Experience the ENDURANCE of Foundation Breeding
RIDE THE CHEAT
AKA Mike Ross's Ride Between The Rivers
August 11, 2007
This ride isn't getting off to a good start. Not at all!
First, it was called Ride The Cheat. Then it was cancelled. Then it was picked up by another manager and changed locations and names, now called Mike Ross's Ride Between The Rivers. Now I don't know what it is ... scope out the website. I do know it's only 15 miles from where my father's parents raised up a passle of kids and I was hoping to visit with my Uncle while I'm there.
Second, I was going to go to the ride and then I changed my mind. Bee-Bee got off to a bad start this season with me, pulled off two rides due to soreness in her loins. Then I thought I'd go do the LD but was not into driving 7 hours to go ride 30 miles. So, after careful deliberation (and several cocktails) I decided not to go at all. That was my downfall. No-one was prepared for me to stay at home and be a barn bunny.
Third, when I was at Genesee and several people caught on to my lazy attitude about driving 400+ miles to WV, Sallie helped me save face by offering to me her Ay-Rab gelding, Kirby. So... all I'd have to do was drive out there with my saddle and food stuffs, share space in her new sleeping quarters on her new trailer, and generally just have a nice relaxing weekend with her and Ann. What a plan! I took her up on it. Especially since it would only cost me about $50 in gas for the Miss Kia (Kia Sportage) instead of $250 in gas for Waltzing Matilda (V-10 Dodge).
Fourth, Kyle got wind that I was going out to the ride and started a campaign of PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take me with you. Now, how was I going to fit his horse and gear into Miss Kia? That was the question I posed to him with a serious face and lots of stern looks. Not to be deterred (gotta LOVE his enthusiasm for this sport!) he begged and pleaded and came up with fifty reasons why I should take him and Kevin to the ride. About 42 of those reasons were drastically silly, but I caved anyway. I love these two boys.
After several emails with Sallie to be sure she wasn't going to shoot me in the backside over the dramatic change in events, we are (as of Thursday 08/09/07) taking Kevin to ride the Ay-Rab Kirby, Kyle riding the Ay-Rab Rika, Sallie riding the Ay-Rab Sara and lonely ol' me on my Tennessee Walking mare Bee-Bee. Poor Bee-Bee, pregnant and has no clue she is going to have to do a 50 (again). I hope this time her loin holds up. The last two rides we did, she was turned "ON" and I think she's gonna be fine if I take 'er easy. Sallie said she's ride turtle with me and that's grand.
Now, on to the ride story!
I DO NOT WANT TO WRITE THIS STORY! I DO NOT WANT TO REMEMBER THIS RIDE!
That was my exact words to the six fans that approached me at the ride this past weekend. "What are ya gonna write?" was the question. I have been home two and half hours and have had 14 emails and two phone calls about this story.
"When are ya writing the story?"
Sheesh.
I am about three sheets to the wind, I am relaxing, and I find myself drawn to the computer to write write write. If you are reading this as I write it, I'm sorry! I've had about half a bottle of vodka and I'm not coherent. (Someone send me an email and let me know how I'm doing, all tanked up like this. Vodka is a wonderful Russian invention...I like it!) I am highly annoyed that after being away from the computer for three days I arrive home to find over 1000 emails in my in box and I know half of those are going to be junk - that leaves 500 emails that may or may not need to be attended to. Now, of those 500, about 100 are frivolous "Chain mail forwards" (sigh), 150 are "Did you get my last email, I haven't heard from you." and 150 are jokes, love letters, and "Have you seen this website yet?" emails. That leaves a grand total of 100 that needed real attention and I'm just too tanked to worry about tem right now. I want to write. Or truly, I *DON'T* want to write. This ride was HARD!
I told Kyle and Kevin to be at the barn early on Friday because I wanted to leave by 7:00. Those boy are notorious for being even later than I usually am (truly not their fault, they have to wait for rides to get anywhere because at 17 years old they haven't buckled down and got their licenses yet)...they were actually right on time and I was running late. It's not my fault, I swear it. Alec got up at 4:30 AM with me and asked me to take him to work. What was I supposed to do, say "NO!"?
So, until I got Miss Kia packed to go over to the barn, drive to the gas station to stop and get ice, and actually cruise on to the barn...it was about a half an hour later than I planned. Nice thing...Kyle knows the barn routine and already started the chores before I got there. I love Kyle. Why couldn't he be MY kid?
We actually left the barn at 7:16 AM. Not bad, considering. Has anyone been following my stories? You know that 16 minutes off the score is pretty darn good for me. Add Kyle and Kevin to the mix and we're SMOKIN'!
The drive was pretty uneventful until we arrived at Buckhannon, WV. Does anyone know I am from that area? My father's farm was in Barbeque Holler, outside of Walkersville. This is a short drive (as the crow flies) from Weston, WV. We have had our family reunions at the Comfort Inn off the Buckhannon exit of I-79 for several years now. My Uncle Larry is in Jane Lew and My Uncle Gary is outside of Walkersville. I won't go into the millions of cousins, second and third cousins, etc that are still in that area.
Forget me, I digress.
