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[RC] Liberty Run Part 3 of 5 (LONG) - April JohnsonSUNDAY I was awake before the alarm went off. I even got up about 3:30 to give Tanna more food. Sometime after the ride meeting, Tanna decided he was going to have to work and he'd better eat everything he could find. So all night he'd been slurping up his very wet beet pulp/grain mix. My neighbor, Betsy, said SHE even heard him in the night. Oh, well, at least he was getting water in him! I crawled back in bed until the alarm went off, then got up and got myself ready for a ride. I ate a couple of meatless hot dogs (no buns or anything) and a small bowl of oatmeal, accompanied by a Chicken Chase cup full of hot chocolate with a scoop of capuccino mix for a jolt. (BTW, a Chicken Chase cup is a cup that we got at the Chicken Chase ride last month!) We walked Tanna up to the scales. Man, he tanked up!!! 784 pounds! He gained 32 pounds overnight. Good gracious. Back at the camper, Daniel and I teamed up to ready Tanna for his ride. We both worked on the saddle. Then I spread desitin on his heels. Then I held the light while Daniel took Red Kote (a red oil medication) to spray paint Tanna's ride number on his butt. I never did see any livestock markers around the check in area, so we had to make do with what we had. I'll have to buy a marker and put it with my stuff I guess. Somehow, I thought that was provided at rides. Daniel painted a very nice "54" on Tanna's butt. Looked good to me. Then time to get my helmet and the GPS units on. After getting the antenna wires straight and the helmet strap buckled, I was all ready to mount up. Then I remembered I needed to change my shoes. Sigh. So off I go to put my boots on. My tennis shoes can slide through the holes in the cages on my easy ride stirrups. Kinda defeats the purpose of safety cages. There, this time I was ready. I lamented to Daniel that Laura Tichenor hadn't been able to come along and help me out on my first 50. I really would have liked her company on this ride, but I mounted up, ready to do it on my own. Self-sufficient. I just hoped Tanna wouldn't go ballistic and throw me. I really hoped that the 2 years I have had him, working on our bond and his brain would be enough to keep him from losing his mind and exploding because I wouldn't let him run full out for 50 miles...Well, at least try to. He can't do that. I'd have to rate him and that wouldn't be easy. I slid the bit into Tanna's mouth (oh, yes, a bit. A hackamore works just fine in training, but the line of control is very thin at a ride, so I've decided we'll use a French link snaffle during competition at least until he proves he is safe enough for the hackamore.). As I was working on the bit, Daniel was fiddling with the GPS on my arm. I kept moving and he made an impatient noise. I said, "I move with him, you move with me. I'm not bothered by what you're doing, just do it while I move." So that's what we did. Fine tuning our timing and working together. Finally, ready to mount up. Daniel held the reins to keep Tanna from circling, like he usually does when I mount. Up I went. Whew, no explosion. Sometimes he'll go to bucking as soon as I mount up. I went and gave our ride number (54) to Vicki and asked how long until the start. 3 minutes. Ok. I'm not going to be around when all the horses take off. Something like 36 started the 50 on Sunday. So Daniel walked beside me while I took Tanna back up to the vet check area and offered him water at the large round trough there. No go, but that reminded me we needed electrolytes. I'd forgotten to give them to him. We went back to the camper. I really didn't want to try mounting again, so Daniel dropped the bit and gave Tanna the e-lytes. He clipped the bit back on the sidepull and off I went. We were about 15-20 minutes after the start of the other riders. I got on the trail and walked for a bit. I noticed two riders were starting behind me. I had been certain I'd be the very last! I picked up a slow trot, fully expecting the two riders to pass me soon, dreading the explosion from my horse if they cantered past because I wasn't about to let him go fast in the beginning, seeing as how that was the reason we started late. The riders didn't pass me. Tanna sped up to a medium trot. They still didn't pass me. Hmmm. Ok. Maybe they're going to go slow, too! Maybe I could ride with them. After a mile or so, we were moving at a good fast trot, but not an extended one yet. The other two riders had closed the distance between us, but weren't passing. Before we'd made the first turn, I'd introduced myself and they had done the same. Jamie Ginter from GA and Kim Williams from FL. Jamie was riding a 10 yo mare, Wiggles, coming back from a series of