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[RC] Old Dominion - The Ride as told by Super (Part 2) - Stagg_NewmanWe left the first check point the same way we had in prior years and got a couple miles away when Sue said something looked funny. Stagg claimed we were going the back way up to Milford's gap. Then a couple minutes later he said some words that I will not repeat, got out the map and we turned around. It was funny as horses kept coming towards us. Stagg would point in back down the trail from which they came, shout something and they would turn around and follow us. After a couple of miles, Charlie and I had collected all of the horses in the ride and were leading them back to the Vet check like a troop of cavalry horses. Sort of cool in a way but Stagg did not seem to be amused. We had just done an extra 4 to 5 miles (at the OD!). And of course all of the other horses had done less extra mileage as they turned around as we met them heading back into camp. Stagg hollered for the Station Head that they were sending all of the horses out the 75 mile trail, not out the 100 mile trail. Then we headed back up the Massanutten in the right direction. The rest of the way to the second vet check Charlie and I just cruised along with a couple of other buddies over new trai and some road. I like new trail. This was neat trappy up and down stuff without big rocks but good tough work. We did trot right over a rattlesnake in the road. But a car had already removed any threat from that particular crittur by running over it first. As we got a few miles from the vet check I saw hoofprints ahead of us which roused my suspicions. When we got to the vet check, there were 4 horses that Charlie and I had passed on the climb up over Milford Gap. Turned out that after coming down from Milford Gap the riders made the guys turn right onto the 75 mile trail in the backwards direction instead of left onto the 100 and 75 going out. Then they picked up the 100 again when it split from the 75 and got ahead of us by cutting off several miles accidentally. Felt really sorry for the chaps as their riders had missed the one critical pie plate. Heard later the riders decided not to make them go back which would have made their ride over 110 miles but rather just ride for completion. At any rate Charlie and I came into together. Our pulses were down immediately so we went straight to the vets while our buddies took a couple of minutes longer. Then we really chowed down! as we had heard that there Haburn's Gap was a big steep climb. (talked to you later - Super)
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