The 2009
AERC (the national endurance club for the US) season has officially
began. Farley, my 1999 (that would be a
birthdate....) Arabian mare did herself proud at Death Valley 4 day
LD ride and we start the season with 110
LD miles. She felt great the entire time, especially considering she had completed her first real endurance race - 55 miles - one month prior at Desert Gold in
Monterey. The picture left is Farley and I completed day 3 at Death Valley, headed towards camp at
Ballarat. I have great hopes for Farley, including (perhaps? maybe?) the
Tevis. If she continues to stay strong this year, who knows? I have a 65 miler scheduled for 2/28/09. Here's the action plan:
1. Put weight on her. She was a BC of 5.5-6 2 months ago! what happened?! She's now a solid 4, which means I need 50 pounds on her. I floated her teeth 2 weeks ago and have been supplementing with
beetpulp (and
LMF gold when I ride) since December.
2. New saddle blanket. I have purchased a
skito pad for her. It's a pricey endeavor (~150 bucks), but the
Toklet woolback adds too much bulk under my leg (wide horse + wide twist saddle + bulky pad = unhappy
mel...) and doesn't dry in between days at a multi day. So far I really like it. Here's a picture along with her new boots.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJt1rVxGefbxexeZkznmKnPW7cfoXLh6sfu17lYrPLInV7NzqWPp_7E9sriEM9YbTFO9PgRtnZGSzQAKRGgd7FJVBhbYfIHTUAGq4zMBnho1jAqoPTPMZHswPqxAZw3aMxlcpuiCMeOio/s320/IMG_0086.JPG)
3. Interference fetlock boots for hinds. Farley demonstrated at
DVE that she needs fetlock books for her hinds due to her taking large chunks when navigating miles over rough footing. I have had
recommendations for Griffin boots (doesn't hold heat in), and so far I'm very pleased.
I'll talk about Minx in the next post.....needless to say she is lame....AGAIN