Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Beth:

Has anyone heard how Susan Garlinghouse is doing?  The info
I got at

the ride was that her horse slipped and fell in the mud, she broke

her arm, and was going into surgery.  I didn't get any other

updates.  Anybody have anything more current?

Bobbie:
> I was at the vet check crewing
> and doing P&Rs when the news came in. It had been raining
> intermittently for hours and the trails had become very slick. A fellow
> rider ponied her horse back in and the mare appeared to be fine. Charlene
> Lewis had ridden her and completed day 1, SuG was riding day 2, and
> Charlene was to take the mare out again on day 3. We were devastated to
> hear about this accident in slippery going.


Sorry to say, Susan's accident wasn't nearly as exciting
as painted. The horse never slipped in the mud - in fact
it was a total non-event. Susan had hopped off to pee and 
was in the process of getting back on when we rode up. 

We slowed to a walk so her horse - Cheyenne - wouldn't 
want to rush after us and as Susan was wobbling on one foot
she lost her balance slightly and toppled backwards and
stuck her [recently broken and evidently not completely
healed] arm out to catch her fall and that was that.

I had some vet-wrap with me, so wrapped the wrist as best
I could, offered her some vicodan (always carry it with me, 
since I'm less likely to break an arm in the trailer where it
used to live) which she declined, and we talked a plasterer 
who was working on a lodge right there into driving her back 
to civilisation (the lodge was smack in the middle of nowhere - 
but thank goodness her injury happened right there. Anywhere 
else on that loop, Susan would have had a long, painful ride to 
get out.)

Since Susan said Cheyenne ponied OK, we borrowed a halter 
and lead rope off June Scales' horse, Shortie, (Cheyenne was just 
wearing a hackamore) and set off the 15 miles back over the ridge 
to the vet check.

This didn't work too well to start with, since Cheyenne is *huge* 
and Roo is tiny, and their gaits didn't mesh too well. We were kind 
of bummed for a bit, since that was about the first good footing we'd
been on the whole loop and the only place to make time, but at that 
point it began to sleet rain, blowing right into our faces. Roo and 
Cheyenne both tucked their heads to their knees and I was able to
get them both into a nice medium trot, without Cheyenne barging 
us off the side of the trail.

Of course, the rain got worse and the footing deteriorated to the 
point of being scary, but Cheyenne had "gotten with the
program" 
by then and was listening nicely to me and being a good girl. 

Some places the horses' hooves would slip back 4" with each 
footfall, and going down some of the fetlock deep slop, Cheyenne 
would be doing her best not to come past but sometimes just 
slithered on by.

The low point of the entire ride was reaching the summit
in sleet and being confronted with one of those pseudo-
gates made of sticks and barbed wire. Both pones turned
their butts to the sleet and poor June had to clamber off
(exposing her sheepskin saddle cover to the elements)
and work on the gate. It was like summiting Everest :)))

Down the other side wasn't much better - after going up 
2,000' in 4 miles, we then had to go down another 1,000'
in one mile - still in fetlock-deep slop. 

But the pones all did great, except for some heart-stopping
slipping, and we finally got back down on the good footing
along Bear Trap Canyon. The only snag with this "good
footing"
were the numerous ground squirrel holes that peppered the
road - I could steer Roo around them, but making sure Cheyenne
didn't step in one was less easy. But heart-in-mouth, we got through
it fine and delivered her safely to Charlene Lewis.

I heard later that Susan's wrist needed pinning, but that was
second-hand info, so don't know if that's true. It certainly wasn't
quite the right shape. 

Message to Susan's husband: She wasn't even *on* the horse 
when this happened... it was almost un-horse-related... almost.
:)

* * * 

As for the rest of the ride - well, it was most excellent. The
trails
were gorgeous, the views marvellous, and the trail-marking
clear as a clear thing. 

Many thanks to Marge and Vern for putting this new ride together - 
it was a tough one, but most of the horses seemed to come through 
in good shape. I'd hoped to do all three days, but was super-happy to
get through two and pleased at how good Roo looked afterwards.

The majority of riders I spoke to after Day 2 opted not to continue
on Day 3 - not because they or their horses were pooped out, but
more because we all felt the horses had done enough on Day 2.
That footing could have really done some damage, and I think we
all felt lucky to have gotten through it.

Interestingly - Vern said at the ride meeting that they've been
putting
rides on since 1982 and this is the first time they've gotten rained
out.

All in all, for me, it was worth the 7 hour drive down there. Great
ride!

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Lucy Chaplin Trumbull
elsietee AT foothill DOT net
Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, CA
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