Events
Groups
Rider Directory
Market
RideCamp
Stuff
The first loop was 18 miles. We went out slow, but soon were
going pretty fast up the roads. Although Drake did not want to
slow down, his heart rate was higher than I like to see, 170+.
I figured he'd get tired and slow, but no, he wanted to stay with
the front runners. I learned later that one of them was a horse
that normally does 50s, but the rider had been injured and the horse
has been a bit out of condition. So rider opted for the 25. I think
her horse was still ready for the 50.
At a few miles into the ride, the road split and there were no markings
whatso ever. We went up and down the two sides, we went back to trails,
we went up the mountain side and followed trees marked for cutting.
Finally someone just made a gut feel decision and took the right fork.
About a mile later we saw our first ribbon. About time. I've heard
that nearly everyone got lost there, some for a couple of hours.
So we were off at a too quick pace again. Drake's heart rate had come
down slowly during the walking around to find a trail, but picked up
to 170 again as we continued up hill. Even when the trail went down
hill, his rate only dropped to the 150-160 range. So I knew he was
pushing too hard.
At the streams, Drake didn't want to drink. He was too busy watching the
other horses and didn't want anyone to leave without him. The group
was beginning to spread out some, but there were still about 7 of us
traveling together.
I ended up in the lead at one point because the group took a wrong turn.
I'd waited for the last rider at the stream, so I was way behind the
leaders. I thought, good, now I can let Drake slow down. But no.
Soon the group caught up with us and we were flying along again.
Got to chase some cows down the trail. I think we ran a month's
weight off of them before they jumped off the trail.
A bit futher along, the group spread out even more. I ended up with one
other rider in the lead. We just kept booking down the trail till I
called a halt. We were heading down the trail we had earlier come up.
There was a figure eight in the trail, and we had followed the wrong
ribbons. So we backtracked a few miles and coming back could see
ribbons way down the other trail. No way would you have been able
to see them if you were heading the correct way. Lots of folks again
got lost there.
So down the trail. We passed a couple of slower riders.
The last part had a few suprises. First the woman I was riding with
lost her saddle. She went down a very steep slope, and the saddle
just kept on going ahead of her. Second, Drake got very excited going
through some trees, and didn't listen to me. My knee met up with a tree.
We came into camp about 5 minutes behind the leaders.
Drake was tired. He still wouldn't drink. But he did eat a bit. Other
than low gut sounds, he vet checked with As.
Going out, I knew I was five minutes behind. I also knew that Drake was
not up to catching the two leaders. So, I wasn't going to push it.
We trotted down the trail. We missed the turn off, but only because
Drake decided to be an idiot about a mud hole and I was busy with him
right when we were supposed to turn. I came back, found it and happily
followed yellow ribbons in the just turning aspen leaves. (Which are
also yellow). This was a 7 mile loop. I had thought it was 9 miles.
It wound through the trees and was quite beautiful. I could finally
look around, since Drake wasn't busy trying to be first.
Drake's heart rate stayed up for several miles. He was running about
110 at the trot and 90 at the walk. This is much higher than normal.
So, I just kept going slowly. If you aren't going to be first, what
difference does time make? After about 5 miles, Drake was feeling
much better and started to want to make time. I let him move out,
and saw much better heart rates. Then suddenly, we were back in camp.
We walked in. His heart rate was already back below criteria of 60.
The P&R person took 5 minutes to find his heart rate. I finally moved
her stethescope to a better location for her. His rate was 14 by then.
At the CRI, ten minutes later, his starting rate was 13, and at the end
was 12. At the Vet check, they found a ding on his foot from a rock,
and he was slightly off, not a grade 1, but just uneven, in gait. And
they really liked his mellow attitude. He had drunk have a tank of water
after coming in, and finally had good gut sounds.
The results, even through I came in way behind the leaders, (I do weigh
a bit more than them too), was that Drake took BC.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Hewlett-Packard Company e-mail: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop A2 Telnet: 229-2182 (898-2182 as of Nov 1.) 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 (898-2182) Fort Collins, CO, 80528-9599 FAX: (970) 229-2038 (898-2038)
Events
Groups
Rider Directory
Market
RideCamp
Stuff