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As I was packing, I couldn't believe that an entire year had gone by since we had been to Death Valley in 1998. For us, it is the first ride of the new ride season and a great escape to get away to a warmer and dry climate. It had been a difficult decision to choose to only take Rocky to this ride. I think I felt just as bad as the horse did that was left at home, though as it turned out I knew I had made the right decision. Upon arriving at the first nights camp we quickly learned that two horses had escaped from their corral panels the night before and one had been hit by a car on the highway and killed. I would not have been comfortable having a spare horse, as something happening like that really makes one realize how important our horses are to us, and how easily accidents happen. The weather was beautiful and cooperated the entire week of the ride. We didn't even have any wind, and it didn't even feel cold at night. At least not compared to home. I watched Dave (hubby) and friends play a round of golf at the Valley Wells Golf Course. Not exactly Pebble Beach, but it gave them something to do and got them away from the 'horses' and anything having to do with the "h" word for a few hours. I checked in, then vetted. Both of the ride vets, Dr. Nicholson (aka the Duck) and Dr. Fleming (Barney), had both been sick. Dave had just spent 5 days in the hospital, and Barney could hardly talk. Diehards. Boy are we lucky to have them. Jackie really seemed to have it together this year, with Maryben helping as ride secretary and lots of other help. Some of the girls at the ride came up with new words for the Jim is a Toad song, which was really quite good. :^) On the first days start, I completely missed it. I was at the other end of camp walking the horse around when I looked over in the distance and saw the horses going. Guess we better get a move on. Walked over to the start area and continued until he felt warmed up then we began a slow trot. As with most multidays, everybody seemed to be in control and starting out in a nice relaxing manner. I saw lots of familiar faces both equine and human. I chose to let Rocky pass other horses so that he could go at his own pace thru all the dips and rocks. We made it back into camp, about 1/2 way thru the ride in about 2 1/2 hours. I was surprised to see Dave at the p&r spot when I came in (he must not have had anything better to do <g>). When you vet with the Duck, he wants you to wait 1/2 hour before vetting (after you get your P&R time). So we went back to the trailer and spent our hour hold, then vetted on our way out of the check. The second loop began down a flat road, and I walked along with Elfta and Shadow till the horses woke back up from their break. We began a climb up thru some hills and up and over until we could see the valley in front of us and the new basecamp at Ballarat where our rigs would (hopefully) be waiting for us when we finished. On the first loop we were trying to gauge the distance of how far things were, but it's just really hard to do that in the desert. It can be so deceiving. So we'd lie to ourselves and tell each other that it was only another 5 miles, when in reality it was probably another 20...... Suddenly, up ahead Rocky caught sight of another horse in front of us. To make matters worse, Alex (the water guy) tells us that we're 9th and 10th and we're now really only 5 miles from the finish. Hmmmm.....and three riders right on our tail. I checked, and Rocky did indeed have his hot shoes on <bg>, so I let him catch that horse up ahead. It was Hugh Vanderford and his horse Stormy and boy were they hard to catch! Sometimes it seemed like they were getting farther away, instead of closer. It was all an illusion. In the meantime, we were putting some distance between us and the horses behind us though. Rocky felt strong, so I let him gallop and soon we were passing more people, Ronald, Heather and Lori......and then made the turn down the road into camp. I caught up with Lettie and Bergen and the three of us zipped into the finish placing 3-5th. Lettie riding a new mare she got from Heather. I did slow down over the pavement, relieved to have easyboots on Rocky. I waited a few hours after finishing, then brought Rocky over to Barney to have his first blood sample drawn for his testing for day 2 of the ride. Day 2 is the hardest day. We start each day at 6:30 a.m., and on the 2nd day we head up the mountain. We climb several thousand feet, it feels like we are on top of the world. When we get to the top, the views are worth it. This year, just by starting earlier and not going the wrong way, we were already an hour and a half ahead of last year! (that's another story....) I felt comfortable enough with Rocky to allow him to trot on the lesser of the steep spots and maintain a faster overall speed. I didn't even bring my HRM to the ride with me because most of the time it doesn't work or gives erroneous readings anyhow so why mess with it.....(oh yeah, and the battery is dead in it) ;^) Heck, I wasn't even riding with a watch! When we made it over the top and started to head down some steeper spots Rocky stopped once or twice, so I figured he wanted me to get off. I did, and looked down and saw that his easyboot had flipped up over his foot and the boot with the heel strap was wrapped around his ankle!! I unclipped my hoofpick from the saddle and pried it off. I put it back on, but the strap was stretched out so it didn't stay on for long. I pulled out another boot from my saddlebag and put that on, meanwhile riders were passing us but Rocky behaved himself and let me finish up and mount before trying to blast off. We had a little flat area to go thru, and then another hill to climb then it was all downhill. The downhill going back sure seems long compared to when you come up it earlier in the day. I found myself alone, with no sight of riders in front or behind me. Dave R. and Hugh were in front and they must have really been moving because I never saw them and jogged the whole way down. They must have lost me when I stopped to put on the new easyboot. The trail is quite rocky in places. Mary asked me on the way up "is it this rocky all the way", and I answered no, it gets rockier <g> (she found out I wasn't joking). Other riders had some trouble, Red thru a shoe on that loop, and another horse colicked (but was okay). Still though, a piece of cake compared to 2 years ago.......lol (or to quote Jackie....."we thought it was doable....but apparently it wasn't"~~another story!) We made it into the vet check. We donated blood and went to the trailer. Again, we had our hour hold then vetted on our way out. The nice thing about everybody doing this, is that there are no lines for the vet. The next loop was out to some ranch and back on a mostly flat road. We hadn't gone but 5 miles when the winner passed us going back. Rocky continued to drink well, and we continued on. He wasn't all that enthusiastic about going alone, in the opposite direction other horses were going. He finally started to pick up and if he felt like it I let him canter and the rest of the time we trotted and walked. I passed Dave and Hugh on their way back while I was still headed out and figured they were at least 25 minutes ahead of me. I made it to the ranch and let Rocky drink and take a break. I had to get off and open the gate, which of course I was the last rider that had to do that since Alex drove up just then and opened it <g>. As soon as we turned back towards camp Rocky figured it out. Every so often I'd get off and lead him at a walk for awhile. Our only goal was to finish in the daylight, and since that wasn't going to be a problem I figured I didn't have any reason to hurry. I stopped and took pictures of all the riders I knew that passed me. http://members.xoom.com/ridephotos/ I led him in quite a ways into the finish and by the time we got there he was nearly dragging me. We donated the last blood sample for the day, vetted thru and went back to the trailer. Dave was still out on his hike, I hadn't seen him all day. I was glad that he was getting to do something that he liked to do, since the next two days he'd have to crew at away vet checks. ....next, day 3 and 4 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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