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May 30, 2009
Besides being impulsive and frequently out of control, I also suffer from Big Mouth Disease. I often get the feeling that lots of people don’t like this about me.
My last attack happened when a co-worker told me about his wife doing endurance races. It hit like a thunderbolt. Suddenly I heard not a word he said as I saw my destiny as a world-famous endurance rider!! Fabulous images crossed my mind as I envisioned myself galloping through the dell, trailering around the world to compete, collecting ribbons and trophies, appearing on a late night show as a celebrity. Could this be an Olympic event for me?
Had I kept this inspiration to myself, there would have been no harm, no foul. But no. I had an onset of “Big Mouth Disease.” Because I regularly suffer from an overabundance of enthusiasm, I have a tendency to tell every walking human being who is not comatose of my grand schemes and ideas. That very day I told the entire student body and staff at the high school where I taught, half of Costco and the Oriental drycleaners (who I think speak no English) of my new ambition. When I told my long time horse shoer of my plan, he only arched his left eyebrow as he looked from me to my lazy, fat horse, Quincy. He said not a word, but listened as I babbled for an hour about training schedules, competitions and other nonsense I’d gleaned from internet experts.
Ah, reality. I was well into my second day of training when I became aware that my horse could handle long distances far better than my left knee could. I had forgotten about the Four-Hour-Fix my knee needed…the fix being to dismount and walk for a long spell. (This was the result of renting a horse in Mexico where the stirrups were set so high I had to ride like a jockey for hours.)
More!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
16,000 feet of climbing; 45 miles: Sweet! - Kevin Meyers
The Stuff That (Endurance) Dreams Are Made Of
3 Days; 16,000 feet of climbing; 45 miles
There are a few fleeting moments in life when everything comes together just right. This weekend was one such experience. Our ride plans changed mid-trip and we enjoyed a challenging three-day test experiment at Groom Creek in the mountains near Prescott, Arizona. I’m pleased to report a perfect ten for the glue-ons: I’m convinced.
We had the first rain in Arizona in months for the two days leading up to our departure. The trimmer came out the day before we were to apply the boots to get the hooves looking nice and balanced. For Rocky, the rain and the trim would make him too sore to ride. Far would have no issues with tenderness.
The rain stopped long enough to prepare Far’s feet for the glue-on boots. This horse is now at almost three weeks since his shoes were removed and has adapted nicely to barefoot. His hoof wall is breaking out a little where the nail holes are, but there is nothing that concerns me. The rain seemed not to soften his feet that much, and we set about drying his feet out by using the heat gun on the sole and around the outside of the wall. You can tell when the feet begin to dry because they change color.
The trick is to have everything at hand. Here is a photo of the materials we used to apply the boots.
More...
3 Days; 16,000 feet of climbing; 45 miles
There are a few fleeting moments in life when everything comes together just right. This weekend was one such experience. Our ride plans changed mid-trip and we enjoyed a challenging three-day test experiment at Groom Creek in the mountains near Prescott, Arizona. I’m pleased to report a perfect ten for the glue-ons: I’m convinced.
We had the first rain in Arizona in months for the two days leading up to our departure. The trimmer came out the day before we were to apply the boots to get the hooves looking nice and balanced. For Rocky, the rain and the trim would make him too sore to ride. Far would have no issues with tenderness.
The rain stopped long enough to prepare Far’s feet for the glue-on boots. This horse is now at almost three weeks since his shoes were removed and has adapted nicely to barefoot. His hoof wall is breaking out a little where the nail holes are, but there is nothing that concerns me. The rain seemed not to soften his feet that much, and we set about drying his feet out by using the heat gun on the sole and around the outside of the wall. You can tell when the feet begin to dry because they change color.
The trick is to have everything at hand. Here is a photo of the materials we used to apply the boots.
More...
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
A Horse called Monk
MONK's ride is scheduled for Sunday the 25th of May. It is in Idaho which is about a 10 hour drive from our Ranch in Penn Valley, CA. MONK got a early 3 mile Pony and then locked in his stall for breakfast while we finished loading the trailer. MONK loaded easy and we were off. We plugged the Idaho ranch location into our GPS and it said that we would arrive at about 7:30PM. We had almost a full tank of diesel. Sign said that it was 74 miles to Winamucca, Dodge computer said that we had about 78 miles worth of fuel left, so we decided to fuel in Winamucca.. Well as the we got a little closer the signs read like 35 miles to winamucca, Dodge computer said 2 miles left. Nothing in either direction for miles and miles... As the computer DTE got to 0 a big sign was visible in the distance. Fuel at Puckerbush....now there is a name.. We pulled into the big truck bays and Nancy took cash into the store... 10 minutes later she came back out, she said that she had to get her drivers license for them to hold until I was done fueling... never heard of such a thing. Anyway, when you are on 0 or minus 0 can't complain too much. I told Nancy that it was a good omen, that MONK was going to do good. With a full tank we headed out. As we got into Winamucca there were lots of signs "Welcome Bikers", and bikers there were.... Funny how they all seem to look the same, my wife says I should no go into why I think they look all the same.. They were coming from the north, from the south, traveling in groups as large as 50, and all of them with no mufflers.
...more
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Cache Creek Ridge Ride - Lucy Chaplin Trumbull
The inaugural Cache Creek Ridge Ride was this weekend, held on
the annual weekend where it "suddenly gets really hot and everyone
wilts" (followed next weekend by the "pours with rain and everyone
gets wet at Wild West" weather... we'll see how that goes).
Looking at the GPS track, the trail was a tangled mess of loops, but
in reality it was *perfectly* marked and only a lack of attention on our
part had us go off trail a couple of times (gawping at the views).
What is most memorable about this ride is it had more water than
I've ever seen at a ride before - at times it was every half mile. It was
quite astonishing. Where there weren't troughs, there were a multitude
of cow ponds... so much for being worried about the water issue. We
actually made bad time because we kept stopping to sponge and let
the horses drink (good for the horses, bad for "making time while it
is still cool").
But it was just as well - the temps went up into the mid/high 90s (after
only just getting into the low 80s for the last few weeks) and we quavered
at the thought of being out there. I even clipped my horse for the first
time in my life (and afterwards wished I'd taken more off).
RM Jennifer Stalley opted to start the ride at 5:30 (well, I *did* want to
go to this ride for "Tevis training" - and that's exactly what I got), which
worked out really well.
There were a fair few climbs - thankfully, mostly gotten through before
the worst heat of the day; the footing was about perfect (probably a
good ride for a comfortably barefoot horse); and the views were beautiful.
I have to complain however. Jennifer told us there would be no rocks
or branches and I saw at least three rocks. And whacked my head on
a branch twice. And I saw some dead cow bones. She never mentioned
those.
Of course I fell off (which makes the fourth ride I've managed to fall off
during), but got a soft landing.
Roop was a little hot at the very end and took a while to pulse down, but
he'd been in Mr Self-Preservation mode for most of the day and was
getting As for everything else, so I was very pleased with him.
It was definitely Hot Weather Horse Management 101 out there - good stuff.
I know many people wisely chose to pull at the last vet check when a
long climb in the worst heat of the day took quite a bit out of the horses,
but as far as I know, none of those pulled horses were any worse for
wear - just very hot.
All in all, an excellent ride - lots of fun - kudos to Team Stalley and their
volunteers (many of which had never seen a horse, let alone done anything
endurance related) for putting this ride on.
the annual weekend where it "suddenly gets really hot and everyone
wilts" (followed next weekend by the "pours with rain and everyone
gets wet at Wild West" weather... we'll see how that goes).
Looking at the GPS track, the trail was a tangled mess of loops, but
in reality it was *perfectly* marked and only a lack of attention on our
part had us go off trail a couple of times (gawping at the views).
What is most memorable about this ride is it had more water than
I've ever seen at a ride before - at times it was every half mile. It was
quite astonishing. Where there weren't troughs, there were a multitude
of cow ponds... so much for being worried about the water issue. We
actually made bad time because we kept stopping to sponge and let
the horses drink (good for the horses, bad for "making time while it
is still cool").
But it was just as well - the temps went up into the mid/high 90s (after
only just getting into the low 80s for the last few weeks) and we quavered
at the thought of being out there. I even clipped my horse for the first
time in my life (and afterwards wished I'd taken more off).
RM Jennifer Stalley opted to start the ride at 5:30 (well, I *did* want to
go to this ride for "Tevis training" - and that's exactly what I got), which
worked out really well.
There were a fair few climbs - thankfully, mostly gotten through before
the worst heat of the day; the footing was about perfect (probably a
good ride for a comfortably barefoot horse); and the views were beautiful.
I have to complain however. Jennifer told us there would be no rocks
or branches and I saw at least three rocks. And whacked my head on
a branch twice. And I saw some dead cow bones. She never mentioned
those.
Of course I fell off (which makes the fourth ride I've managed to fall off
during), but got a soft landing.
Roop was a little hot at the very end and took a while to pulse down, but
he'd been in Mr Self-Preservation mode for most of the day and was
getting As for everything else, so I was very pleased with him.
It was definitely Hot Weather Horse Management 101 out there - good stuff.
I know many people wisely chose to pull at the last vet check when a
long climb in the worst heat of the day took quite a bit out of the horses,
but as far as I know, none of those pulled horses were any worse for
wear - just very hot.
All in all, an excellent ride - lots of fun - kudos to Team Stalley and their
volunteers (many of which had never seen a horse, let alone done anything
endurance related) for putting this ride on.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Barefoot at the Biltmore Challenge 2009
from Darolyn Butler
When we decided to make the 2200 mile round trip haul to the Biltmore Challenge this year, we didn’t even begin to know what a challenge it would become.
The riders in this trip included daughter, Cecilia Butler-Stasiuk, Enrique Searle Martinez (an Intl. rider from Chile), Deborah Sterling from Dallas, Tex, Carol Bracewell newly moved to Florida, Elizabeth Martin from Houston and me, Darolyn Butler.
The Spring ride season had kept us really busy with attending rides at least every two weeks with as many as 18 horses at one competition. The thing that initially made Biltmore tough was we had the big Bluebonnet Challenge Ride the very weekend before we were to leave for Biltmore on Tuesday. So as soon as we came off that trip with 12 horses, we started stripping trailers and repacking daughter CeCi’s trailer for the trip. We were taking 7 horses, (one to be delivered to a new buyer in N.C.) so my LQ trailer was out of the running, and although we could fit the 7 horses in my 4-Star, it didn’t have the, at least, minimal living area that CeCi’s and husband Jason’s did. So that meant the daunting job of sifting through my two personal trailers and the storage sheds for everything one needs for a week long trip on the road as well as the accruements for 6 competing horses.
By Monday afternoon, saddles and tack had been pulled and lined up in the barn hall; a cafeteria table was laden with all the other goodies, lanterns, electrolytes, blankets, etc to be loaded in an orderly fashion on Tuesday morning followed by an early afternoon departure. Then mother nature struck. We had been having fairly continuous rains for two weeks and the ground was seriously saturated already when on Monday night storm after storm here in the Gulf Coast put up to 10 inches of rain in the watershed area of Cypress Creek which we live on.
I was awakened around 5:30 AM Tuesday morning from the yelling and knocking of one of my boarders who had arrived to help us evacuate the horses. I quickly checked the flood stage on the computer and was shocked to see the creek level was over 23 feet, (normal is 3 feet) and I usually evacuate at 16-18 feet. I quickly put on my official flood tennis shoes (never get in flood water with boots on… rubber or leather) and dashed out to see the level on the road at the end of my drive way. It was already high. We quickly got the Envoy, the small truck and tractor out. I frantically called a neighbor, Richard, employee Jessie, and a boarder, Donna Shifflette with goose hook ups as I had only 1 truck and three gooseneck trailers sitting in my place. I got the first rig out as quick as possible, and up to high ground, then back for a second one. CeCi and help loaded the ready saddles into her trailer, but we didn’t have time to load horses, or any other equipment, feed or hay. Friends and volunteers were showing up to help with the eminent 68 horse evacuation and calls were going out to those that I knew would help and had experience at this massive chore.
Richard hooked up to CeCi’s rig, Donna arrived and hooked up to the LQ. And then all 68 horses were marched through knee deep to chest deep flood water to the waiting trailers. The local Constables were called to help slow down traffic for us as we had to make many u turns in the middle of Cypresswood Drive’s 4 lane highway. Of course morning traffic was at its peak, although many people were being discouraged from driving as the whole of Houston was under water in many places.
Our stallion was ridden over to Sovereign Farms (next door) along with 3 of the Biltmore bound horses. The other four ended up at the ten acre pasture over near Bush Airport where we are able to place the horses for a few days. At that point, I wasn’t even sure Biltmore was still possible…. But as the last horses were successfully taken off the flooded farm, I reloaded the Biltmore horses from the “evac pasture” and took them back to Sovereign where they had a regular box stall.
In the meantime, CeCi had organized a brilliant canoe brigade for bringing out at least a dozen sacks of feed, 12 bales of hay, and all of our other ride and camping equipment. The neighbors were kind enough to let us park the 4 rigs at their place & we spent the rest of the day sorting through the trailers and repacking the Sundowner which we would be traveling in. Bummer, late that afternoon, someone stole one of our canoes from the frontage road so that made it a bit more difficult to get things out.
As the rain had stopped, I fully expected the Creek to go down & perhaps we could start “un-evacing” the horses on Wednesday morning, still with time to leave for Biltmore by Wednesday afternoon. Not to be, the rains started again that night and the Creek went up 3-4 more feet to a final crest of 27-28 feet. Luckily CeCi’s husband Jason arrived from their home in N. Texas that evening and helped with the final pack out on Wednesday morning, and agreed to stay at the ranch and bring the horses back in later Wednesday or Thursday when the water went down. So, with 3 final canoe trips bringing out our personal luggage, food and other supplies, CeCi, Enrique and I got on the road by mid afternoon. Jason would later fly into Biltmore with crew Member Donna Shifflette.
Only a bit drained, (no pun intended), we started East on I-10 hoping to make at least 500 miles (about ½ of the journey) that day. We arrived at an RV Park near Mobile and parked for the night. We had a successful early start on Thursday morning expecting to arrive at Biltmore around 4:30-5:00 PM. That would have still given the horses a fairly good rest for the competition. However, the demons were rampant and we had a double blow out on the right rear side of the trailer just across the Georgia state line. One wheel/tire had been totally sheered off, and the battered rim was all that was left on the other. This event alone could make a small novel, but the short version is, US Rider sent us a local trailer to pick up the horses & place them safely on a small farm, but the mechanics they sent were not anywhere capable of taking on this massive repair issue. Coincidentally, a mechanic had had a flat just behind us, and it turned out his company was the best garage for miles around, A La Grange Automotive, in La Grange, Ga. These guys were amazing, The blow outs occurred at 1:30 PM, they started work around 2:30, they had to order/pick up parts, etc., and they did all the work on the side of the road as there was really no way to get the trailer towed without using two tow trucks they told me. They had me rolling by 5:30 PM. I went back south to get the horses, back North and stopped in La Grange for fuel and to have them install two new batteries while we had a gourmet dinner at Waffle House and on our way by 9 PM.
