Day by Day

Here I am counting down the days.

30 days until I load the horse in the trailer and go to Shanghai.

Each day it gets more and more real.

Each day I tick things off my to do list.

Sunday March 1st; weather permitting, go trail riding at Nails Creek at Lake Somerville with the Central TX Lady Trail Riders.  Very excited as I'm going to take Socks so I can just sit back and relax.

Monday, March 2nd; pay my membership fees for AERC and PFHA.

Wait until I get both my AERC number and Strider's AERC number, and as soon as I have those in hand, I mail off my check for Shanghai.

March 7th; Trailer loading clinic.  Taking Strider.  Going to be up VERY early (I'll probably have to set the alarm for about 4:30 or 5am) so I can go to the barn and wrestle my horse in to the trailer.  Little worried about this.  Super long lunge line, hay and grain inside the trailer and a whip to coax him in I guess.  Honestly, if this clinic can help me get him to just self-load I'll weep with happiness.  Or at least make it NOT a struggle.

March 8th; Open Schooling event at County Line Equestrian Center in Hutto.  It's their St. Patrick's Day open schooling, so I'll doll up which ever horse I feel like taking.  Probably will be Strider.  In which case, as long as his registration goes through with PFHA, the day in the saddle qualifies us for "Pasos for Pleasure" hours.  Looks good on his registry number and we earn points and prizes as well as promote the breed.  He needs the exposure and trailer loading practice.  Not going to overnight him this time I don't think.  The drive isn't that bad to Hutto, and maybe some of the ladies at the barn will want to go.

Somehow try to squeeze in one good ride prior to Shanghai.  Might even get brave and load and go ride solo some where.  I need to find a place with decent footing where I can really open Strider up and get him moving and see what he's got for a day, but still allow him time to recover prior to Shanghai.

I honestly am still up in the air about how I want to do Shanghai. 

Do I want to try and do 25's both days?  Do the 25 on Saturday and the intro on Sunday?  Just do the 25 on Saturday and then volunteer at the vet check station?  Just do the 25 on Saturday, pack up and go home?

Joe gave me the pass to stay gone all weekend.  And part of me says I need to volunteer and contribute, but part of me says I want to challenge myself and Strider and try to do both days.  These decisions are getting to me.  I might contact the ride manager and ask her if I can register for Sunday and decide on that day what I want to do.  I kind of want to try and ride both days.  If I'm going to be sore, might as well go for broke! 

We'll see.

Equine Annual Goal

In the past few weeks, I've openly accepted my goal for this year in regards to my horses.

And as such, I'm diving head-long in to learning more.  This learning process involves joining various Facebook groups, buying a few books, investing some money for training into my horses, joining actual organizations and planning to join other organizations.  Putting dates and times on my calendar while I figure out how far and long I'll have to drive.  Wondering if my horse can do it.  Wondering if I can do it.  Making lists of things I already own that I can use and of things I'll need to go out and buy in order to make this work.  Looking at retro-fitting my trailer in order to make it work, but looking at it in the condition it currently is in and planning how to make that work in the here and now.

What is it I'm looking at doing?

Endurance riding.  If you don't know what it is, go to AERC.org (American Endurance Ride Conference).  Right now they're running a special, but it's usually $75/annually and your first horse is free (each additional horse is $15 for a lifetime membership).  I will be joining AERC on March 1st and registering Strider as my mount.

This is the perfect sport for me as well as for Strider (and Socks to a minimal degree). 

So with all that in mind, my first step was publicly announcing "I'm going to ride at LEAST one ride this year."

My second step was getting Joe's blessing.

My third step?  READ ALL THE THINGS!!!!!

No, seriously.  There are so many ways to be involved and so many organizations that I'm overwhelming myself, so I'm trying to pace things out.

Currently, I paid in $15 for a "Green Bean Membership".  I did this first as it gave me access to their forums where I was able to dabble a bit more and read a few more things.  Also, for so little, it allows me to feel like I'm an offical "Green Bean", though it's more a state of mind than anything else.

