tera summer 2014
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The Official Newsletter of theTexas Endurance Riders Association
www.texasenduranceriders.orgwww.aerccentralregion.org
Volume 14, Issue 3Summer 2014
Summer 2014
Texas Endurance Riders Association
%Hope Finan1560 Rogers Hill Rd.Waco, TX 76705
TEX
AS
ENDURANCE
RIDERS
ASSOCIATION
TERA
Trot Out
Photo: Cheyrl Edmondson http://www.remuda.smugmug.com
The fearless leader of this years Old Glory Ride,John Nowell.
Specialized Saddles
The Last Saddle You Will
Ever Need!
“The One with the Adjustable Fit”
Eurolite Trailmaster International
Why are Specialized Saddles taking the horse world by storm?
• Width, arch and angle can be independently adjusted toachieve a perfect fit – the ultimate in comfort for horseand rider
• Easy to adjust as horse changes shape or you change hors-es – no tools required
• Lightweight, durable designs begin at 14 lbs complete
• Six models cover virtually any riding discipline; trees alsoavailable for extra wide horses and mules
• High-quality, best value: prices begin at $1349
• Try before you buy; ask about our demo program
Specialized Saddleswww.specia l izedsa ddles.com
Contact John Nowell, Regional Distributor, for more information [email protected]
(972) 672-8250
In This Issue:
Ride Calendar - p2
Officers Elections - p3
Editor’s Musings - p3
2014 Al Khamsa- p5
Reminiscing Through the Rides- p6-7
2014 AERC National Cahmpionship- p8-9
Are You A TERA Rider- p10
Mysterious Left Shoulder - p11
Trot Out - p12
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Trail Markers is published Quarterly in January, April, July, and October.
It is distributed solely to members of the Texas Endurance Riders Association, and
is comprised of both their input and the opinion of the editor, neither of which
represent the organization’s views or official stance. Of course, if there is no input from
members, then you’re pretty much stuck with the editor’s opinions. Which don’t amount to much, really, but they can sometimes make interesting reading. Other times … well, the
term “bird cage liner” comes to mind.
Advertising rates are as follows (these are for black and white. Call or email for color rates):Full page - $80Half page - $551/4 page - $32Business Card - $22These are one time rates. Contact Todd for yearly rates.
We are also offering a classified section free to TERA members. Non-TERA members -.50¢ a word.
Deadline for the next issue isOct. 14th, 2014.
Wanna be published? Get it in!
First Calvary Horse Detachment out of Fort Hoodpresents the colors for this years Old Glory Ride.Cover photo: Jim Edmondson http://www.opticalharmonics.com
2014 TERA Sponsored RidesUnicorn Hunt
Sept 8, 2014DCNF, Kennard, TX
David Fant 936-655-4048
Wacky Waco WideOct 4-5, 2014
C Bar Stables Valley Mills TXValerie L. Bixler214-514-3618
ArmadilloOct 18, 2014
DCNF Kennard, TXBo Parrish
2014 AERCNational Championship
100Oct 30, 2014
Priefert Ranch, Mount Pleasant, TXKhristin Seymore
2014 AERCNational Championship
50Nov 1, 2014
Priefert Ranch, Mount Pleasant, TXKhristin Seymore
Off-Road WarriorNov 15-16 2014
Trace Trails Athens, TXJamie Lemon281-732-0629
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President Vickie Roden
373 Langston Ln.McKinney, TX 75069
Vice-President David Fant
3901 North Possum Walk Rd.Kennard, TX 75847
Secretary Sylvia Fant
3901 North Possum Walk Rd.Kennard, TX 75847
Treasurer Robin Howze
845 Wilson Rd.Waxahachie, TX 75165
Education Director Valerie Bixler3598 CR 406
McKinney, TX 75071214-514-3618
Publicity & Awards Director Khristin Seymore
PO Box 559Daingerfield, TX 75638
Membership Director Hope Finan
1560 Rogers Hill Rd.Waco, TX 76705254-339-0012
Ride Manager Director Caryne Edwards
311 Hunters Creek Dr.New Braunfels,TX 78132
2014 Board of Directors
Editor, Todd Hezeau7259 CR 3223 Lone Oak, TX 75453
469.261.8733 [email protected]
The Editor’s Musings...
