When I found myself wanting to delve into the doubts and second-guessing that happen when I’m riding in front at the end of my last blog post, I realized I needed to write a separate post on winning an endurance ride. What makes it possible to win? What kinds of things determine whether your horse comes in first, fifth, fifteenth, or twenty-fifth?
Read what I wrote on this topica year later, after riding Fantazia to the Trona Pinnacles to 15th place (out of 38; Rachel Shackelford rode Jazz to 8th place, which certainly beat her metabolic pull when Jazz won!): On winning (or not) in endurance.
Jump to:
When you know your horse can win, if all goes well
The things that need to happen for your horse to win
When competitiveness comes into play
On doubts and second-guessing
When you know your horse can win, if all goes well
Before the second day of the Fire Mountain Pioneer ride, I texted someone who had asked about the ride:
“I do 55 miles with Jazz tomorrow, all out in the desert. If he doesn’t kill me, he could win. He put on quite a spectacle today when we vetted in. Whistling, snorting, rearing, prancing.”
The next day I texted that we had indeed won. The reply?
“Congratulations! When you said you could win yesterday, I figured you probably would.”
My response?
“I knew I had enough horse to win. I had to ride for it though.”
How did I know I had enough horse to win?
Ride history
Jazz was not only fit for a 55-mile ride, he was fit for a fast one. We had completed the 50 at Sesenta Anos in just under eight hours riding time (7:51). That’s a tough ride with lots of elevation gain. There was more elevation gain in its second loop than in the entirety of the Fire Mountain 55 Jazz won. Jazz was sore and tired about that ride. (Read about it here: Second place and Best Condition: Jazz’s First 50.) He recovered quickly, however, and would have been ready for Cayuse, had the ride not been cancelled. As is was, we did a long ride every two weeks.
Conditioning status
Because I cannot ride frequently, my horses get a long, slow, tough ride every two weeks. By this I mean 15-23 miles or so in the steep terrain of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. For example, on Christmas Day, Jazz and I rode 23 miles in five hours, with total elevation gain of over 3,000 feet, including several very steep climbs. On December 9th, we did 21 miles in 4.5 hours with 4,500′ total elevation gain. These rides include around five miles of power trotting and very steep inclines. Jazz had been riding those steep hills since summer–he was fit!
Read my post on Riding steep hills to increase fitness.
Above: Jazz’s first time up one of our steepign training climbs last summer. He’s come a long way since then!
Jazz’s attitude leading up to the race
No matter how fit your horse is, if he’s not in the right frame of mind, you aren’t going to be winning any races. Sometimes a horse can be too fit, or more precisely, over-trained. You can see this in their coat and muscles as well as in their eyes. Sometimes a horse can have a bad day, or be anxious. This doesn’t mean you won’t win. Maybe everybody else’s horse is also having a bad day (more on that below). But it’s not likely.
It really is hard to win a race, any sort of race. (Before you get het up about my use of the word “race,” read my post on Racing vs. Riding and the US Endurance Debate.) The horse needs to be right, the rider needs to be right: the partnership needs to be working.
Jazz told me he was capable of winning the day before
I knew by Jazz’s attitude at his vet-in that he could win. Despite being tied to the trailer all day while Fantazia and I completed a 50 (read about Fantazia’s day here), he was excited, happy, and eager to go. (OK maybe a little bit mad too!) He was excited, not nervous. Pushy and annoying, yes… which is normal for him. Most importantly, Jazz knew exactly what was going to happen. He’d been there, done that already. The last ride had been tough, but he was still excited in a good way. He was eating, drinking, and bouncing off the walls.
Because he was bouncing off the walls, I saddled up and rode him for 20 minutes. Importantly, Jazz was perfectly calm and sensible when I was in the saddle. He wasn’t eaten up by nerves. True, we didn’t go out of sight of the trailer. I didn’t want Fantazia to get upset after completing her 50 miles. But it was enough for me to know Jazz was truly in the right condition and frame of mind to win.
