If I were a horse....
my action would be described as a daisycutter. This means that the horse doesn't have much knee action, so his feet don't come very high off the ground during his stride and he can chop daisies with his toes. In the hunter world it's considered to be a good thing as the horse doesn't expand as much energy trotting as a horse with high knee action, say a Saddlebred, so theoretically the horse can go further before getting tired.
I am training for a 30-mile ride-and-tie race next Labor Day. It's a team race with two people and one horse constituting the team. One team member starts out riding the horse, while the other starts out on foot. The rider travels a few miles, gets off, ties the horse to a tree and then starts running. The second person runs along, sees the horse, gets on and starts trotting or cantering and passes the runner, and then will pick a spot along the trail and ties the horse up and start running. This leap frog running and riding goes on until the race is over.
This means that I need to be able to run 15 miles. I haven't been a serious runner since 1998, but I have ordered a pair of running shoes (Adiddas) and some running shorts (Title 9) and about a month ago I started running again. Yesterday I did six miles on some mountain bike trails and felt pretty good about the running part. I ran most of it, although I let myself walk the steep uphills and downhills. Mostly because that's a recovery time, but also because it's harder on the ligaments to run up and down very steep surfaces. Also, I didn't want to fall and tumble ass over teakettle downhill.
Instead, I fell twice while on the flats. Well, if you consider trails in the woods over gently-rolling terrain to be flat. ;) Both times it was because I caught my toe on a root or a stob due to my daisycutter action and went flying. Thankfully, I didn't get hurt either time, but it meant that I got really dirty and my waterbottle would roll off into the leaves and I'd have to walk for a minute or so to get my wits about me again.
But I was pleased with my run. I felt good at the end, I didn't feel as though I was going to die, and I really think I could've gone around again, although that would've been lunacy. I'm not up to nine miles yet; maybe in about three weeks. But hallelujah, I will be ready for the fifteen by Labor Day. And I don't know how the race will play out, so I really need to be prepared to run further than fifteen should something happen to upset our strategy. The race is in Tennessee, over near Knoxville, so the terrain will be much more gently rolling than middle Georgia. ("Gently rolling" is a euphamism of race directors to mean be prepared for lots and lots of hills, kiddiewinks.;)
Today I'm going to work on getting the horse ready. In his past life, Spooky was used to run barrels. Now, I don't know much about the intricacies of barrel racing, but what little I do know is that an emphasis is placed on speed. I don't think there's much emphasis on ground manners, ie, standing while mounting, because that's superfluous to the sport. (Any barrel racers reading this, feel free to educate me on this.) I've had the horse for four years and all I've done is trail ride. I have neglected teaching him to stand quietly while mounting because I only get on and off two or three times at the most during a ride and hey, I could deal. I'm also lazy; I just want to ride, not spend my time training, which is why I've never been interested in breeding and breaking a youngster. Let someone else teach them their leads and to bend and to stand quietly, I just want to ride. Well, if we're going to be mounting this horse a minimum of 25 times during the race, he must learn to stand quietly instead of dancing around or taking off, which is what he does now.
So, in a bit I'm going outside, tack him up, and then blow his little mind by spending at least an hour doing nothing but getting on and off. I've got baby carrots to use as a reward, so I hope that he'll soon catch on. Gina, my teammate, and I willl have to carry a supply of carrots during the race as an incentive/reward for standing while mounting.
Later today we'll be going up to the Dauset Trails to meet Leslie to mountain bike. Yay! Leslie and I started mountain biking together and she and Julie are my favorite riding buds. Leslie's moved off to Charlotte, but her job brings her back at least once a month so we usually get to ride then. Julie's got a two year old, so she's got childcare issues more often than not, so it's rare that we get to ride. About two months ago though the three of us spent the afternoon at the Dauset Trails and just had a really good time. We gabbed as much as we rode, which freaks the guys out, but it's that whole Mars/Venus difference thing. No guys, so we rode and we gabbed. Life was good.
