I did not sleep well all night, I never can the night before the ride and it doesn't help to have a toddler sleeping with me. Levi decided to sing and talk for at least an hour after 'lights out' and was quite active. It was pretty cute until he decided that hitting my face was fun. Enough of that! I guess we both finally fell asleep at some point but I woke up early, before the sun came up. I had heard the horses scrambling and that is what woke me. I looked out the kitchen window of the camper and saw them both still in the corral, seemingly fine. It was nearing 5 am so I decided to get up, although it felt strange to be up at that hour. Lara was up too, also having heard the scramble. We aren't sure what caused it but no harm done. It was still quite dark out and no one else was stirring. I thought that a little erie since I expected the longer distance people to be up.
I was already dressed for riding but had to throw on a sweatshirt because it was pretty chilly. I walked down to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. The facilities at this location are not fancy but they are very convenient and comfortable. The Teeters have two containers that they have put together to make a building which houses the three toilet stalls and a double sink on one end, with a porch outside. This is next to the house and overlooks a small grassy lawn that you can graze your horse on. It is also next to the vetting area. It took me a short while to figure out that there was a whole 'nother Ride Camp on the other side of the house behind the vetting area.
Because we had gotten in so late, we missed the riders meeting and I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions. Like, how long is the hold? Are the 25s still leaving at 8 am, as advertised? Which day of riding had more climbs? etc.
Lara was ready to cook her breakfast and asked me if I wanted any tea. I said no to the tea but mentioned I would like some hot water so I could have my usual oatmeal and hot chocolate. She heated her water in a little pan with a lid and when I tried to pour it, I ended up spilling part of it on the ground. So I ate my oatmeal and then took my cocoa as I walked down to the Teeters to see if anyone was up yet and if I could get some answers. In the meantime, Lara cooked herself a breakfast of eggs and vegetarian sausage and cheese mixed together. It appeared that there were people up and about in the house so I knocked on the door and eventually both came to the door and invited me in and I got to meet them and discovered that we had a 40 min hold, and yes we start at 8, and there isn't much of a difference on hills for either day of riding but today's ride had more sand. I thanked them and they wished me well as I headed back to the trailer(s). 
We tied the horses to the trailer with buckets of water and hay in their hay bags and got to work grooming them as the sun came up over the hills. The first thing I did was finish braiding Sinwaan's mane. It didn't look like he had laid down so I didn't have a whole lot of grooming to do to make him presentable. I was trying to decide which saddle to use on this ride. If I used the Wintec, I knew we could make it. I knew the breast-collar fit and there wouldn't any extra adjustments to make. If I used the Abetta, I would have to switch over stirrups, and adjust the breast-collar, and add the tush cushion. It made me a little nervous to ride that far in a saddle I had only put about 10 miles on. So I played it safe and easy and went with the Wintec.
At some point I realized we still didn't have our numbers proudly displayed on our horses' rumps so I went down to the vet check area to ask around about it. Whomever I talked to pointed the grease sticks out to me and said that everyone gets to mark their own horse. So since the choices were blue or pink, I took blue. Even though we planned for a leisurely amount of time to get ready, it went by quickly and before I knew it, it was time to warm up. Checking over last minute details such as water bottles filled and loaded, granola bars in the pack, easy-boot, and all the misc. things I carry around I also took a look at the HR monitor. Happy day, it was working. Sinwaan was relaxed and sunning himself with a HR of 36 - if I am remembering correctly. I was happy with that. Lara and I mounted up and started riding the lane to the Teeter's house/vet check area and back.
We initially thought this was the lane the 50s would be leaving from, but they all went by on the other road out of camp so we were free to use it. Here is a shot Matt took of one of the 50s - the horse appears to be completely off the ground here.As we rode back and forth we found little things that needed to be attended to, (such as Sinwaan's girth being too loose) and were able to take care of those things also without feeling rushed. There was a lady in front of the Teeter's house who took a number of photos of us but I am not sure who she was. Finally it seemed to be about the right time, so we said our goodbyes to the family and headed for the out gate. A woman said if she had our number we were free to go, so off we went and our adventure began! It felt great to be relaxed, yet excited, and leaving on time.
