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Hi! Oh boy am I nuts or what? We rode all day and now I'm typing on the
computer. Then I'm going to go crash. What a day. It was a long day. We
got up about 3:30 a.m. and hauled from where we were staying to the start,
about 40 miles. Then we spent nearly 11 hours riding in the heat and
humidity and now here I am it is about 16 hours since I awoke this
morning. We are packing up camp and getting everything organized and put
back together. We've been in the same spot since last Saturday which has
been really convenient for our extra horses. Having another BBQ for dinner.
I rode Weaver today, this was his third day of being ridden. He did
Wednesday and Friday last week and this week he'll do Tuesday, Thursday and
Saturday if all goes well. Rocky has been rested and looks pretty good so
I may start on him tomorrow. I'm still deciding. I have 8 hours, ha
ha. Too hot to sleep.
I'd write more about our adventures, but I'm pretty tired and need to take
care of horses and then get these photos uploaded from
today. www.endurohorse.com I'm going to send up two sets for the June
12th date.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Doggonit if I didn't trot Rocky out and he was sound this morning, so next
thing you know I found myself going down the trail on the 7th day of the
2001 XP. We rode from Prairie Lakes to Kearney, Nebraska today. The
temperature cooled of a little bit though it was still pretty hot. I asked
Jim Baldwin if this was hot to him and he said that hot was hot, and this
is hot. Luckily we had a bit of a breeze today which really helped. The
riders are organizing crews to get three water troughs out along the route
each day and then picked up so we will have at least that much water in
addition to the riders individual crews who provide water and any local
residents.
Today Elena didn't crew and instead did the ride and tie with Steve
Shaw. They both came in looking pretty good too.
Somebody left the door open on Trilby's truck and another rig came along
and bent it all the way backwards. Ouch!
Dave just discovered that the travel center where we are staying has a nice
air conditioned Wendy's inside. So guess what's for dinner tonight?
Getting up this morning was a bit difficult. None of us are going on very
much sleep, and the heat and humidity really zap our energy. Especially
since we are picking up and moving camp every single day and dealing with
extra horses. Dave is crewing for me but also Tinker and Louise and today
helped Clark P. (who came in 1st), and Dave Rabe. He also has to find time
to refill about 70 gallons of water every day so he can water all the
riders along the trail. I have him going every 5 miles after lunch, so
anybody riding anywhere near where I am is also getting water. He also has
sponging water for all of us.
I am not sure why, but both of my horses seem to be urinating quite a
lot. They are drinking tons too, but I've never seen them pee so dang
much, and it's staying clear. Rocky peed more today than I've ever seen
him pee on any ride ever. Maybe now I can stop worrying about them turning
into horse jerky out on the trail? I felt that we went a little fast into
lunch today, about 4 hours, so I slowed down a little and ended up with
probably a 9 1/2+ hour day. I shouldn't go so fast.
The dogs love it here, we have a lovely little lake behind where we are
camped. The crews can even swim, and so can the horses if you take them
around to get in. Dave and Jack are the best crews and seem to find us the
best spots nearly every day, and this is definitely one of them. :+)
My photos are all done, and just need to be uploaded. I got several good
ones, including Dave Rabe mounting at a trot. I don't think I'll try that,
I'd end up with my GPS implanted in my stomach or someplace not as
comfortable.
Dinner time! Till next time,
Karen
Today was the nicest day we've had weather wise. Last night Dave stayed up
to watch the lightning show, and some counties in Nebraska had tornado
warnings. During the night we had winds high enough to rock our trailer,
it was really something. Then morning came and the sky was dark and a
strong breeze still blew, but we all got up anyway and got on our horses
and rode 50 miles. It cleared up by the time we started and stayed
beautiful all day.
Today's trail was similar, yet a little different from the other days. A
lot more corn, and more fields are now being irrigated with sprinklers and
sprayed with chemicals. We had more trail type trail today, or else dirt
road. It's all pretty rural so most of the farms and houses look similar.
They are all a mile apart on each corner. The dirt roads here are
maintained really well so people drive on them like they do on
freeways. Some of the trails we went over today were sandy, and we've had
some elevation gain and loss, probably a thousand feet but not enough to
make us feel like we did anything.