We get to Buckhannon and the directions I have say to turn right onto Rt 151 off of 33. Now, I'm sitting there at the "T" thinking to myself that if I turn right, I'll be heading right back into Buckhannon. If I turn left I'll be headed towards Elkins, where I thought the ride was just south of. I look at the directions again and it says turn right and go 8 miles. (shrug) Okay.
Of course, in three miles I'm back to Buckhannon so maybe I missed something. I pull off to the side and Kyle digs through the numbers on his phone to come up with Ride Management. Of course, I didn't print anything off the computer (like contact numbers) because I knew where I was going (chuckle). What the heck would one of my ride stories be like without a "driving there incident" in it? Come on!
I spoke with some nice guy and he told me where they were. Okay, I got it. I get back onto 33 and THIS TIME I turn left onto 151. Ten miles later, we're here.
OMG, we're here. I cannot believe the scenery. I want SO MUCH to retire back home to WV. You cannot imagine the thrill I get rolling in and out of the mountains. There was a very nice volunteer there to direct us to parking ... what little there was. He says, (And I quote!) "Since you're small, I'm gonna park you in here."
Small? My truck is 14' my trailer is 20" and there's two feet of hitch in between them. Okay, I guess compared to the huge living quarter rigs I see up the hill, we're small.
He points to a section of cleared area that boasts a brandy new built bridge. In fact, it's SO new, I can smell the fresh cut wood. Holy Crow. I have to drive Matilda over THAT? Is it safe? I watched a small pick up drive out of the area over that bridge and it didn't collapse.
Get 'er in 4-wheel, Matilda. We're going in.
We actually had the nicest parking spot there. I believe that. And because of our location, we had LOTS of visitors Friday and Saturday as they moved from their camps to base and back. I can't tell you how many people apologized for cutting through our camp in those two days. I simply smiled and said, "Where I come from, that's called company." That got a smile from most everyone!
The nice volunteer straightens us out, comes over and comments on Matilda (and how fine a V-10 must be in these mountains) and gets us all settled before rushing back up to the new bridge to park more people. Most people were packed in like sardines and we had the best, roomiest spot. I hope to get this exact spot next year so I'm leaving at 4:00 AM to arrive in base camp early to assure we get that spot!
AND! I have been toying with the idea of getting a fifth wheel camper/horse trailer combination...not a full living quarters (who needs all that?) but a weekender package to hold all my stuff in between rides. After watching rig after rig getting parked at this ride, squeezed into every available quarter, I have decided I like my stock trailer just fine. I can spin that bad boy on a dime and give you a nickel change. I can parallel park in any parking lot, go through the Burger King drive thru and put it into the teeniest space without any hazard or hardship. I do not believe I could do that with a fifth wheel. So, I am now back to lurking on EBay watching for a good deal on a used camper.
As we're unpacking, Kyle comes to the trailer and I wish Connie was standing there with me. He says, as he points up the hill towards a camp site, "That lady just asked me if I was with Dodie." (snicker) I almost peed in my pants.
Then, he grins really big and tells me that she knew his name. (Because he was with me or because he posts a lot on Ride Camp?)
We'll refer to her as Lurking Lynn. That's what she told me! She's a lurker on Ride Camp because she's only doing this two seasons and didn't feel she had anything to add to the posts. I swiftly corrected her and said I learn more from the newbie *questions* than I do from the answers they get. Why? Because the fact that the question needed to be asked. Let's think about why a horse owner would not know what CRI is ... or what does it mean that a horse was pulled for metabolics ... or how can they find out their horse's resting pulse rate. These are excellent questions and the questions remind us that we are supposed to be educating the new riders.
Okay, again, I digress.
We had a grand chat while unpacking. She told me all about her mare and what they've been doing and how excited she was to be here on this ride. She also told me she loved my ride stories and was waiting to read the one about this ride. I reminded her that because she had a moment of uncaring daring, she was now going to be *IN* my ride story. She laughed so I guess it's okay to put her on here!
Kyle and Kevin made short work of unpacking and stacking. We had camp done in under half an hour. These boys are great.
Sallie wasn't here yet so we get Bee-Bee and Rika vetted in and then kicked back to wait her arrival. Wasn't long before she rolled in, big ol' smile on her face and merriment dancing in her eyes. Oh boy, we're in trouble now!
Here's the amazing thing. Since we're there, 20 rigs have come in and taken up parking after parking. Along comes Miss Sallie and she gets the SECOND best parking spot in the camp. This would never happen again in a million years. She's RIGHT AT THE HOLDS! Awesome.
We help her get unpacked and only have to move her corral once (grin). Apparently, they were waiting on several more rigs to get there and they wanted her corral behind the trailer so they could park someone right next to her. (shrug) Its okay, we have lots of hands.
It was very humid. Not so hot, upper 80's, but it was so humid that I was drenched. My hair was soaked, my clothes were stuck to me in all the wrong places and I was concerned that the weather channel dudes had lied to us again. They promised cooler, with less humidity and it sure didn't feel like it. Tomorrow is supposed to be low 80's with little to no humidity. Hmmmm.
