My 2005 Cooley Experience - Katie Azevedo

Katie Azevedo, and (RD Censashahnl) "Shrimp"


June 19, 2005

Wow! That was a fun ride.

After turning off the 101 and driving through some of Geyserville's beautiful
vineyard country (and getting a few nice views of Lake Sonoma) we pulled into
ridecamp that was bordered by a creek with a mixture of trees (tall fir, alder
near the creek, old oaks, and blooming buckeye). We arrived not even an hour
after the gate opened, and ridecamp was already filling up fast. The mud was
deep and thick in ridecamp, and it was raining on and off. We met some friends
when we first got there, and they said they were probably going to turn around
and leave... they did. Along with others. Dad finally got the truck and
trailer up a small hill to where we wanted it. I could hardly watch it, it
took him a couple tries with the truck slipping and mud flying off the tires.
Once we settled in, I whipped out my camera and watched some of the HUGE rigs
being towed up another hill by Mr. Waltenspiel's tractor (they had gotten
stuck). Thank goodness for that John Deere, it was in GOOD use this weekend.
People didn't even try to drive through a particularly muddy spot to get over
to a nice meadow- and the tractor pulled every single one through it (if I was
told correctly). Scott Samson helped lots of people with getting their rigs in
the right spots- some of which included getting a really speedy start, and
launching the truck and trailer up a slippery slope (mud flying everywhere,
people dodging out of the way, truck fish tailing and trailer whippin' around
behind it, tires spinning... yeah.. that whole crazy deal...I loved it).

Well I noticed quite a few people I knew or recognized from Quicksilver or
Chalk Rock or the bay area. It was fun! People were saying 'Can you believe
this weather?'. Ruth gave a great pre-ride speech, and encouraged everyone
that the whole trail is not like it is in the beginning (phew). I had taken
Shrimp out that afternoon with my friend Julienne and her pretty Isabella; it
was such deep mud that we walked most of the 1.5 mile loop. Both my Mom and
Julienne had asked 'So Katie, what's your strategy for tomorrow?' I hadn't
really thought about it, I didn't know what to think.

Dad went into town and met my grandma and big brother so they could spectate
this sport. We met and had dinner around a table in our tent to escape the
rain, and I blew out 20 candles on a beautiful cake that my Grandma had ordered
special for me (with Shrimp and I airbrushed (is that the term?) on it... how
sweet!) It was very sweet actually; it tasted good. After that we walked
around ridecamp together and my grandma asked about a billion questions (ie
"Why is Shrimp wearing that?... What is the vet checking when he does that?").

The next morning we woke up at 4:30 as planned to prepare for a 6:00 start.
It was still nearly pitch black and had been POURING rain the night before, and
was still raining. Thank goodness Mom had gotten me a waterproof blanket for
Shrimp (my birthday was that friday, the 17th). So my arab boy was dry and
cozy even though he was being rained on and standing in deep mud outside the
trailer. Mom and I thought "Oh gosh", and I'm sure the whole ridecamp was
thinking that too. I didn't know whether even to start the ride or not. Mom
said 'Katie, there is NO shame in pulling, or not starting a ride with
conditions like these'. Visions of yesterday's muddy trail ran across my mind
as I lay in the gooseneck, and I thought of how they *had* to be even WORSE
after that night. (Questions were running through my head: Was I going to
start? Would Shrimp hurt himself if we did start? Oh.. I don't want that, I
have plans for the future- he is my only horse and I love him so much- I don't
want him to pull anything...) I really didn't know if we'd even be able to
finish the ride if the whole trail was like it was last night. We laid there
in the trailer discussing what in the world we were going to do. Finally we
saw a few lights outside; people were actually getting up. Thirty minutes
later I had decided to start the ride and my rain gear was on.

Some rigs were leaving, some people were tacking up, and others weren't
tacking up. John, Dad, and my Grandma came to watch the start (they stayed in
a hotel in town) and proceeded to get our *other* truck stuck . When Shrimp
was set and ready to go, I hopped up and we joined the pack of 51 people who
started the 50 miler. Shrimp was a dream. At Quicksilver he was hot and
obnoxious at the start, and at the vet checks.. and well there was *none* of
that here. He was my dream Captain the whole mud-sucking, slipping, wet ride.
The first 10 miles were very interesting. Lots of horses and lots of mud. The
morning sky slowly swirled with thick grey clouds and threatened rain. And it
did rain. It was a train of horses for the first 4 miles, and Shrimp and I
tucked in behind Cindy Brown for it (I forget the name of the woman she was
riding with though... but they were both very nice and we introduced
ourselves). Once the hills came we broke off and started riding mostly with a
young woman, who actually was in the Navy for 5 years, and was riding a very
nice bay horse named "Jolie". We went up and up and down and up and through
the creek, and through the creek again, and then again.. and (yes.. lots of
water.. and Shrimp drank well), smiled for the cameramen, had fun conversing,
and trotted into the 1st vet check at 10 miles out. Shrimp pulsed down right
away and got all A's on his card. The rain had stopped, and my family was all
there taking pictures and helping me with Shrimp, it was great.

I started the next loop (25 miles) by myself. There finally was some really
good flat trotting ground, and Shrimp set a great ground-covering pace over the
muddy ranch road. A woman named Clare came up behind and rode with us the
whole loop. 5 miles out we met up with another woman named Sarah. They were
both really really nice people that I'm so glad I had the chance to meet. Both
of them said such nice things about me and Shrimp. It made me feel so good.
After the good level trotting ground we started getting under some trees, and
walked and trotted through more mud. The middle part of this loop had
beautiful views, but it was a climb and a half... all with short steep hills
that went up, leveled out, went up, leveled out.. etc... Our horses were
powerhouses- using all three gaits to get us up the hills. They were all
lathered up and blowing at the top of the hill. Finally when we started going
back downhill is when it got slippery. Many a time we hopped off of our horses
to try and survive short but steep downhills. There were over 3 of these
downhills that at times Shrimp just slid down on all fours (and me on both
feet- although I tried to stay on whatever 'edge' there was for traction). We
were all careful to wait for eachother to get on our horses before trotting
off. I was happy to have such courteous ride partners for this pretty tough
loop. It hardly rained at all for this loop which was nice, and Mr.
Waltenspiel greeted us at the very top of the series of hills with his brown-
colored quad (I think it used to be a different color, but I don't know
which..:)). That was cool to see him there!

Second vet check: John, Dad, and my grandma had all left, but my
trustworthy crew (Mom) was there waiting for us with food, blankets, e-lytes...
all of that. I didn't know if Shrimp was going to pulse down since he worked
very hard that last loop and it was very humid, but he did after a minute (the
p&r gals were so nice, too... all the volunteers and vets were too!) It was an
hour hold, so I sat down in the chair Mom had brought and took in the beauty of
the open meadow full of high native oat grasses as Mom grazed Shrimp. It was so
beautiful I took out our camera and couldn't stop snapping pictures of the two
them. In the background were the hills that we had just climbed, and if I
turned around I would have faced where the hill sloped down to Dry Creek- where
people were leading their horses down for water. To my right were all the
riders and crews during their holds. Everyone seemed well spread out and the
mood was relaxed and friendly.

So off we were after an hour for our last 15 miles back to camp. Clare
caught up with us quickly and we really hauled through the trees and over the
creeks and right through the thick mud. We chatted away and I felt like a
champion to have made it so far out on this very testing terrain- and still
with a happy, sound horse wearing all 4 of his shoes! It was a long way back
to camp... or so it seemed as I started to tire in the last 7 miles or so. It
started to rain on the last loop again. It was so fun though; we got to see
many ranch houses and barns when the course dumped out on a main road (still a
dirt road though.. or should I say 'mud' road). We really set a good pace here
too, but slowed up a little when the road had been going downhill for a ways
(though wet on top, it was still a bit hard). Clare's crew (her husband and 2
young boys) met us when we came out on a paved road about 3 miles to the
finish. That was great- because I was really wondering when the finish was
coming up! We walked up the pavement to the top of the hill, then did the last
1.5 miles on the same trail we did in the beginning of the ride: sloppy mud. We
really covered ground here- Clare took off and I knew Shrimp wouldn't let me
hold him back, so off we went... trotting and cantering through that stuff. We
came in right behind two grey horses at 17th and 18th place. Clare's horse was
#18, and she was 18th place on June 18th! We were met by Ruth and then after
giving our names and numbers to the volunteers we trotted back to camp were
congratulated by people along the way.

Shrimp vetted out beautifully (with a heart rate in the 50's, unlike last
time!! yay!) and we iced his legs and fed him. It took me 30 minutes to get
the caked mud off the bottom of his belly, his chest, and his legs. Mom and I
changed into fresh clothes and washed our hair with warmed water. I told her
about the ride and what I saw ou there on the 22,000 acre Cooley Ranch- like
the coyote I saw off the trail- and we relaxed and watched a family of noisy
woodpeckers enjoy their home in a tall old oak tree up the hill from us. Mom
and I watched BC judging at 4:00 pm and stayed to eat a REALLY really yummy
dinner around the community campfire (served with wine!). Then, Ruth gave the
post-ride meeting. Everyone was loud and happy and gave the biggest applauds.
Ruthie said this was the best group of people she's ever had on the ranch (and
she didn't hafta give out that 'Pissin' and Moanin'' award)! Potato and Kathy
came in first, Michele Rouch was 3rd and her horse received Best Condition. 50
people finished out of 51 starts, and everyone was given a nice bottle of wine
for completing. There was only one pull on the 25 milers as well!

Overall, it was just an absolutely wonderful, exciting ride. I gained so
much respect for my horse, and am still just in awe at his power, his ability
to watch where he steps and keep on his feet through that terrain, his will to
endure and set a great pace, and his great attitude. Quicksilver was very fun
and challenging (it was my first endurance ride), but after Cooley Ranch I now
feel like a real, true endurance rider! Shrimp pulled through that hoof-
sucking mud for 50 miles and looked so great at the end, we both endured the
weather conditions, we worked as a team and made it sound, stable, and smiling
across the finish line! ...So *that's* what Endurance is about!!

Wow, I don't think I could have had ANY more fun during this adventurous
weekend. It could have easily been my best birthday weekend ever!! To the
Waltenspiels: thank you a MILLION times for your efforts, encouragement, and
for an *excellent* ride. And thanks to the wonderful people I met out there on
the trail, and for the friendly folks I chatted with in camp.
Congratulations to all the finishers!

:) Katie Azevedo, and (RD Censashahnl) "Shrimp"

RWD 2005 - April

April

Nashville, TNRendezvous with Destiny 2005

Memorial Day weekend, 2005, marked the first annual (?) Rendezvous
with Destiny ride. This ride is held on the Fort Campbell army base in
KY/TN.

I was delighted to see this ride on the calendar and that it was a
2-day ride. Being so close to my home, I just had to attend.

