Storm Day 3 (no photographer day 1...photo by Renee Baylor)After a hectic trip to Germany, I was looking forward to riding for the end of October. I was going to take Cheyenne to Lake Sonoma, and do a 50 on Storm at the Lake Almanor ride. Unfortunately, rain canceled the LS ride, and then Terri got really sick with some flu/cough thing, that knocked out LA. I tried to get a last minute ride with someone, but it wasn't going to happen (doesn't help to have a stallion in that case..even though he is such a gentleman, many ppl just don't want to deal with a stud in their rig and camp...though I have seen more mares have issues with each other, and horses getting kicked or stepped on, than Storm ever has with any sex of horse..he just is so mellow!)...So there went October! And our normal, early-November ride was also canceled this year, Lake Oroville. That meant the next ride wasn't until Thanksgiving! I also didn't have much time to ride over the month, so I decided to take Storm, but only do the LDs. All three days were 30 milers, so I figured if he did well and could do 90 miles in 3 days, he could do a few 50's at the next ride. Plan hatched, I was all set.
Terri's Mtn Horse from Canada, Boots, wasn't working out for her. He just was too skittery for her tastes an was going to be too much work to get broke and ride. So she sold him to a Mountain Horse breeder and trainer in Arroyo Grande. To seal the deal, she agreed to haul him down there as well. AG was about 3 hours south of the Desert Gold camp, in Fort Ord, so we figured we'd drop him off on the way down. We stayed just south of San Jose on the first night, then drove as far as King City, where there is a really nice fairgrounds. Terri dropped me off with the two endurance boys, then drove the last 1 1/2hrs south to AR to drop off Boots.
I amused myself for the next 4 hours or so, grooming the boys, braiding them for the ride, letting them run in the arena, and reading. Right around sunset, Terri pulled back into the fairgrounds, and we got ready to set up the camper and trailer for the night (we'd haul back up to Fort Ord in the morning). As Terri opens the back of the horse trailer, out jumps this big, black and tan dog! WTF?!? Where did that come from?
Duke, with his dopey look and goofy ear, at home...So here is his story... The gal who was taking Strom, had to run off to Montana or somesuch, to pick up some horses while there was a break in the weather. She left her assistant in charge of the ranch, and Terri handed off Boots to her. When Terri got there, there were several dogs running about, our new charge right up front to greet Terri. So Terri unloads the horse, trailer door stays open...she chats with the assistant for just a little bit, then goes to close the door. Then chats with the other gal another while, meanwhile not a sound from the trailer. She gets in the truck and drives to King City... and we now have a god! Oooppss... Turns out he was dumped at the ranch a few months back, probably due to his goofily cropped ear and too long of a docked tail. He's a goofy, young Dobberman boy though, and we were willing to have him hang with us until the ranch owner could come up to the ride and get him. That whole thing didn't work out though, so we ended up taking him home, and I think I have found him a nice home up here with another local e-rider. It was quite a crazy ride though, to have to deal with a big, boisterous, young dog in camp. He needed lots more attention than we had time to give, and was going a bit stir crazy!
Nice dog and a bit cute, once you get used to him :)So back to the ride! It was supposed to be cloudy and cool all three days, with possible rain on the second day. At night, it was COLD (high 20's to low 30's, which is not normal for the coast) and some rain prior, made the trail sand nice and firm. The roads had been graveled, which made for better trails overall, but not as nice for the horses..grrr...oh well. Glad I had Storm though, as old Chey's joints would not have liked the gravel. The night before was Thanksgiving, and like every year, we had a wonderful potluck dinner with all the fixings (and even some special treats like venison!) and lots of desert. I was totally stuffed and happy :) After dinner, there was a good ride meeting around the central fire pit. There was going to be an out vetcheck, about 18 miles into the ride, then back home. Sounded good to me. We tucked the horses in with lots of food and blankets for the night, walked Duke (the Dobbie), and went to bed.
Up early and a bit cold, I helped Terri get Oli ready (this gives me at least a half hour more sleep, so I was happy to trade off with some help) and then I had to walk the dog again. Puttered around a little, and then it was time to get Storm ready as well. I had agreed to ride with Judy, a rider I had met before, that just wanted a slow and easy ride and a good finish. I was hoping with another horse along, Storm would preform better than at Chamberlain. As I was almost ready, Judy came by the trailer, and told me she'd head to the water tank at the far end of camp (on the way to the start line), then head back over here if I wasn't heading her way. Fine with me, I only had to grab my helmet and adjust a few things.
