Proud of my Boy...or Patriot's Day was a Success! (Part 2)

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)

Proud of my Boy...or Patriot's Day was a Success! (Part 1)

Gaiting down the trail...not sure why I am looking so serious, LOL.. (Photo by Renee Baylor)

After the plans of going to Bryce fell through, we decided on the Cuneo Creek (see last post) and Patriot's Day rides as a decent substitute. Both are 2-day multidays, so we'd get a good amount of riding in afterall. Not as great as Bryce (but nothing can beat an XP ride in such a pretty place), but it would do. I decided to try Storm's first 50 at Cuneo, as it is a relatively easy ride. Then, because Patriot's Day was only a week after and I was also planning on the Chamberlain Creek ride two weeks later, I thought doing a (or multiple) 50 would be too much at this stage of his conditioning. And even if his body was fine, I didn't want him to blow his poor little brain and think this whole endurance thing wasn't any fun. So I decided to do two LDs instead. This would still get him some mileage, and I could see how he'd do on a multi-day ride.

Patriot's Day is a nice ride run out of the Greenville, Ca area. It is not far from Lake Almanor (and the 50's get pretty close to the lake and later in the year, there is also a nice 25/50/75/100 around the lake as well, and we'll probably go do that 50), hosted by a wonder kids summer riding camp, Copper Creek. It is a benefit ride for the local Rotary Club and the whole town seems to come out to help. The riders and horses are absolutely spoiled (carrots and apples on the trail, even a free lemonade stand at one of the checkpoints!) and the camp has everything from arenas and wash racks for horses, to showers and a pond with a boat for the humans. I highly recommend this ride to everyone :) Trails on the 50 also come with a wonderfully scenic view of Mt. Lassen in the distance. The ride is moderately difficult (some really good, hard climbs, but then lots of open, flat or gradually downhill roads to move out on), so pretty doable if you take it easy.

We were going to get out early Thursday, but had a few hangups. Terri's cat had to go into the vet for some testing and such (she hadn't been eating well for a few days and seemed unwell), so we drove her by the clinic and dropped her off. Also, Storm decided it would be fun to delay our trip another 20 mins, by breaking his slider window in the trailer. Yes, he BROKE THE WINDOW! His stall in the trailer was missing the metal bars (broke out at the hinges...cheap and weak aluminum, that didn't like all the opening/closing it got the last few years) and this allowed him access to the actual window part. What I think he did, was stick his big snozz out through the opening (slider was in the open position, which put it on the inside of the trailer, against the main part of the window, with a 'tab' sticking out into the opening), got a little stuck, and then pushed around against the tab. This caused the whole thing to shatter. ARRRGGG!!! Luckily it was safety glass, so though we had a mess to clean up (it went on the floor of the trailer, on the parking lot, in his hay bag even...sighhh), he wasn't injured. That horse is such an oaf sometimes, and just can't leave well enough alone! We were going to have rings installed in the trailer, so we could hang some of those fly-mesh window coverings (the other two grates are about dead too), but just hadn't gotten around to it yet... what a dork. So anyway, it was closer to noon before we got out of town and on our way. Luckily we only had about a 7hr drive to camp.

We arrive close to sunset, and found a nice spot on the far side of the parking area (kind of a pasture area, that is used as a driving range for smacking some golf balls I think), under the trees and by the ropes course (boy, wish I were still a kid...this camp had LOTS of cool things to do!). We set up some electric corrals and a high line inside Storm's for night time tie up, and just managed to set all the camp stuff up before dark. Then the next day we got to relax and hang around camp, watching ppl arrive and waiting for our friend Linda to arrive, as we had a spot saved for her. Later in the day, I also helped a lady go out and ride her horses. It was kinda odd...she needed a second person to ride her backup horse, as her other horse wouldn't go out alone and she didn't like ponying. Hmmm, k.... She wanted to even pay me for it (which was really weird...like being a jockey or something? LOL)...I didn't want any money, heck we only went out for less than 2 hrs, and the horse I was riding was a total doll and easy to ride (the horse she was on, on the other hand, was not at all!). So it was kind of fun :) But she insisted, and paid me anyway...so does that make me a 'professional' rider now? LOL...
















Our camp setup...our boys are great and so relaxed...they'll sleep about anywhere :)

When Linda arrived, she set up her big TWH, Chance, on a high-tie on the side adjoining our corrals. Storm took GREAT interest in Chance, which he normally doesn't with other horses. He kept wandering over there and doing his excited nicker...hmmm...so we walked them around camp together, and even let them sniff noses and 'important parts' (all very carefully of course), so Storm could figure out that Chance was not a mare. He finally settled, but it was very weird. Linda finally figured out why, though...Chance looks almost exactly like a mare that Storm had bred at least once, if not a few times...big, black, with higher white socks. Interesting! Of course after riding together the next day, Storm could have cared less about Chance...just like with mares here at home...it's like once he understands that a horse is 'working' with him, it is no available for 'recreation'...whatever the case, he is always good with a mare after having ridden with her.

We gathered our packets and vetted through A-ok in the afternoon, and then had a lovely dinner (the ride has an option for buying dinners Friday night too..yeah! Much better than Ramen noodles :) ) and then the ride meeting. LD's start at 8:30...WHAT? I am not a morning person, but at rides I do like to start early. Everyone says they like to 'sleep in'...but really, HOW can you sleep in when the 50's are up and making noise, and as soon as they leave, all the LD horses left by their buddies are screaming their heads off? And with a 50 rider in the rig with me, I'd be up at 5:30 anyway. So what was I supposed to do for 3 hours??? LOL. Oh well.... I did get a shower in the morning, cleaned the pens (manure/hay had to be taken to a manure pile), ate some breakfast, and still had almost an hour left. Least I wasn't feeling rushed.

I tacked up and booted Storm (I love how the new Easyboot Gloves work with him...they just go on and off easily and they stay on, don't rotate, etc with no added stuff like sports tape or whatnot... no rubs either since we have been using the new gaiters...whoo hoo!). I even had plenty of time to put ribbons and bells (left over from our parade earlier in the year...they look great on him!) in his mane, then Linda and I (she wanted to ride with me and keep Chance to a slow turtle pace, which was great for me, as Storm likes riding with a companion instead of alone) wandered over to the start area. My watch had us at a few minutes before the start, so the front runners SHOULD have gone by the time we got there.... Nope. Ride time was about 7 mins slower than my watch...oops... oh well. So I hand walked while Linda got on and rode around...then a few minutes later they let us go. No one was in a big rush, but Chance got all wired up as the horses trotted off, and Linda was swept up with the front runners or risked getting bucked off if she had held him back. I was up on Storm by then, and he wanted to go with as well, but I had a plan and was sticking to it. I made him walk out (which he was not happy with, but behaved himself decently...just pulling a bit more than I like and trying to break into a gait) and the front runners finally got out of sight.