Friday I got started around 2 PM, a little late, and drove up to Ft.
Campbell. I had no problems finding the camp, using my handy dandy GPS
that was kind enough to give me turn by turn directions. I arrived
just at 5 PM. It would have taken less time if I had left a little
sooner and avoided more of the traffic. But life is what life is. :-)

When I got to camp, I was greeted with a serene lake with lots of
camping space. I found my friend, Angie, and parked next to her in a
beautiful spot.

Before unloading Tanna, I immediately went to check in and pay my ride
fee, even though I wouldn't be riding until Sunday.

I spent the next hour and a half trying to set up my camp. Usually, my
husband comes along on all my endurance adventures, but this time he
had to work, so would be driving up later after he got off work. So I
was left to my own devices to set up camp. I spent much of my time
trying to figure out how to tie Tanna where he could reach food and
water, but not touch a tree or anything solid to rub on. He manages to
slip his halter when left an opening. Finally, when ride meeting time
came, I left Tanna tied short enough to keep away from anything since
I still hadn't found an appropriate balance. My customary corral
panels were fastened securely to the top of the trailer and we would
have to wait for Daniel to come to get them down and set up Tanna's
real home away from home.

The ride meeting was interesting. It started with a military dog
demonstration. Very interesting. Don't mess with those military dogs!

The turnout for Saturday was moderate. 17 riders in the 50 and 34 or
so in the 25. Lori cautioned that the trails were new. Nobody else had
ridden on them. There was cell phone coverage (unless you had Sprint
service...) so there were emergency numbers given out. The trail was
to go near a mount. Apparently a mount is a small village used to
train soldiers in hand-to-hand urban combat. Very interesting. Also
the trail would pass a downed helicopter and a downed air plane. And
next to a dud field with unexploded munitions. So no going off trail!
And hold on to your horse if you come out of the saddle.

There were 4 loops for the 50 milers. The first loop was marked in
white and was 14 miles. Then the yellow/black loop at 17 miles. Repeat
the white loop for the 3rd loop. The last loop was a 7 mile loop
marked in black/white.

Pulse criteria was 60 for everybody all day. 40 minute holds.

After the ride meeting, the group of us all parked together headed
back to our spot. We gathered around Angie and David's trailer to
chat. Quite a nice little group of us. Angie and David, Jackie and
Carson, Patty, and Carol. Then myself. After awhile, Daniel, my
husband, drove up and we all had a nice visit while some of us ate.

Daniel and David unloaded Tanna's corral pen and set it up. There was
plenty of room and Tanna ended up with a good-sized pen. I set up him
with food and water and took him for a walk before bed.

At some point in the evening, I managed to weigh Tanna. 856!!! I
couldn't believe it. Guess who is going on a diet?? Gotta get him back
down to 800-825.

Sabbath morning, we slept in and had a leisurely pancake breakfast.
There are advantages to arriving a day early and riding the 2nd day of
a 2-day ride. :-) All of the other women in our group were out riding
the 25 miler. Carol was out for her first ride!

After breakfast I saddled up and headed out for a quick look at the
finish and to give Tanna a bit of a stretch. He wasn't eating the best
and I was hoping an outing would stimulate his appetite.

I did a walking/trot warmup and then sent him in a canter around the
lake. Very nice. Very controlled. We went out just a half mile or so
and did a large circle in a field and then back to the vet check area
where I spotted David and figured Angie, Carol and Jackie must be in
the vet check. Carol was not with Jackie and Angie. Her horse came up
a bit gimpy so she'd decided to pull and sent the other two on ahead.
Too bad for her first ride.

At some point, I discovered I'd lost my cell phone out of my hip pack.
Not sure how that happened, but I wished the ladies good luck on their
final loop and went to retrace my steps. I met up with Daniel and he
started to call my phone with his. We had to retrace every step of my
earlier ride to find the phone. Because, of course, it fell out at the
furthest point. But we did find the phone. :-)

Tanna was very impatient with me for making him walk or do a
controlled trot. There were horses coming and going from the vet check
and he was positive he should just be allowed to do whatever he
wanted. I disagreed. So we were having discussions and he decided to
trump me. His trump card is bucking. I do not ride bucks very well and
he well knows it. So he gave 3 really hard bucks. I shortened those
reins, pulled his head up, yelled at him and miraculously he stopped.
Whoo-hoo!!! Ride 'em cowgirl. :-) I was thrilled with myself for
staying on (never lost my balance...that's usually my undoing) and for
getting him out of it. Tanna was frustrated. His trump card was no
good! :-) So he tried it again just a few minutes later, but he only
got one buck in before I spun him around in a quick, tight circle. He
danced and was idiotic some more, but he didn't try to buck again.
Game, set, match. :-)

Back at the vet check, I found Carol had come in. She'd decided, after
sitting on trail for 30 or 40 minutes, to keep going. So she was still
in the ride, just not with Jackie and Angie. Daniel and I hung out
there for awhile talking to David (who was generously crewing for
Carol and doing a nice job of it) and Carol. Then we headed back
towards our trailer to unsaddle Tanna. I talked to a few other riders
in on their holds.

After reports from a lot of riders that the trail was difficult and
technical and gravelly, I started to get concerned. I am a back of the
pack rider, so I don't usually have a lot of leeway in my time. I was
wondering if I should even start. I was given a lot of encouragement
and advice by my friends though, so I eventually decided to start.

The awards were interesting. Lori had lots of awards to give out. Top
10 awards were patches that could be attached to blankets. First in
weight divisions received a free bag of feed. BC in both distances for
both days received a water color painting of their horse (with a
picture being the model). In addition there was a turtle award, which
was a little turtle figurine made by Lori herself. Very nice. :-) Also
a middle of the road award for the rider that came in at mid-pack. I
forget what first place received.

Completion awards were coins. Apparently, in the army, when a soldier
does something outstanding, they receive a coin in recognition. So
Lori had some special coins made up. They have the AERC logo and motto
on one side and an eagle on the other side with 101st Airborne
Division, Rendezvous with Destiny, Fort Campbell, KY. Each completing
rider received their choice of a coin or a keychain.

12 out of 17 finished the 50. Eva de Paulis, Debra LaComette, and
Robin Burris tied for 1st place. Elizabeth Woods and her daughter
Aunna-Lisa came in at the tail end. Between 1st and the last 2
finishers, I don't remember. Oh, Patty Bass got 6th and the middle of
the pack award.

I believe 29 out of 34 or so finished the 25 miler. Carol,
unfortunately, was over-time, but she did receive the hard-luck award.
Jackie and Angie both finished. Other spots, I have no idea. Sorry.
:-)

There was a small ride meeting for the riders riding on Sunday. There
were 15 riders for the 25 and 6 riders for the 50. Hmm, my first top
ten in a 50?? Even though I'd been at the Friday night ride meeting, I
stuck around to listen to make sure there were no big changes or
surprises. I did manage to lose my original map, so I had to get a
replacement and write the emergency numbers again.

One of the other riders doing the 50 was Betsy Knight. There's your
first place winner, I told my husband immediately. :=)

After the ride meeting, a few of us gathered around these large
printouts of the trail. Lori had printed out large aerial photos and
marked the trail and marked spotters and water spots. Each trail was
shown on its own large aerial photo. Joe Schoech was there and had
ridden the 25 that day. He was giving helpful tips on the trail so I
hung around and listened, even though I'd studied the maps earlier in
the day.

Back to the trailer to finish preparations for the ride. Ride jitters
had set in during the ride meeting. Gotta love those jitters. Daniel
and I pulled up chairs and chatted with our friends for a few minutes.
Angie even brought a carrot cake in honor of Carol's birthday. :-)

After all my final preparations, I ended up going to bed around 10 PM.
Alarms set for 4 AM for the 6 AM start. 6 hours of sleep. Sure.
That'll work...

Up in the morning sleep deprived. As usual. I took Tanna to weigh him
and he was still at 834 (I weighed him Saturday AM and he was 834).
Then back for his breakfast and in to get dressed and get my own
breakfast. And out to saddle.

When I reached the starting line, there were only 2 other riders
there. Joe and Betsy. Hmm. Wonder where the others are. I warmed up a
bit here and there. Even tried out a small canter. Well, we're ready
to go. Trail's open. Only 2 riders in front of me. Well, guess I'll
start with the front runners. Not my usual procedure, but oh well.
Besides, I figured I'd need every extra minute to do this trail. I
followed Joe out who followed Betsy. We were pretty well spaced out.
Not right on top of each other. I followed right along. Tanna fought,
keeping his eyes on Kit, Joe's horse, convinced we should at least be
with them, if not in front of them. But he was moving well and not
pitching a temper tantrum so I was fairly happy with our progress.

The trail was a little rough. Plowed fields that had then dried. Ruts
where there were not furrows. And where there wasn't any of that?
Gravel. Or uneven terrain or overgrown terrian where you couldn't
judge the ground profile. Almost every step was a challenge. Not a
trail to lose focus on.

I caught up with Joe about 2 or 3 miles out (I forget exactly) and we
ended up riding together for the rest of the ride. Kit, Joe's horse,
was on his second 50 and the horses seemed to work well together, so
it worked out well.

The trails were marked well. I kept missing the 3 ribbons indicating a
turn, so when I was leading and came to an intersection, I looked down
all the trails for the next ribbon. When I saw it, I would head that
direction instead of needing to return down the trail and look for the
turn ribbons. Very handy. :-) Also, it helped to have Joe along, since
he'd been on 2 of the 3 loops the day before.

We came in for the first vet check at 8:33. My GPS measured the trail
at 15.2 miles. Right at 6 mph. 6 minutes later, Tanna was vetted
through. Bs on gut (no surprise), MM, and capillary refill. He weighed
810, which meant he lost 24 pounds on that loop. While I was recording
Tanna's weight, Daniel took Tanna over to the community water trough
and repeatedly gave him the "drink" cue until he drank long and deep.
Hmmm. I should get Daniel to do the watering at vet checks. He doesn't
usually drink for me in vet checks. :-)

We took Tanna back to our vet check area and fed him and sponged him
down a bit more. Daniel made me a sandwich and Tanna decided he wanted
my food rather than his. He managed to eat most of his beet pulp, but
largely ignored his hay. At least he was eating something...

As our 40 minute hold neared its end, I resaddled Tanna and prepared
to return to trail. Joe took off before me as I kept forgetting stuff.
Tanna was in the middle of getting his electrolytes and Kit wasn't
happy standing still. We caught up quickly and headed out on our
second loop.

We were in 3rd and 4th place at this point. Betsey was about an hour
ahead of us and another rider had passed us on the 1st loop. Two
riders were still behind us by 5-10 minutes. Most middle of the pack
I've ever been in a 50. ;-)

The second loop was the longest loop of the 4 at 17 miles. Joe had
been on this trail the day before, so we had no trouble with it. We
did slow down on this loop. Both horses were drinking fairly well.
Playing off each other and seemed to be in good spirits. Tanna would
stumble occasionally over the rough ground, but managed to recover
nicely. At one point Kit kicked himself in the back left leg and
caused an immediate lameness. Joe hopped off and checked on him. Kit
seemed to be ok and Joe soon was mounted again and off we went.