She and Kevin get their horses vetted in and we're a go. Ready for tomorrow. Fatty Patty Sarah is looking very pleased with herself. Sallie assured me that she has one less fat wrinkle on her neck so she knows she's getting into better shape. (uh-huh) And besides that, all that extra padding just makes the ride softer. Now that I can agree with.
Kyle and Kevin set up the canopy and brought all the stuff up to the hold for us. Good deal. We're right at Sallies trailer - about two hops and a skip from our trailer and we have all the necessities of life here for the holds.
We pulled out our blue tickets for dinner and headed over to the ride management tent where we checked in. The sky is looking mighty dark and dreary right about that time and I was wondering if we would get rained on.
Yep.
No sooner did we fill our plates with yummy BBQ and baked beans until small drops started falling. Kyle sent Kevin to the truck for the big umbrella. Okay ... it's a beach umbrella (huge) and meant more for shade than water repelling. The sky opened up on us about three seconds after Jen starting talking to us about the ride and "WHOOSH" everyone but me, Kyle and Kevin scatter from the area and disappear into trailers, under canopies, etc.
It was raining hard and the three of us huddled under that umbrella and finished our meal. We were laughing pretty hard about it. The material of the umbrella was letting a fine mist through so we weren't totally dry. Actually, the mist coming through the material of the umbrella felt very good. I was very sticky with sweat and it was refreshing.
We finally gave up the umbrella idea when it started letting through more than a mist. The really funny part is that if we'd just sat there another minute, the down pour was over and we'd have been just fine. (shrug) Go Figure. The chairs were full of water, but who cares. It was a very cooling rain.
Ride meeting. Jen had little to say about the trail. She said that she hates to be lost on trail so it's well marked. VERY well marked. It's hard. It's rocky. There are some long hill climbs. (Oh, Jen - you neglected to say that they were miles long!)
Fifty-five 50-mile entries, thirty-one 30-mile entries. Two loops. Orange 15.2 miles, white 10.5 miles. 30 milers are doing the orange loop twice (30.5 miles). 50 milers are doing orange, then white (25.7 miles) then orange then white (25.7 miles) with three holds. That kills our actual ride time by 45 minutes having three holds instead of two, but it is better for the horses to get that extra rest...so that's okay.
I sat with Sallie until after dark drinking some kind of Rum concoction that was absolutely to die for. I would have asked for seconds if that wouldn't have made me out to be a bad visitor! It was THAT good. I have to remember to get that recipe.
Kevin went to bed around 8:30. I got back to my camp at 9:30 and fill a bucket to take my bath. We are two feet from this to die for creek and I thought to take a quickie in there...but I was too beat to trudge down there and trudge back. So, the trailer makes a good bathing room. Trust me!
I was sleeping grandly until the wee hours of the morning when it started raining. My feet were getting wet. I was in the back of the truck and recently I had a "cap incident" at the barn and lost the window to the cap. This means there's no cover over the tail gate, where my feet are hanging out, and they're now wet - along with the foam mattress I'm sleeping on.
Fudge.
I curl up inside the bed and go back to sleep. The 4:00 AM wake up horn came rather swiftly and I was up like a rocket. Coffee on, Bee-Bee fed, potty break done (which was right next to my truck, thank you very much!) and now the waiting. I hate the waiting. We're out at 6:15 AM and I hate waiting...and waiting...and waiting.
A side note here, Kyle wanted to put on his contacts and found that one was torn and the other was missing. I offered him my spare glasses (so he could see) and he actually didn't look bad in them. Like a light haired Harry Potter. Of course, being 17 the whole idea of wearing girls glasses wasn't appealing and even though he could see with them on, he wasn't interested in borrowing them. He's riding blind today.
I tack up Bee-Bee, get on to warm her up. I no sooner hit her back until she shoots out from underneath me like a rocket on fire.
WHOA!
After several minutes of explaining to her that the ride wasn't leaving yet, I finally got a handle on her. She was definitely *ON* again today. This is great! I am very excited to get started because if she finishes this 50, that means she's healed 100% from the loin injury she got at Michaux. We don't mention that she's five months pregnant because that will depress her and maybe she won't run so well.
Trail is open ... we're off.
ORANGE LOOP - 15.2 miles.
The four of us (Kevin, Kyle, Sallie and me) all start out together. We leave out of camp through the other side of the bridge over that to die for creek and haul out to an access road. We start an upward climb. Easy work, Bee-Bee is totally turned on so I am either holding her back or running ahead and stopping to wait for everyone. She loves the downhills and since we're on access roads to the natural gas lines that abound on this mountain, she's really cracked about moving out down those roads.
Early into the loop we crest the first long climb and the mist is laying in between the mountains. It is the most gorgeous view and we're dying to get on this loop after lunch to see the view without the mist. Truly a breath-taking experience to crest up over a hill and see nothing but mountains for as far as your eyes can focus. I stopped and just soaked it in. God, I miss WV.
On this particular down trail (after cresting the mountain and looking at the view) we discovered rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Nothing at all compared to the boulders at Old DOminion, but a worse kind of rock. These are fist sized, ankle busting, knee twisting rocks. EVERYWHERE. Okay, we were warned.