I headed to the tanks not but a few minutes after she left...but no Judy...I didn't pass her coming back, but there WAS a second way back. I waited a few minutes in case she'd doubled back, but with no one coming, and a minute or two past start time, I decided to handwalk to the start and she could catch up. Or maybe she'd also headed that way and was waiting... Nope, no one there, so off I went. A few other LDs passed me after I hiked up the first hill and got on, and Storm actually was pulling on me and wanting to go. I made him walk and warm up properly, and we hit a split in the trail with a spotter and a gaggle of 50's waiting around for something... The spotter told me to go on ahead after asking what distance I was in, so on I went. The 50's had a short loop first thing in the morning, then they were to head to the vetcheck on trails that shared a good bit with ours (with I think a few split offs that made it a longer loop to the VC, but always coming back to our trail). I had forgotten that about previous years' rides, and it would be interesting to see what Storm did, when the front runners all rushed by us.
Interesting indeed...not 2 miles down the trail, and just starting to gait out a little, here they came! They all passed us politely, but Storm still got caught up in the excitement of it all, and was acting like a real dork...just getting all fired up and wanting to RUN. Guess it was better than quitting on me, LOL...but still! Not the exactly the behavior I expect from him. So we did lots of flextions, sidepassing, etc, to get him more focused on me, and not taking off after everyone else. I did find a few fifties that were going at a moderate trot, that matched his gait a bit better, and let him go along with them for a little bit. But after a few miles, they picked it up more, and I wanted him to slow down again. Ohhhhh no, no...he did NOT want to let them go. I ended up getting off and leading for a while again, until we found a pocket of our own and he had settled.
This worked well... he was still wanting to go (now that he knew he wasn't all alone), but not running off like a mad man. Perfect! We continue this way for a while, up some hills, down some hills, up some more hills...then low and behold, I see Judy up ahead! We'd caught her again :) Perfect. So we rode the rest of the way to the vet check together, and Storm was happy as a clam...so was I, as Judy's horse had a nice, mellow trot, that we could gait along to just fine. Actually, were gait was concerned, he was gaiting as nicely as ever today! When he was wanting to chase those 50's and I was holding him back, he was racking along like crazy! Tick-a-tack-a, tick-a-tack-a...oh the fun! And with Judy's horse he did a slow rack, or sometimes a saddle rack..but no step pace or hard pace... Awesome! I swear he gaits nicer every ride, the stronger he gets and the more time he spends in gait at rides..at home he is still lazy at times and drags along in a step pace when he doesn't want to animate...but at rides he has been really picking up gait, and this day was superb!
Anyway, we got to the vets in plenty of time, checked in, and moved to the pulse box. Storm was at 48! Wah?!!? I though the pulser must have had it wrong, but wasn't going to argue... that is as low as it has ever been at a check! Hmmm... On to the vet, and he went through with great scores, and after Judy checked through fine too, we found our crew stuff and set up for a nice lunch. It was only a half hour, with tack optional (we left it on, as it was still cool), which I LOVE...gives you way more time on the trail, which lets you take it easy out there instead of chasing the clock. And if the horse really needs it, you can always stay longer (and often I do, especially if I am in plenty of time), and by the time the horses had eaten their fill and we'd had lunch too and were set to go, it was prob. 45mins before we left.
Off we went, back up some good hills towards home. Up and down, up and down, we gaited and walked our way towards home. We had to walk a lot on the gravel roads, as Judy's horse was totally barefoot (she had been told the footing was 'great'...well, I think that person was thinking of last year, BEFORE all the roads got graveled..uggg) and though he was 'ok', he wasn't wanting to really run on the rock much. This cut into our time a good bit, and after a while, I was worried about cutoff, as I couldn't tell how close to the end we were. So we trotted most the good footing, even some of the up hills. Storm was getting a little warm as the day got warmer (I had meant to trace clip him, but hadn't been able to find the clippers! Gggrrrr :(...so he is pretty fuzzy) but he seemed ok. We had just finished walking a spell, when we hit a nice, sandy road again. So we moved out at a decent clip....until I started recognizing where we were...oh no! Not far from the finish! I reined him in and sure enough, there was the turn to go down the last hill to the finish....Opppsss... I normally walk in the last mile, esp when it is really warm or the horse is really fuzzy, or whatever. This usually gets us pulsed in by the time I cross the line. We walked from there and I had planned on hopping off at the water trough where the start had been and handwalk in. Toss some water on him and hopefully we'd be down by the time we hit camp.
