Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

After 9 hours of sleep and eating at a steak house in China Town that didn't have any steak (well, they said they had 2 steaks only, so Becky had one and one went on the table for all of us to eat one little bite) I am better rested and better able to think about what to end this incredible trip with ...

Where to start?  I forgot to tell you all about the day before the race, when Val, Deb, Tom and I got to the toaster and found the battery dead and had to jump start it in the parking garage...Debbie behind the wheel and Val, Tom and I pushing (along with Stewart Dell who happened to be in the garage at the time) from behind - she took off, roared around the garage twice and then halted in front of us - we were laughing too hard to even get in the car and drive for a few minutes...you should have seen the look on Deb's face as she was roaring around us - very intense!

then the morning of the race - last minute grooming, walking the horses, trotting out for our vets and chef, getting on the horses and riding for 30 minutes around the stables waiting for the call to come to the start line....the horses calm and cool and moving freely - then the crew box area with mass confusion and noise - the loud speakers and music, and still the horses were ok with it all - then we moved into the area in front of the gates and all hell broke loose - horses rearing, bucking, lunging - and Flame and Theatric went into panic mode and we bailed off and got the horses out of there - got Tee calmed down again, but Flame was on high alert...so I moved into the starting area with Tee and got on and kept him walking around and thanked god I had double reins on him - then we were led into the gates and out into the field for the start, and although I was supposed to start with Val, I knew I had to get going before I could get control - so whenthe GO came, I was gone...I had John and Cheryl beside me and watched Sonny bucking and running and twisting down the field - with John riding him like he was water skiing - Cheryl right behind him looking like she wanted to be anywhere but there!  Reason was being as bad a Sonny - I thankfully had a very strong horse, but he wasn't bucking and twisting or lunging!  So there I was at the end of the field, with riderless horses running everywhere, people limping along the trail trying to catch running horses and Jim Bryant Sr. standing there looking at everything - I had Tee stopped off at the side of the trail, waiting for Val - Dr. Bryant asked me if I was ok - I told him yes, I was waiting for Val - so I waited another minute and saw more riderless horses running by - then I told Dr. Bryant I was going to start off at a trot and to tell Val she would catch up to me.  And she did, about 4 km down the trail I heard her call my name, and we were offon our 100 mile adventure.  I guess people said they saw us cantering along the trail together on that first loop, looking relaxed and they were glad we had our horses (!)

- so the first hold:  what a disaster.  Flame was again on high alert - as John said later, the horses were past the point of thinking there was a tiger in the bushes - the tiger was now on their backside and they were trying to get away!  While Flame was standing on two legs again, Theatric said, "oh my god - something must be terrible here" and he was running circles around Tom - dragging him through the lanes and crashing over buckets of water and people...it took us 29 minutes to get his pulse down to 64 - it was horrible - I simply walked away and told everyone I couldn't watch it - I was in the crew box helping Cheryl with her vomiting while my horse was trying to get through the vet gate....When everyone came back to the crew box and said Tee had passed the gate, I was relieved and knew that everything would be good from then on...as a team horse, I had instructions on how to ride each loop - I was the anchor horse, to start more slowly, get Tee settled and then move up each loop (as Tee so usually does) so I had a slower start, and then a longer time in the hold and so I was behind at this point.  But I knew Tee would close the gap - and then Becky asked me to go slower on the next loop (2nd loop) because we had lost Cheryl - she was hooked up to IVs and was probably going to have to go to the hospital.

 So we are down to 3 team members, and I'm still the anchor.  So we were to do the second loop at 9mph.  Not our usual way to do things, but I kept to the plan and came in right on schedule - Tee was so great on trail - he did everything I asked him to do.  We still had 3 team members, and Tee came down quickly and passed the vet gate,and we could increase our speed to 10 mph on the next loop.....We came in exactly at 10mph and Becky cut me loose (so to speak) - I could now take Tee and move him up - we had been consistently passing horses on trail, but now he could hunt and seek (he loves to do that) and I let him - I kept him at 12 mph and we came in to the 3rd gate and passed through without problem More to come...I am being rushed out to get my horse ready for the awards and I have to be mounted, as a completer, for this in team uniform....

Kathy

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Posted By  Kathy  to  USA: Kathy Brunjes  at  11/09/2008 06:15:00 PM