Bee-Bee boogies down that trail, passing the four horses that were in front of us and I wait at the bottom of the hill for my group. At this point I'm starting to feel like a heal. I'm not riding Bee-Bee's ride and I'm certainly not riding the rest of the group's ride. It was my intention to move about 6-7 miles an hour, take all day and get Bee-Bee through the ride. She wanted to go-go-go and I know if you fight your horse, you're gonna cause an inadvertent injury. I also know if I don't get her to relax and pace herself, she's gonna cause herself an inadvertent injury. I was on pins and needles and we're only about 5 miles into the ride. Man.
They catch up to me and we're on an access road again, no rocks but large gravel. Now this isn't your typical driveway gravel, this is the stuff they use to keep road washout from occurring. Fist sized grey gravel. (sigh) Bee-Bee is working hard, we're on the down hill, man. Sarah is riding right beside us, matching Bee-Bee step for step. I look over at Sallie and she has the biggest, happiest grin on her face I've ever seen. She loves this mare and is cranked that Sarah is working so hard and easy. And guess what, folks? Sarah is obviously gaited, we're doing about 12 mph down that hill and Sallie isn't moving a hair. Sitting right in that saddle just as comfortable as I am on my walker.
Sarah and Bee-Bee get into a wonderful rhythm. It's fast, it's smooth and we're cranking down that hill. It's grand. Behind me I hear a small voice.
"Dodie, can you please slow down?"
I look back and Kyle has Rika all collected up and she's cantering behind us. His face is pretty ashen and I suspect that this is probably faster than he's done down a hill, on rocks, and is not having a good time. I back Bee-Bee off, Sallie backs Sarah off and Kyle relaxes to get Rika back into an extended trot. In the meantime, I check on Kevin - riding on a horse he's never met, in a saddle that is not his style, and he is looking A-Okay. Whew.
At this time, I want to mention that every walker I have done endurance with has been a kick-ass roller down the hills. I think it has something to do with the way their back end works. They aren't so good on the up hill work...again, I believe this is due to how their back end works. Bee-Bee is working this ride with three Arabians, well known for their marching charge up hills. So, although we lead the pack on the down hill, Sarah (and her mighty march) lead us up hills. Remarkably, on this first loop, Bee-Bee is working nicely up the hills and doesn't get too far behind.
We're also taking it easy because these hill climbs are long. And steep. There are no switch backs like at Old Dominion. There are no level runs in between hills to get your horse stretched out and loosened up. There is no relief from UP or from DOWN. I know I am going to get tired today, I can't imagine what my horse feels like.
We had a gorgeous river
crossing. It was neat ... the river branched around an island and we
crossed through the cut in between the land mass so it was like crossing two
rivers. The water was moving at a good pace and was cold. Nice
and cold. It was an excellent cooling station because the horses were
in the water up over their bellies and that cold water cooled them right
down. We plowed through that, were on the trail a little bit then
crossed the river again.
The second crossing was a
little more interesting. There were very large boulders everywhere in
the water and it was shallower so the water was moving a good clip. it
was actually kind of funny because as we got into the water and the
streaming water hit Bee-Bee's legs, she was bring drawn down river, away
from the crossing on the other side. The not so funny part was that
she was being drawn right into those large boulders. EEK! We
survived.
We're about 3/4 into this loop when my bladder starts telling me I need to get off and get it empty. Smiling over at Sallie, I mention my need to stop. I see a wave of relief flush over her face. She laughs and says she'll join me. We've been pulling a long long hill. I swear, it felt like it was 20 miles long but that's not possible because this loop is only 15 miles. We reach a switch back (A switch back? Really?) Okay, not really...the access road continues on straight but the ribbons tell us we're turning back on the road behind us.
There's a nice place to get off trail so no-one sees our hinnies as we pee. Kyle and Kevin go on while we take a break. Marvelous! Now it's just me and Sallie and we can jibber-jabber at each other. Back on trail and we're talking about everything and nothing when suddenly we realize we're back on the lollipop. We just finished a very very long decent on a nice trail that had some rocks, a little mud, but the decent was steep. Sarah and Bee-Bee cranked on through that like no-one's business.
I couldn't help myself, I hollered, "Whee!" It was really fun to just let Bee-Bee loose to do her thing. No worries, Sarah was cranking right along side her.
Once on the lollipop back into base camp, we slowed them down to get some rest and walked into camp. We never did catch back up to Kyle and Kevin on the trail.
Apparently, Kirby was quite fine without his sister Sarah until he got back into camp and saw she wasn't there. His pulse wouldn't come down and he hollered at every gray horse that walked by. Kyle and Rika pulsed down but he had to go back for a recheck because Rika was off at the trot. Once we arrived, Kirby settled right down and his pulse came down pretty quickly.
Bee-Bee was in the high 50's when we got there so we went straight over to pulse in. 56 pulse. On her CRI check, she was 56/52. Not often you see the pulse go DOWN after the horses trots out.
The trot out was funny. I told her to get up and she cantered down to the cones. (sigh) Then she gaited back to the vets and passed, but she got a B on impulsion. I guess cantering in hand isn't good impulsion. That's okay, Bee-Bee usually has "B's" on everything anyway, so I wasn't worried.
