Mustang Memorial 50

MUSTANG MEMORIAL 50, November 13, 2005

After a season of hilarity, self mockery and totally awesome good times, it now time for Dodie to present a more serious side of endurance riding as a sport. I offer this ride story as an educational adventure into knowing yourself and your horse so well that the slightest discord sends your "alert" antennae spinning in a frenzy. So the title of this story today is....

BE PREPARED

I caught myself a cold on Wednesday. And it's a doozy. Congestion, a Niagara Falls Wannabe nose, and a whopping headache. Of course, I did. This is what is well known in my household as "Sable Luck". On Saturday, the worse of the cold was past, but I was still congested and still needed to buy stock in a tissue company. I brought along Nyquil and Tylenol (and other home remedies I cannot discuss on the internet as people are reading this to their kids!) so I believed I was prepared to suffer through the night, coughing in Jen's ear, and be rested for riding on Sunday. BE PREPARED, to ride in less than ideal health.

As many of you are aware, my new found buddy Sallie could not make it to this Mustang Memorial ride because Kirby was having some ankle issues. Safer is always better than sorry, and if your horse is not 100% like he/she always is, it is in your best interest to stay home, ride a two hour putt-putt and enjoy your horse for who he/she is. There is always another endurance ride, there isn't always another horse. The upside to missing an endurance ride, you avoid being in one of my stories. In all seriousness, I would never take any of my horses to a ride if they weren't exactly 100% right. BE PREPARED, to let your horse have his way!

(By the way, Sallie, after you read this you'll know why Numbers and I missed you and Kirby so much....)

So, I put out the word on the boards that I was looking for a buddy to ride with at the Mustang Memorial. I truly hate riding alone. Not because Numbers won't go alone, she does and she does very well at it, but because I like the camaraderie of the companionship of another person and horse while trucking down the trail. I love the talking about horses, the trails, sex (oops, I'm supposed to be serious today, sorry, it slipped!) I had a couple offers from people I know to join them, but I had one email that caught my heart strings...a woman that wanted to do a 50, had never done a 50 and would love for me to ride with her so she could try one. I offered her my experience and said, "Sure, I'll ride with you." BE PREPARED, to ride alone.

She emailed me several times, asking me questions about this and that. Very good questions that I gave heartfelt opinions about what she needed to know (remember, I don't give advice...ever, only opinions). As a teacher, a trainer, a wife and a mother, I learned a long time ago that it's all about the opinions. Yes, opinions are like assholes...everyone has one and most of them stink...but I never want someone to do something because I said it should be done (advice). Rather I'd prefer they experiment with a new concept (opinion) on their own and come to their own conclusions. I talked to her about pacing, and working the horses at their own speed to finish the ride with a healthy and happy horse. We discussed clipping versus not clipping. We discussed conditioning, and how even a horse that wasn't currently doing 50's, could finish. I told her we have 12 hours to complete, so we'd be fine! BE PREPARED, to educate.

I had the camper and trailer still mostly packed from the Canal Ride last weekend so getting ready to go to Mustang Memorial was a snap. Since I was a lone horse and rider, I had very little to worry about. This "loneness" has been a blessing to me this past couple rides. For three rides, I have been all by myself with just one person along as crew and I have not had to worry about anything but myself and Numbers. I didn't realize how much stress I was experiencing taking four and five people with me to rides this spring and summer. Stress because they were all riding on my horses and I was trying to take care of me, my horses, the other people, etc. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for next season. I have missed the company of my own riders, who condition with me and know the routines and how to work a trail, but I haven't missed the messes they make...usually leaving me to clean up after it. I haven't missed the damage done to my trailer, truck, camper, tack, etc. that every one assumes I will take care of because, "Geez, it's her stuff." I haven't missed the commotion of trying to get camp setup while everyone stands around looking at me like I have three heads and not bothering to pitch in and do anything until I start barking orders at them. (Then they get all gretzy because I yelled.) (sigh) And the morning of the ride is a fiasco with four people all trying to remember what to do. It's been great fun, don't get me wrong, but at the same time, I enjoyed my "lone" rides, meeting up with Sallie or simply riding trail alone a whole lot better because I wasn't worrying about a million things. BE PREPARED, to be frazzled.

