Re: Liberty Run, anyone?

["Susan Swope-Attardi" <NAGZARUS@prodigy.net>]

I'm confused about Karen Clarks horse General Jeb Stuart.  Twice I've seen
him listed in EN Anglo-Arab, but here on Ridecamp folks refer to him as
Saddlebred.  The name sure says Saddlebred to me!  What gives?

Susan Swope - also a Saddlebred owner/rider!
AERC SE Region
Kentucky

A horse is the projection of peoples' dreams about themselves -
strong, powerful, beautiful - and it has the capability of giving us
escape from our mundane existence.
                                                     Pamela Brown, b. 1928

-----Original Message-----
From: Angela C. McGhee <rides2far@juno.com>
To: grs@TheNetEffect.com <grs@TheNetEffect.com>
Cc: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Sunday, October 11, 1998 11:07 PM
Subject: Re: Liberty Run, anyone?


>Anyone have news of LR yet?  I was wondering whether Tina made it.
>
>-g
>
>Yes, Tina made it.  Saw Tony this morning.  He looked great...Tina looked
>like she'd been rode 100 miles.  :-)
>
>Gossip first:  Valarie Kanavey was there riding a chestnut horse.  Her
>horse got kicked the first 15 miles and was taken out of the competition.
> I heard her say she could feel him off on the downhills on the course,
>but he was consistantly off in the vet check.  She seemed to take it
>awfully well...didn't complain.  Talked to the girl whose horse did it.
>She felt bad.  Said he'd never kicked but got run into from behind and
>let fly.
>
>Jeannie Waldron was there.  First time I'd met her.  She's one tough
>lady.  She & Rambo were taking it pretty easy.  Heard it was Jeannie not
>Rambo that was the problem.  Her ankle seemed to be bothering her badly.
>I passed her at about 40 miles and she looked as if she was in pain.
>Heard she took a metal sweat scraper, broke it in half and splinted her
>ankle with vet wrap.  She went on to finish the 100.
>
>Karen Clark won the 100 on her Saddlebred Jeb Stuart.  I'm not sure but I
>think she might have gotten BC also.
>
>Debbie Ivey brought 16 yr. old Vali Hifaysera (sp?) out of retirement and
>won the 50.  June Parsons (a good friend of mine) came in 2nd in a race
>to the finish with HER retired horse Hi Time...18 years old.  Wish I had
>horses like that to retire.
>
>There were 18 in the 100, about 54 in the 50, and 61 in the 25.  The win
>time for the 50 was something like 3:54.  The course was really fast, and
>I honestly do not believe one inch short.  The footing is pretty
>incredible over most of the course and the main problem horses were
>having was going too fast...and using the same muscle groups over and
>over.  It just felt tooo darned easy and there were quite a few horses
>lamed out.  The vet lines were very long and I think some stiffened up in
>line.
>
>Bekki Crippen & Buddy Bullseye racked up another 25....makes 4 this year.
> Ol' Buddy has become a campaigner.  You ought to see him sleep on his
>picket line the night after.  Bekki looked out the tent without her thick
>glasses and thought he was gone.  Nope, just laying completely flat. :-)
>He looked wonderful though.  Just knows how to rest.
>
>Rhonda Chitwood and her daughter Katlyn contacted me after reading some
>of my posts on Ridecamp.  They were local, had never been to a ride and
>were curious.  I invited them and they actually showed up and did 25.
>Had a wonderful time, but Katlyn is campaigning for a faster sponsor. :-)
>
>Now for my ride.
>
> I've got good news & bad news...First the good news.
>
>Got to Liberty Run thinking I'd have to enter the 50 because Kaboot had
>some small wire cuts on his rear heel.  Worried that the sand (deep in
>places) would irritate it in the 100 miler.  Duane Barnett looked at it
>and said if he'd come to do the 100, that wouldn't stop him...so I
>entered the 100.  Least prepared I've ever been...no crew...very little
>planning...only 2 batteries...eek.  Thank goodness Karen Pruitt loaned me
>a tube of Desetin for his heel and it worked great.  See...it's good for
>something besides diaper rash.  The only problem I had was every time I
