The morning of the ride I woke up shortly before the alarm went off at 7 am. I did not sleep very well, having Levi sleep on my chest and listening for the sounds of loose horses. All the building excitement of the years first ride probably had a little something to do with that also. I worried about staying on the trail and finding a partner (or not), and completing on time without overusing my horse.
Once there was no longer an excuse to stay in the warm sleeping bag, I was up. I threw hay to the horses and hauled some (icy) water to them as they seemed to make a game of knocking over their large water bucket. I used the bathroom, and brushed my teeth in the freezing cold behind the camper. I was already dressed but did add some more layers once I was up. I ate my usual peaches-n-cream oatmeal for breakfast, only I put too much water in so I added a second packet. I had set a schedule for myself the night before and had no trouble staying on it, even finding I had extra time to do all the little things you don't always think of (like look for gloves!)
It didn't take long to groom Sinwaan since I had done most of it before the first vet check and then blanketed him all night, and I debated braiding his mane. Well I couldn't remember where I put the bands Lara loaned me so that question soon answered itself. No braids today. I started tacking up and got the HR monitor all positioned and noticed it was a little slow giving me any rate at all. Fiddle! That was the last thing I needed, to have trouble with the monitor. I depend on it a lot on these longer rides. I hoped once he sweated up a little it would start working properly. By this time I was about out of time to mess with it. It was warming up a little bit outside and the sun was out so I decided to leave my coat at the trailer, but I did wear gloves.
I mounted up and rode him down to the out timers and arrived right on time, 8:45 am. I called out my number (lucky #21) and they made a note of it. I then walked Sinwaan up and down the gravel road that all the trucks and trailers came in on. This road is where all loops depart and arrive from. While milling around I passed a gal on a really wild-colored leopard Appaloosa. It may have been part Arab, I don't know. She asked me if I had anyone to ride with. I told her no, I did not. She asked if I rode fast. I said "probably not" and she said "well that's too bad because I really want to try for Top Ten today." I told her good luck and not to worry about me but I would not be keeping up with that kind of pace.
When it was 9 AM someone asked "Can we leave now?" and I happened to be right there at the starting line. The out timer said that if we had checked in with him then we could leave. So off we went. We headed out with probably about a dozen other riders, likely the front-runners. They set a pretty quick pace, I would guess about a 9 mph trot. For the first couple miles I was so focused, and excited to be moving out that I forgot to look around at the scenery. When I finally did look up and around I was in awe of how pretty everything was. I thought about taking a photo but at that speed I didn't think I could manage to get my camera out without dropping something.
Sinwaan was able to keep up like this for about five miles and then he started losing them and slowing down. He is a real follower, he is happiest with a horse in front of him to kind of pull him along. We pulled over off the trail and he was breathing pretty hard so we took a break. A couple of riders came by and asked if we were doing ok and I said that yes we were just taking a breather. After that some other people came by and they were not going as fast so Sinwaan and I tailed them for awhile. It went on like this another couple of miles. Sinwaan's HR would start climbing and I would slow him down and wait for someone else to come along to follow. We settled in behind two grays for a little while and they stopped at the first natural water source. They wanted to offer their horses the chance to drink and I was glad for that because I wanted to give Sinwaan the opportunity also. He waded in and nuzzled the water but did not drink anything. Upon leaving the water we encountered a lady and her horse resting on the side of the trail. Sinwaan walked over and decided to rest with them. We struck up a conversation and started riding along together.
This combination proved to be the right one, as her horse set the perfect pace for Sinwaan. She was a local and knew all the trails like the back of her hand. Her name was Jonelle and her horse was Spotzy, a 1/2 QH 1/2 Fjord gelding who was 23 years old. Impressive little guy! He was sure steady. We were passed occasionally by other riders and everyone was so kind and polite. "May I pass?" and "Have a great ride!" were common phrases heard on this trail. Jonelle pointed out interesting things along the trail and was a great riding companion. She knew how far to the next stop, or how far we were from ride camp at any given time, which helped to lift my spirits more than once!
There was a lot of natural water sources all along the trail as parts of the trail ran right along the lake edge. Some of these were also used by the cattle for water. The trail was existing dirt, some single and some double-track with minimal rock or elevation changes. All in all a very easy fast ride for the first one of the year. Jonelle kept the pace to a steady trot most of the ride, only slowing to walk when there was rough footing or when the horses needed a break. She knew when the rocky sections were coming up also and when I would start feeling tired of posting or discouraged, she would announce that there would be a spot coming up where we could walk, or get water, etc and it would encourage me and onward we would go.
The weather was GORGEOUS; cold but bright with the sun playing peek-a-boo with us all day. At times it would get really warm and I would think about taking off my sweatshirt, but then we would get some cloud cover and a stiff breeze would quickly change my mind. I did take off my gloves about 10 miles in and stuffed them in my front pack. Sinwaan wore his rump rug most of the day, I would bunch it up when it would get warm out, but then pull it back down when the sun would hide. Once when I was trying to open it up while riding I smacked my finger on my saddle pretty hard and took off some skin. It bled pretty bad but I soon forgot about it.