Jen offered to go with me as my crew (thank you Jen, she was an excellent crew) and I had everything I needed ready to get on the road when I finished the Chess Tournament Saturday morning. We hop in the truck and off we go. WHEE. I was so excited, I love the Mustang Memorial trails. They're flat and I knew Numbers would be able to really book out the miles with little effort, even through the sand. Of course, the one thing I did forget was that I got back from the Canal Ride riding low on the "E". Now, this does not stand for Eze-Ok-Keep-Going. Halfway down the highway, the truck dinged me (you know, that little yellow gas pump light comes on, glaring at you with it's evil grin that says, "Get there or start walking.") Of course, I not only forgot I arrived home on "E", I also forgot to put the truck gas card back in the truck. (oops) I dug through my purse, removing two hoof picks, a knife, a roll of vet wrap, a tampon, and a baling twine before I found a credit card in my wallet that wasn't maxed out from buying endurance gear and trinkets. And you all know that halfway down the highway really means I've already passed by the truck stop so now I have to get off the highway and maneuver myself into this teeny tiny alley in between two gas pumps, and the guy in front of me must have had to take a wicked dump because he was in the station for 3 hours while the ass end of my trailer was blocking traffic, causing people to start that horn song they always play behind me...that I haven't learned to harmonize with yet. BE PREPARED, to find a gas station able to handle your rig.

Whew. Truck feels better working on a full stomach. We get on the turnpike and the stupid EZ-Pass, isn't easy at all, and it's about to Pass into the next life after I smash it to smithereens. Freakin' thing only works when it wants to...go figure it's something designed by Penn D.O.T., eh? So I grab a ticket and pray to the purse gods that there is something left in there after paying the boys their wages for the week before I left for this ride. I'm pretty sure that the toll taker at the end of the turnpike is NOT going to accept a baling twine or a tampon as payment for our ticket. Fortunately for me, I didn't pay one of the boys yet, because he wasn't there, and I still have his pay in an envelope. Whew. BE PREPARED, to have a cash emergency.

And exactly to the time frame I set for us, we arrive at camp. Now, I've been here before, and it's easy to get to, but I always forget the turn into the Korral. And, true to form, I blow on by the turn. (sheesh) Nothing is coming for miles around so I am able to do a U-turn to get back into camp. I have no cell phone signal so I can't call the person I'm supposed to ride with to find out where she's set up. All I can hope for is that she's watching for me, (I told her when I'd be there) Amazingly, I am actually on time, so if she's watching for my black rig (the only one you see in a sea of silver goosenecks) she should be able to flag me down so I can camp next to her and our two horses can get a little bonding going on. When we pulled into camp, I didn't see hide nor hair of her. I had Jen ask where we could park. Jen found out from ride management that all the good camp spaces are filled (drat) and we have to go all the way to the end of camp and park in the poor people's section. How do I know this is the poor people's section? Because only poor people have the quietest spots as they're put away from all the activity the rich people are enjoying. That's okay! I fit that poor people description very well! Nice thing about being way back here, besides the isolation and quietness of the camping sites, is that fatty 3-pound-Jen got a lot of exercising walking back and forth between check in and the truck. WHY? Well, I dropped her off to get me checked in while I drove 60 miles to the back of camp to set up the trailer and horse pen. I asked her my number so I could put it on Numbers, and guess what she forgot? How about picking up my vet card and ECTRA papers? (eh-hem, Jen? How many times have you checked us in???) Off she goes, hiking back that 60 miles. An hour later (or so it seemed) here she comes with my vet card, but no ECTRA paper. (eh-hem, Oh Jen?) So off she goes again to get my ECTRA papers. Two hours later, she returns, on hands and knees, exhausted and ready to go to bed for the night. "But wait, Jen, we haven't vetted Numbers in yet and taken all the stuff down to the hold so get up off your knees and quit complaining like a little girl." Jen passed out. When I slapped her awake, she helped me pack up the tub to walk down the the hold. Now, remember I have a wicked cold and congestion. At this point, walking the tub with a 7 gallon water container and all the marvelous things you might need at a vet hold, I was the crying sniveling little girl. We had to keep stopping so I could breathe. Fortunately, Jen was very smart and used that time wisely to catch up on her sleep. BE PREPARED, to walk and wear comfortable clothes and shoes.

