Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

  Dayna and I returned from the Malibu ride this weekend, and I thought 
I'd share our experience. The trail for this ride is one of the most 
beautiful I have ever seen, and the 55 miler is THE toughest I have ever 
done in over 22 years and 7500 miles of endurance riding. We took the 
entire ride time to finish, on two very fit horses. Most of the day we 
were going either uphill or down, at significant inclines. The 
temperatures were moderate, but the humidity so near the ocean added to 
the challenge. The wildflowers were in full bloom, almost seeming to 
have been planted by hand across the countryside. There was always 
plenty of water, both for drinking and rinsing the horses. I decided to 
actually use a bit of that water to cool myself until one rider got 
upset and shouted at me: " Hey, pal! You wanna grab your shower cap and 
rubber duck and get out of the water tank? My horse needs to drink!" You 
can't imagine my embarrassment.
  The trail was very well marked and Don Bowen and others had worked 
very hard to clear and mow the trail. We met up with several nice hikers 
and bikers who were all very polite and gave our horses the 
right-of-way. Our vet bag got lost somewhere along the way, but ride 
management provided plenty of horse and people food at the vet checks.
 It was fun traveling through Paramount Ranch and seeing a couple of 
abandoned vehicles from the TV series M.A.S.H. , and the countryside 
varied constantly with huge vistas including views of the ocean and 
beaches. Just before reaching the finish line, the horses were treated 
to a stirrup-deep water crossing of 100 yards or so, a refreshing end to 
a hard day's work. 
 All in all, this ride was truly a challenge and an adventure. I'm 
guessing ride management may make the trail a little easier next year, 
as several riders had trouble finishing in time. This is a great trail 
to test your horse for Tevis as well.  Awards were great, dinner was 
tasty, and I'm sure attendance will grow next year. We will be back 
again for sure.   Dr Q world renowned trail critic


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