I went up to the Valley of the Sun Endurance Ride Friday and participated in the 50 mile event with GE Cyclone. Cyclone and I didn't have a great day but got through it.
Bad News First.
I purchased GE Cyclone from Global Endurance roughly 18 months ago. Cyclone was an accomplished endurance horse when I got him and had just come off a 4th place finish at Tevis. I've had equally impressive results with him, as a team we have three Best Condition Awards in five starts. He's a great horse.
Today was a different type of day. He was a bit short in the rear at the 25 mile vet check. The vets and I both agreed it would be better to pull him from the race. I went back to the trailer and started packing to come home and decided to take him for another walk before we departed. He was moving very well and I couldn't see anything at a walk, trot or circles. I rushed him back to the vets before my hour hold was over and all four vets watched as he trotted and circled. They all agreed he looked great. I was clear to go.
Although he was moving well he didn't have a great second loop. He wasn't drinking like he usually does and was just a bit out of his game. We ended up finishing 5th place but he didn't look like the regular BC horse he is.
Many lessons were learned and taken from the experience. There are many things I could have done better.
The Good News.
The ride was beautiful and well managed. Congrats to Irene Murphy and staff.
The first two booted horses in the 50 mile event used Easyboots (1st place and 5th place).
The Easyboot Glue-On Cuff finished the first 50 mile event. The Easyboot Glue-On cuff worked awesome today! The cuffs have been on Cyclone for 17 days now. They have done roughly 60 miles of conditioning rides in addition to the 50 mile event today. When I vetted Cyclone in on Friday all the vets were pretty curious about the new design. I actually had a screw driver in my pocket and removed one of the boots right there for them. All the vets were pretty impressed.
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