My first (and maybe last?) race of the year for Chip? My 2024 season hasn't got off to the best start and in this I know that I am absolutely not alone.
As many of you know, I had taken the decision back in early 2023 to pull Chip back from the higher-levels and focus my attentions on Spice, my up and coming 8yr old. Heartbreakingly, Spice colicked and didn't make it in May 2023 and so I found myself with only Chip to compete whilst the baby horses were still, well, growing up.
So poor Chip got pulled out of his semi-retirement and by August we made it to the Advanced National Championships to finish a respectable 7th in the 80km CER at Well Vale. He felt on great form, finding it all very easy and I really berated myself for pulling back from competing with him too soon.
With a skip in my step and the success of Well Vale propelling me on, I set my sights on one last hurrah with another race ride to culminate the 2023 season. Unfortunately, a broken wrist in early September put paid to that and I didn't actually manage to get back on Chip before his rest period from Well Vale had even ended. So that was the 2023 season over and done with. Stopped before we really got going!
We then entered, what I'm sure I don't have to tell you, was one of the wettest and most miserable winters that I think I've ever had to face as a horse owner. Training was tough and on many days simply impossible. Turning up to use all weather gallops that themselves were flooded made me lose all hope for an early season campaign.
I had really hoped to make it to our favourite Kings Forest in April, the sandy tracks, flat course and always friendly venue made it an enticing offer but as the date loomed I felt less and less prepared - both in the physical sense but also in the mental sense.
Gearing up for the 2024 season knocked me back mentally more than I was prepared for. It was like the realisation of losing Spice, and all that could have been, was intensified as I looked at the calendar and was reminded of all the plans and ambitions I had for Spice in 2024. He would have been 9 years old and if he's 2023 season and continued on track, 2024 would have seen CEI1* and CEI2* competitions for us.
And it is this level of competition that really lights the fire in my belly. It's this level of training and management intensity that I absolutely thrive off. Dream about, spend every waking moment pursuing.
To not have a horse at this level anymore is tough because it's hard to find a purpose. Not only to find the purpose to train and be motivated but even cascading into my own life - do I really need to gym as hard, be so strict with my scheduling etc. The double-edged sword of endurance is it's all encompassing nature and it being my everything for so many years of my life means I have felt rather lost without it.
Anyway, the culmination of horrid weather and a lower level goal meant that I found myself and Chip under prepared for racing at Kings Forest and so my entry didn't go in.
As the Queen of a setback, I wasn't too deterred and set my sights on Lavenham. Still for the 80km CER but it meant June - warm weather, lots of training opportunity and time - don't forget we're still in April at this point in the story!
Training ebbed and flowed as the weather continued to be turbulent. However, overall things progressed as they should and I was feeling on track.
I put my entry in for Shuckburgh Hall (May) as I felt it would be beneficial to go to a ride this season and have a nice practice run through the motions. I always think this is really helpful, not matter how many rides you've done. Packing, travelling and vetting are all useful to find any little niggles and get you back into the swing of things with rides.
Shuckburgh was a two-day ride and we had an entry in for the Sunday. Unfortunately for the poor organiser, we had excessive rain in the run up to the competition and on the Saturday evening my social media was flooded (pun intended) with riders saying that they'd had to retire in the vet gate or even out on course due to such heavy going.
I am incredibly precious about my training ground and so I very quickly decided that I wouldn't attend. Training is so much about injury prevention for me and trying to achieve any sort of canter work (which we needed for Lavenham) on deep going would be incredibly counter-productive.
As an alternative we headed to Kings Forest for our own training. A hugely successful day out, we got plenty of canter work done on excellent ground. He felt super and was so up for it.
From here on out the weather did start to improve and so training felt a lot easier and I was feeling really confident in our race.
I was feeling really relatively confident in our prospects for Lavenham. Chip was feeling great and all the consistent focus on schooling was paying off with a much improved topline. My only real concerns where his hoof boots (so much to talk about there it will have to be another blog) and whether the ground would be too concussive. Lavenham in the past has always been very dry and early June you'd definitely expect it to be hot and dry.
As we reached our taper week, we seemed to have resolved our hoof boot issue and we'd had quite a lot of rain/sun/rain/sun which meant that the ground conditions were actually looking nearly perfect!