Howdy folks, Been a busy summer for me and I want to sincerely apologize for my lack of effort afforded to the newsletter as it has suffered a bit as of late, no pun intended. Frustrations for the year, a few big rides and disappointments have incurred and I have had to kind of put this on the back burner, so I just wanted to take this time and apologize. Things are slowly getting back to normal, so that is it in a nut shell.
See you on the trail...Safe Riding,Todd
T.E.R.A. OFFICER ELECTIONSA GREAT WAY TO SERVE YOUR FELLOW MEMBERS . . .
Is to serve on the Board of Directors. The officer positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary are up for election this Fall. The two-year term will begin December 1, with the new ride year. Nominations are due September 15th, and should be emailed to a current Board member, with a brief description of the person’s qualifications. You may nominate yourself or a fellow member.Any questions regarding a particular role can be addressed with Vickie Roden, President,
at either [email protected] or (972) 978-0072. Come help out in a very rewarding way!
2014 AL KHAMSA
Annual Meeting and Convention
Columbus Day weekend, October 10, 11, & 12
At Canton & Denton, Texas (Hosted within AHA Region IX)
World Renowned speakers to include geneticist, Dr. Gus Cothran, writer, Peter Harrigan, Bedouin horse expert, Joe Ferris
Al Khamsa, Inc. is the organization that promotes and facilitates preservation of rare pure horses from the desert. For the last two years AK, Inc. has been a sponsor of AERC, and annually recognizes and awards the high mileage Al Khamsa AERC horse @ the AERC National Convention .
This year’s AK Convention horse program concentrates on ‘use’ and performing AK Arabians, and there are numerous demonstrations at several levels of expertise including driving, western dressage, in hand performance, reining, endurance seminar, trick horse performance, dressage, & hayride. Our own Premiere P / R / timing crew (Bo, Linda, Billy, Milinda) will have a presentation, and a hands on endurance ride stop. If you want to participate, please contact: [email protected] .
Do you have an advertising refrigerator magnet, pens or pencils? We will include those in attendees’ gift bags. Questions? Contact me, email above.
See the website for additional information and lodging:www.alkhamsa.org
Contact Monica Respet, [email protected] for participating in Sundaydemos.
Monica is also the contact person for donations to the Saturday auction. Please help us with an auction donation for Al Khamsa, one of the most active groups in preservation of the original Bedouin horse and rare bloodlines.
Two local Open Barns on for Thursday & Friday. Other Open Barn interest? Contact Mary Gills, AK President, [email protected], or
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6 Photos courtesy: Jim and Cheryl Edmondson http://www.opticalharmonics.com
Old GloryParrie Haynes RanchMay 24th-25th
Reminiscing Through the Rides
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Reminiscing Through the Rides
2014 AERC National Championship
Priefert Ranch Mt Pleasant, Texas
100 mile – Thursday October 30, 2014 Qualifications: 500 lifetime miles (horse) AND 500 lifetime miles (rider), with at least one 100 mile, one-day ride together. The mileage requirements must be met with endurance competitions of 50 miles or more only -- no limited distance miles count towards qualification criteria.
50 mile – Saturday November 1, 2014 Qualifications: 300 lifetime miles (horse) AND 300 lifetime miles (rider), with at least 100 miles together. The mileage requirements must be met with endurance competitions of 50
miles or more only -- no limited distance miles count towards qualification criteria.
Alternate qualification (either distance): If the horse and rider team has completed 1,000 AERC endurance miles (rides 50 miles or more only) they are qualified to enter.
All entries must meet AERC qualification criteria!
! SPONSORSHIPS NEEDED PLEASE CONTACT Khristin IF you are interested!!
For more Information Contact: Khristin Seymore – [email protected] - 903-563-6639
Brittani Murray – [email protected] - 832-928-6441
National
Championship
2014 AERC
8
National
Championship
2014 AERC
9
All Sponsors will be advertised on the 2014 National Championship Ride Site, Website, Completion Awards (T-Shirts), Pre-Ride Meetings, & Award Ceremonies.