45 minute hold. I have no crew on this ride and Kyle was extremely helpful to me. Since he was in before me, he already had things ready for me when I got there and he helped me cool off Bee-Bee with water. He looked so depressed because he wasn't sure that Rika would be able to continue.
I overheard a crew member in passing say that already 6 horses had been pulled and it was only the first loop. It was tough traveling up and down those hills over the rocks...but I didn't think it was THAT tough.
We did that first loop in 2 hours 21 minutes. About what I wanted to do, but I knew they weren't going to be moving as fresh the second time we hit that loop with all those hill climbs so I was hoping to crank the 10 mile loop a little faster.
NOT!
WHITE LOOP 10.5 miles
Holy Crow. The ten mile loop was a killer.
Rika trotted out fine after she rested. Kyle said she had some rocks in her one foot, wedged up in there and he suspected that was why she was trotting out funny. Since Kirby didn't pulse down until Sarah got back, the three of us were on the same time frame. Kyle left 6 minutes before us and said he's walk until we caught up. Let me tell you, six minutes in these hills and we'll never see him again unless he stops and waits for us.
So, now it's three of us. We left camp up a long one mile long pull, over fist sized gravel. We had rode this a bit last night so weren't overly concerned. These gravels are just the right size to get in a shoe and stick there. Man.
We crest the hill, pulling some serious heart rates, and start on this sandy path weaving through the woods. it's a nice wide path but about every four feet is a huge mud hole. We were warned to stay out of these holes because some of them were pretty darn deep and you could get yourself into trouble. The other thing that worried me was that we were on sand and sand and water combined can mean trouble...big time.
So, the next couple miles were trot, walk, weave ... trot, walk weave (you get the picture.)
Here we had rolling hills up and down. Nothing dramatic. it was actually quite pleasant in the shade under the trees. It was cool and the horses were working well. We're almost off the stick of the lollipop when here comes the lead rider, Deb, cranking on her lovely bay towards us. Sallie greeted her, we all waved and I looked at that horse. he wasn't even working hard...just like he was moseying along. They were WAY out front of the rest of the 50 milers.
This loop was hard. The hill pulls were much much steeper and longer on this loop than on the orange loop. There was a lot of water, but it was mostly mud puddles that we were afraid to go into because we had been warned. We hit the half way point and were working a little piece of the orange trail backwards. We came off this onto a hill climb that kicked our asses. Steep, rocky, no relief for the horses as it went on and on. I asked around later and was told that climb was just shy of two miles long. And it didn't stop. Just when you though you saw daylight and we at the top the trail would turn and you were still climbing. HARD. Bee-Bee's back legs were constantly hitting my feet in the stirrups and she dug in and pulled her self up that hill. Sarah lost her hill climbing march as we walked up and up and up. Kevin and Kirby were falling behind.
It was hard.
About 3/4 the way up there was a tiny natural spring bubbling up through some thick black mud and Sarah gleefully pulled Sallies arms out of the socket as she swerved off the trail to get some of that water. We all stopped and those horses scooped as much water as they could out of the mud. They were breathing so hard, I was content to just stand there. I'm looking up the trail (which is still climbing hard) and turn to Sallie.
"Are we there yet, Ma?"
She laughed. I laughed. Kevin looked at us like we were nuts.
Heart rates start to drop so we point them up the hill and go on (and on and on and on)
THE TOP! Whew! And there a nice mud puddle up here. They drink and drink. Heart rates come down, we start on down the trail.
The rest of the trail was more of that sandy weave around horse eating mud holes like we had before. We caught up to a rider and let her set the pace for awhile. Well, until she took a wrong turn and we got off trail. no big deal, we were only off about 150 yards. We quickly got back on trail and moved off. Trot, walk, weave...trot, walk, weave.
The trail was slowly descending all the while and suddenly dropped off right under neath of us. DOWN HILL! Bee-Bee is booking. I also think she must have known we were coming back into camp because very shortly after she got cranked up and took off, leaving Sarah and Kirby behind, we found ourselves on the lollipop going back into camp.
I just jumped off, loosened my saddle and said, "Let's walk in."
Bad idea.
Sallie and Kevin don't have a blown knee and they were boogying down those ankle twisting rocks. The down hill work still hurts...I guess that is never going to go away. i was trying to move slower, but Bee-Bee wanted to be up with them. Fine, I do some kind of strange hop, jump and tip-toe on one foot down that hill to keep up with them. I'm sure it was very interesting to see.
BASE
CAMP! 1 hour 52 minutes to do 10 miles. Damn. That was
much slower than I wanted to work that loop. Here we are coming into
the timer. Ann took these photos. We don't look so dragged out,
do we?
Kyle is already there, has Rika all vetted and he helped me cool down Bee-Bee. It's getting hot now, the sun is out and it's 11:30 AM. Bee-Bee didn't pulse down as quickly as the first loop. Took about five minutes to get her under 60. I watered one side, Kyle watered the other side. Did I mention that Kyle is awesome? He was a great help to me.
