Yes, RIDES, with capitals! Not just rides, but competition Rides! I’ve been slowly ramping up my mileage and speed and can do up to almost 4 hours of riding without a lot of pain. For anyone that is wondering what the big deal about 4 hours is, I had ankle surgery in 2012 to repair a longitudinal tear on my left tendon behind the ankle. It has been a very slow recovery, much to my dismay. Last year I was thrilled to be able to ride 2 hours plus a bit more but I knew I couldn’t finish an LD, no matter how fast I went. So I did 2 trail rides.
This year I am aiming to get back to LDs – certainly I’m not going to astonish and amaze the endurance world, but we do what we can. My horse, Galen, could easily do much, much more, but he’s stuck with me.
So, we’ve been conditioning with my boarder, Lucinda and her horse Apollo, along with rides with various other friends. Hoping for our first ride to be at Mt. Adams in May!
