Gaiting through the woods, Day 2 (Photo by Renee Baylor)Day two started as had day one...up early with coffee (hmm, and not nearly as sore as I am on the morning after riding Chey...I like this going gaited thing!) and then helping Terri get Oli ready (that was the fair deal...if I help her, we get to sleep in a half hour or so longer...whoo hoo!) for the 50. Then off to the showers and some breakfast, and then time to tack up. Storm gave me quite the big, bug-eyed look when he saw that saddle coming again....oh the joys of multi-days...he'll catch on though :) He's looking really good and perky, like he never did anything the day before. Good!
Linda was going home today, so I was on my own with Storm this time, unless I caught up with any of the other riders, as I was planning on just going the same turtle pace I had the day before.
I left camp after the other riders took off, and we went out the same way the second loop of the previous day started. Across the creek and up the big climb, to the first water. I was hand walking to avoid the 'must catch everyone' syndrome from the previous day, and was looking for a mounting rock/stump/whatever, and totally missed the sharp turn to cross the creek... I found a mounting spot, hit the second creek crossing (from the return to camp the previous day), and realized my mistake...ooops. Turned around and went back (not even a mile, luckily) and found the turn, just as another rider was coming down the trail...wow, thought I tended to start late! Turns out it was the drag rider...oops... so off I go, with her riding along behind me. Storm was happy to have another horse around, but her horse seemed none too pleased about it, as it wanted to trot faster than Storm would gait. And it liked racing up hills (we start gaiting, then her horse would trot BIG, so Storm would pop into an easy and slow canter, so her horse would start to canter, then gallop...uggg). So she would take off up the hill, and I would rein in a very mad Storm (I was NOT going to go galloping up all the hills on the second day of a ride!) to a walk or easy gait (depending on the hill). Her horse would be huffing and puffing at the top and waiting, and we'd move on again when I caught up. Onward we went until the lemonade stand check point of the day before, where I again let Storm eat a little, before heading out on the trail to the lunch check. Storm was a little confused, as he wanted to take the trail back to camp, not the outbound one, but we got on down the trail ok :) There was a nice young girl there helping, asking if we needed anything, needed horses held while we went off in the bushes, etc. She petted on Storm and was trying to feed him carrots and apples, which that early in the ride he wasn't interested in, just some of the alfalfa laying about.
The drag rider stayed behind at the check a little, I think in hopes of letting me get ahead, but not 15 mins out of the check I heard her coming up behind me, and we did the darned 'race up the hills' thing again. It was her first ride and she hadn't ridden her horse in that situation before, so she didn't know he'd be so competitive. She kinda just let him go too, but oh well. Pretty nice gal, and we talked some along the way, but it WAS driving me nuts that she couldn't keep her hose to a steady pace, and Storm was a bit irritated too. The trail was old logging road all the way to the lunch heck, with only a few spots of bad road gravel on it. It rolled up and down hills, and though I didn't go fast, I made it to the vet check at a decent time.
Gating through the woods on the way to the lunch check... (Photo by Renee Baylor)The check kind of popped up on us (since I hadn't done these trails before, and the map was not a good help, I just rode along hoping for the best) and we had been gaiting up a slight hill for a while, with only a little walk, when we saw the 1/4 mile sign. Again, it was a fairly warm afternoon, so I hopped off, loosened the girth, and walked in. I didn't think Storm was down, and while I was getting him a drink, I heard Terri's voice... she was on Oli, just about to leave...oopss...hate it when that happens, as of course the horses get all excited about seeing their buddy..so much for any chance of a low pulse... So I yelled at her to get her attention, and she came over and agreed to hang with me a few minutes, so Storm would pulse down. Again, walked to the pulsers (this time they were before the vet) and his first pulse was still a little high, but after a few scoops of water and a minute or two, the second time they tried it was down. Great! Terri was officially off the hook, and she went on down the trail for her neck loop, while I took Storm to his crew bag. Tack was on for this check, and after tossing his bridle and my helmet, and grabbing a handful of hay, I went back to the vet (the pulsers had tried to get me to go down first, but I wanted to be more organized first and grab him at least a few bites of food).
Pulse now was his usual 56, and he vetted through with all A's.... a surprise, as we had just come in, and I figured at least his gut sounds would be a B...ah well, guess that food stop at the lemonade stand was good for him :)
Lunch vet card...all looks good here...I tied him to a tree with food and water, and went to the porta potty and snack table (fresh fruit, candy, cheese/peanut butter crackers...mmm). Then relaxed and ate, while he did. Because it was so warm and he'd already done a day of riding, I gave him some elytes as well..YUCK!!!! He was not happy about that, and the stupid syringe was sticking too, so I had to stick it in his mouth several times...not happy! But we got some down him. I usually just give them elytes in camp in their food, am and pm, and call it good. But at hot rides and the horse is sweating more, I will give some at lunch too. As slow as I ride, this is plenty...or at least, my horses have so far always done well with this protocol. We'll see how it does for Storm. At the end of our hour, we went back out on the trail and headed for home. According to the map, we'd go back to the road to the lemonade stand by a different road than we cam into the check, then head back to camp the same way we did the day before.