We rolled into Biltmore around 4:30 AM… I did have to stop once and take an hour nap. Unloaded, built pens and crashed for a few hours. I had kept our “on-the-road & in-the-air” riders and crews apprised of the issues and progress throughout the day, because at one time I really thought there was no way to get that trailer fixed and having desperately, but fruitlessly searched for a 6 horse trailer to rent in the area it looked like mission impossible. We even considered having Jason start driving with my 4-Star…. But time certainly wasn’t on our side there. So to have these guys fix the trailer and get us on the road was like a small miracle.
Checking the horses upon arising Friday morning we discovered Macproof was a bit droopy. As he was CeCi’s mount for the 100 we started scrambling on what to do. Should we drop him back to the 50, should we scratch him entirely??? We had an extra horse with us, Tarzan, who was being delivered to his new owner (and part of our crew) Kate Burnett. We asked, and a very generous Kate agreed to let him go in the 50 under Elizabeth Martin/Houston. CeCi changed to DJB Juniper in the 75, Enrique took DJB Fantasia in the 50, and Carol Bracewell took DJB Boomer in the 50, leaving Deborah Sterling on DJB Cherrys Juliet and me on Mercy as the only ones on our original horses. Of course this called for saddle readjustments and all sorts of stuff.
After confusing the heck out of ride management, Cheryl Newman, who was wonderful by the way… we got all of the entries done and started vet checking the horses. The veterinarians expressed concern about the horses attempting it barefooted, but we assured them we did have boots if needed.
Cheryl had sent out an e mail warning us all about some new bluestone gravel that had recently been put on about a mile of road. I really wanted to drive up to that area and take a look at it and the edge of the road to see how it could be handled by our barefooted horses, but I just didn’t have enough time. The ride meeting started at 5:30 and with weigh ins and such, we just barely made it there. Since we were riding the longer distances, CeCi and I were a bit concerned about this gravel road, and CeCi momentarily considered putting on front shoes, however, judgment prevailed and we both fitted our easy boots and Easyboot gloves & placed them on the saddle in case we needed them. All 6 horses started barefooted.
The hundreds went out first of course, with a four wheeler leading the way in the dark. I started back a ways and through the first loop made my way up to 12th or so. Mercy was handling the terrain beautifully. CeCi started 30 minutes later in the 75, and 30 minutes later Enrique, Carol, Deborah and Elizabeth in the 50. I think almost everyone in the ride took a wrong trail here or there and we were no exception. It’s always so frustrating when every moment counts and one has made a stupid error or in some cases, there was just a missing marker. They are not allowed to use any ribbon at Biltmore and for the most part they are excellent marked trails, but just tricky at times.
CeCi hit the bluestone gravel first on her last loop of the 75, but I didn’t get a report as I had to leave on that same loop before she came in. Mercy was tiring a bit and I was falling off my pace, but CeCi and Enrique were going strong. CeCi did not boot for the gravel and came through fine. She ended up placing 2nd by about 5 minutes I think, and 1st FEI. Enrique was 4th in the AERC 50 & 1st FEI and BC in the FEI. Carol and Deborah finished middle of the pack and received their 1 Stars (the goal) and Elizabeth finished way back on Tarzan who was not nearly as conditioned as the other horses… but he didn’t do to bad for a stand end. I just received an e mail from new owner Kate, she said the folks at his new stable near Raleigh were just in awe of his feet and totally impressed with how they looked after 50 miles. They just couldn’t believe it.
I started the 5th loop (the one with the mile of bad gravel road) with the “gloves” on so I wouldn’t have to stop and put them on at the gravel, but I noticed Mercy didn’t seem nearly as surefooted with them on as it had rained and the trails were very slick in places. Shortly after the gravel, Nina Warren came by and we chatted about the slickness… geesh I thought, and quickly got down and removed them. They are really quick and easy to take off. I had to do that loop one more time and the next time, I just waited until I got to the gravel, put the boots on, and then removed them right after once again. So in total, I may have run about 8 miles of the 100 in the boots. My finish at 11:21 PM gave our little group of 6 Cypress Trails Horses a 100 per cent completion rate in a race that went from 67% in the 50, to 62% in the 100. I think both riders and veterinarians were amazed. I’m always surprised though that more people don’t ask to look at their feet after such a ride.
One fellow rider did ask me if I fed a special supplement to make their feet hard. “Nope”, I said. “Oh, they are just Texas tough?” he replied. I laughed, “Are you kidding? I live in a swamp and sand. I have to go lookin’ for broken asphalt to find anything abrasive to ride on. They are just healthy feet and have thick hoof walls and soles.” It’s really interesting; Mercy and June both have very flat feet. I used to stress about the lack of concavity, but now I think those thick soles just give them extra protection.
Valerie Kanavy rode a brilliant 100 Mile ride on her latest up and coming star, Spectacular Gold, followed closely by Farzad Faryadi on Bullwinkle.
75 Milers: A local rider, Bonnie Hannah won the AERC Divistion on Rezus Respite. CeCi and DJB Juniper 1st FEI Division. B.C. went to Stagg Newman's horse Super ridden by Dom Freeman of Britain.
50 Miler: Bob Geilen won and BC'd in the AERC Division and Enrique Searle Martinez and DJB Fantasia won the FEI & BC Division.
Our group was on a total high. This is 18 year old Enrique’s 5th ride since he’s been in the U.S. and he impresses me at each one of them. Deborah and Elizabeth are very new riders and doing great. Carol is an old hand, but has had some injuries that have kept her sidelined. So good to have her up and riding. I know I can always count on the ladies to take care of my horses. And of course the indomitable CeCi, who did a fabulous job on one of my favorite mares, Juniper. Crew was audacious as CeCi’s husband, Jason Stasiuk, Donna Shifflette, Kate Burnett, and Elizabeth’s Aunt Diana proved to be right on top of everything! And of course, there were those that jumped in with help at the line, like Jeremy Reynolds and loaners of hay and “strange grain”!! Thanks everyone!!
When we decided to make the 2200 mile round trip haul to the Biltmore Challenge this year, we didn’t even begin to know what a challenge it would become.
The riders in this trip included daughter, Cecilia Butler-Stasiuk, Enrique Searle Martinez (an Intl. rider from Chile), Deborah Sterling from Dallas, Tex, Carol Bracewell newly moved to Florida, Elizabeth Martin from Houston and me, Darolyn Butler.
The Spring ride season had kept us really busy with attending rides at least every two weeks with as many as 18 horses at one competition. The thing that initially made Biltmore tough was we had the big Bluebonnet Challenge Ride the very weekend before we were to leave for Biltmore on Tuesday. So as soon as we came off that trip with 12 horses, we started stripping trailers and repacking daughter CeCi’s trailer for the trip. We were taking 7 horses, (one to be delivered to a new buyer in N.C.) so my LQ trailer was out of the running, and although we could fit the 7 horses in my 4-Star, it didn’t have the, at least, minimal living area that CeCi’s and husband Jason’s did. So that meant the daunting job of sifting through my two personal trailers and the storage sheds for everything one needs for a week long trip on the road as well as the accruements for 6 competing horses.
By Monday afternoon, saddles and tack had been pulled and lined up in the barn hall; a cafeteria table was laden with all the other goodies, lanterns, electrolytes, blankets, etc to be loaded in an orderly fashion on Tuesday morning followed by an early afternoon departure. Then mother nature struck. We had been having fairly continuous rains for two weeks and the ground was seriously saturated already when on Monday night storm after storm here in the Gulf Coast put up to 10 inches of rain in the watershed area of Cypress Creek which we live on.
I was awakened around 5:30 AM Tuesday morning from the yelling and knocking of one of my boarders who had arrived to help us evacuate the horses. I quickly checked the flood stage on the computer and was shocked to see the creek level was over 23 feet, (normal is 3 feet) and I usually evacuate at 16-18 feet. I quickly put on my official flood tennis shoes (never get in flood water with boots on… rubber or leather) and dashed out to see the level on the road at the end of my drive way. It was already high. We quickly got the Envoy, the small truck and tractor out. I frantically called a neighbor, Richard, employee Jessie, and a boarder, Donna Shifflette with goose hook ups as I had only 1 truck and three gooseneck trailers sitting in my place. I got the first rig out as quick as possible, and up to high ground, then back for a second one. CeCi and help loaded the ready saddles into her trailer, but we didn’t have time to load horses, or any other equipment, feed or hay. Friends and volunteers were showing up to help with the eminent 68 horse evacuation and calls were going out to those that I knew would help and had experience at this massive chore.
Richard hooked up to CeCi’s rig, Donna arrived and hooked up to the LQ. And then all 68 horses were marched through knee deep to chest deep flood water to the waiting trailers. The local Constables were called to help slow down traffic for us as we had to make many u turns in the middle of Cypresswood Drive’s 4 lane highway. Of course morning traffic was at its peak, although many people were being discouraged from driving as the whole of Houston was under water in many places.
Our stallion was ridden over to Sovereign Farms (next door) along with 3 of the Biltmore bound horses. The other four ended up at the ten acre pasture over near Bush Airport where we are able to place the horses for a few days. At that point, I wasn’t even sure Biltmore was still possible…. But as the last horses were successfully taken off the flooded farm, I reloaded the Biltmore horses from the “evac pasture” and took them back to Sovereign where they had a regular box stall.
In the meantime, CeCi had organized a brilliant canoe brigade for bringing out at least a dozen sacks of feed, 12 bales of hay, and all of our other ride and camping equipment. The neighbors were kind enough to let us park the 4 rigs at their place & we spent the rest of the day sorting through the trailers and repacking the Sundowner which we would be traveling in. Bummer, late that afternoon, someone stole one of our canoes from the frontage road so that made it a bit more difficult to get things out.
As the rain had stopped, I fully expected the Creek to go down & perhaps we could start “un-evacing” the horses on Wednesday morning, still with time to leave for Biltmore by Wednesday afternoon. Not to be, the rains started again that night and the Creek went up 3-4 more feet to a final crest of 27-28 feet. Luckily CeCi’s husband Jason arrived from their home in N. Texas that evening and helped with the final pack out on Wednesday morning, and agreed to stay at the ranch and bring the horses back in later Wednesday or Thursday when the water went down. So, with 3 final canoe trips bringing out our personal luggage, food and other supplies, CeCi, Enrique and I got on the road by mid afternoon. Jason would later fly into Biltmore with crew Member Donna Shifflette.
Only a bit drained, (no pun intended), we started East on I-10 hoping to make at least 500 miles (about ½ of the journey) that day. We arrived at an RV Park near Mobile and parked for the night. We had a successful early start on Thursday morning expecting to arrive at Biltmore around 4:30-5:00 PM. That would have still given the horses a fairly good rest for the competition. However, the demons were rampant and we had a double blow out on the right rear side of the trailer just across the Georgia state line. One wheel/tire had been totally sheered off, and the battered rim was all that was left on the other. This event alone could make a small novel, but the short version is, US Rider sent us a local trailer to pick up the horses & place them safely on a small farm, but the mechanics they sent were not anywhere capable of taking on this massive repair issue. Coincidentally, a mechanic had had a flat just behind us, and it turned out his company was the best garage for miles around, A La Grange Automotive, in La Grange, Ga. These guys were amazing, The blow outs occurred at 1:30 PM, they started work around 2:30, they had to order/pick up parts, etc., and they did all the work on the side of the road as there was really no way to get the trailer towed without using two tow trucks they told me. They had me rolling by 5:30 PM. I went back south to get the horses, back North and stopped in La Grange for fuel and to have them install two new batteries while we had a gourmet dinner at Waffle House and on our way by 9 PM.
We rolled into Biltmore around 4:30 AM… I did have to stop once and take an hour nap. Unloaded, built pens and crashed for a few hours. I had kept our “on-the-road & in-the-air” riders and crews apprised of the issues and progress throughout the day, because at one time I really thought there was no way to get that trailer fixed and having desperately, but fruitlessly searched for a 6 horse trailer to rent in the area it looked like mission impossible. We even considered having Jason start driving with my 4-Star…. But time certainly wasn’t on our side there. So to have these guys fix the trailer and get us on the road was like a small miracle.
Checking the horses upon arising Friday morning we discovered Macproof was a bit droopy. As he was CeCi’s mount for the 100 we started scrambling on what to do. Should we drop him back to the 50, should we scratch him entirely??? We had an extra horse with us, Tarzan, who was being delivered to his new owner (and part of our crew) Kate Burnett. We asked, and a very generous Kate agreed to let him go in the 50 under Elizabeth Martin/Houston. CeCi changed to DJB Juniper in the 75, Enrique took DJB Fantasia in the 50, and Carol Bracewell took DJB Boomer in the 50, leaving Deborah Sterling on DJB Cherrys Juliet and me on Mercy as the only ones on our original horses. Of course this called for saddle readjustments and all sorts of stuff.
After confusing the heck out of ride management, Cheryl Newman, who was wonderful by the way… we got all of the entries done and started vet checking the horses. The veterinarians expressed concern about the horses attempting it barefooted, but we assured them we did have boots if needed.
Cheryl had sent out an e mail warning us all about some new bluestone gravel that had recently been put on about a mile of road. I really wanted to drive up to that area and take a look at it and the edge of the road to see how it could be handled by our barefooted horses, but I just didn’t have enough time. The ride meeting started at 5:30 and with weigh ins and such, we just barely made it there. Since we were riding the longer distances, CeCi and I were a bit concerned about this gravel road, and CeCi momentarily considered putting on front shoes, however, judgment prevailed and we both fitted our easy boots and Easyboot gloves & placed them on the saddle in case we needed them. All 6 horses started barefooted.
The hundreds went out first of course, with a four wheeler leading the way in the dark. I started back a ways and through the first loop made my way up to 12th or so. Mercy was handling the terrain beautifully. CeCi started 30 minutes later in the 75, and 30 minutes later Enrique, Carol, Deborah and Elizabeth in the 50. I think almost everyone in the ride took a wrong trail here or there and we were no exception. It’s always so frustrating when every moment counts and one has made a stupid error or in some cases, there was just a missing marker. They are not allowed to use any ribbon at Biltmore and for the most part they are excellent marked trails, but just tricky at times.
CeCi hit the bluestone gravel first on her last loop of the 75, but I didn’t get a report as I had to leave on that same loop before she came in. Mercy was tiring a bit and I was falling off my pace, but CeCi and Enrique were going strong. CeCi did not boot for the gravel and came through fine. She ended up placing 2nd by about 5 minutes I think, and 1st FEI. Enrique was 4th in the AERC 50 & 1st FEI and BC in the FEI. Carol and Deborah finished middle of the pack and received their 1 Stars (the goal) and Elizabeth finished way back on Tarzan who was not nearly as conditioned as the other horses… but he didn’t do to bad for a stand end. I just received an e mail from new owner Kate, she said the folks at his new stable near Raleigh were just in awe of his feet and totally impressed with how they looked after 50 miles. They just couldn’t believe it.
I started the 5th loop (the one with the mile of bad gravel road) with the “gloves” on so I wouldn’t have to stop and put them on at the gravel, but I noticed Mercy didn’t seem nearly as surefooted with them on as it had rained and the trails were very slick in places. Shortly after the gravel, Nina Warren came by and we chatted about the slickness… geesh I thought, and quickly got down and removed them. They are really quick and easy to take off. I had to do that loop one more time and the next time, I just waited until I got to the gravel, put the boots on, and then removed them right after once again. So in total, I may have run about 8 miles of the 100 in the boots. My finish at 11:21 PM gave our little group of 6 Cypress Trails Horses a 100 per cent completion rate in a race that went from 67% in the 50, to 62% in the 100. I think both riders and veterinarians were amazed. I’m always surprised though that more people don’t ask to look at their feet after such a ride.
