[RC] Endurance, Carolina Style: Part Five - Howard Bramhall
Jen and I stayed together the rest of the second loop. The two horses
worked well, both of them moving out in a well paced, efficient
canter. When I ride War Cry at home, I find that I cannot tolerate
his canter. I used to think it was the horse, but as I watched my daughter
ride him, noticing the smooth and fluid motion of the two acting as one, I
realized I'm the one who is out of sync. How Jen does this,
on War Cry, is a complete mystery to me.
I slowed America down into his extended trot. Another gait he does
extremely well, when I can keep him straight. He kept his body aligned for
me most of the second loop. Both horses were well in tune, focused, and
seemed to be enjoying this part of the run as much as their riders. It's
another super A plus feeling I get, when this kind of harmonious experience
happens, naturally, with the horses appearing to be the ones conducting the
orchestra more than the rider. This is why I do endurance.
I continued watching Jennifer ride, America had decided to allow
War Cry to be in front (for awhile anyway) and, even though I am her Dad, I
must say, she is an impressive rider. Tiny thing, controlling a very
athletic animal whose weight, sans tack, is over ten times hers. War
Cry is a compact version of America, who appears kind of gangly
looking at first glance, till you take a closer look. The two of them look
like brothers, with similar flea markings , on an identical shade of gray
coat. This part of our ride was my favorite memory from that day. I
have a very cool daughter and could watch her ride War Cry all day long.
We came into ridecamp together, America following War Cry, and there was
Mom waiting to help crew. The late morning temperature was climbing and
you knew it was going to hit and cross 80 sometime during the day.
Humidity, as usual in the Southeast, was also high. If we got through this
vet check we'd have another 20 miles for a completion. I planned on doing
that one slow even though America showed no signs of being tired. Neither
did War Cry.
Jen got the jump on me again through the vet check. It's not because
I'm lolly-gagging around or anything, I'm not. She just somehow hits the
P&R area the very instant her horse is down to 60 or lower. I will
wait a little longer, not wanting to approach a volunteer until I know America
is down.
Man, I wanted a beer. It was close enough to noon, so I put America
in his stall, with hay and food, and went to the Sub to grab one. It's
part of this carbohydrate diet I'm on. haha. For some reason it does
settle my stomach and helps neutralize the acid (Oh, my, what kind of friggen
logic is he trying to sell here?). Plus, I needed something to help me
swallow two Ibuprofen pills, for the pain yet to come.
The last 20 miles was still ahead, and I intended on doing some walking,
off the horse, during this period. America would tell me when this would
be a good idea, and, sure enough, once we got out there, he did exactly
that. I think it was close to the halfway mark, the
afternoon temperature was rising, the group of riders I was with
were going a little too fast, and when he stopped wanting to pass all of
them, I slowed down, separated us from the group, and he started trotting,
slowly. After a little while longer, I got down and he and I jogged down
the trail, the same pace we travel during the vet-check trot out, without any
horse or rider in sight. I didn't last long, the sand was
quite deep. Because of my lack of athleticism, we ended up walking,
trotting, and walking again. The temperature continued to climb.
I never did see my daughter or her horse that last loop. They were
traveling and finishing the ride at a much different rate of speed. I
found some grass and let America eat. We were in no hurry. I wanted
to arrive back to camp with a very healthy horse, for, I knew, Leatherwood was
just around the corner. Even though Sand Hills is not a cakewalk, and
making it 55 miles instead of 50 adds an extra hurdle, I did find myself
daydreaming of those cool mountains that were to come, while baking in the hot
South Carolina sun watching my horse eat.
Close to mid afternoon America and I crossed the finish line. One of
the volunteers told us we were in 9th place. I was quite surprised.
I expected 20th or more. Looks like I wasn't the only rider taking our
time out there on the Carolina Hills, which separated this ride from a Florida
one more and more as the miles went by.
We got our completion, I declined to stand America for BC (almost two hours
behind first place I didn't see much point), and went back to the barn. It
was there that Jen and Erica told me War Cry had gotten second place. And,
he looked good. My daughter was overwhelmed with herself, but, tried to be
humble, as much as a 14 year old performing in a sport as an adult, can.
This was definitely Jen's day and Erica and I tried our best to make a very big
deal out of it. I told Jen, "Too bad you didn't sponsor Scott; he
would have gotten 3rd if you had." haha
