Endurance Equipment

Endurance equipment comes in all shapes and guises from your boots, to saddle, to your GPS. It can be very frustrating knowing what to choose and use, and you can loose days researching what is best for you. Been there, done that!

I will tell you what Endurance equipment works for me. This may not necessarily work for you, but may help you eliminate a lot of research and hence save a lot of time.

Starting from head to toes - both me and my horse. I will address all the endurance equipment that I use and works for me, or have used, decided to change and my reasons why.

I have just purchased a new Tipperary Sportage Plus. Having had a Troxel Spirit in white (great for reflecting the suns rays), lots of ventilation and very lightweight. I loved it. It died a respectable death after much use.

I now have the Tipperary Sportage Plus. I choose blue to go with my horses tack (I know, sad!), but have found that it still keeps my head as cool as the white and I love that I can take out the inner lining for washing. The Tipperary has Ventura venting and the liner is of a new wicking material. Considering our temperatures can exceed 35ºC somedays I have no complaints with this helmet.

Along with "Monkey Butt" anti-chaffing powder, some great bumper stickers and the Epona MagnaPick which is the best hoof pick I have ever purchased, my helmets came from Long Riders Gear I can´t recommend enough their friendliness and efficiency. As I don´t recommend or endorse a product I have not personally used, nor do they. All their staff are Long Riders or Endurance Riders and they test everything they sell themselves before adding it to their catalogue.

www.longridersgear.com

I am so excited about this news - Just Chaps, whose funky half-chaps I have been wearing for the last 5 years, are now available in Spain.

The most fab thing is, actually everything about them is fab, you can just chuck them in the washing machine (not the leather ones of course!) which means my funky black and white tiger-striped chaps have recovered again and again from mud, sweat and tonnes of dust to come up like new every time. I also have road-riders with florescent chevrons down the calf and hubby has the very smart Gauchos - which are leather with buttons all down the side just like the traditional cowboy dress-wear, but at a fraction of the price, seriously!

Click on this link to take you to there page Just Chaps España If you can´t read Spanish well enough check out their mother sight for all the descriptions. Just Chaps UK
LEG WEAR - JODS/TIGHTS

I am not one for fancy labels and living where I do, with lots of brambles and spiky plants, don´t like to invest big money in my jodphurs. As €200 jods tear just the same as €20 jods when you snag them on a branch. But as all my jods (yes I have lots) were beginning to look like ´second-hand Rose´ I thought I´d treat myself to some new ones recently and treated myself to Kerrits Breathe Tight riding tights.

Despite being black (they only come in black or a very nice gunmetal grey) they wick away the heat and most importantly for me, sit below my navel. No scrunching up of excess fabric as you sit in the saddle. They also have added ´grip´! For years I rode in a synthetic saddle (more about this below) which is velcro on the bum in itself! When I switched to my latest saddle (more below!) I found myself not only cold against the leather on chilly mornings, but slipping around like jelly on a plate. There is none of that with Kerrits leg wear. The Breathe Tight also, most sensibly, has a phone pocket located a little way down from the body. Much more comfortable and accessible.

Yes, we do get chills down here in southern Spain - we´ve even broken ice off the water troughs!! Last winter I purchased athletes skins (tight running leggings) with a fleece lining from an international sportswear store. Cheap, cheerful and doing the job on frosty mornings. Even as temperatures often rise here later in the mornings I don´t find myself too hot as they wick away excess heat. Just as comfortable as jods with no inside seams and elasticated ankles. They do ´peel´ off a little like a second skin, but not with any difficulty.

FOOTWEAR -

In Endurance competition, providing you have safety cage stirrups you can wear running shoes. Many may prefer this, providing they are proper quality running shoes, and not gym shoes etc. I may change to trainers in the future but for now am very happy with my Mountain Rider Jodphur BOOTS. They have steel rims to protect my toes from stray hooves, reinforced stirrup plates for comfort on long rides, a simple center zip with a waterproof sealed tongue and are comfortable to walk in. (I have a pair of long Mountain Riders which are fabulous to ride in but super uncomfortable to walk any distance in.) Right now I can´t remember where I purchased them but do remember they came out the same, quality wise, but much cheaper price wise than other big brand name endurance boots.

SOCKS are also very important. I wear socks designed for serious walkers. They keep my tootsies warm in winter as well as giving extra support in the foot arch and at the ankle. In the summer they wick away the heat.

I ride most of my gang bitless, with the most simple of rope bridles which are either a version of the old style bosal with ear-pieces and reins attached, or another version which is altered to fit under the nose. Both basically the same, working the same way - pressure/reward.

A material I also love for bridles is Biothane or Beta-biothane. Both coming in every colour under the sun so you can mix n match, have your team or yard colours, or just your favourite colour. Beta also comes in regular brown or black looking like leather for those that like to conform. Just a quick rinse in soapy water has this material like new again. None of that greasing/oiling of leather, nor the cracking if you forget to look after it!

You can find many suppliers that make bridles from this material especially for Endurance, with snap-on reins and snap-on bit hangers, turning a bridle into a halter in seconds. Most will also make cruppers and chest-plates to match.

If you go to an endurance race you will see people pouring liters and liters of water on their horses in a desperate bid to reduce their temperature, and therefore their pulse, as quickly as possible. The horse is prancing around from foot to foot as people dash around him, which obviously isn´t allowing him to relax and aid the speed of recovery for his pulse and temperature. Apart from this, here in Spain, you need to add ice to the water for the majority of the year as it comes out hot from the tap! Then there is the ecological side to things. How much precious water is being wasted?

My husband, Francisco, made me a fabulous invention with a battery powered camper shower strapped to a feed sack trolley with a plastic feed bin full of water fixed onto the trolley. Do you get the picture? Thus we were able to direct the water exactly onto the horse, bringing wastage to a minimum and effect to a maximum. But, as pleased as I was with his fabulous idea, I kept looking for an alternative.

I found it in the ARCTIC BLAST Equine Cooling rug. I purchased myself one, and a few recharges, and can´t extol enough the brilliance of this rug. Heart, my horse, stood un-flustered and relaxed, munching on his water and electrolyte soaked beet and hay as the rug did all the work. His pulse was down to 38 bpm in 12 minutes. Fantastic!

You can now buy them from me having decided to sell them as there is no where else on mainland Europe to purchase them and I really believe that more people need to know about this marvelous Arctic Blast rug and bandages.

When poor Misty decided to do some ´visiting´ in the night and badly cut her leg the cooling bandages kept the limb from swelling until the vet arrived. So he was therefore able to stitch the wound as neatly as possible because there was no pulling/stretching of the skin. The outside temperature on this day was 27ºC!

This link will take you to Arctic Blast Equine Cooling Rug & Bandages where you can learn more about the science behind it and make your purchase.

Don´t forget the labour/time saving of these rugs either! The cost of a recharge is less than your time and effort is worth for pouring litres and litres of water over your horse.