(no subject)

[Thiessej@aol.com]

T'N'T Ride 'n'Tie

We held our first ride'n'tie in Saskatchewan and I believe it was the first 
in Western Canada. It was held on Saturday. We only did a 15 mile race as we 
didn't know what to expect. I was surprised at the finish times as the team 
that won did the 15 miles in an hour and forty minutes with second place 
finishers coming in at 1 hour and forty two minutes. There were 7 teams 
entered unfortunately for my daughter, Natasha Thiessen, she came off the 
horse and his knee banged her chin and she ended up going to emergency ward 
for 13 stitches. She will be fine and thankfully was wearing a helmet. Yeah I 
know I refuse to wear a helmet but I do make my daughter wear one. She will 
be fine. Her partner was ahead of her at the time and he ran 5 1/2 miles 
wondering where that dam child was. I stopped for 20 minutes while I made 
arrangements for an ambulance and trailer ride home for the horse. Then at my 
daughters insistence (she had an Emergency Medical Trained attendant looking 
after her) I carried on with the race. My partner was 68 year man and we took 
his horse who was 24 years old. We called our team the "aged and the 
crippled" . We completed in two hours and fifty five minutes. We were slow 
but we did it and we had a combined aged of 135 years of experience.

First place went to Brian Zwaan and Vicram Misra on Brian's thoroughbred 
Peguis. It was their first ride and tie and they did a great job of 
competing. After the ride Brian was hobbling around (he would never of passed 
a Vet check), Vicram an experienced distance runner and endurance rider was 
doing great and he drove in hospital and picked up my daughter and wife. My 
wife was the ride manager and she was needed to look after my daughter so our 
Awards banquet was a bit delayed.

Second place went to Louis Tapper and Chris Atchison. They led for part of 
the race and from what I heard (can't witness these things from the back of 
the race) they were swapping leads with Brian and Vicram for the last part of 
the ride.

Third place went to Pat Bliss and Marg Uhlig, both experienced endurance 
people. They did a great job and finished under 2 hours.

Fourth went to a team that had a runner who had only ridden once before in 
his life and that was two years prior. Bert Sutherland has been competing in 
endurance for one year and he talked his boss Ruddy Flaman into competing. I 
thought that was kind of a dangerous career move but it worked out fine. Rudy 
had his second on a horse in a race.

Fifth spot went to a team called the motherlode. Two mothers who had seven 
children between them completed the ride in just over two hours. It was the 
first time either Mary-Jo Devine or Claire Card had competed at an event of 
the endurance nature, though both of them had run distance before. Their time 
would of been more competitive had one of them not decided to carry on 
without the horse. Mary-Jo had to back track and pick up Flossie and ended up 
adding an extra mile. 

Stub Atchison and myself limped, crawled and walked (I also worried about my 
daughter) the 15 miles for a completion.

The Best Condition award went to Louis and Chris's horse Waylon. (Reg. 
American Saddlebred). The vet scores were identical to Brian and Vicram's 
horse but again the weight made the difference. I handed the BC award to 
Louis and Chris and with it they get the mantle of "THE FATBOY".

After we sat down to steak and baked potato supper that was cooked by some of 
our neighbours Glen and Linda Stevens. They did a great job. 

The ride and tie manual was very helpful in putting on a ride and I am real 
glad that I had a planned human emergency system set up and it worked. In 
most endurance rides we do not take the precautions for the human part of the 
team but it was very fortunate that my wife insisted that we should have 
trained people ready should any of us require medical help (she thought that 
fat boy was going to have a heart attack I think). 

The weather was a bit wet but livable and we enjoyed the capanionship and 
campfire.

I wish to thank many people and I won't mention them all but one that was 
very helpful 
was Dr. Trish Dowling for helping with details and being the official Ride 
Vet.

Jerald Thiessen
Sandhaven Saddlebreds 


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