WINTER RIDE STORY

["Louise D Burton" <FIREDANCEFARMS@prodigy.net>]

OZARK WINTER ONE  Pineville, MO
Sat. Jan 2nd, 1999
When we drove up in the sleet, I knew this was going to be a real adventure
and give a great ride story!
We got there around dark, and it was just beginning to freeze up.  We were
the only 50s there!!!!  Evidently no one else could get out...we came from
the south, and there was another ride south, so everyone else in their
right mind went SOUTH.  Two 25s showed up, and the RM decided to ride a 50
as well.  Now this ride is our toughest ride around...lots of up and down,
and straight down slides, not switchbacks.  We tried to park headed for the
road, got stuck, and ended up parked for the duration.
It sleeted and rained.  We vetted in.  Our incredible vet, Dr. Steve
Slusher, was there out in the rain with us, seemingly as comfortable as can
be!
We woke up to several inches of snow on the ground, but it didn't seem too
cold....ground not really frozen.  Four of the 5 riding are our
family...Amber on Ffire Storm, Fa Al Badi+/'s daughter, me on Fa Al
Badi+/(Bo), Jesse on Farah Lena(Blaze) and Bruce on the new mare The One
Iment(Trixxx).  All goes well; the kids dashing into the heated trailer
during the vet checks and being drug out ("OK you don't have to finish the
ride" "I'm coming, I'm coming!")
About 10 miles from the finish, Amber and Louise go on ahead because
Amber's  ankle is hurting with tight boots crammed with socks.  Amber
finishes first by a nose.  Jesse and Monte Mitts come in about 1/2 hour
later.  We decide to do BC 10 minutes after the finish because it is so
cold and almost dark.  Bruce's new mare decided she had had enough only 5
miles from the finish, and wouldn't walk down the hills anymore.  Bruce
ended up leading her in on the road, and we were pleased to see she was
fine and starving!  Bruce was so happy that she was fine, it didn't dong on
him until much later that he went through 45 miles of torture not to
finish!  We were happy with her ride though, it was her first 50 and the
hills are very hard.  The horses hate going down these hills of slippery
rocks...maybe their fetlocks get sore..
By the time we got Trixxx bedded down, it was 17 and dropping fast, and the
wind was getting ferocious.  We did a quick awards ceremony in the heated
camper.  Fa Al Badi+/ got BC with a fantastic score of 450...all 9s, which
around here is really something!  Amber was disappointed, but weighing in
at 110, she didn't have too much of a chance!  Lookalike and actalike
father and daughter came in at 13 and 12 at the finish!

I'll have to say, this is one of the most unusual rides I have been ever
ridden!  I thought sure I was jinxed to not finish because this was my
4000th mile.  I am still amazed NO ONE else showed up (they couldn't get
out of their driveways).  Although cold, we had a great time, and I am
amazed at how well the horses do in this cold, especially Bo, whom I always
thought of as my "hot weather horse" and had only done one 50 last June in
all of 1998!

I want to thank Paula, for the use of her warm trailer, and Monte and Nancy
Mitts, for going ahead with the ride, and the excellent trail marking
(finding ribbons in a snowstorm is not easy), and Monte for not only
pulling us up to the road, but escorting us to the highway to make sure we
got out Ok (which we did, thank goodness!), and especially our vet, Steve
Slusher, whom I think is crazier than we are, as he was not only helped
blanket horses, vet in, hold horses, pull rigs out, but was out TAKING
PICTURES (barehanded!) at the vet checks!

Louise Burton
Firedance Farms Arabians
Oklahoma
http://pages.prodigy.com/arabians