Well Vale Pre-Read

Hello my committed readers! It’s been a while since I sat down to write a blog again. For those that don’t know, I suddenly and unexpectedly lost Spice to colic at the end of May and it really knocked me for six.

The whole of 2023 was centered around Spice’s competitions and I honestly didn’t have any definite plans or goals with the other horses.

I had made the decision to step back from longer distances with Chip after our trip to Scotland as he just didn’t recover well from first day (80km) of the 2-day 160km and in all honesty I didn’t ‘need’ to ask him to do anything else as I was more than happy being competitive/focused with Spice and just playing with Chip.

I did take Chip to Haywood Oaks in early April for a 40km and had the best time! But, I wasn’t truly happy with how he looked coming out of that either and so I really floundered on what to do next. I should clarify he’s passing the vettings but not looking as perfect as I would expect – by my own standards.

After more strength and conditioning work I entered Chip for the Ranskill ride at the end of May. Just another 40km to see how he would go and compare the after-ride recovery vs Haywood Oaks. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it as it was the morning after losing Spice and of course a ride was the last place I wanted to be.

Work then took me to Cirencester in July where I realised just how much I have missed going to rides and catching up with all my friends. It was really good to go to a ride without a horse too because so many people came to commiserate about Spice so it was a pretty tearful weekend (in a good way). It was nice to get that all out of the way without a horse to concentrate on as well.

When I got home from Cirencester I immediately looked on the calendar and booked Chip and I into a 40km at Coloured Cob (a ride I’d not done before).

The weather was less than favourable with heavy continuous rain and exceedingly muddy conditions underfoot. Despite this, Chip seemed to love his day out and he performed well in his hoof boots.

The decision to use the hoof boots was a bit of a last minute one also. I had paid for a hoof boot fitter to come around 6 weeks earlier but in all honesty I just hadn’t been getting on well with the boots and had resigned myself to making a loss and selling them on.

However, my sister who is training as an equine podiatrist has taken Chip on as a case study for her qualification and it was her fresh eyes (and her mentor’s) that had strongly advised trying hoof boots with Chip. Chip has amazing strong feet and hard soles, he can canter on stones without flinching! But he is cow-hocked and he adducts behind, worse on the L vs R. This has always been his way of going and we have historically ‘corrected’ or should I say ‘supported’ this with lateral extensions on his hind feet.

However, when I first took his shoes off in 2020, (Covid induced idea) to help address his contracting heels in front, I knew that there would be no going back to shoes for Chip. I saw such a crazy improvement in his way of going and reduced filling in his legs after work without shoes. I presume this is due to the reduced concussion from the metal.

I have since competed him barefoot with relative success however, Pheobe and her mentor spotted immediately that Chip had once again reverted back to having negative palmar angles behind and that adduction certainly hadn’t improved. The theory behind the boots was to help put some more heel height in play and stimulate some correct growth.

So whilst I was at first less than smitten with the boots, some walk and trot up assessments with and without boots proved that they did indeed make a huge difference to his way of going. Significantly straighter behind to say the least.

It was literally the week before Coloured Cob that we made this discovery so I was very apprehensive about riding 40km in them when we hadn’t even cantered in them yet!

Luckily, my fears were unfounded and they stayed on perfectly, offered a surprising amount of traction (which was really put to the test in the muddy conditions) and I had so much ‘push’ from behind again it was amazing!

After the ride Chip looked phenomenal and how I would expect him to look after a 40km so unexpectedly we had to start thinking about what we would like to do next.

It was my intention to race Spice at Well Vale so somehow it felt predestined. But what distance?

After Coloured Cob I got home and confidently said to Pheobe I think I’m going to enter the Open Championship (60km). It’s a performance formula ride which doesn’t typically suit Chip as he has a very fast recovery, but not a particularly low heart rate. After some discussion and some encouragement from Pheobe we agreed why not just go for the Advanced Championship (80km) and a CER.

Plus points:

- Racing baby – fun fun fun

- Mass start – opportunity to stick with company all day long – Chip hates riding alone

Questionable points:

- Fitness – it’s a last-minute decision, a month isn’t long enough to make much difference. I am relying on years of conditioning.

- Boots rubbing – frustratingly the hind boots have started to rub the sides of his pasterns. I have fashioned a fluffy protector which has been working well but this hasn’t been tested over any considerable distance eek.

Anyway, the entry went in and I decided to do what I could with the time we had left – two gallops sessions on the hill for interval training. This works well as you can get a good a good cardio response for not many miles. The all-weather surface helps those precious joints too and the sessions are short and sweet – stops old horses getting sour!

Alongside the gallops sessions we’ve just been schooling and doing our groundwork as usual. Chip has picked up beautifully but I am of course concerned if we have the fuel in the tank for a potentially fast 80km. I could do a not-fast 80km but as ever I am so keen to keep Chip happy with friends and don’t want to be in no-mans-land.

This race is all about having fun and it will not be fun alone.

So what’s my strategy?

- Race two loops – see how we feel about the last one. In all seriousness, I am totally okay with just riding two loops. This hasn’t been some big goal of mine for a long period of time, we are relatively unprepared for this. We are only going for a fun weekend and so I don’t feel any pressure to complete the whole thing. It would be lovely but I will only do that third and final loop if I feel I have a rocket underneath me and nothing less.

- Sit at the back of the leading pack – Chip loves to chase so I plan to sit him behind the front runners. He can happily bob behind them and as long as the speed doesn’t ramp too much on the first two loops I will keep him there to chase and follow but not expend any unnecessary energy leading. It also means there are plenty behind us if we do need to drop back for any reason.

- Recovery, recovery, recovery – fueling this ride is going to be absolutely essential so we will be unashamedly tapping into Energex nice and early and keeping his fuel even and consistent. This means on course syringes as well as in VGs. In the VGs we are going to have work hard to ensure he eats and drinks well and take time at crew points to keep his hydration levels up as well.

I feel really excited about getting to go racing again with Chip, even if we don’t have any competitive intentions. It’s just going to be so fun to line up at that start line on an experienced horse who is going to be in his absolute element! I really didn't ever see us doing this again so I'm not going to take a single second for granted.

I’ve also decided to race in Chip in Spice’s bridle so there may well be a few more tears when we get there!

Will report back soon!