40km on a horse, are you up to it?..

Mood : beyond happy!

Assalamualaikum and good day awesome peeps!.. looks like my blog has been collecting dust, again.. so I'm here to do some cleaning, hence an UPDATE!!.. wohooo!!~~ =DD this time I'll share with you my experience at Perlis Endurance Challenge 2010 recently, on 31 July 2010, where I was the crew member, helping out the UUM Equine peeps!.. wohoooo!~~

but first and foremost, a picture of me and Baja, a long lost horse, who moved from UUM Equine to Darulaman Equine.. say hi to Baja everyone!!.. (^^,)

the venue of this endurance is Chuping, Perlis, amidst the sugar cane plantation.. but the TSAB ranch was breathtaking!.. the open fields were, WOW!.. you can see the greenery there, being in the open fields and seeing horses gallop and graze freely, is just a wonderful sight.. makes you appreciate the nature more and more.. =') weii, you don't believe me??!.. here, take a look for yourself..

here's a bit of info.. UUM Equine sent 3 representatives to the endurance challenge, UUM staff members.. they have been riding since I even started, so you can imagine the level of pro-ness they possess.. (^^,) all the riders partake in the 40km track, instead of the 80km track.. perghh, imagine going 40km on a horse through the darkness of the night and the bushes of the sugar cane plantation.. scarily adventurous, don't you think?.. (^^,)

so let me introduce you guys to the riders of UUM Equine.. first up, we have Mr Roqib Chik, a staff member from YAB office, if I'm not mistaken.. he's riding an awesome but quite jumpy horse and easily startled, Desert Storm!..

next up, a staff member from UUM Equine, Mr Mohamad Bahiyuddin bin Razali, or more commonly known as Mat Naka among the horse riding community.. he's riding the one and only, Time For'us, or Forus for short.. (^^,)

and last but not least, we have my trainer, Mr Wan Mohd Hafizam, or better known as Abg Wan.. hehehe.. he's riding the strong and bold, Prince!..

we also have 2 riders from Darulaman Equine, Mr Nur Helmi Yatus, riding Jenny and Dr Ray Nakamura, riding Lotto..

opss, but before the riders are sent out into the track, let's pray that everything goes well and everyone is safe.. the tracks are quite demanding for the riders as well as the horses..

and they're off!.. the riders were sent into the tracks at 5pm, both 40km and 80km were sent off at once.. some of the horse are so freaking awesome!!.. most were either Arab breed or Pinto, with spots and stuff.. very nice.. but they reminded me of cows.. =P

I saw loads of horses who had problems at the beginning of the challenge, some were even scared to cross the starting line.. a horse lost his horseshoe at the beginning of the race.. luckily the guys crew were there to help him..

after all the riders were on their way, the other peeps in the crew which consists of me and some UUM Equine Club members and Equine Ko-K, had nothing much to do.. so we wondered around the area and bumped into fascinating creatures.. for example, meet Rocky!.. (^^,)

he belongs to the ranch, and is a very playful and friendly puppy.. you can go and stick out your hand and he'll place him paw on yours, then lick it.. hehehe.. super nice doggy.. too bad I can't touch you.. don't want to have to cleanse myself with dirt water.. 1 experience is enough please.. (^^,)

I also met a lonely horse, locked in his stable while his friends were out cantering in the fields.. most likely he didn't pass the vet check, since all horses must be checked by the vets to ensure that they are fit to enter the endurance.. hey, we can't send sick horses into the sugar cane fields, it's dangerous for the horse and the rider..

anyway, if I'm not mistaken, his name is Masterchaff.. I don't know who the owner is tho, but the horsey looked really sad.. so I comforted him and persuaded him to smile.. hey, there's always a next time dear!.. (^^,)

I also saw more horses along the way, inside the paddocks where they roam free.. I found 3 horses who looked like they were glued to each other!.. kind of cute tho.. hehehe.. the picture was already nice, but I wanted to edit it a bit, or a lot.. hehe.. now it just looks weird.. =P like unicorns coming out from the forest of mystery.. =P

they stuck really close to each other.. must be from the same owner then..

and I also saw some dudes with killer lenses!.. abang, nak pinjam kamera boleh?.. =P

by the time we finished walking around, the 1st round of peeps were coming in from 20km worth of journey!.. giler!.. my trainer, Abg Wan was the first to arrive, followed by Abg Roqib and Mat Naka.. so you can imagine how fast they were riding, 1 hour and 20 minutes for the length of 20km.. giler!~~

so this is where the crew comes in.. after 20 minutes, each horse must go for a vet check to determine the health condition of the horse after the 20km track.. the vets check the heart rate of the horse, where it must not be higher than 56beats per minute and the horse must not have any injury, to qualify it to continue for the next 20km.. so the crew must cool down the horse by bathing it in regular and ice water, to ensure that the heart rate goes down..

Mat Naka, checking Forus's heart rate..

but the thing you must know is, we CAN NOT wash the back of the horse, as it acts as an engine to the horse.. if you pour water on a heated car engine, the car will break down.. the same thing applies to horses, don't wash the back of the horse after a long and hard ride or the horse will get cramps and can't move.. simple as that..

so the cooling crew will wash and bathe the horse to make the heart rate drop to below than 56.. sadly, out of the 3 horses that represented UUM, only 1 horse made it through to the next round, Abg Wan and Prince.. Abg Roqibs horse, Storm, had a very high heart rate due to its jumpiness and nervousness making it unfit to continue, whereas Mat Nakas horse, Forus did not make it due to a foot injury from stumbling during the challenge..

everyone was pretty devastated that only 1 horse passed, but I guess it wasn't the time for us to shine.. we just had to hope for the best for Abg Wan and Prince, as they head out for the 2nd loop, another 20km in the dark.. and what do you know, lull and behold,

UUM EQUINE WON 1ST PLACE FOR THE 40KM TRACK!! \(^o^)/

wohooooo!~~ it seems that the other riders from other equine clubs looked down on UUM Equine coz our horses are not Arabian Breeds, we're just Thoroughbred.. they said we didn't stand a chance to win, since majority of the horse are Arabian, which is said to be the strongest breed there is.. well, we showed them huh?.. hehehe..

since it was Abg Wan who won the challenge with Prince, we decided to congratulate him with a dip in the icy waters!.. Abg Roqib, Abg Mie, Abg Saiful and Mat Naka planned among themselves and splashed Abg Wan in the waters with no mercy.. poor Abg Wan!.. hahaha.. he was soaking wet, dripping with cold icy waters, shivering from head to toe.. talk about brain freeze! =DD

all in all, I really enjoyed my time there at the ranch, even tho it was just for a few hours.. I arrived at 4.50pm, I left at 1.30am.. I learned a lot there, and I can't wait to partake in an endurance challenge one day.. so I must start training from now on, and increase my stamina to the max.. wheee!~~ =D

horse riding has always been my passion, and it will always be, insyaallah.. (^^,)