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What a beautiful day for Horses in the morning.

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Horse podcast in the world.

Here's your entertaining look at the horse.

World and the people in it.

I'm Glenn the Geek in Ocala, Florida.

And I'm Karen Chatten from Gardnerville, Nevada.

And you are listening to Horses in the Morning on the Horse radio network for December 10th episode 3580.

Good Morning, Horse World.

When your start times on Saturday and your finish times on Sunday and it doesn't get much better than best conditioned.

And completing the challenge is the challenge.

You're an endurance rider.

Well, it's that time of the month when we talk about all things endurance.

And coming up on today's show, we have a shorter LD show for you today.

Karen's kind of sick of doing the 50s this year, so we're going to come in a little shorter.

Lynn Beasley joins us to tell us how recovering from an injury as a horseback rider over 60 is both a challenge and an opportunity for growth.

Plus, Kristen from the Distance Depot is going to tell us about the new Trugrit saddle packs.

And in your training tip, we're going to be doing talking about stretching and we're going to get to that in just a minute.

But first, you finished your ride season, didn't you?

Well, it's probably getting snowy out there by now.

Yes.

November 30th is the end of the 2024 ride season and I went down to a new ride which is on some old trails from previous rides.

So I was familiar with them.

And the new ride is called Fossil Falls.

It's down in Southern California in the Pacific south region by Kozo Junction, if anybody's familiar with that, off of 390 and it's a pretty neat high desert type area.

And Jovia and I finished.

We came in 13th out of 26 on the 50.

Lots of sand and climbing.

Yeah, it was mid pack, which my main goal that day was.

I just wanted to be done before dark.

Were you?

It's.

Yes.

I mean, at this time of year it could, you know, you get up in the dark.

You typically get finished taking care of your horse in the dark.

So it seems like a long day just because of that.

Plus it's usually colder, you know.

So when we got up, it was cold.

There was some ice on the bucket and we had a really good ride.

It was a really pretty ride, well managed, lots of water, turkey, salmon.

Of course, this was The Saturday after Thanksgiving.

So they had hunting season.

Yeah.

And surprise, surprise, turkey sandwiches for lunch.

So, see, in Pennsylvania, you couldn't do that after Thanksgiving like that because hunting season starts for deer, and there's a million in the woods.

You would never make it.

You'd just never.

Okay.

Yeah.

We rode in Joshua trees and that kind of stuff.

And like, I mentioned the deep sand, which was, you know, a good experience for Joby.

He got some new technical, different kind of technical trails that he hadn't necessarily done before.

So we finished our ride season out with, I believe, 450 miles of 50s and one LD ride.

This was like the fifth right.

In a row when he completed his final vet check.

Straight A's all the way across.

And it's like this horse.

This was, like, such a cool year to see him blossom like he has.

He's turned into a real endurance horse.

Strong fit, takes care of himself.

So I couldn't be more happy.

Yay.

Sounds like you have another lifelong horse in the making here.

I hope so.

Yeah.

Because 20, 25, once we start writing, that'll be now his third season.

But this whole last year really was his first full season where he was mostly doing 50s all year.

So he's 10.

10.

Wow.

You got a long time to go with him yet.

Yeah, I hope so.

Yeah.

We're having a lot of fun.

And another high mileage horse coming up.

Karen just stamps him out.

Just stamp, stamp, stamp.

High mileage horse.

High mileage horse.

Yeah.

He's still.

To me, he's still kind of a beginner, but, you know, he's got some big hoof prints to follow in, so.

That's true.

Although there's one thing that's changed with this horse.

You're getting older, and that leads us into your endurance tip, which is stretching.

And it seems like the older we get, the harder stretching is, but the more important it is.

It definitely is.

It is so important to stretch yourself out before you ride, and that will help keep you from having a minimal amount of muscles tightening up, like in your back or in your quads or hamstrings or shoulders and neck and stuff.

It really helps.

The other thing I have found at this ride, just because it was a kind of a winter season ride and it's cold and dark, is I needed to stretch the next morning before I got out of bed.

So laying in bed, doing as many stretches as I could do.

So I wanted.

Excuse me.

To talk about the importance of stretching, Especially before you get on in the morning.

You really want to Focus on your legs and core, because those are your primary writing muscles.

So stretch out your hamstrings, reach down and touch your toes, or do a standing quad stretch, do some hip flexors, do a kneeling lunge stretch or a pigeon pose.

I'm sorry to write, you just started.

I know.

You know, even if it's just five minutes, you know, just do each of these stretches, you know, repetitions, four or five times each.

Or, you know, if you've got more time, do more or go cycle through them all and then start over.

