Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Please Reply to: Alicia Mansuetti mmansuetti@xxxxxxxxxxx or 
ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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First of all I just want to say that I congratulate Vicki Parker on a well 
managed ride at Liberty Run this year.  Her trails were estremely well marked 
and there was ample water on the trail.

I wanted to post my story because I learned something that should especially be 
read by new riders and so it goes:

There were 4 of us riding the Liberty Run 55 on Friday am.  we called ourselved 
the Foxfire Fabulous Four and we were out for a fun day.  Two of us were 
veteran riders and we had a junior and her dad doing their first 50 miler and 
only their second endurance ride ever.  My dear friend Faith was sponsoring the 
junior and helping the dad by sort of sponsoring him too.  We are from the same 
farm and I just wanted to complete that day I decided to tag along with them 
for the comraderie.

The first two loops were 15 miles of fun and a nice 10 mile an hour pace.  We 
were doing well.  Faith and I made sure at each check their horses were 
eltrolyted properly and taken care of.  the junior was feeling a little queasy 
so we made sure she had pepto bismal and tums as well as something to drink at 
the stops.  the Dad never complained so we had all of our attention on the 
daughter.

Then came the third 15 mile loop.  About 3 or so miles out the daughters horse 
stepped wrong on a rock and hurt her ankle.  After walking a mile of so to see 
if she would work out of it my friend Claire rode up and said she would take 
the junior back to camp because she was going for the turtle award anyhow.  We 
all appreciated her genorosity but we decided the best plan was for me to take 
the Dad and see if their was someone I could notify up ahead to send a trailer 
out for the junior.  Away we went for about two miles when I noticed the Dad 
breathing very loudly.  I looked back to see the wrong color on his face.  
Luckily we were at a pond to we stopped cooled the horses and he got off and 
rested.  He said he felt a little dizzy.  We rode on for another couple of 
miles when he started the breathing again  and then looked the wrong color.  We 
stopped in the shade and he got off and squatted down, I thought he was going 
to faint.  Luckily Roxanne road up who is a nurse asked him questions we gave 
him water and he seemed to perk up.  I told her that when she found someone to 
tell them we had a rider who needed her horse trailed and would possibly need 
help for the Dad.  He got better and we rode on.  The trail got hot and Georgia 
humid!  He got funny again and luckily we got to a water stop where we covered 
him in water.  He was much improved and wanted to go on-- end part one

===========================================================I can tell you after 
sleeping in a tent, then in my truck, then in the back
of a trailer, then in a gneck trailer w/no LQ, and now in the new-to-me LQ
one, you don't sleep any better the night before in nicer digs - you're
just more comfortable while you're lying there obsessing :)
~  Tina Hicks

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