There are less and less riders, and less horses as each day progresses. 38
today. Some people have left or are not riding, and others are down to just
one horse. I've been pretty lucky with whatever things I've had with my
horses. I may take tomorrow off, not that I want to but because I think
that if I do it'll be better for the horses. I rode Weaver today and plan
on riding him day after tomorrow, and since he's working so well on this
plan so far I don't want to mess it up. Rocky looks pretty good though I
think giving him tomorrow off will be good for whatever was sore on his
left front, that way he'll get 4 days in a row off before going back to
work on Tuesday. I just put him on a longe line and he'd definitely pass a
vet check but I have to be realistic and know I'll likely get more days out
of him by not riding him if he's questionable. Too many other people have
and now they have no horses to ride.
I kept getting off and walking a lot today, it was cooler with a strong
breeze and it felt good to get off. I'm actually not sore anywhere, riding
50 miles on mostly flat is pretty easy. It's the lack of sleep that we are
all feeling. We have been joking about taking turns leading each others
horses while the other person naps. That may be the way to go. I did
spend a lot of time trotting with my eyes shut today, I really think that I
may be able to sleep and trot....just need more practice! I finished with
a whole 45 minutes to spare so it was a fairly long day. John Parke,
Trilby and Elaine Kerrigan were the only ones behind me (I think).
I rode most of the day with Jas from Colorado and her Akhele Teke
gelding. She was supposed to ride her stallion but he had some heat in one
leg so she gave him the day off. Her gelding went yesterday too so was
pretty tired. After lunch we rode with a lady who is riding a Morgan
stallion. There are sure a lot of stallions. Weaver has decided that he
likes Jas's stallion afterall. One day he was scared to death of it, and
then we rode together again a couple of days later and he decided that they
should be buds. Weav seems to know which stallions he has to be careful of
and gives them a wide berth.
It's hard keeping my eyes open but I have to wait to get tomorrow's map so
we can find the waypoint on the map to see where tomorrow's basecamp will
be. Tonight we are camped on the Platte River, in a nice grassy area. We
are about 1/4 (at least) mile from camp because this was the closest best
place without having to have our horses tied on the side of a busy
road. The dogs can play in the water, and the horses have plenty of tall
green grass to graze on. We've been busy picking ticks off of ourselves and
the dogs. How do people that live here manage ticks? I haven't found any
on the horses yet. Maybe all the sponging has been knocking them off. Or
maybe all the flies are eating them? :P
I rode down into the gravesite area for the Plum Creek Massacre today and
took some photos. I have a book on gravesites on the Oregon Trail that
tells a little bit more about it. It's fascinating to look over the area
and realize what history has occurred here.
The horses new thing when they itch is to turn their heads so they can
scratch themselves with their tie ropes. It sounds really weird and boy
they are good at it. I know they are just dying to roll, and I'm trying to
clean them up as much as possible. On the way here I did a partial clip on
Weaver, his neck and stomach and that was a bad idea. The flies think that
his stomach is a buffet and won't leave him alone. My horses are both big
babies about all the biting flies and bugs because we just don't have them
like this home in Nevada.
Tomorrow Steve Shaw and Elana Vale are doing a 50 mile ride and
tie. Yesterday they did 25 miles. The weather should be perfect.
Still haven't lost an easyboot, boy am I glad to be using them. Weaver's
feet had gotten really soft in St. Joseph from all the wet and have really
grown. He was just done the week before but now his feet are already over
growing and expanding his shoes, so he will probably get reshod
tomorrow. At least the shoes are in good shape and can be reset.
On the way into camp tonight we stopped and picked Rocky up from the
babysitters
The people here are all so friendly. They drive up next to you and turn
their engines off and want to talk. Others come out into their yards and
talk to us.
Glad it's cool enough to be able to sleep tonight. Between picking ticks
off, for entertainment. Wonder how many trains we'll hear, boy when I'm
done with this ride will I be able to sleep again without the sound of a
100 trains going by at night? My allergy pills don't work worth a darn
here, and I think I may go thru all the kleenex tonight
sneezing. Everybody is doing it too, must be that tall grass.