The things that need to happen for your horse to win
But being mentally and physically fit does not mean the horse can win… in fact, it usually doesn’t translate into a win. You still need to ride the race. You need to ride in a way that makes it possible for your horse to be first. My experience mainly not winning endurance rides had led me to the following conclusions. (They will most certainly be updated as I gain experience!)
Things to do to make winning possible:
Start promptly.
You don’t need to be first, but you don’t want to be caught sleeping and leave 30 minutes after the start. Yes, you still have time to finish and yes, 50 miles is a long way, but why make it necessary to make up lost time? My ideal would be to start just behind the leaders, so I have some tracks to follow.
Be organized.
Have food ready for your horse at holds (he needs to eat). Have elytes prepared. Prepare your own food and drinks ahead of time.
Be fit.
Not only will this make it easier for you to get off and lead when it will help your horse, it will also make you easier to carry. It’s harder for a horse to carry the exhausted sack of potatoes that happens when a rider is very tired.
Maintain a steady speed that is comfortable for your horse.
Someone once told me that the way to complete endurance rides was to “Never hurry, never tarry.” My first fifty was a catch ride. The horse’s owner just said, trot whenever you can, at the speed she can do easily. Simple and excellent advice.
Know your horse.
You need to know what your horse can do. Is he comfortable at an 8 mph trot? 7.5 mph? Does he need frequent lope or canter breaks? Can he trot endlessly at 7mph or does she do best at 9mph with a walking break every mile or so? Does she motor up climbs effortlessly or do you need to walk up and let he make up time on the gradual downhills? Are there physical limitations that make riding one way better? For example, Fantazia is arthritic, so I don’t go fast downhill, ever.
Know your horse’s limits.
You need to be able to tell the difference between bored and lazy and tired. You need to be able to tell when she is tired, or even if not tired, needs to slow down. With Fantazia, that can be hard. She always wants to Do Her Job and Finish the Ride. You cannot just let the horse choose its pace. Sometimes you’ll need to encourage him along (Jazz when alone and hungry), sometimes you’ll need to slow her down (Fantazia almost always).
Above: The way back to ride camp from the Trona Pinnacles on the Fire Mountain 55-mile ride. As soon as he was alone, Jazz acted like he was dead tired. Because I knew his fitness level, history, and personality, I knew he was not that tired. I could urge him to keep a lively pace with confidence that I was not overriding.
Things not to do if you plan on winning if possible:
Don’t override.
Knowing your horse’s limits will help you avoid overriding your horse. If you go too fast, you not only risk injuring your horse and shortening his using life, you also risk failing to complete. If you override, the risk of your horse being pulled either for metabolic or lameness problems increases exponentially. It’s no good to be in front if you get pulled.
(See my post on speed: How fast is too fast?)
Don’t get lost.
This is the problem with being in front. You don’t have any tracks to follow. Of course, sometimes tracks don’t help. At Cayuse 2022, Fantazia and I were close behind the leaders when we started the second loop. I got lost. We rode four extra miles, mainly back and forth as I struggled to find the trail.
I love ride managers who provide gpx files!!
Don’t stop and take pictures and/or pick up rocks all the time.
This is what I do during the final loop of almost every ride. I can’t help it, I just love to take pictures, especially of plants. Actually I do this during ALL the loops.
And I love to pick up rocks. At one ride, Fantazia was carrying five pounds of rock by the end. And we did not win! I generally am not that invested in winning.
Don’t get distracted about leaving after your hold.
I can easily forget when to leave, or just get busy eating. Most of the time, my holds are longer than needed. That’s okay, just don’t do it if you want to increase your chances of winning.
Things that need to happen that don’t depend on your own ride:
Even if you do everything right and actually want to win enough to be in a hurry, you still might not win.
There are other riders and horses in the race. Always. They might be going faster than you want or can. This is why I am never too motivated by winning. Even being top ten can be pure accident. I’ve learned with Fantazia that where we come in depends pretty much entirely on other riders. She’s gone the same speed and placed very differently. And at Fire Mountain, she was 5th for the last two years in the Day 1 50 despite taking an hour longer this time.
