Well, good news on the Chiara front! The farrier came to remove her shoes ready for her long holiday and it became evident that there was a hole in her protective pad which corresponded to a healed impression in her sole. I was so pleased to see this; there now won’t be any worrying that she had done any serious, mysterious damage and she is 100% sound. On reflection, there are some really sharp flints at Euston Park and obviously one of those must have had our name on it.
After having made the decision not to compete Fantom any more this season, I did an about turn! He really didn’t seem to settle to rest and was tearing around the field showing off his best over-the-top behaviour. The day before his shoes were due to be removed I had a ‘little’ ride on him to see how he was feeling about it all now. He was back to the usual volatile, unpredictable Fantom; the one that I love and know so well.
Meanwhile Dilmun was continuing his fitness training for his one outing of the year and now he had a training partner in Fantom. I was lucky enough to persuade fellow endurance rider, Di to agree to ride Fantom for me at one of our local rides to accompany Dilmun and me. The boys trained well together in the stubble fields and on the beach and we were really looking forward to the ride.
The weather forecast was terrible and the night before the winds howled and the rain pelted down but luckily by dawn it had largely dried up with just one or two random heavy showers. I was worrying about the going as the ride is over the moors and Dilmun was still a little on the large side and I didn’t want him to over-exert himself.
The day almost went like clockwork. The boys were so good at the venue showing how professional they can be. Fantom even started on a heart rate of 31 bpm whilst Dilmun’s was a respectable 37 bpm. I was delighted to find that, although deep in places, the going was pretty reasonable on the moor and we could enjoy some good canters, maintaining the speed being no problem. After finishing, the final vetting went well with both boys attaining grade 1s and looking as though they had done nothing at all. It was a pleasant end to the season and I was so proud of Dilmun who hadn’t competed for over two years and is now 20 years old. Both boys receive the perfect nutritional support with their bespoke supplements from Feedmark.
Although my competitive endurance season might be over, there was still the amazing Red Dragon ride in Wales which this year hosts the Home Internationals and Celtic Challenge and Cornwall (with help from Devon) was taking part in the Celtic Challenge and what’s more, I was Chef of the Cornish team!
It was an exciting and challenging few days. For weeks prior to the competition I had been compiling notes and programmes and negotiating with the other Chefs and Ride Organiser over many little things. Eventually the time came and we drove up to Wales the day before the riders were due to come and decorated all the stables and base camp with flags and bunting ensuring everything was ready for the riders. The day before the ride we had the team parade around the showground dressed in National costume: it was so exciting.
All our horses passed the pre-ride vetting and were good to start their two days of competition. The team were amazing with all but one completing their rides/races at really good speeds. The Scottish, however, had a different tactic in that they went slowly and carefully and got all their riders home; this paid off and they were the ultimate victors with the Cornish coming a respectable third.
We returned home, tired but happy at 2:00 am the following day (this morning). I am now frantically packing to go on our next, but rather different, expedition to Africa where the sun shines and it never rains and many of the animals are much bigger than horses!