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[RC] Bar H Boogie/Thanks! - beth gloverI'd like to publicly thank Lynne for the great job of managing the Bar H Boogie ride. I only went one day, yesterday. I had a great time, and was amazed at the logistics of it all. I was vetting out, people were vetting in for Sunday, people were leaving, coming, finishing, eating all at once. Holy cow! We were riding way the heck out in the middle of nowhere and there were people who apparently had some sort of word about the ride, and put out ice-chests, buckets and all sorts of containers in their front yards full of fresh cool water for the horses. It was like Trick or treat! One lady was out there with a hose watering her garden and she hosed off my horse too. Did Lynne go door to door, knocking on doors, saying" Hello, we'd like to run about 200 horses this weekend through your property and will you kindly supply plenty of water for them and allow them to trample your front lawn and amuse your children?" Of course with someone cool like Lynne, they'd have to say yes! I thought of two new future careers for Lynne. Stand up comedy. ( Awards for the best ride briefings, such fun) and of course real estate. Her angle could be, "I'd just run 200 riders through some choice neighborhoods with beautiful horse property, and put my for sale signs up in front of the houses I wish to sell, and bingo! No need to do open houses!" If anyone from across the country is looking for a place to move in California with nice horse property, hurry fast and move to Lake Matthews before the developers get in there and try to put 10,000 houses with no possibility of ever planting a large tree in the postage stamp lot. If any developers are reading this, may you go jump off a hill of significance. ( wasn't that mean?) Well, that was a real challenging ride, especially with the 90 degree weather. It seemed a little muggy too, she wasn't evaporating the sweat that well. The biggest challenge was to keep the horse from turning into baked hamburger. And to keep from having heat stroke. Kudos to Melody my awesome expert crew who directed me to soak my head in the water trough, several times, and led me around like an idiot with fried brains. Whew. They were fried too. Its true. Lynne had an IQ test for us, so they could assess our brain damage. It was, "Tell us your ride number several times throughout the day." Finally, I got to the point where I'm saying, "It's like a porsche or else the area code, sort of." There were really nice volunteers there who were physically helping some of my friends who were getting too hot and taking leave of their senses. Later on trail, they talked about appreciating that. I say thank you on their behalf. "Snaps" to the Norco posse guys who stopped tr affic for us. Awesome dudes on their day off, looking sharp in uniforms. I learned a couple of things at this ride, and my horse got some great new training experiences. We took off with the starters instead of hiding by the trailer for 5 minutes, and that way everyone could see my horse crowhop for several miles. But its good for her, and good for me not to be such a fearful soul. I lived!! I learned that sometimes my horse's heartrate is slower when she trots, than when she walks, even up hill. Hmm. I tried it a few times, its true. Wierd. The horse got totally broke to guns, especially when we rode through the part I thought that was a gun range, but uh, it wasnt. Good thing we didn't get shot. High noon, hotter than hell, beer and guns. Yummy combo. And they are shooting at mattresses, dead cars, water heaters, vacuum cleaners, old tires, old appliances, with a hill as a backdrop, and guess who is cantering by on top of that hill? I said to my horse, "Jethro, I believe we may catch a stray bullet at this firing range...run like the wind Bullseye!" and she did. Boy, Chris ought to have the natural trainer out to try that set of obstacles! Later they said, "Oh we have to ride through a firing range or go over steep hills". Like we want more steep hills. Oh, and its the firing range where people remark, "I say old chap, I believe my clay pigeon has gone astray and sullied the environment!" and then their man gets the broom and sweeps up the shells. Nobody was there. I wonder why. My horse learned to tail, irrevoc ably, on the hill of significance. We were muddling around doing it kinda half baked fashion, she kept trying to turn sideways to see if I got my crampons yet, and stopped with shaky legs a couple of times. I thought I was on the verge of heart failure and finally I said, "Home's that way" and she chugged away straight up hill and I dragged on her tail like a ball and chain literally. I don't know if that benefits the horse any, but it was too damned steep to ride, seriously. And I like steep and deep climbs. So now she tails. My horse became accustomed to huge dishes. Not dinner dishes. TV satelite dishes. Not like the ones on your house. Bigger than your house. And they "HUMMM". There are loose stray pitbulls to go along with it. We did not run on the asphalt. We throw granola bars to the pit bulls. I did not bring pepper spray this time. Bugger. Oh well, the granola bars did work. I have learned, always bring granola bars. But I also learned, do not forget to bring ziplock bags, and put the jelly beans into the paper sack in the pommel bag and then let the lady hose it with her garden hose and then try to eat the jelly beans an hour later in that heat because now it is glopp. Great ride, happy to see all those beautiful canyons with streams and the orange groves that reminded me of my youth. Thanks again Lynne Beth ( whose endorphins have not worn off yet) All the action. All the drama. Get NCAA hoops coverage at MSN Sports by ESPN. ============================================================ Black care rarely sits behind a rider whose pace is fast enough ~ Theodore Roosevelt ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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