1995 OT and weight/blood tests

[cberto@juno.com (connie B Berto)]

Lovell, how well I remember that ride!   My good ol' Morgan, Billy, at
age 17, was one of the nine five-day finishers also participating in that
Michigan State Univ. stress test.  Every morning, before saddling, he was
weighed and 35 cc of blood pulled, and every day right at the finish
line, tack was pulled immediately and the weight/blood process repeated. 
Billy was the only non-Arab in the test.   It was interesting.   Every
day he lost about 50 lb. on the ride, and every night he'd gain it back. 
  I remember that they put bales of alfalfa alongside the weighing
platform to form a "chute"  and oh how Billy wanted to eat, the heck with
the weight business!    We finished that ride, but it was by the far the
toughest series we'd ever done.  It was two long days of trailering each
way,  and for several months afterward  I could see its effects, i.e., 
he went into winter showing ribs, which is something I don't like to
happen. 
       That was also the year that some stuffed shirt ranger in the
Forest Service gave Sharon such a hard time  for -- horrors -- rigs
leaving tire tracks in the dirt at the Pahreah movie set lunch stop on
the last day.   We were raking the  tire tracks out afterward and pcking
up every blade of left-over hay, even the hay  left by a trailriding
group several days before we arrived...remember?  Meanwhile, huge
busloads of tourists were swarming around, and four-wheel-drive vehicles
were leaving their impacts all over the scenery, but...we were the ones
handy to take the heat (:-(((,    and Sharon got slapped with  a $2K fine
from that above-mentioned ranger  which I *think* was later disallowed.  
 Ah, memories.   Happy New Year to all,  Connie B  (CA)

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