My Timberon story (LONG)

[krisolko@juno.com (Kristen L Olko)]

My journey to Timberon started on Tues. 6-23. The farrier came out them
so that
I'd have new shoes apon which 275 miles could be trotted. That night., I
lunged
her to loosen her up and she was lame !!! This can't be !!! My camper was
packed
with everything except cold food. The trailer was already packed. I had
just picked up my
mom, who'd flown in from Philadelphia to babysit on the trip. It couldn't
be. I called my
husband, who was away on business. They always do that don't they. He
said to wait
and see. We're supposed to leave on Fri. !!! Calm down and wait. Brave
words for a man 
1000's of miles away when the decision might be bad. On Wed. she was
somewhat 
better, but it wasn't until Fri morn that I was content with hauling 900
miles and passing
the prevet in. 

The drive to Tuscon was uneventful. We have a 24 foot RV hauling a 2
horse trailer. It was
very hot in the desert of Arizona. We pulled in to the fairgrounds in
Tuscon, parked , turned off
the engine and then all heck broke loose. The engine erupted in a hot,
green gush. As it rolled into
the cab, we evacuated quickly. I called hubby in Chicago and was told to
let it cool and then reinsert the 
overflow tube into the overflow tank. That was what had been wrong. NOT.
We didn't know any
better at the the time, so we rested well and moved out the next morning.

All did go well until Las Cruces NM. Moving through the downtown section,
I noticed the temp. 
getting a little high. We pulled over into a Lucky's parking lot to cool
off. Lesson #1 - don't turn 
the engine off to cool it off. It erupted again. This time in not the
best place. A very nice man stopped.
He found us a place to repair it, he drove us (we followed) there and he
stayed the four hours it
took to fix it. My horse need some Bach flowers at this time as the
trailer is not her favorite place.
However, she now will drink out of it. After the repair, Nathan , the
nice man, then led us back 
to the freeway and we were off. On the long, steep 18 mile hill into
Cloudcroft, we pulled over twice.
(I didn't turn off the engine). Then we figured it was easy. 30 more
miles. Yes, it was, but they were
very up and down. As I came down the last 9% grade, we turned onto the
dirt road that led 14 miles
into camp. It was here that the brakes failed. It was getting dark, it
was hot, I've got 14 more miles and 
no brakes. I pulled over and had a good cry. Then I proceeded to creep
along, trying to guess what
kind of slope lay beyond the turn. Did I say creep? I must have because
by this time the speedometer
 and odometer had also failed so I couldn't tell how far I'd come or how
fast I was going. We finally
arrived and pulled into the first open spot. I set up camp and we all
fell asleep quickly. 

On Sun, I found a man to fix the brakes. Lesson #2 - don't use the brakes
on the downhills.
 Down shift and use the emergency brake. By then, we realized that
although the generator worked,
it wasn't powering any of the appliances. I discovered this as I made the
very important morning
coffee. Our VERY nice neighbor, Robbie Doll, checked it out and told us
that there must be a broken
connection somewhere between the generator and the outlets. Our other
nice neighbors gave
us their leftover coffee. Then I got ready for the ride.

The first day was the hardest. Not necessarily because it was the
steepest, but because it was so rocky.
Being as I just wanted to finish all 5 days, I walked the rocky ups and
downs. I've never been in the saddle
that long. 10 hours. We both felt really good at the finish because of
all that walking, but I was stiff. My
finicky, I only drink out of a bucket thank you, mare will now drink out
of the filthiest cow ponds and
 mud puddles. There was water everywhere, but it was all natural. Not her
thing at all. She refused the 1st
pond, but eventually overcame her ladylike distain and spent the rest of
the week drinking at the pools
like the others. 

Day 2 was much easier in that there were a lot  less rocks. I was able to
finish 2 hours earlier. Now I define ease
by the slopiness of the terrain. This was slightly less up and down. It
was cooler. I felt like dog poop
still. I subscribe to the ride 'em and rest 'em theory. This theory says
that you ride 1 day and then you rest.
I therefore haven't ridden 2 consecutive days in years. I was cursing
myself and my feisty horse for whom
this didn't seem to be all that hard. She never slacked off. Me, I was
cursing everything and thinking that being
pulled wouldn't be such a terrible fate after all.

Day 3 was rock again and took us 9 hours. The knot in the back of my
right thigh is larger now. The 
throbbing pain in my  knees is better thanks to the new Easycare stirrups
I HAD to buy last night. I was
using Jan's saddle cover for the 1st time as well. It really helps with
the wear and tear on your legs. I've
rediscovered my appetite. Oatmeal for breakfast keeps you going fairly
well. I had 2 jelly sandwiches and 
a chewy granola bar for lunch. This kept my energy level up fairly well.
I still can't believe there's 2 MORE
days. I rescued a lost rider on the trail today. We'd made a turn on a
figure 8 loop and she thought that maybe
she was at the 2nd turn of that loop. There were prints going 2 different
ways on the trail. So, she just stopped
and was waiting for the 1st person to come along. That was me. I figured
it wasn'r nearly soon enough
for the turn so we went straight. That was the right decision. Also, the
turn wasn't clearly marked. Randy had
so far, VER CLEARLY marked all turns. Her name is Jane and we rode
together many times after that.

Day 4 was rainy. This is because I left my raincoat in the camper. It
held out until after I left the VC. It 
was thundering and lightening. Really cool. I haven't seen a storm like
this since I moved to CA 8 years 
ago. It's only the 2nd time in 8 years that I've ridden in the rain. It
turned the last 5 miles into mush. We
 walked through it to finish in dry condition. I lost all fine motor
skills though. I couldn't get the top off
 the bottle to dose my horse. I rescued a cowboy today though. I came
down the mile long slope that ends
 45 minutes from camp. This guy in jeans, cowboy hat and boots rides up
on his QH and asked me in I knew
where I was. I said I sort of did. He mentioned where he was parked and I
was clueless. I gave him
one of my maps. I also explained that the pink/white ribbons led to
Timberon. Someone mentioned he
turned up in camp. They also said that his truck was gone the next day
from where it'd been parked. 

I was feeling good now. No sorenesses. My knees were totally fine. I
wasn't stiff. I couldn't believe
 tomorrow was it.  I was relieved, but very saddened. I was anxious to
finish my horse, but not myself.
She was doing great. Never tired. Pacing in the pen every morning so that
I had to go out and stay with 
her. We use a PVC corral and she learned to pick up the panels. She let
herself out on Wed. I dosed her
with carbos and I know that helped. She did lose weight even though she
spent lots of time eating. I
had cut back on the oil. I won't do that again.

Day 5 was perfect. It was sunny, cool, very few rocks. I got to the "25"
mile VC in 3.5 hours !!. It usually
had been taking me 5 - 6 hours to get to Randy's "25" mile VC's. It was
in the same location as on Day
?2? Because of the rain, Randy rerouted us to the end of Day 4, so we
both knew where we were. The
deep mud from yesterday had been trampled down by the tons of horsews
that finisehed before us. That
was a 7 hour day. I showered at the pool and rested until the banquet.
The banquet was a grand affair.
Held inside the Lodge, there was a band and a dance floor. My 3 year old
was the only dancer  and didn't
 mind being the center of attention. The food was excellent and the
awards ceremony great. Randy
acknowledged everyone personally. The awards for the people who finished
all 5 days were large  Indian
dream catchers .  By now, all the travelling headaches were gone. I can't
wait to go back again. The only
drawback about this ride is that it spoils the 1 day 50 for you. My next
challenge is a 1 day 100. Desert
Pines. 


Kris and the big TB who could (even though there were many who thought
she couldn't)


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