I groomed Sinwaan but he really didn't need a whole lot of attention since he was still shiny clean from the day before. I checked his feet and everything looked good. I could see the 50s and 75 leaving and I watched them as they followed the ribbons around the perimeter of camp and then down to the creek and crossed. I wished I could take photos but I didn't want to make more noise going back in the camper and risk waking up Levi. I put the saddle and breastcollar on, then the HR monitor and it gave me a reading of 47. Good, it's working and he's reasonably calm. I tried out the baling twine loop-to-girth and it looked like it would hold up. (Endurance person's motto: you can fix anything with baling twine and duct tape) Well I am discovering that is indeed the truth! I still had about 15 minutes until I wanted to mount up to warm him up, so I went back in the trailer and discovered that Levi was awake and had been watching people out the window. I made him some oatmeal and strawberries and fed him and we hung out together for a little while. When it was time to go I tried waking Matt so he could come out and take some photos for me. He said he would, but looking at his state I didn't believe him. So I took the camera out and showed Ruth how to use it and she said she would get some for me.
Ok, time to warm up. Sinwaan calmly put his head down for me into the bridle. I mounted up and walked him over to the water trough. It was then I realized I had forgotten to attach my sponge. I walked back to the trailer and asked Ruth to hand it to me. Alright, now I think we're ready. I guided him up towards the start line at a walk and he was antsy prancy and raring to go. He whinnied out to Topper and we walked all around camp and on the gravel road leading in and out of the registration area. He was tossing his head and dancing in place and acting a bit like a brat but I accepted the challenge and was eager for 6:00 so we could start really moving. We walked past the start line several times and once he did a little half-rear and I heard a woman say "well now that is not what you asked for!" and I said "no..." but we continued walking around to warm up. I had him do some tight circles to think about what *I* wanted him to do and that helped for about a minute. I heard the timer call out "1 minute for the 25s" so we walked past the start line up the road and had a little trot and then turned around and came back and then it was time to go!
I called out "21" and the timer nodded me on and we left at a BIG trot. Here we go... I was expecting more people to be leaving with me but only one horse was ahead of us and none following yet that I could tell. We were really moving out and soon overtook the horse ahead of us. The woman said to me something along the lines of "well this never happens, we are never out front." What a rush. It was COLD out and I had left my jacket at the trailer. As we came around the bend I saw Ruth and waved to her. Then we made the turn and approached the creek. Sinwaan was not too crazy about getting down in there because it was like a dirt/root step down into mud and then the water. With a little encouraging he got closer. I heard the lady I had passed ask me if he would follow her across. "He'll do it," I told her and sure enough just then he did. I didn't want to hold people up but beyond the water I could see a very tight single-track trail. Across we went and then the trail wound around through the trees and brush and it was incredible riding. Some rocks, but not too bad. 
About 1/4 mi in I saw the first climb. Up up up we went at a trot and Sinwaan held steady. We lost the woman for a little while on the uphills. A couple of miles in I was overtaken by Dory and Lori and was glad to follow them for a long time as they kept up a very nice steady trot. I also got to learn some great trail etiquette from them. When they would slow down they would raise up their hands and say why they were slowing. Hill (down) or Rocks or Water. We kept a safe distance from them but rode as a pack for some time.
On one switchback Sinwaan hesitated a couple of times and the last time the woman behind me said "It looks like he is trying to drop...does he have to pee? I will wait here with you if you want to let him try." I was very thankful for her kindness, and glad to finally meet her. He did indeed have to pee and was able to do that with her waiting with us. Sally rode a TWH named "Flash." It was nice to ride with her from then on because she set a comfortable pace, and would take the time every so often to stop and encourage her horse to graze on the grass alongside the trail. "Dr Jen wants you to have good gut sounds...so eat up girl!"
We pulled into the vet check at 12 miles in 3rd and 4th place about 8 AM. I was greeted by Patty Peck, and it was nice to see her smiling face. I don't think I have seen her since the Lakeview ride last year. Another gal came over and handed me a little silver horseshoe, about 1" in diameter. Courtesy of a club, but now I can't remember which one. Sinwaan pulsed down quickly. He took a long drink of water and after Flash met criteria we walked together over to the vets. Someone was asking for a knife and I yelled out that I had one. This is the knife I found on the trail while out riding up Cache Hollow. Gail came to get it from me and said "boy you don't mess around, that's a KNIFE." Yeah well...
Sinwaan scored well on his vet check, all A's with one B for gut sounds. We waited for Flash to vet through and Jennifer commented that she was slightly off on the left fore and to take it really easy on the downhills. She also wanted Sally to do another trot-by before we left our hold.