I was so excited to finally get to a ride! Our first of the 2024 season in fact! I had my usual dynamic duo crew of my sister Pheobe (who happens to be our equine podiatrist too) and my best friend Shez (who also happens to be the Assistant Chef d'Equipe to the England Endurance Squad) so I was in good company.
It was also set to be my very first time actually sleeping in my new trailer, known as Spencer. I invested in the upgrade at Christmas 2023 (hence his name - Spencer (Spenny)). I was committed to doing more stay away competitions and I wanted to get a trailer with a bit of living in. So it really was a very exciting trip to finally make the vision a reality - so much space with the living area what a difference. We all had loads of room in Alice (my car) rather than putting legs on top of boxes ahah.
We knew that the journey to Lavenham is quite a trek and so we left in good time to arrive at the venue on Friday for around 4pm. This would give us the opportunity to set up his corall, our vet gate area and enjoy an early dinner (cooked in Spencer) as well as get an early night.
Pulling into the venue we were abruptly faced with a sign 'Do not stop - MUD' and boy wasn't it just a little muddy!
Luckily my trusty Alice didn't falter but there was significant evidence of others getting stuck and/or wheel spinning as some cars and trailers looked like they'd participated in a dirt bike race ahha!
The rest of the field was not so bad but I did start to wonder how well the tracks were going to ride and if my hoof boots were going to be up to the test!
Friday night remained uneventful. My well oiled team got everything set up and sorted and I cooked us (though I say so myself) a mega stir-fry on my hob in Spencer and we had a wonderful time catching up with so many people from the endurance community who we hadn't seen since last year!
The one flaw in the trailer sleeping arrangements is that there are only two bunks and well, there were three of us! Originally we had planned for one of us to set up a camp bed in the floor-well of the living area but we quickly realised this was far too narrow! Second option was to set up camp in the horse area - but it's not 100% watertight by design due to the roof vent style that I have fitted...
By chance, we parked next to John Black and Tamzin Furtado who were both riding in my class. They very kindly said that as they were staying in a hotel that one of us could sleep in the living area of their trailer. Life savers!
It meant we all had a good night's sleep and woke up fresh at 5.30am for breakfast - porridge a'la Spencer!
I put Chip's hoof boots on in the corall, away from too much activity going on at the main venue field. Him standing nice and still meant I was able to get plenty of Metanium on his heels + the sheepskin noseband covers inside his hoof boots as our first layer of protection against any potential rubs.
Our start time was 8am with vetting from 7am. I'm usually quite meticulous about Chip's warm up and whilst I felt we still had plenty of time, just an hour somehow felt tight when we are so used to vetting the night before - so I was keen to vet as early as possible. There were also the FEI classes starting down near the vetting which I didn't want Chip to lock onto too much - every now and again he does forget his manners and at a chunky 15.3hh he can be quite a lot to handle.
Anyhow, we managed to find a quiet moment to get into vetting and he was a very good boy. However, to my dismay his trot left a lot to be desired. I was quite shocked that I wasn't asked for a re-trot there and then but we simply passed with a B and no comment from the vet at all.
Now what to do? For starters, he definitely wasn't as warmed up as I would normally like BUT surely this isn't a good sign. Past Bella would have gone into such a meltdown that I would have probably taken him back to vetting and asked for a three-card. But I guess I'm at a different stage now, and he's certainly at a different point in his career.
We decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and see how he felt on the loop. I know him so well and knew that it would be very clear if he wasn't right out on course.
I also knew there was a big chance that he would be out in the VG so once I'd decided I definitely was going to ride, I also decided to make the absolute best of it and make sure we had a jolly good time.
On at 7.45 I began my warm up. Chippy felt fine and I've watched and re-watched over and over again all the warm up videos and I cannot see any signs of lameness in any gait, in any transition or across any gradient.
With just 6 horses in my class the start was quite uneventful - especially when I was having a good chat with the TS who suddenly went 'oh, you have 10 seconds to start!' ahahh
The route starts with a short stretch down the road before you hit the grass - or should I say slightly deep verge eek...
Trepidation - is the whole route going to be like this? We could canter - just - but we had to keep swapping 'lanes' and dropping back to trot. The first 5km or so was very 'bitty' and I was so, so worried about losing a hoof boot. It was properly 'sucky' mud in some places and we were even having to walk...
Despite the less desirable sections, other tracks were phenomenal and the rain had done them so much good - with just the right amount of give and good grass coverage so they weren't slippery. So in all, you could definitely make up good time, you just had to be careful.
