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Angie's OD questions



Angie wrote:

>Now Sarah, tell me what sort of shoeing you saw.  Full pads or just in
>front?  Any easy boots?  How bad was the hard pack?  How much of it? How
>often is water available?  Do you have decent shade?  All anybody ever
>talks about is how gorgeous is is crossing the river...I want somebody to
>tell me how to make it from one end of the trail to the other.

I had front pads only with "regular" shoes. Fling has really good feet but
I was REALLY glad I'd padded her fronts. All the experienced OD people I
talked to said don't even consider it without pads. My new friend, Holly,
had easy boots put over her mare's shoes and did fine. Ellen Tully, one of
the "hot shoes" who likes to go fast, swears by borium studs on the hind
feet for traction on the hard top (there are several miles of it-you should
have seen the skid marks from horss sliding! we walked it and even so had a
could of minor slips) and boulders. I wouldn't go that far if you are
willing to go it slow, but other more experienced people might disagree.

There was plenty of water, but not always where you wanted it (ie: after
those killer climbs!but there's no way they could have gotten water up
there, so you ENDURE until you get down the other side). It seemed the
greatest concentration of streams  was just AFTER you got out of the Mcoy's
ford check, where ther is plenty of shade and the Shenandoah river for
water. No crews allowed at the first McCoys Ford vet check, but it is only
12 miles out and you've had only one fairly gradual climb good wide trails,
some hard surface and a couple of good streams enroute. The second check is
in Fitch's field-again good shade (at least when I came through) but you
should bring your own water. It's after the first killer climb and descent.
Then on to Sherman's gap-not as steep as the first but narrow and rocky and
a bit scary if your horse isn't paying attention-some people elect to get
off and walk through some of the boulder fields. Then back down to McCoys
for a crew available stop (not quite sure why no crews in the first
stop-they are in the same place), then back the way you came out, with a
final check, Liberty Hall, 5 miles out-no shade, but good cold water-it's
only a 10 min hold. The strategy I heard from most people was to reach the
first stop as fast as possible to leave more time for the climbs and try to
beat the heat. It really helps to have a crew to get the buckets set up,
chase around with your rider card to get out times, encourage you to eat
(I'm not real good at that), help sponge, etc. I maintained a CTR pace
every where I could-but the hills really slowed us down, even though Fling
loves to trot up hill, these were killers especially with the rocks (I keep
thinking of Crocodile Dundee's "you think that is a knife? THIS is a
KNIFE"-well I thought I'd seen rocks in Colorado, but theses were ROCKS!).
It was a real challenge.
Hope this helps!
Sarah, who is still grinning like a fool and wearing her buckle proudly.


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