Our first 50 - Bryce XP!

Gabriel (my 11 year old Al-Marah gelding) and I just completed our 1st 50 mile ride at the Bryce XP on Saturday!! We had a good middle-of-the-pack finish (7 1/4 hrs) and he had some left at the end. I am so thrilled, felt like crying at the end after acheiving this goal we've worked toward for the last 2 yrs. Especially since he and I both finished feeling great and finally no saddle problems!!

He still has heel contraction, so we rode in Old Macs (temporary boots). I can only remember one stumble the whole ride, he moved very nicely in them and was very sure-footed. Alot of the trail was quite rocky with alot of ups and downs. There were also sections of hard-packed road, and small sections of soft, deep dirt. I wrap his hooves with vet wrap before putting on the boots, as he does get some rubbing in a few spots. Had to rewrap all 4 at the vet check at lunch, he was having a little rubbing in 2 spots (I didn't wrap him as well as I should have in the dark at 6am that morning - need a flashlight next time!) But that took care of everything and he finished with just 2 small rub marks.

He has been trimmed by James Welz CSHS since Dec 2000, and started out with very contracted & high heels. (No, we haven't had any tendon problems from lowering the heels - vet says they feel good too).

1) Last summer Gabriel had some hock soreness (grade 1 lameness) after a CTR. When I had him x-rayed for the prepurchase exam it showed a spur in one hock, and degeneration in the other - neither looked good. He used to rest his hinds all the time, lay down alot, and was always stretching out his hind legs. He now seems much more comfortable, and no soreness after the ride! It has always been my biggest worry with him, and now I'm feeling like the Strasser method has made a huge difference for us!

2) Last Oct he didn't vet thru for a 50 we'd planned on - he trotted out fine but every time the vet touched a spot on a tendon on the FR he pulled it up, and we didn't start because of concern of bowing a tendon. Prior to that he had become increasingly tentative going downhill, taking tiny steps and just acting like it hurt. I even noticed his heart rate rising moving downhill. He has a clubby foot on the FR, and had a very high heel. Soon after James began trimming we saw alot of coffin bone bruising in the moonsickle - appears that he had rotation in that hoof. He now moves great downhill, even at a good trot. There was alot of downhill on this ride, and he finished completely sound!! He does have some muscle tightness in his shoulder on that clubby foot, and I've been massaging it daily (over the past few months).

3) I've had trouble fitting a saddle to his very wide, flat, short back (plus he's a little downhill). We got a Sport Saddle last fall, and it fit great, but it still moved forward on him (even on flat stuff) and sored his withers. I didn't want to use a crupper to hold it back, since there would literally be pressure on it with each stride. So I had Marlene Moss (thanks Marlene!!) design a breeching for us. She has been great about making adjustments, and we now have a breeching that holds the saddle back great and doesn't rub him a bit!! I got some questions about my "interesting crupper", but I tell you it worked great!!! Finished with no back/saddle problems!!

Only concern was a lost rider who had decided to walk her slightly lame horse in to the vet check (she was probably 12 miles out at the time). She never showed up and they were looking all over for her and about to call search & rescue when they got word that some hunters had found her (or maybe she found them) at 8pm and were helping her and her horse to camp. Thank God they were both OK and didn't have to spend the night out there.

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