YEAH :>) I FINISHED THE
50 AT THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!
I was very
happy to have finished the ride. It started out rough when I fell off my
horse after he was spooked by 2 other loose horses, and ran away. Meg
Sleeper was my sponser and we had to walk for a mile and a half before we saw my
horse tied up to a fence. When we came into the 8 and a half mile check we were
already last ,but we didn't mind we just wanted to finish. We did all right for
a while, but then took a wrong turn and went out three miles. Meg had done the
hundred mile ride 2 days before and thought that the part of the
trail we were on was the same. Luckily we ran into Stagg Newman
who was driving down the road and he told us we were on the wrong trail. So then
we had to back track and get back on the right trail. When we were just about to
get to the vetcheck my mom came up the road telling us to hurry because the
check was closing soon. We asked how she had known we were lost? Apparently the
Drag Riders had come in before we had so they knew that we had taken a wrong
turn. Everybody cheered when we came into the vetcheck. It was actually kind of
cool to get there last because my mom got a spot close to the vets since
everyone had already left. It was also cool because lots of piles of good
alfalfa hay were lying around. And since everybody elses hay is better than
yours I was running around grabbing bits of hay and ploping it in front of my
horse. We finally left and th 2nd loop was rocky ,but okay. We went through the
second vetcheck fine and started up on our last loop. Well who ever said
that the last loop was better than the 2nd is dead wrong. Just as you thought
you were at the top of the hill you would start going up again. The entire trail
was basicly a rock graveyard. The views were beautiful and amazing, but the
trail was tough. We finished with 10 MINUTES to spare. I decided to let Meg have
the Turtle Award. She said I couldn't be first junior and get the turtle award(
I thought it was strange being 1st junior in 2nd to last place) I want to thank
Meg Sleeper for being my sponser and sacrificing her ride, John Crandell for
catching my horse, Stagg Newman for turning us around because we would never
have made it, Karen and Steve Cummings for hauling my horse, and everyone else
who helped me
