Re: Equine Endurance Thrills

[CMKSAGEHIL <CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com>]

<< >Tell your story.  What gives you the biggest trill at an endurance
 >ride?
  >>

My biggest thrill was winning the Myrtle Creek Challenge on my old stallion
Surrabu, two years after he had fractured a sesamoid bone.  It was cold,
muddy, and icky out, and it was a 60, not a 50, with steep, tough terrain, and
a lot of the faster, younger horses were really demoralized.  We ended up in
the lead by attrition--passed everybody at vet checks--and though what the
heck, let's go ahead and try to stay in front, since we are out here.  He went
like a trooper for the last 15 miles, but one of the fast young things tried
to make a run at us.  As we galloped along a logging road, the younger horse
gained with every stride--the rider hollered, "How far to the finish?"  I
yelled back, "I don't know, but I know we still have to go down the clay
slide!"  This was a dive off of an embankment, and literally a slide on the
hocks to a skid road, and then a run-in to the finish.  The younger horse got
about three lengths ahead of us, and we came around the corner, and there it
was--the slide!  The younger horse pulled up, and old Bu just launched himself
out into space, full speed, landed about halfway down in a perfect "slide"
position, and never looked back...  The timer said I finished about  100 yards
ahead of the fast young thing...  I think Bu was 18 years old that year...

Heidi Smith, DVM--Sagehill Arabians (Oregon)