Twenty Mule team ride story (part II)

["Steph Teeter" <step@fsr.com>]

>The trail out of vet check two was a flat dirt road six miles long.  
>Shortly after leaving the check at a good steady trot, I noticed a
>big "1" in flour off the side of the road.  It didn't occur to me what
>it was until I came across a big flour "2".  Someone had marked each
>mile -- it was amazing how entertaining I found this.  I kept checking
>my watch between the markers to see how fast we were going.  I don't
>remember exactly but it was somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes when
>we arrived at the turnoff.  I really enjoyed this leg of the ride 
>because I was by myself and Warpaint was relaxed and kept a steady 
>speed.  We trotted most of the way to the next vet check at College 
>Heights. 
>
>It was around 2:00 pm and was pretty warm by then.  The vet check was 
>in a sort of protected spot which would be very welcome later that
>night but on this trip through I really wished there was a breeze.  
>There was enough water so I could pour some on my horse -- that was 
>very welcome.  After he recovered and we vetted through, we found a 
>pile of hay and watched the activity.  The vet check was very busy as 
>the front of both the 60s and 100s were coming in.  We left the check 
>(one minute late this time) and headed back on the few miles to the 
>fairgrounds.  Warpaint tried to go into Jackie's house when we passed 
>it -- I guess he's been there enough to think it would be just fine 
>to stop there.  
>
>It was still warm and sunny when we got in to the fairgrounds right
>around 3:00 pm.  There was a hose handy by the vet check so I could 
>cool Warpaint off.  This time when we vetted through, Barney did a 
>CRI on WP and decided to have him come back for a re-check after 
>lunch because he was 54/60.  Everything else seemed OK and Warpaint 
>spent the hour eating, drinking and napping. I was pretty surprised 
>that Nick wasn't at the camper yet.  I had hoped for a little crewing 
>help and ended up being a little concerned about what had happened to 
>him.  I was able to clean Warpaint up, eat a little bit myself 
>(Gatorade, Clif Bar and salami) and get him tacked up almost on time.  
>Barney was busy when I went back, so Mike T rechecked Warpaint. He 
>thought there was something going on in WP's left front and he didn't 
>think the CRI was great either.  He cautioned us to slow down and take 
>it easy on the next loop.  We headed out at an easy jog, following 
>behind Frank Smith and his mule Little Buckaroo.  We caught up to them 
>just as we left the streets around Jackie's house and got back into 
>the desert.  I asked if we could ride together for a while and Frank 
>said that was fine with him.  He wanted to take it easy as well.  
>Warpaint felt good and was happy to keep going.  He wasn't being super 
>competetive and he liked having company.  Another rider caught up and 
>we pretty much stayed within earshot of each other while the light 
>left the sky.  I kept alert for anything that might feel different 
>but I just didn't feel anything there.  Warpaint has uneven feet in 
>the front (clubby heel RF, normal foot LF) and I wondered if that 
>was what Mike had seen.  
>
>This part of the ride was really nice.  The course was very well 
>marked with flour and glow bars and there was even a little bit of 
>moonlight.  We walked up the hills, walked or jogged down and pretty 
>much kept moving along.  None of us talked very much -- I think we 
>were all enjoying the desert night. We finally arrived at the water 
>stop at an underpass.  I really didn't have much of an idea where I 
>was until a few miles after that when we got back on to some trail 
>we'd been on that morning.  I recognized it because of a distinctive 
>piece of litter on the trail:  a disposable diaper!  I guess someone 
>was unclear on just what disposable meant :)  I knew we weren't too 
>far from Highway 395 and that the vet check was just a little further 
>past there.  We walked the last couple of miles before Highway 395 
>and the vet check. I caught up to Heather Bergantz and Lori Oleson 
>but didn't stay with them because Warpaint was walking pretty fast.  
>He still had a lot of energy and I think he knew where he was headed. 
>One funny thing I noticed on this ride is when I came up to people 
>while riding in the dark, no one recognized us until I passed them.  
>As soon as that white spotted butt (Warpaint's, I don't wear spots) 
>passed them I would hear "Oh, Hi Judy!"   That's what happened
>when I came into the vet check and saw Kirsten Berntsen waiting for 
>Mary Capistrant.  The lights from the vet check and the city of 
>Ridgecrest make it hard to see anything when you're headed towards 
>them.  Warpaint took a good long drink and we went down to the 
>vet check area.  I was getting pretty glazed by that time and I 
>recall looking stupidly at the Duck when he said  "run spot run" to 
>me after the trot out.  It took me a few seconds to figure out that 
>didn't mean anything bad.  Jokes are really wasted on endurance 
>riders at the 85 mile point.
>
>Warpaint ate well during the short hold and we walked out of the
>check and headed towards the fairgrounds.  It wasn't really easy
>to see because the lights of Ridgecrest were pretty bright.  Jackie
>had said at the ride meeting that your horse would know the way back
>and Warpaint seemed to be certain of where he was going.  
>We walked through the little hills and started to trot when we reached 
>the streets.  Warpaint was really enthusiastic now because he
>knew he was headed in.  This time as soon as we turned on to Kendall he
>wanted to turn into every house on the street.  First the one
>one the corner, then Jackie's, then some place down the street
>It took a while to convince him to stop walking sideways.
>We were walking when I ran into a couple of riders coming out on 
>their last loop who must have been startled by the previous rider 
>trotting in at them.  Just when I realized there were horses coming 
>towards me, the riders started chastising me for not speaking up.   
>"You guys without glow bars need to say something!  We can't see you!".
>These two were on my case while I was thinking "You guys? You mean me 
>and the mouse in my pocket?" I thought their glow bars were course 
>markers until they were really close. Rather than snapping back like 
>I really wanted to, I was way too tired and just didn't respond to 
>them.  
>
>We walked in to fairgrounds just as the 5th place rider was finishing 
>behind us.  Warpaint seemed fine and I wasn't sick to my stomach.  
>There was a vet check and 10 miles of ride left and I was feeling 
>pretty good about both.  I was a little disappointed that Nick wasn't 
>at the vet check but I guess he had no idea of when I would be in.  
>There were some helpful people that borrowed a blanket to put on 
>Warpaint.  I was feeling OK physically but I think I was sort of out 
>of it mentally.  Warpaint came down and our P/R time was 10:19 so we 
>had taken about 6 hours to do the 30 mile loop.  It looked like we 
>might finish at a decent hour. We vetted through and both Mike and 
>Barney were there to see the trot out. Warpaint ate and drank during 
>the 30 minute hold.  It was time to head out for the last 10 miles 
>which was out to the College Heights vet check and back.  
>
>I started to walk out of the vet check at 10:50 and something told me
>to jog him a few steps before we went anywhere.  He was dead lame!
>He had gone from passing the vet check a half hour ago to lame at
>the trot and almost lame at the walk.  We went back to the vets and 
>tried to find out what was wrong.  They examined him and thought maybe 
>something was under his pads that was bothering him.  Mike Tomlinson 
>and some other people tried hard to salvage my ride, hoping that 
>whatever was bothering him under the pad would stop bothering him 
>once it was removed.  Lynne Glazer held Warpaint while Mike cut 
>the pad out with some borrowed tools.  There was sand under the pad 
>but poor Warpaint did not improve once it was out.  We gave him some 
>more time but it really seemed like it got worse astime passed.  I 
>said my thanks to all that helped and took my poor pony back to the 
>trailer.  Nick came out to sympathize and help take care of Warpaint.  
>He told me about being stuck at the first vet check until late in 
>the afternoon.  He didn't get back to camp until after I left on the 
>30 mile loop.  I felt really bad because while we were wrapping
>Warpaint's legs he didn't want to put any weight on the sore foot.  
>It seemed like once he stopped and had some time to think about it he 
>decided his foot really did hurt after all.  Hurt like hell.  He was 
>hydrated enough that we could give him some bute which seemed to help 
>a little.  He kept laying down, then getting up to eat, then laying 
>back down.  I expected him to lay down after such an effort but I 
>think this was more than usual and possibly was due to the fact 
>that his foot was killing him.
>
>The next morning he looked a little better and had been eating and 
>drinking all night.  He had gotten stiff because he hadn't been walked 
>but I didn't think it was a good idea to walk him when his foot was 
>so sore.  We went to the breakfast where we commiserated with some 
>and celebrated for others.   We packed up camp and headed out on 
>the long drive home.  Other than some really nasty wind through 
>Tehachapi, we never had any weather problems on the whole trip.  
Here is Part II of Judy Long's Twenty Mule Team Story
From: Judy Long <julong@cisco.com>