A different vet saw Bee-Bee this time. She said her back was sore. What??? Well, if someone grabbed ahold of your loin muscle and squeezed as hard as that vet did, you'd have a sore back, too. Overall A- on the vet in. The vet (whom I don't know) almost thought Bee-Bee was lame until she realized she was a walker. Know what she said to me? These gaited horses aren't really meant for this sport. I could have slapped her.
Oh, so first my horse's back is sore and now she's not good enough for endurance? I'm glad Numbers wasn't here, she would have kicked that vet back to the show ring. Go check Numbers AERC records! She's AWESOME. If she hadn't have been kicked by Joker and had her leg broke, I'd still be riding her.
PLEASE! Forgive me, here. This is no mockery on the vet's care she gave to Bee-Bee. The vet was very thorough and gave Bee-Bee a good exam...I just get really tired of people's misconceptions about the gaited horses. My walkers love this sport and they do very well in it. Ask Dr. Art and Dr. Nick. They've been watching my walkers at rides for a couple years now.
We're out of camp at 12:21 PM. Okay, our strategy is that if we do the orange loop in the same time as we did it the first time, we'll be okay on time. I don't know. Bee-Bee is showing some fatigue, I don't think her energy levels will be as high as the first time around. Of course, we did a lot of stopping and waiting on the first loop, so maybe if we hold a steady pace we'll do okay.
Kyle is out of camp 8 minutes before us so he leaves us behind. This might work out okay if he gets back before us and can help me again. I'm feeling a little depressed at pulling those long hills again, especially if the vet is right and Bee-Bee is getting a sore back. I checked her when I got back and Bee-Bee didn't tell me her back was sore. Wonder what's up with that?
We did the orange loop second time around 15 minutes slower than the first time. Since we were running a little behind schedule, we didn't walk them on the lollipop like the first time, we cranked right on into base camp. Really not a problem. We didn't wear the horses out and they were still pretty fresh.
One scary scene on this loop the second time. As we were coming out of the only switchback on the trail (the same place where Sallie and I did our pit stop the first go around) we passed a large mud puddle with an even larger pool of coagulated blood next to it. I slowed down a moment and thought, "Hawk having dinner?" But the blood continued past the puddle, large pools of it.
Oh, man - someone had an injury. We crested up the hill and there was a vet and an ambulance working on a grey horse. I recognized the rider as a lady parked beside us, Dawn, and she didn't look like she was going to cry her eyeballs out ... I asked if everything was okay and she replied that it was now. I didn't get the rest fo the story until the ride was totally over, but apparently her horse threw a shoe and it hit the artery on the back leg just right, slicing through it.
How scary is that?
Note to riders from Dawn...always carry your cell phone, even if you don't think you'll get signal and always carry a fresh vet wrap. Apparently the one she was carrying, or the one someone that stopped to help her was carrying was so old it was shredding as they tried to peel it off and wrap the horse's leg.
Her horse is fine. All stitched up and will be riding again in a couple weeks. No worries.
By the way! We got to see all the scenery we missed in the morning due tot he mist and let me tell you...it took my breath away. So beautiful.
As we came into base camp, two feet from the creek crossing back in, Sarah stumbled and came up with a twisted shoe. DAMN! Can you imagine? Well, that's okay ... there's a farrier here. Fatty Patty Sarah has been doing remarkably well and Sallie has been so happy, I think her face is going to hurt the worse tomorrow because she hasn't stopped grinning.
We come into camp and believe it or not, Bee-Bee is pulsing right down. Less than five minutes and Kyle and I had her cooled enough to get vetted in. 60/60 on her CRI. Okay, she's tired, but not stressed. That's what the CRI tells us. And now she's got the third vet checking her. She's still trying to canter to the cones (grin). She's checked all over and I mention that at the last hold the vet thought her back was getting sore, and would this vet PLEASE check it out for me.
Nope. No back soreness, no loin soreness and her anal tone is good!
Hmmmmm.
I go back to the hold area and Sarah's pulse is still up. So is Kirby's. Kyle is working with Kevin on Kirby and Sallie and Ann are working on Sarah. They pull Sarah...even after pulling the shoe off, she's still off so she probably twisted something.
Sallie is not sad at all. She said that was the toughest 40 miles SHE'S ever done and Sarah has NEVER done anything like it so she's very pleased with Sarah's over all enjoyment of the work. Still smiling! I love that Sallie!
Okay. It's me and Kevin. It's the last 10 miles and I have mentally whooped myself. I was truly hoping Bee-Bee would get pulled so I didn't have to face that 10 mile loop again. I wanted to lay down and give up. Bee-Bee was eating like a fool. First time all trail she was really eating and she was EATING! She was relaxed and I think she thought she was done. Most 50 mile rides have two holds and she knew she had done two holds and I believe SHE thought, "It's over, now I can relax."
Poor Bee-Bee.
I got on to go out again and almost came back to Rider Option Bee-Bee out of the ride. We are out of hold at 4:08 PM. This leaves us 2 hours and 7 minutes to complete the ten miles that took us two hours when our horses were fresh. Now, they're 40 miles tired and this ten mile loop is hard. Kevin (bless his heart) is sore all over and he gamely got back on Kirby to go so I buckled up and moved us out.
