Ride 2 - Haywood Oaks

So the second ride of the season was Haywood Oaks in Nottingham. I entered the 90km FEI 1* Young Rider class and was yet again in the class on my own! The drive to the venue took us 6 hours and when we arrived, we set up camp - yes camp!! We took the brave (or stupid) decision to camp both nights in the tent!

Czarko settled in well when we arrived and we got everything prepared for Saturdays early start. Luckily, I started with the senior class who were doing the same distance so I wasn't riding on my own. We started the race at 09:00 on our first loop of 40km. This loop went well and I spent most of it riding with the two leading horses in the 90km senior class so it went quite quickly.  Due to being the only one in my class, there was no pressure in the vet gates but we still put speed into practice and didn't dwell too much.

I rode the rest of the race with the leading riders of the senior race which gave Czarko and I a lot of motivation. We kept a good speed up and crossed the line achieving 17.35km/h. I wanted to use this as a training ride for Windsor so although I didn't want to put too much pressure on Czarko, I also didn't want to go too slow. As always Czarko made an amazing recovery and his behaviour was top notch.

The biggest challenge for us was the camping side of things. We didn't expect the temperatures to drop to -2 on the first night and were definitely not prepared for it! Thankfully, it didn't zap our energy too much and we were still able to get on with the day. However, the second night saw us dressed as Michelin men, in two sleeping bags each, topped with one of Czarko's rugs. Fortunately, I had brought three different Buffs with me and I managed to put all three on so my head and neck were covered - a complete saviour compared to the previous night where I wore none. We all found the second night much warmer so had a better night's sleep.

Along came the third and last day - a day full of packing and unpacking. Eugh! I personally think this is the worst part of any competition when you are exhausted and aching all over but we soldiered on and managed to get everything sorted to make our way on the 6 hour journey home.

Needless to say, it was another great weekend giving us our second red rosette of the season.

First race of the season!

So the first race of the season was.. Kings's Forest! King's is one of my favourite rides due to the lovely going underfoot and the amazing forest tracks. I entered the 80km FEI 1* Young Rider class to kick the season off with the hope I would  have some fun competition, however when the entries were put up on the website, I found that I would be racing alone!

On the 5 hour journey to Kings.

We booked into the Barton Mills travel lodge for Saturday and Sunday night as the journey from home takes 5 hours. Czarko stayed at Wideham Equestrian Centre for the two nights in a lovely stable along with some other horses that were there for the competition. We had performed the same arrangements last year when we did the 120km in the snow so we were very familiar with how to get there and get set up.

We left home on Saturday at just after 10am to allow ourselves the 5 hours we planned it would take us to get there, which included a stop half way to give Czarko a break and snack - as well as a toilet stop for us humans! The car was telling us that it was 19 degrees outside as we were travelling up, a lot different from last year when we were travelling up in a snow storm!! When we arrived, I checked in and got my number etc ready to vet Czarko and found that I was still in the race on my own.

Czarko in the trailer.

I got a huge scare at the initial vetting - apparently Czarko wasn't 100% sound. We waited for what seemed like hours for the three vet panel to be ready to see Czarko trot up for a second time so they could judge again. We were probably only waiting for about 5 minutes for the vets to finish looking at the horses they were already with but all the while, I was getting myself more and more worked up - were we about to get eliminated before we had even done anything? Once the vets were ready, I trotted Czarko up again and much to my relief, he was sound and we were allowed to race. Without trying to make excuses, the trot up lanes were very bumpy as I actually twisted my ankle as I was running so no wonder Czarko wasn't completely level - I heard quite a lot of the other riders saying the same thing.

Once we were finished at the venue, I rode Czarko back to where he was being stabled - 10 minutes down the road, to give his legs a stretch before putting him to bed for the night. I settled him in, gave him his dinner and we drove back to the travel lodge. We popped over to the little chef for dinner and then retired back to our room, conscious of the fact we were going to lose an hour due to the clocks going forward.

It was an early wake up for us of 5am to be able to get ourselves ready, get Czarko ready and get to the venue. I had spoken to the organisers and we agreed that I would start with the Senior 80km FEI 1* race so I was not on my own which meant I had to be ready to go at 08:00. The 80km route consisted of two 32km loops followed by a 16km loop with a vet gate after each loop.

We set off at 08:00 on the first 32km loop, the temperature was nice and cool and we completed the loop at about 19-20km/h. We presented to the vet within about 2-3 minutes and Czarko had a heart rate of 52bpm. His metabolic readings were all ok and he got an 'A' for action, phew! We then went into a 40 minute hold time where we had a rest and something to eat.

A happy me at the end of the day
wearing my purple Buff

The second loop was probably one of the best loops I have ever ridden. Czarko was running like an absolute dream and was cantering with such ease. He was so light on the bit and didn't pull me at all - something that rarely happens! I was so pleased with how good he was feeling after the winter and everything just felt effortless - I didn't want the loop to end! We completed this loop at a similar speed to the first (about 20km/h) and our presentation time to the vet was also very similar (2-3 minutes).  Czarko's pulse was 52 again and trotted up 100% sound with another 'A' for action, happy days!

The last vet gate was another 40 minutes where we did the same again, rested and ate. Czarko is always a very fussy eater at vet gates so I always make sure we have plenty of apples and carrots for him to eat - he never turns them down! When the 40 minutes were up, we set out on our last loop of 16km - there was no real speed that I wanted to achieve and as I was the only one in my class, I could take it as steady as I liked. Nevertheless, I think we still travelled at an average speed of about 17km/h despite the temperature raising. We crossed the finish line at ease and Czarko didn't feel any different from what he felt at the start, the only thing I noticed is that he wasn't pulling as much.

Our first red rosette of the season

From what I can remember, I think we presented in 6 minutes after a quick slosh and a little walk around. Czarko's metabolic readings were once again all ok and we finished up with an 'A' for action and a final pulse of 48 - I couldn't ask for anything more.

All in all, we had a great day and it was a perfect start to the season.