving a slightly different diet. I then spent a few hours with nutritionist Luisa Woods, whilst she filled my head with amazing company, digestive & product information. I in turn, badgered her with constant questioning like an irritating grade 6 geek! The facility in Kentucky looks absolutely amazing, & the research is second to none… definitely a place on the ‘to visit’ list.

No rest for the wicked!