One fellow rider did ask me if I fed a special supplement to make their feet hard. “Nope”, I said. “Oh, they are just Texas tough?” he replied. I laughed, “Are you kidding? I live in a swamp and sand. I have to go lookin’ for broken asphalt to find anything abrasive to ride on. They are just healthy feet and have thick hoof walls and soles.” It’s really interesting; Mercy and June both have very flat feet. I used to stress about the lack of concavity, but now I think those thick soles just give them extra protection.
Valerie Kanavy rode a brilliant 100 Mile ride on her latest up and coming star, Spectacular Gold, followed closely by Farzad Faryadi on Bullwinkle.
75 Milers: A local rider, Bonnie Hannah won the AERC Divistion on Rezus Respite. CeCi and DJB Juniper 1st FEI Division. B.C. went to Stagg Newman's horse Super ridden by Dom Freeman of Britain.
50 Miler: Bob Geilen won and BC'd in the AERC Division and Enrique Searle Martinez and DJB Fantasia won the FEI & BC Division.
Our group was on a total high. This is 18 year old Enrique’s 5th ride since he’s been in the U.S. and he impresses me at each one of them. Deborah and Elizabeth are very new riders and doing great. Carol is an old hand, but has had some injuries that have kept her sidelined. So good to have her up and riding. I know I can always count on the ladies to take care of my horses. And of course the indomitable CeCi, who did a fabulous job on one of my favorite mares, Juniper. Crew was audacious as CeCi’s husband, Jason Stasiuk, Donna Shifflette, Kate Burnett, and Elizabeth’s Aunt Diana proved to be right on top of everything! And of course, there were those that jumped in with help at the line, like Jeremy Reynolds and loaners of hay and “strange grain”!! Thanks everyone!!
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Tall Pines Endurance Ride - Anne P
Beavercreekfarm - Full Story
How the West Was Spun Blog
May 4, 2009
We are back from the Tall Pines Endurance Ride. We had an absolute blast! By far, this ride was the nicest we've been to so far.
Ride camp is about 1.5 miles in on BLM/National Forest land in the Gila National Forest, near Silver City, NM. The camp is an open area where several arroyos run down out of the mountains.
Friday, we rode out on the 30-mile ride. There were two loops: One 16-mile loop that went out of camp through the arroyo and then headed up into the mountains behind us, past an old mining camp and then back down another sandy wash and headed out cross-country through a private ranch, before turning and coming back into camp. The second loop was 12 miles and a bit more technical. We headed out of camp in the same arroyo, but then turned more quickly and went up into the steeper, rockier mountains, where we rode under HUGE pine trees, before easing back down through a narrow rocky canyon, and then riding back down the arroyo into camp.
The trail was wonderfully marked, so there were no real worries about getting lost. The ride managers had water out about every 4 miles, which was great, since it was warm, and Sam and Bhen are more used to the cooler mountain temps these days.
More...
How the West Was Spun Blog
May 4, 2009
We are back from the Tall Pines Endurance Ride. We had an absolute blast! By far, this ride was the nicest we've been to so far.
Ride camp is about 1.5 miles in on BLM/National Forest land in the Gila National Forest, near Silver City, NM. The camp is an open area where several arroyos run down out of the mountains.
Friday, we rode out on the 30-mile ride. There were two loops: One 16-mile loop that went out of camp through the arroyo and then headed up into the mountains behind us, past an old mining camp and then back down another sandy wash and headed out cross-country through a private ranch, before turning and coming back into camp. The second loop was 12 miles and a bit more technical. We headed out of camp in the same arroyo, but then turned more quickly and went up into the steeper, rockier mountains, where we rode under HUGE pine trees, before easing back down through a narrow rocky canyon, and then riding back down the arroyo into camp.
The trail was wonderfully marked, so there were no real worries about getting lost. The ride managers had water out about every 4 miles, which was great, since it was warm, and Sam and Bhen are more used to the cooler mountain temps these days.
More...
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
2009 Pan American Championship - Uruguay
Steph's Wrap-up Stories:
Part 1 - The Ride Venue
The venue is empty - all the tents are packed up and put away, the USA horses left this morning, all's quiet. The hotel here is empty too, except for me.
...more
Part 2 - The Team Effort: Uruguay and Argentina
This event really felt like a team affair. More so than other Championships I've been too. Perhaps it was due to the individuals who participated, or maybe the nature of the countries - more sensitive to each other, to a group effort, to National pride. Maybe it was just my perception - but it was a delightful competition in this respect.
...more
Part 3 - The Team Effort - USA
And the Americans had a great competition! Finally! The last time the USA won a Team medal was at the Pan American Championship in 2005 held in Argentina. It was a very good event for the riders, the crews, and the USEF staff.
...more
Part 5 - The Team Effort: Guatemala and Malaysia
And hooray for Guatemala! They have only been doing Endurance for 4 years, but are learning fast and are highly dedicated.
...more
Part 1 - The Ride Venue The venue is empty - all the tents are packed up and put away, the USA horses left this morning, all's quiet. The hotel here is empty too, except for me.
...more
Part 2 - The Team Effort: Uruguay and ArgentinaThis event really felt like a team affair. More so than other Championships I've been too. Perhaps it was due to the individuals who participated, or maybe the nature of the countries - more sensitive to each other, to a group effort, to National pride. Maybe it was just my perception - but it was a delightful competition in this respect.
...more
Part 3 - The Team Effort - USAAnd the Americans had a great competition! Finally! The last time the USA won a Team medal was at the Pan American Championship in 2005 held in Argentina. It was a very good event for the riders, the crews, and the USEF staff.
...more
Part 5 - The Team Effort: Guatemala and Malaysia
And hooray for Guatemala! They have only been doing Endurance for 4 years, but are learning fast and are highly dedicated.
...more
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Million Pines - Angie's Story
Whoopee, finally back at Million Pines my FAVORITE event after one year
of being a good mom and staying home for daughter's senior prom. (I
talked to her on the phone the other two years that she went and she sent
me photos of her hairdo on my cell phone) :-P We have gone to this ride
almost every year...I think 15 out of 18 that they've had. It's always
held on Josie's birthday weekend and she's had most of her birthday
celebrations there until a 3 year break where she went to proms that were
always held on that weekend. That's finally history so we were excited to
be back! Buddy Lynda Webber hauled down with us with her horse Bailey and
she and Josie would be riding possibly top 10 while 7 and I aimed for a
good completion a little farther back.
As Steve Rojek said, the weather was a "gift". It was cool, low humidity,
a light breeze, no sign of rain, PERFECT. They warned us the trails were
WET but that just meant there were some deep creek crossings. No mud
worth mentioning really. While I went south to Million Pines Jody went
north to Chicken Chase. Whoever that was that said they wanted to ride
with Jody, let me warn you...she is rediculously COMPETITIVE in ALL
THINGS. If you trained with her she'd try to beat you at training...and
she'd want Joni to beat you too! :-) So, she's turned Joni loose to ride
as an adult featherweight this year, meanwhile Josie is finally competing
more after graduation and she rides as a featherweight. Meanwhile Jody
and I are both dealing with trying to get a decent horse started and
having our share of delays, so our kids are getting the impression they
might be better than we are at this...and of course we talk to each other
about how *we're* the reason they're doing any good anyway...but she
still wants to BEAT ME at getting a horse started and her kid do better
than mine to show she's better at that part too!
Long story short. Perfect day, everybody had a great time, 7 had a good
day but Lynda and Josie were having a *really* good day. They did have
one mishap. There was the coolest swamp you had to ride through. I'd
give anything if the photographer could have gotten us there. Without
markers, and a great deal of faith in Wesley Crowe I would never have
*dreamed* of letting a horse put one foot in it, much less ride through
it. There was just a low black lake (swamp), in a darkish hollow, with
Cypress trees growing right up out of the water with the creepy looking
roots. The grove was thick but had a wide path through the middle that
was wide enough for a car to have driven through if it had been drained.
There was a good current crossing the path at one point and as the horses
stepped down into it the water went up high on their chests. When Lynda &
Josie were crossing it with the front runners Lynda's horse Bailey
stepped through is running martingale and had a not so fun "incident".
She had to jump off into the chest high water and try to disassemble the
thing with an anxious horse trying to go on with the others. He knocked
her off her feet at one point. Josie & Kyle stayed with her but it took a
while and they finally convinced Kyle to go on. Could have been a lot
worse I guess. >shudder< Lynda's pretty tall. I crossed the same thing
with a running martingale and if I'd have had to get off I might have had
to dog paddle! :-O
At the next check Lynda decided to drop back and let her horse eat a bit
so she took herself out of the hunt. Wesley Crowe's horse won the race
with Brandy riding, Josie, Steve Rojek & Elizabeth Allen? tied for 2nd.
When I finished Josie ran over and told me Jody had called and Joni had
won Chicken Chase. Great, Josie pulls off a 2nd and "Miss Competitive"
had to manage a first! >g
BC...Josie's Cade won!!! OK, so what *I* wanted to know was how Jody did
on Booger since I'm sure she'd consider that the tie breaker on the
weekend. Well, she finished higher...I *think* she said 11th...but there
were 30? entries. 7 finished 18th, but there were over 60 entries... hmm.
This could get involved. I mean...their times beat ours, but you just
can't compare different courses...right? I would be willing to call it a
tie and not count the rest of the season but that will never do for her.
Honestly, Million Pines is the friendliest, prettiest setting, best run,
*fun* ride I know. Nobody does it better and they just keep pulling off
the good weather. I had the prettiest camp I have ever had, parked in a
shady grove of pines looking across his beautiful lake watching his 2
Arabs and a very fit goat trot and canter circles around that lake night
and day. Josie has had a heck of a Spring and this was definitely the
cherry on top of the icing on the cake. She's been coveting that same
trunk for as long as she can remember and had been soo disappointed when
she was a little girl the year Kaboot came in 2nd in BC and *almost*
brought one home. This was a dream come true for her. :-)))
Angie McGhee
of being a good mom and staying home for daughter's senior prom. (I
talked to her on the phone the other two years that she went and she sent
me photos of her hairdo on my cell phone) :-P We have gone to this ride
almost every year...I think 15 out of 18 that they've had. It's always
held on Josie's birthday weekend and she's had most of her birthday
celebrations there until a 3 year break where she went to proms that were
always held on that weekend. That's finally history so we were excited to
be back! Buddy Lynda Webber hauled down with us with her horse Bailey and
she and Josie would be riding possibly top 10 while 7 and I aimed for a
good completion a little farther back.
As Steve Rojek said, the weather was a "gift". It was cool, low humidity,
a light breeze, no sign of rain, PERFECT. They warned us the trails were
WET but that just meant there were some deep creek crossings. No mud
worth mentioning really. While I went south to Million Pines Jody went
north to Chicken Chase. Whoever that was that said they wanted to ride
with Jody, let me warn you...she is rediculously COMPETITIVE in ALL
THINGS. If you trained with her she'd try to beat you at training...and
she'd want Joni to beat you too! :-) So, she's turned Joni loose to ride
as an adult featherweight this year, meanwhile Josie is finally competing
more after graduation and she rides as a featherweight. Meanwhile Jody
and I are both dealing with trying to get a decent horse started and
having our share of delays, so our kids are getting the impression they
might be better than we are at this...and of course we talk to each other
about how *we're* the reason they're doing any good anyway...but she
still wants to BEAT ME at getting a horse started and her kid do better
than mine to show she's better at that part too!
Long story short. Perfect day, everybody had a great time, 7 had a good
day but Lynda and Josie were having a *really* good day. They did have
one mishap. There was the coolest swamp you had to ride through. I'd
give anything if the photographer could have gotten us there. Without
markers, and a great deal of faith in Wesley Crowe I would never have
*dreamed* of letting a horse put one foot in it, much less ride through
it. There was just a low black lake (swamp), in a darkish hollow, with
Cypress trees growing right up out of the water with the creepy looking
roots. The grove was thick but had a wide path through the middle that
was wide enough for a car to have driven through if it had been drained.
There was a good current crossing the path at one point and as the horses
stepped down into it the water went up high on their chests. When Lynda &
Josie were crossing it with the front runners Lynda's horse Bailey
stepped through is running martingale and had a not so fun "incident".
She had to jump off into the chest high water and try to disassemble the
thing with an anxious horse trying to go on with the others. He knocked
her off her feet at one point. Josie & Kyle stayed with her but it took a
while and they finally convinced Kyle to go on. Could have been a lot
worse I guess. >shudder< Lynda's pretty tall. I crossed the same thing
with a running martingale and if I'd have had to get off I might have had
to dog paddle! :-O
At the next check Lynda decided to drop back and let her horse eat a bit
so she took herself out of the hunt. Wesley Crowe's horse won the race
with Brandy riding, Josie, Steve Rojek & Elizabeth Allen? tied for 2nd.
When I finished Josie ran over and told me Jody had called and Joni had
won Chicken Chase. Great, Josie pulls off a 2nd and "Miss Competitive"
had to manage a first! >g
BC...Josie's Cade won!!! OK, so what *I* wanted to know was how Jody did
on Booger since I'm sure she'd consider that the tie breaker on the
weekend. Well, she finished higher...I *think* she said 11th...but there
were 30? entries. 7 finished 18th, but there were over 60 entries... hmm.
This could get involved. I mean...their times beat ours, but you just
can't compare different courses...right? I would be willing to call it a
tie and not count the rest of the season but that will never do for her.
Honestly, Million Pines is the friendliest, prettiest setting, best run,
*fun* ride I know. Nobody does it better and they just keep pulling off
the good weather. I had the prettiest camp I have ever had, parked in a
shady grove of pines looking across his beautiful lake watching his 2
Arabs and a very fit goat trot and canter circles around that lake night
and day. Josie has had a heck of a Spring and this was definitely the
cherry on top of the icing on the cake. She's been coveting that same
trunk for as long as she can remember and had been soo disappointed when
she was a little girl the year Kaboot came in 2nd in BC and *almost*
brought one home. This was a dream come true for her. :-)))
Angie McGhee
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Serious about Saddlery
Horsebytes - A blog for Seattle-area horse folks
Posted by Monica Bretherton
No group is more intense about saddle fit than endurance riders - with good reason. Ideally, the saddle is the "user interface" between horse and rider, helping to distribute weight and keep rider and horse in tune, but it can rapidly become a source of discomfort or outright pain for both on a longer ride.
So I was intrigued when a few months back, Cathy Leddy showed me her Specialized Saddle's shim system that customizes the fit under removable foam panels. In theory, this seemed like a great system, but I am skeptical of perfect systems, as life as a way of throwing me the curve balls.
There are already a lot of shim systems out there, most of them in saddle pads. the best known is perhaps the Corrector by Les Brown. Some upscale makers like Thinline and Mattes have also added systems of their own. There is a big market for correction saddle pads as a quick fix for some of the most common saddle fitting problems, like a back that is changing through fitness, as skilled saddle flockers are hard to find. At between $150 and $300 dollars, though, pads can be a pricey bandaid that don't quite do enough.
A different animal
The Specialized Saddle is different than a correction pad. The adjustment shims are an integral part of the saddle, through the wonders of velcro with high density foam ships sandwiched in between. The adjustments are made in the space between the tree and the thick foam panels that spread the weight on the horse's back, so there is no lumpiness or bumpiness in the curved weight-bearing surface.