>We unloaded the horses twice on the way home and both times Warpaint
>looked a little better.  He dragged me around to find green grass at
>the rest stops and was alert.  
>
>That was four weeks ago.  Since then, Warpaint continued to look better
>until we left for the AERC convention on Thurs. 2/25.  When I came back
>on Saturday night 2/28 I found my poor horse no longer lame on the left
>front.  After spending Wednesday through Saturday in his stall, he was 
>now off on the right front and had a warm fetlock.  I
>iced and DMSO'd it, finding it greatly improved by Sunday night.
>Unfortunately, my concerns were increased by this development.  While I
>could consider that the left front with the sand under the pad might
>have been bad luck, the right fetlock was my fault.  It's really
>hard when you make that kind of a mistake and it's also really hard 
>to ride a horse that will kill itself for you.  I didn't push Warpaint 
>on this ride by asking him to go, but I obviously let him go faster 
>than his legs could take.  These are hard lessons.
>
>Warpaint looks good now and I just started him back this last weekend
>after four weeks off.  We had a short arena session on Saturday and 
>a short trail ride on Sunday.  He feels as good as he looks, so we'll 
>take it slowly and condition for a slow 50 at the American River ride.
>Hopefully I'll be able to complete on a sound horse.  That's what we 
>all like to do, right?
>
>
>Judy Long and Nachi Sunshine (Warpaint)
>Hayward, Ca.


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