Kentucky Part Three: Endurance Day

In a single sentence, it was an absolute blast, and Butterball definitely stepped up to the plate. 

Butterball had a much more restful night in his new stall, evidenced by his demolition of all of his hay and most of the hay in the small hole net AND his tidy poop piles along the back wall of the stall. I switched out his regular sheet for his BoT sheet and took him out for a long graze in the morning.

Much to the protest of our screaming thighs, DH and I biked phase A/C, counting gates as we went. The post-steeplechase hack had served me well and we had no problems (other than biking up hills, so many hills). I then walked the XC course for the third and final time. 

I killed some time back at the trailer, but going so late in the day left me a lot of time to ponder all the ways things could go wrong. Eventually we made it close to go time. I tacked him up with our usual XC set up. He got studs in all four feet - hexagons up front and small rectangular and pokey things in the hind. Those are definitely the technical terms BTW. I set up DH with a bag with our full cheek bit in case I lost all stopping/turning ability after steeplechase; a bucket and sponge; his halter; extra studs; water with electrolytes for me (Ultima powder, I highly recommend it) and a few towels. We made plans for DH to be in the 10 minute box at 5:30. I was projected to come in at 5:42. 

I got to the start of phase A about fifteen minutes early. This was predictable given that we just had to mosey from the barn over there, about a five minute walk. I watched one rider trot off and then hopped off and let the pony graze while the next two left. There was some untouched clover there, and he was delighted. When the rider before us headed out, I put the martingale back on and popped up. His grazing intensity left me with the (false) impression he was going to be laid back on the trot/canter of phase A over to steeplechase. Nah. He was not. He launched sideways when something rattled in the shrubs at the first corner where we had to cross pavement. Then he opted for leaping into the canter instead of sticking to a pleasant forward trot. He also took huge offense to a few bugs and used those as an excuse to buck a good bit. We got to the 1k marker at 4:21 when it should have been taking us just 4 minutes to go each 1k. Alright fine, my arms were kinda tired from fighting anyways,  and I felt like he was probably using more energy bouncing than he would if I just let him go in a forward direction. So go we went. I did require that he kinda sorta slow down when asked, but otherwise tried to let him be to quiet his own mind. We walked through the first gate at the turn back inside the fence line over the asphalt, said hello to the volunteer, and then trotted off again. He trotted for a bit but then started with the shenanigans again when we made our next left turn which took us along the inside of the fence line near the starter/BN field and some upper level (2*? 3*?) fences. He found a large trakhener with a real log particularly offensive. But by the time we reached the 2k marker we had made up the time and were right on schedule. He settled a bit more as we finished up the trot up and down a short hill and then around the polo field. We came in to finish A about 2:15 early, which was fine. 

Once we arrived out there he acted totally settled and pleasant and walked on a loose rein in and out of the start box. I reset my watch to a new bike ride and hit start as they counted us down. The minute markers were kinda sorta off. I had done them on my watch during our steeplechase course walk and when we reached the end I had 0.08 extra miles compared to the wheeled length, which meant that each minute marker was probably a tiny bit short. The first minute was just after the second jump and the second minute was coming out of the left hand turn in the far corner of the course, between jump 3 & 4. 

Butterball took off pretty darn quick and jumped the first fence beautifully, but landed bucking the most dramatically he had the whole time. The bucks on the ride out had been kinda porpoisy soft bucks. The bucks after landing were a bit more dramatic. I yanked his head up and booted him forward and that finally seemed to get his attention. Or maybe it was the fact that we were GALLOPING and he realized that not only was he being allowed to go as fast as he wanted, now he was being urged to. He rounded the first corner and jumped the second fence beautifully again. I was kinda getting what she meant about not looking for a distance as much. We were a few seconds slow at the first marker, so I urged him forward again. He went up the hill past the scary looking wheel, but then shot sideways over something in the woods. I recovered it in time to guide him inside the ropes to aim to the third fence. Again, he just flew over it. I got a little greedy to the fourth, which was after a downhill slope and didn't try to rebalance. He got a tiny bit under this one and it wasn't as nice a jump. So I made a bit more of an effort for the final fence that followed a downhill and then right hand turn. We landed and hauled butt through to the finish line. My watch clocked us at an average of 469 mpm for the 3:04. This meant that we ended up with 5 seconds of time faults at 0.8 per second, for a total of 4 penalty points for B. 