Next mistake: I had also forgotten that the finish was where the start was, even for the LDs...not in camp! Shit! So I had basically trotted a while, then walked right to the finish...NOT my normal routine!
We hopped off, I let him drink and loosened the girth, and poured some water on him. He didn't seem too high (my HRM watch is broken, so I have been just feeling his heartbeat at the girth and guessing..when it feels close to what I guess is about a beat a second, we are close), so asked for a quick check. 72...MmmmKkk...not down yet... sighhh. I scooped some more water and in another minute or so, went for another check...still 68-70ish..hmmmm.... Storm was not helping eihter, as he kept squirming and tossing his head around and wanting to walk off. See, camp was just across the road and he was NOT happy to be stuck here! He was sweaty, itchy, hot, and hungry and wanted to find his buddy in camp (little did he know Oli was still out on the trail). He was quite irritated with this waiting around with camp in smelling and hearing distance. And of course the 50's were all coming in too...and THEY got to keep walking back after they signed in. This was the first time I had Storm in such a situation. Normally we always finished in camp, or a mile or so away, where he didn't know it was right there.
So more scooping (though he didn't feel as hot anymore, but heck, it couldn't hurt, right?) and then I even pulled his saddle. Judy also took some time to come down (she also thought it was camp related, and it turns out lots of the LDs were having the same issue that day...least it wasn't just my silly horse!), but pulsed before me. As 15 minutes went by, and he still wasn't down (he'd drop to 64, even 62, then shoot back up to 68-70 every time he squirmed or another 50 went by or he would fling his head all over...sheesh, just stand still and settle!!), I of course broke out the "paranoid mommy" side again...maybe something WAS wrong...he never takes this long to come down...sure, he looks fine, is acting pissy and impatient, but maybe....just maybe, it was all a little too much for him after almost 6wks off with only light riding....sighhh...there he goes again, worrying me! LOL..Bringing along a new horse, is so nerve wracking! They have so much still to learn, and you still have so much to figure out about them! Sighhh.... Of course now we also had the added worry that we'd be pulled. If you don't pulse down within 30 minutes of your finish time, you are out! ACK!...Me getting all upset about it wasn't helping either of course. 20 minutes went by, still no go...21...22...FINALLY! We finally were able to get a 60 pulse on the HRM handheld, and we were IN! Thank heavens! Our friend Laney, who was working the finish line, stuck with me and kept coming back to check him. She also was able to keep with him through his fidgeting, and was able to calm me (and thus him) down, when I started loosing it. I was really gratefull for her sticking with me, LOL.. I was so not a happy rider at that point (after having had an othewise AWESOME ride!) and she got us through the tight spot :) Many thanks!!
I flung the tack back up and rigged it enough to get back, and started hand walking him in again. Once at the trailer, I pulled it again, took Storm to a sandy spot for a role (he really enjoyed that...winter coats make them SO itchy when they sweat), and then he tucked into his food like crazy and drank a bunch more too. It was all he wanted...get back to camp and get to relax. I took his pulse again, and sure enough, it was mid 50's.....sighhh...what a dork! Yet ANOTHER thing we'll have to work on, though not sure how one could simulate that situation at home in training runs... after 20 mins I dragged him off the food and took him to the vet for our final run through. All good again. Whoo hoo! So we'd start the next day. Judy was going to sit that one out, so I was on my own.
Back at the trailer, I was finally able to relax a little and Storm was able to eat and relax too. Then walk the dog some more (seems every time I'd try and sit a bit it was time to walk the dog!) and putter around getting camp organized (we had to pick up manure at this ride, so I dragged several bags of it to the dumpster every day, as well as having to pick up water on the way back) and then brushing up storm after he dried. Soon enough, Terri showed up and not long after, it was time for the ride meeting again...how'd that happen??? Well, we did have a late (8am) start, so that cuts into the day a bit... So much for relaxing though! At the meeting rain was predicted for the next day (ick), an 8am start again, but a longer (20 miles) way around to the vet check, then the same trail back (wouldn't that make it over 30 miles?? Hmmm). Tucked the horses in again, walked Duke AGAIN, and back into bed. That was over fast!
Next: Our first pull and a rebound for the last day. More in Part 2!
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