We met up with my new riding partner and she brought her horse over to meet us. He is very handsome! We agreed to get together to haul her stuff down to hold with ours (yes, she is close to the poor people section, parked in the middle class section. She's a bit closer to the activity area. She was all vetted in and was too excited for words. We agreed to have dinner together at the ride meeting so we could discuss our strategy for tomorrow's ride. Very nice woman! Her kids weren't much help to her, but they were very nice, too. At dinner, we got to talking about her knowledge of this sport and throughout the conversation, I began to get a sinking feeling in my gut. She didn't have a lot of experience and kept basing her strategies and confidences on the one ride she did do. I tried explaining to her how the trails at the Mustang Memorial ride are far different from the one ride she attended. I told her how I've done both rides and have a different riding strategy for each one based on the trails conditions, technicality of the trails, and length of the trail in between holds. I tried to give her an idea of how I planned to ride Mustang Memorial, knowing her and her horse have never completed a 50 mile ride. A strategy based so we'd finish about mid-pack with our horses still lively and sound. I tried talking to her about her horse and his overall temperament for this kind of riding. All in all, the longer I talked to her, the less she seemed to understand what I was trying to tell her and the harder that knot in my gut became. She didn't have a lot of her own stuff, but was smart about what she needed so she was borrowing things from various people, like corral panels for her horse to camp in. She didn't have saddle bags and wondered if I took things with me on trail to eat. I said sometimes, but mostly I had emergency stuff in my bags for wound care, human and horse, and stuff to repair a saddle or bridle if it would break. I assured her that if something happened, I'd have us both covered since she wouldn't be carrying her own supplies with her. BE PREPARED, know what you need.

The ride manager got up and gave a nice talk about the trails and how they were marked. He spoke about the day's ride and how there were several pulls for metabolic and lameness. He talked about the park we were riding in and how large it was. He also warned us that a horse gone a missing in this park was not likely to be found for several days so we should be certain that our horses respected the confinement area we had set up for them to camp in and they wouldn't be escaping into the wild and wonderful wilderness. Jen and I giggled a little at this because Numbers is also known as Houdini at camp. She has been known to escape her corral and wander around base camp at night. I HAVE been seriously investigating portable corral panels, electric fence charges, and other types of confinement. REALLY, I HAVE! Ask Marc, he's been my sidekick on this project. I wanted something so I didn't have to tie the horses to the trailer at night, but so far, I haven't found something that suits my needs or makes Marc happy. Soooooo....we're still working with the old stuff I've had for years. Stuff that any self respecting horse would laugh at to see in action. (no laughing!) I setup the pen and hung glow sticks on the corral so Numbers would see exactly where it was. Jen suggested we hang a glow stick on her halter. I thought about it, but shrugged it off. (ah, the hindsight intelligence strikes again.) Now, those glow sticks worked out very well for Numbers. She knew EXACTLY where to get out at and YES, when I got up at 5:00 AM, she was gone a missing from her corral. (groan). It's pitch black out, and Numbers is pitch black, and remember that camp is 60 miles long. How the heck am I gonna find my horse? Fortunately for me, she never wanders farther than the first camp that has grain lying about. My neighbors found her at 3 in the morning and tied her to their truck with some hay to crunch on. (Thank you neighbors!) BE PREPARED, have contact information on your horse's halter.

