A few things were different this year. They had the ride meeting
at 6:30 a.m., which seemed odd to me, since it gave no time to
warm up horses. The 50's left at 7, the 25's left at 7:15. They
paced the 25's out the entire road to the first bride, and I think
they paced too slow, since everyone bunched up, and horses were
bucking and people flying off everywhere. Despite the large red
ribbon in the pony's tail, some woman on a green Arab (on the 50),
parked herself behind the pony the first 4 or 5 miles, which was
upsetting.
There was no hold at the vet check this year-but we took about 45
min to give Brenna a rest, cool the horses, give them a mash, etc.
My mare had a pulse of 28 after 19 miles.
The vets never checked either of our horses backs, which was odd.
They also did not do P & R's the first day.
But, the weather was wonderful, we had a shady camp spot and the
kids played in the creek. I wore my @ button, but never saw any
internet folks except for Nick and Judy.
Oh, I got there and gave a beet-pulp mash before the vet check.
Both horses drank a lot of water the whole trip. I gave lots of
hay the night before, and another small mash of bran, beet-pulp,
TTcnd mushed-up pellets, then another big one before the final
check in camp. They had top scores for dehydration and gut sounds.
Thanks so much to all of you who shared info on feeding before
rides.
Who else went? Now have to decide on Mendo ride in two weeks.
Karen
To: ENDURANCE@MOSCOW.COM