WE DID IT!!! MULTI-DAY RIDE

DreamWeaver (karen@chaton.gardnerville.nv.us)
Mon, 02 Dec 1996 20:35:14 -0800

We just returned home from completing our first multi day ride in Las Vegas.
My horse Weaver and I completed all three days and 150 miles of the ride. I
figured I better write since my mail box was filled with posts from people
wanting to know how we did!! Well, we did GREAT!! I have a really awesome
horse, I'm so proud of him. Everything all of you said was absolutely true -
the horses do get stronger every day of the ride, all the horses at the ride
are just incredible and truly amazing. I had a great time, the best ride I
think we've ever had. (I say that after every ride, don't I?) The horse has
never done or looked better - never took one lame step the entire time!!!
So here's how it went:

When I sent in my entry to the ride I pre-entered all three days, knowing
that if I didn't I would have a really good excuse to wimp out and not do
all three days. I really had my doubts if we (*I*) could really do it or
not. Spent at least a week getting everything packed, planned, cleaned and
ready. Whew!!! Got up at 3 a.m., loaded up and ready to go. Head down out
street, husband checks the breaks to see if they are working. Yep, working.
So well that they locked up on the trailer!!!! Oh man.... turn around and
come back home. (Happy Thanksgiving!) Spent another 1 1/2 hours out in the
dark in the freezing (20 degrees) cold and windy going thru the wire system
till we found the problem and Thank God he got it fixed! So about 5:30 a.m.
we are finally on the road!! Nine hours later we arrived in Jean, Nevada -
about 20 miles out of Las Vegas, set up camp and vetted in. We were parked
behind a casino. That was convenient - close to bathrooms, food, and
WARMTH!!! Some riders even rented rooms - talk about luxury!

Day 1 Ride: I had decided I was going to ride slow and really take it easy
the first day, I did not want to over-ride my horse and not be able to
finish at least two days of the ride. So we waited until 10 minutes after
the start to go. Started at a walk, I even got off later down the trail and
spent a lot of time walking. He really wanted to go and tried a new trick -
stretching his neck out to see if he could pull the reins thru my hands,
then collect himself up and since the reins were slack think it was okay to
'go'. haha! He doesn't know that with just the rope halter he could do
what he wants anyway. So finally let him start to trot. We went thru some
beautiful country - lots of rocks, joshua trees, cactus and beautiful views.
In a few spots there was some dirt on the trail <g>. Did I mention that
there were rocks? I was riding so nice and easy that when we went to the
first water stop, Weaver's heart rate dropped quickly down to 36. He drank
well. Continued to the next water stop, met up with another ride and rode
along with him for awhile. His horse stepped on a rock and had to put an
easy boot on, I don't know if he finished any other days or not. Then met
up with two more friends - Hugh and Gloria - and rode with them the rest of
the way. The second water stop Weaver recovered to 32. Then went from
there into camp for lunch. He only went down to 40 there, but the P&R
person said he had the lowest pulse rate all day! We had an hour hold in
camp, then headed out to do one more 15 mile loop. We took our time, I was
only wanting to complete and in no hurry so it was nice to get to ride with
two very nice riders and get to talk away!! We had a 7 a.m. start and
finished about 3:30 (with one 1-hour hold). Weaver looked great and had no
trouble trying to eat everything in site. I started getting ready for day
two. This day we moved camp, so had to have everything ready and prepared.
I packed up a crew bag to go to the vet check, since it was not an easily
accessible vet check for crews I needed to have everything sent ahead. This
was also something new for me. All three days the rides were done (50 miles
each day) with only one vet check during the ride. Rider entry included the
buffet dinner at the casino, it was pretty good. I felt pretty good after
the first days ride. I've been having tendonitis really bad, some days I
can't even walk so was VERY happy that I could move around without being too
sore.