All went well for a little bit, but then more horses caught up with us and it was back to pulling and trying to gait off... hmmm, guess Redwood was not unique...he really HAS caught on to this whole competition thing. This is why I don't mind a lazy and laid back horse...they ALL learn to GO once they get the idea of the 'game', and they are in that adrenalized ride environment. But at least a quieter horse doesn't get all upset and hunchy, or otherwise dorky, like an already hot horse tends to do at rides. A few miles up the trail, I finally had enough of the argument about what speed we were going to do (and with a BIG BIG hill coming right up, I did NOT want to go blasting down the trail and blow my ride right at the start), so I simply got off and hand walked again for the next mile or so, until he finally calmed down and realized I was in charge again.
So often, I see people fighting their horses half the ride, and the horse is not learning anything and both are worked up. When it gets to the point that the horse is really not listening to me anymore, then I don;t play into the fight anymore and just get off... much safer that way and the horse can settle down and not burn all his energy fighting you down the trail. This may not work for everyone, but it has always worked for me, so that is what I do. So far, it has resulted in many ride completions and a sane horse that learns to listen to me.

I also used this as an opportunity to work on tailing. Storm is fine with me pulling on his tail, but due to his lazy attitude, he doesn't tail well. He'll stop and turn around and head back the way we came, when I'd try and tail him (I think I am going to make a light set of driving lines out of parachute cord or something, that I can rein him with on the trail, to fix that issue). Since he was so hell bent on catching the other horses, once he at least agreed to walk (fast), I got behind him and let him follow the trail. Worked great until we hit the BIG, LONG, HILL (called the Zipper, because of the steeper and many switchbacks). Then he decided going back to camp was a better option again and I got back on. He huffed and puffed to the top, but carried me up just fine. Then we got to go a gradual downhill for a good while on a good road.

Eventually, wandering up and down the ridge, we hit the checkpoint way up on top, that was the turnaround for the LDs at maybe 8 miles (30 mile ride this day, this was the first loop, then lunch in camp, and a second loop). There was water, hay, apples and carrots, people water, and even snacks. Did I mention we were spoiled at this ride?? Linda was there waiting as well...she had decided that was a good spot to wait for me and get away from the front runners, who were going too fast for Chance.

Here we are, leaving the mid-loop checkpoint, looking good :) (Photos by Renee Baylor)

I spent a good 15 minutes there, letting Storm eat and relax. It was good for Storm, but it did put me slightly behind schedule for when I wanted to be in camp for lunch. It was ok though, as the rest of the loop was mostly downhill and was slightly shorter than than the first part. So we were able to make decent time, and I got into lunch just about when I had planned to. We had to go back down the Zipper, which I got off and led, and then gaited all the way to the 1/4 mile sign. So it was going to be interesting to see what his HR was going to be (my HR watch is broken, so can't use the monitor).

The setup at the lunch VC was a bit odd...they take your in-time where the trail comes into the camp area, then there is a little walk to where the water troughs are set up. Then about 150 yards or so to the arena, where the vets were. Instead of having pulse takers, the vets were to take our pulse (and do the vet check at the same time if you wanted...which would have require dumping tack there, and no down-time for eating and resting in the VC before a check). This ate up a lot of time, and of course the horse could possibly still be (or go back) up in HR when it hit the vet, as you had to wander over there and it was a fairly warm day (mid-upper 80's). I wasn't sure of my strategy, but let Storm drink at the troughs and figured I would just go ahead and head to the vet and get a pulse (from sticking my hand on his side at the waters, he felt just around 60-64 maybe...). I wasn't sure about scooping at waters either, so he didn't get cooled off either. A good test I suppose :) At the vet line, they gave you another 'pulse/in' time (though depending on the line, you might be 1-5 mins from even getting to see the vet, so not sure what that time really does for you) and put you in line. There were only two ppl, already at the vets, so I got in to the vet in a minute or so of standing still, tack still on, in the sun....hmmm... Well, no worries, he was down! Whoo hoo! 56, which seems to be his 'standard' pulse in right now...seems to get that a lot. Not bad for no cooling, and only walking in the last 1/4 mile. Good job Storm :) From the arena, it was another 100 yards maybe to my trailer, where I dumped tack and set him up with all the goodies he'd need.

Linda turned up about 10 mins later (I had left her at the in-timers, since I thought Storm would prob pulse in ok and didn't want to squander any time, as I was kind of right on the schedule I had worked out, to finish in time and didn't have much leeway), and I thought she was all set as well as she was untacking, etc. Then she said she still had to go pulse in..hmmm?? I think she didn't quite understand the pulse/vet thing, but then she was saying they wouldn't take her pulse? Not sure. At any rate, it put our times way apart by the time she did go pulse in (20 mins or so into when we arrived), so I decided to leave on my own (again, not much leeway to finish without rushing and riding too fast). He was eating and drinking great, and I vetted Storm through about half way through the check (I often like to wait to the end, but they wanted tack off and with the check area and trailer areas all over the place, I didn't want to waste time) and he got mostly A's with a B on guts, which didn't worry me since we hadn't been in the check that long and it came back to an A at the finish. 15 miles down....

Our Lunch vetting.... A B and an A-...not bad at all...

15 more to go.... After the hour hold, we went back out on the trail (this time he was a bit better about leaving camp, compared to at Cuneo where I practically had to beat him down the trail, so he is learning fast that camp doesn't mean we are done...good!) and out on loop 2, which also starts out with a pretty significant hill (the camp seems to sit in this little bowl of a valley, and the only way out, is UP). He was not too pleased about that, but once we saw another rider up ahead (turned out it was a 50 miler), he perked up. At the very top was another water stop (yes! Thank you!) and he tanked up and I chatted with the 50 miler, who it turns out I knew (she hadn't recognized me at first, since I wasn't on Cheyenne...I think that is going to throw a lot of ppl for a while, who have seen me on a big gray the last 5 yrs). We decided to ride together a little, if the horses paced the same, and it did work out. She went a tad faster than I had planned, but most of it was downhill and Storm was doing fine and having fun, so I let him keep up. There was another uphill before the last checkpoint, and she was going a good trot up the hill and some canters, so I slowed Storm down a little. He wasn't too happy, but I didn't want him tuckered out since he had another day to go.