Phase C started as B ended. I managed to tap the lap button on my watch to start timing for that. I wasn't quite sure what mix of walk and trot would land us at the perfect 160 mpm, so we walked up the hill to loop around the polo field and then picked up the trot again. After a quick sideways hop onto the polo field that you are ABSOLUTELY not supposed to ride on when something rustled in the bushes, we mostly managed a civilized trot. We crossed the 1k marker at 4 minutes, so 2:15 earlier than we needed to. I let him walk the next 2 minutes till we hit 6 minutes and then picked up the trot again. We did basically that for the entirety of C - hit the next 1K mark, walk after that until we should've been hitting it, then pick up the trot again. He did nearly dump me when we were back on the fence by the cross country field and a videographer stood up from their crouched position as we were about ten feet away. I remembered that I could dismount etc, so thought about gripping the reins if I could if I came off so I could just hop back on and carry on. We walked the last 4 minutes before picking up the trot again to trot into the 10 minute box as instructed, so that the vet could assess soundness on our way in. 

The 10 minute box was notably less complicated than it had sounded, mostly because of the excellent volunteers who were keeping track of what needed to be done and when. He got a TPR as he presented and then another one six minutes later. He also got jogged after the second TPR, kindly by Carol, so I didn't have to. DH sponged a bit, but it was low 70s and he was freshly clipped and really wasn't that hot. His temp was only 101.4 when he came in, so he didn't have much cooling off to do. I had planned on pulling his bridle to put on the halter so he could drink, but was told not to. Instead the halter went on over the bridle. I can see where the change could lead to loose horses. But as lit as he'd been for A and B, he was plenty relaxed in the box and was trying to eat from basically the time we arrived to the time we left. After the second TPR and jog, we pulled the halter and reattached his running martingale, I adjusted his hind boots, and we headed up to the start box. 

Cross country was an absolute blast. He came out of the box GOING and so focused. We'll course walk for now and share the pro pics later on (yes, I am dragging these recaps out forever and ever, or at least as long as the column in my excel budget spreadsheet that got dedicated to this whole trip).

1- polite little log, he pinged right on over

2- I wondered if the contrast would be spooky, but he didn't care 

3- table - as DH and I walked, I had wondered aloud that they had called this a championship level course after seeing 1 and 2. This table that was up a hill made me shut my mouth and not look too closely at the size. Butterball was fantastic though, no cares

4AB- Brush combo - the offending videographer was near the fence near these, so I prepared for trying to avoid him, but Butterball was again locked on and honest. He jumped the wall then did the direct five stride line as I had walked it out over the log 

5- Roll top - after our Stable View experience of being a bit excited downhill and after how game he was feeling from steeplechase, I made sure to REALLY half-halt and he came back beautifully 

6- Barn - Majestic has a similarly painted jump that is pretty spooky, so I rode this a bit defensively, but pony couldn't have cared less 

7- Fandango - I let him roll forward down the hill from 6 and then used the slight uphill to help with the half halt to the pretty vertical face - he was fantastic (I'm running out of ways to say how good he was)

8- Slightly skinny roll top - Also slightly downhill, and these course photos were taken right around the time I actually rode. The half-coffin is just past those bushes just behind the roll in the back ground, so you couldn't go careening off. I asked him to wait and get deep and he wrapped around the fence beautifully. 