Work on your inner thighs.

The butterfly stretch, or wide leg forward fold.

Your lower back is a cat cow pose, which I looked that up and it's where you're doing twists.

So I don't know how they came up with that.

Yeah, I was wondering how they came up with that name.

I was like, so.

But I get it because I do that when I'm in the saddle.

I'll hold my legs or my legs hold my elbows up, you know, like a chicken, and twist back and forth.

And so that kind of helps with releasing your lower back.

And then for your core, you can do planks or side planks, that sort of thing.

And then shoulders, arm circles, cross body, shoulder stretches, and your neck do gentle head rolls and tilts and just kind of work through all that.

And, you know, I find especially the bending down, because it helps stretch out all of the hamstrings and my legs and it also helps with my back.

And then that's going to help, you know, and even at the vet check part way through the ride or post ride, it never hurts to do some stretching.

And the more you can get into the habit of doing it and setting up a routine, it's going to help.

Especially, like you mentioned, as we get older, our bodies aren't as elastic or flexible as they used to be.

And that is so true.

You know, I stand up when I do these shows and I keep a set of weights by my feet.

And when you guys are interviewing guests.

That'S what I've heard.

That's what I do.

My weightlifting is when you guys are interviewing guests, I do my weights.

It also helps keep me awake, too, you know.

Oh, okay.

So.

And one last thing is don't push yourself too hard, especially if you're new to doing this.

Yes.

You know, I, you know, we talk about yoga a lot because yoga really does help writers.

There's no question about it.

You know, it's been one of the things that when I talk to professional writers, yoga is always mentioned.

Good.

And basically yoga, stretching.

Right.

So, you know, it's not only the mind part, it's the body part.

So that is one thing.

And building the core, that I hear from a lot of professionals.

So you're right in there with all the professionals, Karen, just trying to keep.

Going in the saddle.

Well, we have Kristen with the Distance Depot here with us at thedistancedepot.

Com.

You know, before we get to your product, I did want to mention that when I was in the retail business, we would, we would really remind people that if you don't know what to get your.

And I'm coming from the horse husband point of view, if you don't know what to get your wife who's into horses and you know that anything you get is going to be wrong and she's going to return it.

Get a gift certificate.

Just get a gift certificate from the Distance Depot.

And not to make you all feel bad, but we had a guy every year bought a $2,500 gift certificate for his wife every year.

So, you know, live up to that.

Go buy your $2,500 gift certificate from the Distance Depot and then she'll be good to go this year.

But yeah, I mean, we do forget to mention that, but it is a horse husband approved gift because they then can buy what they want.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And we have those same customers who come back year and year again just to get those gift certificates.

We do offer them in an email version.

So we can email it right to you.

You can print it off and put it in an envelop, give it, or we can send it to someone else's email.

So.

So what's the latest they can do that?

Because the other reason to buy a gift certificate is you've totally fallen down and, you know, forgotten everything.

Right.

So what's the latest they can get the gift certificate?

Yeah, they can do it right up to Christmas Eve.

Will be closed on Christmas day.

Of course they can order it, but there won't be anyone to process it until we get back the following day after Christmas.

But yeah, right up to Christmas Eve or, you know, right up to your birthday date, whatever.

And generally we're here and can get that sent right off to you quickly.

Very good.

All right, we're also going to talk about some packs for the.

Because you guys, you endurance riders, you need packs.

How many packs do you have in your saddle, Karen, when you're riding?

Actually, because I'm riding in a saddle that has built in water bottle holders on the back, I just have a True Get True Grit saddle pack on the front.

Okay.

And it's.

And it's wonderful.

I love it.

And that's.

And I've got at least I've got two of them.

And that's what we're going to talk about today is the true grip.

It looks like you have a variety of them for sale here.

Well, they are very well made and very durable.

They are super.

Yeah, they are super well made.

Made in the USA by an endurance rider or by endurance riders and a small business.

And their work is excellent.

And all the details that they have put into these packs, you know, just make, make a huge difference.

So the Slimline Universal Pommel Pac, it can be either, it can attach to the front of your saddle or to the back.

It has water bottles, it has the syringes so you can, you know, suck up your electrolytes and carry it with you for out on trail in case you need that.

Of course there's other pockets, zippered, ykk zippers, little magnets too that hold the water bottles which are super easy to get your water bottle out.

She's paid a lot of attention to the details on these and their quality.

It's real rugged, heavy duty canvas.

They're super nicely made.

You lots of options to attach them to the saddle which some of these, you know, bounce around and flop.

And being that we're a lot of us are trotting and cantering down the trail, the fact that you can attach them in numerous spots keeps them from bouncing.