We only got confused about which way to go twice all day long, and at the start was one of those times. We came across a sign that had all the loop colors listed with an arrow on each color. Well the Orange loop that we were on had a right arrow. So we went to the right only to quickly find a dead end into a camp site. Whoops! We turned around and I decided that the right arrow must mean "straight ahead" since the lane going straight appeared to lead back to our Ride Camp and I had seen the 50s come through that way earlier. Thankfully, this was the right decision and it put us on our way. Matt took this photo of us on the way out.The Orange loop was listed as being 17 miles long. I was glad to have the long loop first. It is easier mentally to leave your vet hold with a shorter distance ahead of you once you have already put some hours in the saddle. This loop took us up Bates Creek Road a short distance, then up Lost Juniper Ranch's driveway, across their little bridge, and from there up into the hills. We had a man on a chestnut ahead of us who was setting a pretty good fast pace. The horses felt good, they were eager to go and Sinwaan took the lead with his power trot and some cantering. We wound around on the trails, climbing up up up and enjoying the awesome views. In some parts the trail was narrow on the hillside but we didn't seem to notice.
At the first water stop we met the man on the chestnut ahead of us, his name was Tim. He left us and we were approached by another rider, a man with a cowboy hat, riding a mule. His name was Morgan. We played leapfrog with Tim for a couple miles until we finally walked the horses and he got ahead of us again. Later we were joined by Morgan and rode together for a little while. Eventually I think we caught up with Tim again. We came to a twisty trail in high brush that led to a gravel road. Some 50 milers were cantering towards us on the same trail, but passed by with no problems. Then we saw the sign "Photographer, Space Out" so I hollered to Lara to get ready. Imaginn was tailing the mule and I held Sinwaan back a little because the front runners were kicking up a fair amount of dust and I wanted a nice ride photo. [Steve Bradley Photography] Well that only led to Sinwaan pinning his ears and then I let him go and he cantered to catch up to Ima and the mule.
We went off road again shortly and rode through some beautiful desert land, I wish I knew more about geology and plants so I could describe to you everything we saw. Beautiful, delicate little desert flowers adorned the hillsides. The views were breathtaking. The water crossings were shallow and uncomplicated. The footing was excellent and we set a nice working trot for most of the first half. Towards the end of the Orange loop, we came to a water tank and when the horses were done drinking we sponged them off. Sinwaan was SO itchy that it looked as though he wanted to climb right into the water tank, or lay down and roll, so I had to watch him. This water stop really helped the horses as they then perked up when we headed up the trail again. We spotted some little lizards scampering off the trail, and a jackrabbit darted across the path in front of me. Tim and Morgan rode off ahead of us at about the half way point when we slowed to walk the horses for awhile. They were both doing really well, but Lara had some trouble with her HR Monitor giving false readings a couple of times.
The Orange loop seemed to go on forever but it was such a great ride, perfect weather (60s?) and always a new view to marvel at. Sinwaan and Ima were well matched and took turns leading, although at times Ima would stop and kick out, so we just watched out for her back end. Other times she had to stop and pee to mark as she was in raging heat today. Even with all the little starts and stops and antics we made good time and pulled into the vet check at 10:50 am - that's 2 hr 50 min for a 17 mile ride. Wow! That's averaging a little faster than 5 1/2 mph even with the big climbs.
We had dismounted to walk them in at the last turn coming in. As we approached they shouted at us for our numbers. 21! 22! As we walked past the table we were handed a little slip of white paper with our number and time in. We led the horses into the pulse down area and offered them water and sponged them off. I was watching my HR monitor and when Sinwaan got down to 60 I called for pulse. A woman came over and said that if I was down I could go on to the vet area. This was something a little different than I had seen before, if you have your own HR monitor, they don't take your horse's pulse before the vet check. I thought that was interesting, and likely another thing we would have learned about had we made it to the meeting on time. So I walked him over to the vetting area and Michael Peterson checked him over. Sinwaan scored all A's except for the one B on gut sounds again. He got an overall impression of A-. His PR time was 10:51:42 and pulse was 52. Lara reports that Ima scored all A's and she was really happy to see her score for gut sounds had come up from last night.