The check was the lemonade stand (mmmm, REAL lemonade too, not that powdered stuff..what a treat in the heat of the afternoon!) and Storm was a little hot, so I got off and let him eat (hay, apples, and carrots yet again) and drink, and the volunteers said this was an ok spot to scoop as well, so he got cooled off. Knowing where we were, and seeing it wasn't that far back, I relaxed a little (as we made decent time following the 50) and took it fairly easy back to camp. Most of it was back down the mountain, to the road, but that meant we had to climb back up over a small ridge to get back into our valley. Not fun at the end of the day, but Storm did alright, and some of the trail was a fun, single track that wound through tight, knee-knocking trees. Then it popped out on top of the ridge, with another fun, single track trail that wound down the toe of the ridge and through a bunch of manzanita bushes. At the bottom, a road took us by an (very scary apparently, as Storm SLAMMED on the breaks at a good gaiting clip, almost unseating me...sheesh) old barn-type building and over a nice creek that was deep enough to stand in and scoop out of. We passed over this creek at another spot at the start of the loop, so I knew we couldn't be too far from camp. With plenty of time on the clock, I made him stand in the creek and get nice and wet and cooled down and eating some of the grass on the embankment. Then we mostly walked back into camp, where we again had the kind of weird timer/pulse in the arena setup, only this end of the trail was almost twice as far from the arena, as the first loop's end. Luckily I had plenty of time (since LDs don't 'finish' until they pulse in...I was worried about what would happen to ppl close to cutoff though) and when we got over there, Storm was at 56 again. Great! Finished with 45 minutes to spare... not bad and pretty close to the turtle pace I had wanted to do.

Our pre-and post-ride check...All A's...great to see :)

Tack off and letting him eat a little, we went back to vet in within the required 1/2hr and all A's again. Super job! I brought him back to the trailer and he continued to inhale food for another 1/2hr or so, then settled in for a little nap, while I clayed and wrapped his legs. He has an older fence tangling ( think..not clear on the story really) injury on a hind leg, that so far never has caused him problems, but sometimes will stock up at rides a little...actually, it always looks a little puffier than the other legs to begin with... Anyway, I figure it can't hurt to wrap him and he always looks great after a few hours of wrapping (back to normal thickness). I might even invest in ice boots for him, though with only an ice chest to keep things cool and no LQ freezer, not sure if it is any better or worse than cold water and clay, by the time the boots would actually get used. Will have to investigate that...

Linda came in about 1/2 hr later, and she pulsed and vetted through alright as well. Whoo hoo! Chance did it :) His first ride and Linda is now back in the endurance 'game'. Yes! We got to relax and then have dinner (dinner starts really early and you kind of just go when you feel like eating) and Terri made it in on her 50 just in time for the ride meeting. Only downside of the ride...the meetings are before the cutoff time, so it kind of rushes the turtle 50's. Hmmm.. Ah well. small gripe in an otherwise perfect ride :) Ride meeting was good, and the LDs, instead of getting a Best Condition, get a "Horsemanship Award" in its place. The difference was that instead of coming from the top ten riders only, all horses in the distance are evaluated. And not only for fitness, but for how the horse behaves, how horse and rider interact, how the rider is behaving towards ride staff and those around them. I like having a BC since that is something that AERC awards and you can make a goal of going for the national BC award (both LDs and 50's+), but this kind of an award is great too, as it rewards things I find important too, besides just fitness of the horse, how heavy you are, and how fast you ride. I find there are a lot of fast and fit horses out there, that are total jerks (and often due to their riders not having much control over the horse) or that the rider is rude to ride staff and other riders, in their race to be first. That doesn't display good sportsmanship (or horsemanship), but is 'rewarded' by prizes for first, top ten, and BC anyway, if that rider/horse make it in that category. So then it reinforces that rider/horse's behavior as 'ok', since it worked to win. Oh well.

At any rate, the "Horsemanship" award went to a nice Arab stallion, that if I remember correctly, was on his first ride that day. Awesome :) It is always nice to see a stallion get an award like this, as there are not many doing this sport, and some of them are real dorks, that shouldn't be on the trail (often more due to the rider, than the horse really). At first, when the head vet started talking about 'this time the award goes to a stallion', I was getting a little excited, thinking it might be Storm. But not to be...oh well! He's a good boy anyways and looked in great shape, so I was happy. After the meeting, we organized for the next day (the LD and 50's first check was out on the trail, so I needed to send a crew bag this time) and tucked in all the ponies for the night. Ride start was at 8 for me, still a little late in my mind, but at least a little better than this time.
Another shot from the trail (Photo by Renee Baylor) Day 2 in the next post...

Cuneo Creek 2010

Our Camp setup...Storm in a pen, Oli and Chey in the hot fence, all sharing hay hanging on the corral..worked great! :)


