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[RC] first ride! - Tara ShermanHello all! Yesterday my mom, our horses, and I went on the first ride ever for all of us. It was the American River Ride 50. My mom got pulled at the 43 mile point because Storm wouldn't pulse down; later on we also discovered he had some pain from refusing to walk downhill. I had continued with some other sponsers and did finish within time. Shadow was about to fall over from tiredness though! She had missed her nap that day, lol... We got to ridecamp the night before and vetted in uneventfully. Dinner, ride meeting... I couldn't hear the speakers at the meeting but eventually got all of the information. That night, my mom slept in the cab of the truck and I took the "bed". I had left my bag of clothes open and in the morning they were all frosted and wet! I won't make that mistake again. The ride time started at 6:30, but we left at 6:50. Until we got off of the gravel roads and onto trotting trail, Shadow, despite our late start, was fidgeting and bouncing around in her mild snaffle. Seeing that she couldn't canter slower than a walk everywhere, she compensated by trotting slower than a walk but more animated, using her hind legs normally and swinging her front legs from side to side. even though she was going slowly, she kept on getting way ahead of Storm... hmm. There were times that you HAD to be out of the vet checks by, so for a while we were traveling at a rather frenzied pace to make it to the trot through. After that, the horses calmed down a bit but we were still "late" most of the time. I didn't get to the finish line until 6:18 (the ride ended at 6:30) That may have just been because I left the last vet check at 5:00... out time was supposed to be 4:30. Most of the vet checks were uneventful, the horses (except when Storm got pulled) pulsed down quickly. They both got all As and Bs except when he was pulled, Storm got C for hydration. For their first ride, the horses did not do badly! I, however, am very very sore. I rode Shadow in hunter style (even though I ride Western), leaning forwards with the post. If I post in the dressage/chair style, up and down, Shadow gets a sore back. Is there any way to decrease soreness though? lol. I will have another e-mail with some other questions that do not directly link to this... Tara FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar ? get it now! ============================================================ There are 2 ways to win at this sport. You take a horse and race him for a short time and then find a new horse or you can take one horse , do the homework and spend many miles and years enjoying that horse. ~ Paddi Sprecher ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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