Our first loop was the pink loop, a 14 mile trail. We intersected the blue loop at the main watering hole for the cattle, and the land there was strictly dust. The cows milling about were a fun addition to the ride, and really made me feel as though I was truly "Home on the range!" Jonelle let me know when we were a mile from Ride Camp and I have never heard such wonderful words. I was ready for lunch and a break by that point! On the last small downhill, she dismounted to walk her horse in to help bring his heartrate down. I did the same with Sinwaan, and by the time we got in to the in-timer Sinwaan's HR was at 40. The pulser was joking with me "is there even a horse in there? his heart rate is so slow!" We walked over to the vet directly after letting them grab a mouthful of hay and Sinwaan vetted through with all A's on his card. The vet did say she saw him take two missteps on the left fore and to keep an eye on that, but otherwise we were clear to go on. Thinking back I remembered he had knocked into a sagebrush stump with that foot about a mile outside of camp, so maybe he was feeling it. The vet saw the blood all over my hand and asked me "Who is bleeding?!" and I told her it was just me, no worries.
I asked Jonelle if I could continue riding with her after lunch and she said she would love that, so off I went to the camper for a quick lunch. Our hold time for this ride was 45 minutes, and tack was not required to be removed for the vet check, so I left Sinwaan's saddle on. I did take his bit out and threw him some hay. He was acting itchy and I was worried about him rolling so I stayed outside part of the time to keep an eye on him. He ate a little bit but mostly just napped. Matt made us hotdogs for lunch and I ate with the family and I tell you those dogs never tasted so good!! I was feeling warm because the sun was out, so I took off my sweatshirt. Matt thought I was crazy because he had been freezing all morning. Well when it came time for me to head back out, it was getting cold again so I put the sweatshirt back on. This ended up being the right decision, as at the trot, it is always a little windy.
The second loop of the day was the Blue Loop and it was 11 miles. This is the loop that the trail riders did and I wondered if I would happen to encounter Ruth and Topper, and how they were getting along. The trail riders left at 10 AM and there were five of them.
We did some walking heading out as it was a stretch of gravel road and Spotzy was barefoot. We soon picked up the trot though and seemed to keep it most of those 11 miles. We played leapfrog with a group of three people on horseback, one of which was a pinto. We also saw some people on this loop that were doing the longer milage divisions. Sinwaan had not been drinking any water and neither had Spotzy so Jonelle and I both offered them water every time we came across it, either by barrel or lake. They didn't really drink well until we came to a pond of sorts that was really muddy looking. There were two grays there drinking and the riders told us they had drank there earlier that day and were still doing well so it must be alright. Sinwaan walked right in and started sucking it down.
Later we encountered a beautiful lake with a beaver dam at one end with a little waterfall. Since I had seen no official photographer I was starting to worry that maybe there wouldn't be one at all, so Jonelle agreed to take a photo of us out there on the trail with this beautiful lake as a backdrop on my disposable camera. It will be better than nothing! I don't know how many photos I took on this ride (forgot to check) but I did pull out the camera whenever I could (usually when walking) to get some photos of the scenery.
At one point Jonelle warned me that around the bend would be a dead cow, and that she may have to dismount to walk her horse past it. Indeed she was right, there was a dead cow, but Spotzy did ok, going off trail a little and then on up the hill. Jonelle said she had been out riding when the cow first went down, and she notified the land owners and park rangers in case someone wanted to salvage the meat, but no one had, and a week later it had been picked clean. It was interesting to look at but all of a sudden the stench of death hit me and I was really glad to get on past it and upwind. Yuk!
I think I enjoyed the second loop the best. We rode through a small valley between some bluffs and in the sunlight I noticed something flying past me. What was that? Pollen? No, it was snow! It was crazy, these little snowballs coming down unexpectedly. It didn't last long, and I tried to get a photo but with a disposable camera I doubt the snow will be visible in the air, it didn't stick for long to my sleeve.
When we neared the end of the second loop Jonelle told me she would again dismount and walk her horse in. I told her I would like to ride on in if it was ok with her and she said "sure!" so onward we went, I tried to keep him to a brisk walk. His HR was already down to 64 and I knew would plummet once I dismounted and stood him and I didn't want to waste any time. At that point I had no idea what my placement might be, but having passed the three riders at the last water tank, I knew I would probably be at least 5th up from last. :) They called out "21 down to 60!" and marked my card and I let Sinwaan stand and rest and grab some hay while I waited for Jonelle to come in. It took Spotzy a little longer to reach criteria but I still think he did awesome! I took a look at the card and my in time was 1:40 PM. 4 hours and 40 minutes from the start time, minus the 45 minutes for the hold and our ride time was 3:55 for this 25 mi ride. WOW! I did not expect that! We were in with two hours to spare! I was ecstatic, and I could not have done it without Jonelle, so a huge thank you to her for helping to guide and pace us though.