Storm did his first 50 just over a week ago...and passed with flying colors!
As I mentioned in the last posts, our local endurance club hosts 4 endurance rides each year. The last in the series, is usually held around the first weekend of September, in the lovely Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I had originally intended to take Storm to the Bryce Canyon XP ride in Utah that same week, but Terri's goat decided to develop mastitis a day before we left. This totally changed our plans. After a quick call to the ride managers to see if there was still room, we decided to go do the Cuneo Creek ride instead, and a week later, the Patriot's Day ride. If we did both days, we'd still get 4 out of 5 ride days (Bryce is a 5-day ride) in, with less travel on top of it. After Storm's stellar performance at Redwood, I decided to try his first 50 at Cuneo.
This is a 2-day ride, and I was planning on doing one day on my oldster, Cheyenne, and one day on Storm. I'd figure out which day after seeing the trail layout and checking temperatures. I ride at Cuneo all the time, as I am a member of the MAU (mounted assistance unit) group there. So I know how far the trails are, how the elevation changes, trail footing, etc. After finding out the trails, and with weather predicted to be hot (but slightly cooler on day 2), I chose to ride day one on Chey and day two on Storm. Cuneo is a fairly easy ride (slightly short trails and though some hills, most are long, gradual climbs, vs straight up and steep), and a great 'first' for horses...first LD, first 50, first multi-day, etc.... I did my youngster's first ride there last year, and so it was fitting to make it Storm's first 50 as well. I knew exactly how fast I could go where, and what the trail did where, so time-management would be a simple task (vs at rides you don't know, and have to 'guess' by mileages and what others say about the terrain), and I could take my time and not feel like having to rush through to finish on time. Another nice addition: there was only going to be ONE one hour hold in camp, instead of multiple holds, which would mean I had even more time on the trail. Whoo hoo!
We arrived Thursday afternoon, as all the good (shady, with corrals...this is a 'real' horse camp with permanent corrals, real bathrooms with showers, and even a sandy roll pit for the ponies) spots are gone by Friday. We stuck Storm in a corral, and set up a hot fence area for Oliver and Chey, then relaxed the rest of the day. The next day, my friend Vanessa (who was going to be a vet secretary both days and came down with us) and I took Chey, Storm and Oli (I ponied Oli off Storm, and both boys behaved wonderfully! I love how easy going Storm is with everything knew...I had never ponied off him before, and Oli kept switching sides and getting the rope under Storm's tail...no problems there either) on a ride to where I had remembered a swim hole in the creek, that was big enough for horses. I found it 6 weeks ago, so wasn't sure it would still hold enough water, but it would be fun to try out anyway, and it was hot enough to just dunk ourselves in, if nothing else (95+...we were not happy that it would maybe be that bad all weekend)! It was about 1hr out to the hole. Once there, we untacked and tied horses to trees on the creek bed, to take one in at a time, as there was not much room (SMALL hole, maybe 30ft across at the widest), and none of the horses had been swimming before that we knew of. The nice part of the hole, is that the creek is really shallow (horse knee-deep) and then gradually goes deep enough to swim, but never REALLY deep (7ft maybe at the deepest?), so the horses can keep their feet most the time and just barely have to swim. And a person can also stand in the water most the time, and let the horse swim around them. This is perfect for teaching a horse to swim for the first time... Oliver was the calmest and just swam around easily (maybe he has done it in the past, with a different owner?), Chey was not too excited about it at all, but liked just standing belly deep in it and cooling off, vs swimming. Storm was not too sure at all, and did that 'rear/swim' thing a lot of newbie horses do, the first few times they feel lifted off the ground. So I had him swim without me a good bit, then with me til he felt ok with it, and then called it good. Good enough for a first try :) He seemed to like standing knee deep and pawing at the water, splashing everything around, best of all... Afterwards, we tacked back up and rode back to camp. We had Easyboot Gloves on all the horses btw, as the creek bed and most the creek had big rocks in it. They stayed on the whole time, through the water play, and after, all wet and squishy (stopped squishing a few minutes down the trail), and not a rub or other issue. Great!
Once we got back, I vetted in Chey, and put him up. A few hours later, I braided his and Storm's manes, and brushed them down and checked them over one last time. I noticed two swollen spots in the 'folds' of Chey's armpits, one with a dime-sized rub on it... WTH??? Looked like a girth gall, but the girth is never that far forward, and in the almost 5,000 miles I have ridden him, I have only once had a gall.. found something similar (but not as severe) on Storm as well. Took him back to the vets, and they thought it was a gall too, but that if I kept the girth back off it (wouldn't believe me when I said it never goes there), and lubed it up well, we should be fine for the ride the next day. Hmmmm...Well, I pulled out the good old Bickmore's Gall Salve (that stuff is AWESOME...always carry it!) and slathered it on. I also cooled the pit area, as it was BLAZING hot...after it cooled down, the swelling really reduced. I think what happened, was that due to the heat, the folds rubbed against each other, and caused the galls, not the girth. At any rate, I decided to check him in the morning, and bump down to the 30 the next day, instead of doing a full 50 if needed, in case it would get worse. It looked better in the morning, but not great, so I did bump down. Though with Bickmores, and riding later, not only did it not get worse, it seemed to get much BETTER...Could have done the 50...oh well.
So, after tacked up Chey and booted him up (in buckle-converted Bares with dome pads...he LOVES these as they cushion his old-boy joints so nicely), we did the 30 instead...well, turns out we did a nice 15mile trail ride, instead. Why? Well, since I decided last minute, I was busy finding the RM and vets to let them know my decision, and get a new card, number, etc. In all that chaos, I forgot to get a new map and find out where the LDs were going (I guess knowing the trails gave me a false sense of security....ooops!). It was a controlled start, and as we were going down the trail, I ask the leader which loops to do. "Orange, then Yellow" was the answer. Cool, no problem. Wrong.... I was with the group for a few miles, all trotting along, when out of the corner of my eye, I see this dark, floppy thing go flying behind me...turn around, and there is my Dixie Midnight flopping to the ground behind us.... BBBRREEAKKKS!!! and flip the horse around and off the trail. I had left the girth real loose, just in case it WAS the girth somehow, and I guess that didn't sit too well with the DM pad, letting it work out from under the normal pad and scoot out the back of my saddle. So while I fixed my tack, the rest of the LDers went on by me and I was all on my own to the first trail split. This split had a samll paper plate on it with "30's Day 2 (note the 2) right, 50's/All Day 1 straight" or something similar...couldn't quite tell, as Chey was upset at having been left, and hot to go, and dancing around the sign, which was not in a big print or on a big plate. All I saw was "30's right" and there were some ORANGE ribbons hanging in the trees to the right. Since I was told to follow orange, I went right.
Wrong... Oh well. Off I went on a nice, BIG loop.... I kinda thought I was going wrong, when I never caught anyone. But i kept thinking they had left at a good clip, and I had wasted a LOT of time with the saddle/pad issue. And there WERE prints all over out there (duh, it's a horse trail...and someone had to have marked it too...). Note: I'll have you know, I was never 'lost'...I knew the trails and where I was on them, where to go, where camp was, etc... I just happened to....errrrr....take the incorrect trail for that day's ride, LOL ;).... By the time I came all the way around the loop, to the next split, I had pretty much figured I was wrong, though. Sure enough, a sign saying "30's Day 2, Right, 50's...." I knew I was totally on the wrong trail. I decided to go straight, which would take me to a trail and back to camp in another 1/2 hr. Oh well... I figured at that point, I was not meant to be out there that day, and should have listened earlier..Goat problems? Girth Galls? etc... the getting off track was the last straw! I 'could' have continued on the 'day 2' loop, in hopes that if I did all the miles, and did the after-lunch trail correctly, I might get a 'completion only', but decided not to push my luck, esp since I knew the 50's would be coming UP the trail I would have to come down, and might beat me to it even this early... most likely not a good idea. So home I went.
Turns out, when I got back to camp, they were running around looking for someone free to be another vet secretary. So I said after putting up the horse, I'd be game. I vetted Chey through and then ROed for getting 'lost', set up Chey in his corral, checked Storm, and spent the rest of the day hanging out, relaxing, and helping vet sec. That was fun, and educational as always, and not a bad way to spend a bungled up day. Of course, by lunch, not to mention the end of the day, every rider and the entire camp, had heard of my getting 'lost', and were having a ball ribbing me... lost at your home-territory ride...I'll never live THAT one down :) LOL...
Here we are, after heading home...I was laughing, telling the photographer all about my mishap. We can have fun even on bad days I guess! :) Photo by: Barry Thorpe

