Only Nine Weeks to Go!

Training Ride 17th/18th July 2012

When I got to the yard on tuesday morning it was pouring with rain. Cognac lives out 24/7 and although he has a fantastic Weatherbeeta rug and he was dry underneath, he felt quite cold. So I stripped him off, hanging his rug up to dry, and put a dry one back on so that he could warm up a little while eating his breakfast.

The weather report said that it would be raining on and off all day and I was concerned about Cognac getting cold at night, also as he now has his summer coat. So I took his rainsheet with us- laying it over his quarters and wrapping it round my legs so that I could hold it in place with my knees. I took the back straps off of the rug and replaced it with a fillet string- then I just tied the belly straps up in a knot. This worked really well to keep us warm and dry, when we didn't need it on I folded it up into a long strip and laid it over the front of the saddle, again holding it in place with my knees.

Cognac really needed his rug that night! It was a cold night so I also put a opened out sleeping bag under his rug, which worked really effectively and was still in place in the morning.

We covered 27 miles on the first day and roughly the same on the second day, Cognac has loads of energy on the second day and was eager to trot and canter alongside the bike that accompanied us. When we got back to the yard he looked really good and hadn't dropped any weight.

Our new saddle bags!

Slideshow of April Training Rides

You can view the photo album on Picasa web albums, click the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/103914270041301454742/JOGLETrainingRidesApril2012?authuser=0&feat=directlink

This weeks training ride

I am off on another two day training ride Tuesday and Wednesday this week, I just watched the weather forecast and it's not looking good. It's not looking bad, but I am sure I am going to get rained on at some point. Last time I went out I pretty much made up my route as I went, trying out as many new bridleways as I could, however this time I thought I could do with challenging my map reading skills a little so I am going to plan a 25 miles route there and a different 25 mile route home and try to follow it exactly. I thought it would also be good practise for me to try and predict the time that i will arrive at certain points- thus sticking to a bit more of a 'schedule' than I normally do when I ride. The need to practise my map skills has come around from a few comments I made to various people over the last few weeks, such as:
"How was your ride to Kingley Vale?"
Me: " Oh... I ended up at Cocking"
and " I couldn't be bothered to get my map out of my bag- so I just headed in what looked like the right direction"

William Reddaway's Ride Around England

Next year William Reddaway is going to ride the four corners of England, riding right through many towns and cities, including through the centre of Chichester, to raise money for charity. The trip is going to take six months or more to complete and is going to be interesting to follow.
View all the details on his website: http://www.rideroundengland.org/
William lives by the Sabrina Way, which I will be riding along in August, so I hope to meet him then as we will have much to talk about!

New Maps!

My car is in the garage at the moment so I had quite a mission getting to the yard and back today, which didn't leave much time, or energy, for riding! When I finally got to the yard I cleaned my tack! (astonished faces all round!) and took Cognac for a ride around the common, across the road from the common someone has cut some logs down and laid them out on the track to jump, so we had a bit of fun over them. We have been doing lots of day rides recently so Cognac had quite the spring to his step when we turned from home after just 5 miles! I gave him his head and let him race as fast as he liked along the sandy tracks back across the common and he was pleased to be back at his field only hours after leaving it instead of days!

When I got home I had a box of shiny new maps waiting for me, which I delved into. I now got all the maps for the Sabrina Way, which I now need to transfer the route to from the internet and also the extra maps needed to work out a route between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Still waiting for my new saddle bags, I'm hoping they arrive before my two day ride that I have planned next week.

The Long Rider's Guild

I have just discovered The Long Rider's guild. This site has tonnes of information relevant to the journey I am undertaking, and every article has the horses well-being at the heart of it. It is really worth a read by anyone who cares for their horse and spends hours in the saddle.

http://www.thelongridersguild.com

I have been reading advice from long riders about saddle blankets, after my saddle pad rubbing Cognac behind the saddle on our two day training ride, the advice is to use wool saddle blankets (which can also double up as an extra blanket for me in a bunkhouse) and also to take a spare foam sleeping mat. These are lightweight to carry and if you get a saddle sore, they can be cut to size, cut a hole over the sore spot and it relieves the pressure from the spot so that i can heal.

Hopefully with my new saddle bags and if I start using a wool saddle blanket I will not get any more rubs, but if I was to get a rub on my trip, then it could add a lot of time onto my journey as I haven't scheduled in any rest days, although I have tried to plan shorter days after days that I know will be long or strenuous.

If I do get any rubs or injuries on my trip, obviously it depends on the circumstances, but I plan to wait it out, until we are ready to continue. In this instance I will try to push all our accommodation stops back.

A few quotes from the Long Rider's Guild website:

"Its not the kilometres that kill your horse. Its the kilograms."

" Historically there have been two major reasons that equestrian journeys have failed - saddle sores and bad feet"

BHF T-shirt and collecting tins!

I've just had a parcel arrive from the British Heart Foundation. It contained a rather nice red t-shirt, which has "British Heart Foundation, Beating Heart Disease Together" on the front, along with their logo. This t-shirt will be getting a lot of wear this summer! I have also received some collecting tins and official sponsorship forms. Time to start raising some money!

I would urge you to take a look at the British Heart Foundation website, it really is such a good cause that means so much to me. If anyone has any advice on raising sponsorship please get in contact. My email is katlittle@aol.com  I need as much help as I can get as I already have a lot on my plate with planning the ride and getting Cognac and myself fit.

