Haven't been able to ride much this year(Sand Hills
30/30 in March and Million Pines 50 April). Pumped up for Biltmore 30 'cuz my
daughters(Ali) goin' to ride(I posted early this year about her wanting to sell
her horse!)! Day to day schedule is hectic and riding to get ready has not been
easy. Finally able to get farrier to house on Friday morning(day before ride) to
shoe horses. My horse hasn't had shoes in 2 years but Biltmore can be rocky and
I didn't want to mess with E-boots. Ali likes the Biltmore cuz of cross country
jumps available and that is her real passion she doesn't get to do much of(She
loves the Pyramid Challenge which is at the Kentucky Horse Park with it's
multitude of jumps!). Wanted to get to Biltmore early Friday so she can ride and
jump but with the farrier coming it ain't happenin'. Got there, got set up and
went and checked in. Just getting ready to walk back to campsite and Anne Ayala
asks me if I would mind going to help a rider who had broken down on the
Interstate not far from the site. My mind was saying "No, I want to go play on
the horses with my daughter!" but my mouth said yes. My mind also pictured
myself sitting on the side of the road with my horse trailer stranded. So, I
jump in my '96Toyota T-100(156,000 mile 6 cyl) and go hook up to the 2
horse trailer the 2000 3/4 ton Ford with 45,000miles blew its tranny on(who says
size matters?)!. When I return to camp I find out my daughter took her horse to
ride(I told her to go ahead before I left) and my horse went bananas and blew
through the electric fence! Broke 7 of 8 plastic fence posts I bought the day
before for the event. The couple were quite appreciative and it was her first
ride and she says she'll do it again! Her husband asked me where he could get a
truck like mine when we got to camp(they followed me back to camp with a loaner
car from the Ford dealer and he couldn't believe how I kept up with Friday
afternoon traffic). I tell this story not to toot my horn about helping them as
I know anyone of you would come help me if the roles were reversed. But
I tell it so I can chuckle about a broken down big Ford having to have a
Toyota to come rescue them :-) So, then my daughter and I go riding and she does
some jumping and we have our fun.
More to come(if you can stand it).
Ed Roley & Sawyer(the turbo charged Morgan-Arab
cross with the heavy duty towing package)