With our hold time of 40 min, that meant we could leave at 11:31 am for the second loop. We walked the horses back to the trailer and tied them with their hay and water accessible while we went to the camper for lunch. Matt heated up some hot-dogs while I chowed down on mom's potato salad and fresh cut strawberries. Levi shared with me and it tasted great, although I think I ate too much, too fast. I only ate one veggie hot-dog after that on 1/2 a bun. Yum. I think I also took two ibuprofen at this point because I had a little back pain but overall I felt pretty good for the distance completed. I refilled my water bottles and chatted with mom and Matt about the ride and how awesome it was out there.
Lara and I took the horses back down to ride out a little after our out time, but I am not sure how late we were. Maybe 10 minutes. As we were leaving the trailer a woman said to us "Got your rain coats?" and I said "What? Why?" and she said "Look" as she pointed to the sky, "It'll be raining in five minutes." Sure enough there were dark clouds moving in fast. I went back to hunt around for one of my ponchos but didn't see it so I decided to forget it and take my chances. A little rain might feel good anyway. Matt walked down with us and got some photos as we left.
This loop was Pink Short and a 9 mile ride. Piece of cake, I thought. The short Pink loop took us back up the same way the Orange loop had started and we covered some familiar trail the first couple of miles as we headed up and up and up the hill. A group of three riders passed us coming the other direction, and as we pulled off the trail for them they snapped our photo. I discovered later that the photographer was Merri of The Equestrian Vagabond blog. Some parts were steep and Lara felt her saddle slipping back. She had not used a breast-collar today and had to dismount to adjust her saddle. When we got to the top the trail took us straight along the flat top of the mountain where we could see 360 degrees. The large mountains ahead of us were capped in snow, and as we passed by we could look down and see our camp and trailers. It was simply amazing. There was also a view to the left and we could see the longer distance riders on the crest of the hill far away. We kept the horses to a steady trot the whole stretch, with one brief walk after Imaginn had to stop and mark some more. They did well.
Not long after we made a right turn to head back the direction of camp, the trail seemed to end. There were ribbons to the left for the longer distances, but no pink ribbon. Lara rode a little closer to the edge and to her horror saw our pink ribbons on the trail that went straight down the mountain. Well I knew we had to come down off the top of that hill sometime, but didn't expect it to be so steep. We sent Sinwaan down first since he is slow and careful and steady. The sand was quite deep. Lara is scared of heights and not doing too well but I heard her tell her horse "Now I know you don't want to fall off this any more than I do, so be careful" and down we went. After the initial heart-in-throat response it really wasn't too bad. I hollered back "Look! You're doing it! No problem..." It wasn't entirely straight down, there were some switch backs and more beautiful little flowers in many colors. We could see two pairs of riders ahead of us at the bottom, and watched as they turned right and headed back towards camp on a gravel road. At the bottom of this steep part there was a creek crossing, with large smooth rocks on our side of the water. It reminded us both of Harris Park. We guided the horses through slowly, not wanting to lose a shoe. The water itself was a narrow crossing, maybe knee deep on Sinwaan if that. He stopped and dropped his head to inspect things and then went right through with no problems.
We picked up the trot again on the gravel road and headed the direction of camp. The miles just sped by and we passed two riders. We did some cantering and the horses were feeling great, it was like they got their second wind. The trail dodged off the gravel and wound through some sagebrush at the river bank. Sinwaan trotted right over the top of a snake, which writhed away quickly. {Shudder!} I thought I could see camp but we didn't think it could possibly be that close already. Maybe it was just some abandoned buildings. A little farther and YES it was camp! Then I thought I spotted Matt standing high on a dirt mound. Or was it a post? No, it WAS Matt!! Awesome!
