Fall XP, days 1 and 2

[DreamWeaver <nvrider@home.com>]

Having endurance withdrawals is no fun. So I couldn't take it anymore, and
decided to enter the Fall XP, down at Bryce Canyon, Utah.  Since returning
from the 2001 XP this summer, everything seemed so easy and boring.  I felt
a strong desire to ride, really ride.  The one day 50 I did on Weav at
Bridgeport was nice, but it just didn't cut it.  So off we went for
Southern Utah, about 15 hours away.  We stayed overnight in Ely on the
way.  Driving across Highway 50 really brought back a lot of memories,
having just ridden all the way across the state of Nevada the month
before.  It was hot when we drove over, in the low 100's, so it still felt
like it did when we rode across.  It was really neat driving past all the
spots on the trail and remembering where we had camped or crews had met us
with water.  While riding the Pony trail we had no idea where Hwy 50 was,
or at least I didn't -- it wasn't that visible and we felt like we were out
there totally alone.  Now, driving it I could see things in a different way
from how I'd seen them from the back of a horse.  Sand Mountain, Cold
Springs, Austin.....we stopped there....in Austin, to let the horses out in
the arena.  The dogs ran over to 'our tree' where we'd camped when we spent
our weekend there.  We finally made it to Ely late that night, and then
left there about 6 a.m. to finish the rest of the drive.  The horses both
looked good and I promised them that this time we weren't going to
Missouri. :+)

When we got to camp, I went to unload the horses and Weaver came out of the
trailer fine.  Rocky, however, did not.  He actually didn't unload.  He was
stuck in his hay bag (dork).  This was a first for him, you'd think a horse
that had been hauled as much as he has wouldn't pick a time like this to
stick his foot into a haybag!  He was good though and didn't step thru it
or tear it up, and instead just kinda held it up so the edge of it rubbed
all the hair off of the back of his leg.  That, and he took two large
chunks of hair off of his forehead.  Little did I know then that these
things were going to become inconsequential compared to what was going to
happen to him in another day or two!

The country we were in was really beautiful, trees, mountains, pink cliffs
and hoo-doos.  Rocks, creeks, and it was cooler there since we were at
about 8,000' elevation.  I had decided that I'd alternate the horses,
starting Weaver on the first day and just see how it goes.  I'd thought
about riding one of the horses all 5 days but they've been going so well
alternating that it just felt right to keep doing it that way.

So I started and rode Weaver the first day.  The trail was really nice,
mountainous with a really good climb into lunch.  There were about 50 or so
riders on the ride, and many people from the 2001 XP.  I guess we just
can't get enough of a good thing.  This ride came with all the amenities
too, at lunch they had sandwiches for us everyday, candybars, chips, drinks
-- sometimes bbq'd hot dogs or beef sandwiches.  All you have to do is pack
up your crew bag for your horse and they take it to the lunch stop for
you.  Then when you get there, you are all set.  You don't even need a
crew.  We had a real good ride this day seeing new trails and old friends
and making some new ones.  We got t-shirts for completion awards, or if we
wanted we could have an XP pin.  In camp, they have showers, it's really
nice.

Then the next day, it was Rocky's turn to go. He hadn't done a ride since
the XP ended.  I'd ridden him several times and knew he was sure feelin'
fine!  I started out letting him trot at a pace that made him happy and
soon found myself riding along with Christopf and Dean Jackson in the
front.  We were cruising along at about 14 miles into the ride along a nice
dirt jeep rode and I noticed a hole so I hollered out 'HOLE', and moved
Rocky around it.  Well, I thought I moved Rocky around it.  It was either
just too big (it was really large), or it gave in under the weight of his
front left foot and we went from probably a 12 mph trot down to zero in
about the blink of an eye.  The ground rose up and met me,
hard.  Ouch!!!  Only, it didn't feel so bad compared to the feeling of the
whole (940#) horse landing on top of me.  I felt like a fruit
roll-up.  Christopf and Dean were telling me not to move (yeah, right, like
I could move, I couldn't even breath!).  At first, Rocky didn't move and I
thought oh no, he's broken his leg and he can't get up.  Then, he started
moving.  It seemed like an eternity but Christopf said it was just
seconds.....once Rocky started moving then I really felt the pain.  I was
flat out and he was completely on top of me, feet up in the air.  He was
able to roll a bit and then started to try and stand up, which was a
problem since I was underneath where he needed to put his feet.  He was
very careful about it though, and did it nice and calmly.  Once he got up
he moved over and stood there.  I was able to get up.  Dean said he
couldn't believe I didn't have *several* broken bones, since it had looked
really bad seeing me under the horse for that long. I went over to Rocky
and saw that he had skinned some hide off of his nose, his knee and his
ankle, but he was bearing weight evenly.   I walked him and he walked okay,
and jogged a couple of steps.  He seemed okay.  I couldn't breath though,
and was in no shape to walk so figured I better get on.  I figured that
after that kind of a fall it wouldn't really matter if he was sound without
me on him, I wanted to see how he'd be with me on his back.  I got on and
he trotted off totally sound.  Christopf said "wow, he looks GREAT", and he
did feel great.  I couldn't believe it, I was sure glad, but couldn't
believe that he wasn't hurt.  Dean and Christopf stopped and filled the
hole up with several logs to make sure nobody else fell in.  We made it
into lunch and the horse checked out fine.  I got a bag of ice to put on my
raspberry (guess where the horse stepped on me when he got up?) and took
some advil and sat down (ouch, sitting.....OUCH).  Rocky seemed to be okay,
he was eating and drinking and acting normally (although he is normally not
normal, ha ha).  I walked him during his hour and he didn't start to swell
up or anything, it was just surface scrapes on him.  I, on the other hand,
were already starting to count the beautiful colored bruises appearing all
over my body. Millie noticed the scrape marks all over my helmet.  I am not
sure if it was the ground or the horse that did that, in either case, it
was probably a good thing that I had a helmet on.   Everything else was
okay, the camera, the GPS that wasn't mine.  :+D

We rode out of lunch and the horse was still sound.  Felt great in fact, so
I kept on going.  Posting was okay, but it sure hurt to canter.  I find it
amazing that you can get such a big raspberry without even having your
tights ripped.  Well, anyways....we finished that day, right behind
Christopf and Dean in 3rd place.  Rocky vetted out A-ok and so I went to
get ready for the next days ride.

....I'd also like to know, just how did we manage to miss all those badger
holes this summer?  Then, there is ONE...yes ONE hole on this ride.....and
it's got my horses name on it?  <shudder>   I was still really relieved to
not be broken, and so very very thankful that the horse was okay.  My
computer had died on the trip, so we already had one casualty.  Later in
the ride we were going to have another serious accident....I almost lost my
junior, that was worse than the horse lying on top of me....boy lots of
things went wrong.

I'll do the next part later.

Happy Trails,

Karen, it hurts to laugh, sit, stand, lay down, walk....but I can ride a
horse 250 miles!!!!! :=)))
& Weaver, still fat with 1150 miles in 12 weeks
& Rocky, good thing she cushioned my fall, I could have been hurt!
    To see how beautiful this ride is:
(there are 5 pages of photos under each link)
http://www.endurohorse.com/event_pics.asp?1596p1-karen
http://www.endurohorse.com/event_pics.asp?1597p1-karen
http://www.endurohorse.com/event_pics.asp?1600p1-karen
http://www.endurohorse.com/event_pics.asp?1606p1-karen
http://www.endurohorse.com/event_pics.asp?1611p1-karen