Partway through this loop, we came to the mount. The small village
where hand-to-hand combat is taught. Very interesting to see. We
didn't go right through the village, we kinda skirted around the
edges, but still plenty to look at. Both horses drank at the stream
nearby and we chatted with the spotter for a minute or so before
moving on. Tanna was not concerned at all about the buildings. Not
interested in them in any way. Let's move on, he said. But Kit was
enthralled and wanted to poke his nose in the doors and windows. He
might have gone right on in the buildings if Joe'd let him!

We continued on, chatting, moving out when we could, walking some of
the gravel when we couldn't move off it. No lazy man's trail this was.
Tanna is a sure-footed horse, but any inattention to his job resulted
in a stumble, so I tried to keep him focused and engaged. Hard to do
for such a long time!

Both horses ate grass on this loop. Grabbing bites as we walked along.
There was enough water on all the loops and I was very happy with
Tanna for drinking as well as he did. I would have preferred to have
him eat more at the vet checks, but drinking was definitely not an
issue this ride. Plenty of opportunities to drink and Tanna took
advantage of a lot of them.

The second loop measured 16.9 miles on my GPS. Pretty close to 17 if
you ask me. ;-) It was 12:31 when we came in from that loop. So we did
that loop in 3 hours 12 minutes. Average speed of 5.3 mph. Not
blazing, but enough to keep ahead of the clock. An overall average of
5 mph would get us a completion.

It took us 7 minutes to unsaddle and present to the vet. While
sponging the worst of the dirt off Tanna, I discovered he was a bit
sore in his back. A problem I've had in the past at BSF last fall. I
cringed and took him to the vet. The vet gave him a B on back and said
I could continue on. I expressed concern over the soreness getting
worse with 20 miles still left to ride. The vet suggested I let Tanna
rest and then bring him back if I was still concerned at the end of my
hold. Tanna also got the same Bs from before (guts, MM, capillary
refill) and added a B for back and a B for muscle tone. I was not very
happy with these scores. It was going downhill.

Daniel and I weighed Tanna. 810. Same as the previous loop. Good. No
more weight loss. I spent the hold wondering if I should go out again
or pull and save my horse the pain. I was worried about doing 20 slow
miles with a sore back. Also, right about 30 miles I usually begin to
question my sanity of doing 50 mile endurance rides. So there was some
part of me that wanted an excuse to quit. Tanna ate more beet pulp,
but didn't touch his hay. Almost no hay did he eat the entire ride.
Not a good thing. He did eat his beet pulp, but no hay. Gotta figure
out how to fix that...

Anyway, with 5 or 10 minutes left in my hold, I took Tanna back to the
vets and asked Dr. Habel to look at him for me. (The other vet was a
military guy and I don't remember his name. Sorry!). Dr. Habel pretty
much told me that it wasn't bad enough for him to pull me so it was
totally up to me. Not helpful. ;-) What I really wanted was for
somebody else to tell me what to do. Didn't happen. He suggested that
I could go back out and try to stay off his back. Speed up, he told
me. Stay off his back. Get off him when you walk. Speed up? Don't hear
that very much, huh? :-) So I opted for that and headed back to
resaddle.

I also removed the CorrecTOR pad and went with a plain woolback pad
(The CorrecTOR pad had been inside the woolback). This was my first
endurance ride with the CorrecTOR pad and I wasn't sure what was
causing the back pain, so I decided to attack it by removing the new
pad and being very conscientious about staying off his back as much as
possible in the coming loop. What I really didn't want to do was go
another 15 miles and pull with 7 miles left to go.

Joe left about 10 minutes before me on this loop. Understandable since
I was still saddling when he came up to see if I was still going out.
The entire vet brigade had heard my back soreness woes and my wishy
washy-ness about going out again, so they didn't know if I was going
out again. I told him I'd be along soon so off he went.

We followed as soon as we were ready. It took awhile to catch them. I
got off and walked one of the roughest parts of the ground. About a
1/4 mile stretch. Then I mounted and took off again. I had Tanna
canter where he could, trot where he couldn't. It took 50 minutes and
almost 6 miles for me to catch Joe and Kit. But I figured it was
better if I could catch up with them and continue riding with them
since our horses did well together. I was grateful for Tanna's
surefootedness as we cantered through ruts that were sometimes deep,
sometimes narrow, but always changing.

We were on the white loop again. The loop we'd done for the first
loop. So the terrain was familiar, even though it wasn't any less of a
challenge than the first time through. As this loop progressed slowly,
I began to obsess about cut off times. I calculated our final hold and
periodically updated Joe on our remaining time (although I'm sure he
didn't need this novice telling him!).

We were off and walking for awhile on this loop. Me saving Tanna's
back and Joe saving Kit's feet from the gravel by lightening the load
a bit. But we had to pick up the pace or we would never make cut off.
We figured we needed a good hour to do the final loop. We also had a
40 minute hold to wait through and 7 miles left on the 3rd loop. We
had to be in camp and vetted by 4:20 PM to have a chance at finishing
our ride. I obsessed a lot that loop. We reached the water stop on
that loop and Tanna drank nicely. Kit wanted to move on. So we did.

We got to a gravel road that wasn't quite so gravely and picked up a
good trot until the gravel worsened. Joe got off to walk, but I saw
the side of the road opening up, so waited to see if we could take the
side. I decided it was good to trot, so Joe remounted and off we went.
It was a bit more gravelly for about 500 feet than I'd thought, but
soon we were on less gravel. Still uneven ground, but at least it was
mowed and I could judge the terrain. We moved out, cantering when it
was relatively safe to do so. The clock was ticking...

We still had some challenging terrain to get through. We were planning
to walk some more of it, but when we reached it, I was leading and
decided to trot. I thought Joe might drop back and dismount, but he
came right along with us. The trail had been beaten down some so it
was better than it was the day before (I reckon, since I didn't ride
the day before). I stood in the stirrups, both to avoid bumping
Tanna's sore back and to allow him to balance and shift in the terrain
without me messing with the balance. We were taking a risk trotting
over this ground, but I focused and kept Tanna focused and we did a
slow trot through terrain we'd walked the 2 previous loops.

At one point we flushed a large tom turkey. Tanna jumped to his right
in surprise. I was half-turned towards the right to say something to
Joe behind us when it happened so I was already leaning a bit to the
right and stayed right with Tanna. Whew. That was a nice adrenaline
rush. :-) Tanna knew he was headed back to camp, though, and paid no
further attention to the turkey and kept trotting through. Good boy.
:-)

We pressed on until we came to the woods. I weaved Tanna through the
woods at a good trot. He's great at serpentine trails. I just have to
keep my leg on him to remind him I have legs that stick out that will
catch on trees. :-) We popped down to the creek and paused to drink.
Can't pass up good water no matter how much of a hurry I'm in. Up out
of the creek and on through more winding woods. That was my favorite
part of the entire trail. :-) Joe and Kit stayed right with us,
matching turn for turn. We weren't trying to lose them, but Joe'd
already told me not to mess up my completion waiting for him, so I was
moving on.

Across more uneven terrain, through some ruts and up a small hill
towards the lake and the vet check. Across the road, through the
field, and I was off, walking Tanna towards the in-timers. Nothing
beats the adrenaline rush of trying to make time! Not even the start.
:-)

We made it to the in-timers at 4:07. Whew. 13 minutes to get my out
time, but I wasn't dallying. I went straight to my vet check area and
stripped his saddle and immediately to the vets for a pulse time of
4:10. His pulse was a little higher at 56, but it was still under
criteria, so that was ok. Alright. A 40 minute hold and then back out
again. That would give us 1 hour 10 minutes to do 7 miles. Totally
doable. Especially since Joe knew the last loop and knew the terrain.
As long as Tanna's back wasn't more sore than the last check.

As soon as I pulled Tanna's saddle, I knew his back was not worse. If
it wasn't worse, I was going to go on. Dr. Habel said it might even
have been a bit better. Whew. At least I wasn't making it worse. We
would press on. The vet scores were getting worse, though. Jugular
refill dropped to a B and he did a little hitch on his trot out so got
a B on gait, too. All the other Bs stayed Bs. Weight was 806. So only
a 4 pound loss on that loop.

Tanna thought he was done. Our 5 previous 50s each had 2 vet checks.
So naturally, he thought he was done. Nope. So to try to get that
across, I resaddled him shortly after vetting in. I left the girth
loose and didn't do up the crupper or the breast collar. He was not
amused. He stood there staring at me and looking disgusted. Clearly I
was playing a joke on him and he didn't find it funny. He nibbled some
at his beet pulp, but I don't think he ate very much. And again, no
hay. Probably should have just let him think he was done and left the
saddle off. No way to tell if that would have helped, though.

Tanna was completely saddled and we went down to the out timers with 3
minutes left in our hold. I gobbled down some chips and finished my
water before mounting. I asked Daniel to get my glove I'd left on my
chair. And we were off. An hour and 10 minutes to do the 7 mile loop.
Joe again told me to ride my ride and if he fell back to just leave
him. Ok, I can do that. I hoped I wouldn't have to, but I would if it
came to that.

Off we went. We averaged a good 9 mph pace for the first mile or mile
and a half. A good start. :-) We did have to slow down some, but we
kept moving. One thing was the bugs were very bad on this loop. Just
awful. Joe looked like he was riding in the middle of a bee hive. Kit
was a magnet for those flies. I had remembered to spray Tanna's body
with fly spray (Endure) and we were doing ok, but I'd forgot to put it
on his face. I took advantage of some rough terrain to hop off and put
Tanna's fly mask on. Fortunately, Daniel had put it back in my cantle
bag during the last check.

The plane runway was pretty fun. It was rutted, though, so we didn't
take it at a full out gallop. A good canter worked nicely, though.
Turn to the right and do a quick loop and then back to the runway. On
the home stretch! We were averaging around 7.3 mph. Excellent. Right
on time. We were gonna finish this!

When we came out by the lake, Tanna was excited. He knew he had to be
finished now. Joe and I discussed who should come in when and he
graciously allowed me to cross ahead of him. We trotted and cantered
in and I blasted across the finish line. 7.3 miles in 58 minutes (7.5
mph). I was so happy to be done! What a feeling of accomplishment! I
immediately dropped off my horse and walked him in, telling him how he
was the best horse ever. Our finish time was 5:48 PM. Twelve minutes
to spare. Whew! 9 hours 48 minutes on trail. That's a long day.

Time for BC stuff. I'd come in second, so I was eligible to stand for
BC. I'd never done such before and honestly, I'd never even really
paid attention to the procedures or the rules. I never dreamed I'd be
top 10, so why worry about that?