We could not believe how fast the loop sped by and that we were done already. I always get emotional at the end of a ride, it is such a feeling of accomplishment but at the same time I am sad it is over. We dismounted and walked the horses in to the In timer at the same point as last time at 1:00 pm. This time they did want to take a pulse before we headed to the vet. I watched my HR monitor and called for pulse when he hit 60. Unfortunately then he moved around and the pulser got a reading of 67. So she had me hold up my wristband and we compared the two scores until he came down to 60 again and she called out the time 1:02 pm. 
Imaginn had pulsed down just before us and Lara walked over to the desk to talk to the volunteers working the desk. She came back and said something about Top Ten and I couldn't believe it! What!? So I walked over and asked, so does that make me 9th or 11th? They said I was 9th. There was a little mixup though somehow because later when I got my vet card back from Michael Peterson I noticed it was Imaginn's card. Whoops! I still am not sure how that happened. So Sinwaan and I were actually 10th and Lara and Imaginn were 9th. So they had to transfer Sinwaan's scores over to his card. Since we came in the Top Ten we had to present for Best Condition. We also had to take off all our tack and get weighed with it to be sure we were in the correct weight division. 
First I had Sinwaan vetted through. We had to do that 10 minutes after our arrival time. So at 1:10 we presented and Michael Peterson scored Sinwaan A's on most things, he did get an A- on Skin Tenting and a B on gut sounds. Overall impression was again an A-. His heart rate was 52 and recovery index also 52. They told me I would have to bring him back in an hour to again present for Best Condition. Just then it started raining. Big cold raindrops pouring down. I could not believe our lucky timing. At that point I was glad we were done riding and not out in the rain. Lara was also attempting to present to the vet, Robert Washington DVM, and Imaginn was acting up because her new best friend Sinwaan was on the other side of the fence nibbling some hay. When she got unruly and tried to run through the vet he told Lara that she was not eligible for BC because he could not get any stats on her. So Lara yelled for me to bring Sinwaan over. When I did she settled right down and stood quietly for the rest of her card to be filled out but because the vet could not get an additional score she still was not allowed to show for BC.
I untacked and took my saddle over to the scale. I weighed in with tack at 166 lbs. Not too bad I guess. I asked around when the awards would be and was told after dinner. I also asked if I would be able to get a dinner ticket tonight since last night we were too late to get one and at this ride you get your free dinner the night before you ride. They told me to ask Steph but it should be fine. So we walked the horses back up to the trailer and put their blankets on them to try and keep them dry and turned them out in their paddock with some hay. I hurried around and put things away out of the weather. The rain was still coming down and I was soaked and starting to get cold. I tried to keep an eye on the time since we had to be back down there at 2 pm for our last BC check. I was not expecting anything but it was fun to get the experience. Well about 15 min 'til I pulled Sinwaan out and tried to groom him a little. He had rolled and had mud all up the side of his face. He enjoyed the brushing and me scratching his itchy face. He was still wet but looked decent. Lara was going to try and show for BC afterall, not realizing that without that other score she would not be able to. Imaginn looked good too. We went down together and it was not raining anymore. My mom walked over with us to watch the process. The vet doing all the BC judging was Robert Washington and he went over Siwnaan thoroughly. He scored 320 on part A, 165 on part B and 76 on part C with a total of 561 points. I still don't really understand all of this.