The vet check and hold area was in the middle of the woods in a level clearing with LOTS of grass for the horses to graze on. I took Sinwaan's bit out but didn't untack because the hold time was 45 minutes and I figured it would take me about that long to take it off and put it all back on. I checked his hind end to see how it was looking. Not a hint of injury. (YES!) I offered him some apples but he wasn't interested in those or the hay that was available. He did eagerly graze on the grass, so I dug into my crew bag and got out my hotdogs. I was surprised that they were still quite cold, and even with just a little mustard they were delicious. It felt strange to be eating "lunch" at 8 in the morning. I also ate my peaches and transferred my ice cold gatorade into my almost-empty water bottle in my saddlebags. I saw the carrots in there and gave one to Sinwaan, that he did enjoy. I also gave one to Sally for Flash. Flash was chowing down happily on her mixture of hay, beet pulp and cob. After Sally took Flash over to tack her up I let Sinwaan munch on what was left and he really seemed to like it. (Note to self: learn more about this beet pulp that everyone seems to use). I walked over to the porta-potty and Naomi was there and held Sinwaan for me while I relieved myself.
Just when we started to wonder where the heck everyone was, they started pouring into the vet check. Probably 15 riders came in while I was resting and waiting for my hold time to be up. One woman arrived with two juniors and I heard the one girl excitedly say to her friend/sister (?) "they said we are in the top ten so far!!"
Some of Sally's friends came in with their TWH and I overheard them talking about needing something. So I asked what it was they needed. Sally said the one horse had lost an EasyBoot and I told her I had a couple, what size did she need? I told her to go ahead and dig around in my crew bag and the black ones were size 1. So she took one over to her friend and I guess it looked like it would work for them. I was glad someone could make use of all the stuff I packed since it didn't look like I would be needing any of it. You just never know...
Sally's out time was later than mine by a couple of minutes but Sinwaan had done so well pacing with her on the way in that I wanted to keep riding with her. I also knew that since Dory and Lori would be out a couple minutes (at least) before me, Sinwaan would never catch them. Better to take it easy and keep him in high spirits with a partner.
We rode up to the out timers and they told Sally, "you have another minute yet" and she responded "yes, but Jennifer requested a trot-by." So she rode over and trotted for "Dr. Jen" as Sally fondly referred to her throughout the ride. Still slightly off, so instructions to take it "REALLY EASY" on the downhills. Time to head out again!
I need to comment on the trails before I forget. There were places where it looked like it had been rocky, but someone had gone out there and moved all the rocks off the trail for the horses. Incredible! Some of the trail was tight single-track across a mountain so you had an incline looking to your left and a decline to your right and no way to get off the trail. Some spots the edge of the trail even looked a little soft and I feared slipping down the mountain. There were some rocks but I very rarely had to slow down and walk for rocks specifically. The main challenge on this ride I think was the elevation changes. Gail told me later she thought maybe the 25s had done about 2,000' of climbing up and down. The trail also did not just go up the first half and down the second half, it was up and down all the way throughout the entire ride. We would wind around through the trees and a couple of times I worried that Sinwaan would knock my knees on those trees but he never did, even at a trot and cutting close around a curve. He did so well, I am incredibly proud of him.
We stopped at the watering hole and Sinwaan took another nice long drink. That was about 12 1/2 mi out I think. Not too long after leaving there we heard approaching horses, and they were coming fast. Sally and I had been walk/trotting up a rocky incline which was an old service road. It was pretty rough. When we heard them coming Sally said "oh my God." We could not believe anyone would be moving that fast on that surface. They cantered right by us and we saw it was a woman and the two junior riders. They were moving. Sigh, there goes 3rd place.
We caught up with them when we went off road back onto a mountain trail. This time it was double track and the three of them had stopped right in the middle of the trail and it seemed like the one girl was having a problem with something. The woman told us we could go on by, but I had to wait for her to move aside to fit past her. Sally and I went onward and not long after Sally had to pee. So we stopped and the party of three passed us by again. Another mile or so in and we passed them because one of the girls had to pee. We played leapfrog with them for a little while until they finally lost us.
