Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

someone asked for liberty run stories, here is one of mine.  i did the 25 mile ride on sunday, riding my colombian criollo, which is a breed that is similar to the paso fino. the difference is the the outcrossing to andalusian a few generations back and the fact that the colombian criollo, also known as the colombian trote/galope, doesnt do the fourbeat paso fino gait.  instead it is a very showy, elevated trot with a rapid footfall, keeping the opposite diagonals on the ground, while two feet are up in the air, unlike a "floating trot".

well anyway,  the head vet thought my horse was too little to do the ride.  he is only 13.2 hands and about 700 pounds.  heck, i am a small guy, i only weigh 160 pounds, so i was ready to ride!  i had to ride around camp a little bit saturday afternoon and do the "parade route", because some of my friends wanted to see my horse in action.  i think howard was the first one to say that he looked like the energizer bunny!  several people who saw him remarked that he just looked like he was wearing himself out with all that action, didnt figure he could keep that up for 25 miles.  well, when we did the ride sunday,  i held it back and started last.  we went chugging up the road in his little trot, in my mind was my target time of 4 hours. just nice and steady, eating up the miles.  i figured i would enjoy the trail, as i wasnt likely to see any one else for the rest of the day.  well, after about 6 miles, i saw a couple of riders in the distance.  tornado (pronounced tor-NAH-tho) just kept chugging along and we had soon passed by the other riders. a little later we passed a couple more.   then three more.  i thought, well heck, i wont be the last one in after all.  we did the first 15 mile loop in two hours, and took about 15 minutes to get through the vet check.  we went back out for the last loop, that ten mile loop around the lake, that gorgeous lake loop.  just chugging along, having a great time.   had a mom and young daughter pass by, the little girl got about 50 yards ahead of me and fell off her horse.  she bounced hard, and started crying, so while mom attended to her, i pushed tornado up ahead and caught the little girl's horse.  we got the tears dried and the girl back on her horse.  tornado and i got it back in road gear,  made it on around to that nice creek flowing across the road and just wallowed around in it for a little while.  then on to the finish line and the final vet check, where we finished in 22 nd place, just over 4 hours. finished in great shape, too, even if he is "too little".    thanks to vickie and harry parker for putting on another fantastic ride.  thanks to the vet staff and all the volunteers for a wonderful job. and special thanks to all the good riders and good sports out there who put up with me and my funky little horses.  it is a pleasure to count myself among you, to meet and make new friends every time i ride.       ed