I just wanted to say thank you to Connie Creech for
putting on a great ride up at Washoe. We finished, even though Beau, my horse,
pulled his usual stupid pet tricks, such as pulling off his shoe on Tuesday,
having it replaced on Wed. then pulling it off again in the trailer on the way
up there. Luckily, a retired horseshoer by the name of Ron was up there to
ride in the 25 and put the shoe back on for me free of charge. What impressed me
the most , besides the gracious volunteers and vets, was the amount of prizes
handed out at the ride finish. It was incredible. They gave out beautiful
wine glasses with the name of the ride etched in them, bags of feed, blankets,
electrolytes, heart monitors, etc....for everything from first place for the 50
and 25, to team prizes, to last place awards, etc... the list went on and
on. The ride itself was beautiful and a herd of mustangs ran right in front
of us at one point. My first horse was a mustang caught in 1975 in Susanville so
it brought back some sentimental memories. I didn't pad because I usually ride
on the Western States trail where it is rocky and I thought Beau would be okay.
But in a ride situation he is so competitive and preoccupied with watching the
horses ahead of him, instead of the trail, that I definitely would pad
next time. I would recommend this ride to anyone. The elevation was around 5000
ft. but because of the cooler weather most of the horses did great.