What's a "Green Bean" you ask?

Glad you asked!!!

(Taken directly from the Green Bean Endurance web page at: http://greenbeanendurance.weebly.com/ )

"Who are the Green Beans?

Green Beans are riders (and horses) new to the wonderful sport of endurance riding as well as the amazing mentors willing to give us a hand. Click below to learn more about who we are and what we do!  (PS - we have t-shirts!)"

So, I now am official.  I'm getting active in the AERC Facebook groups as well as on the Green Bean page.  I'm also considered in the Heavyweight division (between my tack and myself it's over 211 lbs), so I've joined a Facebook group for riders in that division.

But!  There are other organizations I'd like to join in order to help both my horse and I potentially gain the most that we can out of our rides together.

As I've said, AERC is my next organization to join.  Strider will earn points and miles as will I.  Assuming we complete our ride in time and he's not pulled by the ride vet. 

Some of the other organizations I'm looking to join?

TERA.  Texas Endurance Riders Association (Web Page at: http://texasenduranceriders.org/ )  This gives me a discount at some rides and is only $25/annually.

Now, here's where things get interesting and a wee bit sticky, and I'm still weighing if it's worth it to me.

Strider is a Paso Fino.  PFHA (Paso Fino Horse Association) offers a few different programs for those of us who don't show our horses.  However, you need to be a member of PFHA.  Once you're a PFHA member, that opens up some programs.

Right now I'm enjoying networking, and getting very excited about my ride which is now just a little over a month away.   

I'm also just soaking up books and reading what people are willing to share with me on Facebook.

Some of the things which I suspect are keeping people from this sport:
Lack of a horse.  Actually, this shouldn't stop you!  I see MANY people who haul horses to rides so their horses can get mileage for AERC, but they don't have enough riders for their horses!  Want to try out the sport, reach out and ASK!!

Lack of 'proper' tack.  Look, all of the photos I see online are of riders in lightweight saddles with matching biothane tack in their flashy colors, and the rider is all rigged out with all sorts of acoutrements.  NOT NECESSARY!!!  Want to know what I'll be doing my first ride in?  My leather gaited saddle with my mismatched headstall.  Why?  Because it fits my horse and is comfortable for me.  You can ride in tack you ALREADY OWN!!  Own an English saddle?  RIDE IT!!  50lb cutting saddle?  RIDE IT!!  If it fits your horse and it fits you, then you're good to ride!

Fear of rejection.  This was one of my biggest fears.  This sport seemed overwhelming to me, but so far, everyone is welcoming and willing to share their information.  There are mentoring programs, and I've seen so much support poured out my way, and people encouraging me that it's incredible. 
"Oh, I've seen this neat piece of tack I'm looking at buying!" 
"I own that, feel free to try mine out before you buy to see if you REALLy like it!" 
"I'm doing this ride this weekend.  Anyone else?  I've never done a ride before and I'm nervous!"
"Oh, I'm doing that ride.  Would you like me to ride with you?"

The reality is that I figured that I'd be "only" a trail rider.  Except I know Strider can do so much more.  He has the ability to be more, but it's a matter of me finding and figuring out what he can do.  I've had SO many people tell me he'd be an endurance mount, but for years I've made excuses and talked myself out of it and hidden my desire to try it in earnest.

This is our year.  My husband supports me.  My friends support me. 

I'm hoping by the end of May Strider and I will have racked up at LEAST 100 AERC miles.  There are currently a total of 5 AERC sanctioned rides in Texas that I can drive to in less than 5 hours (there's on near Amarillo, but I'm NOT driving close to 8 hours to do it) between today's date and the end of May.  There's 1 that has iffy footing, so I may or may not ride that ride (got to buy some boots!).  But, if I make my goal, then we'll hit 100 miles EASY before the end of May. 

Who knows, if the footing is REALLY that good and I'm feeling VERY confident in him...maybe we'll try a 50.  ;)

And, while I'm 99% sure I won't ever do it...even I can't deny that the pull of Tevis is there. 

First things first though; Shanghai Trails!!