[RC] The LBL Express - Hickory Ridge ArabiansHello Everyone, As new rides become available for the endurance riders there is always some interest on how the new ride went. To that end, here is the LBL Express story. On Wednesday before the ride we transported 3 horses to the LBL ride site. Two for trail marking and of course JABASK KNIGHT aka Irene for competition. Bianca Chevalier flew in from Oregon to ride Irene. She did a teriffic job in taking him around the course and finished with all A's for the day. Back to the ride site. On Wednesday the trails were in perfect condition. Some mud is the very low spots but generally in good shape. On Thursday it began to cloud over, and by Thursday night we had some good showers. There went the trail. Friday it did the same thing with some hard showers. While marking the trail on Friday, Truman Prevatt, Jim Holland and my husband Jerry Fruth were treated to a royal soaking by mother nature. There was a bit of confusion with the electrical fences. Matthew the LBL Recreation Manager announced at the ride meeting that you could have the fences, but during the day they would have to be turned off. With a lot of children in the camp they wanted to be careful not to shock one of the camp urchins. That seemed to please the riders. Saturday began with open skies and by 10 am we had a perfect day going. Sun and a temperature for the day of 71 degrees made for a great ride day. By and large the riders took the mud in stride. The mud at LBL doesn't get deep with heavy rain. The base is a gravel, and stone base which helps drain the soil. By Sunday afternoon the trail was beginning to dry. We had 53 entrants in the 50 and 32 entrants in the 25 mile limited distance ride. ALL 32 limited distance riders completed the ride, with an hour to spare, they didn't take six hours! They were rewarded with a large round of applause at the awards ceremony for taking such good care of their horses. Vetting was done by Drs. Duane Barnett, Art King, Otis Schmitt, and Melinda Poole. Otis was the treatment vet and had a relaxed day. One horse on the first loop had a muscle pull or light tie up which was attended to in speedy order because Otis was posted about 8 miles out on the first loop of the 50 miler. He was assisted by our ham operator at that location in notifying us of a need for an ambulance. That was the only horse for the day that required an ambulance ride back to camp. As the day moved along all was going well until we had a race off for the finish line. Two riders were booking it for home, rounded a curve and found 6 trail riders standing in a mud hole giving their horses a drink. At that point everyone scattered, but one the endurance rider ran into a trail rider with each going down in the mud hole. Both riders were covered in mud and both horses required some vet attention. The riders are ok, and the horses are on the mend. We have been asked back by the Forest Service for next spring(last weekend of April 2004), and they have asked us if we would like to do a ride this fall. They had excellent reports from other trail riders that our riders were very courteous when passing them out on the trail. The buffet before the awards cermony was one of the best. The caterer had a vegetarian lasagna that was first rate. The dinner was topped off with Mississippi Mud Pie and an array of other desserts. They said our riders really like Chocolate. They will certainly be asked back next year. Special thanks goes to Nancy Gooch, and Jackie Mitchell as timers, Kim Ruffin, Bobbie Dolchan and Nina Gibson Barnett as scribes, Lori Greco and Joan Tipton as pulse in. .Thank you to Lori for helping to take down ribbons on Sunday. Thank you to Truman and Jim for helping mark the trail, and our crew of three ham operators that kept us informed of the riders positions during the ride. Thank you to my good friend, Bianca for designing the LBL logo and helping me with the ride. To all the other volunteers who just stepped in and helped, you are appreciated. A very special thanks to Matthew Edwards of the USFS in helping put the event together. As a land manager he is the very best. We are looking forward to working with the land managers at LBL in the future. They are definitely orientated towards recreation. Like every place else in the nation they are short on funds for trail maintenance, so we are going to see what can be done to help them out. Thank you to all the riders that attended!!! It was a great ride!!! 50 Milers 53 started, 41 finished High Vet Score-Susan Kasemeyer Best Condition-Susan Kasemeyer 1. Betsey Knight-1st Lightweight 2. Karen Cummings 3. Rick Melloan-1st Middleweight 4. Patricia Bullock-1st Featherweight 5. Wendy Manicini 6. Susan Kasemeyer(High Vet score & BC) 7. Linda Joyner 8. Teresa Mascaro 9. Patty Bass 10.Rachel Boyce 11.Nancy Kucera 12.Wendy Rosenbek 13.Melissa Frame 14.Sarah Hunt Engsberg 15.Joe Schoech-1st Heavyweight 16.Josie McGhee ( 1stJR) 17.Eva De Paulis 18.Judy Sandlin 19.Christina Frame 20.Chris Frame 21.Kajsa Vikman (Flew in from California) 22.Melissa Crain 23.Ronald Chapman 24.Brenda Kenley 25.Carol Ricketts 26.Ann Branch 27.Bianca Chevalier(Flew in from Oregon) 28.Cindy Laroy Young 29.Dee Dee Cushman 30.Laurie Tichenor 31.Debbie Sutton-tie 31.Alice Farrara-tie 33.Jim Barrett 34.Lisa Winburn 35.Megan Meckfessel 36.Kelli Kirchner 37.Jim Holland 38.David Bennett 39.Robin Burris 40. Patricia Harrop 41. Teresa Searcy 25 Mile Limited Distance Best Condition-Marsha Millis 1. Marsha Millis 2. Megan Dickman 3. Dixie Hayes 4. Julie Jackson 5. Lorena Truett 6. Bruce Nagel 7. Ashley Creswell 8. Erin Darte 9. Stephen Cummings 10.Becky Spraque 11.Jerry Brown 12.Roger Abney 13.Jennifer Whittaker 14.Gwen Jackson 15.Tamara Schoech 16.Christy Wicke 17.Louisa Witten 18.Jan Shekell 19.Russell Dewitt-1st Junior 20.Rebecca Finlay(JR) 21.Robin Dewitt 22.Wendy Shields 23.Mary Ellen Shoemaker 24.Kathy Thompson 25.Eleanor Burnett 26.Tim Hughes 27.Vicki Hughes 28.Rachel Schmalzriedt(JR) 29.Shannon Cofield 30.Lisa Norris 31.Vicki Loren 32.Deb Blackburn LBL EXPRESS 2003 Diane Fruth-Ride Manager =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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