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[RC] Rides of March - Dream WeaverFor the 50 people who cancelled due to weather, you guys really missed out on an AWESOME ride this year!! I hadn't planned on going but then Friday at work a friend called on her way to the ride and I looked out the window and realized that the weather was actually quite nice. As usual, the weather reports were not quite accurate. Of course, I couldn't help myself as I knew if I didn't go that I'd be home today pouting and having seizures over not being at the ride! They let me check in last night, and vet -- then I got to start at 7 this morning, there were 30 of us in the 50, and around 12 in the 30. The ride is only 50 miles from my house, how stupid would it be to miss it??? The weather turned out to be fairly decent, certainly better than being too hot. We did get snowed on, I got a lot of photos of that. I even got to ride with little Colton a bit, on his second ride (with his dad the entire way this time), he did great, and what a neat little horse he has.I knew that it was probably going to be cold, which I don't mind. I don't really like high winds and cold, and rain all at once -- but it just snowed and there was a bit of a breeze which came and went. Otherwise, the day was variable with high clouds, some clearing with blue sky and sun. I figured I had to redeem myself after wusing out of the 100 last month at 20 Mule Team when I had a horse perfectly capable. We had the best ride ever today, I am so excited with how well Chief has been coming along these last few months. He's improved so much in so many ways and gets better with every ride or lesson or work I do with him. The best part of all is that he's still far from perfect -- but I'm really enjoying the thought of the time I am going to get to spend with him to continue to make him better. We really had a fantastic day today. Everything was frozen the first 25 miles, so Chief couldn't drink from puddles which kind of ticked him off, so he had to eat snow instead. Then by the second 25 things had melted a bit and he emptied several puddles, ate more snow, and snacked most of the way thru the ride. His favorite part was having John M. hand feed him carrots at the water stop. He'll go anywhere and do anything for that kind of treatment! I used the same Bares (boots) on him that I used at 20MT for the 65. They are holding up great, perfect condition and they came off without any rubs (and I'm not vetwrapping). I wasn't sure I should use them as I knew the footing would be slick, and this ride is anything but flat -- lots of up and downhill, some steep and of course in the mud and deep sand. I wasn't sure that the boot tread would be good for that or not, since the 65 miler we just did really had no technical or challenging terrain on it (at least not compared to this ride today). I wasn't sure at first, but Chief basically told me to just let him be and quit worrying and he got us thru. In the morning we climbed up and down solidly frozen ground and ice and never slipped once, then in the afternoon we went thru tons and tons of mud up and down hills and he was secure the entire way. Plus the boots stayed on. I was really impressed. We were going to do Chief's feet today, but I think going on a nice 50 mile ride was a much better plan! He'll get his pedicure tomorrow instead. They served lunch to the riders, and at the finish had cake (carrot and chocolate). It was nice having such a spacious ridecamp too :) I'll get some of the photos posted soon. The trail was well marked, tho I wasn't sure in some spots if it was white chalk or snow <bg>. Karen in NV =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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