Ridecamp: [RC] nick warhol- tevis 2002 story 4 of 5

nick warhol nickw@xxxxxxxxx
We headed out down the second canyon with a bunch or horses all together, walking and trotting slowly down the single-track trail.  We had a funny thing happen that is sort of common on this ride- we came across a guy leading his horse down the trail at a walk.  There were about 8 horses behind me as I came up behind him.  ?Hi, can we get you to move over when you get a chance??   No response.  ?Excuse me, can you give us the trail when it?s safe??  No response.  Hmmmmm.    ?Hey! Can you hear me??  No response.    By now people behind me are shouting at the guy, some getting a little annoyed.   I finally whistled loudly, and he turned around.  He was one of the Japanese riders who didn?t speak English.  I motioned with my hand for him to move over, which he immediately did.   See?  Good sportsmanship is universal, you just have to communicate.  We got down to the bottom and headed right up the climb to Michigan Bluff.  It?s another long, steep, climb up that hill, and it was even hotter now, if that was possible.  We were doing great on time, it was late afternoon, but it did not seem to be cooling down much, and it was really humid in those canyons.  These horses just keep on going willingly.  Up, Up forever to Michigan Bluff and another vet check.  No issue- more great service by the workers, another low pulse, good vet check, and a BBQ chicken for me.  Yummy!  A really nice lady took Holly from me and held her while she ate a mash, a guy delivers me a plate of chicken, a brownie, and a drink.  It doesn?t get much better than this.   Gary showed up, his once white shirt caked with dirt, mud, grunge, and stains.  He told me about his little excitement in the wilderness that morning when he and his horse took a tumble in the rocks, but otherwise Smokey was doing great.  Gloria and I headed out once again, our sites set on Foresthill and another hour hold.  It took a little over an hour to get there, but we did.  It was later than I thought it would be, but we still were an hour and a half ahead of the cutoff times.  Holly was fine for the vets, but was starting to look a little tired.  I think most horses did.   Holly ate for the entire hour, I changed my clothes and scarfed all the food I could find.   Gloria and I headed out as the sun was setting, both horses still feeling great.  We walked through town to the cheers of the people on the street- that?s really nice.  It was dark as we started down the single-track trails of the California loop.  There are a couple of spots that are kind of hard to see on the initial decent, but the horses trucked right on down. We started trotting in the dark- absolutely my favorite thing about this ride.  As many times as I have done it, it still gets the adrenaline totally flowing as you trot down the dark trail that you can?t see at all.  Most parts you can see outlines of the trail by moonlight, but some areas are so dark you are really just trusting your horse with your life.   The people who marked the trail must have had a glowstick budget this year, they were a little light on the markings, especially on those dark switchbacks.  It still amazes me how fast three hours goes by on those trails.  We missed one turn and had to stop and backtrack a bit, but otherwise it was just a blast to ride.  We walked on into the silent lights of Franciscos, lit by the eerie propane lanterns.  Holly was at 48, eating, looking great.  12 miles to go!  I was feeling good as I trotted her for the vet.  I came back, his hand was on his chin.  My heart sank.  He asked me if I had looked at her.  No.  I turned her around and trotted her four steps- lame left front.  No question, she was off.   Man, I hate that feeling.  Your whole perfect day just evaporates into a cloud of disappointment in one second.  The vets felt bad, but what can you say?  I watched as the vet secretary drew two big lines through my vet card, like two slices across my heart.   I went over to Gloria and told her I was done, she said, ?Great, let?s go!  We are almost done!?   I explained ?No, I?m pulled.?  Her face just dropped.  We certainly never expected that.  She felt bad, but went on down the trail on Redman, now riding with a nice woman named Beth that had joined us after Foresthill.  I drug myself back over to the feeding area with this wonderful horse, watching as all the other horses went on out.  Darn!


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