I went to the vet check area and dropped my saddle, helmet, hip pack,
girth, breast collar, crupper, and sponge on the scales. I didn't have
a halter handy, so we didn't weigh Tanna's bridle or reins. Joe
graciously held my horse while I stepped on the scales. They started
yelling out my weight and I cringed. Tamra, Joe's wife, noticed and
said, "Don't worry, it's the SADDLE" :-) Yeah, right. But I
appreciated the thought. :-)

After I dragged all my stuff off the scales, I watched Joe weigh all
his stuff. Then I offered water to Tanna and sponged him off a little
and took him for his 10 minute CRI and his completion vet check.

We completed! Whoo-hoo! My first genuine top ten endurance finish. :-)
And second to Betsey Knight. What an honor! However, Tanna's vet
scores were not the best. His muscle tone degraded to a C due to some
tightness in his hindquarters. And his guts went down to a C. Dr.
Habel chided me for not letting Tanna eat on the last loop. Yeah. Like
we had a lot of time for that sort of thing! Guess I could have grazed
him for 10 minutes just before the finish line?

I was told I had an hour from our finish time to ready Tanna for his
BC check. Ok. I walked Tanna back to the trailer (a 1/4 mile walk),
let him graze some along the way and massaged his muscles while he
grazed. Then we'd walk on and do it again.

When we reached the trailer, I figured I had 30 minutes before I
should head back to the vet check. I put beet pulp and hay in front of
him. I tried hay first, but gave him the beet pulp soon after since he
wasn't interested in the hay and I knew he needed to eat.

While he ate, I draped his rump rug over his back and proceeded to rub
him down with a wash cloth and cool water. I'd left my sponge at the
vet check, so I had to improvise. Turned out the wash cloth worked
quite well at getting the dirt off. Better than the sponge, I think.
When I had him as clean as I was going to get him, I removed the rump
rug and put his full cooler on him. I massaged him a bit more (nothing
professional or even knowledgeable, just some gentle rubbing and
manipulation of the muscles). Then it was time to head back for the BC
judging.

I had left time to linger, so Daniel and I meandered while Tanna
grazed. Joe was headed up for his BC judging, too. We chatted a bit
then I went ahead and went to the vet (Joe offered to let me be judged
first).

Dr. Mike said, "you know the drill, right?" I said, "nope, never done
this before!" He told me to go out like for a regular trot out. Then
make a large circle (that's what he said) in one direction. Stop, turn
around. Make a large circle in the other direction and then trot back
straight. Ok. So off I went. Tanna followed behind me as I ran out,
circled this way and that, then ran back. Whew. Good thing they don't
do a CRI on the rider!

Dr. Mike then proceeded to check my horse all over. A really thorough
vet check. He did all the regular stuff, but also really looked at his
legs, feet, heel bulbs, tendons. Very interesting. Tanna's muscle tone
score went up to a B (from a C at the completion check). He was sore
in his back still, but no worse than at the 2nd vet check. And he was
sore in his superficial digital flexors on the hinds. That was
interesting to watch as I'd never checked those before. Now I know how
to do that. I'd never seen a BC judging as they don't generally wait
for the turtle to come in before doing BC judging. ;-)

I hung around to watch Joe's horse, Kit, be judged. While Joe was out
for the trot out, I found out they had made fun of me when I did my
trot out. Apparently, I went far out and did huge circles. :-D They
should mark it out with cones, then! LOL.

After the judging was finished, they said it'd be 10 minutes before
the awards meeting, so Daniel and I took Tanna and settled him back in
his corral to roll and doze. Then we drove the small pickup back to
the awards. Love having that extra vehicle. :-)

There was a good number of people there for the awards! Considering
the fact that everybody else had finished almost 3 hours (or more)
sooner, it was nice that they had stayed for the awards meeting.

15 riders started the 25. 15 riders finished! 100% completion! Way to
go guys! I have no idea who placed where. Sorry.

6 riders started the 50. 3 riders finished. The 2 riders behind Joe
and myself came in too late from the 3rd loop to have time to do the
last loop, so they didn't go back out. The other rider decided it was
too much gravel and pulled. At least that's what I heard. Betsey
Knight got first place in just over 7 hours ride time. She rode alone
all day. Way ahead of us. I came in second (although it could just
have easily been Joe that came in second...). And Joe came in 3rd and
turtle. Joe's first turtle! And my first top ten! I find that
interestingly ironic. ;-) Betsey's horse, obviously, got BC. Let's
see. Weight divisions. Betsey got first lightweight. I got first
featherweight. And Joe got first heavyweight. You can see we had
tremendous compeition for those awards. ;-) I also got the middle of
the pack award. Haha. It's a very nice water bottle and holder. I like
that. I chose a keychain for my completion award. It's hanging on my
cube wall at work. Very nice. :-)

After the awards meeting, Daniel and I headed back to break camp. We
were going to head home and allow Tanna to spend the night in his
pasture. It was almost completely dark when I finally loaded Tanna and
we headed off down the road. Daniel was driving the big truck pulling
the trailer and I was driving the little pickup following him.

We made it off base and headed towards I-24. But about a mile or two
down the road, Daniel called me and said we had to find a place to
pull off as the alternator light had come on. Fiddlesticks. We stopped
and he checked the battery. Definitely not getting any extra juice
from the alternator.

So we high-tailed it back to Fort Campbell before our battery ran
down. We did not want to be stuck on the side of the highway waiting
for a parts place to open. We made it back to camp and camped near the
pavilion next to another rider. Fortunately, she was just starting to
go to bed so we didn't disturb her too much (I asked the next
morning). Daniel pulled down most of the panels and we set up a pen
for Tanna. I gave him food, water, hay and went to bed while Daniel
went to chat with Dr. Habel and Lori at the pavilion.

The next morning, Daniel took the small pickup into town and got a new
alternator. After installation, we were good to go and headed home
with no further incidents.

So the wrap up. This was a tough ride. Hands down. This was not a walk
in the park. I had to pay attention the entire time. It was a flat
ride. But not an easy one. I really felt like I accomplished something
when Tanna and I crossed the finish line. I earned that coin and I'm
proud of it. The trail markings were great. Periodically through the
course, Lori had put mileage on pie plates. Not every mile, but in a
few spots. That was handy to check against my GPS and see what the
comparison was.

There was plenty of water on the trail. Between creek crossings, mud
holes and the water trough Lori put out, there was water enough that I
didn't bug Tanna to drink at every opportunity. Once he started
drinking around mile 12, he picked his own water.

Tanna is doing well. His back was much better Monday morning and his
SDF were not sore at all. He was prancing around at the end of the
lead rope in the morning. Blowing, snorting and tossing that Arabian
head. That's unusual for him. He's usually quite calm in hand, but he
was flying around being silly. I didn't get on to him too much because
it was great to see him so spirited the morning after a 50.

This was a great ride. If the Army consents to do this ride next year
and Lori is willing to take up the ride manager mantle again, I'll be
there next year. I might pad next year, though.

There were a ton of people that helped at this ride. First and
foremost, Lori! Thanks for taking the plunge and arranging this ride.
You did a great job. Keep it up. Please do it again next year!!
Second, the vets. Dr. Habel is a good, conscientious vet and I'm
always happy to see him at rides. And the military vet that helped
out. And all the volunteers. Too many to mention, but I'll try some of
them. Roger, Eva, Lisa, Susan K (of course!), Sam (the out timer), the
wonderful spotters that always had a smile and pointed us in the right
direction. The ride photographers. And Joe. Thanks for helping me get
through this ride. It sure would have been a lot less fun without you
along!

April

Nashville, TN

OD 2005 - Sometimes the Bear Gets You - Laura Hayes

Laura Hayes

I have finally had a night's rest after being awake for 40 hours, and
want to get this down before I forget much.

To summarize all this in one sentence...The bear got me, but I had a
heck of a good weekend...now the story:

Along with some smashing successes at rides, my mare, Equal Terms has
had some problems in the past with ulcers and colic and such, and if she
belonged to anyone else, I would have advised them to get a new horse
and quit messing around. But I knew in my heart she was the most
physically talented of all the horses I have ridden, and we had a bond I
was not ready to give up on - so we persevered. After riding her for a
1000 miles of competition, I backed off and started from the beginning
again, and after almost another year of going slow and her learning to
eat and drink, we were ready to step things up a little. We won and
BC'd the Michaux 75 two weeks ago, and I was on cloud nine- I finally
had the horse I knew she could be, and I was ready to tackle the trail
at Old Dominion - one of the most difficult rides in the world.

In 1987 or 1988 I was at OD 100 with Rushcreek Noel and was pulled
riding Calvary, at the 80 mile mark. I had not had a horse, or the
time, or the situation in life to be able to try the 100 again until
this year- so this was a 19 year grudge match between me and this trail,
and I decided to do it Calvary. "Like it is not hard enough??" my ever
patient husband asks. I signed him up to vet, so I didn't have a crew
anyway....

After speaking with Lynn Gilbert who won the OD riding Calvary a few years ago, and showing her my check list, I was very confident that I had it covered- food for the horse, food for me, a few emergency times, and a few comfort items. I had the fishing vest with the pockets, the front pack, the cantle pack, the water bottles, the ASPIRIN, the toilet paper....all the important things!

Even though the weather was brutally hot and muggy, and I had gotten a sunburn the day before, I was mentally prepared to deal with it, and physically ready with the items that would help me - mainly a sponge, sunscreen, and plenty of water to drink. I had a plan to meter out my food during the day, and to feed myself on the trail where we were forced to walk, and to take specific care of ET in the checks when she would have a chance to eat and relax.

I am sure I was more ready than I have ever been, both physically on ETs part, and mentally on mine.

We started out in last place. The start of the OD is down a paved road and with ETs usual 'airs above the ground' antics at the start and my fear of slipping on the pavement, I hand walked out of camp and down the road. As I went by, Art King did mention to me that it was ok to ride, and my husband commented that I should keep all six of our feet on the down side! I mounted up and took off when there were no more horses in sight.

ET was more mannerly and quiet than she had ever been at a ride start and that immediately had me worried! But when she grabbed at the carrot I offered, I knew she felt ok, and off we started up the first mountain. She was great!!!! I was so pleased with her attitude and felt sure we were on the course to success. We crossed the Shenandoah without mishap--she loves to roll in water and I was worried about staying up over a 1/4 mile of the stuff, but she was great and forged ahead steadily. The mountains were waking up and the low pockets of mist, the birds in the trees, the incredible view from the second climb and along the ridge, had me in the perfect frame of mind. ET went along in a workman-like fashion and we gained on and passed two 100 milers before the 20 mile mark.

A few miles before the long decent into the first check, which was at 20 something miles, while wearing wild rhodedenran flowers in our helmet and bridle, a group of the 75 milers raced past me on some rocks and ET pranced and fussed, stumbling some. From there is was a very rocky downhill and then smoother into the first stop for the 100 milers. I got off when we got to the road and ran the last mile into the check confident that we were in great shape and would be able to remain at a consistent pace over the mountains to come.

