Ridecamp: RE: [RC] Top of the Rock-Grain Brained!

Just thought I'd share my inexperience with everyone. This is my 4th 50
miler and it turned out to be a doozie! I hope nobody flames me too
badly......


Well, we did get back safely from our ride in Indiana at Top of the Rock.
The ride managers, Bob and Lois McAfee put on a great ride as usual.  The 50
milers had an added incentive of racing for money at this ride as well.
Knowing this and also knowing the temperatures were to be close to the mid
90's, the vet staff also set the pulse criteria to continue at 60 BPM for
all vet checks to probably further protect our equine athlete partners. The
IAHA was offering a significant purse to at least the top 10 horse/rider
teams. To qualify for the purse you needed to already have at least 100
miles of 50 mile rides within the past 2 years and you needed to have a
sweepstakes nominated arab or half arab and be a member of IAHA.

This ride certainly did not work out like I had planned. I was concerned for
Fly's hydration and energy level the whole week prior departure. If he has
any problems during a hot race it's hydration and I hate electrolyting.
Since we haven't done a 50 miler in 2 years, I also wanted to "top off his
tank". I read Susan Garlinghouse's 3rd part in her series of how to avoid a
metabolic problem, which was about energy levels and decided I would try to
give Fly a grain boost for the race.

I was very successful at the boost by the way. I really got more than I
bargained for.

Fly hasn't been grained since we opened the pasture back up mid April which
totally slipped my mind in this whole process of preparation which is the
critical error in this ride experience. After much soul searching and self
chastisement I determined I'm a very inexperienced endurance rider with an
extremely talented mount. I'm just so thankful to God we didn't get killed
or maimed during our learning process. I gave him a mixture of 1 lb of
sweetfeed and 1 lb of beet pulp Thurs evening, Fri am before trailering,
when we got set up in camp around noon, at dinner and before I tried to go
to sleep. SO he got 5lbs of grain within nearly a 24 hour period! Now the
morning of the race I expected him to behave like the last race we did 3
weeks ago which was his best ever being always alert to my cues and rating
flawlessly. YOU've GOT TO BE KIDDING! This horse from the moment I mounted
him was like a maniac. He was a totally different horse than I had ever
ridden before. I like to mount about 30 minutes before the start so I can
get a feel of how he's behaving. He trotted with extreme suspension for 30
minutes straight before the start. The only respite I got from this constant
bounce was when I turn him into a tight circle and caused him to stop
altogether. He just about wore me out before the start of the race! This
race had 49 horse/rider teams competing in it. It was about 70 degrees at
start and climbed to 93 by mid afternoon with humidity at 70-80%. Our first
loop of trail was 25 miles, then 15 miles and the final loop of 10.

Then they announced the trail was open and everyone started trotting briskly
across a wide open field and through two gates to a the paved road that
eventually led to a trail about a mile down the road. I was amazed at how
fast we were moving out. Everyone on the road was 2 and 3 horses abreast and
kept the same fast pace even on the pavement- with most horses having steel
shoes on. I had my plastic shoes on and I was totally confident of my
footing on the pavement. I tried to keep Fly out from being directly behind
anyone in case they should (God forbid) lose their footing and go down.
Having anyone behind them going at that speed could have ended up with a
domino effect that was catastrophic.

