Congratulations
to all the riders and fantastic horses that completed Tevis
this year. What an accomplishment!
The
trail out of Robinson Flat was changed this year to “reclaim” a
section that has been closed for “I don’t know how long” due
to a fire that had gone through DuncanCanyon
and left it in an unsafe to pass through (dead trees in danger of falling over).
A rider told me that it might have added 30 min to the ride. I know it added
time at a place where you used to be able to make up some time.
It
looks like 19 riders were OT at Michigan Bluff compared to 6 last year. IMHO, an
occurrence not too long out of Robie Park definitely
contributed to many of the end group of riders being
overtime. I’m not positive of the exact circumstances as I was too far
back to see for myself, but a very large group of riders (including Tara &
I) was held at a complete stop for 20 minutes (one rider timed it) due to what
appeared to be at least one horse that wouldn’t cross a water crossing on
the trail. When I heard that, I expected to come upon a huge obstacle that we’d
have to overcome…instead we found a small trench with a few inches of
water in it. There was yelling going on, so I know the rider(s) were being
requested to yield the trail, they yelled back for everyone to just stay back.
The
holdup caused all these riders to remain bunched up for a very long time, and
then, going through the Granite Chief Wilderness a horse was injured when it’s leg was caught between rocks and badly cut, and a
junior rider slightly injured. This caused another delay on a very technical,
single track trail. Although this type of hold-up I can graciously accept, Storm
& I were unfortunately stuck on a slab of granite and after a few minutes he
began slipping and then fell a couple of times before we were finally able to
move on again. No surprise that he was dead lame at the next vet check, although
it was a surprise that it took that long to show up. I felt lucky to have
survived the falls without any broken bones. We did have to walk out 7 miles to
get a trailer ride, 7 miles of thick dust & rocky trails, with no water for
him for nearly 3 hours. He was not feeling well by the time we got to Red Star.
I
also heard several complaints about riders not being willing to yield the trail
to those wanting to go a bit faster up & down the canyons, precious time is
lost when you cannot ride at the speed that’s best for your horse.
What
you cannot prepare for is circumstances beyond your control and riders who don’t
remember trail rules and courtesy.
Kathy
Grass
Valley, CA
Subject:
[RC]John Crandell
III & Heraldic
Congratulations
to
John & Heraldic. Looks like Don Huston called this one. I wish I could have
been there to see the BC judging.
I
sure wish
there
could be better than a 43% completion rate though! What is it about Tevis that riders aren't able prepare
for? I'm curious here...