Oh well....if endurance were easy, could you call it endurance?? E was slightly and inconsistently off on one front foot and I am fairly certain that if I had asked, I would have been allowed to go on, but 80 miles of rock and mountains is rarely therapeutic and so I pulled. I will spare you the details, but will add that she was sound an hour later. Did I make the right decision??? Well, I guess we will never know, but I do know that being conservative is rarely the WRONG decision in the grand scheme of things.

I am going to admit it: I cried. In 6000 miles of this sport, I have never cried - I felt so foolish, but I couldn't help it. We were so prepared, so confident- ET was so fit and willing....I wasn't expecting this. The let down was huge. But Mathew McKay Smith came and gave me a hug, and I realized how fortunate I was to be involved with a sport with such wonderful and talented people.

We got a ride back to camp and I considered hanging around the empty camp and holding my own pity party with my dogs and horse. That lasted about 4 minutes while I changed my clothes, and leaving my saddle with it's packs of food and water, and my helmet and bridle laying on the lawn of the 4H center, I sprinted to the office to catch a ride back to the check. If nothing else, I could hang out with my husband and the other vets and maybe learn a thing or two.

Well, I love the vets, but they were not the liveliest group I have hung out with, especially in the oppressive heat, so I jumped in with old buddy Johanna Blackmore to crew for her sister Jean in the 100. This way I could keep an eye out for my other old friend, Libby Llop who was doing her first 100 on Fly, who I was especially attached to after competing on her last summer during the big XP ride. Johanna and I go way back to what seems like a lifetime ago. I rode one particularly memorable 75 with her late husband, David, and have missed him terribly since his tragic death in 1992. In fact, Johanna had already asked me to present the award for the David Blackmore Memorial during the awards ceremony the next day. I was honored and awed at the responsibility.

Johanna and I had a blast. It was so good to be able to spend time with her and the other girls we were caravaning with, Jennifer Sapira and her friend Jo, who kept us in stitches with her stories. At one check, while waiting for our riders in the dark, we adopted a skeletal dog who had the misfortune of either dying or being dumped in the parking lot we were in- wearing his choke chain and leash, no less. We named him Lucky and made up tales of his adventure to that point, while we drank expresso laced with sugar and fought off the giant killer moths that were attacking us.

Libby finished in 9th place with Fly looking GREAT (and won the David Blackmore award for second from last!), and Jean finished bravely by herself at 5:45 AM - 3/4 of an hour over time, but her horse looked wonderful. The second VA sunrise I shared with friends (first was ET, and the next with Johanna while we waited) was fabulous with the birds singing and the mountains around us waking up, and no matter that the bear got me and Equal Terms that day, we had a great time and wish we didn't have to wait until next year to try it again.

I woke my husband, who had vetted until 3:3:30AM and we went in town for breakfast. As I spilled the whole story to him, I couldn't help but feel fortunate to have such a good man, such good friends, a healthy horse, and more great adventures than most people are ever allowed.

Next month is the Big Horn 100 in WY. Watch out, trail, ET and I are loaded for bear.

Laura Hayes

Vine Cliff Farms


Brocton, NY


AERC# 2741

L&S LD Story - Diane Roby

Diane Roby

This was my mare, Skyrock Lakota Gold, or Codee, and
my second LD ride. Our first was the Cougar Prowl
in March. Due to some unfortunate events at the Cougar
(See Louise's story about the arson and trails...lol)
I wondered what this would be like. No two rides could
have been any more different! The weather for the
Cougar was an unusual 80 degrees in March, the weather
for the L&S was an unusual 70 something in June.

We got to the ride Friday morning at 11 am so I could
get set up. I was going to this one alone and wasn't
entirely sure how it would go. We found a great shady
spot and I unloaded Codee and set up the Hi Tie, another
first. Since the day was quite warm I took my time
setting up the tent and everything I would need for
the next day. My boyfriend was coming out later but was
not a horse person so his job was to make sure I ate
and refilled my water bottles.

At 2 I went over to get checked in and I guess Codee
decided she didn't care to be left alone and kicked
the trailer, everyone heard that! She was fine tho.
Vet in was at 4 and we vetted in with all A's. So far
so good. She even managed to behave, no airs above
ground this time.

The next morning there were sprinkles and thunder
when I got up at 4 am to feed. The 50's went out
at 6 am and the 25's were to go at 6:30. Got tacked
up with no problem and even had no issues with the
start - it was a controlled start for the first
little bit of it. Codee was feeling quite fresh and
the rain started to come down as we entered the
wooded area at the start. Then the lightening struck
and she started crowhopping and prancing and just
being an unhappy camper.

The first loop was 16.5 miles and we did it in about
3 hours. We rode in rain, and the lightening and
thunder, and then came the hail and the wind. At
one point I thought we were going to be blown off
the trail. Codee was convinced I had lost my mind
but she kept moving.

We had a 45 minute hold after the 1st loop and again
Codee vetted in with all A's. All that rain helped
tremendously with keeping the horses cool as it
tends to be hot in OK in June. After the hold we
went back out for the final 8.5 mile loop. By now
the day was getting warm and humid. We got lost on
the big hill on this loop and managed to do it not
once but twice! At this point we met up with a nice
lady from MO and her grey arab gelding.

We rode with them for almost all of the last loop,
but she was doing a 50 she needed to pick up pace
so she rode ahead. Codee was a little concerned
being left but the dressage lessons have helped
and I was able to get her to trot nicely by herself.

We came in at 4 hours 57 minutes total and vetted
out with all A's. Codee managed to best our Cougar
time by almost an hour!
All in all it was a great ride
and even with the weather one of the best I've had
yet.

Our First 100, Kind of - Skyla Stewart

Our first 100, kind of
The OWYHEE 100 MILE RIDE

Skyla Stewart and Tempo

After almost 2 decades I was ready to try another 100-mile ride.
I came close a couple of times, but something in my gut was
just not ready, it seemed to be more then just the normal
doubt. Tempo and I had trained extremely hard all winter, with
the hopes of starting the year on a slow 75, followed by a slow
100. We came into the 75 in fantastic shape, only one little
problem.I had backed WAY off on the intensity of his training
rides about 5-6 weeks before the ride, while at the same time
tripling his feed, then to top off the 'making of a tie up' I
only did two walking, marking trail rides in the 10 days before
the ride. Wellllll, yuppers that did it for sure, he gained
almost 50 pounds, which he did not NEED, and even though we
walked most of the first mile out of camp, I caused him to tie-up.
Caught it early, got treatment and a trailer ride back (all of
1.5 miles to camp), and just followed the vets advice. Tempo
looked and felt %100 normal Tuesday after the tie-up, and had
seen the vet with a good report. Wednesday, I started to ride
him.

The 100 miler that I had such hopes for trying was only 10
days away, it now was no longer on our personal calendar. I just
wanted Tempo to be OK and be back to his old self. I rode him,
cut his feed back 2/3rds, and gradually increased the speed and
distance, added some hills each day. One week after tie up, I
needed to give him a good exercise challenge over the weekend,
to determine if I felt he might be OK to go do the 60 at the up
coming ride. He did SO super, after talking it over with two
vets, they both said 'if' he is going to tie up again, it won't
matter what mileage you are doing

With a hearty 'go for it'
from the vet that had first treated Tempo, I decided I would
sign up for the 100. The week before the 100 I kept in touch
with friends that were of a VERY positive mindset, and were of
great support of us doing our first 100. I worked on MY
attitude, did not expose myself to any negative or doubtful
feedback from anyone, and just concentrated on what I needed. I
have found that many times I am not very pleasant company for
myself, and I had NO intention of inviting that part of me to
this ride! Instead of the bad things that I knew would be, I
concentrated on the good that comes with going at a turtles pace
and getting the ride done.

I worked on preparing myself
to 'accept' the pain, the fatigue, the dementia, and other not
so pleasant things, to accept them and to let them flow over me
and become part of the experience, and NOT to rule the
experience. I worked up my 'happy' side and used it to my full
advantage, and trust me, I can be a very 'happy' weird person
given half a chance.

I packed up, and headed off for what was to
be Tempo's first 100-mile ride, and what just as well be my
first, I had done only one and that was almost 20 years ago.
That was when it was 'only' another distance to be ridden. :oP
Sometimes being naive has it's advantages.

I had packed on my saddle: baling twine, vet wrap, easyboots,
hoof pick, bandana, flashlight with extra batteries, bug rep
that was compatible for human and horse, sunscreen, chap stick,
tush wipes, snacks, water, sponge, spare rein clip, PowerAde
powder, vet card, rump rug, tied a Gore-Tex rain coat on me,
gloves, sun glasses and probably a thing or two I have now
forgotten. For women I would suggest you NEVER forget a bit of
bag balm or something similar, it is amazing the pain you can
experience after a break on the trail, after 50 miles of
friction.

I LOVED my riding partner very much after that bag
balm kicked in! We rode a very conservative ride, a friend was
doing her and her horses first 100 and so we decided to ride
together. The two horses are pretty different in their paces,
but we were able to work around that, and each horse did his
part to not let the other one down. We have ridden together
enough to know that the two boys are willing and able to work
around each other's strengths and weakness. Same with the
riders, we just used our individual strength knowing that we were the
only two riders out there that were first timers, with first
time horses, it only made sense to pair up, after all 100 miles
is a LONG ways to go. The aches, pains, tiredness, grumpies,
hunger, thirst, frustrations, heat, cold, concerns, they all
showed up during the course of the day, but not one of us
(horses included) let them stay around long enough to start a
party.

I had already hardwired myself into KNOWING this was part
of the experience and that I would NOT let it 'become' the
experience. 'This too shall pass', my motto for the ride, and it
DID work!!! Only one tiny 'experience' that did show up, and
stayed long enough to become a party was the vertigo I got about
3-4 miles from the finish. I have never experienced such a
thing, and frankly really hope not to ever again. I had to
decide how to handle it, I could get upset and let it get me
down, after all we had some really GREAT trotting we could
have been doing, or I could just take it for what it was and
deal with it. I took it, giggled, screamed, and did my best to
feel the whole effect of it (did I mention dementia), and we
just kept going forward.

I could only walk, and Tempo had
complete control of where we were going, it was a tiny single
track trail winding through the sagebrush, and the WHOLE thing
just looked like a big black pit to me. He was my rock and
source of strength, he walked right out with head up and a great
attitude, although it was very apparent he wasnt real happy
that Mom was no longer able to trot, and here it was SUCH the
perfect trail. :oP

My riding partner PJ Blonshine and her
wonderful horse Saudi, they babysat us the first 3 miles so
Tempo could get past the tie-up distance, and then they had to
baby-sit a rather strange and out of it woman the last 3-4 miles
at a walk to finish. I was very grateful for there kindness. We
all finished sound, healthy (expect for the dementia/vertigo)
and happy. This was the way to do a 100 miles! They say it
is mental (no pun intended), and so I prepared for that, and I
WON! We stuck together, and with the attitudes kept UP, the
horses were always happy on the trail, and we were too. It is
amazing what you can do, just dont fool yourself that things
will be perfect, they WONT. Realizing things would be
miserable, and preparing before the ride on how I would deal
with that agony was the key that made this a fantastic
experience.