So no bounce.

Super well made.

And we have brought in a few more designs.

We only had the Slimline Universal.

Now we have two different pommel packs and also their Kintel pack.

So these are a little different being that they don't have the syringe sort of built into it or that comes with it.

Of course you can carry your own syringes in these packs.

And they do have water bottles.

So two water bottles on both sides for the pommel pack.

The kennel pack just simply has big old pockets for maybe your easy boot, light jacket, a halter and again, just super easy to attach.

No bounce, fabulous quality.

And we do have a video on there, at least on the Slimline Universal.

So you can see some of the really nice features that she has there.

So visit our site and watch the video and check out these items and the colors.

Yeah, lots of colors.

So we have red, blue, purple, I think, and black.

Yep.

So lots of colors to match your tack.

And if you require a certain color, we could certainly reach out to them.

And ask about a customer pack.

But those are the colors that we stock every day.

Perfect.

And how would somebody get in touch with you, Kristen?

Well, they can visit us at our website, www.

Thedistancedepot.com or call us toll free.

866-863-2349.

Our next guest is Lynn Beasley, who lives in the northeast region.

And she has a lovely YouTube channel where she talks about recovering from an injury as a horseback rider over the age of 60.

And so we're going to talk to her about overcoming those challenges and continuing to ride well into her 60s.

Good morning, Lynn.

Looking forward to hearing all about your writing journey.

So let's start with when did you start riding and what did you love about it?

I started writing when I was 42 years old, which sounds old, late in life type thing.

But thinking back, that was 24 years ago, so still have quite a bit of riding behind me, even though I started late.

What do I love?

I absolutely love the time I spend with my horses.

The more I get to know them, the longer I have them, the more I feel that way.

What I love specifically about riding, I absolutely love being out in nature.

That is probably my grand passion, is to be out in the forests and out on the beach and to be able to share that with another living being that at the same time is my legs and my motor and has the strength and power that I don't have is just.

Well, it's beyond what I could have ever imagined.

It's like just the greatest thing in my life, really.

And how long did you ride before you discovered endurance riding?

I discovered endurance riding almost from the very moment I started riding.

I volunteered at a local jump show, and one of the girls on the gate was an endurance rider.

And I had barely, like, I didn't even know when I went to my first endurance rider.

It was actually called a judge pleasure.

I didn't even know you were supposed to bath your horse like I had.

I was a backyard horse owner and I knew nothing.

Absolutely.

My bridle was on backward, inside out.

Someone had to help me with my bridle.

Wait a minute.

You're supposed to bathe your horse.

I knew I've been doing something wrong.

You are.

I lost points.

I'm like, I lost points because my horse was.

Oh, it was like a competitive trail ride.

Then it was one of those.

Something like that.

Okay.

But I learned, you know.

Well, obviously I've learned a lot.

Yeah.

Endurance teaches you a lot.

Oh, does it ever.

It's good for that.

For sure.

So what's been the most rewarding part about discovering endurance and riding for you?

The most rewarding.

It's having a really good ride and coming back and feeling on top of the world and knowing that my horse feels the same way.

Okay, so let's move on and talk about you had an injury that you had to recover from.

So tell us about that.

Sure.

I had spent the summer with this YouTube channel, training up and getting ready and everyone was, you know, sharing this, the journey with me.

And I was so ready for this next ride or the next competition.

And just days before, I was hurrying down the driveway and twisted my ankle and fell over it and I broke it.

It's the third time I have broken this same ankle in my lifetime.

So I was devastated.

I was just so disappointed.

I could not believe.

I just kept thinking, this just can't be happening.

I was so ready for this race.

And yeah, so I was just really, really upset about it.

How long did it take you to recover?

Well, I actually haven't completely recovered yet.

I am back to riding and it's funny because at the time that it happened I thought, you know, like, the timing is really bad, but in retrospect, except would have been nicer if it had been like two weeks later, I would have been finished that competition.

Now at least I have the winter to get my ankle back to where it can handle longer distances.

Because if I had have done this in the spring, I could have, you know, lost over half of a season just trying to get it back.

How, how many times I had a question.

How many times do you have to break it before you can't use it anymore?

Well, I'll tell you, heels down went out the window the second time I broke it.

Heels down or gone now it's basically kind of just going to fuse itself.

But yeah, good question.

They can do knee replacements and hip replacements.

I've never heard of an ankle replacement.

No, me either.

Why haven't they done that?

They can do every other part, you know.

So were you ever worried that you wouldn't be able to ride again?

Not so much with this injury.

I have had injuries in the past, over a decade or so ago.

It wasn't horse related.

