Scottish Endurance Riding Club - Grampian Branch
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Scottish Endurance Riding Club - Grampian Branch
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To finish is to win- Diary of the Endurance Riding Home International and Celtic Challenge 2007
By Katie Keith, Scottish Endurance Riding Club, Grampian Branch
7.30am - Thursday 27th September
Jack loaded in horsebox. My Mum and I set off on our journey down to Builth Wells, Powys. It’s the longest journey we’ve ever done with the horsebox and the pickup truck is packed full of food and water and equipment. Jack is clean and shiny and looking smart in his new leather headcollar. I’m excited and prepared for a long drive, glad my Mum will be sharing the driving though!
6pm
We arrive at the Royal Welsh Showground. It’s been a long journey but my adrenaline is coursing at the sight of all the other horses and competitors arriving for the weekend. My brother and dad have arrived from Birmingham where they were visiting on business. They help me unload and Evelyn Frame, the Scottish Chef d’Equipe shows us the stabling and grazing for team horses. There are Saltires pinned all around our Team block- the atmosphere is amazing and it’s great to see the other riders who have already set up camp.
9pm Team Pizza arrives! We discuss our journeys- There are 12 of us plus 2 reserves, some from up in the Highlands, other from Argyll, Tayside, Borders, Lothians so we’ve all done some major driving. Everyone is tired from the trip but buzzing with excitement at the prospect weekend ahead!
Friday 28th September
9am - Team horses are examined and assessed by our Team Vet Graeme Swanson and Team Massage Therapist Catriona Goulding to see that the long journey has not taken too much out of them and that they will be ready to complete the gruelling long distance classes over the Welsh hills.
10am - Team briefing- it’s so real now! We are riding for Scotland! Evelyn our chef d’équipe gives us riding times and advice.
After lunch we exercise our horses round the showground and go out to reconnoitre the route. Endurance riders need a ‘crew’ who go to strategic points on the route and feed, water and wash down the horse and help the rider. The crews check out possible points for meeting us and pack their cars for each horse’s individual needs. My grey arab horse Jakhiri is amazingly relaxed in this busy and alien environment. It’s his and my first time on the team and my anxiety is running high.
5pm - Official ride vetting. The team get their horses smart and clean and we stride out together to the large barn where the Event vets will examine our horses and declare them fit to start. Despite the noisy, bustling atmosphere in the barn, Jack has a low pulse of 32 and trots up showing that he is sound and raring to go. There is one horrible moment for the team when one of our number, Seonaid Paterson, has her horse CS Kismet vetted out for being very slightly unsound at the trot. She is understandably upset, but steels herself to help her son Ian compete the next day.
8pm - Supper, ride briefing and early bed!
Saturday 29th September - DAY ONE OF THE RED DRAGON FESTIVAL OF ENDURANCE.
6am – Graeme sees all the team horses trotted up and passes us fit to go to the official vetting.
7am - Evelyn declares the Scottish teams- there’s no going back now!
7.45am - I realise I’ve lost the keys to the pickup truck- desperate panic ensues! All my tack and crew equipment is inside. Mum saves the day by producing a spare set! She knows me well…
8.30am - Jakhiri passes the official vetting along with all the other team horses.
9am - We’re off! Saltires wave as we ride through the start. My parents stand proudly taking photos. Chef d’Equipe Evelyn gives us some final words of encouragement.
The course is very tough with huge hills and the weather is wet with low fog on the hilltops. For the first part of the course we ride with Sheila Ogilvie and her horse General George and junior member Tilly Hepburn-Wright on her Fell Pony Kerbeck Night Jewel. It’s so reassuring to have company when the fog is low over the hills and you feel very isolated!
We part company about half way to allow the horses to settle into their own rhythm and Jack floats along taking the pouring rain and challenging terrain in his stride. On the hilltops are mown grass tracks. Its tempting to go fast but Endurance riding depends very much on final pulse after the ride so I try to keep Jack calm and relaxed. Not easy when horse after horse canters past you! The Red Dragon is one of the biggest Endurance rides in the world and there are almost 500 horses in attendance.
Midday - We’re home and now the pressure is own. Jack is still excited and ‘in the zone’. We must cool and calm him down until his pulse is under 48bpm. Evelyn and my parents help me and we wash and walk him round, taking his heart rate periodically until it drops and he is ready to vet.