I think that Rocky has dropped some weight. He's still good but I kinda
figured he'd drop the quickest. We'll see when Barney gets back and I can
weigh him again. Weaver may be gaining weight
I need more hours in a day. I guess I could try riding faster, because
then I'd end up with no horses to ride and plenty of time and no reason to
do anything
More later, my battery is almost gone.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Hi! I am in Gothenburg, Nebraska now. Taking the day off, which I would
have rather rode of course but since I didn't I'm enjoying have a
break. Right now we are inside a Pizza Hut restaurant and I've got my
laptop plugged into their wall, they even have a phone plug. Ridecamp is
only a couple of miles away. The weather is beautiful, only 75 degrees and
about 59% humidity. It's noon.
Somebody drove into camp earlier today from down the road and asked Dave if
anybody was missing two horses. I guess two horses had wandered into his
yard and he had them. No halters on them, but they were likely from the
ride. Probably somebody in camp dropped them off and went to crew and
water, and their horses got loose. I've got metal I.D. tags braided into
my horses manes in case they get loose and don't have a halter on. Right
now nobody in camp knows who those horses belong to.
We'll be able to get a lot done today after we are done in town. The
horses are both looking well, gawd I can't believe how much that brown one
eats. Everything I put in front of him, I think he's going to
explode! Dave tightened the nails down on his shoes and cleaned his feet
up a bit so I think I'll ride him tomorrow and then he'll be reshod this
weekend. His feet have sure grown a lot in the last two weeks. Rocky
should be fine to go again on the start of next week, he's looking really
good right now and will get three more days rest. I've been really putting
aloe juice on the horses coats and armpits hoping to keep them from getting
to dry or scurfing. There are sure alot of horses out there getting girth
and saddle sores and if that happens you're going to be out of luck.
There probably aren't a whole lot of people who have ridden every single
day anymore, but there are a few. Pat Verheul, the Ramsdell kids, MJ,
Bonnie, Trilby -- others have ridden every day and missed a half a day or
taken a day off. I think a lot of people are readjusting their
expectations. Most of us want to have a good time and enjoy the experience
and not get too wound up in the competition -- as most are finding out, one
horse is just not going to make it the whole way, and it's not looking all
that good for the riders to do all the days either. Trilby won't if she
keeps eating candybars.
I better get this done and get those photos uploading. Then we can go
visit the Gothenburg Pony Express station.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Hello again! We're in North Platte, Nebraska now. What a great week it
has been. The weather was just perfect today and we had a really great
ride. l have two photo sets from today to upload once I can find an
internet connection, probably on Monday. I can't believe that we are now
25% thru the ride! It's going fantastically well, most everybody is having
a really wonderful time. We're camped at the North Platte fairgrounds for
the weekend, and have a great spot. Our crews are really good at getting
us good spots, they haven't let us down yet.
I ended up riding Rocky today, so this week I ended up riding both of my
horses two days and taking one day off. Rocky finished today looking the
best ever, and both horses are eating like vacuums. It's starting to get
drier which is nice, only 57% humidity (haha), and has been a little cooler
tho still feels really hot at times going down the trail.
There are maybe a (very small) handful of riders who have ridden every
day. Somebody told me today that Trilby even stopped one day at lunch, but
I'm not sure if I believe it. I know she got really sick today but managed
to finish. She's so nice, last night she brought Dave over a great big
banana split because he put a new battery in her rig. Even had whipped
cream!!! mmmm mmmmmmm
Last night within a few moments there were three corral panel incidents
with horses all around us in camp. One was Trilby's horse Beau and another
was Dean's horse. Dunno who the third one belonged to. Between those and
all the rope burns it's a wonder there are any horses left. The horses are
just too itchy to be in corral panels.. I've got mine tied fairly short on
their trailer ties, they can lie down and eat and drink but they can't
graze and reach the ground. So far they haven't gotten into any trouble.
I've had allergies pretty bad, from all the grass. Pollen is so thick it
coats the sides of the roads. It's so green here. Today we rode thru an
area where a tornado had gone thru a year ago leaving a path 1/4 mile wide
by 8 miles long and saw a house that was demolished from it. I'll be more
comfortable once we get out of tornado country. Apparently one place we
stayed in had a tornado go thru the day after we left!