Day 2 Ride: I started more in the middle of the pack. For us, this was
going to be day two of a 2-day 100. Some riders rode each day as a separate
50 miler. I *really* wanted to complete - knowing that if we didn't, that I
wouldn't even get credit for the first day! Weaver felt really strong. We
started out at a slow jog and eventually worked into a nice trot. We were
doing pretty good, but ended up in a bottleneck behind about 7 or 8 riders.
The trail was such that it wasn't easily passable. Lots of rocks, narrow
two-track trails and hills, etc., so we just stayed put. I had to get
behind a horse that could not walk. He walked at about 2 mph, I swear my
horse wanted to put his head down and push this horse along. It was really
rough on me, walk ten steps, trot ten steps, why couldn't we just walk
normally!!! The worst part is that the people in front of me would trot for
one or two minutes, then walk, and they would slow down without warning
---not my cup of tea-- I am much happier to just get to TROT and keep it up
for at least TEN minutes at a time!!! So finally got ahead of a few of
them, and was able to trot. Yahoo!!! Then later was riding with a few more
riders in another small pack down the trail. Two of the horses were
interfering. Click, click, click. It wasn't just occassional, but all the
time - click, click, click. Didn't they notice? I began to wonder if it
was MY horse making all the racket!! Finally got ahead of them and it was
nice and peaceful quiet - ahhhhhhh. It took me about 4 miles this day to
work out all the kinks - I think that because the horse felt so good and
strong that I felt really good. I felt NO pain at all - anywhere - I so
smiling so much that I had my teeth coated with gunk at the end of the
day!!! We went thru some really beautiful country - canyons, lots of
gorgeous rock formations, some good climbs. It was not as cold as the first
day and we had blue sky and sun too - very nice day. The vet shortened the
hold time at the vet check (about 34 miles into the ride) down to 1/2 hour
because of the weather conditions - windy, cold - up on the ridge where the
vet check was. Steep climb up the hill to the vet. One of horses up ahead
of me slipped and for a second looked like it was going to go off the side -
scary!! Luckily, was okay. I was beginning to think we were going to make
it!! Less than 20 miles left to go - we did it!! After we left that vet
check Weaver really wanted to go. I thought that was so neat, because he
had no idea where we were going - he just wanted to go down the trail!!
Also, because this was the farthest I'd ever ridden him in two days. We
were having a great time!! We finished at around 2 p.m. This part of the
trail was more difficult (I think), and we did it about 1 1/2 hours quicker
than the ride the day before. Yahoo!! We got completion for our first
2-day 100 - finishing in 17th place out of 20 horses, and with a ride time
of 13:39. I got a t-shirt. (just what a screen printer wants!) <VBG> They
served us dinner at the new camp - the only night we weren't next to the
casino.