I just, I had some kind of a back issue crop up where a couple of discs got messed up and I was nine months that I didn't ride.

And the reality that I might not be able to ride was definitely on my mind.

It was a.

It was just a real dark hole.

I was a lot younger than too I probably would have been in my late 40s, and it was very devastating.

I came out of it.

Obviously, I'm riding again.

It left me with a deep empathy for people who, like, had I gone on and not been able to ever ride again, I sort of almost know to a point where that feels like.

And so I feel very deeply for anyone that that has actually happened to.

So tell us, how did you come about your recovery and get back in the saddle again?

Sure.

Well, the recovery, the physical recovery part wasn't too bad because I've done this twice before.

Right.

So I've drawn from what I've known and, you know, taken the best of the other two experiences and quickened the process as much as I could.

I had a.

My perspective was.

Well, first of all, I'm older, so I'm able to go okay.

I have a line that I say to myself a lot, and it's basically, this is not the story of my life.

This is just a chapter.

And I would just keep saying that to myself.

This is not the story of my life, and hopefully a small chapter.

So I kept trying to using that to keep it in perspective.

And other things I did.

I did a lot of planning for next year.

Like, I kept my.

I kept the dream alive by sitting on the couch and hauling out maps and planning training programs and just keeping mentally active and focused on the goal, even though I wasn't able to actually do the writing.

Let me see, what else did I do?

Well, I mentor a couple of riders, and so that really helped me because I stayed involved with the horses.

I stayed involved with what was going on, even though I was sitting out on the sidelines.

So tell us about your horse.

Sure.

Cole, his name is.

There's actually, I have a few, but the one on the video, his name is Cole.

Nat King Cole.

He's an Arab, saddlebred, 15.

He's a night.

Like, if he was a person, he'd be kind of the young kid in the grocery store that bags your groceries for you, you know, in the small town grocery store.

Like, he's just a super sweet.

He.

I call him my old lady horse.

Oh, good.

Yeah, he's a.

He's a lovely horse.

He's a.

Just an all round good guy.

So did.

Did your.

Does your ankle give you any trouble with mounting?

Yeah, I have.

Yes, it does.

Okay, so how do you work around that?

Well, I also have.

Because I'm older, I have lots of other limitations as well, so, like my right hip.

Like, there's a lot of suboptimal parts on this body by now.

And I basically just says every 60.

Plus year old rider that ever rode a horse.

Right there.

Yeah, exactly.

I know.

So for mounting, like for starters, I mount on the right side and I have for years because I can't really even get my leg over on the left side.

So I mount on the right side.

My leg hits the horse's back every time I get on there.

They're just used to it at this point, you know, like, I don't worry about what it looks like.

I just get the job done.

That's an endurance rider for you, right?

Exactly, exactly.

And getting off is even trickier because he's 16 hands probably, or 15.

He's, he's a tall horse.

So I have to be really careful getting off and take a lot of the pressure in my left foot.

So, yeah, I just find that I adapt.

I, I think I now own a brace for everybody part of my body.

I think so, yeah.

Including my ankle.

I have several of those now.

So it kind of locks it into position for me a little bit.

But, you know, I've got, I think three knee ones.

I mean, sometimes I feel like I'm made more out of polyethylene than I am skin or whatever.

Polyurethane or whatever it's called.

So.

And I'll exercise while I'm on the horse.

Like I'll do a, you know, I'll move my ankle or if I've got a hip that's bothering me or.

Probably the biggest problem I have with riding as I age and as these injuries add up is that I worry about that my weight's not any longer even on the horse.

So I'll do exercises in the saddle that will force like the weight back over to the side.

That tends to, it tends to come away from when I'm getting tired.

So, yeah, those, those are some of the things, you know, that I do.

And I wear a hiit air vest now to help with any future injuries, to help alleviate them.

I got a question.

Is there a horse husband in your life?

Sort of, yeah.

How does he feel about you keeping on breaking things?

How's he.

Well, it's, it's not like it all happened in the last year.

Right.

Like this has been over 24 years.

Okay.

And I don't think I've ever broken anything from riding, so.

Yeah, well, then you can't really.

Yeah, I don't think.

I did have one incident.

I, I had a really bad heat stroke one time from riding and I thought that he was going to have something to say about that, but I mean, he gets it.

He knows how much I love this.

I couldn't do this without him.

We have a boarding Barn, we have 12 horses and he does a lot of the work, you know.

Oh, so he's in it.

He's like, he's like.

I was, we had 20 horses boarding too, so I get it.

And he's, he loves the horses and interacting with them.

He doesn't ride, but yeah, he just, he likes the lifestyle, he likes the work.