Nooooooo ... I don't wanna gooooooo.
As we're moving up the long mile hill to get started on the trail, I am feeling sorry for myself. In retrospect, I understand that there was more going on here than just the toughness of the ride and I won't go into my grief driven mental breakdown here in this story. All I'll say is that when I did finally lose it on Sunday, I was very fortunate to have several friends (some of which were at this ride) that held my hand and got me through it. Endurance riders are the best! No competition, no stress in relationships, and they band together when there's a problem.
Okay, enough of that! Here's where the ride weeds out the weenies! Horse *AND* rider!
Bee-Bee is moving pretty freely, considering that she's already done some of the toughest riding I've ever subjected her to. All this hill work is not in the conditioning curriculum at home. I can see now that I need to go visit Mike and Skip at the Michaux trails and get some more mountain conditioning. Whew.
She gets up that hill and once we start on the flat, she's really moving out. I can't even tell you how she got a second wind. I'm thinking it was all that eating she did at base while we were on our 4 minute hold. We cranked through the first half of the loop in record time. 35 minutes! And that's a lot of uphill work. She was moving better this second time around than she did the first time.
Now, I'll also say that I knew we had limited time to complete this loop so I wasn't holding her back at all, so she may have been very happy I was letting her "GOOOOO" the way she likes to go.
I checked on Kevin several times to make sure he was still in the saddle. Kirby was bookin' it, too, and I knew Kevin was tired and sore. Kirby looked like we were just starting the ride. I know (now) how Sallie completed her 100 mile ride last fall! This horse is just grand!
We came into the half way point and I let Bee-Bee go. It's a nice stretch of flat along the river and she was boogying. I have to say at this point I was a very rude endurance rider and although I did apologize to the three riders we were rude to...if any of you are reading this story, I truly am sorry and I wish I could take back my rudeness.
I had forgot there was a small spring on this road. We were moving fast and as the road was wide and straight and I wanted to keep going as long as we could before we hit that 2 mile pull, we passed them. No problem there, but Bee-Bee remembered that spring was on the side of the road and no sooner did we get past them then she swerved in front of them and put on the brakes. I almost fell over her head, she stopped so fast. Of course, that caused them to almost collide with us as we're straddling the road blocking their movement.
I felt very badly about it. If someone had done that to me I would have had something to say about it. They were very gracious, though and just passed us without saying a word.
Later, when I caught back up to them again and apologized, I could tell that they were not happy with me at all and that makes me sad. I didn't mean to be rude.
Of course, I think the disgust they felt at the time was also related to Kirby and Kevin blasting past them up a hill into the finish line. Once again, Kevin is tired, Kirby knows where he is and as we came over the last small rise, Kirby just wanted to get back home to base...I truly don't believe that Kevin meant to insult them by "racing to 35th place". When I overheard them get worked up over that, and then they pretty much ignored my apology, I knew they were stressed out by us rude endurance riders.
(shrug)
I would have probably acted the same way had someone did to me what we did to them. Once again, My apologies.
Okay, we stopped and got water at that spring where we cut them off. Kirby was drinking at every mud puddle and mud hole on this loop. Believe it or not, Bee-Bee was, too. And then she'd take off like a bat out of hell. Man, what a good mare!
We get on that long long long long rocky climb and Kirby wanted to canter up it. "Oh, no you don't. We have to save the horses." Up and up and up and up. I was absolutely depressed going up this hill.
Up and up and up. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
Believe it or not, about 3/4 the way up we got behind those three riders again. As I was still very embarrassed by our earlier behavior, I slowed Bee-Bee down and let them get ahead of us again. Soon (it felt like a 100 years) we reached that small mud hole and Bee-Bee whipped me into it so fast I almost got whiplash.
Kevin reminded me there was another big puddle at the very top (which wasn't all that far away, but we still had a very steep climb to get to it). I said great, let's let them sit here a moment and catch their breath.
Once they quit panting so hard and their heart rates came down some, we headed up the hill. Do you know Bee-Bee tried to break into a canter - not once, but twice? Where the heck is she getting all this energy? It has to be from Rika's food she was stealing back at hold. I have to remember to ask Kyle about what's in there!
FINALLY! THE TOP! WHOO HOO.
The mud puddle is almost dry! 50 plus horses hitting on it all day, twice, has draiend it of it's refreshement. Bummer. The horses get a little sip and they're pushing us to get moving.
Fine. I'm not arguing. I'm actually starting to feel a little better about this loop. Bee-Bee isn't struggling and we're on the final three miles. I look at the watch that Sallie lent to me and literally was taken aback! We had been on trail only 55 minutes and were so close to home. Remarkable. We were cranking it.
Back into that trot, walk, weave...trot, walk, weave. I'm getting a little springier in my ride. Singing to myself, "We're almost there, we're almost there." Bee-Bee must have picked up on that because she quit the walking part when she was weaving and we were doing some serious bending exercises around those mud holes. Boogy, baby!
OH NO! I see the three riders just ahead and they're moseying along. I can't very well ask to pass them (again) because that will REALLY piss them off. (sigh). Well, we have time, let's just walk behind them awhile.