Presenting him to the vet is very tense. She looks him over for cuts or bruises, checks his mouth and back for rubs and then takes his pulse. An anxious minute elapses. ‘46’ she says. I have to suppress a grin because the trot up is next. He passes and I well up with pride and hug my parents and my fantastic horse.
6pm - The rest of the team are all home and passed! There is another day to go but we have done so well and are so pleased, if shattered. Evelyn order all riders in bed by 9.30pm- but this is no hardship!
SUNDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER- DAY 2 OF THE RED DRAGON
7am - We trot up again for Graham. All are well and the atmosphere is much more relaxed this morning. Catriona the physio performs massages and stretches on the horses like Jack who have been out the day before.
By 9am - All the team have passed. There is a very anxious moment when Grampian Chair Lorna Hogg has to trot her horse De Marco up 3 times. Marco has done 50 miles the day before and with another 25 to go today they must be sure he is fit to continue. Poor Lorna is exhausted and shaking from doing 3 trot ups, but they pass and Marco is raring to go!
9.30am - Jack and I set off for the second day of our 2 day 80km (50 mile) ride. Today we’re accompanied by Nancy Murdoch and Alli Balli Bee. The horses go like a dream together and the sun is shining. The route is different, still lots of steep hills, but the views are incredible and we canter along for miles feeling on top of the world! Meeting our crews on the way is so encouraging. The horses need to eat and drink and be cooled down and they pass us welcome snacks to keep us going too!
Midday - Nancy and I finish together and the intense crewing begins. Evelyn has set up an area for preparing the horses to vet after they finish. It is very organised and efficient and there are lots of the team there who are not riding to encourage and help us. Jack is more relaxed today and his pulse drops quickly and we set off to vet with Mum, Dad and Evelyn. We go into the bustling vetting barn, I try to breathe slowly and relax my muscles and speak quietly and calmly to Jack so that his pulse will drop. The vet says 43 and we trot up and down to show his trot is sound. The vet nods and smiles and I wobble and burst into happy tears. We’ve done it! Two excellent heart rates and I am so so proud of my beautiful Jakhiri. There are hugs all round.
But the rest of the team are still out on course. Diane Michie and Sarah Norris are riding 160km (100miles) over 2 days and they are due to come in at 5.30pm
5.30pm - The entire Scottish team is at the finish line waving flags and carrying water to cool Diane and Sarah’s horses when they arrive. Ian and his little sister are wearing their kilts and look very smart. The girls appear and we cheer like mad. They approach the finish clutching a Saltire between them. There are lots of lumps in lots of throats. We march behind them to the vetting area pouring water on Maddie and Disco. Diane vets Disco quickly as we wait anxiously, then Sarah takes Maddie up to the barn. Tense moments pass as we wait. All other team members have passed, we need Diane and Sarah through!
They come round the corner of the barn, we can’t read their faces! Have they? Haven’t they? Diane smiles and Sarah gives a thumbs up- a HUGE cheer goes up and the saltires wave proudly. Many happy tears are shed and hugs all around.
And that is how Scotland won the Home International 2007! The Celtic Challenge team took 3rd place to Ireland and Wales by a whisker. It was the first time that a team got all 12 horses home and passed the vet so we were all immensely proud and delighted with our amazing endurance horses and the team of Evelyn, Graeme and Catriona who helped us do it.
The motto of our sport is ‘to finish is to win’, so no matter what colour of medal we took home, we all felt like champions!
The Teams were
Home International Diane Michie - Skylarks Discovery (Highland) 160km Sarah Norris - Southholme Blosson (Highland) 160km Lorna Hogg - De Marco (Grampian) 120km Francis Bakker - Martje (Border) 80km Sheila Ogilvie - General George (Argyll) 80km Iain Paterson - Tannasg Primo Dancer (Tayside) 50km Colin Sykes – Ruby (Border) 40km
Celtic Challenge Anne Short - Another Chance (Lothians) 80km Alison Downing - Heathpool Pendragon (Lothians) 50km Katie Keith - Jakhiri (Grampian) 80km Tilly Hepburn-Wright - Kerbeck Night Jewel (Highland) 80km Nancy Murdoch - Alli Balli Bee (Lothians) 40km |
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