The line for the vet was long and because there were people coming in who needed to continue on, they had priority. We stood in line a long time. Sinwaan was wanting to rub his head all over me, I knew he was itchy (he is ALWAYS itchy), so I took his bit out and let him scratch. I noticed a man behind me in the vet check area who looked familiar. Sure enough, it was Ernie Schrader with his NSH. We talked for awhile and he invited me out to ride with him/them (+ Dean Hoalst) sometime. Eventually we made our way up to the next available vet.
We vetted through with one B for gut sounds, and all A's on the rest of the card. The vet this time declared him sound, and did not notice any missteps, for which I was relieved. I took him back and untacked him and put him back in with Topper with more hay and water but Topper started being kind of nasty (biting him, chasing him around), so I took Sinwaan out and tied him to the trailer so he could eat and rest in peace. He ate and drank and then took a nap.
(Note the flat tire on the trailer)Ruth was listening to the radio in her truck so I let her know I was going to take a bath in the trailer (we don't have a bathroom door). I heated up a gallon of water on our gas range and took a sponge bath in the tub. It felt so good to get clean! Even though it was a cold ride and I didn't sweat all that much there was the horsey smell and grime. It is always so nice to feel fresh again! By the time I was done with that Ruth was napping and Matt wanted to sleep also, so I took over my motherly duties. Levi and I played cars for awhile and when he got bored with that we read some Dr. Suess books. He wanted me to read
Green Eggs and Ham to him twice. Then we read
I teach my dog a lot of words and after that it was the
Alphabet book. By then I was getting really hungry and it was probably about 5 pm. So I cooked up a vegetarian pizza burger for myself and Levi. Levi pulled out the tomato and ate that first, then he ate the burger but left most of the bun. We had some Cheetos and some Berry Applesauce. A very good meal.
In this photo, the timers are in the RV on the right. In the back of the photo (center) is the vet check area and the giant RV, around which was where the meetings were held.
After that I wanted to walk around and try to get some photos so I bundled Levi up in his quilt and put him in the backpack. I carried him around camp for probably a good hour and he enjoyed getting out and seeing all the horses. Even in the camper he will look out the window and point and make his little horse sounds (clip clop and snorting). I got a cute photo of Diane Stevens with her horse in the vet check (she made me a new velcro girth loop for my HR monitor) I also hiked up on the knoll and got some other photos of ride camp, the vet check and out timer areas and some of the trail.
It was getting cold out again so we headed back to the trailer and Matt was still asleep. I told him he should probably get up if he was going to get to sleep tonight. Ruth was up also and we chatted a little about the day's adventures. She said she had a great time on her Trail Ride, she met up with Aarene (the Pirate team Captain) and her husband and they had done the 11 miles in about 2 hours (which explains why I never saw them - they were movin'!) I heated up some Nally's vegetarian chili beans on the stove, and Ruth got her cornbread muffins out and we took them over to the Ride Camp potluck at 7 pm.
There was not much food out at first but we stood around for a little while and people started filtering in, most with warm options. There were meatballs, and chicken, and different types of pasta, dirty rice, clean rice and one guy brought in a big cast iron pan of jambalaya that he said had been cooking all day. There were cookies and pumpkin pie and brownies. All kinds of good stuff. Ruth and I each loaded up a plate and went back to the camper to eat. Ruth's cornbread muffins were really good and when I commented on them she responded "Well it helps when you add half a box of yellow cake mix to them." After dinner we cleared the table and sat and talked for a while and Levi climbed up on the table and started dancing. It was so funny I had to try and get some photos. He would swing his hips from one side to the other and just grin at us. He can be such a ham.
Once it got dark, I was so tired I made up the bed and climbed in. Levi fell asleep on my chest instantly. Matt took the camera outside with the tripod and got some neat shots of the stars above us. Here is a photo of Orion over the horses.
Our "camp neighbors" the girls from Bend area, were there and agreed to take some photos for me of me getting my awards. Then I saw Jonelle and she agreed to pose for a photo also. Since she lives nearby she had just driven in for the awards. I was glad to see her, and thanked her again for her help on the trail. She said she hoped to see me next year. Although, there has been talk that we won't be allowed back to ride at this location again. Something about endangered ground squirrels breeding season being at the same time, and too much impact on the land. Ride Manager Gail Williams encouraged us all to write letters about what we enjoyed about this ride to try and coax them into letting us have it again. 
We had the driver drop the Suburban off at Walla Walla Transmission since that is where we had the rear-end work done, and in order for the insurance to cover a tow it had to be taken to a mechanic, not our home. So we disconnected everything, thanked the tow-man and sent him on his way. We hooked the camp trailer up to my mom's Explorer (Eddie the IV) and Matt drove it back to the house. He then realized the difference between having trailer brakes, and not. So we will have to be sure to install that on my mom's car before our May ride in Idaho. What an adventure. 