God love him.

So it keeps you both young.

So what are your future writing goals?

Well, I hoping to ride that hundred mile ride.

That's the one that we talk about a lot on the YouTube channel.

That's the ultimate goal is to ride 100 mile ride.

Back when I turned 65, I sort of had this feeling that I was hitting a sunset in my life and it bothered me.

And so I'm like, I need a sunrise, I need something.

And so I went back to this very old goal or this old dream of riding 100 mile ride.

And I'm sticking with it.

So that's the big goal.

Now the short term goal is to get some 50s in next year and come out of them fit and healthy with a fit and healthy horse and maybe do two back to back 50s so that I've done 100 miles in two days, that type of thing.

Well, you're a good plan.

Yeah.

Checking out your YouTube channel.

It's Diary of an endurance rider.

You can find it on YouTube.

I mean it's done pretty well.

You've got over 300,000 views on your videos now.

So we'll link to.

Everybody should go subscribe.

Oh, that would be awesome.

Thank you very much for that.

Yeah, I mean you've been doing these videos for a while.

Good for you.

Yep.

Video is a whole lot harder than audio.

So I, I'll let you have that audio.

So much easier.

Yeah, it is hard.

You have to really enjoy the art, the act of editing and videoing or forget it.

Yeah.

And I always said that editing video takes 10 times longer than editing audio.

It just takes so long.

It's just time consuming.

Yeah.

I'm, I'm hoping to learn ways of streaming it down, but right now it is taking a long time.

It always will.

I think it just does.

It's just the nature of it.

But look at you.

I mean, look at how many videos you put out and you're still doing it.

So.

171 videos.

Holy cow.

Yeah.

Well, 100 of those are what they call short.

Yeah.

Yep.

So 771 of them are long form.

Oh, wow.

That's a lot.

Yeah.

Diary of an Endurance Rider.

You can find it on YouTube.

Go check it out today.

And I know you've been a longtime listener, so before we let you go, I just wanted to say thank you for listening.

Oh, thank you for doing this.

Yes.

Thanks, Lynn.

And thanks for joining us today.

And good luck with all your goals and your ankle.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

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Well, of course there's lots of rides all over the country.

Some are ending.

Florida will be picking up probably here in January, but you can find all those rides by going to aerc.org and the convention for the AERC is coming up, right?

Yes.

It is March 7th and 8th, 2025, at the Nugget Casino in Sparks, Nevada.

So they always have it in Nevada?

No, it seems like it cycles around and moves.

I think they had it in Jacksonville, Florida.

They've had it in San Antonio, New Mexico.

It's moved around.

It's now back in Reno, which is kind of nice, I think, for the office because they're just over the hill in Auburn, so it makes getting to and from a lot easier for them.

And me too.

I'm only 50 miles from it, so it's really kind of cool.

You have no excuse not to go now.

Exactly.

Well, yeah, you got to go look at all the vendors.

That's right.

So there's lots of restaurants and amenities and all sorts of stuff going on there.

Plenty of parking.

So for the people that are traveling a long way, you can come.

And Blackjack, let's not forget blackjack.

Exactly.

There's all sorts of entertainment in the whole region.

There probably is still skiing going on for those that want to bring a significant other or family that wants to go do something else non horse related.

Very good.

Well, that's great.

And we'll put a link to the AERC right in our show notes as well.

You can Find today's guests in the show notes@horsesinthemorning.com you can follow Horses in the Morning on Facebook.

Just search Horses in the morning.

Find links to today's guest in the show notes@horsesinthemorning.com Karen, where can people find.

You Envy Endurance writer at?

I'm on a few different places, Instagram, Facebook.

I'm still learning TikTok.

I actually did a TikTok video last month.

Wow.

So very good.

Yeah, I joined Blue sky personally and haven't used it yet.

Okay.

I know sometimes it gets to be just there's too much.

It's just too much.

And you know, a lot of horse people, they hang out on Facebook, so that's where I end up spending most of my time.

They do.

But, you know, there is a separate feed for the endurance episodes.

It's called Endurance Rider.

And if you search on your podcast player, Endurance Rider, you can get a feed that just has the endurance episodes and goes back a long ways.

So you can find a lot of the past episodes if you want to go back and listen.

So if you'd rather have it separated from the horses in the morning feed, podcast feed, you can do that.

Just search on your podcast player.

We forget to mention that a lot.

We'd also like to thank our sponsor, Distance Depot.

They've been with us since the beginning of doing this, and we certainly have appreciated her being here.

Well, thank you, Karen.

Thank you, Glenn.

Everybody be safe out there.

Wear your helmets and Merry Christmas.