I'm not sure of the start number - some said 37, some said
39......Perhaps Gwen knows the total (official) start numbers for the
100-mile, but 22 finished.
3-day 150 mile: 9 started
1. Lynn Golemon GM Roman Rust 8:56 6:57 6:09:05 22:02:05 BC
2. Amanda Braendel Tuckers Rum 8:56 7:29 7:24:56 23:49:56
3. Judy Van Meter Diamond Rifazar 10:09 7:59 8:02:32 26:10:32
4. Johanna Blackmore GM Stacato 10:11 7:58 8:02:33 26:11:33
5. Jean Lichtenberger Fleet Admiral 10:11 8:01 8:02:34 26:14:34
6. Donna Green Chester 10:52 10:49 9:28:13 31:09:13
Debi Gordon CBS Redman 8:12 5:52
Patti Pizzo Savaq 8:57 7:33
The weather held out for the horses/riders - 50-60's with some wind, some
rain, some hail, some sun - but mostly overcast, cool, but not too cool
for the horses. Trails, depending upon who you talked to, were either
"challenging" or "darn rocky"! There were rocks - everyone will agree
with that. I saw a lot of horses coming in with either easy boots on
(some with two), or no shoes/boots at all - at almost every vet check,
the farrier was needed. In response to the 150-milers concern that the
trails may be more than 50 miles/day, Management (Matthew) shortened day
2 and 3 - changing the trails, but alerting riders at ride briefing the
night before. Day 2 started at 7:00, day 3 at 6:00 (due to the time change).
We were down with 4 Maine horses - Norma House, Kathy Downs, Jane
Graffam, and Irving McNaughton. We all finished - Norma, with her
amazing little (we call her Peanut) mare Shalizar came off day 2 with no
front shoes - she had lost one front way up in the mountains, put an easy
boot on, lost that, then put another easy boot on, lost the other front
shoe, then lost the second easy boot - all at about 10 miles from the
finish - she borrowed an easy boot from another rider, but decided that
she would go on with both front feet "even" (no shoes). The mare was
100% sound on arrival at the finish - and the last 10 miles of day 2 were
pretty tough and rocky/mountainous! Gwen saved day 3 by fitting and
shaping and packing and taping two esay boots on the front, with the
expectation that she may make first vet check (21 miles out) and then we
would go from there - Norma agonized over going out day 3 or not - but
decided that the first fly-by check would determine whether or not the
mare would be sound (7 miles out) - she came through that fly-by in
perfect shape - boots and taping were holding up, and vets checked her to
be sure she wsa still sound - and off they went ( up in the front). At
each vet check, we retaped and padded the boots, and Shalizar came in
with both boots intact, no rubs, no soreness, and 100% sound. She's a
tough little mare, with feet like a mountain goat! She's home in Maine,
now, and will wear the boots for 2-3 weeks, until she grows out some hoof
to be able to have something to put a nail into (the 10 miles left her
with no hoof wall to nail anything into). Our hats are off to both Teddy
Lancaster - she was the only one who really believed that Shalizar could
go the 50 miles with no problems on the new easy boots - and to Gwen, who
spent all that time Saturday in the dark to fit them, and then made
herself available at Vet check 2 to reset them.
It was a 15 hour drive back to Maine on Monday - we didn't get in until
10:00 pm, so I'm a little shell-shocked. We crewed for all four riders,
plus a New Hampshire rider who was with our "contingency" (Kathy
Robbins), and on Sunday, I had the pleasure to crew for Steve Rojek (he
and Norma were out front all day, and Steve was down from Vt with no crew
- it only made sense to pitch in and help - we New Englanders (and
horsepeople) stick together.....
Kathy Brunjes
Bethel, Maine