The gullet width can also be altered by adjusting where the panels are attached to the tree, so the standard saddle is truly customizeable to almost any horse (for a super-wide back, the company makes an extra-wide tree).
Well, I thought, sounds great, but how does this work out in practice? With all this focus on fitting the horse, was the rider being neglected?
[...more]
Posted by Monica Bretherton
No group is more intense about saddle fit than endurance riders - with good reason. Ideally, the saddle is the "user interface" between horse and rider, helping to distribute weight and keep rider and horse in tune, but it can rapidly become a source of discomfort or outright pain for both on a longer ride.
So I was intrigued when a few months back, Cathy Leddy showed me her Specialized Saddle's shim system that customizes the fit under removable foam panels. In theory, this seemed like a great system, but I am skeptical of perfect systems, as life as a way of throwing me the curve balls.
There are already a lot of shim systems out there, most of them in saddle pads. the best known is perhaps the Corrector by Les Brown. Some upscale makers like Thinline and Mattes have also added systems of their own. There is a big market for correction saddle pads as a quick fix for some of the most common saddle fitting problems, like a back that is changing through fitness, as skilled saddle flockers are hard to find. At between $150 and $300 dollars, though, pads can be a pricey bandaid that don't quite do enough.
A different animal
The Specialized Saddle is different than a correction pad. The adjustment shims are an integral part of the saddle, through the wonders of velcro with high density foam ships sandwiched in between. The adjustments are made in the space between the tree and the thick foam panels that spread the weight on the horse's back, so there is no lumpiness or bumpiness in the curved weight-bearing surface.
The gullet width can also be altered by adjusting where the panels are attached to the tree, so the standard saddle is truly customizeable to almost any horse (for a super-wide back, the company makes an extra-wide tree).
Well, I thought, sounds great, but how does this work out in practice? With all this focus on fitting the horse, was the rider being neglected?
[...more]
Monday, April 13, 2009
MONK Wins 50 Mile FEI Endurance Ride
FEIRedHorse.blogspot.com, Chris Martin
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Get R Done, FEI Endurance Ride
MONK Wins 50 Mile FEI Endurance Ride
at Get R Done, Inyokern, CA
There is a reason not many people live in Inyokern, CA, that reason is weather. We made the 10 hour drive to the ride and arrived at about 5PM on Thursday. The wind was blowing maybe 40mph before it really picked up. I got MONK's food and water out and tied him to the trailer and went inside and hunkered down and read my book. The trailer was rocking from the wind blasts. As soon as it got dark I went out and put on his blanket and walked him around a bit. The wind blew until I fell asleep at about 10PM.
Friday morning came and the wind was gone. Tempature was mid 40's so I stayed inside for awhile after I got walked MONK and got him some more grain.
The camp is situated about 1/2 mile from where everything else happens. We made the trip over to the vet area at about noon and vetted in. I actually made the jog down and back without my knee giving me too much problem. We headed back to camp to wait for Lindsay and Eric to arrive. The crewing area is at the main vetting area so you have to haul all of your stuff to the crewing area, so I loaded up the truck and drove down and then hauled all of the stuff the 100 yards to the crewing area. Being there early help secure us a primo spot, so I laid out the water buckets, chairs and ice chest in a area of about 12x12.
When they showed up at about 5pm we had to get the saddle adjusted for her stirrup length. I took off the fenders that I ride in and put on the webbers for her. That took more then a few minutes and I had her ride MONK around for a few minutes to make sure we got it right. Once we had the saddle correct we had to take all of the tack down to the main vet area to get Lindsay weighed. For the 50 mile FEI ride you have to weigh 155#'s. The scale weighed in KG and she was 70.2 which is just over the weight requirement.
Lindsay arrived at the trailer at 6am to get monk ready for the 7am departure. Everything went smoothly and we were ready to start a warm up a little after 6:30am. MONK looked good as did Lindsay, they make a great pair. The game plan was to have fun and keep MONK safe. Lindsay has 200 endurance miles of holding MONK back. We took a video of the start of the ride as we drove along side the riders. When we stopped to turn around Lindsay and MONK were 7th.
Controlled start, see video in Picassa link. Eric and I waited out on the trail to take some pictures of the coming down the trail. Lindsay was riding with 3 other riders, so top 4 riders, all FEI riders right together. We took some video and headed back to wait for them to arrive.
They did something that I had not seen before with the gate into the hold. As it was explained, you come into the first water troff where crewing is allowed. As soon as your horse is ready, 64bpm, you call for a time. If you are FEI and you reach the vet and your horse is above 64 your are out. If you are AERC you get to go to the end of the line and start over.
Being first in line we were not able to take advantage of what the other riders figured out in a heartbeat. As soon as all vets were busy you just called for time where ever your horse was because you knew you were going to stand in line for awhile. That way you got quite a jump on others who did not figure it out... Might work in a perfect world.
After lunch all 4 of the 50 mile front runners headed out. We met them at various locations along the trail and took more video.
At the last water trough all 4 riders came in together, all looking strong. I gave MONK his electrolytes quickly and Lindsay was out on the trail. She got about a 90 second jump on the other three riders. She held this lead all the way to the finish line............ Remaining 3 riders showed up 1 minute after Lindsay.
The other problem that caused miner problems was the scales at the finish line did not work.. Now this would not make a big difference except that FEI top ten riders have 10 minutes to present their horses for a CRI. If your horse has reached the 64 bpm you can get a completion at that time. If not then you have to come back in 30 minutes for another exam, but the CRI is used to compute your scores for Best Condition. The problem is that the finish line is about 200 yards from the vet area. We had to take saddles off and play games with the scales for 5 minutes. That 5 minutes is valuable time that we could of been taking care of our horses. There was no water or feed at the finish line so we just stood around, taking our saddles off and then back on and then back off again.
When we were finally done re-inventing the weigh in procedure we headed for the vet. Horses grabbed a very quick drink and out time was up. Again, being first in line has a disadvantage in this case is that all riders behind you have the benefit of being having to wait, their horses will more then likely have a better CRI then the first place horse, with was MONK.
Two of the front four horses were pulled for lameness. I understood that they had come a very long distance for the one star FEI ride, somewhere like Colorado.
After our showing for BC and our completion Lindsay walked MONK back to camp. Eric and I put all of the crewing stuff in the back of the truck and headed back.
Ride time was just short of 5 hours, which is not really that fast for a very flat 50. I do understand that it was a real 50 though.
Lindsay and I iced and wrapped MONKS legs before they headed home. I had decided to stay the night and leave in the morning.
MONK looked great in the morning. I pulled his wraps and took him for a walk. We went over the the vet area at about 7am to pick up Lindsay's completion T shirt and to see how we did on the BC score and to pick up his pass port. I was very disappointed that MONK did not get BC as he did get all A's except one B, BC went to the 2nd place rider, who I understand has a very talented horse. So, they were apparently out of the top ten bucket so I grabbed Lindsay's T-shirt and left.
A short 10 hours and MONK was home, he jumped out the trailer and immediately started eating grass. Where I live they can just hang out, as long as one is in the paddock nobody runs off.
On Firday morning I had a short meeting with Garrett Ford, owner of EasyCare Inc. the providers of the Glove and Glue on Easy Boots. I showed him the Goober Glue inside some used boots and told him about how well it worked and how I was using it. He seemed very interested. I will have product next week so will be looking for a few more testers.
Posted by Chris Martin at 7:10 PM
[...more]
Monday, March 30, 2009
Red Barn, Chester GA - Angie's Story
Just back from Red Barn/AHA Championship. If you looked at the techno-color weather
channel graphics, yep, that was us. Weather.com said it was going to rain 2" or so
Thurs, 1-2" Fri. have tornados and hail with rain Saturday. Then I had to make the
decision whether to just say, "what the heck?" and go or actually say,
"This is insane; why would I drive TOWARDS Armageddon? Well, for one thing we couldn't back out since Josie had been offered a ride on an FEI horse to get qualified for Young Riders and we couldn't stand the owner up. So...decided it was just one of those days you hope they're wrong and go.
We headed out Thursday morning. When I got up the wind was so strong the house was
popping and moaning. I had to lean into the wind to do my chores. It died down by 9 AM
but we drove I was getting constant updates from all sides on my cell phone, people
telling me the "convection index" was extremely high and climbing. That's
apparently something that tells you if your chances of joining Dorothy and Toto in Kansas
are good. At one point as we were driving through Atlanta in a blowing rain I said,
"So, what should we do? Turn around? and Bill just laughed and pulled out his
wallet and handed me a quote someone had posted on ridecamp which was a forward from
another site.
It said some stuff about how as humans we need to place themselves in spots where the unexpected can ambush us. " It said "On a subconscious level, we need these mishaps. We understand that they pack powerful medicine. They're antidotes to the quiet desperation of modern life, reminding us that we as individuals, as a species-are survivors, showing us how truly extraordinary it is what humans can endure. How much we can outwit, outflank, or with clenched teeth, simply withstand." Then it ended with, "Sometimes we have to set out-presumably innocent of our interior motives-and go have a really bad time".
It seemed so appropriate at the time I just decided what the heck, let the bad times roll.
We drove through rain almost till we arrived. When we pulled it it was clear, and the ground was dry! They were supposed to have a couple of inches of rain but all they'd had were high winds. We hurried desperately trying to get a ride in on the borrowed horse to set stirrups, etc. It's not every day an 18 year old gets to ride one of Valarie Kanavy's horses and we were pretty overwhelmed by even the prospect when she offered. Managed to get in a pre-ride, set up camp, and still no rain! Went to bed expecting al heck to break loose any second. Nothing. Friday dawned with a light rain at 5:30 AM, but it stopped in time to saddle. We couldn't believe our luck when the ride started in the dry. All day reports came in that the "big storm" was hitting in an hour or two, then nothing. Finally some HIGH winds came through and rain for an hour and a half but considering what we'd expected it was blissfully wonderful weather.
I've got to throw in now that the camp and management for this ride were something I hadn't expected. WONDERFUL!!!. The name "Red Barn" made me picture cow pastures with a big red barn. Nix that. Try a summer camp setting, lots of TALL pines (lots of picket line opportunities) a lake, cottages, WONDERFUL. Also, management was unreal. The FOOD!! Would you believe racks of bbq ribs & all the fixings? I couldn't believe how well everything worked out. Then, Josie's borrowed mount, My Wild Irish Gold was an absolute DREAM (OK, she can throw a heck of a spook but lets herself get caught again thank you Megan Savory & Kyle) and came in 3rd and took BC! We'd worried how Josie would handle two days, but she rode a 50, came in and did a pre-ride with Cade & my borrowed mount Bailey, and then was good to go for Sat. All was well Friday night. We were still getting all the dramatic weather predictions but I'd pretty much decided this place was charmed. All the wild violent stuff was just splitting and going north and south of us. I went to bed to a warm peaceful evening.
Saturday morning I was out at 5:30 and saw flashes of lightning in the distance. Ugh. The 100's & 75's rode out in a controlled start at 7 AM with thunder rolling and the lightning coming closer. The treetops were unmoving against the dark sky, no wind at all, whatever it was was coming slowly and would probably hang around. The 50's were supposed to start at 8:00. As the thunder and lightning picked up I got Josie to come out and saddle early and figured we could walk them thirty minutes to warm up and maybe get back in the trailer during the worst of the storm and hope it blew over quickly. We made one trip across camp and a huge KRACK-BOOM!! sent me hustling back to put the horses on the picket line and jump inside the trailer. The rain started and the lightning increased. I thought a lot about how stupid it is to get yourself killed but how much worse it would be to see your kid hit when it had been your call. Josie got all mad and was saying, "Let's just GO!" but I saw no reason to start on time when I'd just heard from the timer that we were catching the tail end of the worst of the storm and after that we'd be all clear. Why die for a top 10 muck bucket?
Might throw in here that I was not riding my own horse. Buddy Lynda Webber had a small skin cancer removed from her forehead this week and her Dr. wouldn't release her to ride fearing an infection. I needed a mount and her Bailey is a doozy so we both agreed I'd put a fifty on him to help her get him ready for the 100 at Biltmore. I figured I had plenty of horse to go fast later since he was BC at Hahira so what's a few minutes?
It died down enough to feel a little less INSANE to get on a horse and we left camp 8 min. late but walked a full 15 min. to warm them up before beginning to trot. 30 min or so later we were on 2 track going through the woods coming up on a dirt road crossing and I saw a chestnut horse running full tilt with no rider down the road. It was almost past us when for some reason it just hit me to do my best horse whinny. I used to be pretty good at that when I was a kid. Amazingly enough, the horse slammed on the brakes and took a hard left and trotted towards us in the woods. I jumped off Bailey and with both horses blocking trail managed to catch the mare. Josie had a hay rope in her pack and after a couple of tries we got her caught, tied and ponying down the road behind us. We could see she was a 75 miler so had at least an hour and 15 min. lead on us so figured it might be 10 or 15 miles before we found the owner. A mile or 2 later we saw a rider running across a distant field, staggering in the mud, waving. Josie said it looked like the love scene in an old movie. >g< I rode out to meet her and it was Eva DePaulis. She mounted up with her new blue hay rope reins and did the rest of the loop with us.
The rest of the story is, RAIN, THUNDER, RAIN, LIGHTNING, Why do you speed up when you see a bolt snake across the sky ahead? I dunno. I guess we figure a moving target is harder to hit. The trail held up pretty well CONSIDERING. I mean, things can always get worse. The sound of that ride was SPLASH, SPLASH instead of clip-clop. The trail had a current. The worst part was circling huge plowed fields. Those got bad. Management stayed so calm it was amazing. No snippiness. No panic. Just calm concern for us and appreciation for our sticking it out. Gary Sanderson made a run to town and came back with cups of Raman noodles and hot drinks. He was dishing it out. Honestly, the cup of soup he put in my hadn when I finished that ride was HEAVEN! Everyone was smiling all day. Something about doing something absolutely STUPID makes people smile. You just had to laugh at the rediculousness of it all. There was actually a tornado WARNING for the first few hours. In other words, one was on the round somewhere near. The trot out area was a swamp. It was pretty funny to watch riders and horses slogging along and imagine anyone telling what we were doing. The horses were doing great. We actually made good time overall after you averaged in the firm footing roads you could FLY on, and they were down when we got to the checks. We slowed down at the end since it was easy to be going along on firm ground then suddenly hit super soft sand that just gave way and almost do a nose dive. Pat Oliva passed us 1/2 mile from the finish line and knocked us out of top 10. Oh well, considering how we started the ride it was amazing to be that high up and honestly, who wanted to hang around for another hour and stand for BC when you could stay in the trailer and put on dry clothes! :-))
I think I read a typo that said the completion rates were low. I think starting rates were low. Half the 25 milers didn't start. Something like 17 out of 33. Only 17 50's started out of twenty something signed up. I think 10 out of 15 75's started and around 20? 100's.
I was so wet that I may as well have jumped in the lake to get the sand off. It was worse at the checks where you were near all those metal tent frames and freezing. I'd rather take my chances with lightning going down the trail keeping warm. Finishing was BLISS. I know I'll enjoy my next thunderstorm when I'm snuggled in a warm bed 10 times as much as anyone who didn't do that ride. :-) I can only imagine how those in the longer distances felt.
