Just thought I would comment on how this ride went as one of the idiots who
rode through the storm =)\
As reported- all start time were delayed an hour
and the radar acted like the storms were over, so most everyone shucked there
rain gear right before the start. The first loop the sun was out, I got
hot in my sweatshirt. Second loop the storm hit, thankfully we saw it was
coming and had our crew fetch our rain coats! Torrential downpour,
lightning even some small hail for about 45 minutes or so, and of course
that was after massive amounts of rain the night before. Last 2 loops,
cleared up and was pretty much ok again.
This is my local park - I have NEVER seen it that
wet. Hopefully the park won't prevent this from being held again due to
how badly the horses were trashing the fields. We had what are
normally solid wood bridges that cross small ditches that were
floating the water level was so high, then there was one spot where you thought
you were going to go down into a ditch, and instead stepped onto a bridge that
was about 6 inches underwater! At least 2 new trees came down in the
storms right before the ride (I know they weren't there midweek), blocking some
narrow trails, just to keep things fun =)
Of course- the weather also kept all the other
people out of the park- we saw far fewer hikers, dogs, bikes, kites, fishers
etc... than we normally do
There were more than 70 starters though, so a lot
of us are crazy, and most of the pulls were rider option apparently. I had
a first time Jr rider with me - what an intro to the sport! But she stuck
it out and we all sloshed our way through the day.
I do know one horse managed to find/create a hole
on one of the levees around a lake =( didn't hear the details though to
know if he was ok. I'm sure it just gave due to being so soaked.
Anyway - for those wondering if we all survived the
lightening - that's my report =)