A fair amount of the second half of the ride was on service roads so it was pretty level and wide and easy going. Sally had a GPS watch and she let me know we were trotting at 7 mph. Well, Sinwaan was trotting, her horse was just gliding along. We had some nice conversation and I enjoyed riding with her. We stopped to let the horses graze, or slowed down for pretty scenery and photos and really had a lovely ride. We were overcome by more riders, usually in pairs, and each time Sally would tell me, "you don't have to worry about me, I have to take it easy so we can get our completion, if you want to go on ahead and follow those riders, feel free." And I tried, once or twice. But each time Sinwaan would get on up the road and then stop and turn around and look for Flash. He was in love with her. And she was a fine match for him. She powered down the hills and helped to pull us along and we led up the hills and helped to pull her along and I think they made a great team. We had a system going and it was working really well. So after that I gave up on my Top Ten fantasy and stayed with Sally.
We were cruising along through the woods at a trot and I heard this strange sound. At first I thought it was kids screaming. But that just didn't seem right, so far out in the woods. Sinwaan heard it too, and realized Flash had fallen behind so he stopped to listen and to wait for her and then it sounded like crazy huge birds. Sally and I came to the conclusion that it must be birds. Back at camp during dinner Dory asked us if we had seen the elk. Disgruntled I replied no, I had only seen two chipmunks the entire ride. She responded that I should have been riding ahead of them or with them and I could have seen all kinds of things. Being the front-runners, they scared them all off, but Dory did tell us that they had an entire herd of Elk cross over the path ahead of them. What a sight that must have been!
At one point, and it may have been about 15 or so miles into the ride, we came out from a tight mountain trail onto a smooth service road and the three people ahead of us let their horses out and they were cantering off. Sally said "let's canter" and she took off in her Walker-style canter (running walk?) and Sinwaan cantered right along behind or next to her for a good 10 minutes or more. Sally told me we were moving at 14 mph and I was surprised because it was a slight uphill and our horses weren't exactly fresh but they did awesome and I was happy Sinwaan was using a different set of muscles. Those GPS watches are sure neat! So we made up some time there.
At what must have been the last watering hole a couple riding TWHs (Don? and ?) caught up to us and asked us if we knew about the woman that fell off her horse. Apparently this lady and her horse had charged up one of the steep inclines and she had tumbled right off the back of her horse and rolled right back down the mountain. Her horse had continued the charge on up the hill, and thankfully was caught by her husband as he went galloping after it. She made the climb on foot and got back on and finished the ride. We left the water before the couple did but they soon caught us and passed us (again Sally had to pee) ...I was certain I was out of the Top Ten then. But not worried about it at all. We were doing well on time and the completion is really what I was counting on. The woman I loaned the EasyBoot to also had passed us at some point.
We were out riding around on these little trails and around a bend and there is a horse trailer through the trees and Sally said "we're there," and I couldn't believe it. Coming around the last turn I saw Matt standing there with the camera, bless his heart. It felt too early to be done. In reality it was 11:10 AM when I crossed the finish line. Matt asked me if I had seen Ruth and I told him no, I hadn't, so he walked down to the camp trailer to make sure she wasn't back already.Someone came over and offered to take Sinwaan's pulse so I let her, knowing it was really too early. She told me it was still pretty high and to get some water on him, so I led him over and started sponging. He sucked down some water and started playing in it. A lady advised me to get some cool water on his inner back legs if he would allow it, and he seemed to enjoy that. I am not sure if the same lady came back over to take his pulse again but I do have photos of Aarene taking his pulse so maybe it was her all along, I am not sure, (and I am sorry! I am still learning who people are). He was still over 60 but not too far so she suggested I get the tack off him to really bring it down fast. Well that did the trick and she called out that #21 was down (to 56) and they called back the time and it was 11:17. We completed in under 4 hr and 25 min of ride time on some of the toughest terrain I have ever ridden on. But it was a BLAST. While I was waiting in line to vet through, the staff made the annoucement that everyone there was in the running for Top Ten. I didn't believe that applied to me since I was sure a number of people had passed me on the trail.
As it turns out we placed 13th out of 33, and 22 people had completed with 11 pulls for overtime or metabolic issues.
So where was Ruth? We had seen a number of Trail Riders come across the finish line but I knew many of them had chosen the 10 mi ride option and Ruth wanted to do the 15 mi ride. After Sinwaan was vetted through and settled into his paddock with some hay and water I grabbed a chair and went back up to the finish line with the camera to wait for her. She never did get any photos of her on Topper at the HOTR ride and I have felt bad about that for the past 3 months. I was bound and determined to get one today!!
