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Tuesday morning, Daniel and I finished packing and headed out for the
Yellowhammer 3-day Pioneer Ride in Alabama. The drive was pleasant,
although a bit warm. This was our first visit to the Yellowhammer
ride. We attempted to go in 2004, but about an hour before we were to
reach ride camp, our engine blew. We spent the next several days
fixing the truck and getting our horse home. Then in 2005, I was
recovering from a broken arm and didn't want to risk reinjury to
myself. So when we reached camp with no mishaps, we were thrilled.

Tamra Schoech, the ride manager, met us as we drove in and we figured
out where to park. Soon Tanna was in his livestock corral panels and
set up with a large muck bucket of water and some hay.

I spent Wednesday morning getting my saddle ready for the ride on
Thursday. I was planning to ride Tanna in the 55 miler. I also packed
my away vet check bag as the first vet check was to be out. The
remainder of the vet checks were all in camp for the rest of the
weekend. Around 11:30 or so, Daniel and I meandered over to the
registration canopy and hung out there all day. Watching people arrive
and attempting to direct them to suitable parking spaces. There were a
lot of people rolling into camp. The weather was predicted to be nice.
Warm on Thursday at 88 degrees or so, but cooler on Friday and
Saturday in the mid-70s.

I enjoyed hanging out and chatting with people as they came by to
register. During the afternoon, I registered myself and vetted Tanna
in for the Thursday 55.

At 5 PM, the ride meeting took place. Tamra welcomed everybody and
thanked the numerous volunteers, many who had been there since
Saturday or Sunday helping with all those things that need doing for a
ride. Then Sarah Engsberg described the trails. We were to go out of
camp on the Blue trail to the out vet check 18 miles from camp. The
second "loop" completed the Blue loop back to camp for another 19
miles. The Blue loop incorporated some rolling hills on the road. They
are hoping to do a 100 next year at Yellowhammer and they wanted to
try out the road on some of us to get feedback for using the road in
the 100. The road was gravel. Some of it wasn't a whole lot of gravel,
though. Anyway, after the second vet check at camp, we were to do the
final 18 mile loop to the finish on the Green loop. Then Otis Schmitt,
the head vet, got up to do his thing. 64 pulse (60 at the end for "the
short race"), tack off at all checks, holds 50 minutes.

Then Dr. Otis diverted from the normal ride meeting routine. He said
"Ya'll know Becky over here and how we've been hanging out together
for awhile now..." Becky joined him in front of the crowd. "Well," Dr.
Otis continued, "We went to Heflin this morning and got married!" Of
course the group went wild with excitement and cat calls. They had
snuck off and gotten married Wednesday morning! Then had hung around
camp all day without telling!!! Then a cake was produced with "Otis &
Becky" written on it and we all had cake in celebration of their
wedding. What a great start to the weekend!

Ok, back to the boring stuff! I have to say, I really, really liked
the ride meeting at 5 PM! After the meeting and the wedding reception,
I still had time to fiddle around camp getting ready for the next days
ride and got to bed by 8:30 or 9 PM. I think I got the most rest I
ever have before any endurance ride!

Thursday morning I got up at 4:15, 2 hours before the start and went
through my ride morning ritual. Dress in my endurance costume, feed
Tanna, feed me (oatmeal and fake hot dogs for protein), saddle, forget
how to saddle and have to resaddle and reposition and saddle again.
Finally I was ready and mounted up while Daniel held Tanna. I had not
ridden him the day before. I like to ride the day before a
competition, but it seems that's when he acts up worse, so I
consciously did not go for a ride. He was jumpy and tense, but
controllable and no rearing or bucking ensued. :-)

I warmed Tanna up and went to the start to give my number to the
timers who would keep track of us riders all day. My number! OOPS.
Forgot to put that number on his butt. So I went back to the trailer
and wrote a big "7" (lucky 7, I was told) on Tanna with a livestock
crayon. Numbers generally are used for horses in the 50 or 55 mile
competition while the 25 or 30 mile competitors are assigned a letter.
This makes it easier for the timers to distinguish the riders.

I hung back and started pretty close to the back. I usually do this.
Occasionally, I'll start mid-pack, but most often, I just start in the
back. There was a controlled start for the first few minutes to allow
all the horses to safely cross the pavement onto the trail and allow
the sun to come up a little bit more. After the trail was open, I
found myself riding with Joe Schoech and Sarah Engsberg. Joe was
riding Kit (he has another nickname...). I'd ridden with Joe a couple
times before and always found it a pleasant experience. Joe is the
nicest guy and is a great mentor for those that are fortunate enough
to ride with him. After awhile we were 4. We caught up with Tracy and
the four of us walked, trotted, cantered, and chattered our way to the
vet check. The miles flew by and we reached the vet check around 9 AM,
where Daniel was taking pictures of the horses going in and out of the
vet check.

