Experience the ENDURANCE of Foundation Breeding
FOXCATCHER: April 26, 2008 Sprinkles, 74 degrees, winds 10-15mph
I am sitting here all overwhelmed with emotions. My gosh...
I did not attend this ride as I had a previous engagement. My Aikido Kids from the Dojo and I had a demonstration at Northampton Community College for the Horizons For Youth programs.
Jen and Luke, however, DID attend the ride. Her second time out and she went all alone. (sniffle) I am so proud of here and here is her email she sent to me. I can't stop smiling. Today was a remarkable day for me and a totally awesome day for Jen and Luke.
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Hi Dodie:
I just got back from the Foxcatcher 25.
I left on Friday at 11 AM. Now, I am pretty lucky....Paul usually does my
trailering. If need be, I putt putt around Sussex County with the horse
trailer but I have never been out of state hauling! Fortunately I didn't run
over any of the people who pulled out in front of me on Route 206. I did see
the whites of one guys eyes though! We (my daughter Bryn and I) had smooth
sailing down to the Delaware Memorial Bridge....wow that's a really high
bridge! I am afraid of heights and bridges but I made it over and then
promptly got stuck in traffic on Rout 295 and Route 95. It is now almost 3
PM. I got to the ride camp at 3:30...Mapquest lied again....Mapquest said it
would take 3 hours.
So I found the ride camp and even parked. Actually I pulled straight in. But
a few people did that so I guess it didn't matter so much.
Bryn and I unloaded Luke and gave him hay. He was much calmer and had
already eaten a full net of hay in the trailer. Our neighbor was a girl
named Brittany Hazzard. She had a nice App. Bryn asked her if she was riding
to win. She explained that it was her first ride and she said "I am riding
to finish-you know in this sport to finish is to win." So Bryn goes, "Did
you read the book 'To Finish is to Win'?" Brittany replied, "No, but I heard
alot about it." So Bryn goes, "Yea it's by Dodie Sable and she trained my
mommy and Luke-you really need to read it...it's really good." LMAO
We ate at 6PM. I gave my away Pauls meal ticket to a nice girl who I think
needed it for her boyfriend. Paul was coming later cuz he had to work. She
was super appreciative. The ride briefing was super funny. At one point they
held up a dog (still attached to a long leash) and said "does anyone belong
to this dog who was running around loose?" It was a cute Jack Russel
Terrier. So this guy from Maine scrunched down in his chair and tried to
hide but everyone recognized it as his dog so everyone had a good laugh.
After dinner (lasagna, salad and some kind of mushy sweet peach cake-very
yummy) Bryn and I went over to the vendors and bought some stuff. Bryn
wanted new reins and I got an easy boot bag for my new Barefoot Saddle.
As we were shopping Kyle comes up and asks, "So do you have and questions
for me before the ride tomorrow?" How sweet of him! I actually had a bunch
of questions like where is Gallagher Road and where does the ride start and
where is the hold etc etc. He is like a great Endurance Ambassador!
So we went back to the trailer and chilled with the horse and got our
sleeping bags out. Bryn set up the tent pretty much by herself. I checked on
Luke and fed him his beetpulp and grain soup. He was drinking better this
time.
We went to bed at about 10 PM....thats when the last generator went off.
At 1 AM it started to rain. I got up and put a rain sheet on Luke and gave
him more hay. Someones car alarm went off in the distance.
I got up at 5 AM and fed. Paul got in sometime during the night but didn't
want to cause a stir so he slept in his car. Kyle came over at 6 and asked
if I wanted to ride with someone and he said he knew some people that I
could ride with. I was nervous about getting lost. Cool. I had no idea if I
would find my way with the ribbons. I finished tacking and mounted up at
6:45. There were about 150 people riding today. Wow!