On to Day Two, with hopefully more success. At least this time, I knew for sure where I was going, as I was back to doing a 50. And I was going to ride with Terri, if our pacing worked out ok... Storm looked great in the morning, and his gall, which wasn't bad to begin with, looked ok. I gooped up his pits with Bickmores 'just in case' anyway, tacked up and booted up (four Gloves...he does awesome in them with no tape, or any modifications, despite a wider, 'spade' shape to his feet), and off we went. The first loop was exactly where I had started off the previous day with Chey, and after the first 2-3 miles of flat going, we started up the switchbacks of a good sized climb.
The benefit of the uphill slant, is that Storm picked up a WONDERFUL rack...there was a horse a few switchbacks up ahead that he wanted to catch, so he kicked into a higher gear. It was fast, smooth, and FUN! He is such a lateral horse, that on downhills he'll tend to fall into a step-pace (we are working on that though, and it is getting increasingly better), but an up hill will square him up into a nice runwalk or rack, depending on the speed. On flats, it depends on how I can get him to collect up or not, how tired he is, etc. He gets better and better every ride though, and the stronger his muscles get, the more he'll gait correctly. And it sure is a gaited grin ride, when he does hit that nice lick :)
After getting to the top of the climb, we go around the mountain a little, then back down, down, down, down on a gravel logging road. I pretty much get off and lead this, as I feel it's better on the horse's legs to not ride down all that gravel downhill, especially since I am in no hurry to win anything. This got us to the split in the trail I decided to go home at, the other day. So up the mountain we went again, on another gravel road, to where a beautiful, 5 mile single track trail, switchbacks down, down, down again into a majestic, old growth Redwood grove. This trail, because it was a very gradual decent, we rode down. I worked on getting Storm to rack and run walk instead of step pace, and was having pretty good success. We would also canter on the flat areas of it. FUN! Then another couple of miles back to camp, for our one hour hold. We pulsed in at the required 60bpm pretty much right when we got in, then went to the trailer to untack, and after a little bit of resting and eating, went to vet through. All A's... whoo hoo! And he felt and looked good to me up to this point on the trail, as well. Good to go for loop two.

Our mid-ride vet check....all looks good, and a smiley face from Vanessa (sec-ing for Dr. Powers)

Now for the interesting part. The previous rides Storm had done, all had Out vet checks. This means they were somewhere out on the trail, not back in camp. One big loop away and then back to camp, which gives the horse a good sense of 'we have to get there'. This would be his first ride with a check IN camp, meaning he'd have to get tacked up and go back out, even though he'd think he was 'done', since being in camp had always meant that on loop-rides. Some horses don't seem to care either way, others HATE leaving camp again, and will even buck, rear, and refuse to leave without (or even sometimes with) another horse to follow out. I wasn't sure exactly what Storm would do, but since he is a tad lazy, I figured he'd need some convincing to leave. And sure enough, he gave me an odd look while tacking up ("Umm...WHAT are you doing? We're back home, right??"), and sure enough, leaving camp was not on the itinerary... ("Uh..no! We are DONE! The trailer is right THERE! Stupid human, I am NOT leaving a perfectly good food and rest place!"). Sure, I could have stuck Oliver in front, and Storm probably would have followed, but that would not have taught him anything, and then what if we didn't have another horse next time? So I led the way out, with much nudging of the heels and I did have to get out the crop and smack him on the rear a few times. Then he finally, though dragging his heels, left on the out trail, Oliver towing behind.
The heel dragging continued for over a mile, when we were finally passed by another rider and friend of ours, and maker of awesome tack (hought.com), Gail Hought. THEN of course, all of a sudden, we were awake and pulling on the bit again, LOL. Up the hills we went, then along a fun, rolling, dirt logging rode, where we had some great gallop sprints for fun :) Then we hit the last, long trail back down, another gradual switchback for some miles, back down to the creek and the last 2 or so mile trail back to camp. Storm was a tad tired, but had plenty of energy left. We pulsed in as soon as they could take it, at the required 64bpm. Then we again went back to the trailer, untacked, let the boys eat a little and rest (not even 1/2hr), and went to vet in. He was down to 56 by then and again, ALL A's. Best of all?? The head vet, Dr. Ellery (though Dr. Powers was 'officially' vetting us for the completion, we had all three pretty much vetting us in, as we were the last riders), gave Storm an awesome compliment. He said "This is a fine horse, and he is an excellently behaved stallion, and I really want you to know that. He is is so well mannered. Great job!" Ohhhhh, my heart was fluttering at that :) What an AWESOME boy! He is the BEST ambassador for his breed.
The Pre-ride and finish exam. All A's :) His pre-ride pulsing is getting better and better too...he used to be a bit higher (low 50's) because of the 'excitement' of being in a new place, but it is dropping lower, and one day I hope it will get close to his 'real' resting HR (38ish at home). Then I know, he'll be totally blase about being in a ridecamp :) Unfortunately the photographer only stayed for day one, so I didn't get any pictures of Storm and me :(:( Oh well....
I poured lots of mush and hay into Storm that evening, and he looked content and not 'worn out' at all. The next morning he was bright and chipper and like he could go ahead and do it all again. Whoo hoo! A job well done, for his first 50. Next up: two days of LDs at Patriot's Day. I was debating what distances to do, but since it was only one week away, and I wanted to not blow his brain or body, and decided to do two LDs, instead of an LD/50 or 50/50. Even though he looked and felt great, he IS still knew at this, so I will have to curb my enthusiasm and keep it fun and easy for him for now :)

Has it been so long?? Really?!? ((LONG!)) Part 2

(Not the best shot of us, as he fought me most the way here and looks tired and sweaty..but gaiting well in the pic! This was about 1.5 miles from the vet check... Photo by Barry Thorpe)

So to the ride we went. Got up there on Fri before the ride, started unpacking, and realized: no electric fence! Ack! Oh well :( So he was going to have to just get tied to the trailer the whole ride. We vetted in fine (got a nice comment from the vets about how nice he was...even THEY had to look to see he was a stud, LOL..score!), then I decided a both would be good, since it was a relatively warm day and we had access to water. This would be his first bath in who knows how long! It made him nice and shiny and soft...sighhh...purdy horse! ;)