Kudos to Eric Reuter who ran a computer and handled sorting out probably a record number of different rides including AERC, FEI, AHA, and CT and never getting short tempered!!! He was amazing.
Nobody would ever have dreamed there was an FEI going on so far as being trouble by it. It was as down home a ride as any Million Pines you've ever been to. I can't say enough about the place & people and will definitely go back, despite the forecast again. Thanks to all involved!
Angie McGhee
channel graphics, yep, that was us. Weather.com said it was going to rain 2" or so
Thurs, 1-2" Fri. have tornados and hail with rain Saturday. Then I had to make the
decision whether to just say, "what the heck?" and go or actually say,
"This is insane; why would I drive TOWARDS Armageddon? Well, for one thing we couldn't back out since Josie had been offered a ride on an FEI horse to get qualified for Young Riders and we couldn't stand the owner up. So...decided it was just one of those days you hope they're wrong and go.
We headed out Thursday morning. When I got up the wind was so strong the house was
popping and moaning. I had to lean into the wind to do my chores. It died down by 9 AM
but we drove I was getting constant updates from all sides on my cell phone, people
telling me the "convection index" was extremely high and climbing. That's
apparently something that tells you if your chances of joining Dorothy and Toto in Kansas
are good. At one point as we were driving through Atlanta in a blowing rain I said,
"So, what should we do? Turn around? and Bill just laughed and pulled out his
wallet and handed me a quote someone had posted on ridecamp which was a forward from
another site.
It said some stuff about how as humans we need to place themselves in spots where the unexpected can ambush us. " It said "On a subconscious level, we need these mishaps. We understand that they pack powerful medicine. They're antidotes to the quiet desperation of modern life, reminding us that we as individuals, as a species-are survivors, showing us how truly extraordinary it is what humans can endure. How much we can outwit, outflank, or with clenched teeth, simply withstand." Then it ended with, "Sometimes we have to set out-presumably innocent of our interior motives-and go have a really bad time".
It seemed so appropriate at the time I just decided what the heck, let the bad times roll.
We drove through rain almost till we arrived. When we pulled it it was clear, and the ground was dry! They were supposed to have a couple of inches of rain but all they'd had were high winds. We hurried desperately trying to get a ride in on the borrowed horse to set stirrups, etc. It's not every day an 18 year old gets to ride one of Valarie Kanavy's horses and we were pretty overwhelmed by even the prospect when she offered. Managed to get in a pre-ride, set up camp, and still no rain! Went to bed expecting al heck to break loose any second. Nothing. Friday dawned with a light rain at 5:30 AM, but it stopped in time to saddle. We couldn't believe our luck when the ride started in the dry. All day reports came in that the "big storm" was hitting in an hour or two, then nothing. Finally some HIGH winds came through and rain for an hour and a half but considering what we'd expected it was blissfully wonderful weather.
I've got to throw in now that the camp and management for this ride were something I hadn't expected. WONDERFUL!!!. The name "Red Barn" made me picture cow pastures with a big red barn. Nix that. Try a summer camp setting, lots of TALL pines (lots of picket line opportunities) a lake, cottages, WONDERFUL. Also, management was unreal. The FOOD!! Would you believe racks of bbq ribs & all the fixings? I couldn't believe how well everything worked out. Then, Josie's borrowed mount, My Wild Irish Gold was an absolute DREAM (OK, she can throw a heck of a spook but lets herself get caught again thank you Megan Savory & Kyle) and came in 3rd and took BC! We'd worried how Josie would handle two days, but she rode a 50, came in and did a pre-ride with Cade & my borrowed mount Bailey, and then was good to go for Sat. All was well Friday night. We were still getting all the dramatic weather predictions but I'd pretty much decided this place was charmed. All the wild violent stuff was just splitting and going north and south of us. I went to bed to a warm peaceful evening.
Saturday morning I was out at 5:30 and saw flashes of lightning in the distance. Ugh. The 100's & 75's rode out in a controlled start at 7 AM with thunder rolling and the lightning coming closer. The treetops were unmoving against the dark sky, no wind at all, whatever it was was coming slowly and would probably hang around. The 50's were supposed to start at 8:00. As the thunder and lightning picked up I got Josie to come out and saddle early and figured we could walk them thirty minutes to warm up and maybe get back in the trailer during the worst of the storm and hope it blew over quickly. We made one trip across camp and a huge KRACK-BOOM!! sent me hustling back to put the horses on the picket line and jump inside the trailer. The rain started and the lightning increased. I thought a lot about how stupid it is to get yourself killed but how much worse it would be to see your kid hit when it had been your call. Josie got all mad and was saying, "Let's just GO!" but I saw no reason to start on time when I'd just heard from the timer that we were catching the tail end of the worst of the storm and after that we'd be all clear. Why die for a top 10 muck bucket?
Might throw in here that I was not riding my own horse. Buddy Lynda Webber had a small skin cancer removed from her forehead this week and her Dr. wouldn't release her to ride fearing an infection. I needed a mount and her Bailey is a doozy so we both agreed I'd put a fifty on him to help her get him ready for the 100 at Biltmore. I figured I had plenty of horse to go fast later since he was BC at Hahira so what's a few minutes?
It died down enough to feel a little less INSANE to get on a horse and we left camp 8 min. late but walked a full 15 min. to warm them up before beginning to trot. 30 min or so later we were on 2 track going through the woods coming up on a dirt road crossing and I saw a chestnut horse running full tilt with no rider down the road. It was almost past us when for some reason it just hit me to do my best horse whinny. I used to be pretty good at that when I was a kid. Amazingly enough, the horse slammed on the brakes and took a hard left and trotted towards us in the woods. I jumped off Bailey and with both horses blocking trail managed to catch the mare. Josie had a hay rope in her pack and after a couple of tries we got her caught, tied and ponying down the road behind us. We could see she was a 75 miler so had at least an hour and 15 min. lead on us so figured it might be 10 or 15 miles before we found the owner. A mile or 2 later we saw a rider running across a distant field, staggering in the mud, waving. Josie said it looked like the love scene in an old movie. >g< I rode out to meet her and it was Eva DePaulis. She mounted up with her new blue hay rope reins and did the rest of the loop with us.
The rest of the story is, RAIN, THUNDER, RAIN, LIGHTNING, Why do you speed up when you see a bolt snake across the sky ahead? I dunno. I guess we figure a moving target is harder to hit. The trail held up pretty well CONSIDERING. I mean, things can always get worse. The sound of that ride was SPLASH, SPLASH instead of clip-clop. The trail had a current. The worst part was circling huge plowed fields. Those got bad. Management stayed so calm it was amazing. No snippiness. No panic. Just calm concern for us and appreciation for our sticking it out. Gary Sanderson made a run to town and came back with cups of Raman noodles and hot drinks. He was dishing it out. Honestly, the cup of soup he put in my hadn when I finished that ride was HEAVEN! Everyone was smiling all day. Something about doing something absolutely STUPID makes people smile. You just had to laugh at the rediculousness of it all. There was actually a tornado WARNING for the first few hours. In other words, one was on the round somewhere near. The trot out area was a swamp. It was pretty funny to watch riders and horses slogging along and imagine anyone telling what we were doing. The horses were doing great. We actually made good time overall after you averaged in the firm footing roads you could FLY on, and they were down when we got to the checks. We slowed down at the end since it was easy to be going along on firm ground then suddenly hit super soft sand that just gave way and almost do a nose dive. Pat Oliva passed us 1/2 mile from the finish line and knocked us out of top 10. Oh well, considering how we started the ride it was amazing to be that high up and honestly, who wanted to hang around for another hour and stand for BC when you could stay in the trailer and put on dry clothes! :-))
I think I read a typo that said the completion rates were low. I think starting rates were low. Half the 25 milers didn't start. Something like 17 out of 33. Only 17 50's started out of twenty something signed up. I think 10 out of 15 75's started and around 20? 100's.
I was so wet that I may as well have jumped in the lake to get the sand off. It was worse at the checks where you were near all those metal tent frames and freezing. I'd rather take my chances with lightning going down the trail keeping warm. Finishing was BLISS. I know I'll enjoy my next thunderstorm when I'm snuggled in a warm bed 10 times as much as anyone who didn't do that ride. :-) I can only imagine how those in the longer distances felt.
Kudos to Eric Reuter who ran a computer and handled sorting out probably a record number of different rides including AERC, FEI, AHA, and CT and never getting short tempered!!! He was amazing.
Nobody would ever have dreamed there was an FEI going on so far as being trouble by it. It was as down home a ride as any Million Pines you've ever been to. I can't say enough about the place & people and will definitely go back, despite the forecast again. Thanks to all involved!
Angie McGhee
Friday, March 27, 2009
The John Singleton Mosby Heritage Multiday Ride - Team Virginia
Original Article - my-endurance.net
The final seven days of the VV rides are here, and it is time to put all our conditioning ..for both equines and human...to the test in our very own multiday -- a week long series of LD rides through the Loudoun, Clarke and Fauquier countryside Civil War haunts of the famous (and local!) Confederate hero Col. John Singleton Mosby and his Rangers.
John Singleton Mosby and his Rangers - 1864
Born in Powhatan County, Virginia and raised within view of Jefferson’s Monticello, John Singleton Mosby was the ultimate citizen soldier. University of Virginia-trained, he was a small town Virginia lawyer opposed to secession when the War broke out in 1861. Mosby started with 9 cavalrymen from the Confederate Cavalry command of J.E.B. Stuart on detached duty in Loudoun and Fauquier counties in early January 1863. Stuart supplied several more two weeks later. Mosby had immediate success with surprise attacks against the Union cavalry screen and its many small outposts on the Loudoun-Fairfax county line. This led men home on leave, boys ages 16 and 17, infantry convalescent’s, and a limited number of transfers from Stuart’s command to join the Rangers. The force grew in size, until some 1,911 men had served under Mosby.
Like land privateers, these “partisan” Rangers were allowed to keep what they took from Yankees. Mostly they took pistols, carbines (short repeating cavalry rifles), and horses. Most of the Rangers possessed 4 pistols and 4 horses to be always ready and well-armed for a raid with a fresh horse. Other materiel was sold to the Confederate Army or given to homeowners who took the risk of boarding rangers locally.
Mosby’s unit was formalized as the 43rd Battalion (later it was a Regiment) of Virginia Cavalry on June 10, 1863 in the parlor of the Rector House at Rector’s Crossroads (today’s Atoka). While one of only two units allowed to remain partisans in the Confederate Army, they took orders directly from President Davis, General Robert E. Lee, and Stuart. Raids were coordinated with other Confederate military activity. Usually, their goals were to demoralize the Union cavalry screen west of Washington, to attack supply trains, wagon trains, and outposts. In 1864-65, many of the Rangers’ raids focused on the northern Shenandoah Valley, aimed at Sheridan’s invading Union army.
On to Day 1!!
The final seven days of the VV rides are here, and it is time to put all our conditioning ..for both equines and human...to the test in our very own multiday -- a week long series of LD rides through the Loudoun, Clarke and Fauquier countryside Civil War haunts of the famous (and local!) Confederate hero Col. John Singleton Mosby and his Rangers.
John Singleton Mosby and his Rangers - 1864
Born in Powhatan County, Virginia and raised within view of Jefferson’s Monticello, John Singleton Mosby was the ultimate citizen soldier. University of Virginia-trained, he was a small town Virginia lawyer opposed to secession when the War broke out in 1861. Mosby started with 9 cavalrymen from the Confederate Cavalry command of J.E.B. Stuart on detached duty in Loudoun and Fauquier counties in early January 1863. Stuart supplied several more two weeks later. Mosby had immediate success with surprise attacks against the Union cavalry screen and its many small outposts on the Loudoun-Fairfax county line. This led men home on leave, boys ages 16 and 17, infantry convalescent’s, and a limited number of transfers from Stuart’s command to join the Rangers. The force grew in size, until some 1,911 men had served under Mosby.
Like land privateers, these “partisan” Rangers were allowed to keep what they took from Yankees. Mostly they took pistols, carbines (short repeating cavalry rifles), and horses. Most of the Rangers possessed 4 pistols and 4 horses to be always ready and well-armed for a raid with a fresh horse. Other materiel was sold to the Confederate Army or given to homeowners who took the risk of boarding rangers locally.
Mosby’s unit was formalized as the 43rd Battalion (later it was a Regiment) of Virginia Cavalry on June 10, 1863 in the parlor of the Rector House at Rector’s Crossroads (today’s Atoka). While one of only two units allowed to remain partisans in the Confederate Army, they took orders directly from President Davis, General Robert E. Lee, and Stuart. Raids were coordinated with other Confederate military activity. Usually, their goals were to demoralize the Union cavalry screen west of Washington, to attack supply trains, wagon trains, and outposts. In 1864-65, many of the Rangers’ raids focused on the northern Shenandoah Valley, aimed at Sheridan’s invading Union army.
On to Day 1!!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Team Virginia's Ride over the Blue Ridge to the Shenandoah River and back - Flora Hillman
Original Post
What a glorious day!! Clear, bright, 60's, warm -- the perfect day for Team Virginia to host a 27 mile "Ride to the River" from Flora Hillman's Auriga Farm, over the Blue Ridge to the Shenandoah River, and back... at least half of the trail following the original trail of the Old Dominion when it was held in Loudoun County 30 years ago.
Team members Larry and Kathy Tumblin, and friends April Dobson and Mary Ann Wates (a former OD board member) arrived at around 10:30 to park in my spacious front field. Amid the unloading of eager horses and greetings all around plus general "endurance folk chatter", all five of us set off around 11:30 across the gorgeous wide hayfields towards the Blue Ridge 5 miles to the west. We had a bit of a halting start -- Kathy and Larry's easy boots didn't want to stay on, so they both eventually just attached the boots to their saddles and rode barefoot the whole way. Happily, the 27 mile route is mostly grassy byways and gravel roads -- no rocky trails or hard footing.
At the 4.5 mile point we passed the ancient remains of William Littleton's barn and house. William lived at the base of the mountain prior to 1850, and now only the standing chimney remains as a reminder to a pre-war era now long gone, but still remembered.
[More ...]
What a glorious day!! Clear, bright, 60's, warm -- the perfect day for Team Virginia to host a 27 mile "Ride to the River" from Flora Hillman's Auriga Farm, over the Blue Ridge to the Shenandoah River, and back... at least half of the trail following the original trail of the Old Dominion when it was held in Loudoun County 30 years ago.
Team members Larry and Kathy Tumblin, and friends April Dobson and Mary Ann Wates (a former OD board member) arrived at around 10:30 to park in my spacious front field. Amid the unloading of eager horses and greetings all around plus general "endurance folk chatter", all five of us set off around 11:30 across the gorgeous wide hayfields towards the Blue Ridge 5 miles to the west. We had a bit of a halting start -- Kathy and Larry's easy boots didn't want to stay on, so they both eventually just attached the boots to their saddles and rode barefoot the whole way. Happily, the 27 mile route is mostly grassy byways and gravel roads -- no rocky trails or hard footing.At the 4.5 mile point we passed the ancient remains of William Littleton's barn and house. William lived at the base of the mountain prior to 1850, and now only the standing chimney remains as a reminder to a pre-war era now long gone, but still remembered.
[More ...]