I am an overweight (60lbs), 43 year old housewife, I
dont work out but did start walking with my horse on rides as
I know this is the only way I would get any exercise. I did the
homework for my horse, I did the mental homework for me. I
didnt do anything away from our normal routine, other then
getting off and walking.

You know, a 100 mile ride really isn't a monster if your horse
is strong, healthy, sound and has a good attitude, but most of
all, YOU must be ready to deal with the down's that WILL come
during the ride. How you handle that will most likely determine
how you and your horse feel about the experience. Will I do one
again? I have no clue, but at least I KNOW we can!

I have many; many people to thank, from the management, vets,
ride help to crew, without them, this story would not have been
told. Thank each and every one of you!! Too many names, but you
all know who you are, and what you did!

Just don't forget the bagbalm!

Skyla and Tempo (big, strong and beautiful horse, inside and
out (ahh shucks Mom, you're embarrassing me)

High Hopes for a 100 - Patti Ristree

High Hopes for a 100

by Patti Ristree

Although the numbers in 100 mile rides have declined during the last several years, I've discovered my own growing desire to ride one. For any voyage of this magnitude, you need a guide, so I recruited a few of my endurance heroes to help me as mentors. Some are legendary, some are eloquent; all strike me as having a good dose of common sense, horsemanship and sense of humor in equal measure. Through a series of EN articles, I plan to share their
advice and the tale of my journey in hopes that it will benefit others and inspire them to join us.

If I can aspire to ride a 100 mile ride, trust me, virtually anyone can.

Like lots of endurance riders, I came to distance riding from another discipline--dressage. My ambition to ride a 100-miler is relatively new. In fact, I can recall announcing loudly some years ago that I couldn't imagine riding 100 miles unless I was being chased.

Famous last words and all that.

However, I met and married a man with aspirations of distance riding. I crewed and conditioned alongside him and did a handful of competitive trail rides. You can imagine the jaws dropping amongst my DQ (dressage queen) friends when I suggested that I might try riding my dressage prospect 50 miles.

We went for it anyway.

After several 50 mile rides, endurance friends began commenting on my horse, Breezewood Nevarre ('Ned'). "Now that's a 100 mile horse!"

Strangely, not a single person pointed an admiring finger my way or commented that I might be a 100 mile rider. I'm pushing 40, and firmly lingering on the 'heavy end' of the middleweight division. I am living proof that spandex is a privilege, not a right.

Ned, on the other hand, is 16+ hands, solid, straight, a lovely and athletic mover and, metabolically, a powerhouse. He is a 10-year-old Arabian-Trakehner cross and did his first 50 at Elk Valley (Pennsylvania) in 2001, one week after a recognized dressage show. He has never had a soundness issue to date and has earned himself a bunch of vet cards with nothing but As.

Thankfully, Ned has also developed a strong sense of self-preservation after jumping off a trail and down a steep slope as a green 5-year-old. One leap. (I mentioned that he was athletic, right?) He has humbled me repeatedly and inspires me to become a fitter person, and a better rider.

So what makes me think my horse and I might be ready for this heady trip?

Let's see what my mentors have had to say on the topic:

"It has always been my opinion it takes three seasons to make a 100 mile horse if you want that horse to be going as a teenager." (Mary Coleman)

Check. Got that.

Over the past six years, Ned and I have accrued over 1000 competitive and endurance miles. Before you get any ideas that I'm leading the pack, however, please realize that I'm the "Matron of the Middle of the Pack" and "Queen of the Conservatives," far more inclined to pull my horse than push him. Bottom line: I'm a conservative rider and a worrywart.

And trust me, this boy was so naughty as an adolescent that he's required to be around competing as a teenager.

"I think that with very few exceptions a horse that can do multidays and come through them in good shape (mentally as well as physically) can do a 100. . . . Doing multidays tells you a lot about your horse that you wouldn't know by only doing one-day rides, even if they are 100s." (Karen Chaton)

Ned and I have never done a multiday endurance ride. This is something we will add to our 2005 spring schedule. Early spring ride schedules are tough when you live near Buffalo. But perhaps Jan Stevens' new FITS series in Florida? Chicken Chase in Indiana?

"You and your horse need to be able to do 50 mile rides in seven hours or less and not be exhausted at the end of the ride, still feel able to go back out. If you're making 50 in seven hours but are completely hammered at the end, how are you going to do 50 more?

"I'm not saying 'not feel tired.' There is a different psychology in riding a 100 than a 50. As you approach the 50-mile vet check you are thinking of it as only a vet check, not the end. Of course, you're also pacing for 100 miles (that is, riding more slowly). So you don't feel the same as you would if you were finishing a 50.

"Something about being focused on the miles to go makes a real difference." (Joe Long)

Phew. We're okay on this one.

While we're middle-of-the-packers, we've also completed a 50 as fast as five hours and change. A couple of tougher rides, including one in the heat this year, took significantly longer. And neither of us is typically 'tapped' following a 50.

I remember Flesherton (Ontario) in 2003. I rode the last loop alone, and Ned seemed to be dragging. "Oh no!" I thought. "I broke him." Then he smelled camp, his internal GPS kicked in, his odometer said 48 miles. Don't know what it was, but I was managing a near runaway until the finish line. He does this to me consistently at every ride. Always plenty of fuel left in the tank.

"I was the one who had the mental block against doing a 100. I simply couldn't imagine doing that to my horse. I was afraid he'd hate me. As it turned out, Kaboot acted as if going 100 miles was the most natural thing in the world. At the 90 mile mark he was unsaddled, standing at the trailer on his picket line eating, but when I put the saddle on and put my foot in the stirrup he just automatically headed towards the outgate. I finally believed all those people who told me that the horse "comes back" after sundown (they do!) and that I could do it if they could. (I did!)" (Angie McGhee)

This quote comes from the self-proclaimed "least common denominator," "representative of the non-superhuman masses," "most average of average" Angie McGhee. She may not know it, but that self-description is a tremendous inspiration in itself because I know I'm no superwoman.
Her fear is my own. Do I dare ask this of my treasured horse?

"I'd like to tell you that I came up with the rigorous training program and stuck to it and kept logs and knew everything there is to know about my horse's fitness.

"However, if I did I'd be lying. I conditioned and rode just like I did for 50s.

"Mainly we did it because I really wanted to do it. Everyone said, 'Doing a 100 is mostly mental,' and I used to think 'yeah, right.'

"Well, your horse does need some amount of conditioning, I'll grant you that. But you have to really want to do one. All the conditioning in the world doesn't get you back on the horse at 10:00 p.m. with 40 more miles to go. Desire, however, will do strange things to us all.

"So, if you feel like your horse is physically okay to do one then you just have to decide that it's a serious goal of yours. And then you'll make it happen." (Tina Hicks)

While I'm naturally a bit nervous about the prospect, I really do want to do a 100 mile ride. In fact, it's been on my list of personal goals for nearly a year now.

And now for the big question--why? Why would someone want to add that extra 50 miles to an already long and tiring day?

"There is something so magical about being out at night after being on the trail all day on a long 100 with miles left to go. The night may be the best part of a 100 and I've tried to say it in some of my posts and ride stories.

"Sure, it's tough and you're tired, but thinking about the night times during a 100 still summons emotion from my heart. Perhaps others just want it to be over, but . . . for me, it doesn't last nearly long enough.

"Those memories are stamped on my mind forever." (Tom Noll)

Now it's sounding like it might be fun.

"There is kind of a 'zone' that you get into in the dark with your horse on a 100, where time becomes elastic and loses all meaning, and you are just out there together in this private existence. Words cannot express . . ." (Heidi Smith)

I had the privilege of riding Ned in the pitch dark for the last five miles or so of the Moonlight in Vermont ride in 2003. It was my first time riding in the dark, and I was unaccustomed to trusting my boy to pick his way from glowstick to glowstick, but as the miles went on I found myself giggling in some sort of idyllic trance. It was wonderful.

Care to join me?

Reprinted with permission from the January 2005 issue of Endurance News, official publication of the American Endurance Ride Conference, www.aerc.org, 866-271-2372.

LBL Express 2005 - April

by April

Nashville, TN

Late Thursday morning, Daniel and I met up with the Halls at our local market. The Halls live up the street from us and consist of Susan (mom), Ricky (dad), and Cindy (14 yo). Cindy and I ride together periodically and Cindy expressed an interest in endurance riding. So this spring, Cindy has been carefully working with her teenage mare, Stormy, with the idea of riding the 25 mile LD ride at LBL.

After getting fueled up and getting a pizza for the road, we headed toward LBL. The weather forecast was less than pleasant. Thunderstorms, rain, wind. But this was the only 25 mile ride I had in my planned season and I wanted Cindy and Stormy to have a taste of the endurance experience at an LD ride before jumping into doing 50s. So we were going.

It was chilly and both horses were blanketed for the trip. Windy, overcast and just chilly. The trip was uneventful and we arrived at the LBL Wranglers campground early afternoon.

We busied ourselves setting up camp. We chose a campsite right next to a bathhouse.

Tanna was to be tethered with a running picket line. Daniel put up the rope and we attached knot eliminators away from each pole to prevent Tanna from rubbing on the poles. He is a master at slipping his halter if he has something to help him. We attached another knot eliminator from which to hang Tanna's hay bag. Close enough for him to reach the hay, but far enough away to prevent him from being tangled in the bag. A lead rope securely tied to a locking climbing carabinger hooked over the rope completed the setup. Tanna ripped into his hay the minute he was put on his picket line. I showed him how far he could roam and then left him to eat (thrilled that he was, in fact, eating!).

Stormy was housed in a metal corral. We usually have Tanna in the metal corral, but with this Stormy's first endurance ride (to our knowledge), we thought it would be best to have her in the corral and tie Tanna, the expert (haha).

While setting up camp, the sun came out and warmed the day up. It was quite pleasant actually. Maybe the weather would be good?

We headed to the pavilion to sign in. Teddy Lancaster of Running Bear was parked near the pavilion and I paused to admire her new rig and say hi. Sign-in was painless and quick. Cindy and I received our rider packets and a water bottle with the LBL Express logo on it. Very nice. :-)

Back to get the horses and make the quarter mile hike to the vet check to vet in. Both horses vetted in with all As and were happy to drink from the concrete water troughs around the campground. I was happy both horses were drinking. Last year, I rode the 25 mile LD ride at LBL and Tanna drank nothing between the time we arrived on Thursday and the time we finished the 25 mile ride on Friday.

