1st ride brag story

["Maggie Mieske" <mmieske@netonecom.net>]

This weekend was the first ride this season for us.  We travelled through
some severe weather to get to the Little Manistee Memorial Ride in Luther,
Michigan...not far from our home but a journey nonetheless as we had to
hole up at a gas station under the big truck awning/whatever ya call the
thing under which the semis fuel up!  Drenching rains, thunder and
lightning....just missed golf ball sized hail.  Of course, we were soaked
long before we ever made it to the ride site and continued to get wet even
after that....when we discovered the leak in the bunk on MY side of the bed
I actually asked Nelson if he thought we ought to just go home!!   :)  But,
diehard endurance folk that we are, we set up camp anyway.  
To make a long story short, we started out doing 25 comp on Saturday (Malik
isn't officially 5 for 3 more weeks) and placed 2nd Heavyweight and
daughter Jenny scored well with her Max and was 1st junior (even if she was
the only junior, she's always first in my eyes anyway!).  We had such a
good time the first half of the ride we almost forgot it wasn't
endurance...all we did was trot alot!!  Well, needless to say, for the sake
of pacing, we ended up having to WALK the last half of the ride!!! 
Sheesh!!!  And, of course, it picked then to drop temperature and get
windy!!!  So, we froze our tushies!!!  Still a good first training
ride...control, control!!!  (Walk, Malik.  You CAN walk!!)  :)
Today we rode the 25 LD...Malik's first Limited Distance endurance (format)
ride... no walking today for him.  Or at least not forced walking!!!  :) 
We started out middle of the pack, passed the forerunners a couple of miles
out and never looked back.  Jenny pointed Max's nose down the trail and
away we went...that little horse can trot like the devil!!!  Shannon West
caught up on a Standardbred mare (Mae Day) she's riding and stuck with us
the rest of the way.  We enjoyed her company and can that mare MOVE!!!  She
must have a 2 foot overstride at the trot!!  Geez Louise!!!  Anyway, the
vet check went great...all As except Malik was a little gassy (vet said he
heard "tinkling" in there...no more gas for me, I am just going to tinkle
from now on, thank you).  Shannon said later (riding behind us) that Malik
was successful in getting rid of the gas.  I apologized.  Horses came down
in just a couple of minutes at the check and we were out in 20 minutes. 
Jenny and Shannon and I came into the finish together.  Malik pulsed down
first, Max second and Mae third.  Our dear darling stallion earned Best
Condition honors and did he look great!!  We are sooooooo proud of him!!! 
Vet asked if he was a 100 miler horse...I said, not yet, but maybe someday!
 Vet said, he will be!  His recoveries were better than I expected even
with a mare in the mix!  I should also add that Jenny and Max placed 4th in
Best Condition scoring and I think Shannon and Mae were also 3rd in BC
scoring!  
It was a fabulous fun trail and I want to thank Jay and Becke Grams for
putting their time, money and efforts into putting on this ride!  They will
also be hosting the Tin Cup Springs ride in August and I won't miss that
one either!!  Perhaps someone who was there can write in with a report
about the 50 mile ride...all I remember was Linda Hamrick was first over
the line and Andrea Redman was 2nd and won Best Condition (toot, toot!! 
Nelson shoes Andrea's horse, Spirit!).  So, stay tuned for the 50 mile
stories....they will be forthcoming next month!!!  :)  Here's to Mashallah
Almalik... the dream horse we never dreamed of owning let alone riding, let
alone riding to win BC!!  :)
(P.S.  Another client, Sara Matthews, rode her lovely mare, Ruby (the love
of Malik's life!) in the 50 comp on Saturday and won 1st featherweight...I
think that's right.  We do so enjoy when our clients go out and do well on
the trail!!).
Thanks for letting me share my little story...bigger ones will come!!


Maggie Mieske
Mieske's Silver Lining
10601 S. Richards Rd.
McBain, Michigan 49657
http://www.netonecom.net/~mmieske
mmieske@netonecom.net