Monday, March 16, 2009
Crazy Coyote - Susan Garlinghouse, DVM
The Crazy Coyote was this past weekend and went well overall. Alexa Olney was ride manager and she and her group did a great job and really worked their tails off to get everything put together and handled. The weather could not have been nicer---almost down to freezing the night before, but calm and clear and in the high sixties with low humidity all the next day. 16 starters for the 55, 10 finished and 36 starters for the 30, 29 completions. Brad Green from Auburn on Pawnee won the 55, Audrey Scott on Fire Mtn Blaize was second right behind Brad, and Pippa Davies on MW Warrior was third and BC (also high vet score). The winning time was just a bit under six hours.
Sheila Hall on My Oscala Gold was the first horse to complete the 30 in Fit to Continue condition (the first two LD horses to cross the line were in unacceptable condition and did not receive either a placing or a completion). Mindy Wolfe on Splash was 2nd and BC. Lisa Schneider on her wonderful horse Drew was high vet score for the seven horses that showed for the LD BC. Lisa told me that even if she had gone fast enough to be competitive point-wise for overall BC, she said to give it to someone that cared about that sort of thing---no agenda here, she was just happy to have had a good ride on a good horse and compete against the trail, for which I admire both she and her husband Shel.
There were a lot of minor lameness pulls, including a bunch of tired hind limb muscle problems. There's a fair amount of sand and flat trail on this ride and if riders didn't change gaits or diagonals often enough or went too fast through sand, it came back to haunt them at the VC. One horse in the LD wasn't recovering at VC 1 at 15 miles and so was pulled for metabolic. Aside from the one horse described below, there were no treatments, which made me very happy.
On the 2nd loop, one of the LD riders (Steve Downs) was walking past a man standing near his SUV parked off the road, who very casually commented to him, "This might be interesting, my son is up there with a dog that doesn't like horses." Steve thought that meant maybe the dog was afraid of them, or might bark or something, but the guy was still just standing there like it wasn't that big a deal. Further up the trail, there's a teenage kid with a big dog on one of those retractable leads and it turns out that "doesn't like horses" means "intends to attempt to kill and eat them". It got away from the kid (who didn’t say anything and sounds like didn't put up much effort to really hold it), the dog attacked Steve's horse and bit him in the belly just in front of the sheath. He was clamped on pretty well until the horse kicked him off. The kid grabbed the dog (who was looking like he was getting ready to jump in again) by the collar, everyone was yelling and shouting, and by the time the other riders turned to see where the kid was going with the dog, they were back in the SUV and driving away, despite many people yelling at them. They got the license number and description, animal control came out to take photos and a report and they're going to track down the owner and at the very least, cite him for dog violations and so on. Steve is going to try to get reimbursement for his vet bill, lost entry fees and so on, but of course getting a judgment is not the same as getting payment.
The horse will be okay, but it was a pretty deep bite wound, and needed suturing, a drain, some IV antibiotics and so on. He was looking really good otherwise, and it was really upsetting that just because of the serious bite, the horse could not be defined as fit to continue and so could not complete. Steve was given a completion award anyway, but this sure comes under the heading of Hard Luck. On the other hand, it also could have been much worse, that deep a bite on a lower leg could easily have been a career or even life-ending injury.
Susan Garlinghouse, DVM
Sheila Hall on My Oscala Gold was the first horse to complete the 30 in Fit to Continue condition (the first two LD horses to cross the line were in unacceptable condition and did not receive either a placing or a completion). Mindy Wolfe on Splash was 2nd and BC. Lisa Schneider on her wonderful horse Drew was high vet score for the seven horses that showed for the LD BC. Lisa told me that even if she had gone fast enough to be competitive point-wise for overall BC, she said to give it to someone that cared about that sort of thing---no agenda here, she was just happy to have had a good ride on a good horse and compete against the trail, for which I admire both she and her husband Shel.
There were a lot of minor lameness pulls, including a bunch of tired hind limb muscle problems. There's a fair amount of sand and flat trail on this ride and if riders didn't change gaits or diagonals often enough or went too fast through sand, it came back to haunt them at the VC. One horse in the LD wasn't recovering at VC 1 at 15 miles and so was pulled for metabolic. Aside from the one horse described below, there were no treatments, which made me very happy.
On the 2nd loop, one of the LD riders (Steve Downs) was walking past a man standing near his SUV parked off the road, who very casually commented to him, "This might be interesting, my son is up there with a dog that doesn't like horses." Steve thought that meant maybe the dog was afraid of them, or might bark or something, but the guy was still just standing there like it wasn't that big a deal. Further up the trail, there's a teenage kid with a big dog on one of those retractable leads and it turns out that "doesn't like horses" means "intends to attempt to kill and eat them". It got away from the kid (who didn’t say anything and sounds like didn't put up much effort to really hold it), the dog attacked Steve's horse and bit him in the belly just in front of the sheath. He was clamped on pretty well until the horse kicked him off. The kid grabbed the dog (who was looking like he was getting ready to jump in again) by the collar, everyone was yelling and shouting, and by the time the other riders turned to see where the kid was going with the dog, they were back in the SUV and driving away, despite many people yelling at them. They got the license number and description, animal control came out to take photos and a report and they're going to track down the owner and at the very least, cite him for dog violations and so on. Steve is going to try to get reimbursement for his vet bill, lost entry fees and so on, but of course getting a judgment is not the same as getting payment.
The horse will be okay, but it was a pretty deep bite wound, and needed suturing, a drain, some IV antibiotics and so on. He was looking really good otherwise, and it was really upsetting that just because of the serious bite, the horse could not be defined as fit to continue and so could not complete. Steve was given a completion award anyway, but this sure comes under the heading of Hard Luck. On the other hand, it also could have been much worse, that deep a bite on a lower leg could easily have been a career or even life-ending injury.
Susan Garlinghouse, DVM
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Jay's Fernvale FEI ride report, Australia
As we left home early Saturday morning, the weather report stated that Cyclone Hamish was moving south along the coast and that SE Qld could experience wet weather on Sunday! Well, that meant a hasty addition of some wet weather clothing into the bag, as I HATE getting soaking wet while strapping!! (Even though I usually end up with wet shoes and wrinkly feet anyway!)
So Saturday was hot and dry as we arrived at the Fernvale Rodeo Grounds, where the newly-formed Fernvale Endurance Club has developed quite a good ride base. The prime movers of Caroline and Paul Fitzgerald, Peter and Penny Toft, Toby and Sue Crockett, and many other local endurance enthusiasts, were joined on the day by a wide selection of local Arabian Studs who are also getting very heavily involved in endurance riding in SE Qld. Thanks to all concerned, as the weekend was a huge success!
The weather throughout the day ranged from hot to hotter, with periods of very hot, and the river crossing was greatfully appreciated by most!
The prime focus of the ride was the Youth Challenge FEI** 120km, with the goal being for many entrants to qualify for the World Youth Championships in Hungary this September. Eleven young riders (all female) started the 120km ride, with 10 successful completions.... a BIG congratulations to all involved! Unfortunately, the one elimination was Splendacrest rider Tarni Kittel, after her lovely mount fell in a hole on the second stage of the ride. Commiserations Tarni, but I know that you are determined to try again!
The winner of this ride was Erin Krahnen, who also gained the Best Conditioned prize, as well as the "Best Presented" prize (a special award decided by Foreign Delegate Sarah Adams along with photographer Sue Crockett).
The FEI* 82km ride was hotly contested, with about 50 entries, and a winning time of about 4:30 by brothers Brook and Matthew Sample in a "gentleman's agreement" that saw Brook finish 1 second ahead of Matthew. For a 3-stage 82km ride over pretty hard terrain, this was a great finish, with reports coming in off track of the third-placed rider, Ben Caslick, trying his heart out to catch the Sample brothers in a gallop towards the end of the ride. The last 15km loop was completed in 28kph!
The Splendacrest Team had great results also in this ride, with Rod Strahan on Shardell Prince Ali (owned by Prutirat R. Serireongrith of Thailand) finishing in 7:24 for 17th placing (this young gelding's first open ride), Kristan Kershaw on Bullarto Fiorelli finishing in 7:26, and John Dugan on Performance Park Lady Kharisma finishing in 7:26. Angela Head completed the Youth division, placing 6th on Dallas Blakely's lovely gelding.... congratulations Ang, and thanks to Dallas and Andrew! Our one casualty in the 82km ride was Gerard Bou on Splendacrest Fiesta, who unfortunately vetted out at the re-present before the third leg due to the extreme heat, with a high heartrate! But as with every vet-out, it was a learning experience for us all.
The 45km training ride saw about 30 horses set off at daybreak, with Splendacrest fielding 5 of them! Three of my new riders were doing their second qualifying training ride, and Ted Fitzgerald was roped in to ride Shardell Prince Valiant (a huge brown Anglo owned by Rod Strahan) in his very first outing. Lisa Roosen (who has moved here from The Netherlands) rode Mt Eerwah Silver Mariner (aka Pete), Marcia Burger (who has moved here from South Africa) rode Splendacrest Zhateau, and young Steph Tulk was mounted on Splendacrest Ulysses, and all were successful in gaining their "Novice rider" qualification by completing this second training ride. Ted also completed the course, with Prince Valiant attracting plenty of attention!
Many of you may remember a crazy German girl that used to ride for Splendacrest 5 years ago.... Clio Rauch. During her three years with us here (while she was attending University in Australia), Clio was a regular rider and became very successful. Then she had to go home after Uni, and we have missed her dreadfully. Well, SHE'S BACK! Yes, Clio has returned to Australia to take up endurance riding again, having not had the chance to do any in the past 5 years! She arrived last Wednesday night, slept in on Thursday morning (jet lag), jumped on a horse on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, received her QERA membership card in the mail on Friday (thanks Dee!), and then travelled with us to Fernvale on Saturday, and rode my lovely stallion Splendacrest Zafire in the training ride on Sunday!
Clio used to ride Zafire's sire, Zakah Zahara, when she was with us years ago.... in fact she completed a Quilty and an Easter Marathon on him too!
So, there she was on Sunday, grinning from ear to ear, saying 'hello' to friends she hasn't seen in years, and riding Zak's son Zafire in his second ever outing for a great completion, and gaining the "Best Presented" prize as well!! WOW! She hasn't stopped smiling yet!
Another new addition to the Splendacrest Team is Johan de Bruto, who has moved to Australia from South Africa, and who is an experienced endurance rider. Johan spent the weekend with us in strapping mode, and became very envious of all those riding. He also took lots of great photos of the weekend, and seemed to enjoy his first experience of endurance in Australia. Thanks Johan, for all your hard work over the weekend. (Oh, and by the way, Johan also turned up on Saturday with an esky of beer.... I think he'll fit right in here!!)
We were also joined on Sunday by Bert Hartog, who some of you may know. Bert is well known in the 'other' disciplines, especially dressage and vaulting, and is now interested in learning about endurance riding with a view to possible becoming involved in the sport. So Bert took the time to come and crew for our team in order to learn a little about the sport, and he was a very handy and capable strapper!! Thanks Bert, for your assistance on the weekend, and I hope you learned a lot!
The team cannot survive without Shane Hopkins, who is always there to put a shoe on, or to make sandwiches, or to run to the store to get ice (and boy! did we need ice this weekend!!!), or to organise everything and anything! Thanks Shane, for once again being an intregal part of the Splendacrest Team!
There was much comment over the weekend about the new FEI rules, and some confusion about the requirements to qualify for further FEI rides. The added expense of FEI rides will certainly keep many people away, however I am sure that if people would just try it out they would enjoy the experience. The weekend was well run by the Fernvale Club, and we had a great time!
The promised rain did not happen, however Cyclone Hamish is causing some grief up north, and today it is a bit windy and overcast here. Hope everyone else had a great weekend, whatever you were doing!
Jay Randle
SPLENDACREST ENDURANCE TRAINING
www.freewebs.com/splendacrest
So Saturday was hot and dry as we arrived at the Fernvale Rodeo Grounds, where the newly-formed Fernvale Endurance Club has developed quite a good ride base. The prime movers of Caroline and Paul Fitzgerald, Peter and Penny Toft, Toby and Sue Crockett, and many other local endurance enthusiasts, were joined on the day by a wide selection of local Arabian Studs who are also getting very heavily involved in endurance riding in SE Qld. Thanks to all concerned, as the weekend was a huge success!
The weather throughout the day ranged from hot to hotter, with periods of very hot, and the river crossing was greatfully appreciated by most!
The prime focus of the ride was the Youth Challenge FEI** 120km, with the goal being for many entrants to qualify for the World Youth Championships in Hungary this September. Eleven young riders (all female) started the 120km ride, with 10 successful completions.... a BIG congratulations to all involved! Unfortunately, the one elimination was Splendacrest rider Tarni Kittel, after her lovely mount fell in a hole on the second stage of the ride. Commiserations Tarni, but I know that you are determined to try again!
The winner of this ride was Erin Krahnen, who also gained the Best Conditioned prize, as well as the "Best Presented" prize (a special award decided by Foreign Delegate Sarah Adams along with photographer Sue Crockett).
The FEI* 82km ride was hotly contested, with about 50 entries, and a winning time of about 4:30 by brothers Brook and Matthew Sample in a "gentleman's agreement" that saw Brook finish 1 second ahead of Matthew. For a 3-stage 82km ride over pretty hard terrain, this was a great finish, with reports coming in off track of the third-placed rider, Ben Caslick, trying his heart out to catch the Sample brothers in a gallop towards the end of the ride. The last 15km loop was completed in 28kph!
The Splendacrest Team had great results also in this ride, with Rod Strahan on Shardell Prince Ali (owned by Prutirat R. Serireongrith of Thailand) finishing in 7:24 for 17th placing (this young gelding's first open ride), Kristan Kershaw on Bullarto Fiorelli finishing in 7:26, and John Dugan on Performance Park Lady Kharisma finishing in 7:26. Angela Head completed the Youth division, placing 6th on Dallas Blakely's lovely gelding.... congratulations Ang, and thanks to Dallas and Andrew! Our one casualty in the 82km ride was Gerard Bou on Splendacrest Fiesta, who unfortunately vetted out at the re-present before the third leg due to the extreme heat, with a high heartrate! But as with every vet-out, it was a learning experience for us all.
The 45km training ride saw about 30 horses set off at daybreak, with Splendacrest fielding 5 of them! Three of my new riders were doing their second qualifying training ride, and Ted Fitzgerald was roped in to ride Shardell Prince Valiant (a huge brown Anglo owned by Rod Strahan) in his very first outing. Lisa Roosen (who has moved here from The Netherlands) rode Mt Eerwah Silver Mariner (aka Pete), Marcia Burger (who has moved here from South Africa) rode Splendacrest Zhateau, and young Steph Tulk was mounted on Splendacrest Ulysses, and all were successful in gaining their "Novice rider" qualification by completing this second training ride. Ted also completed the course, with Prince Valiant attracting plenty of attention!
Many of you may remember a crazy German girl that used to ride for Splendacrest 5 years ago.... Clio Rauch. During her three years with us here (while she was attending University in Australia), Clio was a regular rider and became very successful. Then she had to go home after Uni, and we have missed her dreadfully. Well, SHE'S BACK! Yes, Clio has returned to Australia to take up endurance riding again, having not had the chance to do any in the past 5 years! She arrived last Wednesday night, slept in on Thursday morning (jet lag), jumped on a horse on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, received her QERA membership card in the mail on Friday (thanks Dee!), and then travelled with us to Fernvale on Saturday, and rode my lovely stallion Splendacrest Zafire in the training ride on Sunday!
