By Lisa Peterson

Hunter paces are for making memories. But prevention also makes for good memories.

With the start of the fall pace series less than five weeks away, it might be a good time to start seriously getting your horse, tack and yourself into condition.

As a young lady one of the things I hated to do most was condition my horse Spec for the foxhunting cub season that began in August. I kept my horse at a barn owned by two Fairfield County Hounds’ staff members and they had to have their horses fit before cub season. They would go and walk the hounds at least twice a week over at the Huntingtown Road kennels as part of their conditioning. However, for us stuck back at the barn we had a more mundane method.

When we weren’t out on the trails, we were confined to a small sand ring that was barley long enough to make an oval. We had to count how many times we went around the ring. First direction we would count say five trots and then maybe twice around at the canter. Then we would change directions and do the same. By the time we were ready to go on our first hunt we were trotting 15 to 20 times around and then at least 10, if not more, canters – each direction! While the methodology may have seemed boring, by the time our horses got to the big field for that first great run of the season, ours were one of the few not foaming between the legs or winded. It made the difference for our horses’ health and our riding pleasure.

Today I try to be more inventive when I condition Bud for hunter pace season and treat him like an athlete that needs interval training. I search out trails with hills to climb up and walk down. The steeper the better! Nothing improves wind better than those hills. And I walk up them! It may be easier for a horse to canter up that hill, but making him walk is a better aerobic workout than that breezy canter.

I play a game with Bud I call the mini-hunter pace. I have a few “trail loops” where the path is well known by both of us. So each day I time our ride and try to come in a little bit quicker each time. So a loop that might take us 45 minutes at the beginning of “hunter pace training” has been whittled down to a brisk 20 minutes by the time fall arrives. I mix it up with different gaits and lots of transitions. We go especially fast when the flies are thick!

Aside from the horse’s stamina, the rider needs good stamina as well. So keep yourself in shape. You will enjoy the paces more – I speak from experience. Plan the blacksmith visit so that horses won’t have long feet before the first pace, just in case the blacksmith can’t make it before the pace (Does that ever happen??). Try not to have him shod the day before the first pace either.

Equipment Safety Check

The most important safety check is to go over your horse’s tack and your helmet and boots a few weeks prior to the first pace. Check reins, martingales, girths, even bits can be worn thin in the middle. This way if a repair is needed you have time to get it done or buy new equipment. Make sure your tall boots didn’t “shrink” in the closet during the last year.

I’ll never forget the year when I thought my double Pelham reins looked a little dry. There was some dry rot near where it attached to the bit. So I oiled them, a lot, on the night before a hunter pace. This adjacent pace set in the Goldens Bridge Hunt country has some decent-sized stonewalls including some drop jumps.

My soon-to-be husband Ray was going to come watch Spec and I. So, of course, I wanted to dress to impress. I went out and bought a new helmet, my first ever with a safety harness. (My last hunt cap – without as much as an elastic chin strap – bit the dust when it came flying off my head after a tree branch hit me in the chest and I rolled off Spec’s rump.)

I also bought a brand new formal hunt coat with my FCH colors. The jacket fit like a charm as I had it altered. I tried the hat on once and then just before the pace had my hair cut. My partner Susan Taylor (the same woman who made me trot 40 times around the ring) was in the lead and we were off for a fine day of hunter pacing.

 Cut to the chase. Spec and I were cantering across this field when I noticed my white crochet gloves turning amber. We were gaining speed and one of those decent-sized stonewall drop jumps appeared on the horizon. It was at this moment I realized I had cut my hair too short and could only see the black rim on my velvet helmet. We took off a stride too early (as was Spec’s style) and upon landing learned of a sharp right turn. Susan made the turn. Spec followed. Lisa did not.

As I gallantly tried to grab my left reins to steady myself, the thick amber oil was building between me gloves and the reins. Grip? What Grip. Plan B – grab on with your legs. What legs? (Because of surgery I had not ridden in three weeks. My horse got worked – I didn’t). Okay, my new helmet and jacket were about to get broken in.

Up and running to the next jump – one of those stonewalls in the big field, which coincidentally, was the “Photo Op!”

 Now we are galloping out of control towards those stonewalls with spectators lining the field. Ray is there to capture this “Kodak moment.” He leans over to friend of mine and asks, “How did Lisa get dirt on her back?” Ah, Ignorance is bliss! And since that pace I’ve bought rubber reins!

         

Lisa Peterson is an avid rider and horse owner with nearly 30 years experience riding the Newtown countryside. She is the owner of Peterson Pet Sitting and can be reached at 270-1732 or elvemel@usa.net