Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

DAY 4           

WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT??                       
(By Spice)

My water bucket had ice in it again this morning. The girls saddled us up 
again, Mer for me and Gretchen for Raffiq. We met Jazzbo (with Nancy) and his 
buddy Quinn (with Aly, the little girl that rode with us on her cool horse Gus 
two days ago), and we took off down the road from Indian Ranch. A lot of horses 
had already left, and there were still plenty behind us in camp. Nobody's in 
such a big hurry to leave on time by the fourth day, and let me tell you, ride 
camp is a quiet place at night when everybody is so tired! We walked a long way 
down the road to warm up, then we started trotting. Boy I felt even better 
today, my third day in a row, even after doing 100 miles already. After a 
while, Raffiq stepped wrong behind and pulled something again, just like he did 
the second day. Only the second day he worked out of it, but today he didn't, 
so he and Gretchen turned around and went back to camp before we'd gone 2 
miles. 

I didn't miss him today, because I felt so good. When he turned around, I 
wanted to keep going with my other buddies. Besides, I had figured out what we 
were doing today. We were going back to that cool little ghost town of Ballarat 
7 miles away, where we were going to get to eat lots and lots and then get a 
limo ride back to camp. Me and Jazzbo and Quinn were having fun pulling our 
girls along real hard and trying to go faster to see who could get to Ballarat 
first to start eating, when we were joined by this wacko horse Spitfire. He was 
a Spitfire alright, wigging out, spinning, trotting sideways, throwing his 
head, half rearing, making his rider Debrah nervous. What a retard! I would 
never act like that. Well, okay, I did on our first day of riding, so bad that 
Mer got off me and handwalked me till I calmed down. But I wasn't like that now 
that I'd been a hundred miles, and I saw how ridiculous that Spitfire was. He 
calmed down after about 5 miles and then he went off on his ow
n.

We pulled and raced along the road till we got to Ballarat. I didn't take a 
drink along the way or here at Ballarat because I was waiting for my rider to 
get off so I could start eating then get in the trailer and go home.

But for some reason at Ballarat we turned up this road and went up this canyon, 
and when I say we went up this canyon, I mean we went UP THIS CANYON. One of 
the girls said it was Pleasant Canyon, but I think I would add Un in front of 
the Pleasant. 

It was a long rocky road that just never stopped going up. We walked uphill for 
2 hours and I was pooped by the time we got to this water trough. I've never 
walked that far that long uphill ever. I was too tired to even drink, and 
didn't need to, since there were horses heading back downhill, and I knew I'd 
be going back down to Ballarat where there was water and lots of food and a 
limo ride waiting for me there.

           Well. Do you think we turned around and went back to Ballarat with 
those other horses (who were going mighty fast downhill I might add)? No! We 
turned left and went UPHILL! 

           And we were just now getting to the hard part! This was a steep 
hill, and Jazzbo and Quinn and I were just huffing and puffing away. Sure I can 
do hills, but I discovered I don't do hills like this. I just had no gas. I 
staggered behind the boys till we reached this gray mare that we'd walked with 
a while. Her rider Sarah tailed her halfway up to here! Wished Mer would get 
off me and do that, but she gasps like a fish out of water (like me!) when she 
has to lead me up hills. The gray mare was eating everything in sight, which in 
this high and dry desert canyon was nothing, and since the boys and I were too 
tired to keep climbing, I started snacking too.

           That dry stuff tasted like straw, which was pretty good because I 
was really hungry, and I ate enough of it to put a little fuel in my tank. When 
we all started up the hill again, it just kept going and going. Every time we'd 
look up and think we were getting there (wherever There was), we'd see horses 
way up above us. We clambered up another half mile before we came to this 
REALLY steep very rocky hill, where there were a bunch of horses being led 
down, and we 4 stopped and stared. Our riders wanted us to go up THAT?! We were 
already too pooped. Quinn and I were panting like dogs, and Jazzbo's leg was 
shaking. Our riders were swinging their ropes and kicking their legs and 
smooching, but we all stood there in a bunch. I said to Jazzbo, "I'm not going, 
you go." Jazzbo said "I'm not going! You go." Quinn said "I'm not going, you 
go!" The mare said "I'm not going, you go!" And none of us would move a foot up 
that hill. 

So, our riders got off, and led us up that hill. That was a doozy of a hill. I 
thought I'd died and gone to hell today. All 8 of us staggered and panted and 
slipped and tripped and stopped for breaths, while more horses kept coming down 
the hill, slipping and sliding over the rocks because it was so steep. I 
couldn't figure out why we were still going up when everybody was coming down. 

Finally our walking riders started whooping, which usually meant something good 
was coming up, and sure enough, we reached the top of that monster mountain! I 
couldn't believe I made it up that - guess I'm pretty tough after all, even if 
we were the last 4 horses in the whole ride going up there.

And do you think we'd turn around then and go back? No! We kept going! At least 
this part was a nice flat walk another mile or so, over snow, winding around 
high up on this mountain, with another nice view of a different steep and deep 
valley below us. The girls started whooping again, and we came to a stop where 
this nice man named Louie came out from a cabin and greeted us. 

He brought jugs of water - but only for the girls! No water for us horses after 
all this way, and now I was really thirsty! Louie said he would've had water 
but he only knew a day ahead we were coming to visit. Louie lives up here and 
works in Sparrow's mine in the winter. So I sipped water from Mer's water 
bottle, she gave me a few slices of apple (like that was going to fill me up) 
and that was it, we turned around.. All the way up here and no food? No water? 

And then we started back, back the same way - down, down, down, 3 hours back 
down to Ballarat. I did take one big huge long drink at that water tub that I 
wished I'd tried on the way up. Mer walked a lot of the way and I snacked on 
stuff I hadn't even noticed on the way up. 

Then Mer pulled out a Luna Bar and started to eat it while we were walking 
down, and I was so hungry I reached over and pulled it out of her mouth and 
hands with my lips. I liked it so much she gave me half of it, then half 
another one.

Finally we got back to Ballarat, and I got to eat and eat and eat, which we 
could've done this morning, if you ask me, instead of spending 8 hours going up 
and down that canyon mountain first.

And then I trotted out for the vet and I was limping a little bit in front 
because my leg was sore from all those dang rocks I was tripping over and that 
long long hard hill I went up and down, and then I went back to my hay pile and 
I ate and ate, and when my pals Jazzbo and Quinn rode off with their riders, I 
got my limo ride back, right to my trailer, where Raffiq was waiting and 
screaming for me, and I got my saddle off and got to roll and roll in the sand, 
and then I ate all night!

Spice.


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