2014 AERC National Championship Sponsorship Request Form
October 30, 2014 – 100 mile November 1, 2014 – 50 miles
Priefert Ranch, Mt Pleasant, Texas
Business Name _____________________________________________
or Individual _________________________________________________
Address - C_____________________________S________Z_________
Phone Number ____________________________________Cell? Y N
Please circle your Sponsorship Donation:
Gold Level - $1000
Silver Level - $500
Bronze Level - $250
Please make checks payable to: Khristin Seymore (903-563-6639)
Email: [email protected]
How To Know If YouAre A TERA Rider
Ever been to a ride outside our region, and things just are not the same? Not just the location, but the way things are just, well, different? Here are some fun ways to KNOW you are at a TERA sponsored ride.
You know you are at a TERA ride when:
1. You arrive in camp and can tell the location of your ride photographer immediately.
2. You yell out “Vicki” at a ride and half of the riders respond.
3. You know all the names of all the camp dogs, and which ones will be in trouble. Again.
4. Your ribbons are always on the right, UNLESS they are on the left.
5. Your vet, now living two states away, flies in just to vet at the ride.
6. You have traveled for 14 hours to arrive at the ride, and never left the state of Texas!
7. You suffer with humidity that is higher than the temperature.
8. You smile and wave at our Chief Equine Aquatic Engineer who is hard at work as you ride down the trail.
9. You start a ride in short sleeves, and end it covered in ice and using every available piece of clothing you own.
10. You turn a corner and panic because you can’t find your confidence ribbon.
11. You dont even bat an eye when the In/Out Timer brings two chairs AND two dog beds to work.
12. When the Bluebonnet Classic has no Bluebonnets, the Armadillo has no “dillos’, the Unicorn Hunt has no Unicorns, the High Roller has no gambling, and the Texas Tango and the Bootlegger Boogie have no dancing. What kind of Wacky Wides are those?
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You want your endurance athlete to be a balanced athlete. A balanced horse is less prone to injury, will fatigue later, is easier to ride and will be easier to saddle-fit. Horses with one shoulder larger than the other are more common than you think. To check your horse for uneven shoulder muscle development, have someone hold your horse and “square-up” his feet. Then stand behind him on a step stool (a safe distance away) and look at his shoulders. In some horses one shoulder will be much larger than the other shoulder. One of the many problems with a horse with a large shoulder is that the trapezius muscle behind the shoulder is also larger. This causes a saddle with a traditional tree to shift to the other side, causing the rider to lean to that side putting more weight in one stirrup than the other. (This is usually blamed on unbalanced riding, but can actually be caused by an unbalanced horse.) It is important to first determine the mysterious cause of the large shoulder to determine if it can be fixed. High heel, low heel in the front hooves or a difference in size of the 2 front hooves is a common cause. If the horse has a true club foot, the pastern bone angles will naturally be more upright in one foot than the other, they often also have a shorter leg with the high heel or club foot. If the high heel low heel is more of a “grazing foot” it is caused by always grazing with the low-heel foot forward and the high-heel foot back or as a foal always nursing from the same side. It is a good idea to have your vet x-ray the 2 hooves to see the internal pastern bone angles and have your vet and farrier work together to manage the trim for your horse to determine the best way to manage the hoof angles. We have a high-heel low-heel horse that the farrier thought naturally had a difference of 7 degrees between the 2 hooves. Over a period of several months, our new farrier (with the help of periodic x-rays) has her hooves within 2 degrees of each other and the hooves now match the natural angles of the pastern & coffin bone joints. The less difference you have between the 2 hooves, the more even the horse’s
