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[RC] a perfect 100 - Steph Teeter

For me - the absolute ultimate in this sport is a one-day 100 mile ride.
There's nothing else quite like it. I had one of the best ever 100-mile
rides yesterday, my horse (Jaziret) was ON. I  had spent the year preparing
him for the PanAms, worry worry worry. We had an OK ride at Trout Lake, but
not the fast ride I had hoped for. Too much worry perhaps.

Friday afternoon before the Owyhee 100 I decided there were enough helpers
(thank you!), John and Carol could manage it, and I would ride. Jaziret's
feet were long, Tom Dean helped me clean up one foot that had sand under the
pad, I hadn't ridden him very much since PamAm (though Nellie's beau Don
rode him on a 30 miler at the Canyonlands ride) and I hadn't been on a horse
myself very much since the PanAms - doing the Canyonlands ride and getting
ready for this had totally consumed me. But what the heck, I really really
needed to ride. And when I walked over and asked him if he wanted to do a
100, he whinnied. No heart rate moniter, no plan, just go out and have fun
for as long as we could. I pretty much let him set the pace all day, he was
incredible - opting to lope most of the ride, just happy and moving
beautifully. The trail was wonderful (I rarely get the chance to actually
ride these trails at ride pace) the weather was perfect - sunny and cool,
highs in the 40's (though COLD at night). And what a perfect ride. We
finished in 10:09, the fasted 100 I've ever done, three others (Sue and
Dennis Summers and Sue Hedgecock) were close behind, but Jaziret just kept
going and going. His recoveries were exceptional, his attitude and quality
of movement perfect. It was wonderful!!

It's been interesting reading some of the recent ridecamp posts on
'endurance' , LD, etc. Believe me - once you've done a 100, once you've seen
the horse you're riding cover One Hundred miles in one day... the awe and
respect for what these horses can do is overwhelming. It's not about us -
the riders - the LDers, 50 milerss, whatever - it's about the incredible
feat that these horses can accomplish. For us to try to label ourselves
seems so silly, we (the humans) are mere passengers, we are simply playing
our sport however it suits us. These animals, these horses, are beyond
words - the heart, the willingness, the sheer physical ability. Please -
let's not forget that we arbitrarily set the game rules at 25, 50, 100,
whatever... but these animals are oblivious to our definitions. And they are
magnificent. And 'we' are simply passengers. We should worry less about what
'we' accomplish, and more about what these animals are capable of doing, and
the responsibilty that each of us has to compete within their ability, not
within our definition of the sport.

Still grinning...

Steph


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