So what needs to happen for you to win? Other riders have to go more slowly than you do. And that depends on them and the state of their horses.
When competitiveness comes into play
Yes, competitiveness makes a difference. Riders who would otherwise be making their way back to ride camp in a leisurely fashion are likely to pick up the pace if they realize that the only rider between them and winning is walking slowly less than a mile ahead. Or if they look back and see someone rapidly gaining on them. I’ve seen it happen, and I’ve chosen to do it (or not) myself.
When I was finishing the Fire Mt. 55 with Jazz, I happened to look back about 2 miles from the finish. I noticed other riders coming and decided maybe we should trot. I wasn’t going to lead for nearly 53 miles and then get passed at the last minute! Never mind that I only noticed them because I was stretching my hip!
Importantly, I knew Jazz could very easily trot in. I have been in similar situations with Fantazia and chosen not to trot. I never want to push her, partly because I don’t want to make her brain worse, partly because I don’t want to risk her soundness. Although I am by nature fairly competitive, (I would have said very competitive 20 years ago. Now it seems photography is as important as winning! And I do get tired and lazy towards the end of 50 miles!) I am never so competitive I want to risk my horse’s well-being.
Above: Fantazia at the 2022 Fire Mountain Pioneer ride, Day 1, Loop 3, stopping to photograph a silver cholla. We were still 5th place! I was being careful and going slow… and taking pictures.
On doubts and second-guessing
Here’s the thing–and the reason I am writing this post on winning an endurance race. I always have doubts when I am in front in a ride, or even near the frontrunners. I worry a bit about getting lost, the more so because it has happened to me many times. Mostly, I worry about over-riding my horse.
Sometimes it’s about not holding them back enough
With Fantazia, this translates into not holding her back enough. The only time she has ever not wanted to go faster than I do was at Quicksilver, when she was overheated. Even when she was lame from muscle spasms at Cuyama Oaks and Wild West, she wanted to book it down the trail.
Part of the reason I started slowing down so often for photography and rocks was to make sure Fantazia was not overdoing it. Then I got hooked 😉
Other times it’s about pushing them too much
With Jazz, this translates into pushing him too much. Despite his flashiness when vetting (and yes, I train them to show off) and naughtiness when left behind by other horses, Jazz is a bit lazy. Or maybe I should just say he takes care of himself. If Jazz is hungry, he wants to go slowly and stop to eat. When he’s thirsty, he fades… until he drinks and then he’s energized immediately. When he’s bored, he slows down. If there’s a buddy behind him and no one in front, he wants to stop.
I know I need to push him sometimes. Even at home, where he knows the way back, he needs pushing if I want to get home before dark–even though it’s mainly DOWNHILL on the way back. (Especially now there’s lots of green grass!) At the Fire Mt. ride, I knew I needed to push him, because (a) he didn’t know how to get to ride camp and was waiting for Fargo and (b) he wanted to stop and turn his butt to the wind–the wrong direction and (c) I was freezing and (d) I knew perfectly well he wasn’t that tired. We weren’t going that fast.
Still, I worried about pushing him too much, just because I was in front. Had I been in back of at least one other rider, I wouldn’t have doubted.
Perhaps it’s the nature of the game
Wondering if you’re doing it right, especially when you’re winning, might be normal. Still, hopefully I will do it less as I gain more experience. With Jazz, I’ll have fewer doubts when we’ve completed more rides together and he has less of a baby brain. When he’s more serious about his job, it’ll be easier to trust his judgment. I’ll have to do less of the thinking for him. In the end, I believe he’ll make an excellent endurance horse, because he’s not anxious about it. He’s not super-competitive like Fantazia. As he gets fitter and better at his job, he will take it more seriously and want to do it efficiently… But he won’t ever be likely to ignore his stomach like Fantazia does!
Thoughts on winning at endurance?
For those of you with mroe experience than I’ve got (not difficult!)–what are your thoughts on the subject? Do you still second-guess yourselves? Have doubts about your speed? Get lost?
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