9AB- half coffin - he gave the ditch a good long look, but there was never any doubt that he was going

10AB- Boathouse to water - I gave myself a LOT of coaching about this water given how glassy/reflective it looked when we walked. Now we know BB LOVES water, but I wasn't sure he would recognize this was water based on prior experiences of him getting a little sketchy at Three Lakes and Stable View. So I planned to ride him in a compact, bouncy, forward canter, give him a nice long approach to the boathouse, and if I felt his feet slow down, channel JT's "get busy" by kicking/tapping (but NOT pulling/shoving). But, it was unnecessary, mostly. He slowed to the trot to enter the water, but was still honest about going. We picked up the canter at the far edge of the water. 

11- Corner - This was after a long gallop up a hill and the right hand turn. I missed to this and he took the gappy spot and pinged right on over. Good boy, thank you. 

12AB- Two stride brush - this picture came from a mid-morning walk because on my evening walk there were a ton of people around. There was a long gallop from 11 then a left hand turn. He backed off a tiny bit as I lined these up, but I used leg and he gamely went forward.

This is where I was planning on turning after 12, but there were a ton of people (four, I think) and a dog (on a leash, following the rules) in this kind of enclosed area. I yelled heads up and they scattered, and Butterball went leaping sideways. Fortunately he went left, which is the way were were headed anyways, so we just readjusted. 

13- Open rails- we got a deep distance to this one, but no matter

14- Fiesta- a relatively long gallop stretch flat and then downhill from 13. I asked him to woah and wait and he did just that. 

15AB- Up bank to roll - This was a pretty long gallop from 14, so I let him flow forward. I didn't walk the strides from the bank to the roll top, but they were pretty close and I was a bit worried about flying off straight after an exuberant up bank, so we did a bouncy coffin canter the last five strides on the way in. In spite of being game and forward from steeplechase, he was really tuned in to my half-halts the whole course and was just responsive and pleasant. He pinged up the bank and took my aids for a nice left to jump the center of the roll in a lovely way. 

16- Cabin - good boy 

17- Steeplechase - I didn't look this one in the eye as we walked (and had 1000% swallowed my words about the first two fences being easy by this point), but as we galloped towards it, I considered picking, but kept that same flowing steeplechase feel and he just launched over it. The pro pic is one of my new faves. 

The water is the first big dip in speed, and I think the up bank is the second dip closest to the end 

After the finish we headed into another vet box, conveniently positioned right by the 10 minute box. The vet team got a TPR right as we came in with a plan to recheck in ten minutes. DH and I hadn't communicated that this time I would be back at the box only 6 minutes after I left him (rather than the 45-60 minutes between leaving for A and coming in to the vet box after C), so he was no where to be found. Several kind people asked if I needed help, but we were really fine. I pulled his saddle, breastplate, and boots, and let him eat grass. He seemed totally delighted to chow down and I felt fine as well. The vet staff actually sent me back to the barn without a second check because he had come in so well and seemed so fine already. Once DH turned up, we put his halter on and gathered up the tack I had dumped to walk back to the barn. He got hosed off and then put in his stall with a mush of alfalfa pellets. 

Side note, being in the Tractor Supply in Lexington to nab some extra shavings and pick up alfalfa pellets was like being a kid in a candy store. There was an entire aisle of dried alfalfa offerings - cubes, pellets, organic, T&A, O&A, etc etc. I think there are two brands of cubes in my local TS. 

We went and grabbed dinner for ourselves at a barbecue joint and then came back and let him mosey/graze for about an hour. By Friday he was pretty focused on eating when out and went straight towards the edge of the area most people walked to get the prime snacks. Smart pony. He got soupy dinner after that which he dug right in to. His legs were tight and I didn't palpate any soreness anywhere. I packed his hind feet with some magic cushion. Then we headed back to the campsite. We had grown some new neighbors for the weekend, which caused me to start grouching because there was weed smoke and children shouting as well as a big screen TV. But they either went to bed or I just couldn't hear anything over the fan because our night was very peaceful again.