Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

SPOOK RUN ~ AN LD, POV  

Well, last year when I did a ride story on one of the rides held at Bill 
Wilson's, I spoke of the wind causing the trees to moan in the sky. I noticed 
that 
this time they were still at it, but I won't go all mushy and poetic this 
time. <g>
As said before, from the 100 mile stories about Spook Run, the weather was 
perfect, the scenery was beautiful, the management as usual, was great, and the 
vets, volunteers always on the mark. A big THANK YOU to all of those hard 
working people.
I really enjoyed getting to see the AHA and Open 100 milers receive their 
awards after our dinner on Fri. evening. I was impressed by how well everyone 
marched up without nary a bobble from sore muscles. Well, a couple were  moving 
a 
bit slow, but goodness these are tough people. Several even rode again in the 
50 on Saturday. Impressive, and inspiring.
I had a newbie with me, so got to see the sport from fresh eyes. We oldies 
tend to forget the little things that we do to make our ride successful. I had 
hoped that a new rider meeting would happen after the ride meeting, but also 
glad it didn't, as the temps had dropped to shivering degrees, and we were all 
ready for bed.
All the ideas to introduce the sport to new people is of interest. They have 
been good ones. Even a pamphlet to pass out at the riders meeting would help. 
Just the basics of how to present your horse to the vet, what the routine is 
for the pulse and vet checks, the need for e-lytes, the importance of eating, 
drinking, etc. I'm sure AERC will come up with something. NATRC has a rule book 
that they make available to new riders that works very well.  One of the best 
things to do,  is to simply tell the vets that you are new, and listen and 
watch. A willing mentor is even better. That green marker on the horse, is a 
good one too.
I had to tell my newbie that I couldn't ride with her as I knew my horse 
would be wanting to go way faster than her first time horse needed to go. But 
she 
easily matched up with some riders that wanted to take it easy and had no 
problems at all. Here, I have to say, that she is a newbie to endurance but not 
to 
horses or competition. And, she did do some distance riding when only a wee 
child. Which hasn't been THAT long ago. . . But, things have changed in the 
sport, and the routine is sometimes the thing that is hard to know.
It really didn't matter how fast Rider and I went, as we weren't racing, 
other than to try and beat my last time at this ride. But I had been holding 
him 
back so much and having real problems with his attitude on the last two 50 mile 
NATRC rides we did, that he really needed to move on a bit. In other words he 
needed an attitude adjustment. I had planed all year to make this ride his 
first fifty endurance, and he was fine tuned enough to do it, but alas we had 
had to miss some planned rides and were short 20 miles to receive our 300 mile 
award that the Daniel Boone Distance Riders give for that accomplishment. With 
that being my main goal, I played it safe and did the 25 instead. And, boy did 
we have fun!  He was so much happier with the pace we set, and never gave me 
a moments trouble. I bought this horse for a NATRC horse, and thought he would 
be well suited to it, but goodness, he wants to go, go, go. He is a dream, 
(usually) on the obstacles, he just hates the pace. Perhaps it is because he 
lives with Arabians, and rides with Arabians, that he thinks he is an Arabian. 
He 
is not an Arabian, he is a Paint!! I keep telling him this, but he won't 
listen. . .<g> Well, we did beat our fastest time on this trail by about 20 
minutes. I think our ride time was 3:03, whew, and would have been faster if I 
hadn't missed a turn (the same turn I missed the last time) and wondered around 
a 
good ten minutes trying to find my way. Argh. . .I took a good look this time 
though, and it an't goin' to happen again. . .! 
I thought I was really cooking the trail until in the last mile or so from 
the finish, we were cantering along and came upon some fifty milers. Rider was 
determined to catch up to them, it turned out to be Valerie, another fellow and 
I think Karen who I later learned raced off at the finish.  So, here I was 
just finishing my 25 miles, and Valerie only had 10 more miles of the fifty to 
do. . .And, the fifty milers only started 10 minutes ahead of us 25 milers. . 
.hmmm   I was pacing at 8+ mph, and here she was 15 miles ahead of me. . .what 
a rider she is!  And what a handsome horse she was on. It was cool to exchange 
a few words about Jedi as we cantered along. When we came to the black top we 
slowed to a trot and she trotted on into the vet check, while I got off and 
began to let my guy catch his breath while I walked him in.
Rider took a good drink of the pond water that he had earlier turned his nose 
up at, then we pulsed down. I was amazed and very happy to hear we got 12 th 
place. I evidently passed several horses in the pulse checks, because I know 
we had a good 20+ horses ahead of us at the start, and I hardly passed anyone 
on the trail the whole day.
The newbie, Amy Greene did great with her Arab and is eager for more. She got 
20th something, and was less than an hour behind me, so she had a successful 
first ride with a healthy, sound horse. Unfortunately we had to leave before 
awards, so didn't get to see who did what, so congratulations to everyone!
It was a great way to end the ride season. . .with the tall, tall trees, 
moaning in the sky.

PS ~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL WILSON !

Janice & Rider, who hope to do some fifties next year. . .

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