We four split up as we went looking for our vet check areas. It took
me a few minutes, but I finally found my vet check bag. I unsaddled
Tanna, got some water and presented to the vet. Dr. Ken Marcella
vetted us and asked about my electrolyting schedule and commented on
his nice shoe job. After vetting through without issue, I returned to
my area set up right next to Sarah and Joe. We talked and chatted some
more while we took care of our horses and ate. The horses enjoyed
eating one another's food. I'd never really had that experience before
as I've most often had my vet checks alone. It was nice. :-)

Joe and Sarah could have left long before me, but they tacked up with
me as my out time was at 9:59. I'm almost always late leaving a vet
check and this was no exception. We were only a couple minutes past my
out time. Sarah and Joe had gone on ahead, but I wanted to see if
Tanna would drink one last time from the common buckets. He did drink
some. I finally left when Sarah yelled at me to find out what I was
doing.

The three of us took off down the road on our 2nd loop of 19 miles.
There was more of the road for while and then we veered back into the
woods. I don't remember much of this loop, to tell you the truth.
After awhile, the loops just manage to blend in together! I do
remember Tanna started drinking about 4 miles out in this loop and
drank really well the rest of the ride. We got back into camp around
1:10.

I went directly to my trailer to unsaddle and then back to the vet to
vet in. Again, no issues vetting in. His pulse was under criteria and
everything looked good. I returned to the trailer and tied him in
front of his food and hay and went back into our camper to make me
something to eat and sit down for a few minutes. The 50 minute hold
flew by and I was again late leaving.

I didn't see Joe or Sarah so figured they went on without me. Sure
enough, I saw Joe just leaving out as I walked toward the out-timer. I
mounted and followed from a distance. Tanna, however, did not really
see Joe and Kit, so wasn't motivated to leave camp. I gave in and we
moseyed along, not really trying to catch up, but it would have been
nice if we had. We had done the first couple of loops in pretty good
time and we had over 5 hours to complete the last 18 mile loop, so I
wasn't concerned about making the cutoff.

About an hour into that loop, Mr. Barnett caught up with me as I was
hand-walking Tanna down a hill. At the bottom of the hill, Mr. Barnett
went on along and I hung back, allowing them to get out of sight and
down the trail a little. I remounted and we walked for awhile longer
and then picked up a nice trot. I enjoyed riding along the beautiful
trails. Plenty of water on trail. The trails were gradually always
going up or down. The trails are very nicely laid out, though, so you
don't necessarily noticed the gradual incline and decline, well,
except on the nice short roller coaster up and down trails! During one
part of this loop, I could have sworn I heard somebody behind us. Two
female voices it sounded like. Tanna also thought he heard something
and we were distracted for a bit.

We finally made it to the finish line at just after 5 PM. I passed a
sign that said "1056 to camp. Run....Run." I puzzled over that sign.
Was 1056 the name of a forest road? Or had they named the trail? Oh,
well, it did say run, so I asked Tanna for a canter and we cantered
until we saw Nancy, the finish timer waiting for me under the finish
line. Wow! That was an unexpected surprise! I was done! Never did
catch Joe, but I didn't really try very hard at all. I wanted to
complete and be ready to go the next day.

I took Tanna back to the trailer and immediately untacked him. I
cleaned him up a bit and took him to the vet for his completion exam.
He completed just fine, but was stiff in his right hamstring. I paid
attention to that. I massaged him some and walked him several times
between the completion on Thursday and the start on Friday. I went and
got my map and my vet card for the Friday 50, ate (thanks to my
husband who fixed the meal while I complained of soreness and rubs),
prepared for the next day's ride and went to the awards/ride meeting.

24 started in the 55 and 16 completed. I was 16th and Turtle (last
place). Joe teased me a bit and said that this was my FIRST Turtle
ever. This was not my first turtle. It was actually my 4th Turtle.
Coulda sworn I had more Turtles than that! I got an award for being
Turtle. A nice statue of a turtle looking at a snail hitching a ride
on his shell. The bottom says "Yellowhammer 2006." That's going on my
desk at work! :-) I also picked out a T-shirt with the Yellowhammer
logo for my completion award.

...to be continued.

April
Nashville, TN

--
"It doesn't matter how slowly you go - as long as you don't stop!" - Confucius

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