Clio used to ride Zafire's sire, Zakah Zahara, when she was with us years ago.... in fact she completed a Quilty and an Easter Marathon on him too!
So, there she was on Sunday, grinning from ear to ear, saying 'hello' to friends she hasn't seen in years, and riding Zak's son Zafire in his second ever outing for a great completion, and gaining the "Best Presented" prize as well!! WOW! She hasn't stopped smiling yet!
Another new addition to the Splendacrest Team is Johan de Bruto, who has moved to Australia from South Africa, and who is an experienced endurance rider. Johan spent the weekend with us in strapping mode, and became very envious of all those riding. He also took lots of great photos of the weekend, and seemed to enjoy his first experience of endurance in Australia. Thanks Johan, for all your hard work over the weekend. (Oh, and by the way, Johan also turned up on Saturday with an esky of beer.... I think he'll fit right in here!!)
We were also joined on Sunday by Bert Hartog, who some of you may know. Bert is well known in the 'other' disciplines, especially dressage and vaulting, and is now interested in learning about endurance riding with a view to possible becoming involved in the sport. So Bert took the time to come and crew for our team in order to learn a little about the sport, and he was a very handy and capable strapper!! Thanks Bert, for your assistance on the weekend, and I hope you learned a lot!
The team cannot survive without Shane Hopkins, who is always there to put a shoe on, or to make sandwiches, or to run to the store to get ice (and boy! did we need ice this weekend!!!), or to organise everything and anything! Thanks Shane, for once again being an intregal part of the Splendacrest Team!
There was much comment over the weekend about the new FEI rules, and some confusion about the requirements to qualify for further FEI rides. The added expense of FEI rides will certainly keep many people away, however I am sure that if people would just try it out they would enjoy the experience. The weekend was well run by the Fernvale Club, and we had a great time!
The promised rain did not happen, however Cyclone Hamish is causing some grief up north, and today it is a bit windy and overcast here. Hope everyone else had a great weekend, whatever you were doing!
Jay Randle
SPLENDACREST ENDURANCE TRAINING
www.freewebs.com/splendacrest
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Post Ride Reflections
Endurance Granny Blog: Post Ride Reflections
#1 Trail Conditions at Henryville: Most of what I saw yesterday did not warrant or require booting. About 2 miles of the ten mile loop was gravel service road. I wonder how much that would slow our time. If Phebes cantered over it I think she could roll over it. Trotting the mechanism is a little different, and that might be a bit of an issue. The Goat Ridge Trail... I would not want to do that switchback if it was wet or muddy in boots. What an incredible drop! If anyone can hurry either down or up it, they are welcome to it. Chris has an onboard heart monitor for her horse and Toby's rate was incredibly high going up that switchback. It is so steep it feels like if you let go of your horse gravity is going to suck you right off the hillside. Road riding: If there is anything I truly am uncomfortable with right now it is riding on the road with my horse. Yesterday was her first experience with that and I am sure she had to be picking up on my sense of panic. We didn't encounter any cars, but we crossed a highway twice. The first time across she got right in the middle and didn't want to step over the yellow lines. David passed me so that Phebes would follow.
Endurance Horse Fitness: An endurance horse in my mind is an "elite" horse. They have to know, experience, and be calm about so many things. They have to develop unbelievable stamina and fitness, and they must learn to take care of themselves. It is no wonder that it takes a couple of years to bring a horse up to peak fitness. I let Phebes out yesterday and we cantered a lot. She did not react physically until about thirteen mile mark. Meaning she did not huff, puff, or get winded. After that we did more intervals. I feel that if I can keep at it with Phebes, give her time between training rides to recover, that eventually she will be a tough little horse. She loves to be out in front, churning along, and I am beginning to find that is not such a bad place to be. Fighting her has been a battle in futility. So my plan will need to shift to building this horse up to do the job she wants to do. We need more work on rating though. If she could learn to trot out instead of canter she would be working aerobically. Maybe I can borrow an onboard monitor and find out if she works better at the canter than the trot. There has to be some reason that she prefers the faster gait. If she is working more effeciently cantering, then should I leave well enough alone?
Hoof boots: Yesterday was my first experience going at speed in hoof boots. Me being me I had visualized tripping down the trail over them. It was amazing how she just moved on out. I want to put Easycare on notice: PLEASE MAKE SOME GLOVES THAT WILL FIT THE ANGLES & PROPORTIONS OF THE NATURAL BARE FRONT HOOF!!! Round hoof vs. long hoof, and hooves that may have a slightly steeper angle. Come out and mold my horse's front hooves will you? The Easyboot Glove is awesome! I want some for the fronts SO BAD! The Easyboot Glove has been one of the best investments I've made for my horse to date. The Epics performed well, but much harder to apply, and much harder to remove.
Barefooting: Will I continue to truly go barefoot? Absolutely as much as possible because I feel that is the best way to build my horse's tough bare hooves. (But happy to know I have protection for extreme situations).
[...more]
#1 Trail Conditions at Henryville: Most of what I saw yesterday did not warrant or require booting. About 2 miles of the ten mile loop was gravel service road. I wonder how much that would slow our time. If Phebes cantered over it I think she could roll over it. Trotting the mechanism is a little different, and that might be a bit of an issue. The Goat Ridge Trail... I would not want to do that switchback if it was wet or muddy in boots. What an incredible drop! If anyone can hurry either down or up it, they are welcome to it. Chris has an onboard heart monitor for her horse and Toby's rate was incredibly high going up that switchback. It is so steep it feels like if you let go of your horse gravity is going to suck you right off the hillside. Road riding: If there is anything I truly am uncomfortable with right now it is riding on the road with my horse. Yesterday was her first experience with that and I am sure she had to be picking up on my sense of panic. We didn't encounter any cars, but we crossed a highway twice. The first time across she got right in the middle and didn't want to step over the yellow lines. David passed me so that Phebes would follow.
Endurance Horse Fitness: An endurance horse in my mind is an "elite" horse. They have to know, experience, and be calm about so many things. They have to develop unbelievable stamina and fitness, and they must learn to take care of themselves. It is no wonder that it takes a couple of years to bring a horse up to peak fitness. I let Phebes out yesterday and we cantered a lot. She did not react physically until about thirteen mile mark. Meaning she did not huff, puff, or get winded. After that we did more intervals. I feel that if I can keep at it with Phebes, give her time between training rides to recover, that eventually she will be a tough little horse. She loves to be out in front, churning along, and I am beginning to find that is not such a bad place to be. Fighting her has been a battle in futility. So my plan will need to shift to building this horse up to do the job she wants to do. We need more work on rating though. If she could learn to trot out instead of canter she would be working aerobically. Maybe I can borrow an onboard monitor and find out if she works better at the canter than the trot. There has to be some reason that she prefers the faster gait. If she is working more effeciently cantering, then should I leave well enough alone?
Hoof boots: Yesterday was my first experience going at speed in hoof boots. Me being me I had visualized tripping down the trail over them. It was amazing how she just moved on out. I want to put Easycare on notice: PLEASE MAKE SOME GLOVES THAT WILL FIT THE ANGLES & PROPORTIONS OF THE NATURAL BARE FRONT HOOF!!! Round hoof vs. long hoof, and hooves that may have a slightly steeper angle. Come out and mold my horse's front hooves will you? The Easyboot Glove is awesome! I want some for the fronts SO BAD! The Easyboot Glove has been one of the best investments I've made for my horse to date. The Epics performed well, but much harder to apply, and much harder to remove.
Barefooting: Will I continue to truly go barefoot? Absolutely as much as possible because I feel that is the best way to build my horse's tough bare hooves. (But happy to know I have protection for extreme situations).
[...more]
Friday, March 06, 2009
Twenty Mule Team: Adventure in the desert - Victoria Thompson
Twenty Mule Team was probably doomed before it even began for Kat that Friday before we left home. We wanted to be on the road by noon and neither of us even got to the barn until after one PM. Then there we things we needed to attend to with our other horses before we could concentrate on getting packed up and on the road. Kat plowing into the back of my pick up with hers didn't help matters any either (rather humorous accident, but that will have to be told over a bottle of scotch). We finally got on the freeway to head out of LA just as rush hour began, about quarter to 4. Once off the main interstate we got stuck behind a big rig and had to crawl our way into Ridgecrest. We pulled into the fairgrounds literally within minutes of the start of the ride meeting, so I went to the meeting while Kat unloaded Twiggy from the trailer. After the meeting we vetted Twig in and got everything arranged for the next day. Kat's plan was to try and ride a 10 MPH ride in the hopes of finishing before the moon went down. Since there wasn't a full moon for this ride everyone who did this last year learned that it really gets DARK out there - Kat included. So she really wanted to be done by 10:30 when the sliver of moon we had would disappear. Well, that was the plan.
Had a wonderful night's sleep and got up about 4:45AM. I discovered the night before that old age is finally beginning to hit as I managed to leave home, for the first time, without soap, brush, toothbrush or toothpaste. So, when I jumped up in the morning to run to the bathroom to 'take care of business' I managed to beg some toothpaste for my finger and a comb for my hair. We got Twig saddled and Kat fed and off they went. As soon as the start began I unhooked the truck from the trailer and took off for Vet 1. I saw a fellow in an RV pull out before me and he soon pulled over to let me by. Little did I know that with that kind gesture I was now the first person out there. I remembered the road to Vet 1 from last year, and just kept going along expecting to see rigs already there. The RV was behind me for awhile, but he turned back when the road started getting rough. I mean tire popping, axle breaking rough. But I kept going. I kept telling myself that I didn't remember the road being quite that rough, but maybe they had some bad rains out there. And I kept going. For 4 miles I kept going. I kept going even when I saw little pink ribbons (benignly thinking it was nice of them to put trail markers up for us). It was now 7 AM and I still hadn't come to Vet 1. I stopped and looked at the directions and they said it was about 15 miles to Vet 1 from the fairgrounds. Well, I'd gone 17 miles. Oops. Needless to say I turned around and went back. Pulled into Vet 1 about 7:20 and got out to a fellow wagging his finger at me saying he'd a kept following me if the road had let him (he was in the RV). A couple other guys kind of laughed at me, but I have to admit I drove right by the vet check. The only things out there were the 2 water troughs and I could not see them when I drove by. Shoot, the hay and porta potty hadn't been delivered yet and I was late! Truth be told I was having fun out there and if it weren't for Kat I'd have continued on down that road. We weren't expecting anyone until 8, and right about 7:30 Jeremy Reynolds came into view. Hot on his tail were the two girls, Joyce and (darn, the name starts with a J - Jennifer ... Janet ... whatever. The other J). Low and behold about 10 minutes after Jeremy came Kat. I was not expecting that. I had everything ready. I just wasn't prepared to see her so soon. Twig looked great. She drank and ate and went through the trot out without any trouble. In 15 minutes Kat was back on board and on her way.
Off to Vet 2 - you can't get lost going to Vet 2. You can, however, be going down the highway too fast to make the turn off and have to turn around and come back (I do this every year). I was the second person there this time. I helped unload the crew bags after I got Kat's stop set to go. Hay, water and the porta potty finally arrived. We gabbed a little and next thing you know there's Jeremy with the two J's just a couple minutes behind. Kat had slipped to 17 minutes behind Jeremy, but she was still a good 30 minutes in front of the next person. Twig looked great. She ate and drank. After 20 minutes we took her to the vet out and she passed with flying colors. She ate and drank well for the rest of the hour. We cleaned her up, re-saddled and off Kat went. So, off to Vet 3.
Got to Vet 3 without any problems. Sat and talked with people whose names I can never remember (but that's OK because they can never remember mine). Before you know it, in comes Jeremy and the J-girls hot on his heels. I helped Jeremy with his crew bag again and held his horse for him. I didn't like the looks of one of the J-girl's horses. Walking funny. Sure enough she got pulled. About 15 minutes after Jeremy left Kat came into view. Twig looked good. She drank, but she was picking at her food. What she really wanted was to roll. We were next to a pile of sand and she was trying desperately to go down and roll. We bandied the idea of pulling her tack and letting her roll, thinking she would eat then, but we really didn't have a good way to wash all the sand off and didn't want to risk putting the saddle back on a sandy back. Twig vetted through just fine, so Kat just got on when her 15 minutes was up and left. It was only something like 8 miles back to the fairgrounds for the second hour hold and we'd let Twiggy roll there.
We were parked next to Jeremy and Heather, so when I got back to the fairgrounds I was a little shocked to see Jeremy already there. He was having a little trouble getting his horse to eat, so I tried enticing him with 'strangers' hay. That didn't work. We tried a couple other things that didn't work and finally gave him a dose of appetite stimulant (glycogen loader - karo syrup works too, in case you're wondering). In 15 minutes he was scarfing down his food and passed the vet check with flying colors. Jeremy was out the gate at the end of his hour hold just as Kat came in - still in third place. Twig looked good. She pulsed down in a couple minutes, we got our time, and went back to the truck. We took her tack off and cleaned her up, but she really didn't want to eat and she only drank a little. She was pooped. We gave her some glycogen and watched her. Next thing you know the P and R lady was coming over telling us we needed to get our time. Well, she gave us our time, but she forgot to write it down. It was time for us to vet Twig through. Twig was tired, but we were hopeful the glycogen would get her eating. Just as we were about to enter the vet area Twig pooped and it was really dry with a hint of blood on a few of the balls. Kat and I looked at each other and Kat said Twig wasn't going on. We took Twig over to the vets and told them Twig was done because of what we saw in her poop. She was vetted through and passed the check. The vets said to take her back and let her rest and eat and decide later if the pull was for real. Kat got one of the vets to go over to the poop and the vet said it was nothing to be worried about - probably just something she ate irritating her colon, and there wasn't enough blood there to be bothered about. Kat stayed and talked to the vet while I took Twig back to the truck. Just as I tied her up she let me know she wanted to roll. Kat came back then and we decided to take her to the arena where it was soft. Hard as a rock, so we went back to the soft vet area. Twig dropped like a stone and promptly fell asleep! That got a good laugh from everyone and Kat reemphasized that Twig would not be going back out. After a few minutes we got her up and took her back to the truck. Twig laid down again and just slept. She was in and out of her snooze for a hour (sternal the whole time) when she finally rolled over prone. She was flat on her side for a couple of minutes when the vet came back over. It was decided to get Twig up to get her eating, so much to Twig's dismay we made her stand up. She wouldn't eat. Kat made the decision to have fluids administered as a precaution. While the vet went to get treatment Twig started eating and she didn't stop until we put her in the trailer the next morning. Even though Twig was eating, Kat had the saline administered. After 17 liters Twig peed, but a full 21 liters were given. Twig drank another 20 gallons of water during the night and peed and pooped up a storm. Twiggy never showed any signs of distress. She was just very tired. She's been home a week and she's still eating up a storm.
