Crewing at the World Championships
- Bella Fricker
- Sep 24, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
I can't quite believe it's been more than two weeks since the Endurance World Championships in Monpazier, France, already BUT life has been as hectic as ever and I've been giving up ALL my free time to getting my horse's field shelter built (another blog on that coming your way soon 😉).
Now it's been my dream to ride at a World Championships for as long as I can remember and I did try to qualify myself to do this a few years ago but with the current horsepower in my field I'm not looking at even being qualified and possibly selected until 2030 or even 2032! That's the rub with young horses, you have to be patient!
So when my UK-based, Dutch friend, Shanti Roos bought her new horse, FRIPON AU XOIS AA with only one 3* as a combination to do to be qualified, it proved there was a good chance I would be able to be on the crew team at this year's Worlds - an opportunity I absolutely wasn't going to pass up!.
But first, of course, the required 3* which often proves elusive (for me anyway 🫠). Nonetheless, a trip to Saumur (FRA) in April this year saw Shanti and Frippy complete their first 160km CEI3* together with ease - qualification in the bag!
The Dutch selection for the Worlds didn't then officially take place until the 18th August so it was a bit of wait to know for sure if we were going. There was no need to worry however as Frippy had a 100% pass rate with an average speed across all of his competitions of 18.04 kmph too! The Dutch team were pleased to have them I'm sure!
Frippy is a French born Anglo-Arab and so it made sense for Shanti to keep him in France for 2024 in preparation for participating in the Worlds and so he's been based all year with Klervi Lefèvre, in Brittany. This meant when it came to travel, Frippy only had a 5hr journey down and a journey with friends too as Klervi had 4 other horse's competing over the extended weekend of competition (they ran a 3*and 1* on Monday and a 2* on Tuesday).
Shanti and her son Joshie flew in to France the weekend before and I myself arrived on the Wednesday - sharing a flight from Stansted to Bergerac with good company of fellow Brits Linda & Robert Cowperthwaite, Lee Clark (Nikki Thorne's physio) and half of the UAE endurance team!
Frippy arrived to the venue on Wednesday evening and after a bit of a slow checking in process we managed to get into the stable area. After giving him a few hours to settle into his new surroundings, I began hand walking him (in the rain) along with nearly 50 other horses in the stable area making a muddy circuit track 🤭. By the end of Wednesday, with travelling and walking around the venue I'd walked 17.5km!
Thursday was supposed to be the only day without too much on the agenda but as is always the case you end up filling the time - after all, there's quite a bit to do before a World Championship! The opening ceremony was in the evening which was spectacular! It was in the village of Monpazier and it was the most stunning, old French village and such a good atmosphere. I was so impressed with the huge stage, drone cameras and entertainment they had put on. However, we were all quite tired from another busy day and so we didn't stay very late into the party bit!
Friday (the day before the Championship) was vetting in the morning and rider briefing at lunchtime. They gave us a running order for vetting, by nation and so the Netherlands were sort of the second half of the vetting window. It was great to have the vetting in the morning as usually pre-vetting is in the afternoon and it’s always a bit of a rush to get everything done in the evening. This way it meant we had all day to get all the other pre-ride jobs done.
There was big panic about how well-behaved Frippy was going to be in the vetting as he had been quite full on when Shanti had been riding him each day. For this reason it was decided that Klervi's husband, Olivier would be the one to take him into vettings as he is stronger than me! The Dutch management team also preferred for him to be presented in a headcollar as he trotted more relaxed without his bit in when we had practiced both ways on Thursday and Friday morning. Thankfully, we shouldn't have worried at all, as the calmer that Shanti had purchased worked really well and he vetted so calmly.
Shanti then had to weigh in (75kg minimum weight with tack) and after that it was the rider briefing. We were allowed to set up the hold area after 2pm and we had allocated bays by nation too which I thought was a great idea. They had used chalk spray to number each bay and the Chef d'Equipe for each nation had to pull the number out of a hat. It meant there was no arguing for space and everyone had a fair area to use under the huge tents for protection from the elements. I thought that was great and something we should try to replicate here in the UK at bigger rides I think!
