Friday Prep For a Stress-free Endurance Ride (PNER Convention Notes)

“For a Stress Free Ride: the Friday Pre-Game” presentation by Karen Leiman at the 2017 PNER Convention. Leiman showed the audience her step-by-step routine when setting up camp and prepping for the following morning. 

What follows is a rough bullet list of her step-by-step. The hope is that this will give those new to the sport some structure and possibly give old hats some other ideas!

Electrolyte the horse the night before (Thursday) – it helps get the thirst going early on. Include lots of water in the feed you give them at this point.

Give one more walk-around after loading horse into trailer before you set off!

Hauling to the ride:

• 3-4 hours away, she won’t get horse out for a break. Going further than that, she gets the horse out for a rest break.
• When you stop and get the horse out, let them pee and offer them some water.
• This lets them now they are not going to be stuck in the trailer – they will be given a chance to get out and drink.
• First thing when unloading, whenever you arrive – offer them water!

After arrival, Leiman does a warm-up ride. The purpose of this is to:

• Confirm horse isn’t lame
• Confirm has all equipment (like your sponge, bags, etc.)
• Work up a tiny bit of sweat
• She goes about 5 miles

After the pre-ride Leiman focuses on her saddle packs:

• Include a whistle and extra boot
• Electrical tape can fix everything!
• She keeps her water bottles out at night handy on the side of the trailer – they will get cool at night and remain handy.

Electrolytes:

• Mixes pro-biotics with the electrolytes after the pre-ride.
• Adds additional lyte salt (which is additional potassium)
• She use olive oil spray with her electrolyte syringes to keep them working smoothly (and so they last longer)
• She also does one syringe of electrolytes every 10 miles or so during the ride (on a 50)
• Electrolytes go in the saddle bags

Packing the vet-check box;

• Towel for wiping itchy horse faces!
• PNER Handbook – has contact information for everyone you could need!

For feed:

• She takes a container of soaked oats to the vet checks.
• Soaking her carrots in water as well (all cut up)
• She does not feed beet pulp on ride day. Does not put electrolytes in the AM feed either – because it’s more likely the horse will eat it!

After everything is set up, sit back and relax or socialize with your fellow riders!

Chilling pony at the EDRA Grizzly Mountain ride this year.

Last time: Choosingthe Endurance Horse (PNER Convention Notes)
Next time: Ride report!