After I recovered from my panic attack, I made breakfast for me and Jen and we got hopping on preparing for the ride to start at 7:30. While Numbers and Jen went for a walk to warm up freezing Jen and give Numbers a view of camp in the daylight, I cleaned up breakfast and changed into my riding gear. They got back at the same time I came out of the camper, good timing. Jen groomed Numbers up for me while I gathered together everything I needed to have a glorious ride. The day was dawning with clear blue skies and it was supposed to be 70. A little warm for Numbers heavy winter coat, but if we got a breeze after lunchtime, it would be perfect. I already had too many layers on so I shed one (no, I'm not naked yet) and then tacked Numbers up. It's 7:05 and I have exactly enough time to pee one more time before going to check in with the timer at 7:15. The ride manager was very clear on checking in 15 minutes early because there were a lot of horses to get checked before the trail opened. 7:10 and I'm up on Numbers and ride over to my riding partners camp and HOLY SHIT....she doesn't even have tack on her horse yet. In fact, she's still grooming him. "Hurry Hurry." I squeak out in a thin tight voice full of panic. "We have to get all the way 60 miles to the other end of camp and check in." She looks at me kinda dumbfounded and tells me she was distracted with breakfast and eating bagels. Remember that knot in my stomach? IT'S BAAAACK. She quick throws her gear on her gelding and then is having a devil of a time mounting. Her horse steps away and she's not a quick mounter like me, so she backs off and starts over. Little does she realize that this is simply teaching him that moving around while she's trying to mount will earn him extra time without a rider. Okay, okay - I can't train every person and every horse in the world so I keep my mouth shut while she finds a mounting block someone left out and finally gets on. Her horse actually is very nice to her at that point, any one of my horses would have left her in the dust. I can tell he's eager to get going but he minds her very well. 7:29 AM we arrive at the timer to check in. (Yes, she gave us a dirty look for being late). (sigh) BE PREPARED, and have your horse ready 30 minutes prior to ride start.

And we're off. It's a good start, actually. People aren't racing out the driveway because they know at the end at the driveway they have to stop and cross over Rt 563. It's a nice slow warm up down the drive before getting onto the actual trail. Whoo Hoo. Numbers is in a fine fettle. She is eager to move on out, the trails are awesome, and she's to perky and peppy. I am in heaven. About two miles into the ride, I see we're going to have some problems. My riding partner's horse doesn't know how to pace himself and she doesn't know how to settle him into a pace. He races ahead, he lags behind, he races ahead, he runs into Numbers. Whenever a horse passes us, he charges after it. (Oh, dear.) I start talking to her about the things she can do at home to work him up for a pace that suits him. In the meantime, she has a death grip on his mouth and that works him up even more. Needless to say, all this pent up energy is feeding from him to Numbers who won't settle into her trail zone. Normally, it's calm Numbers feeding her vibes to the anxious horse, but not today. When he races ahead, she struggles with me to gallop after him. When he lags behind, she is turning to find out where he is. I made several comments to her about horses "bonding" on a trail when they're partners and that if she would relax and let Numbers set the pace, he would relax, too. I talked about buddy trail riding, and keeping the horses together to avoid anxiety. I'm not sure she understood any of what I was telling her. That knot in my stomach is now a boulder, sitting heavy and giving me a fit. At a water stop, we met up with Mary Coleman. Ah, maybe I can settle in behind her and my riding partner will be able to find a zone. Hawk (Mary's awesome Morgan gelding) is excellent at setting a steady pace and not getting rattled by all the nonsense going on behind him. Unfortunately, it backfired on us. Our horses were so worked up by this point that they were working on Hawks' nerves. Apparently, this caused Hawk to speed up, which stressed out Mary because it wasn't the pace she wanted him to be working in. I apologized to her and at the next water stop, I backed off so Mary and her riding partner could get ahead of us, out of sight. I tried to keep no horses in front of us or behind us at this point, so that my riding partner's horse could settle down and work with Numbers. This didn't work out very well at all. My riding partner's horse took off down the trail looking for the horses we ditched (sigh). And poor Numbers just wanted to take off after him. At this point, 12 miles into the loop, my riding partner's gelding has worked Numbers into a lather of frustration trying to keep up with him racing down the trail. The trails are so beautiful and peaceful and I can't even enjoy them because I'm trying very hard to keep Numbers relaxed. I felt like I was losing my riding rhythm with her, and our own partnership was falling to pieces. This ride is beginning to give me an ulcer, I know because I have started hiccupping and I feel acid in my throat. BE PREPARED, not every ride is a good one.