If you would like to sponsor me you can do so online at :

www.justgiving.com/1000milesoncognac

EGB Ride Findon- Team Rabble RDRC

Yesterday Cognac and I competed in an endurance ride at Findon. We competed as part of a team for Rogate Riding Club alongside three other horse and rider combinations. The ride was very well organised and the atmosphere with pretty relaxed, the rain the night before had left the grassy tracks springy underfoot and being high up on the downs at points we had some great views.

We rode pretty hard and fast, with Cognac getting rather over- excited at the end! But all managed to get graded, three of us with a grade one and one of us with a grade four. It was a great experience all round and we hope to compete in another EGB ride next month.

Although the ride was faster than I will be doing for my long horse ride, it was of similar distance to what I plan to cover each day so was great fitness training for Cognac (and me!) I think it also helps to break up Cognac's training a bit as it is definitely more exciting and interesting for him to ride out in company.

Thank - you to everyone that helped us on the day and all the volunteers that allowed the event to take place. Special thanks goes to Dawn for organizing team Rabble!

EGB Findon 08/04/2012 33km CR Team endurance RDRC

Cognac and Rosie outside pub in Stoughton.

Cognac headshot

Gumber Farm Two Day Training Ride

I've been very busy! I just got back from a two day training ride with an overnight stay at Gumber Bothy on the National Trust Slindon Estate. Cognac and I covered about 25 miles each day and we have both returned looking and feeling well. I think we are both looking forward to a day off tomorrow though- Cognac was pleased to get back to his field for a roll and a big feed. I felt that the distance was fine to cover each day, we set off at 9am each morning and got back mid- late afternoon, including a leisurely lunch break. I really enjoyed the chance to explore some new routes and bridleways, although I did get slightly lost a few times!

On Tuesday, we had barely seen a soul all day, so Cognac and I stopped right on the trail, on the top of a hill, and had some lunch. Cognac was busy stuffing as much of the lush, green grass as possible and I was licking melted chocolate from its wrapper when a surprised cyclist stopped to say that we were the first people he had seen all morning. He was checking out the South Downs Way and the surrounding area as he is setting up a guided cycling company. He was interested to hear that I had cycled Land's End to John O'Groats on my mountain bike and that I planned to do the reverse on my horse. When I expressed interest in his new business, he gave me his business card and asked me to get in touch if I had any ideas, as I've ridden a lot of the bridleways criss- crossing the downs. After lunch I tacked Cognac back up and walked with him to the bottom of the hill, before getting on (I find it uncomfortable to ride directly after eating lunch and prefer to walk for a bit first).

We arrived at Gumber Farm at about 3.30pm. They were in the middle of lambing at the farm, having had 800 lambs already, they were expecting 200 more! So the pen where Cognac was to stay was bedded down mostly with straw (normally it is grass) with only a bit of grass at the front. So I grazed Cognac in the empty campsite for 40 minutes and just lounged in the sun. When I got bored of babysitting Cognac, I put him in the pen with a big feed. The shepherd then came round to greet me and asked if the pen would be okay for Cognac and that he hadn't had chance to clean it out yet, as they had only just moved the lambs and their mothers out of it. I assured him it was fine and asked about the lambing and how the farm had been since I had lasted stayed with them.

I unpacked my few belongings, brushed Cognac off and then twiddled my thumbs for a bit. I still had quite a wait for my dinner to arrive ( the chef was still at work!) so I found out where the nearest pub was and headed there to practice our pub visits ( It will be a valuable skill when we out out all day on our long ride). There was a convenient place outside near some picnic benches, so I carefully tied Cognac to a flower trough and went inside. The bar was very busy, but I could see that Cognac was okay through the window. I ordered a pint of cider and carried it outside to sit with Cognac. An hour later I was still at the pub! I refused a third pint, insisting I should ride back through the woods before it got dark. Everyone was friendly and interested in the ride and Cognac stood like a gent while he was stroked and had photos taken!


Wednesday was a cold and dewy morning and I felt for Cognac being outside without rug all night so I took he to get some more of that lush green grass, and to let the sun warm his back for an hour. My saddle bags have been shipped now ( they emailed me today) so when they arrive I will be able to tell if it would be feisable to carry a lightweight rain-sheet with me for Cognac at nights, which we could also wrapped around us when we ride on wet days.

I was another good day, we explored some beautiful, almost magical woods. My favourite being Venus wood, moss on the floor and ivy up the trees, I expected pixies or elves to appear from around the trees. We had a bit of a challenge coming off the downs on a very steep bridleway I haven't used before- I looks as though no- one had used it in a while and for good reason. When I got bored of ducking under low branches I got off and walked until we can to a substantial tree fallen right across our path. It was too big for Cognac to step over and there was no way round. We were nearing the bottom of the hill and to turn back would mean a lengthy diversion so I got back on and trotted towards it- and Cognac stopped and I fell off! No! Of course not, my horse is much better than that! He popped over the log, on a downhill slope and pull up in time for the next low branch.

When I got back to the yard and untacked I noticed that Cognac's hair had rubbed behind his saddle and I'm pretty should it's from the seam on his numanah. This could cause a potential problem over a week or so, so I am going to look into a polypad or a sheepskin numanah, or perhaps a polo blanket?