freak accidents. Kim was riding a mare on, I think, the mare's first 50. They were very nice and we were all going about the same speed, so I stayed with them. I was glad for the company and the fact that Tanna was still controllable! I thought they might leave me at the first vet check, but I had been most worried about the first loop, so even if they did, I'd be happy just having the company for the first loop. When we reached the first water, Kim's horse (sorry, I totally forgot the mare's name!) dunked her head in the trough and slung her head around. It was very funny! Tanna kinda looked at her and then half-heartedly tried to copy her before taking a long drink. Good BOY!!! Then to further my joy with him, he stretched out right there and peed. What a good boy. We continued on at a good trot. Slowing down to a walk through the deep sand. We were making decent time, though. We offered the horses water at all the opportunities on that loop, I think. I ranged back and forth. Sometimes riding just in front, sometimes riding behind the mares. Kim told me that her mare is off the track and didn't like it when Tanna was too far in front. She was ok if Tanna was just in front, but got too strong when Tanna pulled away. So I tried to watch that and stay close. I also watched Wiggles. She'd been known to kick, and even though Jamie thought it was probably related to her being in heat at the time she kicked, Jamie was still concerned and didn't want Tanna hurt. I appreciated that and tried to watch where my horse was. We had no incidents with that the whole ride, so that was good. After a water stop, Kim suggested we stop and electrolyte our horses. I foolishly tried to electrolyte from the saddle. Haha! Got it ALL over Tanna's nose! Fortunately, I had set the plunger to stop at 10 cc, so I had another 10 cc. I jumped off and administered the rest the way I usually do. Tanna looked silly with it on his nose. I didn't wash it off, but I probably should have. He has a bald spot on his nose now. Anybody know if Lyte-now e-lytes will take the hair off? That's the only thing I can think of. Either that or he rubbed his nose raw trying to get the e-lytes off, but I don't know when he would have done that since I was on him or with him the entire day and by the end of our day, his nose was bald. For my on-the-trail electrolytes, I had decided to use single dose (26 cc) tubes of Lyte-now. So I ordered some tubes from Jeffers in plenty of time to get them for the ride. But they were on back order. I did get the 2 3-dose (80 cc) tubes that I had ordered. So I gathered my strongid wormer tubes that I had kept back and filled several of them with 20 cc of Lyte-now from the larger tubes. I had an empty 80 cc syringe from Chicken Chase and then 2 more from filling the smaller syringes. I intended to use those empty syringes to administer Summer Games electrolytes mixed with applesauce. Since I only put 20 cc of Lyte-now in the empty wormer tubes the plunger was partially in, so I didn't have to worry about the plunger working itself out. That's one concern I have with full tubes because I had that happen to one of my 80 cc syringes. Something put pressure on the plunger from the side and it popped out of the syringe. Could have been a mess, but wasn't because the tube was wedged on its tip in a bucket of other stuff, but in my cantle bag... I know 26 cc is usually the dosage, but Tanna is quite small, only 750 pounds, so I figure a 20 cc dose is good for him. Certainly was this weekend. He drank a lot most of the day! I was extremely proud of him. Anyway, I digress. Where was I? Oh, yeah, stopped for e-lyting. Poor Jamie was having a hard time with Wiggles. The mare didn't want that syringe anywhere near her! Finally, though, she was forced to submit and we were off again. When we got near camp, I saw my husband and happily waved at him. I told him I had to go up to the timer to get my in time and I'd meet him at our camper. He agreed and we parted again. I got my time marked on my vet card and hand-walked Tanna the short distance to our camper. I checked his pulse. 56 beats per minute. Wow, down already. Okey dokey. Daniel got there and took over Tanna while I went in the camper to use our porta-potty. I had drunk almost 2 liters of fluid on that loop. By the time I got back out of the camper, my wonderful husband had Tanna stripped of his saddle and had sponged him down really well. I grabbed a bag of carrots and we headed toward the vet check 1/4 mile away. I almost forgot my vet card and had to run in and get it out of my hip pack. Whew! I'm glad I didn't forget that!!! (to be continued) April Nashville, TN =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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