We come into base, a 20 mile loop, takes us 2 hours and 14 minutes. Actually, very good time, but not the time I wanted to do. I wanted a three hour 20 mile loop so our horses weren't worn out. There were several places I wanted to stop and walk but my partner's horse wouldn't because all he knew how to do was jig and jog forwards and back, setting Numbers off so she didn't relax, walk and catch her breath. There were several places I wanted to stop so Numbers could drink her fill. My riding partner's horse wouldn't drink, and she'd let him start down trail before Numbers got her wind and a good long drink. Of course, Numbers knows that this is her trail buddy so she frantically leaves her drinking to rush after him. I wanted to stay in the creek for a good 15 minutes cooling them off because the creek was the 4 mile from base mark. Stopping there would give them time to get their pulses and respiration down, cool off and get a level head going. While I was in the water, my partner's horse stumbled, (which apparently upset her, or scared her, I'm not sure which) so she left the creek and started up trail. I did not realize she had left us, and of course, this upset Numbers who LEAPT out of the creek and tried to take off after them. That frantic leap almost dumped me in the cold water and for the first time in the 8 years Numbers has been with me, I lost my patience with her and yelled at her. I'm so sorry, Numbers. You are the best horse in the world and you didn't deserve that. I caught up to her and her gelding and I told her that we had to walk. We were only a mile out and we had to calm them down. I put no ands' ifs or buts on that statement. Walking was the only option available. We walked into base and she left me, I have no clue where she went. I would never have left her, but apparently she had other things to do. So, I mentally shrugged to myself and went into pulse. Numbers was good at a 56. At trot out, she was slightly off. Nothing serious and the vet said she'd be fine, keep an eye on it, but by this point I had had enough for one day. I told the vet that I was using rider option and was pulling her out. Dr. Nick knows me several years and he was actually shocked. I wish I had a photo of his face, he truly was stunned. He said, "No, no, no, Dodie. She's not lame, you can finish the ride, I just wanted you to know about it." I grinned that famous Dodie-smile and said I didn't want to push her, and I had a cold, and didn't feel so well anyway. He said he'd hold my card for 40 minutes and if I didn't change my mind, he'd pull her out. I was done. Although it was a totally glorious day, I couldn't subject Numbers to anymore battling. We were partners, her and I, to go out and have fun, and enjoy our rush down the trail into freedom for the several hours it takes to finish a 50 mile ride. I truly did not know how to tell my riding partner that our horses were not suited to riding together, and so I did something that I have never done before. I quit. I just up and quit. BE PREPARED, to lose once in a while.

I found my riding partner and let her know that I pulled Numbers from the ride. I pointed out several people to talk to about joining up with them to finish the ride. I wished her luck and I seriously hope she DID finish the ride. That is a fine horse she has and I admire his gumption and willingness to travel down the trail without any fear and boldly go where he's not gone before. If he'd have been a mare, I would have probably offered her money for him, he was that nice. He needs education on how to pace himself. She needs education on how to learn his rhythm and get into the zone with him, but other than that, they were a grand pair. I packed camp and left at noon so I didn't get to hear if she completed or not. I did stop and ask one of the girls she brought with her (who apparently didn't get up in the morning to help her get prepared to ride) what she was doing and all I got was a non-committal shrug and a "I dunno." reply. Hopefully, she'll email me and let me know how she did. I felt badly that I abandoned her after I promised I would ride with her and help her through her first 50 mile ride. In fact, I still feel badly about it. Yes, Numbers was perfectly fine to continue. 10 minutes after the vet check where she was slightly off she did not show any offness at all. I'm sure she had a cramp and that was the extent of her offness during the trot out. I could have finished that ride, with or without my riding partner, but I just didn't want to. Thinking on it later, it's just possible that Numbers picked up on my stress and unhappiness so faked a cramp. allowing me to have an excuse to quit on her behalf. I love that horse, the things she does for me. BE PREPARED, to be humbled by a simple gift of love.

On the ride home, the EZ-Pass decided to work again. And clean up was quick and simple with only one horse to care for. And since it was still light out, I took my camper home, cleaned and winterized it and put it away for the year. And that is the end of the 2005 Endurance riding season for New Promise Farms. Please come on back next spring to read our adventures! Thanks for following me along on this awesome and truly fun season of riding.

HAPPY TRAILS!

November 14 update. I rode Numbers this morning and she's perfectly fine. Fit as a fiddle.

November 17 update. The woman I rode with did not complete. Her horse was fatigued and showed some soreness at the second vet check so she pulled. What a bummer.

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