Tomorrow is laundry day and shopping. We also have another problem to take
care of. When I finished today, Dave tells me how great Rocky looks then
"hurry up we have to get Whinny to the vet hospital". I was wondering why
I hadn't seem him on the trail crewing for me for so long. He had been in
a spot and threw a stick for the dog, and she went after it like she does a
100 times a day and impaled it up into her armpit several inches. So she
ended up in surgery and now has a tube coming out her armpit, and is still
groggy and can barely stand. I'm sure she'll be one hurting pup for a few
days, so it's lucky for her that we have 2 days off now so she can just lie
around and drain. Poor baby. We lucked out though and one of the vets I
had in my binder was on call and met us in 5 minutes only a mile and a half
from our finish line today. It sure has paid to be prepared when something
like this happens.
I should get some sleep, it's been a pretty long day! My fastest so far I
think, 9 1/2 hours or so.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Hi everybody! My email on the laptop seems to have gone kaput, but it is
still uploading photo sets right now to endurohorse.com. If you go there,
type in "XP" (no quotations) and it should pull up all of the photos from
the XP. After I'm done here today there should be several more sets, and
if I can I'll copy my posts over to the library computer and send them
that way.
Everything is going really well, the two days off have been great and we
are all ready to go another week. The horses are doing well, I can't
believe how much they are eating, even more than I expected. Barney got
back and we were able to weigh them, two weeks into the ride and Weaver
has gained weight
I only know of a small handful of riders that have gone every single day,
and I'm not sure I know them all but heres my best shot: Trilby Pederson,
MJ Jackson, Kayla Ramsdell and Pat Verhuel. Nobody has done all the days
on one horse. Kathy Thompson is trying on Zane Grey but was pulled the
first day for lameness then had another half day. There are strong
opinions in camp about whether or not anybody should even be trying to do
this on one horse. I will stay uninvolved on that topic. :^P
There are still quite a large number of rigs and horses. I know some
people have left, and others have left and come back again with fresh
horses.
The crews have gotten better organized at working together as teams, I
think. They are getting water out for us three times a day, once before
lunch and twice after. In addition to that the various crews are also
meeting riders in several places so we are getting a lot of water to
drink. My guys have always been good drinkers and with us using lots of
electrolytes it's keeping them drinking well. I really like those
Lyte-Now syringes, they are pretty handy (boy am I sick of mixing
electrolytes!). We're sponging and hosing the horses off a lot too, and
that seems to really be helping keep them cool. Plus I think we're
keeping their heart rates under 100 almost all day long, not exactly
breaking any speed records here. lol I think that all the green grass
they are eating along the way is really great for them too, they
constantly have food in their mouths. They are even eating some of the
loose salt I'm puting out for them.
I think most of the horses around camp are looking pretty good. Most are
like mine and nice and plump, eating and drinking well. Some aren't, and
the riders are trying to get that figured out. There are lots of rope
burns, gall and saddle sores that will have to get worked out. I'm lucky
and don't have any of those, my horses biggest problem is that they hate
all the biting insects and are major wooses about that. They love
everything else though. Most of the horses here are pretty experienced,
so it's no surprise that they are all handling everything so well. Riders
are taking days off if they think their horses need it, realizing that we
have a long way to go.
Dave Rabe was spotted riding a mule on Saturday.
My dog is okay, if my other posts go thru you'll read what happened to
her. She impaled herself on a stick playing and had to have surgery on
Saturday after I finished the ride.
Other than that, everything seems to be going really well. The Duck had a
huge semi of timothy brought in for the ride and it went quicker than you
could say "hay". We're all in the fairgrounds, and have plenty of space.
The weather is gorgeous too! Looking forward to riding again.....:+)))
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
This link will take you to
www.endurohorse.com.
To get to the XP photos use their search tool (top right). Search using the phrase "XP 2001". Enjoy!
34 (ride) days to go!
7 days down, 33 left!
& Weaver
& Rocky.....8th day down, 32 to go!
Day 9
10 down, 30 to go!
Resting after week 2 (KC)
in North Platte, Nebraska