You know you’ve fallen a bit behind on blogging when the title gets a bit unwieldy! August was so busy between volunteering at Tevis and prepping for our last endurance ride of the season, and September work hit the gas and we had a roller coaster of a time at Old Selam. September always brings an element of squeezing out the last warm, sunny days in the Pacific Northwest, for we never quite know when the rains are back for the winter and we’re at the barn at 7pm and suddenly it’s dark out!

Old Selam showed me all we still have to work on in order to keep Tevis in our sights…but also reminded me of the strengths of this team of two. Three, if you count the emotional and bed warming support Labradork! It was also a super fun ride camp, with well marked trails, supportive vets, an experienced ride manager, and the twin bonuses of both a food truck vendor and engaging speakers! 

Before I dive into laying out what we’ll be focusing on improving this winter, I want to share what I love about this photo below. We went to our first jumping clinic with a new to our area trainer, and we had so much fun! Captured in this photo are so many aspects of the hard work we’ve been doing over the past year: My seat is 50% better, I’m not leaning forward and clutching my knees in the canter, my outside rein is actually connected to Tarma’s shoulder and she’s not bulging to the outside; we’re in harmony together and Tarma’s not bolting straight into a wall; Tarma’s ears are forward and happy and waiting to lock onto the next jump; and best of all, look how muscly and lifted and engaged she is! 

Sorry, almost totally side tracked this post over one photo! Ah, yes, Tevis prep. I will say I did try a few new things at Old Selam that will stick with us. Tarma’s fancy new British pad held up perfectly for our LD, and she showed no signs of white hairs, sensitivity or rubs anywhere, hallelujah! I might save up to buy another one, it worked so well! I also wore tall compression socks, which kept my feet from swelling so much. My heating pad came in clutch for both of us, so I might get Tarma her own for after rides. She also super appreciated the IceVibe boots I found for her, almost falling asleep with them on. She had zero filling at any point, although it did help that it rained and the footing, even on all the dirt roads, was pretty forgiving. 

As for focus areas, a good chunk of it is just continuing what we’ve been doing. My exercise routine (it is a routine now!) includes three strength workouts, three stretching/yoga focused workouts, and running at least twice a week. I’ve been slowly upping my running speed and distance; I’ve worked up from barely a mile in 20 minutes with several walk breaks at barely 4mph to two miles in 22 minutes at 4.5 mph. I’ve recently found a new doctor and presented myself specifically as an athlete, training for my sport’s equivalent of an ultramarathon; I have a nutritionist I’m checking in with and modifying my diet to focus on reaching my goal weight of 200 pounds. I’ve already lost several pounds of fat and gained muscle, which means we’re heading in the right direction!

I’ve been 200 as an adult, so I know it’s attainable again with careful effort. I don’t want Tarma carrying more than 230 pounds for Tevis, and when we weighed for BC at Old Selam I was at 263 with all our tack and my water bottles weren’t full. Again, if we were sticking with mainly 50’s and Pioneer rides, I would of course be focused on fitness, but not so concerned with overall weight loss; I want to give us the best chance to cross the Sierras, and every pound starts to really count. When we walked over the scale at a local nursery this week, we were a combined weight of 1300 pounds; that’s a lot of effort to move over those mountains in 24 hours!

That said, I did sell Kade’s saddle and wrote a hefty check to our local vet, for some pricy photos! The vet imaged her hocks, her lumbar spine, and her knees, and saw no concerns at all, not even the barest start of arthritis. This is amazing to me, considering she’s been carrying a heavy weight in endurance for five years, and I’ve definitely not been as balanced or strong as I have been this summer. Nor has Tarma, but we’ve found our way this far together and I think we’re both the better for it. 

Some things we do have to really work on is Tarma’s mental elasticity. We both get so target focused, trying to check things off the list and on to the next thing, it can be hard for both of us to let go of an idea and switch gears. This means I don’t tend to miss anything at vet checks; it does mean I’ve rarely noticed until miles later that she’s tossed a shoe aside. For Tarma this really shows up in groups. As long as she’s leading, she’s generally a delight, especially at the walk and the trot. But ask her to follow, especially at speed? Ask her not to nearly bolt at the canter if another horse is next to us? She morphs into a short little Secretariat, shoving her nose in front and her shoulder into the poor sod just out enjoying the day with us. Of all the things we’ll need to handle at Tevis, asking Tarma to start trotting at 5:30am in the dark on a crowded, dusty trail, surrounded by over 100 of the fittest horses on the planet, and still have manners so we don’t cause an incident less than five miles into the ride…whoo boy, that’s the thing the scares me the most. Bring on the cliffs and the heat and the rocks and the dark…but that conga line of horses could be our undoing if I don’t instill some better buttons into Tarma. I view it as a training issue, not an equipment issue; reaching for a stronger bit is the last thing I want to do, as riding at speed in groups is a normal endurance thing, not just a Tevis thing. 

I also really need to nail down her shoes (pun intended). I kept her rears on solid as rock for her last cycle, but the front shoes we left out in Idaho. I might need to size her down again; she started in the 118s and couldn’t keep those on for love or money, but the 114s were doing better; I’ll try the 110s and see if those are the new sweet spot. I’m also going to look for a local farrier to try nailing a set of composites on; Tarma’s never had nails so I want to see both how she handles the process, and if they stay on any better than the glue. Given how delicate her heel bulbs are, boots will only be used as spares for Tevis, and only until we’re hopefully lucky enough to find one of the farriers to nail a shoe back on. 

Our overall schedule remains largely the same, though depending on my fitness and weight by next May I might adjust a tad. I noticed in my latest copy of Endurance News that the AERC National Championship ride for 2027 is at Antelope Island next October, near Salt Lake City. I’ve always wanted to do that ride, and technically we can get qualified for the 100 miler championship ride if I plan our ride season out carefully. We need either 200 more miles or two back to back 50 milers. That’s either one Pioneer ride, or four fifty milers between April and September. At one a month that’s perfectly doable, although I’ll probably lose a month of riding to various work travels next spring. That would potentially put a slightly easier 100 miler under our belt in 2027, then we could tackle Tevis in 2028, knowing that Tarma is willing to keep going and I can keep taking care of her well into the dark hours of the morning.