Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

At 7, the pack headed out for a controlled start for about 100 feet down the 
pavement and then off to the trails. I waited for about 3 minutes. Tanna was 
remarkably calm. He was being very good and stood still while Daniel fiddled 
with the GPS. Then we started. I managed to keep Tanna to a walk for quite 
awhile. He was alert and realized we were at a "race" (he is much more 
competitive than I am), but was obedient.

After awhile, I asked for a trot and got a forward, pulling trot. I quickly 
caught up with some riders. I followed them for awhile before getting fed up 
with Tanna pulling to tailgate. There wasn't really a good place to pass, so I 
spun him in a quick circle and hopped off as he was facing away from the horses 
we'd been following. He seemed surprised and calmed down. I walked for awhile, 
letting the riders pull away from us, but aware there were some behind us, too. 
A couple of riders, Holly and Jessie from SC, came up behind me and remarked 
that Tanna seemed calm now. I dryly commented, "I wish I could ride the horse I 
lead." They pulled away and after a few minutes I decided they might be good to 
ride with for awhile, so remounted. Tanna immediately started off at a full 
trot. Urgh, gotta get my foot in the stirrup, horse! At least he stood long 
enough for me to get in the saddle.

I stayed with Holly and Jessie for a while until I went in the lead and slowly 
out-distanced them until I realized I was riding alone again. I rode with them 
periodically throughout the 20 mile loop as they caught up with me when I 
paused for various reasons.

We were again riding together when we got to the road that the vet check was 
on. As we contemplated which direction to go (I was unsure if the vet check was 
in the same place as last year...should have asked that at the ride meeting), 
some other riders came up on us. In a group of 10 horses, Tanna was impossible. 
He was getting very strong and acting up. I hopped off and jogged and walked 
with him into the vet check.

Just as we approached the in-timer, Daniel drove in with our truck. Perfect 
timing. :-) The vet check was full, but Daniel found a place to park while I 
unsuccessfully offered Tanna water from the common troughs. Tanna was down to 
58, so we stripped his tack, sponged him, offered water, and took him to vet 
in. This time there were a few marks against him for dehydration. Little wonder 
since he wasn't drinking.

Back to the truck for eating, drinking, and resting. Course, Tanna didn't 
drink. I debated dosing him with more electrolytes and finally decided to.

On a happy note, Tanna did eat at the vet check! He's had a problem eating at 
the first vet check and eating poorly at the second vet check. He ate some hay, 
some apples, some beet pulp. I had been giving him Fastrack probiotics and I 
was pleased with the results.

Back out on the trail for the second 20 mile loop. Man, those loops are killer. 
I'd completed the first loop in about 3 hours and 45 minutes. Right on target 
for my 9 hour planned ride time. I planned to do the second loop in the same 
amount of time as the first loop. I ended up riding alone for much of the 
second loop. Passing and being passed by the same people. I had heard there was 
a stretch of gravel road that I thought would slow me down, so I pushed Tanna 
at the beginning of the loop to try to make up time so I'd still make my 3:45 
ride time for the loop. I never found the slow down I was expecting, so ended 
up doing that loop in around 3:25.

Five miles into the second loop, we crossed a decently deep creek and Tanna 
drank deeply! Yeah. Drinking at mile 25 still isn't the best in my opinion, but 
he drank several more times in that loop and I was happy that he was finally 
drinking. At Hoosier Daddy, it took 30-something miles before he drank.

I also began sponging on the fly at a walk. I've been sponging from a stand 
still during training up to this point. But I'd begun to snap the sponge back 
to my hand in one smooth motion, so Tanna was used to the sponge flying past 
his face back to my hand. On this ride, I decided I wanted to take advantage of 
some of the puddles, but didn't want to stop. So I walked past the puddles, 
dropped the sponge in and snapped it up while continuing to walk on. I even 
progressed to trotting up to the puddle, walking while getting the sponge wet, 
and then trotting on while squeezing the water on. I'm just a beginner (nowhere 
close to Angie, the mistress of sponging on the fly), but that was quite fun to 
do and saved some time.

The 2nd vet check was in camp and I was glad to be there. While sponging off 
before the vet check, I noticed Tanna acting a little ouchy on his back. The 
vet didn't find anything, so I thought maybe it was just I used the sweat 
scraper a bit roughly. At this check, Tanna weighed 758. He'd lost 50 pounds 
from Thursday arrival to the second vet check. He vetted through with all As 
and back at camp, I turned him into his pen to eat, drink and rest while I sat 
in a chair and did the same. I began to catalog all my hurts and dreaded going 
back out. But the last loop was only 10 miles. I can stand anything for 10 
miles, right? I do this for fun, right?

(to be continued)

April
Nashville, TN



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-