Cindy wanted to take Stormy on a ride to see if she was going to act up badly. So far Stormy had been acting quite calmly and rationally. No nervous fits, no jumping around like a magical jumping bean. Calm, serene. Like an old hand at camping. It is likely that she was taken on group trail rides in her life before Cindy got her, so maybe she just likes it. She is also quite attached to Tanna and Tanna is a very good camper as far as not being nervous and silly in camp. So maybe she was taking cues from him.

Cindy decided to ride bareback, but I thought a saddle was prudent, so I saddled up quickly minus my HRM, sponge and tights. I was wearing jeans and just decided to do the pre-ride in jeans. We were only planning a walk and maybe a bit of a trot.

We took the horses for stroll around camp, allowing Stormy to look and absorb. Lots of nice horse flesh to look at. No, I repeat, no electric corrals. They were not allowed this year from what I could see. Every horse was picketed, stalled, or in a metal corral. There were even a couple mules and a horse that were staked out to a stake in the ground. When I checked in and mentioned that Stormy would be in a pen, they were very careful to be sure I meant a metal corral and not an electric one.

The pre-ride was successful. Both horses were controllable. Energetic, but not stupidly so.

While on the ride, we saw the SERA scales set up near the vet check. So after unsaddling, we took both horses over to weigh them. Stormy weighed in at 942. Tanna weighed in at 822! I have tried and tried to get his weight up this winter and it appears I finally did. I don't think he needs to weigh any more than 825, but I was pleased with 822. Unfortunately, we didn't weigh the horses again. I meant to, but I kept forgetting to. So I have no idea how much weight either one of them lost during the ride. I need to buy my own scales to set up at my campsite. :-)

We had just enough time for supper before the ride meeting. We cleaned the camp up and blanketed the horses as we thought rain was surely coming again. I left Tanna eagerly eating his supper.

While waiting for the ride meeting to start, we hung out at Teddy's trailer, conveniently located 20 feet from the ride meeting location. :-) I purchased more syringes (love those syringes!) and some EnduraMax and looked at the Freeform saddles she had on display. She doesn't sell the Freeform saddles, but she does have them to look at. They are interesting looking and look shorter than the sports saddle I tried last year.

The ride meeting was interesting as always. :-) Dr. Mike Habel and Otis Schmidt were on hand as vets. A couple more vets were coming, but had not arrived. The LD ride was to start at 6:45. 15 minutes after the 50s left. Since the 25s and the 50s started on different trails, there was not going to be a problem with too many horses on trail. 40-some-odd riders in the 25 and about 17 in the 50. 3 riders were entered in the 2-day 100. Of the 40 LD riders, there were 6 JRs entered and all 6 were on their first ride. The LD riders had 2 loops. The first loop would be 14 miles and the second loop 11. I really liked that. Last year, the loops were the same, but the shorter loop was first last year. I like the 14 mile loop first. Pulse at the vet check was 64. 60 at the finish, of course. 40 minute hold.

SERA president, Truman Prevatt, announced that SERA is in the process of accepting donations for a portable blood analysis machine that would travel the SE rides like the scales. Hopefully, there will be more information about that on the SERA website.

After the ride meeting was a new rider's meeting. We hung out for a little bit listening, but it started to get late and we needed to check on the horses before going to bed. We slipped out. After walking the horses and settling them with hay and water for the night, we went to bed.

The storms came in waves throughout the night. During a lull, I woke Cindy up and we walked the horses around again and checked their hay and water. Back to bed to listen to the storms come in and roll out. The alarm rang at 4:30 and I got up. I made sure Cindy was awake (she was) and went about my preparations for the day. It was NOT raining and I was thrilled about that. I don't like saddling in the rain.

By 6:30, Cindy and I were mounted and headed for the start. Both
horses were alert and excited. Stormy acted up a bit whenever we were
near the other horses, but we kept walking around and tried to keep
her calm and occupied. Tanna was being angelic. :-) We met up with
Jackie, a friend from Middle TN, and decided to start the ride
together. We allowed the pack to get away while we offered water to
our horses and Cindy hopped off to tighten her girth. When most of the
other riders were out of sight, we calmly started our ride at a walk
and across the nearby road into the woods.

We soon picked up a slow trot. Tanna was doing ok. Stormy was fighting
and acting up a bit, but not too terribly much. Somewhat normal for
her. Jackie and Serina (sp?) were ahead a little ways. We came to the
first hill. Not too much of a hill, but steep and with the recent
rains, muddy.

Somebody had dropped their water bottle on the trail and Jackie
commented on it. Then her horse flipped out. I'm not sure of all the
sequence of events, even though it happened directly in front of me,
but Serina reared and the saddle slipped. Or maybe the saddle slipped
first and she reared in protest and caused it to slip more.
Fortunately, Serina did NOT go over backwards. That would have been
very very bad. And that probably would have involved Tanna and me as
we were directly in the line of fire for that. Serina came down and
spun back towards camp. I tried to get Tanna to block her, but it
didn't work too well as she just stepped off trail. Then Jackie was
off on the ground and Serina was flying back down the trail towards
camp, bucking, with the saddle around her hips. Tanna was having his
own fit on the side of the hill, but I got him under control and
checked with Jackie. She got up and assured me she was fine. Knowing
there was really nothing else we could do, Cindy and I continued on
while Jackie headed back to camp.

We found out later that Serina had sped straight back to her trailer.
Eyewitness accounts report that the saddle was under her belly and she
was moving out fast. When she passed the small restaurant, 2 park
rangers sprung into action to follow her. Later Jackie told us that
she and Serina were both bruised but fine. Whew. That could have been
disasterous!

On with the ride. Tanna and Stormy worked well together. Since the
trail was two-track a lot of the way, we rode side by side. We did the
14 mile loop in 2 hours 24 minutes. A good 5.8 mph pace. My goal for
this loop was a 5.5 - 6 mph pace on trail, leaving plenty of leeway
for a longer hold or any problems we might encounter on trail.

The vet check wasn't too bad, but Stormy didn't want to trot out in
her bridle (and away from Tanna), so I trotted Tanna to encourage
Stormy to trot. Maybe not the best, but it worked. Cindy now knows to
work on trotting out with a bridle. :-) Both horses did fine on vet
scores. Tanna received a B on guts, but As everywhere else (hydration
scores As!!!!!). Stormy also received a B on guts, but also a B on
impulsion (no surprise there due to her lack of willingness to trot
away) and a B on wounds. This was a mystery as Cindy and I saw no
wounds. Only old scars from an old accident with a fence. We could
have asked the vet, but we'd already left the vet check and as long as
there wasn't a problem, we figured it didn't matter so much.

We opted to return to our campsite for our hold. I tied Tanna to the
trailer with his hay bag gaping in front of him and mixed his beet
pulp mash. For this trip, I had premeasured meals in gallon bags.
Complete with supplements. Very handy. I think I will do this for
future rides. All I had to do was find a bag labeled VC, put it in a
bucket, dump some water in and serve.

Tanna ate most of his mash and some hay. I left him tacked up with a
loose girth and loose breast collar, ready to go out again at a
moment's notice. At some point, I gave him his mini-dose of
electrolytes and a follow-up of Fasttrack/Neigh-Lox.

I changed from my sweatshirt (which was soaked in sweat) into a ride
t-shirt and put my non-breathing rain coat back on. It hadn't rained,
but that didn't mean it wouldn't.

At our out time, I told Cindy we could go any time. She resaddled and
we mounted up and headed out 15 minutes late. We saw Jackie at the vet
check area and chatted with her a few minutes before going out for our
11 mile loop. Tanna was eager to go out again. Stormy, a bit confused.
:-)

About half-way through this loop, we caught up with Diane riding an
appy. He was refueling along the trail when we caught up with her.
Tanna thought that was a great idea and grabbed some grass along the
way, too. Diane decided we were going a reasonable speed (SLOW) and
rode with us for awhile. Until I stopped to find a bush. She decided
to head on. Tanna took advantage of the break and I rewarded him with
half a granola bar (I got the other half!).

Tanna was thrilled that the other horse had gone on. He loves nothing
better than tracking and catching a horse in front of us. :-) He was
having a great time and so was I. I think Stormy and Cindy were
enjoying themselves, too, although Stormy was showing signs of being
tired and/or bored. She had definitely settled down, but she was a far
cry from being exhausted or overworked. She was just mellower. :-)

We walked when the trail got too muddy and slippery. Tried to make
time where we could. We also stopped for a few minutes to let the
horses enjoy some good grass. The weather was overcast, but not as
chilly as the first loop and I was fairly comfortable
temperature-wise.

After awhile, we caught up with Diane and rode the rest of the way in
with her. About 20 minutes from the finish, it began to rain lightly.
At least it waited till the end of our ride. :-)

We did the 11 mile loop in 2 hours 15 minutes. Slower than the first
loop. 4.8 mph. But we stopped a lot more on the second loop and ended
up walking more due to muddier conditions and trying to get the horses
to eat while walking. Add in the 15 minutes we started late and our
loop average was only 4.4 mph. But we had 20 minutes to spare. :-)

Both horses were down when we presented them for pulse. Tanna repeated
mostly As, with a B for gut. Stormy trotted out better as we had her
parents bring the halter to the finish, but still received a B for
impulsion, a B for guts, added a B for gait (she was a bit tired) and
a B for muscle tone. All in all a decent ride and Stormy and Cindy's
first completion! :-)

The ride cards were being kept until the ride meeting, but since we
were planning on heading home before awards, I had Daniel take
pictures of our ride cards and made arrangements with Jackie to bring
our completion awards back to Middle TN. Our horses were snug in their
pastures at home long before the awards would have been presented and
we deemed that the best thing for both horses.

We headed back to camp and cleaned up the horses. Tanna polished off
the mash he'd left from the vet check and ate some more hay. I hosed
off his lower legs and scraped off a lot of the dried mud from his
belly. Most of the camp had been packed already by Daniel and Cindy's
parents, so all we needed to do was take care of the horses and let
them rest a bit. We walked both horses to the water trough on the
other side of the bathhouse and both horses drank well. Stormy still
needs to learn to drink and eat better, but she did eat and drink
some.

This ride is due some great weather. Maybe it will be next year. I'm
not sure but what I would have bailed if it had only been me to think
about. As it was, I'm glad we went and Cindy and Stormy had a good
first ride.

Thanks to the Fruths for putting on this ride and to the vets and all
the volunteers for being cheerful and making this ride happen despite
the bad weather! Here's hoping the weather was better today!

April
Nashville, TN

Death Valley Encounter 2004 - a true story

2004 Death Valley Encounter - a true story

Peggy Eaton

The DVE ride the year was truly a test of endurance for all horse/rider combinations that rode any day, any number of days, any distance, through any weather! Just getting out of bed in the freezing wind and rain each day to ride your horse, was an accomplishment in itself! Hats off to anyone who rode any part of the ride! And hats off to Jackie and her steadfast crew of volunteers! Most folks may have thought we were nuts for doin' it, and maybe we were, but boy.....it was a great adventure and lots of fun despite the challenging conditions....