After that we went back up to the trailer and made the horses comfortable in their paddock. I got a clean change of clothes and Matt and Levi walked down with me to the showers. There are curtains hanging for privacy but no real doors where the showers are so I was glad to have Matt to look out for me. He sat on the bench and talked to me while I washed the rain and sweat off. The water was not very hot but it sure felt nice to be able to get a shower after the ride. Clean and refreshed, we walked back to the camp trailer and I realized I was starving again. So I ate more potato salad and strawberries and Lara came in the camper and looked through all the photos Matt had taken and we all rested for a couple hours. Matt was able to take a nap and I played with Levi and occupied him. We sat outside on lawn chairs for a bit because the weather was so nice again Later on Mom and Lara and Levi and I took a walk around camp. We mosied through the FEI end of camp and saw Morgan and his mule. We also ran into Tamara walking her Barb (You can see her blog, the Barb Wire in my links). It was neat to meet her in person and we had a nice little chat before continuing around the camp perimeter. At 7 pm the dinner bell rang and everyone went down to the house for the meeting. This meeting covered a lot of the additional FEI stuff and Steph pointed out and introduced all the International guests. It was interesting.
Lara and I were able to get our meal tickets so when Steph said "well I guess you guys can line up if you are hungry" it was very amusing because everyone ran up and formed a big bottleneck line. Steph laughed and said she had never seen that before, everyone must be starved! And people were trying to act like they weren't rushing, it looked like people were taking long strides in slow motion. We had the idea that the meeting was about over so we were already on our way up to get Steph's signature on our AHA OIEP forms when we were consumed by the crowd. Steph signed the forms as we were all packed in tight on the porch. It worked out pretty well though, we were able to get our food within 20 min of standing in line. The meal entree option was Pork, Roast Beef or a vegetarian quiche. I got the beef for Matt, Lara chose the quiche. There was also raw veggies, I picked up some radishes for myself and carrots for the horses, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and an apple cobbler for dessert. When we got back to the trailer mom had made spaghetti for the rest of us so I ate a heaping plate of that with a small jar of canned green beans from my grandma's garden in Montana. YUM!
After eating in the camper we headed back over to the meeting area for the awards. Steph announced the 25 mile riders results first, starting at the bottom. I think there were 16 finishers. I believe it was Tami Blomley who won the "Turtle Award" and it was a turtle that Steph have brought back from Dubai! What an awesome award! As a Top Ten finisher, we received a special bonus prize - a change purse from Malaysia. There were a variety of colors and patterns and we each got to pick our own. Lara and I picked the same one without realizing it! The t-shirts were very nice polo shirts in a powder blue with the ride logo. I discovered that Tim placed first and Morgan on the mule was second. Impressive! Halfway through the 50 mi results a storm moved in again so we took (sleeping) Levi and the chairs back to the camper. I walked back over to hear the end of them and missed most of the drawings. Then they gave out 11th place prizes. Well the 50 miler 11th placer chose the Renegade boots and then Steph said the 11th place 25 miler had gone home so the prize went to 10th place...me! That was lucky I was there to claim it! I won an hour session with Namoi Preston and the TTouch method for Sinwaan.
That evening we decided not to ride on Sunday for a second day. We were so pleased to have placed in the Top Ten we wanted to end on a good note. We also were close to running out of hay, I guess we hadn't packed as much as we thought. Also a lack of money was another determining factor in entering the second day. I was a little sore but overall felt really good and I think I could have done another day. We also knew that there was a long drive home and it would be nice to have a day of recovery after that before going back to work. So we called it a night and went to bed about 9 pm. I must have fallen asleep because I remember Matt said my name and I felt as though I was falling and I was grabbing for anything and then I woke up. There were flashes of light all around and Matt asked me if I had seen that lightning. He said he had counted to 30 and not heard any thunder so it must be more than 30 miles away. He wanted to know what we should do if the storm moved closer. I went out to the bathroom to check it out. The horses were dozing and not worried in the least about the wind and pending storm. There was indeed lightning. I walked down to the bathroom and back, and camp seemed pretty quiet. I told Matt that if he noticed the storm getting worse to let me know and we could move the horses from the corral. We did not want them to spook and run through it and get loose. I went back to sleep, I was pretty exhausted.
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STATS: 26 miles ; Ride time 4:22 ; average mph 5.95 ?? (someone help me, my brain is fried right now)
1 comment:
Thanks for a great ride, I'll treasure the memories forever! LJ
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