(This is after the vet check...much better, he has settled down and is much more relaxed and got to rest for 1/2 an hour. I am riding with Elicia Kamberg and her nice gelding and we'd done a training ride together earlier too, so these boys were happy to ride the rest of the way home together. Photo by Barry Thorpe)

Tied him up again and all was well...til that evening after the ride meeting. During the day I had him on a sort of 'zip line' on a rope hooked up inside the trailer, tied to the inside tie rings, rope fed out through the windows. Worked great, and gave him a little more room to move around. Problem was, the metal runner loop would clang around on the trailer. No way I was sleeping (or NOT) with that all night. So I decided to just tie him to the corner tie ring overnight. Tied him, went to get some mush for him, after which I was going to move his water tub (to block the bottom of the door-corner...) and hay bag. Came around the corner with his mush bucket, and his head was down eating grass...rope under the corner...uh oh! Sure enough, he sees me, up goes the head...well, 6' where it is stopped by the corner. Course all hell proceeds to break loose! Storm is flipping out, setting back on the halter. Rope is going NOWHERE (stout rope, good snap, rope halter=a stallion that stays where he is parked all day/night). Trailer is rocking, I am on the wrong side of the trailer from the knot (which, btw, I tied a different one from normal, that is SUPPOSED to be a better quick release than my normal fare). My friend Vanessa was on the other side, and she couldn't get the knot to release (from now on, back to my other knot). I was trying to calm him down, yelling at her to find a knife (of course, this WOULD be one of the few times I was NOT carrying one on my body...sighhh...Murphy strikes again). Finally, after several attempts at undoing the snap (bullsnap, hard to do anything with, let alone with 1100lbs of horse on the other end setting back) while he would set back, come forward, set back, I finally got him to give his head enough to unhook the danged thing! All three of us were adrenalined up at that point, and it took a while to settle down. I retied him (even SHORTER..just barely able to reach his water and mush), got his water bucket moved to the corner, and checked him over. Had a little scrape on his cheek from the halter, but 'seemed' fine. In the morning (it was dark by now and most ppl were in bed), I'd have the vet check him over (he REALLY was set back hard...on a rope halter too) before I went off on the trail.

Went to sleep, though woke up at every little sound of course, since I was now tuned to trouble. So didn't sleep well. Good thing it was only an LD I'd have to get through. Took him back to the vet (who also is into chiropractory) before taking up to make sure he was still good to start. He was a little sore in his poll, but not bad and got the green light to go....goody! So I tacked up and got set to go. He was nice and mellow, even with all the 50's leaving and the LDs getting read to go and wandering around camp. So that was a great sign. At the start, we all kinda hung back, no one wanting to be 'first', LOL...lots of hotshoes in the LD, huh? ;) The starter practically had to kick us up onto the levy to head out, LOL. I hung back and hand walked him to the actual trail head, then mounted up. He was calm walking and mounting, but spooked like a dork at the trail head sign (which he has seen a dozen times at least and never spooked at! What a dolt!) and then.... a MONSTER on my hands! Not sure what he did when he set back, but must have sparked some little competitive streak that was up til now hidden in him. He would NOT walk! (I walk up the first 1.5 miles of this trail usually, as it is a significant hill and didn't want to tucker him out at the start) He kept pulling and wanting to gait out or canter and catch other horses...not like him at all! This proceeded not only up the first hill (which I THOUGHT would wear him out...riiighhhttt...nope), but for the next 16 miles...basically all the way to the vet check! What a ding bat! He'd pull and try to run, I'd circle him, he'd try to run, etc. When the footing was good or there was a nice stretch of trail, I would ASK (after the pull/circle cycle of course) him to move out... and OUT he would go! What fun! a super smooth and fast gait and just zip zipping around switchbacks, trees, etc... kinda crazy, but thrilling :) He was never out of control, mind you. If I really need to say ENOUGH and WALK, I could circle him to a stop easy, then let him just STOP for a minute and get his head on, then we could go on again. It was just that he wanted to really GOOOOOO! Which he normally doesn't (lazy SOB usually!). If I knew he were in shape to go fast, I'd even ask him to keep that up. Since he's not though, I kept asking him to rate back a lot, which he really wasn't happy about, but somewhat complied.
Finally, near the vet check turnoff, I met up with my friend Elicia (we'd done a training ride together on our two horses before, so the boys really liked hanging with each other) who was doing her horse's first LD and was trying to slow it down as well. The rest of the way to the VC (bout 1.5miles) we finally were able to slow gait or walk on a loose rein...aaahhhh...bout time! So after getting all hot and bothered most the way to the check, I was able to get Storm to slow down, which hopefully would mean we could actually pulse in in a decent amount of time. Both Elicia and I were figuring out the VC plan, thinking we'd have to strip tack and do lots of sponging to get the ponies pulsed in (as both had gone a bit faster than their normal pace). 1/4 mile from the VC, we dismounted and loosened the girths...Storm was around 72 on his HRM and then it quit (doesn't like loose girths). WE got out our vet cards, handed them to the checkers, and since nobody was around, the pulse takers came over to check us (this was at about 1 1/2 mins into the check)....no way did I think Storm would be ready, but since no one was in line, figured I'd see how 'close' he was..... DOWN! says the checker (and he's a long-time e-rider, not a newbie volunteer either, so I knew if he said we were good, we were!)...he hands me back my card, and Storm is at....56!!...well, so much for thinking we were going too fast! Hmmmmmm...... Elicia's horse was down a minute later too, so not a problem :) We decided to hang together and ride the rest of the ride together from there on.

I led the horses to a nice shady area and set the boys up with hay (we provide hay for riders at the RW rides if they want it) while she went to find her crew bag. Then she watched the boys while I got mine. Both ate like crazy and drank well, and of course each wanted the OTHER horse's mush and hay. Her horse was constantly in Storms dish, nose to nose, and he pretty much coulda cared less... what a good pony :) Just before we were ready to leave, we packed up the bags and then went over to the vets. It was only a 1/2 hour hold, so tack was left on and we barely had enough time to get ourselves fed, but I like shorter holds as it gives you more time on the trail to take it easy, and if you NEED to stay longer, you sure can, so no big deal :) Anyway, we went over to the vet, and she did a CRI. Basically you take a pulse, trot the horse out for a set distance, trot back, wait a minute....usually during which the vet checks the rest of your horse....and then pulse again. This goes back to the important RECOVERIES thing I talked about earlier....you want the second pulse to be the same or within a few beats at most higher, than the first. If it is lower, all the better, and of course the lower the actual number of both (48/48 vs a 56/56) is even better... This indicates how fit the horse is, and how tired at that point in the ride the horse is, or other things that may be wrong. Not all vets at all rides do this, so it was kind of fun to see what Storm was at. I figured in the 50's I'd be happy, and if he was the same pulse, really happy :). What was his CRI???? 44/44......NO WAY!!! I thought I had misheard her! She also gave A's on everything, A- on guts, which was fine with only a 1/2hr hold and what he had at the pre-vet anyway... Handed my card back, and yes! 44/44! WOWZER!!!!! You really can't appreciate how excited I was about that one, as I thought a) he was still not in such good shape (guess he'd only fooled me with his laziness at other rides) and b)he had gone too fast to the VC (guess not...seems he was ok to handle that), and c)even for Arabs that was a darn good CRI, let alone a gaited horse that "those don't do endurance well"....Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Elicia's horse vetted out fine as well and we went to mount up and head home.

