Endurance Riding? Where to start?

Loubidy

Loubidy

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 October 2012
Messages
278
Location
Orkney
Visit site
Was thinking of joining SERC as there are a good few rides near my Aunties livery yard so would be doable for me. However having never done it I don't know where to start really?

How fit? Do you trot all the way? I see speeds but I don't know how that is to ride? I have read rule books on it but it doesn't really explain what you actually do throughout?

Pony club? Has anyone done endurance riding with them as in qualifying for championships? I have been with showjumping and my sister went with games but how do you go about qualifying for endurance?

Sorry lots of questions but I don't personally know anyone who does it and I would quite like to give it a good go this year. Please bare in mind though that because of where I live I won't be able to go to many SERC rides due to boat and petrol costs.
 
Over here (New Zealand) the people were very friendly and helpful. You go at you own pace and those who qualify under time limit and vet all get ribbon at the low grades. I was told a paddock fit horse can do 20kms and still vet thru this will depend on weight of rider, terrain, age of horse etc etc. The time was very generous.

once you have one under your belt you will have a good idea of what you need to do.

Some things that I found helpful were a water backpack for you, a sponge attached to the saddle for a wash down at a trough. Don't feed your horse before vetting thru at the end as it ups the heartbeat altho I did give mine some hay and he flew thru no probs.

I have only down a couple mainly to get my learner partner out and about but they were very enjoyable.
 
I competed with both EGB and SE, the great distance I've competed in, is 50 miles (80km).
Yes at the beginning aim to trot as much a you can. An average horse trots at around 6mph
You are vetted the start and end 30 mins before starting and within 30 mins of finishing.
At lower levels you don't need a crew
I love endurance but small children and a full time job have put stop t it for now :(
 
Hi there, I'm an entries secretary with SERC, so may be able to answer some of your questions! :)

You can do Taster Riders (up to 15km) or Pleasure Rides (16--29km) as a non-member. For both of those, you do a trot-up at beginning and end. You are aiming for a speed of 8--10.99 kph, which is generally trotting (make up for walk bits with canter bits or faster trot bits).

If you join as a member, you can get a Pleasure membership (allowing you to collect mileage at Pleasure Rides, which count towards mileage awards or Pleasure trophies), or a Competitive membership, which allows you to move up through the gradings at competitive rides, collect points, etc.

Competitive rides come in two types: CTR (Competitive Trail Rides) of 30--160km, where your goal is completion with a good heart rate, and ER (Endurance races), where your goal is to get to the end first (these are at 60km and above, so needn't worry you for now!). All of these have one or more vettings, that are a bit more thorough than the Pleasure Ride trot-ups.

The grading system in SERC begins with the Bronze Thistle. For that, you have to complete two qualifiers of 30 or 40km, and a Final of 50km. After that, you can continue through your Silver (2x60 + 80), Gold, and Platinum.

For competitive rides, you collect mileage (as for Pleasure Rides), and you also collect an Award, which is based on your speed and heart-rate and any penalties you may have accumulated. To confuse matters, these Awards are also called Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Competitive speeds are faster than Pleasure: Speed Category 3 is 9.5--10.99 kph, SC 2 is 11--12.99 kph, and SC 1 is 13 kph or faster.

The only thing affected by your speed category is your ego, unless you are doing race rides; there is no particular advantage to going fast in Competitive Trail Rides. That being said, for Bronze Thistle, you have to declare a speed category at the beginning (apparently to teach people how to ride to the clock), and for the higher grading rides, the minimum speed is SC 2 (though after you've graded, you can go slowly again!).

Initially, you don't need much in the way of special kit, though if you go up the gradings, you'll start to collect strange plastic tack in screamingly-bright colours, excessive amounts of buckets, fabric softener bottles (for sloshing, which is when your crew meets you on course so you can dump water on your horse), and an obsession with hydration and feeding.

More to follow... :)
 
From "boat" costs, are you in Orkney?

A few more things:

What happens beginning to end: you pick up your number and fill in your paperwork, go to the farrier (if there is one), go to the vet. The vet will take a heart-rate and have you do a trot-up (there are a few more tests if you are doing a competitive ride).

Then you tack up, and go to the starter with your paperwork. You give the starter the paper, try to stay seated when your horse tries to sit on said starter's car during the countdown (oops, no wait, that's my horse! :P ), and then head out on course (bearing your first-aid kit, your map, your watch, and whatever else you need). If you want a ride buddy and don't know anyone, let the entries secretary know beforehand, and they'll try their best to find you a buddy.

On course, you mostly trot, but make sure you also enjoy the landscape! You may encounter forestry tracks, sheep tracks (with sheep!), open moorland, fields, roads, small fords, gates...but usually, the ride description or the talk-round will warn you about what that particular ride is like. Pleasure Ride speed is mostly steady trotting, but there is some scope for walking. For example, my pony walks at 5 kph, 6 kph if he's in a bit of a hurry. A slow trot is around 10 for him, 12 is a comfortable forward trot, and 15 is really motoring along at his competition trot, which he can maintain for a very long time (the seriously fast horses will go much faster). He can hit 20 in trot, but I wouldn't ask him to maintain that! His canter is probably 20--25. Many Scottish rides are hilly and/or stony; I suspect we tend to go a bit slower here than EGB for that reason. They're wusses down there. ;) :p

At the finish, you collect your finishing card that tells you when you have to present to the vet by (you have 1/2 hour), cool down your horse, and then present to the vet again for another HR/trot-up. Assuming that you pass, you collect your rosette/s and paperwork, and then go home! :)

I don't know about Pony Club, though we do get some Pony Club entries. You can also do Riding Club teams (though those seem to be hard to organise around here), the Capercaillie Interbranch Challenge teams, or even the Home International/Celtic Challenge teams (vs. the Welsh, Irish, and English).

Let me know if I can answer anything else!
 
Last edited:
We're not wusses down here, SP, some of us are really envious of your rides ;) Some more SERC rides are definitely on our 'bucket list'.

OP, we videoed our 'ask the panel' event, which you might find interesting. We're south of the border in EGB, so some of the terminology and rules are a bit different, but the basic concepts are universal. Particularly the peculiar acquisition of brightly coloured tack and fabric conditioner bottles - you will be assimilated LOL.

Ask the panel part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EumwzOSuFV8 *
Ask the panel part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGvpNKXYI2Y *
Ask the panel part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkghIlc9xT4
Ask the panel part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFiBHQYQyTc
 
PS Any hacking fit horse should be able to do the shorter stuff. A 16km/10 mile pleasure ride is basically a two hour hack where you trot about half of it and have the odd canter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top