Road to the Tevis Cup #33: The two weeks leading up to our second ride

When I post this, it will be less than a week before the Eastern Mojave (this year Coso Junction) xp ride. It’s already less than 14 days, but I still want to talk about the two weeks leading up to our second ride. It’s important to have an overall conditioning plan, especially when you are trying to reach a certain goal. In endurance, the goal might be having a horse fit enough to complete 50 miles in the top ten, or two slow back-to-back 50s. In my racetrack past, I had goals such as a specific debut race, or extending a horse’s racing distance from a mile to a mile and a half. Now, my long-term goal is Tevis.

There are always a lot of short-term goals leading to the Big Prize. They are part of the overall conditioning plan, and as you get close to each, you focus on it. Depending on the time frame, the final days or weeks leading up to each short-term goal are important. I have had many short-term goals for Fantazia, such as our first training ride over 20 miles and our first endurance ride. We are now into the final two weeks leading up to our second ride, another important short-term goal. It just so happens that I am very busy with work now too, so it’s going to be hectic!

On the flexibility of short-term goals

Last week I posted a question on the AERC Facebook page. It was about the duration of steel shoes in the context of riding 300 miles. At the moment, I plan to ride 50 miles on March 11, 50 on March 13 (the abovementioned xp ride). Two weeks later I plan to do back-to-back 50s at the Cuyama Oaks xp ride. Two weeks after than I plan to do the 100 at 20 Mule Team. Of course, some people mentioned that this was a very demanding ride schedule. I am in complete agreement. We might not be able to do it, but that’s okay. It’s not written in stone.

Looking back on our last ride determines what we do in the two weeks leading up to our second ride — The morning after completing out first major short-term goal, the 50-mile ride at Laurel Mtn. Despite refusing to eat and drink, Fantazia completed the ride easily. The fact that she could have done another ride the following morning with no problem decided me on my present three-ride plan.

That’s one of the key features of short-term goals within the framework of a long-term one: they can be and must be flexible. I will only ride on March 13th if Fantazia comes out of the ride on the 11th fresh and eating and drinking. I will only do two 50s at Cuyama Valley if she’s fully recovered from the previous ride. I’ll do the 65 at 20 Mule Team rather than the 100 if I don’t think she’s ready. I have decided upon this specific plan because I believe it will meet her needs, but horses’ needs change. It’s important to have a series of short-term goals planned, but you can only focus on the one looming in front of you. Right now, it’s the 50 miles we’re set to do March 11th.

Conditioning in these last two weeks leading up to our second ride

These last two weeks of conditioning will include the last real workouts Fantazia gets at home until May. Because she was fitter than I realized at Laurel Mountain, I have not been pushing her much. That has made it even more important to carefully gauge the timing and workload on our final rides. Below I will list the ones we have done and the ones I’ve got planned for the next week.

February 26th

Exactly two weeks before March 11, we did our second longest training ride ever, and the longest since Laurel Mt: 19.60 miles. 3850 feet total elevation gain in 4 hours, 47 minutes (moving time = 4:16:17). Average moving speed = 4.6 mph. Maximum speed = 12.7 mph (we did canter a bit). But we were not in a hurry, and we explored rocks and streams in a new pasture.

Our last long training ride before the Eastern Mojave/Coso endurance ride.

February 27th

Rest day.

February 28th

I ponied Fantazia from Beroni for 3.3 miles (~1.2 mile of trotting at an average of 9mph), then left her in a new pen. It was full of grass and right next to her pen, so I was hoping that she’d be calm and eat, but she just ran up and down and whinnied while I rode Beroni another 3 miles or so.

March 1st

Fantazia was reshod, and then I rode her and ponied Beroni. 4.8 miles total, mostly along the road (there is a wide grassy shoulder). About 3.2 miles of that was trotting at 7-7.5 mph.

Ponying Beroni from Fantazia seems fair, because she’s in much better shape. Beroni doesn’t really like it though. He prefers to be the one ridden.

March 2nd

Ride about 4.25 miles. My watch battery died after 3 miles, but it is a loop we do all the time. Total elevation gain 1,250 feet.

March 3rd

Rest day. (I teach three classes via ZOOM on Wednesdays, so they are always rest days.) Hand walk 45 minutes–I let her graze most of the time.

I hand-walk Fantazia during my lunchbreak on Wednesdays. We don’t do much walking. Mainly she grazes and I read a novel.

March 4th

Pony Fantazia from Beroni. 5.5 miles total, along driveway and rode (grassy shoulder). 3.2 miles of trotting that took 25 minutes (with turns, we go up and down a ~0.6 mile stretch), at an average of around 8.4 mph trotting speed. Beroni can really trot, fortunately. Even carrying me, he’s comfortable at 9mph, and he’s not even fit!