I really hope you see a link above and not a huge amount of text. I'm still figuring out these tags and most of the time you can tell that I'm not doing too well.
I am training for a 30-mile ride-and-tie race next Labor Day. It's a team race with two people and one horse constituting the team. One team member starts out riding the horse, while the other starts out on foot. The rider travels a few miles, gets off, ties the horse to a tree and then starts running. The second person runs along, sees the horse, gets on and starts trotting or cantering and passes the runner, and then will pick a spot along the trail and ties the horse up and start running. This leap frog running and riding goes on until the race is over.
This means that I need to be able to run 15 miles. I haven't been a serious runner since 1998, but I have ordered a pair of running shoes (Adiddas) and some running shorts (Title 9) and about a month ago I started running again. Yesterday I did six miles on some mountain bike trails and felt pretty good about the running part. I ran most of it, although I let myself walk the steep uphills and downhills. Mostly because that's a recovery time, but also because it's harder on the ligaments to run up and down very steep surfaces. Also, I didn't want to fall and tumble ass over teakettle downhill.
Instead, I fell twice while on the flats. Well, if you consider trails in the woods over gently-rolling terrain to be flat. ;) Both times it was because I caught my toe on a root or a stob due to my daisycutter action and went flying. Thankfully, I didn't get hurt either time, but it meant that I got really dirty and my waterbottle would roll off into the leaves and I'd have to walk for a minute or so to get my wits about me again.
But I was pleased with my run. I felt good at the end, I didn't feel as though I was going to die, and I really think I could've gone around again, although that would've been lunacy. I'm not up to nine miles yet; maybe in about three weeks. But hallelujah, I will be ready for the fifteen by Labor Day. And I don't know how the race will play out, so I really need to be prepared to run further than fifteen should something happen to upset our strategy. The race is in Tennessee, over near Knoxville, so the terrain will be much more gently rolling than middle Georgia. ("Gently rolling" is a euphamism of race directors to mean be prepared for lots and lots of hills, kiddiewinks.;)
Today I'm going to work on getting the horse ready. In his past life, Spooky was used to run barrels. Now, I don't know much about the intricacies of barrel racing, but what little I do know is that an emphasis is placed on speed. I don't think there's much emphasis on ground manners, ie, standing while mounting, because that's superfluous to the sport. (Any barrel racers reading this, feel free to educate me on this.) I've had the horse for four years and all I've done is trail ride. I have neglected teaching him to stand quietly while mounting because I only get on and off two or three times at the most during a ride and hey, I could deal. I'm also lazy; I just want to ride, not spend my time training, which is why I've never been interested in breeding and breaking a youngster. Let someone else teach them their leads and to bend and to stand quietly, I just want to ride. Well, if we're going to be mounting this horse a minimum of 25 times during the race, he must learn to stand quietly instead of dancing around or taking off, which is what he does now.
So, in a bit I'm going outside, tack him up, and then blow his little mind by spending at least an hour doing nothing but getting on and off. I've got baby carrots to use as a reward, so I hope that he'll soon catch on. Gina, my teammate, and I willl have to carry a supply of carrots during the race as an incentive/reward for standing while mounting.
Later today we'll be going up to the Dauset Trails to meet Leslie to mountain bike. Yay! Leslie and I started mountain biking together and she and Julie are my favorite riding buds. Leslie's moved off to Charlotte, but her job brings her back at least once a month so we usually get to ride then. Julie's got a two year old, so she's got childcare issues more often than not, so it's rare that we get to ride. About two months ago though the three of us spent the afternoon at the Dauset Trails and just had a really good time. We gabbed as much as we rode, which freaks the guys out, but it's that whole Mars/Venus difference thing. No guys, so we rode and we gabbed. Life was good.
I really hope you see a link above and not a huge amount of text. I'm still figuring out these tags and most of the time you can tell that I'm not doing too well.