After about 15 minutes or so of sitting and chatting with Naomi while we waited (me for Ruth, she for her husband whom she was crewing for today) here came Ruth, all smiles, riding Topper at the walk to the finish. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do and one lady told her she should get the saddle off and get him sponged down. Ruth told me she had walked a large portion of the ride and didn't really want to untack so I showed her how to use the sponge to cool his neck and shoulders. Once he was pulsed down she led him over to the vet and only had to wait for one person in line. He trotted through sound and passed everything with good scores. So we led him back to the trailer and Ruth untacked and tied him to the trailer with a bag of hay. I think he was there about an hour and then Ruth put him back in the paddock with Sinwaan. They ate some grass hay and seemed tired enough to get along, at least for a little while.
In the meantime I ate some more food and laid down and tried to take a nap. I wasn't able to sleep because Levi was playing around on the bed with me and then I heard one of the horses grunting. I could see Sinwaan out the open door of the camp trailer and I didn't think it was him so I sat up and looked around for Topper. He was acting slightly agitated, pawing and acting like he was going to lay down. Finally he did lay down, and rolled, and I kept watching him. Then he stood and started kicking at his belly. Uh oh, trouble. A lady grazing her horse not far away hollered, "it looks like your horse has a bug on him" and then I saw Ruth walk into the paddock and check him out. She could not see any bugs and he was trying to lay down again and roll. I told her it didn't look good and she said "Yep, time to go back to the vet." So she haltered him and walked him up there and I followed along in my new boxer shorts from ma (sorry, my jeans were too hot!) A little embarrassing but I wanted to be there to support Ruth and hear what the vets had to say.
Ruth talked to Dr Andy and he took the vitals - elevated HR and his gut sounds were flat. We could see Topper's sides contracting so he figured it was a metabolic colic and was treated for such. His neck was shaved and a line inserted for the IV of fluids. I think he also got some painkillers and I am not sure what else. Dr. Andy said he sees this a lot this time of year, horses go out for rides and sweat out too much and get into trouble. Dr. Andy found a tree in the shade with a high nub and he tossed up some baling twine (great use #2 this weekend) and tied the saline bags to that and got the drip going. Topper was very well behaved and stood quietly. All told he received 40 liters of saline. After the first 20 liters his gut sounds were coming back and his sides had stopped quivering. He was looking much better but still not 100%.
Dr. Andy wanted him trailered down to his clinic outside of Yakima so someone could keep an eye on him overnight. About 1/2 way through the second set of IVs he was concerned that his heart rate was hanging at 60. By then we had brought some water, chairs, and Sinwaan back up to the shade (figured the shade would be a good precautionary measure for Sinwaan and maybe Topper would appreciate the company). Dr. Andy listened to Sinwaan's HR as a comparison and it was at 32. He felt Topper needed a shot of calcium to help bring it down. So once the IV drip was empty Ruth brought her truck and trailer around and loaded him up and took him to the clinic.
I was very anxious during all of this because of my past experience - having lost my first mare to a torsion colic. But I was also very relieved to see Topper making such a quick recovery. We had talked a little bit with some people who stopped by to see how he was doing, and to each other, trying to work through how this had happened. Ruth said Topper did not drink at the first creek crossing, or at the second water stop, but that at the top of the climb he had drank extremely well, and at each water stop from then on. She did not push him very hard, it sounds like they did some trotting but the majority was at a walk so she hadn't ridden him irresponsibly for the terrain. She had even dismounted to walk ahead of him during one stretch (and almost stepped on a rattlesnake!)
Ruth was gone at least two hours but did return in time for the famous BBQ ride dinner of Ribs, Salmon, corn on the cob, salad, dessert and fruit. A feast for a king, and boy were we all starving! Levi even liked the salmon and kept trying to steal my fork to help himself to a larger portion.
After dinner was the Awards meeting; T-shirts were given to all participants with this year's ride logo. Top Ten riders also received a horse bucket. The Top Junior got a camel-back and I don't know what the other prize was for BC. I believe Dory placed 1st in the 25 with Lori Walker in 2nd. Somehow Sally placed a couple spots above me, I think because I allowed the PR to be taken before Sinwaan was ready, and in the meantime a couple other people must have pulsed down. It was fun to learn the names and put faces with some more people. The woman who passed us with the two junior riders took BC in the 25. The two 75 mile riders went off course and weren't able to find their way again so came back without completing, but we all cheered for them anyway.
In conclusion, as far as tack, it looks like I am stuck with my Wintec Dressage saddle. It worked really well on this ride, even without a crupper. As long as I am going to keep using it for endurance I may look into finally getting a sheepskin cover for it, and maybe add some more d-rings if possible.
*Check back later for more photos*
1 comment:
Wow sounds like a fun and challenging ride, I sure am glad Topper came out of his little colic okay!
So what color was your ride shirt this time?
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