Biltmore

[Coujurs1@aol.com]

Okay I first have to set the record straight, Angie tends to get facts mixed 
up <g>.  I didn't look great, Goat yes, me no (more like death eating a moon 
pie).  Heat stress tends to do that to me.
  Moving on.  Duane had high hopes for Goat at this ride, we had been working 
him pretty hard, and doing so on varying terrain's.  I reminded him that last 
year he promised Goat and I a massage if we top tenned, we did and he didn't 
get us one!  I reminded him of this, I never forget, and again got the same 
promise.  
  Upon arriving I looked at the sign up list, holy cow! Seems Biltmore has 
moved to close to the top of the list of important rides to do.  3 or 4 
selectors for the world's were there to observe, and I understand that there 
were 8 long listed horses at the event, (quickly doing math, that is 1/3 of 
all the list!).  Goat was not going to have an easy time getting that 
massage.  
  Put Goat in with Coujur, they are best buds now.  Goat is the only horse I 
have seen ever to boss Coujur around, and Coujur is just about the only horse 
Goat has bossed!  Most of the time they are glued to each other in the 
paddock.  We find a spot next to MOM and my recruited pitcrew Tamra Schoech.  
At a ride earlier in the year, Duane had about decide not to vet the ride 
since I was doing the 100 so we went in search of a crew.  I mentioned in 
front of Tamra that I had fresh picked strawberries and cream last year for 
my pit crew and would again have it for whomever crewed for me this year.  It 
worked and she said she would crew for me, her husband Joe was also doing the 
100 but she said that he probably wouldn't be in the VC at the same time as 
me.  She was awesome!  She started on Thursday night, she kept the paddock 
poop free.  Started to tell her that her job really didn't have to start 
until Saturday.  Told us that she was cooking breakfast for us on Friday.  
And did, bacon, eggs and pancakes!  Yummy!  Beats my usual nutritious 
breakfast of a Pepsi and cake all to heck.
  Tamra did the middle of the night feeding for us, I tried to talk her out 
of it since Goat has to be tied up to keep him from stealing Coujur's food, 
but she insisted!  I think this was the first time I haven't done it.  Goat 
slept most of the night laying down, had to drag his big butt out of bed at 
5am to get ready, typical young boy stuff threats and intimidation to make 
them roll out of bed.  Sometime from Friday night on, I developed a sore 
throat that by ride time had turned into laryngitis.  On and off, I couldn't 
talk!  Darn, if I can't talk, I'm going to explode.  Goat did the dance of 
joy!  He didn't have to listen to me fussing at him.
  Ride start time was 6am, and it was about 5:30 that I discovered I hadn't 
braided Goat's mane, and wouldn't have time too!  Darn it.  I had made up a 
dose of elytes to carry with me, the first three loops were 18-20 miles long, 
so I decided to give him a dose about halfway through each of those loops.  
Lynn Crespo's suggestion, give smaller doses of elytes around every hour or 
so.  
  The first loop was 18. something miles.  A very nice pace, not too slow and 
not too fast.  We were lead out till light and then turned loose.  I was 
surprised to find us back in camp 1:47 later.  The front runners were about 2 
min. ahead.  Goat P&R quickly, after untacking.  And vetted through fine, and 
went to "goating out".  He ate pretty much nonstop all day when we weren't on 
the trail, and occasionally when we were!  Tamra met me prior to the in 
timer, with a jug or two, and after Goat vetted through, bugged me till I ate 
and/or drank something <g>.  I had told her she would have to push me to do 
so, not that I would still do much of it.  
  2nd loop was 19+ I rode with Steph. Teeter most of the first few loops, and 
she was elyting on the trail too, so it made it easier for me to do it.  Most 
of the time it was right at a water stop.  I started getting pretty hot on 
this loop.  The sun had come up and the humidity was not terrible but not 
good.  
  3rd loop was 20 + miles It was a pretty tough loop lots of climbing plus 
being that long.  But Goat still cruised along pretty good.  I had popped a 
couple of shin splints during this loop and Danielle suggested icing them, I 
used Goat's ice boots and that helped considerably.  Duane saw me after the 
second loop and said later that I looked like I had been 80 miles already.  
  4th loop was 16 + miles, Goat and I left out about 11 min. out of the lead, 
and shocked me when we caught them oh after about 45 min or so.  Part of the 
way through this loop, my heat stress kicked in.  I had been carrying, and 
sharing, Starburst candies with me.  They put a nice fruity taste in your 
mouth and some moisture!  Julie Bullock actually held me hostage once!  
