At first glance, it may have seemed like just a group of people camping out with their horses and enjoying the long leaf pine forest trails on a June weekend. Then the call would ring out over the grounds: “HORSES IN!” and people would spring into action. The horses coming in off the trails had just completed one leg of a training ride, and a crew with water buckets and sponges would douse the horses with water, trying to cool them off quickly and get the pulse and respiration down before the vet check. This scenario was repeated multiple times from June 20-23, 2008 at H. Cooper Black Jr. Memorial Field Trial and Recreation Area in the South Carolina Sand Hills State Forest.
These equestrians are part of the Endurance National Training List established for the first time this year by the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF). Competitors have earned points over the last year at pre-determined Ranking Trials and the riders – not horses- have earned points that qualified them to be on the List. The listed riders then declare the horse or horses which will participate in the Training Program in preparation for future International competitions. The training session held in South Carolina was designed to prepare for the 2008 Endurance World Championship in Terranganu, Malaysia in November. The heat and humidity is sure to be a factor for those competing in Malaysia, so the Endurance Chef d’ Equipe hoped to duplicate those conditions in the sand hills. Unfortunately, there was a rare summer cool front that kept highs in the eighties, rather than the usual nineties. Just the week before, highs had hit 100 degrees! However, for the horses from cooler, dryer areas of the United States, the humidity and temperature were more than enough!
As a professional farrier, this was my first extensive exposure to the endurance discipline, which I found very interesting. My primary role was to evaluate the trim or shoeing on the horses and make suggestions to maximize performance. We also looked at body balance, whether or not muscling was symmetrical on both sides of the horse, and leg misalignments. My goal was to identify anything that could cause movement patterns that would result in a loss of energy, and make suggestions to correct those movement patterns. On Saturday, I looked at the majority of the horses, making comments and discussing what I saw with the riders and/ or farrier while my wife Karen recorded the observations on evaluation forms. There were two horses wearing a new type of rubber glue-on boot, that the rider is working to develop and is working out nicely. Two others were barefoot, and in between were many styles of shoes. Quite a few of the riders shod their own horses, and we discussed what I observed in detail. To their credit, I have to say were doing an excellent job – most of the imbalances I saw were small and would happen at some point during the shoeing cycle, no matter how talented the farrier. The bottom line, no matter what the style of shoeing, my job was to give suggestions on ways to help the performance of that horse and maintain soundness throughout the intensive training. All horses can benefit from a shoeing program tailored to their conformation and hoof structure. On Sunday, I evaluated the horses we had not looked at yet, and took a second look at the others before finalizing the evaluations. We handed those over to the Chef d’ Equipe to use along with the vet evaluations in the selection process.
The training session also included vet inspections, instruction to improve riding ability, riding paced rides in groups as well as a fast paced ride. Various professionals and the Chef d’ Equipe also provided instruction on shipping protocols, preparing and feeding for heat and humidity, and team concept and strategy. On Saturday, the participants did a training ride, after which the vet and farrier inspections were done. Along with the riders and horses, the very important crew for each rider were also receiving training in cooling the horses down, trotting out for the vet inspection and in general anything that the competitors (horses or human) may need to perform at their peak. Before dinner, I was asked to do a presentation to the group. Primarily we discussed how even slight imbalances in hooves or the horses’ body can impact performance. I reiterated the factors that I looked for in the evaluations, such as body balance, symmetry of muscling and leg misalignments. We also went over other factors such as sore back or other sore muscles, tack fit and rider balance that can impact overall performance. The groups’ reception of my insight was very positive and I was impressed with how cooperative everyone was during a somewhat hectic schedule of lessons, training rides, vet checks and then having a farrier ask your horse to stand still to do evaluations in between!
On Sunday, the riders did a fast paced ride, which consisted of 3 eleven mile loops at different paces and one seven mile loop. ( I found myself wondering if I’d ever ridden 40 miles in one day at any pace, much less at a trot or canter!) Most of the competition endurance rides are 50 to 100 miles, (the Endurance World Championship in Malaysia will be 100 miles) with some even 500 miles! The riders were required to have GPS units for pacing, and heart rate monitors. After each loop, soon after you hear the “HORSES IN!” ring out, the crews untack the horses and begin cooling them with buckets of water and sponges, sometimes adding ice to the water. The horses must have a heart rate of 64 beats per minute or less after a brief cooling down period, or they are not allowed to continue on the next leg of the training ride. In addition to checking the pulse, the veterinarians check respiration, capillary refill, muscle tone, and watch the horses trot out. The vets give the horse and rider the go ahead to continue or pull the horse out. Blood samples were also taken to analyze the horses’ performance after the fact on several factors, such as blood gases and electrolytes. Depending on which leg of the training ride they were on, riders and horses would have a 30 or 45 minute hold between some of the loops. A few of the horses had trouble with the humidity and didn’t complete the training ride, but the majority of these horses were very fit and able to handle the rides despite the climate. In August, the field of riders on the Endurance National Training List eligible to compete in Malaysia will be narrowed down to twelve. More training sessions will be held and six riders will be selected to go to Malaysia in November 2008 for the Endurance World Championship. My hope is that the farrier evaluations will be helpful, and I would welcome the opportunity to help these competitors to be successful in any way I can. We witnessed the enormous amount of effort that goes into even a training event of this type, and my wife and I came away with great respect for the equine enthusiasts that compete in the endurance discipline. Best of luck to the United States team at the World Championship in Malaysia!
For more information on endurance and other equestrian disciplines, visit the USEF website.