Day 54 Wednesday
First thing of the day to take Samraa out for a ride. Just a short hack out along the circuit testing out the three gaits and the breaks of course. Samraa has seemed to have settled into the life of a endurance horse now. All three gaits with no problems, although she still jumps into canter with a buck but she'll grow out of it. I always did like my horses with a bit of a spring in their stride.
So Wednesday was spent packing up ready for the weekend in Albertinia. There were to be 5 horses going to the ride to do their FEI 1* or 2*. So there was plenty to pack up ready to go. Saddles, buckets, feed, lucerne etc....
Day 55 Thursday
So we left for Albertinia with Kandahar, Mabruk, Neptune, Jedi, and Mauser. It was to be just over a 6 hour drive to the West Cape and by about 10 we'd finally made it. We set up a rough camp in the dark and got all the horses settled before heading off to our beds.
Day 56 Friday
Woke up to a very wet looking Albertinia venue. Horses had been in stalls all night so were let out for a run around the field. So nice to be able to see the hores running so freely.
Camp then had to be fully set up with the tarpauline stretched out for shelter and boxes etc all placed accordingly for easy access.
Before riding out I decided to clip Kandahar due to him being rather wooly and us competing in the 120km** on Saturday. I chose to do the same clip as I had on Liberty at Fauresmith.
Once clipped it was out to show off his stunning looks and see how the course looked. Short route out in knee deep sand, this also gave me the chance to work out that if riding on the edges where it was firmer there would be less pressure on the horse. But must watch out for sand moles!
In the afternoon we all registered; Laura, Bob, Ashley and Sonia were riding in the 80* with Jedi, Mauser, Mabruk and Neptune, whereas Kandahar and I were riding in the 120km**. Then it was briefing of the ride. 4am start on Saturday, that is the only downside to this sport the early mornings !!