The next morning Ellen and I saddled up early and went up on the
road above camp to get our horses away from the adrenilan rush of the start ,
there we met up with Louie and Willow and another friend Heidi Chretien who was
also doing her horse Al's first 50 miler ride . Since Willow has
been doing this for a number of years Louie was headed out in the middle of the
pack so she left us and headed down to the start while Heidi , Ellen and
I stayed up on the road walking our horses around until the ride got
started and then headed back to camp to start our ride starting about 10 to 15
minutes behind everyone else . We started walking the first couple miles and
then hit a nice 7 to 8 mph pace walking all hills up and down . Fort Howes has 3
loops , first a 15 mile one then a 20 mile one and then you finish with another
15 mile loop , Bill & Jan had thrown in some really good climbs for that
country but alot of it was nice big meadows with good footing even with
the mud from all the rain . Bo was a little ticked off at having to ride so slow
with us but it was basically a training ride for Ruffy and Al , there was water
everywhere on the trail and knee deep grass also . We took turns leading and
following and the horses moved out nicely setting a nice pace . Both
youngsters ate and drank at every chance they got making Heidi and I very happy
. I think it helped having an old campaigner along with us showing them that all
was ok and that they had better drink when offered . All 3 horses breathed thru
the vet checks with pulses down and straight A's as soon as we came into camp .
All the vet checks were in camp which made it nice for us riders and neither
Ruffy nor Al minded leaving camp after our hold times so that was nice to see .
We had two 60 minute holds so there was lots of time to re-group , I did have
some problems giving Ruff her e-lytes as I think she remembered the bute taste
too well from her shoulder injury , but she did get alittle better with
every dose , and I guess it will just take some time before she decides its ok .
We held a pretty steady pace the whole way , and even passed 3 riders in the
last 4 miles who had stopped to make some tack adjustments or something .
Ruffy finished the ride with a 48/48 CRI and all A's , she was even fine with
putting a blanket on her after the ride . So this was the first of many
adventures to come with me and CW Ruffian who is now an official "
endurance horse " and has definetly lived up to all my hopes and dreams for her
when she came to me 6 years ago . I love this mare and all of her funny little
mare things that she does . She was just a champ from start to finish this whole
weekend , today she is out in the meadow taking it easy and will get a week off
before I start riding her again getting ready for our next adventure which if
things go as planned will be the two day Strawberry feilds ride by SLC , Utah
the end of the month .
