On April 10, Jeremy Reynolds made an achievement worthy of recognition when he won the Git ‘R’ Done 100 mile three-star FEI race on his horse, Sir Smith, with a an impressive finishing time of 8 hours, 36 minutes. He also won the coveted Best Condition award.
Jeremy and Sir Smith were 1 hour, 45 minutes in front of the next horse, and the ninth place horse took exactly twice as long to complete the course. We believe Easyboots are a major component of a very successful holistic training strategy employed by Reynolds Racing. With several notable exceptions, it is very challenging to train horses that can stand up to the miles and speed required. Easyboots allow for a very different set of mechanics to be applied to the horse’s way of moving.
Sir Smith has now completed six 100-mile races in North America. Jeremy has been the only rider to compete with “Smitty” since 2005. He has won 14 first place awards – nine of those were achieved in Smitty’s last nine completions. He has also won several Best Condition Awards. Impressive indeed.
Jeremy and Smitty also completed President’s Cup 100-mile race in Abu Dhabi on February 13, 2010. Jeremy and Heather were invited to the President’s Cup only about two weeks before they were due to leave. Jeremy put himself on an aggressive weight loss plan and managed to lose 12 pounds in preparation for the race.
“Smitty did really well in Abu Dhabi,” said Heather of the 8 hour, 50 minute completion time. “He tends to be a hot horse – he really likes to go. But he was consistent all day and handled more than 80 miles of cantering.” Smitty was the first foreign horse to cross the finish line and at the time it was the fastest 100-mile completion for both horse and rider.
There were some unforeseen quarantine delays in getting Smitty back from Abu Dhabi to California and it was more than three weeks after the race before he got back to his own barn in Los Gatos. “He came home really skinny,” said Heather, “so we gave him another couple of weeks off to let his weight come back up.” Smitty lives on a grass pasture and enjoys free-feed hay and a high fat grain mix.
Jeremy then prepared for the 2010 FEI Git ‘R’ Done race by regularly driving the hour-long trip to the coast and galloping him on the beach. The rolling hills in the Los Gatos area don’t allow for much galloping in their training program so the beach provides the only location to canter and gallop for extended periods.
“Git ‘R’ Done was a good opportunity for Smitty to canter for hours at a time: good preparation for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in September,” said Heather. “We set out with the goal to race at a certain speed and prepare him for the WEG. He won’t be doing any more races between now and then, so this was a key component of our preparation strategy.” The only other activity planned for Smitty before September is the 80-mile US Equestrian Team time trails in Oregon.
“Jeremy’s ride at Git ‘R’ Done went very well, to say the least,” said Heather of Jeremy’s achievement. “He and Smitty were in the lead the entire day. Smitty was cruising along and did the majority of the race solo. Smitty looked effortless and was very impressive. On Sunday morning he looked strong and won the Best Condition award, showing off in his Easyboot Glue-Ons.”
When asked if they had any boot challenges at the race, Heather laughed. “We had no boot traumas whatsoever. We use Goober Glue on the sole and Adhere on the shell walls.”
Smitty is French Arab off the track by Virgule Al Maury out of Amen. He is 11 years old. The Reynolds also own his ¾ brother named Sturgis, who is only five and will be doing his first 50-mile race at Wild West at end of May 2010.
Heather and Jeremy Reynolds own and operate Reynolds Racing in Los Gatos, California. They offer training, coaching, consulting, leasing and sales of performance horses. They collectively have more than 22,000 competition miles in endurance, with more than 80 wins, 45 Best Condition awards and 60 100 mile completions.
Photos courtesy of Merri Melde/Endurance Net