So I met Ival and her Standardbred. She told me to stay ahead of her because
her horse kicks. I also met two other folks who said that we could all ride
together. It was getting later so we trotted up to the start and gave our
numbers and Luke was off. Everyone was following me and Luke and he was
rocking his trot. We were already passing people. Then Ival came off her
horse. She said she was ok. The other two people wanted to ride on and I
said I would stay with Ival so she found a low spot for her horse and hopped
on. A few people passed us during this. We went back to Luke's trot and
trotted for about another 1/2 hour until Ival said she was cramping and
needed to stop. I didn't want to leave her alone but she said to go to the
next road and look for a person to radio in that she needed help to get off
the trail (shit). So me and and two other riders trotted for about a minute
or two and came across a person who was taking numbers and had a radio and
he got Ival help. So, basically me and these new two other riders passed
each other back and forth until I just asked if I could hang with them. They
said sure and we caught another girl on a bay. We also caught the other two
people who I started with and passed them. The 4 of us were working great
together! When we came to a covered bridge Luke was through it first. He was
sooooo brave. We came in to the hold at 9:09. I pulsed down (sort of----he
was soo hyper by 9:24 and got all A's and HR of 64/56. I left at 10:09 and
couldn't get with the saddle. I stopped and shortened my stirrus and it was
better. Then I caught those two other people I started with again. I guess
they pulsed down before me. They were having foot problems. I offered them
my Easyboot but they said it would be too big. So I went on and rode the
rest of the ride alone at the walk and trot until I was within 1/4 mile of
the finish and I saw two other 25 mile riders. I didn't have any problem
with the ribbons. Luke drank and peed and was great. We walked (mounted-it
crept up on me) into the camp at 11:47 and pulsed down at 11:59 and got a
48/48 and got all A's and a COMPLETION!!!! BTW the new saddle didn't rub at
all!!!! I went back after getting Luke all settled at the trailer and did my
ride survey and the girl in the motorhome said I got 17th place
(unofficially) out of 66 riders. She said the official results will be
posted tomorrow. I started bawling my eyes out. I was so proud of me and my
horse. I drove the car home and Paul drove the trailer. He and Bryn learned
alot about crewing from the Mary Lutz ride and they were a great help.
Jen
And here's an update from Ival on her ride, this is an email to Jen.
I guess it is fine - i should
have sounded more appreciative of the folks who brought shorty home and put
my tack away so neatly. and i do not want to sound ungrateful to those who
took care of me. so i made a few changes. use the version below/
again thx for everything - i am looking forward to a chance to ride together
again in better circumstances!!
oh so glad you im'ed me - i was out of the office. i have been hoping i
could find you to thank you so much for baby-sitting me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
shortly after we parted i just could not go on - i had such a painful cramp
in my leg i just could not post. i finally gave up when that, and my poor
old butt just got too painful, by which time, i am told, i was as white as a
sheet. i discovered that i could not raise my leg to get down and eventually
another rider stopped and helped me - then i discovered i could not walk. so
i just stood there, scaring everyone. this was at that concrete stretch of
the trail just under a bridge overpass - just beyond where we parted
company.
the ride sent an emt, who had gotten the report that i had blacked out for
unknown reasons, fallen off onto concrete and hit my head. he immediately
started trying to immobilize me and told everyone not to let me move because
my neck might be broken. i attempted to tell him that i had not fallen off
there, but back in the field a while ago and ridden to this point. but he
was not to be dissuaded. in his defense, i did look like death warmed over,
as along the way i had had a cold sweat from the pain and was drenched and
could not stop shivering. in any case, he insisted i go to the hospital and
made me wait forever for an ambulance, dispite my probably feeble requests
to just get a ride back in the trailer with shorty. at the hospital, the
nurse checked me briefly for broken bones by wobbling my pelvis, and decided
i did not need xrays. considering my "history of blacking out" she was about
to begin giving me an ekg (no one believed that i had not passed out and
fallen off on concrete and hit my head - if i tried to contradict that
story, they told me - "how do you know what happened?? you were
unconscious!!" then a wonderful thing happened - someone from the ride came
over to the hospital to bring me my cell phone and wallet and i grabbed him
and begged him to take me back to the ride site!! up til that time i had not
walked but since i now felt better and knew nothing was broken, i walked out
on his arm, carrying my shoes, which i could not bend down to put on. signed
myself out w no treatment. what a zoo.
when i got back to the trailer, shorty was tied there eating hay. my tack
was put away so neatly and she was doing fine - thanks to the
otherwise-nameless 'horse wrangler' who trailered her back. the ride manager
checked on me and brought me a bag of ice, which i stuffed down my tights,
and i finally got an advil. i slooooooooooooowly took down my electric
corral, cleaned up poop, packed up, got shorty loaded, and headed home, with
my butt hurting like the devil. as of the moment, i am still limping around
and sitting off to one side, but basically ok.
Instructor/Manager: Dodie Sable
Located in New Smithville PA at Fenstermacher Road, 3 miles north of Kutztown University
Call us at 610.756.3836 or email us at dodie@newpromisefarms.com