>smelled it I had a flashback and wanted to cry that my kids are growing
>up so fast.
>
>There were 18 in the 100, 54 or so in the 50 and 61 in the 25.  They
>seemed really short of vets (actually none showed up for vetting in until
>LATE Fri.  2 vets who came to ride vetted everyone in.  :-(
>
> Started at 6:30 AM in the dark.  Did the first 15 miles, averaged 10mph.
> The footing is awfully good there, but the sand got plowed by all the
>horses and deteriorated as the day went on.  The trails were marked
>extremely well and they had put out a lot of water which was a big
>improvement this year.  YEA MANAGEMENT!
>
>
>Kaboot kept catching up with Jeannie Waldron and Rambo and I kept trying
>to explain to him that was NOT our place.  Turned out she was having a
>slow day, but how was I to know?
>
>To shorten things considerably...we did the first 50 miles at 10mph.
>Kaboot was just CRUISING.  No effort but kept trotting off and leaving
>the people I meant to ride with.  The fifth loop was 15 miles, and it was
>the worst, with the deepest sand, some hills, in the heat of the day (got
>in low 80's).  We really slowed down and took it easy and did it at 5
>mph. I rode with a lady named Barbara? from Pennsylvania with a really
>nice dark gray gelding.  She asked me about Kaboot and how many miles,
>etc. then she asked "Are you going to nominate him for the North American
>Championships?"  I cracked up.  Sure, I can see the team now:  Valarie &
>Danielle Kanavey, Steve Rojek, Jeannie Waldron, the Crandells...and ME.
>Ha.  But I did thank her for the complement.  She thought it was pretty
>funny that I was carrying a huge armload of cane and feeding Kaboot as we
>went down the trail.  I said, "haven't you ever seen someone feed their
>horse on the go?" and she said, "Yes, just not so consistantly" :-)
>
>He came into the vet check down, was eating everything in sight and
>looked great.  Joe Edwards kept trying to get me to go on and leave them,
>but it really scared me when we got too close to the leaders.  At this
>vet check though, they told us we were just 40 min. behind the leaders.
>Don't know if they meant before or after our hold though.
>
>Headed out on the next 15 mile loop (between 65-80 miles).  Kaboot kept
>trotting off and leaving his company, then getting upset that he was
>alone, so we'd trot ahead and I'd let him eat cane (which he LOVES) until
>they caught up. Then we'd trot some more.  Finally a faster rider caught
>up and we trotted off together.  About 11 miles into the loop we came up
>on a field that had been planted for deer or something.  Someone later
>said they thought it was millet.  It was a BRIGHT green stemmy sort of
>grass with big seed heads.  Kaboot waded in and gorged for a few minutes,
>then we went on.  He'd been drinking really well so far too.  After
>awhile we offered them cane again and Kaboot didn't eat, but we were
>getting close to camp and he knew it and seemed to be in a big hurry.  We
>offered them water and he didn't drink either.
>
>Got back to camp and they were having the awards dinner at a covered
>pavillion next to the vet check, so everyone was watching.  A vet left
>his food and came out to vet us.  Kaboot got all A's except a B on gut,
>then did his BIG trot out on command and everybody cheered.  That's when
>I found out I was running pretty close to the front in 3rd or 4th
>place...maybe.
>
>Led him back to the trailer.  Just had to do the 10 mile loop 2 more
>times and it's incredibly easy, perfect footing soft dirt road along a
>lake.  That's the main thing I'd looked forward to, riding along that
>lake in the moonlight.
>
>Put Kaboot on the picket line next to Buddy, gave him his mash and he
>just stared.  Offered him something else, he didn't even blink.  Went and
>got a handful of grain and an apple and ...nothing.  AAARRRGHHHH!!!!
>GNASHING OF TEETH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>He pawed...then I led him around...he pawed again...he peed.  The color
>was fine.  I checked his gut sounds.  He had them.  But he just