After lots more hand walking it was time to get an early night as our alarm was set for 3.30am on Saturday. We also knew that there was a bad thunderstorm forecast but I think we were all wishfully thinking that maybe it wouldn't be as bad as they said...
I started hand walking Frippy at 4am and the rain was only light, and actually it was really hot. So hot in fact that we ended up taking his rug off as it must have been over 20°C even though it was raining. It was pretty hard to find Shanti and Frippy in the dark and by the time the start took place (5.30am) the rain was lashing it down.
For the first two loops, only two crew were allowed out on course (to help minimise the number of people on the track in the dark) and so myself and Klervi headed out onto what has to be the most surreal crewing experience of my life. Over 120 horses in the class (okay I've done bigger mass starts) BUT that many crew cars trying to get down narrow French lanes in the WORST thunderstorm I've ever experienced. Cars and vans were getting stuck, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face because the rain was so heavy in front of our head torches it was crazy. That first crew point I was so so worried. How horses and riders made it around that first loop is still beyond me.
Anyway, we managed to somehow find Shanti in the third group (which of course at this stage was just minutes behind the front group) and she seemed calm and focused despite the palpable stress radiating off all the other horses and riders from the crazy weather conditions and the adrenaline of the start.
We also managed to see her at the second crew point (which was diverted due to the torrential rain and fears about vehicles getting stuck) but there were so many crew I couldn't fight my way through to even pass her a bottle! The organisers had set up crew start and finish zones and you were only allowed to pass bottles in these areas but it meant that for the first loop it was a real struggle to get through and to see you horse when it was coming until they had already arrived because of the darkness and weather too of course.
The third crew point on the loop was uneventful (apart from having to park 1km away and run back because there were so many crew cars this was the closest space along the road) and we decided we didn't have time to get to the fourth and final crew point on this loop and make it back to the venue in time. It was raining so heavily they were being sloshed continuously anyway 😆.
A good call by Klervi as we had mere minutes before Shanti arrived. The first 40 or so horses all arrived within 5 minutes of each other so it was all quite hectic but thanks to Klervi's clever crewing strategy she got him into the vetting in less than 2mins and then joined the queue on the other side of the timing. There were 12 lanes but with this many horses to vet they must have queued for a good five minutes!
The vet gates with Frippy are quite relaxed generally as he is a good boy to handle in the holds as he does know to switch off. He's also never had his legs iced and isn't really used to massages or any of the extra TLC things that Shanti and I would usually do in our hold area. I made it my priority to ensure that Shanti was changed into dry clothes and had eaten and drunk. Between us all we cleaned all the mud off his tack, changed to a dry numnah and made sure that Frippy was eating. This is a challenge as he is more interested in just hay than any hard feed. Our neighbours had some lucerne hay which he was more than happy to munch on.
The second loop was a very short loop (just 21km) which is an unusual running order and Frippy was so keen to get out onto the course that he was lashing out with his front legs waiting for his time to go! This loop went so quickly we were really struggling to make it to the crew points in time. In fact, to get back to the venue with all the crew and spectator traffic meant I had to get dropped off in the road and literally run through the whole shopping village and across the venue to make it to the cooling lane just as Shanti made it back into the racecourse and entered into the cooling lane!
Despite the rush and panic, the second vet gate itself was another easy run through and Frippy was looking great. It was a repeat of the first hold time in terms of jobs and whilst it was still raining at least the thunderstorm had stopped now.
The third loop was a longer one again at 31km and this one (as predicted) was where a lot of people started to have issues. On course, the tracks were now really starting to see the effects of the crazy weather and that many horses turning them up and so Shanti felt she needed to slow down a lot to stay safe. A lot of riders were doing the same and by this point in the day it was warming up too and despite the storm, it still felt quite humid. Frippy drinks really well on course and for the first time we were even able to give Shanti something to drink on course too as Frippy was finally stopping long enough for her to take one hand off the reins!
