Estrid is not a horse you can throw in the deep end, she needs practice and routine and patience to thrive. So as tempting as it was to make our first ride an 80km to get that FEI qualification, so we could do a 1* at Windsor, I knew in my heart and head that it wouldn't be right for her, especially as my work schedule has meant we've not even been out to a social ride yet.
I entered the 49km class so that we'd have some vet gate practice and plenty of time to get back into the swing of things. It was so nice to not worry about whether we'd have a low enough heart rate to even pass the initial vetting as Estrid was quite relaxed for her.
In all honesty I didn't have much say on the pace for the first 23km...if I asked for slower she would get so silly that she was either going to pull a muscle or trip so I did my best to balance her, choose a good line and keep a nice rhythm. We ended up doing the first 32km loop at 15kph, a bit faster than I'd wanted.
In the vet gate she point blank refused to be sloshed down without throwing a hissy fit so we just had to untack and wait. We still managed a respectable presentation time and she vetted beautifully despite being the only horse up at the vetting. She still refused to have the sweat and grit washed off her in the hold and took Dan for a stomp around the venue rather than chill and eat. Tissy also never relaxed for the first vet gate so this doesn't worry me, Estrid was obviously feeling fresh and excited to be on the move.
The second loop she was much more manageable, so we set a pace of 13kph, she's still not great at riding with other horses so we did most the ride by ourselves with little sections with others, it's something I'd like to change as I think she'd actually really enjoy running with a group once she got used to it. Saying that she was a bit sad when the horses we'd just joined split off on another route and lost a bit of the spring in her step.
She drank really well and grudgingly accepted sloshes out on course, at the final vetting had it been a vet gate we could have gone in on 4 minutes, which I was really pleased about. We waited a little longer until her heart rate was in the low 50's just to make sure and she gave her final trot up the same enthusiasm as her first.
I had a really lovely day, with Dan crewing and Estrid clearly enjoying being out on course. It was nice to see the familiar faces of the endurance family and be back out and about. Haywood oaks was so well organised, from the super professional rider packs to the marking, the route was wonderful to ride, but to really top it off the prize giving and prizes were amazing!
The cherry on an already fantastic cake was Estrid winning her class! We had a lovely cupcake, some gloves, a headcollar from Old Mill animal feeds and a Spa day voucher from Saywell equestrian rehab centre, a Haywood oaks keyring and a certificate! Thank you so so much to the organisers, sponsors and their arm of helpers who made the event possible, it is truly appreciated. What a great start to our 2025 season!
Thanks for watching,
Beth