The plan was to walk more and relax on the way back...bout 11 miles tops. Well...we know how plans go, right? Storm knew we were heading home (problem with riding on the home turf) and he was wanting to GO again...especially after having rested and refueled. The first few miles were on a nice, open, flat, good footing logging road as well. So I let him out a little and we cantered quite a bit and gaited a little. I also knew the next two miles after that were DOWN hill and flat, before it finally went uphill again. What FUN it was! Elicia's horse and Storm were kinda egging each other on as well and feeding into it all... At the downhill it turns into a less maintained two-track, then into a single track. We walked most of it with a little slow gaiting and then walked the really steep downhill. This led into another flat, old logging road that we gaited on, and walked the bad spots (some bogs and ditches and stuff you have to negotiate). Then UP UP UP for the next 2 miles until you get to what we call the Alder Trail. A fun, single track, rolling whoopie-do trail that takes you for 2 miles to the big switchback hill that you come up in the morning. We flew down that again (poor Elicia had me slow down the pace a few times, as Storm really, REALLY knew that the Alder Trail meant we were close to home and he was feeling GREAT!) at a good pace, then finally popped back onto the trail for home. Both E and I decided to get off at the 'cave tree' and lead the rest of the way back down (another 1.5 miles or so) and get the boys to settle down. At the bottom of the trail, we hopped back down to ride the last 1/2 mile or so on the levy to camp. The hand walking seemed to have worked, as both were mostly content to walk on in on loose rein. E and I were bummed we were doing an LD, as it would have been fun to 'race' (trot/gait..neither of us wanted to go hell bent for leather or anything) in to the finish, just for the heck of it , but since LDs don't finish til the horses' pulses were down to 60, we didn't want them to go flying in. Oh well...so we strolled across the finish line instead. We hopped off and got our pulses taken right away, and Storm was again at 56... great! All done! E's horse was down too :) After untacking (Storm didn't even seem bothered by leaving E's horse and going to his own trailer, though her horse whinnied back at us a few times I think), we came back for a final vet out.... All A's again, except guts, which were still at A-...no biggie :) And a GREAT score card. I know the cards really don't mean that much, as they are just a brief glimpse into what your horse is doing that very minute, and you really need to just pay attention to what he is doing all day.... But (esp since he was doing so well all day and had lots of energy to spare at the end) it is still nice, when you get that 'straight A' report card :):)



After vetting, I let him eat and relax for an hour, then took him down to the creek for a good role in the sand, a drink out of the river (he tanked there..he loves running water over trough/bucket water any day), along with standing his legs in the cold water for 10 mins (even better than ice boots!) and then grazed him for a good half hour on the nice grass out there. Then back to the trailer to have the rest of the day off, while I relaxed a little myself and waited for the 50's to come in. All in all, this was an excellent ride for Storm, and I was extraordinarily pleased. :) Now I am thinking we'll do his first 50 sooner than I had thought, since he came through this ride so well!

In the 'Cave Tree' while out trail marking...Storm and I all decked out in ribbons.. :)

Has it been so long? Really?! (LONG!) Part 1

(Hoanna, my 13yo Morgan/QH mare, on her first 50 at Bryce...one of my most favorite pics of her!)

Looks like it was April since my last post. APRIL! Holy cow! I know I have had a busy spring/summer, but really... Sorry all! Anyway, I suppose I will backtrack and post some of the fun things Storm and I have been doing this spring and summer, before I head to Bryce Canyon with him (and hopefully! do his first 50 there....). I am REALLY excited about taking him to Bryce. This is one of my most favorite places in the world to ride, and I have shared it with every one of my riding horses so far, even the dingbat 5yo, Eowyn, who got to do some trail riding there last year. It was also where my mare, Hoanna (dingbat's mom) did her first two 50's as well, with no problems whatsoever. So let's hope that good luck rubs off on Storm and all will be well :)

Anyway, back to an update. I will start with a recent event, then work my way back. We have a great, local endurance club here...Redwood Empire Endurance Riders (REER), and every year we offer 4 endurance rides in this beautiful county of ours. Chalk Rock, near Bridgeville, Ca in June, offers a ride on a private cattle ranch in the coastal mountains. Redwood 1 and Redwood 2 (the second I have been conned into managing for the last 3 yrs, so don't get to ride it, but that is ok!) in Orick, Ca in July and August, offer some stunning riding in the Redwood National Park. These are the ONLY AERC endurance rides held in the bounds of a national park. You get to experience pristine, old growth redwood groves and scenery straight out of Jurassic Park (in fact, one of the 3 JP movies had scenes filmed not 10 miles from this ride, and I believe parts of the 3rd original Star Wars movies, Return of the Jedi, was also filmed near here, or in the Redwoods State Park not too far south...either way, similar scenery :) ). Even living 1/2 hr away and getting to ride these trails as often as I want, I never tire of these majestic trails. Riding through the giant trees and fern carpets, I feel the breathe of eons past tickling my hair, and expect a dinosaur to pop out from behind a tree at any moment. If you ever have a chance to make it out here for the ride, DO! Or just come on up whenever, and Storm and I will give you a tour :) The final ride, Cuneo Creek, is held near Honeydew, Ca in September, in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Cuneo is a great horse camp (with corrals and real toilets/showers), with a fun variety of coastal redwood groves and more warmer weather loving trees like madrones...and the only ride we have with poison oak! ICK... This is a great ride as well, and now is a 2-day event, so if you can't justify coming to a one-day ride, come on out for Cuneo and you still get to see some great trails!
(Some pics from riding around on the Redwood 1/2 trails a few yrs ago....this is how it usually looks, fog included :) )

Ok, this ends your commercial interruption, now back to our regularly scheduled programming. I was just returning from taking Storm to another ride (that will follow in another post) and didn't feel up to taking a horse out to Chalk Rock, so I helped out at that ride instead. But Redwood 1 was plenty far away (July 17), so I thought it would be great for Storm to do another "real" (as opposed to the non-aerc Duck Miles we did in May, which will be in another post) LD and earn his keep as an endurance horse :) Since I have been taking him up to Orick occasionally for training rides, we'd be on home turf and I knew he could do this ride if I took it easy (I thought he wasn't quite in top shape yet, but as you'll read later, I was being fooled by his lazy attitude!), despite some good hills on this trail Really! Don't laugh! This ride has some hidden terrain that you wouldn't expect on the coast... and the humidity can really knock a horse down on race day if you go faster than you are used to or think just because it is 'cool out', you will be fine...heat index is a big factor here as it never drops below 70% humidity, often being 90%+ with the trees literally raining on you.