>STARED...blankly.  It was awful.  You're thinking I just rode him 80
>miles fast and this is what he looks like.  Got Duane Barnett DVM,  to
>come check him.  His mucous membranes looked good.  His gut sounds were
>O.K.  Then he tried to lay down.  Duane told me to lead him around.  He'd
>rather not have to give him drugs since he just didn't look bad yet.  It
>didn't seem to be a typical "endurance related colic" that need fluids.
>
>I looked at the clock...seems like it was about 8:00.  Everybody had been
>through their hold and was leaving me...weep...
>
>Led him around awhile and he quit trying to paw.  Put him on the picket
>line and sort of dozed against the tree while he stood there staring at
>me.  After about an hour he took a drink and started eating hay sort of
>half heartedly.  Finally got cold so I got my sleeping bag out of the
>truck and went to bed out by the picket line so I'd know if he did
>anything.  Heard the riders go through camp after the first lap...weep.
>
>At 11:00 Duane came back to check on him and woke me up.  Kaboot was no
>longer dull eyed.  He was as perky as could be and knocking Duane down
>trying to rub his head on him.  He obviously expected his grain and
>wanted it NOW.  He no longer looked even bordering on tired.
>
>At 1:30 I woke up to a weird thing.  The ride manager had suddenly
>changed her mind and instead of having awards at breakfast they were
>having a rip roaring time handing them out at 1:30.  Lots of cheering and
>laughter...weep!  Kaboot was the one who woke me up.  He was trying to
>reach the table where my food is.  I reached up from my sleeping bag and
>gave him an apple that we'd tried to give him earlier.  Then he grabbed
>the bowls the electrolytes had been mixed in and almost turned over a
>huge glass of tea that they'd tried to give me while I was fooling with
>him earlier.  I reached up and got it and held it out and he drank it
>from the cup.  A few Pringles potato chips later I decided his apetite
>was good enough that it was safe to move my sleeping bag out of the dew
>and back in to the truck.
>
>There's always that part of you that says...hey, I've actually got 5 more
>hours...I could go finish...but he did a great job for me.  I don't know
>what risking something going wrong would have proved.
>
>Do I wish I'd done 50?  No.  We made progress. If we'd have done 50 again
>it would have just been repetition.  I used to think that wracking up
>miles was my main goal, but after yesterday I think I just want to be the
>best endurance rider I can be.  Now that we're kind of in the position to
>do either fast 50's or 100's, the 100's seem to fit my style better.  I
>think I'm more of an endurance rider than an endurance racer.
>
>Not sure what caused his mild colic.  It apparently wasn't your usual
>"endurance colic" that's linked to dehydration, etc.  Several people told
>me Millet could give a horse a tummy ache.  That's all I know to blame it
>on  he never drank or ate after we stopped at that field, but the rider I
>was with's horse ate it and it didn't bother him.  Several people told me
>they tried to give it to their horses and they wouldn't touch
>it....sounded like I gave less electrolytes than some.  I gave one
>cannister per vet check with probiotics. (ABC's).  Some gave 2 & 3
>cannisters.  Feel free to advise me if you have any suggestions.  He
>looked great this morning.  Great after the haul.
>
>Finishers in the 100 that I remember...
>
>Karen Clark
>Lynn Gilbert? (is that name right...from Virginia, rode with JeannieW.)
>Robin Oscar
>Karen Pruitt
>Tina Hicks
>Richard Maxwell...(I think, never saw him get pulled)
>Joe Edwards
>Jeannie Waldron
>Another female on a white Arab...you'll just have to guess.
>
>there were others, just don't remember them.  One lady was on a Paso Fino
>or something gaited...buckskin named Baron that threw a bucking fit at
>the start.  11 finished.
>
> 80 miles the wiser, but no points.
>
>Angie & Kaboot (are they gone yet?  Can I start eating now?)
>
>
>
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