Wednesday 16 March 2016

Fun in the Sun - Heather Reynolds

15 March 2016

Jeremy and I were busy glueing up horses in Easycare products the week leading up to the Fun In The Sun ride, Jeremy was CRAZY busy! This year the FITS ride was the first of three of the USA Time Trial rides, meaning the USA selectors and team veterinarians and Chef would be looking over nominated horse and rider combinations to start the selection process for the USA Endurance Team for the World Championship that will happen this December in Dubai.

Because of this we had to be at the race on Tuesday so that we could have Honor examined by the staff. We loaded up Honor and Lou and went over to the ride. We had dropped off our LQ the day before so we took our smaller shuttle trailer over. Honor had his exam and Jeremy took Lou out for a ride. We were told that we were to camp at the ride from that point forward but lucky for us we were then told that that wasn't the case. We stayed at the ride site to have the dinner of shrimp and grits that Lynn Kenelly made for all, then we loaded up and took Honor and Lou home for the night and let them be in their pasture. We live about 20 mins from the ride so this was super.

On Wednesday morning we rode Chachie and Rictik on their last training ride before they would fly to Dubai for a race we were invited to at the very last minute. The race is on March 19th and it is a 140 km race. An odd distance of roughly 88 miles. After this we loaded Honor, Lou and now Code back up and went over to the ride. We did the usual pre ride things that afternoon. Vetted in, weighed in and got things organized. Jeremy had to help out a few friends with their Easyboots while I got the crew stuff ready.

When I vetted Honor in he was very questionable. If I were trotting him out during the race and he looked the way he did, I would be nervous that he was about to get pulled. That was a total bummer. Nothing like vetting in with a marginally lame horse! I trotted him out on alll different kinds of surfaces right after that and he didn't look as bad. I decided to pre ride him. He felt funky. Dang it. What the heck?...

Read more here:
http://www.reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog/view/533/fun_in_the_sun_