The ride today was only a 25 miler, so the one hour hold took up more of our ride time, so I had to pay even more attention to my time. I felt a little pressed coming out of the check, but the road from and back to the lemonade stand came up sooner than I expected, and I arrived at the stand in no time. Great! As that again allowed me time to let Storm eat and hang out at the checkpoint. The little girl was there again, and asked if she should hold him while I went off in the bushes. Sounded like a good idea, since I had had a bunch of water at lunch, and since the drag rider stayed in the check for some time after I left (wasn't tacked up or waiting to head out...I think she was going to wait til after the 50's went through again??), I was all alone again. So I felt safe letting her handle him while I went in the bushes. I did find a strategic bush though, from which I could watch in case I was needed. It was really cute...she was petting him a bunch, talking to him, and trying to feed him carrots (which he just is not too excited about, but you could see he was grudingly eating them, to please her...LOL... very cute). When I came back out of the bushes, he had this long suffering 'help me please' look on his face that almost had me laughing...what a good sport though. I grabbed a few snacks for myself, threw a bunch of water on him (which was still ok per the crew there...whoo hoo!), and then mounted back up. The girl gave us some carrots 'for on the trail or back in camp', and with many thanks to all around, we were off again.
Having done the trail the day before, I knew where to make time or not, and how long it would take to get back to camp. We were in plenty good time and were able to just keep an easy pace back to camp. This time I was ready for the 'spooky barn' and we got by it ok (though a few boulders earlier were oh so scary). Storm knew where we were going, so after coming down the ridge, he was wanting to boogey back to camp. I made him wait and cool down in the creek again, then walked back the rest of the way. This time the vetting and pulsing was being done right off the trail. He pulsed in at the required 60, then we walked down to the trailer to dump tack and clean up a little, before walking back to the vet.
Our finish card (the pre-ride was last days finish) and the 'Star of Excellence'
He was down around 50 when I was getting him a last bit of water, waiting for my turn in the vet line...then we moved over to the vet, where a horse had peed not long ago...he of course had to take a nice whiff, which everyone was getting a good laugh out of as he stuck his head out and curled his lip in a great stallion flehming... Course his HR then went up to 56 as he got checked through, but all his scores were A's again...I talked with the vet a little (he rides a stallion too at times, so we swapped stallion stories) since no one was behind me, then went back to the trailer and I set up Storm with all his goodies and wrapped his legs again. After a little while, I took him to the arena, where he got to go for a good roll, then I took him to the wash rack and hosed him off, where there was yet another little girl...seems he attracts them, LOL....who wanted to help. He is not big on being hosed, so I had her stay away for that, but then let her scrape all the water off him when I was done, which he stood nicely for. Then back into the sun by the trailer, to dry.
Looking good after the ride, all wrapped up and eating lots of goodies.....The rest of the afternoon I just hung out, reading, and keeping an eye on Storm. Now and then I'd take him for a walk to keep him loose and find yummy grass, and then go back to reading. Eventually, I wandered up to the dinner area and got something to eat, and waited for Terri to arrive and chatted with a few friends. She finally got in just before the meeting again. Dinner was quite good all three nights, and the dessert on Saturday night was this awesome bread pudding I want the recipe for...mmmmmmmmmm!!!
The awards were done with pretty quick, and I was kind of bummed they didn't even mention which horse/rider teams did both days, which is usually standard at a multi day...but I guess if you are into racing, they have lots of goodies, as they even give 'first' awards for each weight division. The same horse in the 50 won BC both days... awesome job for a two-day horse!
Then we had the Best Horsemanship award again....and as the vet (who was sitting at the dinner table with me) started talking about eating dinner with the horse's rider, I got all excited again...then he mentioned it was a stallion. And he was talking about how well behaved the stallion was on the trail "How many of you even knew you were riding with a stallion these last few days" (or similar...my brain is fuzzy at this point!) and that the rider had done an excellent job handling him and so on and so forth. Then he announced our names. WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!! Storm wins the Best Horsemanship award! AWESOME! That is more special to me, than any other award we could have gotten. I am just so danged proud of this horse. He is absolutely a doll, and he is such a great ambassador for his breed. This is why I love the Mountain Horses, along with their great gaits and beauty and do-anything attitude and ability. They are such nice, all round horses, in such a great package, with a wonderful disposition. Anyway, enough gushing about that now. The award for BH was a neat little 'survival toy' with a radio, signaling thing, flashlight, siren, etc. Guess if I get lost at a ride, I am all set to go, eh? :)
Our fun Best Horsemanship Award...have to figure out how to work the thing now...After dinner, we moseyed back to camp and got as much stuff organized and packed up as we could, as Terri wanted to be back home in time to get the cat from the vet the next day. That done, we tucked in the horses for the night again and went to bed. The next morning we broke camp early and found a nice cafe in Greenville for breakfast. Mmmm, french toast instead of coffee and oatmeal....great! Then 7ish hours to home. What a great ride we had, and what fun!
And a final picture from the trail. He's turning into all I was hoping for! Awesome horse! :) (Photo by Renee Baylor)
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