gaits and shoulder size. Correct hoof angles is a very complicated long subject that I just wanted to mention as a possible cause of a large shoulder. If front hoof or leg confirmation is not the cause of a horse’s large shoulder, the next thing I look at is the rider. Most horses have a preference for a particular canter lead, often the left (especially if you buy a horse off the track). If the rider allows the horse to canter on his preferred lead more often than the other lead, you will build the muscles in the leading leg and the diagonal hind leg. Also, if the rider posts on one diagonal more than the other, you will build the legs on that diagonal. If you rise when the left shoulder is moving forward, your horse is lifting your weight out of the saddle with his left front and right hind leg, building those muscles. As the horse builds the muscles on one diagonal it becomes easier for him to carry you on that diagonal and then they learn how to put you on their preferred diagonal by bouncing you one stride or cantering one stride and going back to trot. It is also common for horses to begin the trot with the same leg leading every time, so if you always start posting with the first step you will always start on the same diagonal. You will also notice that you have a “smoother ride” when you post with the big shoulder, posting the other diagonal can feel rough. So, if you find yourself posting more on the “smooth diagonal” you are probably making the problem worse. If the rider is not the problem either, you should probably consider that the horse may have chronic pain in one of the legs in the other diagonal or possibly a back problem. Some horses can be pretty stoic and may not show up as lame even though they actually have developed a problem. So, you may want to consider taking your horse to a good lameness vet or even a chiropractor. We have had about 16 horses in work in our barn for many years. So, we have seen several horses with the large shoulder problem. The first one had the vertebrae in his loin area out of place and the chiropractor told us he was pinching a nerve when he cantered on the right lead (he would buck if you made him
take the right lead). 2 of them had been on the race track for several years and we were able to correct the problem with retraining. One had a club foot with a shorter leg. One had arthritis in the left hock and another had arthritis in the left rear fetlock. The arthritis was not bad enough for them to pull lame at an endurance ride, but they still preferred not to use the left hind leg as much as the right. One of them would be sound on all his training rides, but pulled lame at the end of more than one endurance ride and would appear sound the next day. Ultrasound showed he had a small acute tear of the annular ligament of the left rear fetlock. The same ligament had adhesions that indicated he had 2 small tears previously that had healed. One was a horse that came to us with a large left shoulder before he was put under saddle. He never limped, but did not reach as far under his body with his left hind leg as he did his right. Ultrasound showed he had chronic edema of the annular ligament of the left rear fetlock, but no tears or scar tissue. We injected his fetlock. Reaching further with that hind leg took time to stretch the unused ligaments and muscles, but the immediate response was that he stopped bit chomping and being tense and nervous when we rode him. One interesting thing I noticed was that the 3 horses with fetlock issues were the 3 smoothest-to-ride horses in the barn – the ones with the longer pasterns and a lot of “fetlock action”, while the horse with hock arthritis had a more “bouncy” trot with more natural flexion in the hocks. Relieving a horse’s pain effects their attitude a lot. So, rather than just accept your horse’s big shoulder, see if you can help him to be able to use all of his legs equally. Muscular imbalance is worth diagnosing. It is never a “quick fix”, but the problem usually falls into the category of “good to know”. He could have a minor problem that you can manage or treat, but that could become much worse if ignored. You also might find that eventually he will be smooth to ride on both posting diagonals and easily picks up both canter leads.
The Mysterious Large Left ShoulderBy Selena Copeland
11
Summer 2014
Texas Endurance Riders Association
%Hope Finan1560 Rogers Hill Rd.Waco, TX 76705
TEX
AS ENDURANCE RIDER
S
ASSOCIATION
TERA
Trot Out
Photo: Cheyrl Edmondson http://www.remuda.smugmug.com
The fearless leader of the Old Glory Ride,John Nowell.
Specialized Saddles
The Last Saddle You Will
Ever Need!
“The One with the Adjustable Fit”
Eurolite Trailmaster International
Why are Specialized Saddles taking the horse
world by storm?
• Width, arch and angle can be independently adjusted to achieve a perfect fit – the ultimate in comfort for horse and rider
• Easy to adjust as horse changes shape or you change hors-es – no tools required
• Lightweight, durable designs begin at 14 lbs complete
• Six models cover virtually any riding discipline; trees also available for extra wide horses and mules
• High-quality, best value: prices begin at $1349
• Try before you buy; ask about our demo program
Specialized Saddles www.specia l izedsa ddles.com
Contact John Nowell, Regional Distributor, for more information [email protected]
(972) 672-8250