Rachael & Zenif

The first weekend of December saw me take Zen (Silver Zenif) to the Cotswold EGB Christmas ride atBarburyCastle, Marlbourough.

Zen was such a good boy, travelling to and from the event with not a problem at all.

He started the event on his own, was joined by a couple more and by the end there were 6 of us riding together due to vandals moving the markers, so we thought we’d best ride as a group to keep on track!

He went past a clay pigeon shoot at one point when I was on my own (and went slightly off course) and didn’t bat an eyelid.  He was slightly confused by riders coming up behind him and then leaving him, but soon worked it out and that we were all going in the same direction and it was fun meeting new friends!

All in all a great way to finish the season and to start his career.

My crew and I have also agreed with the ex-ride organiser of the Badminton Ride (it didn’t run this year and isn’t running in 2012) that we shall take it on and plan to host it in 2013 after mine and Adam’s wedding next year. So watch this space!

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Best Wishes,

Rachael

I wanted to let you know the good news in the Claridge & Phoenix Field Arabians Household last week.

This weekend Mum (Jo Claridge) was re-elected onto the Management Board of Endurance GB at the AGM and she kept her place as Chair of the society.

My parents’ foal Ali Sharif picked up 3rd prize nationally in the Endurance Young Horse class as part of the BEF Futurity grading after his appearance at Tall Trees arena in August.

We took our 2011 foal Ali Shahrif to his BEF Futurity for endurance young stock at Tall Trees in Cornwall with his mother, our brood mare Shahlua.

Shahrif was awarded 8.74% out of 10, a great result for a 3 month old foal.

Photos courtesy of Eclipse Photography

Blue Chip Sponsored Rider Rachael Claridge feeds Blue Chip Original, Blue Chip Pro and Blue Chip Dynamic.

Charlie and I had a very successful weekend, with Adam and Jane doing a sterling job crewing for us, in an 80km ER race on Saturday at BarburyCastle. I was one of twelve riders competing for the South West branch of Endurance GB in the Inter-Regional Championships.  We’ve been in the team for the past three years and have helped achieve a silver medal but this year we won gold!

All twelve of the South West riders completed their various distances e.g. 100km, 80km, 64km, 80km over 2 days and a couple of novice 32km graded rides.  The weather and conditions were perfect, and we all seemed to avoid the flints on the ridgeway!

Charlie and I were 8th out of 19 in the 80km and completed the event at 14.24kmph.  We rode with my mentor and former GBR team rider Jane James; Jane was 7th because she was fractionally ahead of me as we approached the finish line and we discussed not to race each other as team mates because we weren’t going for the top 3 places and we didn’t want to risk pushing pulse rates up unnecessarily and blowing the team medals!  Our strategy certainly paid off!

After a quick turn around at home on Sunday I headed off to Endurance GB’s Young Rider camp to coach.  They are nearRugbythis week and I was coaching all ages between 9-21 years how to interval train their horses.  It was great fun and I’m due back there again on Thursday morning!

Adam and I are off to my parents this weekend to assist at the BEF Young Horse Futurity inCornwallon Tuesday where we hope to take our 2 year old Arab Colt and this years’ foal for the Endurance Young Stock class – I’ll keep you posted!

I have changed farrier this week because Mel has been 99.9% sound and I need him to be 101%!  The farrier hadn’t been trimming enough off of Mel’s near hind hoof which was an odd shape after an abscess in so he was dragging it…this was also the leg he broke so he’s lazier on it – but its all in his head so I needed a farrier who would assist Mel in getting over his mental block that there is something wrong when there isn’t!

The new farrier is older, breeds Arabs himself and also shoes for Mary King!  I’ve actually taken Mel’s shoes off for the moment so the horse can think about his foot fall, stand straight and balanced and then come back stronger – one step back to take two forward!  I’m also going to long-line him again and go back to basics.  I’ve put him in blinkers to get him to think forward and go straight and be more focused.  I am also struggling finding a saddle for him as he’s bulked up which is great because the poor man did loose condition after the box rest from his previous injuries.  My instructor gave us a flat work lesson last week and Niki was very excited about how well Mel looks and the promise he is showing – so I’ll keep up the good work as it were, and I’m confident he’ll get back up there after a few years of battling in his rehab – horses!!!

Charlie has had a lot of foot rebalancing done over the past 10 months by different farriers, and as Clive shoes like my farrier did in Cornwall we’re hopefully back on track there too – its a nightmare because ‘no foot’ really is ‘no horse’!

Charlie did so well at Boconnoc earlier this month, so hopefully with a quick 30km tomorrow he’ll be ready for an 80km atBarburyCastlein a fortnight as part of the Inter-Regional Championships.

Zenif my stallion is thankfully a Dad!  He has successfully got his first Arab mare pregnant, so I am thrilled, not to mention relieved.  He has had many enquiries for next year so that will be exciting too if they come to fruition!

I have started long-lining him and also leading him out everyday in traffic, past cows, horses, tractors etc – the scariest thing he saw was a bale of hay in a field…..need I say more!

Zenif really is very chilled out which is brilliant for a stallion and also an endurance horse. I’m sure he will be exactly like Mistrahl (his cousin) if not better!

He will be 4 at the end of August and is a little rump high so I’ll back him over the winter and get him out competing in the spring with EGB and the riding club.

We are thankfully being supported by our new farm managers; they are rearranging the horses at the farm so that we can fence a paddock specifically for Zenif.  So that will be a job for later next week once the materials have arrived.

