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[RC] Biltmore 4? - rides2farI'm back at Kinkos again. I could get used to this air conditioning today. The ride is in full swing so I'll give a quick report and hit the road. Got in bed after 1 AM after sending last night's post. I'm sure everyone loved me for pulling into camp with a loud truck and shining my lights in their windows hunting a place to park. Gave some serious thought to getting up to cover the "action" at 5 AM when the 100's were preparing to start. I really thought about it but the sleeping bag was warm and it was chilly outside. Since I found out that I'd parked practically in the vet check I could have seen pretty well from there if Josie & I hadn't fogged up the windows so bad so I decided to report by listening. The big flash was, "Ann Stewart would you please check in with the timer". I imagined Ann sneaking off to get a one hour lead and get caught but it was nothing so dramatic. She'd already checked in and gone back to the trailer and they hadn't marked her off. "Running back to the trailer" when you parked in the FEI field involved putting another mile or so on your horse so I was impressed. The volume of horses to hit the first vet check was amazing. To see that many 100's come in at once was pretty intimidating to the workers but they were so determined to be the model of efficiency that the horses practically had to trot to keep up with the line moving forward. The top 20 or so horses were within minutes of each other. I ran around like crazy trying to get all the numbers, recoveries etc. and after it was done realized when they were that close together it was pretty meaningless. Talked to Stagg Newman. He was calm and collected, riding his ride, planning to make his moved later. Val & Cia seemed to be in no hurry whatsoever. The maroon shirted crew for the Sheik's son stood out as you looked across the check. They're serious about their work and look like a human wall waiting behind the crewing line for him to come in. There's a huge camper trailer that's their base and a couple of poor guys in 3 piece suits in the sweltering sun patrolling outside. We offered one a t-shirt but he declined. Hope he doesn't end up on fluids. >g< By the 2nd check horses started to drop out...and there seems to be a pattern, lots of tight in the rear descriptions. Talked to one of the riders who said she was walking the hills, riding smart and this was her horse's first problem like this. Talked to another running top 10 in her first 100 whose horse was trying to tie up at 40 miles or so. He's a mountain horse who is used to the hills and used to speed. Biltmore Syndrome strikes again. Maybe we'll get some clues from the AERC EKG research they're running. I think they were going to run bloodwork on some of these horses even though they hadn't been participating in the study. (I'm repeating things that I'm guessing, or may have heard wrong, all comments should be taken not as fact) The third leg was the toughest, longest and most technical...just the thing Stagg & Super excel at. By the time the horses left the third check Stagg had taken the lead. The exit exams on the 100 seem to be catching quite a few horses and the numbers are dwindling fast. I wonder if some of these things are things the horses would warm back up out of. One vet who is riding voiced concern at the number of exit exams taking away from the horses's down time. I'm afraid that if in fact several horses are pulled for being stiff at them the riders will further cut back on the eating & resting time by having to keep them moving. The heat is pretty intense. We'll see who lasts. The winners of the 50 came in. I gave that info to John. The most amusing thing I saw was Junior Samantha Thomson having to drink over 2 pints of water to make weight at the end. The amusing part was that she seemed to have no trouble downing it. Hope she never gets in a chug a lug contest. Poor John can't follow what I'm trying to tell him on the times. I find the difference in arrival & P&R times to be the most interesting way to try to predict how the horses are really doing. So...Josie is stationed with the in-timers taking names & times, Bonnie & I are looking over the shoulder of the P&R in timers. Then we compare and see who recovered in least time. Dinah Rojek was fascinated reading it and suggested I make copies of my list for the vets doing the research. As I walked by those guys I showed them on my list a horse I haven't seen but I thought they'd be seeing soon. Its name came round on the next pull list and I said "Told ya so". Josie thought she'd hate not having a horse here but she's feeling like she's learning a ton. She's so efficient the in-timers have corrected their sheets off Josie's notes. :-) I'm off to work on my red neck sunburn. Angie
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