Unfortunately her horse hit a rock on the 3rd or 4th loop and cracked his 
hoof wall.  It was the only rock on that particular section of trail.  Of all 
the bad luck and her horse was looking great!  I had divided out the 
Starburst's in order of flavor, I prefer Cherry and strawberry, gave all my 
lemon and orange to Nicki Young prior to the race.  <WARNING, NOT FOR THE 
WEAK STOMACH TYPES DO NOT READ>  I told someone the best part of eating 
Starburst's is if you get sick, the vomit has a nice flavor.  This was true, 
it wasn't too bad, kind of cherry flavored.   Dr. Holbrook was shocked that I 
didn't stop and get off when I was hurling, I reminded him it was a race!  
You just kind of lean over, and miss the horse.  I think Angie has a great 
idea with the splash guards!  <WARNING OFF> 
  So Tamra had to spend most of her energy on keeping me cool, she kept a 
hand towel in her cooler and it would come out on my head the entire time I 
was in the VC.  
  The last 2 loops are a repeat.  12+ miles, the first time straight to camp, 
the second time was the finish line on the hill.  Goat left out on the last 
loop 4 min. behind the leader, and a couple behind Nicki Young.  We caught 
Nicki (I think she was waiting for us) and set out after Wendy.  Goat and 
Breathless were great!  Just cruising along, and we caught Wendy fairly 
quickly.  We all rode together the last loop.  Got chased by the same geese 
with there babies!  Also all day we saw herd after herd of deer.  This ride 
is really a beautiful one!  I decided to give Goat a chance and race in, he 
didn't know what the heck I wanted, had never been allowed to barely canter 
in before, now I wanted him to run.  He got beat, but he impressed the heck 
out of me.  This was his 3rd 100 (4th that he started, he didn't finish in 
UAE) and he never quit or balked.  He and Coujur are probably such good 
buddies because they have the same personality, they both love to go out and 
be rode.  Even conditioning it's like, okay where to now?
  Goat looked real good at BC judging, but his pulse wasn't as good as it 
usually was (my fault, probably shouldn't have raced in I usually don't).  
But the first three finishers, were all featherweights, and our BC scores 
were within 2.5 points!  
  Tamra continued her pit crew work by walking him occasionally and crewing 
for Joe.  The woman was running all day!  She was unbelievable.  
  The was the first 100 I finished in daylight in a long time.  I finished my 
first one ever in daylight (barely) and my second one was OD so it was almost 
daylight the next day! 
  Awards were held Sunday morning, for both events.  Which I liked because I 
saw who had been there.  When Ann Ayala called me out, she said she refused 
to call the second place horse Goat and called him by his real name (Saint 
Patrick Z) which if you think about it, isn't much better.  I couldn't talk 
above a whisper, which for some reason people found funny <g>.  Duane 
wouldn't be drawn into it, several tried to make him say something about how 
great it was going to be with me unable to talk.  He really is a smart man!
  Finally got everything packed, I swear it multiplied, we had plenty of room 
coming over!  It was wall to wall going home.  Stopped at Denny's to eat and 
ran into Hans and Sherri Devouassoux and Mary Kornwolf.  Mary and I rode 
together at Hallelujah and her and her quarter horse cross are a tough pair!  
She was the first rookie in the 100 and finished in 11th place!  Sherri also 
finished her first 100, I need to find out what they do, they both looked 
great Sunday morning!  
  Goat got on his call bell about 10 miles from the house (he does this when 
he thinks he has been in the trailer long enough without getting out).  He 
shakes the whole trailer by shifting his big fanny.  We was even kicking the 
door!  We stopped twice to see if anything was getting him, there wasn't any 
place to unload so we chewed his butt out and drove quickly home.  Turned him 
out in his pasture and of course he hit the ground rolling.  Now the truly 
funny thing.  Duane was unloading the horse trailer and looked out at him.  
He was balancing on three legs, two fronts and a hind, and reached back and 
bit/scratched himself between his hind legs (several jokes come to mine 
<eg>).  Duane said he was tempted to run out and tip him.  Now I was pretty 
sore after being in the truck for 3 hours, I'm pretty sure I couldn't balance 
on one leg let alone reach around and scratch anything!  
  Nina and Saint Patrick Z (happy Ann?) Goat