We finally got to the trailhead which was about 5 ft wide across and people
started cantering and galloping and going still faster. I had planned to
start around the 10-12 position and then move up as the trail allowed. Fly
always does well at pursuing the riders ahead of him and then passing them,
the only difference now was that we were already going at a very fast clip
so early in the ride and so crowded a trail at the beginning of the ride. We
moved into the the 1st and 2nd position and then I started trying to pull
him back because I knew this was too fast a pace for conditions through the
day. We were galloping and not aerobic at all. All the horses were blowing
hard on their exhale which means they were anaerobic. The first 5 miles flew
by and I was drenched with sweat from trying to hold Fly back from going so
fast in some slick muddy areas. He refused to let me rate him with my normal
tug on the noseband, I had to get really physical with the pull to make him
even slightly slow his pace. At about 8 miles out I had to take off my
glasses, I couldn't see at all with the sweat in my eyes and the glasses
were steamy. By now, I'd had enough of dangerous speed, so I yelled behind
me that I was dismounting and pulled him off the trail and allowed 5-6
riders to pass us. I dismounted and stood on the ground next to Fly. I tried
hand walking him down the trail awhile to see if he would settle down and he
about dragged me in the mud. I soon got back on him, feeling I was safer
mounted on his back than on the ground. Another mile or so and we started to
descend steeply and the trail changed from a  5 ft across carriage trail
raceway to a boulder/rock-strewn lane that was very treacherous and Fly
wanted to keep up an extended trot through it! I was hauling back on him so
much, I couldn't pull back any harder- plus I didn't want to pull him off
balance and really get us hurt through those rocks! Those rocks led right to
a rocky creek that was under a drop-off of about 3 feet. We got safely into
the creek and then I tried to give him the chance to drink----"you've got to
be kidding",but at least I slowed him down a little....... So, off we went
after the leaders up the steep and winding rocky switchback trail. We caught
up with another rider and I put him in right behind her so I could relax for
awhile. This gal ended up coming in 3rd place and told me I could sit behind
her as long as I wanted. That was really appreciated. We did a good extended
trot for a good couple miles and then I pulled him back again because of the
pace. He wasn't tiring at all.

He had worn me out already. I couldn't believe the pace we had already done.
I was almost in tears and ready to go back in to camp and pull from the
race. I was exhausted. I used up so much adrenalin fighting him I couldn't
ride anymore. I was so very nauseated because of how hard I had to fight him
to keep us safe. The trail came back to the same orange gate where we
entered to descend to the rocky creek, I knew I could just follow the trail
back to base camp and pull out of the race- Thank you Jesus! I had spent all
the energy I had to give for the 50 mile ride in the first 15 miles of it!
Fly beat me up. Also a consideration in this race was my own physical
condition. I have lost 22 lbs in the past 7 weeks and that must be too much
weight to lose in that amount of time. My diet started on April 9th and I
really felt weak and beat up. On May 11th we had done a fairly difficult 25
miler and Fly had done well with a BC in that ride and I hadn't had any
problems with strength while riding-although my legs were feeling very heavy
after the last loop and I got off to walk him to the Vet check.

It was totally my fault that this happened. My loyal, loving, courageous
companion turned into a senseless idiot because I gave him too much grain
before the race. It's one of the first things you learn when you start
caring for your own horse and trying to control the "hot" nature of any
horse, especially arabs. I had totally forgotten this in managing events for
this ride.

I had very mixed up emotions as I came back into base camp. I knew the
management staff would see me coming from a direction that was not the way
the 50 milers were supposed to come back into camp from the first loop of 25
miles. We crossed the big open field we had started across and at the start
of the ride.  I dismounted and hand walked back to our VC crew area. My crew
was just coming up to the site and they saw us as we walked toward them.
They looked at their watches and it was only her and 20 minutes after we had
started and they were expecting me back to camp after around 2.5 hours. I
explained that Fly was out of my control and I couldn't fight him anymore so
decided to pull out of the race. The pace that we finished the 15 miles in
was the same as we had done the same ride 2 yrs ago, but with all the
slowing and stopping and walking to control Fly's pace. I couldn't figure
out why this had happened until I started putting things together.

#1- I should have never grain loaded Fly who is an extremely "hot" horse
without grain added.
#2- My rapid weight loss may have made me weaker than I had expected for
such a physical first loop.
#3- The added incentive of money for winners must have had an influence on
the pace of the race from the start.
#4- My inexperience as "the brains" part of our endurance team had a lot to
do with the result of this ride experience.

We met and camped with some very close friends from our Air Force past who
are living in Kentucky now-only 1.5 hrs from the ride site. They brought
their kids who are our God-children and they had a blast with our kids.
Pulling out of the ride also gave me more precious time with them and as the
end of the ride stats showed may well have saved my horse from a metabolic
pull during the ride as well. I am a firm believer that God is in control of
everything from holding the planets and stars together to allowing me to do
some stupid stuff and being disappointed, yet at the same time protecting me
from evil and possible heartbreak. He is the only and good God. "All things
happen for good to those who love God and are called according to His
purpose."

Live an learn. Fly and I will be around to ride still another day.

Happy Tails,

Susan and Fly Bye



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