Jeremy finished first with a ride time of 9 hours and 21 minutes (I like to think I had a hand in that :-)
Maybe next year. Oh, and I'm driving around in some POS Dodge Journey while the bumper on my truck gets fixed (thanks, Kat)
Tori
Had a wonderful night's sleep and got up about 4:45AM. I discovered the night before that old age is finally beginning to hit as I managed to leave home, for the first time, without soap, brush, toothbrush or toothpaste. So, when I jumped up in the morning to run to the bathroom to 'take care of business' I managed to beg some toothpaste for my finger and a comb for my hair. We got Twig saddled and Kat fed and off they went. As soon as the start began I unhooked the truck from the trailer and took off for Vet 1. I saw a fellow in an RV pull out before me and he soon pulled over to let me by. Little did I know that with that kind gesture I was now the first person out there. I remembered the road to Vet 1 from last year, and just kept going along expecting to see rigs already there. The RV was behind me for awhile, but he turned back when the road started getting rough. I mean tire popping, axle breaking rough. But I kept going. I kept telling myself that I didn't remember the road being quite that rough, but maybe they had some bad rains out there. And I kept going. For 4 miles I kept going. I kept going even when I saw little pink ribbons (benignly thinking it was nice of them to put trail markers up for us). It was now 7 AM and I still hadn't come to Vet 1. I stopped and looked at the directions and they said it was about 15 miles to Vet 1 from the fairgrounds. Well, I'd gone 17 miles. Oops. Needless to say I turned around and went back. Pulled into Vet 1 about 7:20 and got out to a fellow wagging his finger at me saying he'd a kept following me if the road had let him (he was in the RV). A couple other guys kind of laughed at me, but I have to admit I drove right by the vet check. The only things out there were the 2 water troughs and I could not see them when I drove by. Shoot, the hay and porta potty hadn't been delivered yet and I was late! Truth be told I was having fun out there and if it weren't for Kat I'd have continued on down that road. We weren't expecting anyone until 8, and right about 7:30 Jeremy Reynolds came into view. Hot on his tail were the two girls, Joyce and (darn, the name starts with a J - Jennifer ... Janet ... whatever. The other J). Low and behold about 10 minutes after Jeremy came Kat. I was not expecting that. I had everything ready. I just wasn't prepared to see her so soon. Twig looked great. She drank and ate and went through the trot out without any trouble. In 15 minutes Kat was back on board and on her way.
Off to Vet 2 - you can't get lost going to Vet 2. You can, however, be going down the highway too fast to make the turn off and have to turn around and come back (I do this every year). I was the second person there this time. I helped unload the crew bags after I got Kat's stop set to go. Hay, water and the porta potty finally arrived. We gabbed a little and next thing you know there's Jeremy with the two J's just a couple minutes behind. Kat had slipped to 17 minutes behind Jeremy, but she was still a good 30 minutes in front of the next person. Twig looked great. She ate and drank. After 20 minutes we took her to the vet out and she passed with flying colors. She ate and drank well for the rest of the hour. We cleaned her up, re-saddled and off Kat went. So, off to Vet 3.
Got to Vet 3 without any problems. Sat and talked with people whose names I can never remember (but that's OK because they can never remember mine). Before you know it, in comes Jeremy and the J-girls hot on his heels. I helped Jeremy with his crew bag again and held his horse for him. I didn't like the looks of one of the J-girl's horses. Walking funny. Sure enough she got pulled. About 15 minutes after Jeremy left Kat came into view. Twig looked good. She drank, but she was picking at her food. What she really wanted was to roll. We were next to a pile of sand and she was trying desperately to go down and roll. We bandied the idea of pulling her tack and letting her roll, thinking she would eat then, but we really didn't have a good way to wash all the sand off and didn't want to risk putting the saddle back on a sandy back. Twig vetted through just fine, so Kat just got on when her 15 minutes was up and left. It was only something like 8 miles back to the fairgrounds for the second hour hold and we'd let Twiggy roll there.
We were parked next to Jeremy and Heather, so when I got back to the fairgrounds I was a little shocked to see Jeremy already there. He was having a little trouble getting his horse to eat, so I tried enticing him with 'strangers' hay. That didn't work. We tried a couple other things that didn't work and finally gave him a dose of appetite stimulant (glycogen loader - karo syrup works too, in case you're wondering). In 15 minutes he was scarfing down his food and passed the vet check with flying colors. Jeremy was out the gate at the end of his hour hold just as Kat came in - still in third place. Twig looked good. She pulsed down in a couple minutes, we got our time, and went back to the truck. We took her tack off and cleaned her up, but she really didn't want to eat and she only drank a little. She was pooped. We gave her some glycogen and watched her. Next thing you know the P and R lady was coming over telling us we needed to get our time. Well, she gave us our time, but she forgot to write it down. It was time for us to vet Twig through. Twig was tired, but we were hopeful the glycogen would get her eating. Just as we were about to enter the vet area Twig pooped and it was really dry with a hint of blood on a few of the balls. Kat and I looked at each other and Kat said Twig wasn't going on. We took Twig over to the vets and told them Twig was done because of what we saw in her poop. She was vetted through and passed the check. The vets said to take her back and let her rest and eat and decide later if the pull was for real. Kat got one of the vets to go over to the poop and the vet said it was nothing to be worried about - probably just something she ate irritating her colon, and there wasn't enough blood there to be bothered about. Kat stayed and talked to the vet while I took Twig back to the truck. Just as I tied her up she let me know she wanted to roll. Kat came back then and we decided to take her to the arena where it was soft. Hard as a rock, so we went back to the soft vet area. Twig dropped like a stone and promptly fell asleep! That got a good laugh from everyone and Kat reemphasized that Twig would not be going back out. After a few minutes we got her up and took her back to the truck. Twig laid down again and just slept. She was in and out of her snooze for a hour (sternal the whole time) when she finally rolled over prone. She was flat on her side for a couple of minutes when the vet came back over. It was decided to get Twig up to get her eating, so much to Twig's dismay we made her stand up. She wouldn't eat. Kat made the decision to have fluids administered as a precaution. While the vet went to get treatment Twig started eating and she didn't stop until we put her in the trailer the next morning. Even though Twig was eating, Kat had the saline administered. After 17 liters Twig peed, but a full 21 liters were given. Twig drank another 20 gallons of water during the night and peed and pooped up a storm. Twiggy never showed any signs of distress. She was just very tired. She's been home a week and she's still eating up a storm.
Jeremy finished first with a ride time of 9 hours and 21 minutes (I like to think I had a hand in that :-)
Maybe next year. Oh, and I'm driving around in some POS Dodge Journey while the bumper on my truck gets fixed (thanks, Kat)
Tori
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Manely Montana: You might just be an endurance rider
Manely Montana blog
As we ramp up for our second endurance season (and second ride for that matter), I continue to immerse myself in the vast amounts of research and experience out there to get my “been there done that”Gazi and I ready to hit the trails together.
This was sent to be me by long time endurance competitor D… and while I’ve yet to see this “up close and in person”.. thought this summed it up… I guess I could relate to some of it from ultrarunning days. So without further ado…
You Might Just be an Endurance Rider:
1. Your rig costs more than your house, your neighbor’s house, and your other neighbor’s house - all combined.
2. The color of your tack is every bit as important as the fit of your tack although it really shouldn’t matter because it’s all covered in Sheepskin anyway.
3. You save every empty laundry detergent jug possible, and ask your friends to do the same for you.
4. You know how to pack every one of life’s essentials on your saddle, on your person, and on your horse. This would include toilet paper, food, water, tampons, maps, extra clothing, glowsticks, and a GPS.
5. You actually know what the glowsticks are for.
6. You only buy clothing that is bug proof, wind proof, water proof, and sun proof. And that my friend, is proof that you have a clue.
7. You are the only horseback riding competitor in the entire horse world to happily spend $100 on an entry fee, only to get a $5 plastic feed tub as a prize, and actually be thrilled about it!
8. Boulders? You haven’t seen any boulders. Oh, you mean those big rocks about 1 foot in diameter that you and your horse just climbed over for the last 2 miles? Heck, that’s just gravel.
9. You spend more money in a season on hoof boots and/or horseshoes than most people spend on their tack, their rig, and their horse combined.
10. Draft Horse is a 4-letter word.
11. You know precisely the speed of your horse’s working trot at all times, but you haven’t got a clue how fast you were going when the cop pulls you over on the interstate.
12. You are more likely to survive being stranded in Death Valley or the Alaskan Mountains than Surviorman is.
13. They always say you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Give him to me dammit and I’ll make him drink!
14. Electrolytes are one of the main food groups.
15. You know it’s possible to have a complete conversation with a person while passing each other at a working trot, going opposite directions. In this brief encounter you can exchange information on weather, vet stops, horse health, food, and grazing, and never miss a stride.
16. You can find a digital pulse, gut sounds, and heart rate quicker than the average joe can change his underwear.
17. You can take a pee in the poison ivy so fast that it can’t even catch you.
18. Your horsie friends look at you weird because your barn is full of syringes, your closet full of stretch pants, and your truck full of “necessities.”
19. You take flie personally
20. You refer to your horse as your therpaist.
21. When you horse is sick, your heart is sick.
22. You keep better track of your mare’s cycle than your own.
23. Windy days (ah yes those winds of Whitehall) put you on edge… because you know it’ll put your horse on edge.
24. Y ou know you’re surrounded by the best damned horsemen and sportsmen in the world when they stop on the trail to lend you a helping hand, even if it means losing their placing position.
25. And finally… you fill inteh blank here… Your intrepid innkeeper would love to hear what you think means you’re a horse person.
Trot on friends, trot on.
Full Blog
As we ramp up for our second endurance season (and second ride for that matter), I continue to immerse myself in the vast amounts of research and experience out there to get my “been there done that”Gazi and I ready to hit the trails together.
This was sent to be me by long time endurance competitor D… and while I’ve yet to see this “up close and in person”.. thought this summed it up… I guess I could relate to some of it from ultrarunning days. So without further ado…
You Might Just be an Endurance Rider:
1. Your rig costs more than your house, your neighbor’s house, and your other neighbor’s house - all combined.
2. The color of your tack is every bit as important as the fit of your tack although it really shouldn’t matter because it’s all covered in Sheepskin anyway.
3. You save every empty laundry detergent jug possible, and ask your friends to do the same for you.
4. You know how to pack every one of life’s essentials on your saddle, on your person, and on your horse. This would include toilet paper, food, water, tampons, maps, extra clothing, glowsticks, and a GPS.
5. You actually know what the glowsticks are for.
6. You only buy clothing that is bug proof, wind proof, water proof, and sun proof. And that my friend, is proof that you have a clue.
7. You are the only horseback riding competitor in the entire horse world to happily spend $100 on an entry fee, only to get a $5 plastic feed tub as a prize, and actually be thrilled about it!
8. Boulders? You haven’t seen any boulders. Oh, you mean those big rocks about 1 foot in diameter that you and your horse just climbed over for the last 2 miles? Heck, that’s just gravel.
9. You spend more money in a season on hoof boots and/or horseshoes than most people spend on their tack, their rig, and their horse combined.
10. Draft Horse is a 4-letter word.
11. You know precisely the speed of your horse’s working trot at all times, but you haven’t got a clue how fast you were going when the cop pulls you over on the interstate.
12. You are more likely to survive being stranded in Death Valley or the Alaskan Mountains than Surviorman is.
13. They always say you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Give him to me dammit and I’ll make him drink!
14. Electrolytes are one of the main food groups.
15. You know it’s possible to have a complete conversation with a person while passing each other at a working trot, going opposite directions. In this brief encounter you can exchange information on weather, vet stops, horse health, food, and grazing, and never miss a stride.
16. You can find a digital pulse, gut sounds, and heart rate quicker than the average joe can change his underwear.
17. You can take a pee in the poison ivy so fast that it can’t even catch you.
18. Your horsie friends look at you weird because your barn is full of syringes, your closet full of stretch pants, and your truck full of “necessities.”
19. You take flie personally
20. You refer to your horse as your therpaist.
21. When you horse is sick, your heart is sick.
22. You keep better track of your mare’s cycle than your own.
23. Windy days (ah yes those winds of Whitehall) put you on edge… because you know it’ll put your horse on edge.
24. Y ou know you’re surrounded by the best damned horsemen and sportsmen in the world when they stop on the trail to lend you a helping hand, even if it means losing their placing position.
25. And finally… you fill inteh blank here… Your intrepid innkeeper would love to hear what you think means you’re a horse person.
Trot on friends, trot on.
Full Blog
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Go Pony: Ultimatums
Go Pony Blog
Monday, March 2, 2009
Ultimatums
Sometimes I wonder if I wasn't too hasty in making my Tevis ultimatum last fall, and pinning all of my future plans on the successful completion of one ride, a notoriously difficult ride at that. I recognize I was in somewhat of a depressive state last fall, and maybe declaring that "we finish Man Against Horse or Tevis is off" might have been extreme. The stars aren't always in alignment for every ride, and one unsuccessful ride doesn't mean the end of a career. Who knows what would have happened at MaH if the weather had been better, or we had done better on time?
On the flip side, a grand total of 2 50-mile completions doesn't mean we can finish Tevis. But I still want to try. If it was closer, and I had my qualification miles, I would do it, just to say my pony and I tried. The 2 day, 800-something miles, $300 in gas trip makes me a little more hesitant. Not to mention I still need 200 more qualifying miles. There's enough rides between now and then...unfortunately, they're all out of state.
I've got Tevis fever, bad. And the couple months break was good for me. I've come back much more refreshed and optimistic again. Pony's bright eyes and cheerful whinny yesterday were also a good sign.
Part of me doesn't even want to go there, not even take the risk...but then there's a part of my that says, "You don't know until you try. Have faith." There's no day like today, and I don't know where I'll be at with my life come next summer, or how long it'll take me to get established in my career and start acting like an actual grown-up, and when I'll have another horse in that kind of condition. The next few years are going to be hectic as I finish school, move out on my own, and settle into my life and career. I'll be lucky enough to have time to breathe, let alone get an endurance horse in condition for Tevis.
I promise there will be more to come on this subject as I spend the next several weeks hashing out the pros and cons, potential ride plans, etc. And come up with some fast access to money.
Posted by Ashley
Monday, March 2, 2009
Ultimatums
Sometimes I wonder if I wasn't too hasty in making my Tevis ultimatum last fall, and pinning all of my future plans on the successful completion of one ride, a notoriously difficult ride at that. I recognize I was in somewhat of a depressive state last fall, and maybe declaring that "we finish Man Against Horse or Tevis is off" might have been extreme. The stars aren't always in alignment for every ride, and one unsuccessful ride doesn't mean the end of a career. Who knows what would have happened at MaH if the weather had been better, or we had done better on time?
On the flip side, a grand total of 2 50-mile completions doesn't mean we can finish Tevis. But I still want to try. If it was closer, and I had my qualification miles, I would do it, just to say my pony and I tried. The 2 day, 800-something miles, $300 in gas trip makes me a little more hesitant. Not to mention I still need 200 more qualifying miles. There's enough rides between now and then...unfortunately, they're all out of state.
I've got Tevis fever, bad. And the couple months break was good for me. I've come back much more refreshed and optimistic again. Pony's bright eyes and cheerful whinny yesterday were also a good sign.
Part of me doesn't even want to go there, not even take the risk...but then there's a part of my that says, "You don't know until you try. Have faith." There's no day like today, and I don't know where I'll be at with my life come next summer, or how long it'll take me to get established in my career and start acting like an actual grown-up, and when I'll have another horse in that kind of condition. The next few years are going to be hectic as I finish school, move out on my own, and settle into my life and career. I'll be lucky enough to have time to breathe, let alone get an endurance horse in condition for Tevis.
I promise there will be more to come on this subject as I spend the next several weeks hashing out the pros and cons, potential ride plans, etc. And come up with some fast access to money.
Posted by Ashley
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