Day 3. I was really psyched up for this. I almost did not start. The
night before, I took Weaver out for a walk and he was a little stiff. I was
afraid he was sore or something might be wrong. I got up three times during
the night to walk him and by morning he was A-ok. Double checked with the
vet and he said looked good, go ahead, maybe stay off that diagonal till
he's warmed up good. Decided I did not want to get in front of those stop
and go riders and didn't want to hear click click click today. I warmed
Weaver up really good early, so started at 7 a.m., and moved up towards the
front riders. Just happened to follow the front-runners the wrong way -
dah!!! First time I've had that happen to me - guess we missed a turn or a
ribbon, and even though there were some ribbons here and there they weren't
the right ones. I think we went about two or three miles out of our way.
No big deal, took that much time to get myself warmed up - and guess what -
I wasn't sore at all!! This was the best I've ever felt - yeah - only felt a
little tired to start with, but once I felt how good and strong my horse
felt that tiredness went away and I just felt good! We were having a great
ride - finally getting to trot. Realized I was following behind some really
incredible horses - wow!!! I got to see Rio go down the trail. He is so
beautiful - I don't think I've ever seen a horse go down the trail so
effortlessly. He goes thru rocks, changing terrain, hills, etc., like it's
not even there - he moves out down the trail in more beautiful form than any
horse in a show arena!!! I'm going down one part of the trail, and there
are slower riders in front. One girl says go ahead and pass. So I was
going to, but at the last second her horse turned and to avoid going into
her I turned my horse down the side of a VERY large slippery rock. (STUPID
rider error - all my fault!!!) You can guess what happened - my horses rear
end went out behind us, as he slipped on the rock. It was awful. Man,
those easy boots on his front feet are the only thing that kept us from
getting into serious trouble - if he woulda had metal shoes on front we'd
have been hurt bad. Lucky, the horse is quite agile and seemed to keep
going without missing a step with his front end and we kept going without
missing a step - sure scared me though and I was worried about him after
that. It took some skin and hair off, but it turned out to be nothing more
than that. :))). Other than this one mishap he completed the ride without a
single scratch anywhere else!!! Went to the vet check, about 17 (?) miles
into the ride. It was early to have the 1 hour vet hold, espcially since it
was cold and windy. Somebody said it was 28 degrees. Beautiful day though,
sunny and blue skies. This was the same trail as the day before, only going
backwards. I went and P&R'd right away and came over to eat 'lunch' at 9
a.m., and let my horse eat. This is the part where I got DIMR. I'm sitting
there talking to another rider and watching her horse eat, and it turns out
to be Becky and Rio. wow, cool, huh? So finish the hour break and head
back down the trail - about 30 some miles left to go. Sure glad to get off
of that ridge with all the wind - brrrr! We got to do some great trotting
and I rode along with Sharon Dumas the rest of the ride. We talked and had
a great ride. Compared heart rates - 109 at a trot. Good rate and speed.
Weaver wanted to go faster, but I wouldn't let him, kept him in back (most
of the trail was narrow), but when it got wide he wanted to come around and
pass. Sharon was holding her horse back too. We could have had a real
horse race if we let them go. So we're going down this river bed and
everything is going so well - and the center part of my HRM on my wrist goes
popping out of the wrist-band. Oh man!! So I stopped and went back to look
for it, but couldn't find it. Darn, darn, darn. I was sure bummed about
that. Only about 5 miles from the finish, but still depressing. We
finished the third day (150 miles - yeah!) with our fastest ride time ever -
4:03. Fifth place too :). (out of 30) Weav felt soooooo strong - when I
showed him for BC (this is the BEST part!), he trotted out so nice and must
have looked really good. The vet said that next to Rio my horse had the
highest vet score!!!! Is that just so totally cool - to hear that after you
just rode your horse 150 miles for the first time - wow - I couldn't believe
it. I had to keep checking with my husband - are you sure that's what he
said? Really? I had riders tell me that they couldn't believe how much
horse I had left at the finish, and one rider came over and told me that
when my horse trotted out at the end that he looked like he hadn't even been
ridden! Wow, what a great compliment - I'm so proud of my Weaver
:))))))))))) XOXOXOXOXO. What a good start to the 1997 ride year.

I learned so much. Learned a lot about my horse, me too. The multiday
rides are a lot different. It was sure worth the effort, and I think that I
want to do more, and can't wait to do longer distances than 50 miles in one
day. I think that 50 miles just works out all the soreness - after that is
when we really feel good!! When I took off Weaver's easy boots his feet
looked wonderful - because I wrapped them in vet wrap several times around
his feet didn't even look any different than when I put the boots on. Man
he does good in them.

Oh, and last night - Mr. Weaver Horse decides that the hay/feed in HIS pen
isn't good enough. So he lifts off one of the corral panels and proceeds to
cruise around camp. I was so zonked I didn't even hear anything! He was
found making friends with another horse in camp, and the nice person who
found him brought him back over and tied him to my trailer. hehe. Next
time I'll tape the panels, he's never gotten out before. I *thought* he'd
be too tired to do any silly stuff after going 150 miles - haha!!

The day after!!! I can walk, I haven't taken one single pain reliever all
day - I feel really good. I can't believe it. Maybe I will get to do Death
Valley :))). If so, I have to do a few things differently - better start
planning!!

Happy Trails!!

Karen
& Dream Weaver (500 miles!!) :)))))

P.S. Teddy if you read this post I need more electrolytes!!