Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Another 75 miles under the belt.....long.. - Spottedracer

Just returned from City Slickers... What a wonderful experience!  Yep, Left a day earlier than I had planned... Had NO crew... Had no exact address... but everything turned out perfectly!

Left right after my Biochem II Lab on Thurs..Ended up taking my standard 30 minute 'scenic route' when I left the interstate to search for Shelby farms.. Found Shelby - but ended up at the police traffic office/DUI place - since I couldn't find a specific street address for where-ever in Shelby Farms I was supposed to be... Memphis PD pointed me the right way... (Ride managers PLEASE give a specific street address for those of us directionless individuals who NEED a mapquest map AND directions! Just to find the place....)

Got in before sunset.. Everything went smoothly then.. After my young daughter helped settle the horses in, my ex-inlaws from Memphis were on their way to pick her up for two days.  City Slickers Ride manager is a truly wonderful lady! The Grandparents were apparently driving around in circles trying to find the ag center and she patiently talked them in on the cell phone.. (they're as directionless as me..)

Did a 50 on my Chestnut Rocky Mountain Appy on Friday. I've been training over the winter to do 3 hour 25's - so the first half of the ride I took at that pace. She handled it - but the unexpected mid-80's temp started getting to her around 11:30. Though she pulsed down, it wasn't as fast as I'd like... So second half we took at our 'ol turtle pace. Fell in behind 'Jerry' - an experienced 100 miler who was riding a newer mount. Ended up seeing my first 'tying up' - since his horse started having problems due to the heat.  Fortunantly, horse is now doing well since treatment.  I also got to see a BUNCH of riders hitting the ground for various reason... Wew! what an education of things going wrong......  Other than being dumped in a pond when my mount sank into quicksand and immediatly lunged her way free - I didn't have too many problems.. Ended up near the turtle - approx 7:30 ride time (didn't get the card back - so I'm estimating)

Next day rode the LD on my younger Bay - a gaited half-app... This one is used to training barefoot - but I'm a cautious wimp - so I put boots on her front for the ride. I even begged Mr Doug to shave her front end on Friday night - since my other mount had heat issues - I didn't want to chance it with my Bay...Though She was actually handling the stress of the show barn much better than my experienced mount - and I felt she was better prepared to give the performance she'd been conditioned all winter to do...  So we started out right behind the top ten.. Fell in behind an experienced 'top tenner' - Mr Paul. He was also on a new endurance mount. So he was taking it fairly fast - but not intending to top ten.  Paced behind him the entire ride.  Ended up in 13th place w/ 3:39.. And this mare was pulsed down within five minutes of arriving at each VC.  My triceps are damn sore from holding her back the entire 25 miles!!!  Guess she's going to end up my main mount next year!

It's truly amazing how you come in with no crew - and end up having crews of 8-10 different people! Everybody was helping everybody each day... We ended up having a 'hay buffet' - since it seemed that no one's horses wanted to eat their own.. **grin**

So another 75 miles to add to my little record... Looking to improve the times even more at LBL - at least in the LD.... We'll see how the chestnut improves with the training advice that Mr Fruthe gave me....
- LP