Before long, we had the pleasure of Emma Pleasance's company. I had recently coached Emma so it was so nice to hear how she was doing but more importantly her horse Florence and Chip went along together sooo well! (PS. Emma finished 2nd in the race in the end!)
We had just settled into a lovely rhythm when we came to the first crew point. Only there was no sign of Alice nor Pheobe - but there was Shez... who quickly let me know that Alice had had a flat battery! She was being jump started back at the venue (thank you Charlotte Scott!) and Pheobe was hopefully going to make it to the second crew point.
Never a dull moment!
Emma and I carried on the rest of the loop together, taking it in turns to lead, enjoying great conversation about all manner of things and despite the sticky sections we were bowling along at well over 17kmph average. By the time we got to the last crew point I was genuinely shocked that the first loop was nearly over! Only 4km to get back to the venue! And John, who'd gone off in front originally was still in sight...
I knew that Chip had the best recovery times of all the horses in my class so I was ready to execute my strategy - ride in conservatively and ride out onto the second loop in 1st place simply by vetting quickly.
Riding to plan, I took a bit of a pull over the final few kms and arrived into the VG at 16.3kmph on my clock - pleasing when it goes to plan.
Until it doesn't... very much not to plan.
Into vetting a good 2 mins ahead of anyone else in my class, but that doesn't get you very far if your horse doesn't trot up sound.
To be fair to Chip, his trot was actually much improved vs his pre-ride trot and I did actually think we were passing that vetting but we were asked for a re-trot and the second was really quite bad :(
Very, very disappointing. But what was good - we rode to plan. We had sooo much fun! He was so happy out on course, taking even canter leads, sitting on his bottom for the many, many 90 degree turns, engaging his core, listening to me whilst still eager for more. Great company - in all it was really one of the nicest first loops I've ever raced. Importantly, no hoof boots lost or damaged and no rubs at all either.
Such a shame that he is maturing and being more fun/safe whilst simultaneously ageing and as such his body can't quite keep up with his head.
Out of vetting and into the corall for Chip, we had a moment to regroup and gather our thoughts. I was very much of the opinion; 'well, that's that then, no more racing for Chip' as I really didn't think I could keep doing this to myself. It is such a lot of work to get horses fit enough to run competitive 80kms, and it does cost a lot of money and time too and to fail after just 35km is so not worth it.
We packed up and got on the road, back in time to see the horses at home and enjoy a nice meal with the family in the evening. Chip looked very pleased with himself - after all he doesn't know we were supposed to go further! We even lunged him for a few laps on each rein to assess his gait and he was (to my eye) looking 100%.
As I said on the day, Chip simply has nothing left to prove. He's been competitive with the best of them. We've run loops at 20kmph +, we've got into vetting in 26 seconds and we've raced 120km with nothing less than an A all day. He's got the T-shirt and I don't need to keep asking him to do this, no matter how much I truly believe he loves it.
BUT there is the niggle that I had before - what if I'm cutting him short. Was there, is there something I've missed.
The going was DEEP, the extra effort involved in navigating deep going shouldn't be underestimated. But also he definitely wasn't 100% at the start, and why is that? What's going on?
I've never shied away from talking about Chip's arthritis. It's something I've been managing his whole competitive career. I took him to the vets in January for his pre-season MOT as usual and we medicated his hocks (second time in his life). We did not medicate anywhere else, perhaps he needs some extra support in his fetlocks? My vet did suggest it would be worth a review before we compete anywhere.
I didn't go though because the January visit cost me £1,800 (Chip & Fern) and I didn't have the desire to put anymore bills on my credit card. Not when Fern needed to have her sarcoids lasered off too.
What I do know for sure is that Chip is incredibly happy in his work. We are very much enjoying each other's company, including the extra focus in the school with fortnightly lessons at home as well as going to plenty of pole and flatwork clinics.
So the game plan right now is to return to work and keep him as fit and happy as I can.
We have the osteopath booked for Monday 24th June and I am hopeful for a moderately miraculous result... wouldn't it be great if he could stop the dramatic RH adduction that we've been dealing with for years!
So is it the end? When I started writing this blog just last week it definitely was. I was so done with trying. But another week has gone by, I've had more time to digest and for that little spark of hope to take hold again. So watch this space.
24th June - Osteopath update here!
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