Pan Am part3

["Roberta Harms" <equiphile@hotmail.com>]

  Back to the saga in Canada.  We are now at approximately 70 miles.  Now is 
when the race begins.  The previous miles are just a warmup on a 100miler.  
Horses are pulled left and right for metabolics and soundness.  The field is 
smaller.  The Central Time Zone horses continued to travel at about the same 
pace.  We didn't slow as many others had to. Unfortunately we also lost a 
team horse by this time, Gail's horse was pulled.  We now had to finish all 
3 of the horses left to medal.  Other riders in our Zone rode as individuals 
and could afford to gamble on a faster ride.  The team horses had to be 
steady and ride for the team.  We were now catching and passing all the 
other CTZ horses not on our team.  Jan had slowed down a bit to feed her 
horse longer at the stops and was now with us again.  With Candy still with 
us, we made a solid group of four to encourage each other.  It was hard not 
to laugh at Jan, though.  She had been stung by a bee on the inside of her 
lip and it was swollen.  She reminded me of a ducks bill.  She was not 
allergic , fortunately.
  The sparse grasses on the trail were beginning to look absolutely 
delicious to our horses.  We had to keep pushing them to pass by some of the 
green.  We also let them eat as possible without losing too much time.  We 
were still in a horse race and still in deep sand at times.
  The 4th check had all of us sound, but tired.  Jan again needed to feed 
her horse and Melissa thought she would stay a bit longer, too.  The stop 
was only 20 minutes which really leaves a horse less than 10 min to eat and 
relax after pulses and vet checks.
  I left on time.  Our stistician, Art, said I was leaving in 14th place. I 
might see others on trail, but don't worry about them, just ride steady  for 
10 more miles.  I did push it a bit.  I passed one rider who was off 
leading.  Gotta pass a walker, right?  I looked back later and she had 
remounted and was trying to catch me on the dirt road, but I leaned on 
Sha-Win and he put it into the next gear. Then we came to those awful sand 
dunes for the last time.  I gambled a bit and trotted on the more level 
sections.  Just  before the finish I spotted another horse about 200yards 
away.  I decided I couldn't catch him easily and besides, I was now 13th to 
finish.  That was good. Then the next day, I learned 2 horses were pulled at 
the finish and I was now 11th.  Missed top ten by 200 yards.  Oh well.
  Jan and Melissa finished about 45 minutes later.  Jeanne Waldron did my 
final checkout where we still had to present with a pulse of 60 and an 
acceptable CRI.  She was pleased with with how my horse looked. Sound and 
metabolically very good and ravenous.  Art told us we were definitely the 
Bronze medal team!!
  The Closing ceremonies were not as exciting, but I still had some trouble 
with the applause.  We led the horses instead of rode them in. Sha-Win had 
to stand in front through the whole long ceremoniy and try to still.  It was 
a little more do-able after 100miles, but still a  challenge. Jan's crew 
Fred Cluskey lent a hand, literally, and held onto Sha-Win to steady him 
more than I could with applause explosions.  He finally became desensitized 
to it toward the end. The horses who completed were marked on the left front 
hoof.  I'm so proud of that I may have to buy a marker to keep it 
fresh-looking so people will ask me what it means.
  Someday, maybe we will try this again.  I wondered with all the paperwork 
and money, if this would be worth it.  I guess so.  I had a good time.  Met 
new friends. Only got myself and my husband yelled at half a dozen times for 
small rule infractions. Got a neat medal on a ribbon that is very impressive 
and a wonderful wool blanket donated by Elinor Tonsor to the medal teams.
Roberta Harms


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