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So we eat and drink our way through lunch. Ed
ate the whole time. Rocky ate and slept. Off we go, no
problems. We got to a nice wide river crossing and Sue decides to sponge
Rocky. Sounds like a good idea, so I dropped my sponge DOWNSTREAM like a
good girl. In hauling it back up, Ed spies it and
FREAKS. The next thing I know it the water is COLD and sandy, and
how in the heck did I get here? Ed only wanders off as two riders come up,
catch him and we laugh together as I get back on. Sue tells me that all 4
feet cleared the water by about 2 feet and then he twisted in
midair! No wonder there was no horse under me when I came back
down!
Well, other than the grit of the sand, it doesn't
feel bad to be wet except my feet squished every time I posted. Such a
pleasant feel ( NOT ) Off we go down the trail.
I don't remember anything unusual through this
section. We get to the deep water. The chicken bypass sign was not
anywhere to be seen. Oh well, what the heck I was already wet
anyway....RIGHT!
Horse in front wasn't so sure about deep water that
keeps getting deeper with every step. It is easily mid chest high on a
tall horse. We move slowly into the water, now being 3 horses.
We are doing ok. Major mistake, took my wet feet out of the stirrups, why
I don't know. Could have stayed on if I had. But I didn't and Ed let
loose with another series of bucks. Unfortunately, there was no where to
go. You must understand that this section is maybe 50-70 yard long and
winding but only about a yard wide. Certainly not 2 horse wide.
Well, I managed to end up doing a face plant into
some really soft flattened "bamboo" on the right and all but my head was
under water. Ed went past Rocky ( I do not know how ) and past Carol and
her riding partner Scott? Only problem, Carol's youngster decided to
imitate Ed. He got to bucking jumping and she baled off to the
left. I was really unhurt, but Carol got her leg kicked, a fat lip, ripped
pants, a nasty puncture wound, a couple of cuts on her arm.....We assessed the
damage at vet 3 about 4 miles later. I managed to get my feet to the
bottom and slogged toward my horse, who had decided to wait for me. He was
in the front now but didn't seem to want to move away from the herd, even though
he was still in chest deep water. I grabbed his reins and walked out of
the deep water. That bottom is NASTY. The water was so cold I could
barely catch my breath.
Got out of the water. checked Ed over.
NO problem. Saddle, all parts still there.....checked cinch and got back
on. We got in to Vet 3 with no further events. Thank
goodness. I think I was evented out.
Horses all vet through just fine. I think it
was here that I finally met up with Tiffany. Nice little rescue mare doing
their first ride. What a way to start.
Ok, so horses had eaten the whole hold time, and
off we go for the final leg. Now the sun comes out. Most of the
water crossings turn into saunas. We are treated to sections of trail out
of the riverbed. While it was less humid, it was not cooler out in the
direct sun with no shade. I do not care for this section.
My stomach had not felt right since yesterday, but
I had been drinking. I have a new camelback fanny pack which I drained
TWICE during this ride. I needed more than water. We got to
the 5 mile from camp 5 minute hold. Horses drank, I got a
bottle of water, ice cold, drank some, poured the rest on my head and
body. I had actually dried out by this time. All except
for my shoes. I was still squishing. . I was feeling ok,
but very tired. So off we go. BUT WE KEPT TURNING AWAY FROM
CAMP. A couple of times I almost cried. I was definitely loosing
it. Sue was doing her best to get us done. We trotted and walked,
walked and trotted. Oh yeah, this is the section with the most deep sand
so we did walk a lot. The sauna sections seemed to get more
frequent. I could hardly breath. I felt like I was gasping with
air hunger. My ribs didn't hurt, so I didn't think I had broken a rib
or punctured a lung. Probably with 3 miles to go I had to tell Sue I
couldn't trot any more. Everything hurt. Small rub areas had become
gaping wounds due to the wet sandy cloths. Muscle fatigue so bad
I couldn't lift my arms. My lips were tingling. I couldn't feel
my legs and my arms down to my elbows were also tingling.
OK, was I hyperventilating?? I tried
breathing slower. Holding my breath for the count of 2 and
exhaling slowly several times. Didn't help at all. At several points
I can only remember hanging on to the saddle with my eyes closed. I
remember weaving. I only wanted to sit down on the ground. But I
knew if I got off that moving horse I would die right there because I would
not be able to walk ANYWHERE . Sue stuck with me
like glue, kept saying encouraging things. I tried not to whine
or cry. I don't know if I succeeded or
not. I would have quite right then, but didn't know how to get back any
sooner than staying on the trail.
We got to the last stretch, out in the open, at
least it wasn't humid. But the sun was sure hot. I was at least
still sweating. Pouring actually. Couldn't keep up with the
heat. Weaving in the saddle a lot.
We finally got to the finish line. I handed
Sue my card and said I was going to walk ahead. Julie Herrera made me
drink some propel and looked real worried about me (sorry to scare you, but
THANK YOU JULIE ) and I got back to my truck. I slid off
the horse and Mike grabbed him. I crawled in to the back seat and
collapsed. I could not have gone another foot. Lots of people came
over with drinks of all kinds and I drank all of them. It stayed down
too. About 2 hours later I came too. My horse was stripped, clean,
vetted through with all A's, pulse 42, and munching hay. Mike was handing
me dinner. It tasted so good. I managed to get over to the awards
banquet.
I received one of the "hard luck" awards, along
with Carol. As usual the awards were a lot of fun. I really DO enjoy
this ride. If Lynne does have it again, she has said she is thinking of
changing the date. I think that would be a great idea.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT HELPED ME AND MY HORSE
THIS WEEKEND.
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