Best wishes

Rachael

Claridge Endurance Coaching kicked off a series of clinics at New House Farm, Acton Turville on Saturday 4th June. The day commenced with International Endurance Rider, Coach, Breeder and Trainer Rachael Claridge introducing her team for the day to an audience of existing and non- Endurance GB members from across the South West, Midlands and South East.

The weather conditions were perfect for the demonstration of an Endurance GB competitive ride from start to finish. Richard Bristow from Willesley Equine Clinic conducted a veterinary inspection of Wessex Endurance GB members, Heather Caddick and Lorraine’s horses Juliette and Tommy. Rich checked the horses heat rate to ensure the pulse was below 64 beats per minute, checked the horses mucous membranes, dehydration levels through the standard pinch test on the horses lower neck. Richard then assessed the two horses for any lumps, bumps or lesions which could be noted onto the veterinary paperwork prior to the horses commencing the competition. Heather and Lorraine completed the veterinary check by trotting their horses in a bridle, in hand between the cones on a flat surface to allow Richard to assess the horses gait for lameness.

Once Tommy and Juliette had passed the veterinary inspection Heather and Lorraine returned to the trailer park to ‘tack up’ the horses and were then timed out of the arena by Matt Timms the official ‘starter’ and ‘photographer’ for the day. Heather and Lorraine set off ‘on course’ onto the grass gallops and bridleway network close to Badminton Estate for the 15km training event.

Whilst Heather and Lorraine returned to the trailer park to tack up their horses prior to starting the ‘competition’ Richard talked the audience through the conformational strengths of a good endurance horse. Richard used Phoenix Field Arabians 100% Crabbet Arabian stallion Silver Zenif to demonstrate the key features you should look for when purchasing or breeding a potential endurance or riding horse. Richard explained the importance of mentally dividing the horse into three sections; the front, middle and rear so that you can see symmetry across the horse and spot areas of weakness if one section is out of proportion. For example the front of the horse should have a well proportioned neck compared to its rear end, wide chest for good heart and lung capacity, strong feet with straight limbs and big joints. The horse should float across the ground and land equally on all four feet to achieve the most effective and efficient gait.

Brinicombe Equine’s Aimee Redfern and Cat continued the theme of the day by explaining the importance of feeding electrolytes to endurance and performance horses before, during after competitions and training sessions. They explained the importance of gradual introduction of any product and also the tools of the trade to encourage your horse to drink the product by adding it to sugar beet water, sloppy feed or adding chopped fruit to the bucket of electrolyte water when offering it to your horse in their stable, field or at the event.

Heather and Lorraine returned to the arena 45 minutes into their ‘course’ to meet their ‘crew’ for the day; Jane Cooke and Adam Farley. Adam and Jane supplied slosh bottles to both the riders and various options of drink to the horses including plain water, electrolyte water and sugar beet water as previously explained by Brinicombe Equine. The idea behind ‘slosh bottles’ is to have a vessel which has a wide neck on it to allow water to quickly be poured onto the horses neck or hind quarters, so as to cool them effectively. Jane and Adam also offered their riders isotonic drinks and ‘energy foods’ such as bananas, jelly babies and cereal bars plus carrots for the horses. The riders then continued on course for a further 30 minutes.

Jane Cooke explained the principles of establishing a well organised crew car showing her audience what equipment was carried and the reasons why ‘spare equipment’ was necessary. Jane also demonstrated what was contained within the well marked and stacked plastic boxes within the crew vehicle and why it was important that all members of the crew new the location of every item prior to, during and after the event.

Rachael Claridge then continued the session by explaining the difference between a ‘gated’ and ‘non-gated’ hold area and showed her audience what equipment was required, including large pre-filled water buckets containing pre-soaked sponges and plastic jugs plus a folding chair for the rider. Once the rider crossed the hold or finish line in an ideal world they should ‘get off their horse, sit down and be quiet’ to allow the crew to do their job effectively. The crew should all understand their roles in a vetgate/hold area and get the horse untacked, cooled, cleaned, fed and watered appropriately to permit the heart rate to return below 64bpm as quickly as possible prior to veterinary inspection.

Rachael also explained the importance of encouraging the horse to drink, relax and urinate after an event, which reduces the pulse rate naturally. Heather and Lorraine then return to the arena for their final crew and vetting where Tommy demonstrated the urination example perfectly thus reducing his final pulse.

Over the lunch break the audience had an opportunity to look at the different saddles used for endurance including, dressage, free & easy and podium brands. They also watched Carly Amos-Jones and Niki Dow demonstrate the use of the Equi-Aimee training aid on Carlys dressage horse `Whisper`. The use of lunging and training aids are important for all ridden and performance horses to encourage self carriage, long and low outlines and strong core stability to permit them to carry their rider over tough and challenging terrain for long periods of time.
After lunch, Inspire Hypnotherapy’s Georgina Isaac conducted a relaxation and performance enhancing hypnotherapy session with the audience. Georgina explained the correct mind set anyone wishing to ride 15km+ must have.

Rachael continued the afternoon session by explaining how to join Endurance GB and what the membership options give you and your horse. The day was concluded with a quiz to test the knowledge and understanding of the audience throughout the day. The audience was split into groups and the winning team was decided by a quick fire round. The winners were presented with their trophies and a raffle concluded the day’s activities.

For further information about any of the guest speakers mentioned in this article, future Claridge Coaching clinics or Phoenix Field Arabians please visit www.rachaelclaridge.com or contact UKCC Coach & Assessor Rachael Claridge on 07789641014/01454 238942 or email rjclaridge@yahoo.co.uk