After the third loop we were back in good time to see so many of the riders in front struggle with presentation times and so many re-presents too. I did warn Shanti when she came in off the loop to go slow into vetting but sadly Frippy had to re-present as his HR was 65 - just 1 bpm off what it needs to be. He was quickly back in though for HR62 but it was a shame as Shanti then lost her riding partners going onto loop 4.
From what I can remember of loop 4. it was largely uneventful however the speed was going down again as the tracks continued to be such a struggle. Shanti also started this loop alone but with a pep talk from Klervi and myself we encouraged her to make up the 3 mins she lost from the re-present to catch up with her riding companions.
Off this loop and into the VG saw the slowest recovery of the day for Frippy, over 9 minutes. It was clear that the track was taking its toll on him. It should have also been a warning sign to us but that's the benefit of hindsight. In all other regards he was fine, he still looked very bright, he was still forward on course and eating and drinking well. However, the long recovery did mean that Shanti was definitely going onto the 5th loop alone.
The fifth loop (another short one of 21km) was the most relaxed loop as crew of the whole day. With more spacing between all the riders now and a slower speed from Shanti we actually had time to get to each crew point and even enjoyed a moment of sunshine at one point! Frippy continued to drink really well on the loop and was looking good.
The fifth, and final vet gate, saw a slight improvement in recovery time again of 6mins but sadly we could see straight away that Frippy came in off the loop with diaphragmatic flutters (thumps).
Thumps is a condition that causes a horse's diaphragm and flank to twitch or contract in sync with its heartbeat. It's similar to a human hiccup and can cause a loud thumping sound from the horse's chest. Thumps is usually temporary and not harmful, but it can indicate more serious health issues like dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, kidney dysfunction, or endocrine problems. It's most common in fatigued horses, especially those that have sweated a lot during exercise.
Because we had the compulsory re-exam in this vet gate he passed the vetting but we had our work cut out to get on top of his thumps in just 30 minutes. It took some time to locate a calcium syringe (as this is the recommended strategy) and whilst we did get one into him we think it was simply too close to the re-exam time for him to have digested and absorbed the calcium to make a difference.
Unfortunately, he failed the veterinary panel on the re-exam because of the thumps and was not allowed to go out onto the final loop.
I was gutted. Shanti was disappointed but also so happy that he was sound and that this is something we can simply manage better so it doesn't happen again. I admire her very 'matter of fact' approach to things like this - I think I was dwelling on it more than her! Such a lot of effort and work to get that far into the race to lose out to something that absolutely was manageable yes!
That said, until a horse gets thumps you aren't to know that they are susceptible to it nor that you should be more proactive in ensuring they get sufficient calcium and of course electrolytes. We didn't give Frippy any electrolytes all day at all (but then we didn't in Saumur either). In fact, he's never been given them at any of his endurance rides in his career before.
Monpazier was exceptionally conditions though, such tough mud making the effort so much harder combined with crazy weather and then high humidity later in the day - it really was tough.
Anyway, what did I learn? What are my take homes and how do I feel about my experience?
First up, a massive thank you to Shanti for having me on the team. It's such an honour to be such a trusted member of something as big as this. I'm really proud of my contribution to the team effort, I know that I worked my socks off and did everything I could to support Shanti and Frippy around that track.
My biggest take home is the importance of a balanced diet at home (though with my job I probably already knew this 😉) and supporting the horse with eating more than just forage in the VG. We did have a reasonable selection of feeds but it was outside of our control to provide him with the choices that we know he eats well at home and/or then give us the best chance of success with the ones he might want to eat in the VG. When Shanti brings him home it's something she can play around with for him. We also didn't supplement him with electrolytes but of course Shanti can do this now at rides and at home too.
Overall, an amazing experience. I feel so grateful to have been part of it and get so close to so many of my idols. Just being there and absorbing everything going on around me was inspirational and reassures me that I absolutely do want to get myself to a Worlds one day.
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