For the most part, I didn't ask Bee-Bee to hold back at all on this loop. I knew that I wasn't being a good rider and keeping her paced, but I also knew I didn't want to fight her and make her sore or mad. At this point, being behind these three riders, she was mad. I had a death grip on her reins, holding her back two horse lengths from the bay with the red ribbon in its tail. She even stomped her foot at me a couple times.
This is why, when we got out into the open and saw that last grand view of the mountains spreading across our view for miles and miles, and the trail opened up, Kirby and Bee-Bee wanted to take off. They knew we were almost home, they'd both been held back pitifully slow for the past mile and they were having no more of it.
This is the spot that Kirby passed the three riders and crossed the finish line in between the three riders. (pissing them off even more than they were already pissed off...I know! I overheard their comments about us. I chuckle about it because it was very passive aggressive, their conversation with each other! They didn't need to speak loud enough that I could hear them with my "deaf in one ear and can't hear out the other" situation). Now, I totally understood their point, and I totally felt bad, and I totally apologized profusely just moments before they had their whole "racing to 40th place" conversation, and I have no ill feelings. I am just writing this down so that everyone reading the story will remember not to be rude on the trail!
I continued to hold Bee-Bee back, for a couple reasons ... one: I'm still embarrassed by our earlier behavior; two: I'm hoping for the turtle award and three: I was actually adjusting my saddle which slid off to the side a little.
THE FINISH LINE! Time? 5:29 PM. We did the loop in 1 hour 21 minutes...37 minutes faster than the first time. WOW! Where did Bee-Bee find that energy?
We would have done it faster if we hadn't arrived behind the three riders a mile out. That's okay, I'm not complaining...just saying how much I really appreciated Bee-Bee and Kirby having so much energy and willingness to go on when I had given up. I truly learned something from my horse today! Endurance isn't always about the physical strength, it's about the mental stamina. It is a lesson I am not likely to forget, ever!
We got off to walk them down that long ankle breaking rock filled mile long access road back to base. I loosened my saddle to give Bee-Bee a break and something happened to me at this point. I was so overwhelmed that we had completed, and completed well (Bee-Bee is almost dragging me and I can tell she is not fatigued or anything) that I started weeping! I was so happy/sad/emotional at this point, I'm glad that Kirby was being better behaved and not dragging Kevin along so they were far behind me.
We're about 3/4 the way down and Bee-Bee stopped dead in her tracks. Up to this point she was dragging me along side her as she did her big Tennessee Walker walk. I looked and the saddle had slid off the side of her. How smart is that? I adjusted the saddle and she was off again. I'm half running, hopping, sliding down the hill bahind her.
WE'RE BACK! YEA!
Kyle is done, has Rika all vetting out for final exam and is waiting for us. While I'm dumping saddle and stuff off Bee-Bee, he's checking her pulse. She's already inthe upper 50's so I go right over to the vet to get her final exam.
CRI 56/56. WOW! Obviously, she's not stressed or fatigued.
She got an overall B+ and I'm happy. I had Kyle trot her out so I could watch to see if she was having any trouble in her loin. He didn't run fast enough to make her gait, but Dr. Art didn't make us do it again. She was pacing coming back and was sound on all four so he let it slide. SOUND! No loin problem. Thank you, Lord Jesus!
Gut sounds were a B all day and at final she got an A. How is that? Must have been all that eating she did in hold before we left on the final loop. Everything else was great. She was perky, ears forward watching everything and I was estatic! I am SO glad that Kyle made me come and ride Bee-Bee...it meant a lot to me to finish this hard ride on my own horse. Not that it would have been any less exciting to finish it on Kirby, like we planned, but after the bad start we had to the season, this was a Kudo to Bee-Bee to finish today!
And believe me when I say - Bee-Bee finished this ride. Not me!
Awards... Mike got BC in the 50 on Sergio. My gosh, that horse is really cranking this year. Mike was absolutely flabbergasted when they called him name for winning BC. KUDO's Mike!
52 of the 55 entries started on the 50. 41 finished, lost 11 riders, but none to metobolics! Yea!. I did not get the turtle award, I was 40th...
28 of the 31 entries started on the 30. 21 finished, lost 7 riders but none to metobolics! Yea!
Lurker Lynn came over and gave me the low down on her adventures on the 30. She couldn't believe that she did so well. She is determined to do some dieting and get in better shape so she can do the 50 next year. That's an excellent plan!
We went to bed exhausted and happy! When I got up the next morning and trotted Bee-Bee out I found no soreness or tenderness in her back, she wasn't stiff, her legs weren't stocked up and she actually almost got away from me...she was that energetic. I am thrilled!
The true highlight to my weekend was the trip home. Many trailers left before us, I was in no real rush to get out. We waved "Bye" to many of them as they passed us while we were breaking up camp. Waltzing Matilda over took all those trailers on the way home, walking up those mountains like they weren't even there. We got to wave to many of our fellow riders a second time! We had a grand time with that. Gotta love V-10 power.
Instructor/Manager: Dodie Sable
Located in New Smithville PA at 37 Fenstermacher Road, 3 miles north of Kutztown University
Call us at 610.756.3836 or email us at dodie@newpromisefarms.com