March 5th

Ride in the arena one hour. 19 minutes trot (7 mph max), 9 minutes canter (loping circles on a long rein). Shoulder-in, haunches-in, turns on the haunches, stopping, backing. Basically a training refresher.

I also put Hoof Armor (On sale at Riding Warehouse now) on Beroni’s bare feet and on Fantazia’s shod ones, including over the shoes and nails. And we practiced tying. Fantazia ties just fine as long as she doesn’t see me paying attention to another horse, or walking away. Then she pitches a fit and paws and poops and dances around.

Waiting for Hoof Armor to cure a bit. Fantazia gets impatient when tied. Beroni is an excellent example. You can park him anywhere and he just stands there (though he might untie his rope, he doesn’t GO anywhere!)

March 6th

Rest day (I went hiking: 11.96 miles… Rider conditioning is important too!).

March 7th

Ride my main short loop, similar to the one I did on March 2nd, but the other way. 5.1 miles in one hour, 36 minutes. 1,453 feet total elevation gain. I used a heart rate monitor for the first time, a Hylofit. More on that later. Her maximum heart rate was 188. Pulses down in minutes. I wasn’t really watching closely, and the HR monitor kept disconnecting from my watch. The method needs perfecting.

March 8th (planned)

Pony Fantazia from Beroni

March 9th (planned)

Pony Beroni from Fantazia

March 10th (planned)

Travel day! Hand walk at lunch, feed early, leave for Coso Junction.

Feeding in the last two weeks leading up to our second ride

Although Fantazia’s feed hasn’t changed overall, I have been more focused on increasing her calorie intake. Ideally, I would like her to be at a Body Condition Index of 7 next Wednesday. That might be over-ambitious, depending on the judge… I think she’s a 6.5 now, but some would probably say 6.0.

Green grass is the best way to fatten up a horse, especially a hard keeper.

Because I want her to eat as much as healthily possible, I need to exercise her. Exercise increases appetite, and it allows us to feed without worrying about tying up. I always feed more on work days. When it comes to Fantazia, who gets a lot of feed every day, I just add soaked beet pulp and alfalfa/timothy cubes, whole oats, and extra rice bran and ground flaxseed.

This is why I pony her with Beroni. It’s a good way to exercise her without too much stress. Arena work and walking trail rides perform the same function. In between our planned endurance rides, most of Fantazia’s exercise will be ponying and easy arena work or trail rides.

I will also try to allow her as much access to green grass as possible. She’s on pasture 24/7, but of course that gets eaten down. (It would be better if California weren’t going into a drought.)

Why am I worried about this, and why do I want a fairly high score?

Yes seven could be considered on the fat side, and it really depends on the rater (this site has pictures). Fantazia might be considered a 6 now (generally considered just a tad fatter than ideal), but I think she’s nearing 7, which is where I want her. Bottom line, I want her to go into this series of rides with extra flesh. First, she is a picky eater at best and is likely to eat little to nothing at the rides. Second, doing 100 miles every two weeks is a lot of work, even with little work in between. Even if I decide to only do one 50 next weekend or at Cuyama, it’s a lot of work. Just travelling takes its toll. So she’s going to lose weight. The fatter she is to start with, the less skinny she’ll be on April 12th.

Below: Fantazia on March 5th. A good solid 6, maybe 6.5, condition score.

No, I don’t want her to be FAT. But I’d rather err on the side of high body score. Research with Tevis horses has shown that higher body condition scores is related to better completion rates. Horses with scores of 5.0 had a 90% completion rate. Horses with 4.0 (moderately thin) had a 59.1% completion rate. That’s a big difference. Because Fantazia is a hard keeper at the best of times, and doesn’t eat under stress (just like me, sigh…), I will need to be especially careful that she maintains good weight.

If she is below a 5.5 before trailering to a ride, I won’t take her. This applies to short-term as well as long-term goals. If she’s at a 5.5-6.0 before Cuyama Oaks, I will have to decide whether to take her and do one 50 (I wouldn’t do two at a 5.0) and risk having to skip 20 Mule Team. If she hasn’t recovered to more than a 5.0 after next weekend’s ride, it’s a bad sign for the next two rides.

Hence the flexibility of short-term goals!

Fantazia in January was fuzzier and fatter than she is now. She’s lost much of her winter coat, and the Laurel mountain ride took weight off. She’s regained most of it, but could use a bit more.

Other stuff I’ve been and will be doing in the last two weeks leading up to our second ride

Working overtime to make up for missing two weekdays. Hopefully I’ll have time to schedule my next post too.
Ordering everything I noticed I should have had in the last ride and forgot to order up till now.
Packing. More on what I’ll take in a later post!