O.K. - enough of that stuff and on to the ride details.... at least on the LD, which we both rode every day on the same horses...

My husband Bob and I, our wonderful horses Yahoo! and Dakota, had a GREAT time enduring all these elements - it had its moments, but it was worth it, after driving 6 hours from Carmel Valley and wondering what we were in for....

Day 1 began for us sometime after midnight when we awoke to the sound of pelting rain on the roof of our LQ.... at 5am we got a slight reprieve from it to get our horses fed and grained for the 7am start we were planning...well, unfortunately the rain returned with a vengeance. We watched as other riders toughed it out and saddled their horses in the driving rain.... it didn't look like much fun to us, so we were thinking of sitting this day out. Poor Jackie, who had never had to deal with RAIN, much less this MUCH RAIN during the many years she's done the DVE ride, was at her wits end on what to do! It was decided the 50's would do the LD loop twice, instead of going over the Slate Mountain range, and on to Indian Ranch, as was usually done. The mountains were covered with snow and there was no way she was sending anybody out over them.

We watched as the bundled riders headed out at 7am, and it was amazing how many there were! The rain began to let up a bit and we decided our horses would be happier trotting down the trail than standing still in their pens in the nasty wind, rain and cold. We quickly saddled between raindrops and headed out down the trail, and soon the tracks were turning into streams and rivers.....we crossed the highway, rode past the junkyard, past the horse corrals and turned into the wind. This is when the rain really began coming down and we both could feel our feet getting deeper and deeper in the water that was collecting in our boots. Lucky for me, I discovered that my battery powered heated socks still worked in the rain, and I soon had warm water sloshing around my toes! Those suckers worked all 4 days too! I will be e-mailing the manufacturer about these socks to tell them my endurance ride story! Can't remember everyone we saw that day, but we do remember seeing Dave Rabe trot by, in his shorts, plastic bags wrapped around his feet flapping in the winds.... smiling and just as happy as ever! Amazing man, he is! We also saw Judy Long and Lucy Trumbull riding together, equally sodden as us!

Getting back to camp with soaking wet clothing and gear was the biggest bummer of the ride. My new saddle was no longer new.... the sheepskin that covered it weighed near 100 pounds as I removed it and laid it out to dry...Hah!
(It remained off my saddle for the rest of the ride). We cranked up the furnace to maximum in our LQ and had everything hanging everywhere to dry.....the weather held off a bit so we could put a few things outside to become "less wet". Bob's feet were frozen (he didn't have those battery powered electric socks which I must continue to rave about through this story...). I wrapped him in a down comforter in our 90-degree trailer and left him to "thaw". The weather got worse for a while in the pm and we really felt for those 50 milers that were still out there! But everyone returned safe and sound; most with smiles on their wet, wind-whipped faces and looking like a bunch of drowned rats! But we all were happy and felt good for our accomplishments! Yee Haw! On to Day 2!!!

Well, before Day 2 could begin, Jackie had to decide how the heck she could make a ride out of the day with the trail up the mountain buried in snow.... that was out of the question.... and the road between Ballarat and Indian Ranch was an inland lake. Then there was the fact that the rigs would probably get stuck in the desert mire at Indian Ranch, so one of the biggest changes right off the bat was that we would not be moving camp to Indian Ranch at the end of Day 1. Instead we'd all remain at Trona overnight, pack up and be on the highway to Ballarat by 6:30 am the next day, then in the saddle for an 8am start. That was kinda sucky to think about as there was a good chance we'd be packing our gear up in the dark, in the rain, freezing in the wind, early the next morning. That just really sounded awful...Bob and I had the added ordeal of loading our corral panels on top of our LQ, which majorly sucked...!
Well despite all these hitches, we all persevered and got it done. We even had time to pull our neighbor's rig out of the bottom of a small riverbed they'd become a part of the night before.

We all caravanned behind the Duck's trailer through the darkness, north up the highway, passing a rather large boulder that was sitting in the southbound lane (thank goodness we weren't headed that way). We arrived at Ballarat and proceeded to park off the side of the road - giant parallel parking situation for our rigs. Katie Alton was just behind us with her parents, and looked just as beamy and happy as ever, and just as anxious to head down that nasty but exciting trail as we were! Overnight, the "inland lake" on the road between Ballarat and Indian Ranch had reduced itself to "inland lakelets" that we were able to negotiate just fine with our puddle-sloshing ponies!
There was no rain this day, but there was plenty of wind to make up for it - especially after the Indian Ranch vet check when we turned and headed into the wind and back to our temporary parking station along the road. We unsaddled, loaded our dry horses into the rig and headed out to Panamint Springs...a day earlier than we would usually arrive.

Day 3 was real easy and the weather was GREAT, sunny all day.....we rode back down the highway we'd driven in on, turned right, and then did the jeep road back toward Indian Wells that we would usually do on the 3rd day, in the opposite direction.... to a vet check out off the road -the same one we got "buzzed at" by a jet fighter last year (some of you may so colorfully remember!).... no jets this year though! We LDers turned around and went back the same way...the 50's continued up the hill and did a loop out beyond, we believe it was the usual trail with the deep sand washes, and then returned back to camp the same way we did. We were lucky on the LD ride.....we heard stories of the 50 milers hanging onto their saddles - getting lifted out of them and blown sideways during some nasty gale force winds that developed in the afternoon. Back at camp, the afternoon went from balmy nice to nasty cold winds just before dark. The sky remained blue that day and we were able to get the last bit of moisture out of our soggy stuff from Day 1.

That night at the ride meeting, there was much discussion of what the heck we'd be doing for the next day. Jackie was busily reorganizing trails and volunteers with the talk of 6" of snow in Darwin and the even deeper snow out at the corrals that was the usual lunch stop for the 50's. Then there was the tragic news of the helicopter crash on the highway just beyond Panamint Springs which had it completely closed to traffic so the FAA could get in and do their investigation. They weren't sure they would have highway access to the vet check for an ambulance trailer and crews. It was decided they'd make a decision and let the 50's know what they'd be doing in the morning, but it didn't look so good to do the usual loop out to the corrals.

We went to bed to the sound of howling wind and knew the temperature outside was dropping as our forced air furnace was kicking on more often (man, we love our LQ!!!). It was tough to sleep that night, thinking of our poor horses out in the cold howling wind and thinking we'd have to endure it from the saddle in the early morning. I headed out for my usual chore of feeding the horses at 5am and noticed that not only was it extremely windy and cold...but there were no stars to be seen. That's when I felt a few drops of rain on my face and realized we were really screwed.... today we'd be heading higher in altitude, knowing we'd be hitting snow, and knowing that the worst was not over and that it had probably just begun! Sure enough, the trail from Darwin out to the corrals was cancelled for the 50's. Instead they'd be doing our LD loop with us, and then heading back down the highway to do some of the trail from the previous day.
We bundled ourselves up, just as heavy as ever (BTW, I must share with you that I was never cold, - the secret to my success was silk thermal underwear, both top and bottom, those FABULOUS battery-powered heated socks, thermal riding pants, International Expedition rain pants from REI, a turtle neck, fleece coat, Carhardt jacket, fleece head and neck cover, polar fleece riding gloves that stayed fairly warm despite getting wet, International Expedition rain coat with hood from REI, and my Troxel crash helmet....I probably weighed another 30 pounds, but it worked! I had Ariat Terrains which I will upgrade to the waterproof kind.).

We headed up the highway to the trailhead. The highway had fortunately been reopened to traffic although it didn't matter so much to us as the 50's would no longer be going to the corrals.

We climbed up that long rocky jeep trail though the scenic canyons.... lots and lots of rock as we remembered. It got colder, the higher we climbed. For a while the rains held back which made riding conditions more comfortable. Today, Bob and I were riding with Lucy Trumbull who was planning on riding fairly slow in order to finish on her young horse. I had the same plan with my youngster. We decided that Bob would part ways with us somewhere halfway down the trail, and that Lucy and I would ride the rest of the trail together, if I survived the "separation anxiety" that Dakota would subject me to when Yahoo disappeared from sight. Luckily he was vastly improved from the previous time and it really wasn't a big deal. We started up the long trail next to the asphalt road, which was less than 1/2 way from Darwin. This was and always has been the most boring part of that day.... in the cold wind, it was even more of a bummer trail. We began to climb towards the top of the hill that would take us down to Darwin, and the rain began again. This time it was blowing straight at us, freezing cold and stinging your eyes when it hit. I resorted to my sunglasses to protect my eyes and then wished for little windshield wipers on them.....but it was better than the pain! I will add ski goggles to my riding attire if I ever have to ride in weather like this again!

The sloshy wet ground turned to snow as we climbed. My first time riding in snow and it was pretty cool! My horse was born and raised in Eastern Washington so he didn't bat an eye at the change of footing. Yahoo's done Day 2 - and ridden the top of that mountain through deep snow so he didn't care either. We hit the top of the hill above Darwin and we agreed it was the nastiest moment of the whole ride, when that cold icy wind just ripped right into you. We braced against it, leaning forward against our trusty steed's necks - we could see the town of Darwin in the distance and that was all that mattered to us! Our last day of "enduring" was 1/2 through and the home stretch was in sight!

Didn't see much of the town this year - we just braced against the wind and headed for the vet check. They told us there was no hold due to the nasty weather conditions.... what horse or human wanted to stand still and "rest" under those conditions!? We quickly vetted, grabbed a sandwich and headed back down the trail. The horses must have sensed our thinking and knew that this was the final trail home for 2004. We trotted along a nice flat sandy road and joined back up with the long winding rocky jeep road down to the highway. Lucy and I opted to walk on the ground for this part. The weather improved substantially and the sun emerged and steadily warmed us up to the point of being uncomfortable. We stopped and shed several layers each and tied them to our anxious steeds....they were totally onto us now and knew they were headed down the last trail of the ride. We hit the flats, remounted and began a steady trot home on our dry happy horses!

Bob had arrived at camp about 1/2 an hour before me to the cheers of many supporters who knew he had broken the curse of being a 3 and 1/2 day rider! Now he would finally be getting that sweatshirt and we'd be returning next year for sure!

The party that night was great fun. Food was good, band was great, we danced and danced until the clock struck midnight and the beginning of a New Year! We celebrated the new friends we'd made over the course of the ride, the greatness of our mounts, the exciting and challenging moments on the trail, the conquering of the lousy weather conditions, the beautiful rainbows we saw among the dramatic cloud formations, the wonderful help and support of people who helped us get through those 4 days, and we appreciated the absence of 2 trail conditions the previous year.....no dust to eat and no sand to blow in your eyes!
Our only sorrow is that we have to wait a full year to do it all over again! Thank you Jackie -

Bob and Peggy Eaton

Carmel Valley, California