But before the ride, the trails had to be marked and I thought it would be a good gauge to see how Storm was feeling (since I hadn't done much but putter on a few short trail rides since June) and make a final decision about whether I'd ride him, or ride Cheyenne on the 50 (my original intent and the horse I had sent the ride entry in with). We did a 12 mile trail on one day, with mostly walking (my marking partner's horse was way outta shape, so we took it really easy) and he was fine there of course. Then we went up to what is the Vet Check, to mark the 'far loop' for the 50's. This was about 18 miles and my partner for this trip had an in shape horse, so we did a mix of walking, gaiting (and her horse trots pretty fast, so he had to really gait up and at times would choose to canter instead...), and canter/galloping. The latter was about 3 miles of it on a nice logging road that takes you back to the VC at the end of the loop. We would trot a tiny bit, then fall into a canter (or even a gallop as her horse likes to GOOOOO and when the road looked clear, would just take off without telling us, lol...so Storm learned to go for a good run too) for a little while, til we decided another ribbon needed hanging. Than BRRRTTT! Brakes on, find a suitable tree branch, hang ribbon, walk a minute or so, then repeat the cycle. Great fartlek training as the books call it. Get the heart rate up a good bit, rest a little, heart rate back up, etc.

Luckily I actually had a working heart rate monitor on him (was not working well at ALL at the June ride) and was able to see how he was really feeling. Gaiting along at a Runwalk, he was usually in the high 70's/low 80's range. At a rack (trying to keep up with the bigger trot of the other horse), he'd be more in the 150-140 (the high end when he was REALLY working to keep up...this would be when he'd willingly pop into a canter, and the HR would then drop...good!) range. In his mellow, rocking-chair canter (and I am LOVING that he is finally 'finding' this gear! It is so smooth, and fun, and keeps his HR lower too!), he'd be in the 120's. Then of course in the gallop, he'd up into the 150+ range. Now for the key though...what about recoveries? Those of you not into endurance (skip this if you are, or are bored by all this! LOL), a horse's fitness is measured more in how fast he recovers from working, vs how high his HR is during work. Though there are 'averages' for where you want a resting and working HR to be, all horses are different (and most averages are written by ppl with Arabs/TBs...a whole different animal than most these gaited horses!). Some have low resting HRs (in the low-mid 30's) and some are higher (in the 40's). Some 'work' at a lower rate (high 90's-low 100's are what some ppl are looking for), some higher (1oo's-120's) and it really isn't that important. What IS important of course, is knowing what is normal for YOUR horse, then going by that. Say for example with Storm...if he is over 140 while 'working' (faster gait/slow canter), then I know I am quickly approaching the anaerobic zone (meaning we are burning energy too fast..we want to keep e-horses in the aerobic range instead, to slowly burn energy over time, and not wear themselves out before the ride is over). Ideally for him, I would like him to stay in the 120's (oh, and this is all in Beats per Minute...or bpm) at his highest, with of course the lower, the better. As a horse gets fitter, this can of course be improved upon, but some horses just never get as low as others...and that is fine! (Too many 'new to endurance' ppl are scared off cause they think there horse isn't fit enough for e-riding...usually they are comparing their horse to a very fit horse of a friend, who may be a totally different breed/body type on top of it!) As long as your horse is doing alright for what is normal for him. Now..back to the magic word, RECOVERIES. This tells you much more about a horse's fitness levels (or if he is getting tired at a ride, sick, hurt, etc..even before more evident signs are noticed). Basically, at most rides, we the criteria for a horse to get into a vet check or complete (LDs don't get to finish til this HR is met, 50's 'finish', but must meet the criteria within 1/2-1hr of finishing, depending on the ride) a ride is 60bpm (some rides have higher or lower, but for training purposes this is a good 'set goal'). So when training, you see how long after raising the horse's HR by working, it takes to get the horse back down to 60bpm (or lower of course...the lower the better!). You can do long/slow training (lots of gaiting in the aerobic range) or fast/high HR, ie fartlek, training (lots of cantering/pushing HR up into the anaerobic range). This is all the cliff notes version, so I am leaving lots out (masses of books have been written on this, LOL), but for myself, if the horse takes more than 5mins to come down (without using water or any cooling method on the horse, and still tacked up...my preference), you are seriously out of shape... if it takes more than 2mins to come down, then you still have work to do. 0-2mins is great, esp if it is warm out (all this has variables accoriding to speed/terrain/temp of course...again, cliff notes!). Sooo, what this boils down to, is that I want to see Storm recover to 60bpm or less, in less than 2 minutes after 'working'. We tested this a few times on the trail, and he was always dropping to 60, or below within a few minutes, or right away if we were not doing much (walking, slow gaiting). Final test was after that fartlek stretch...we walked the final 1/2mile into the vet check are (where our trailers were) and it was in the full sun, so about 75 deg that day (which for us is hot!). The last water on the trail had been about 5 miles back, and no water (to drink, let alone cool off the horse with) at the trailers (we have to haul it up there for the actual ride). So to test, I just took the bridle off, left tack on (just loosened the girth a tad), and looked at my watch, while watching the HR...bit by bit, it was dropping (at a ride of course, I'd toss water on him if needed, strip the saddle, etc...we train more extreme than we need to be at a ride, so it will be easier AT a ride :) ). As it got around 62-3, we were a minute in...by 2 minutes he was at 58! Whoo hoo! At 5 mins he was at 52. I called it good and stripped tack at that point :) Great! So not too shabby and out of shape after all! I promptly called up the Ride Manager for RW1 that evening, and told her to switch my entry to riding Storm in the 25. This was about 4days out from the ride.
More in the next part....