Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

OK, deep breath. We've got paper slips that have been rained on trying to
sort them out to tell you what happened. 

John knew we were riding and he'd take what he could get. Add to that
rain on rain and it's hard to pull out any electrical equipment to get
destroyed. Then add in trying to gather info to send in while crewing for
a wife & daughter with the truck a 1/2 mile MUDDY walk away...and you
*know* there's always something you forgot to bring to the check that
they've decided they want. (wouldn't it be nice if the sponge water was
HEATED a little??)

So..Bill rose to the occasion  (more or less...somewhat he says) and kept
up with the front runners while trying to keep us up and going.

The ride started in RAIN. We *did* get to saddle up in the dry, but then
the sprinkles became a steady light shower. Unfortunately they'd had
HEAVY rains Thursday and the ground was saturated already. I've done this
100 after a night of rain when the trails held up well, but I guess the
Thursday rain had a big affect and in no time it was an absolute MESS.
First loop 15.4 miles wasn't too horrible, but it was getting there.
First thing I heard at the first check was that Val's horse got pulled.
He was a *big* gray and has some definite issues with the blanket they
put on him afterwards and a lot of big eyed people were waving their arms
describing the rodeo that ensued. :-P  

2nd loop (18.8 miles) involved quite a bit of the first loop run in the
reverse direction. Now it was getting chewed up and holding water way too
well. Can you say, slippery, sticky, splashing, sticking to shoes MUD.
Not only were the horses working hard just to lift their feet, *all*
their muscles were working just to stabilize their bodies as feet slipped
this way and that.  We passed Rita Swift at about the 11 mile mark. Her
horse had slipped and possibly pulled his shoulder muscle. She told me
this morning that that walk out leading an excited horse with that mud
stacking up on her shoes was the toughest walk she'd ever done.

Now it was getting serious. The rain would stop for a few minutes just to
tease you, then pick up harder so that you thought, "This is stupid, I'm
going to hurt my horse...should I Rider Option out??"  But you have to
gamble because "what if it stops and dries out and everybody says it was
great?" You'd wanna shoot yourself. Then you think, "What if I go 80
miles and the bottom falls out?" It's not fun to think about.

However, Josie *was* having fun. For a kid who wears me out worrying most
of the time, she was rediculously cheerful and happy the whole time. She
was just sooooo happy to be in a 100 that she literally chattered in the
rain about how great it was to be in the 100 and how she *could not wait*
to ride in the dark. She didn't even mind the rain, said it was better
than hot. (I strongly disagree!)  The third loop was AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL,
AWFUL!!!  Deep, slippery mud. Now we were on trail that 106 50's had
already been over ahead of us. Water was running in a current down the
trail and it was better to trot right up the middle of the water where
the dirt underneath had washed away than on the slop next to it. Going
down hills involved trot in front, sit down and ski in the rear. Going up
hill was slip, slip, slip.This was also the longest loop at 19.1 miles
and had the most elevation gain and loss of any loop.

I was terribly happy with Gunner's performance so far. I'm just reporting
this because there's so many of you out there who are scared to put your
50 mile horse in a 100 thinking he can't do it. I got Gunner 1 year ago
as an 11 year old with prior trail experience and have done 9 50's with
him. I had no idea what he'd do after 50 miles but in all this mess he
drank, ate like a champ, stayed motivated and just *cruised* down the
trail. At the 53 mile mark he did not hesitate at all to leave camp (see
soon to be posted photo of gray with his nose cut off and Paint mare
following). So...should I even attempt a 1st 100 on a day like this or
call it a day at some point? What to do?

When I vetted through I was seriously questioning whether a 100 was
doable for a sane person with a mortal horse when Stagg Newman came over
to encourage me. He assured me that the next loop had not had *any* 50
milers on it and that it would be in much better shape...and that the
last loop to be done twice had only intersected the number 2 (loop from
hell) for 3 miles so things would look up soon. On that advice, we headed
out. Josie was all excited because from the 55 mile mark on she was
riding "the farthest she'd ever ridden). The "blue" (4th loop) was as he
said in much better shape in places simply because it hadn't had all the
traffic to tear it up, however it did have quite a bit of fairly new
single track that just followed the sides of a ridge and the ground had
chewed up so that their feet immediately slipped through till it hit tree
roots and their feet would zip sideways. It was pretty much "walk only"
and I cannot imagine that even the winner managed to trot that unless it
was better before *he* tore it up for us. >g< The final descent off the
ridge was as the crow flies, straight line down that was running with
water and looked like it had been plowed when we got there. It was the
only place all day where Gunner could not control his feet and kept
sliding off the side while trying to stay upright, but ended up in the
briars. (rough on tights)

When we came in to our 4th check the atmosphere was changing. MANY pulls.
Horses getting pulled right and left. The vetting here tends to be on the
businesslike side (FEI vets don't give you the "I'm your friend to help
you through this" talk) but seemed they were being especially
conservative...which was actually understandable considering what any
horse that passed was being sent out to attempt. 

I had no doubts about Gunner, since he was slamming on the brakes on the
trail to drink from puddles, grab a mouthful of grass and jumping right
back into a wonderful trot. In camp he stole hay from every pile he
passed on the way to our tent. I was riding both diagonals and he felt
perfectly even and great. Rose is always a little behind the Arabs on
recoveries because she's a *big* girl (big ol' perty Paint butt & body
that holds heat more) but we'd seen no cause for concern on her either.
Just got paranoid about the silly "2 strikes you're out rule" and we were
making sure she was solid down before going in the check.  I trotted
Gunner out and was caught totally off guard when the vet said she saw
something either "LF or RR" (I didn't see anything but was bouncing along
running...)  His CRI was 48/48 (I think...hard to SAY since AERC decided
they needed my card more than I did >grrrrr< ) She called Kerry Ridgeway
over and he said something weird like, "Makes no difference which it is,
he's out" or something like that. Well, heck, if there was *anything*
wrong with my horse I sure as heck didn't want them sending me out to try
to do 30 miles of sucky mud so I'm glad they had a good enough eye to see
it, but then he said something like, "Grade 3...0 or 3 it doesn't
matter". Huh?? OK vets. Here's some advice. Riders at the 70 mile mark
don't understand kidding, or quips, we're *real* literal. I always
considered "Grade 3" to be dragging a leg and considering any head bob
was apparently really subtle (I couldn't feel it on the trail and I tend
to think *all* horses feel lame) I've got a feeling he was making some
sort of joke I didn't get. I remember when my doctor made a joke about
the time he told me to "push" during labor and I didn't get that one
either. Same type mental mindset. :-P 

So, I was out at 70 miles.

(Part 2 is coming...and you guys are getting this *before* my shower and
I'm still having to wear a hat over the helmet hair)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=