Madam Dorian adventures

Today I saw the sun and got excited. I stepped outside for a minute to check the temperature. The snow in the front yard was melting. That could only mean one thing - it was warmer than the predicted high of 24 today! I texted Ruth about riding. She was also excited at the prospect of riding so we planned for her to meet me at 12:30.

Gail came by before then and said her outdoor thermometer read 34 in the sun.

Ruth picked me up and then we went to get her trailer and Otto. Then out to collect Sinwaan. We reached Madam Dorian without delay. I was on the shade side of the trailer and it was c-o-l-d getting tacked up and ready so I put on my gloves. I was excited to finally swap out my saddlebags for the new red ones that I got from my mom for my birthday!

As we were tacking up an ambulance went by. It did not have its siren on but it was really moving over the rough gravel road, every part of it jarring as it drove past. Ruth and I both thought that curious. Madam Dorian is remotely located and we rarely see other people out there. It is used a lot for duck hunting however so sometimes we see men working their bird dogs, or hiding out waiting for a duck.

Not long after a helicopter flew overhead, going the same direction as the ambulance. Hmmm. We were thinking maybe someone was having a medical complication, or maybe shot by a hunter and needed a life-flight out of there.

Ruth and I walked for awhile to warm up the horse and let them settle in and get the crazies out of their system. The trail was a little frozen, which surprised us, because it is primarily sand out there. We would be moving along and Otto would see a little ice on the trail and jump sideways but Ruth kept her seat.

After awhile Ruth commented "I haven't seen that helicopter leave, I hope we don't run across it and have it spook the horses." No doubt. We rounded a turn and saw a line up of vehicles across the ridge where the gravel road was above our sandy trail. I think there were three big pickups, a cop car with lights on, and the ambulance. Perhaps one other response car. No helicopter. We had taken the low way around a hill so I asked Ruth if she wanted to climb that hill to get a better look at what was going on and maybe see where the helicopter had landed.

We climbed up the hill and saw the helicopter, just starting up. I asked Ruth if she wanted to go back down the hill. She said she would dismount. I thought that was a good plan. The horses didn't seem to notice or care about the helicopter, they were looking for grass to graze on. You can see in these photos how close we were to the helicopter. Thankfully it didn't fly directly over us, and it didn't scare the horses.

After that bit of excitement we continued down our trail. I was tempted to ride up and talk to the people gathered with the response vehicles but the policeman looked kind of busy. Ruth thought she heard one of the guys say something about how 'you can't beat yourself up.' So that made us think it must have been someone shot accidentally by a hunter.

Oh man that made us a little worried about riding out there. We heard a couple of gun shots and saw a lot of ducks.

Towards the end of the first half of our ride, I looked over and saw the most beautiful majestic owl flying alongside just staring at us. The horses must have sent some vibrations through his den. Otto saw it and spooked sideways. The owl decided we were trouble and flew away. He was so silent it was really amazing.

We also saw a couple of hunters. One of them scared the horses half to death on the ride back to the trailer. Ruth and I saw him briefly and knew he was headed up towards us from the lake, but then lost sight of him. We were riding along at a walk and then Otto caught sight of him and jumped and then he was recovering when Sinwaan caught sight of the man and spun around so fast and tried to bolt but realized he was kind of aimed at a big sagebrush and by the time he gathered himself I had a handle on him and was turning him uphill to slow him down. It was a little amusing. Horses afraid of a man but not a helicopter. In their defense the hunter was in cameo and very quiet and carrying something. Never said a word to us but we were a little far for a conversation.

We rode out to the end and back again today and barely made it back to the trailer by dark. It was glorious being out on the trail again and in the sunshine! I have been getting a little cabin fever being in the house so much over my Christmas break from work. Thanks Ruth for the adventure!

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*UPDATE* Article from the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Teen shot while hunting

by Alfred Diaz

WALLULA JUNCTION - A 15-year-old Kennewick boy is recovering after being shot in the arm while hunting with friends.

According to a Walla Walla County Sherriff's report, four teens were duck hunting near Madame Dorian Park on Thursday around 1:30 p.m., when one of the teens checked the safety on his shotgun and then set it down.

When the butt of the shotgun hit the ground, the weapon discharged, hitting the upper right arm of another member of the hunting party, according to the report.

A Tri-City Herald article reported the injured teen waded to a nearby log and waited, while his friends called 911 and gave him first aid.

Firefighters from Walla Walla County Fire District Five provided basic life support until a Northwest MedStar helicopter took the teen to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.

The teens, whose names were withheld were all reported to be from the Tri-Cities and had hunting licenses.

Ride at the Fairgrounds

Today the Blue Mountain Riders had the indoor arena at the fairgrounds from 2-3 pm. I had called Heather to see if she wanted to join me. I think we were both excited about the prospect of riding.

The morning was beautiful, bright cheery sun, and all the snow melted - it was nice and warm. I drove out to the barn about 1 pm. I hooked up my Suburban to my trailer and had a problem with the trailer brakes locking on. I called Heather to tell her I was afraid I would have to cancel. By now the weather had taken a nasty turn and it was cold and raining big drops! I was so discouraged. I called Matt and he asked me if my headlights were on. Sure enough that was the problem. As soon as I turned off the lights the trailer brakes released. Not wired right! I called Heather back after checking to make sure I had blinkers and brake lights. She was willing if I was, so I loaded up and drove over to her place, taking it easy.

Because of the rain the roads felt a little slick and there were a couple times I could really feel the trailer pushing my truck but I just went really slow and gave myself plenty of room to stop for the intersections. We made it to the Fairgrounds on time to groom and tack up before 2 PM. It was still raining really hard and it was miserable outside so I was really glad to have the indoor arena to ride in!

Sinwaan was really well behaved considering he hasn't been ridden since October! His girth even fit in the same hole as before. He looks fat but I guess it's mostly winter coat. Awesome! We rode the full hour, doing a lot of trotting and a little cantering and walking. Sinwaan seemed to tire out a bit after the first half-hour but we kept going. Heather and I both agreed it felt great to be riding again! She tried out her new bridle that Ruth had ordered her. It was a great raspberry color and matched her jacket perfectly!

Dee Dee was also there today with both of her horses. I didn't really know anyone else. I counted 10 riders today and probably 12 horses.

At 3 'o clock when we went back out to our trailers the sun had come out and it had stopped raining. What a crazy day!

Short video

A video of Sinwaan grazing in the snow, testing out the camera phone.

Snow!

I can't believe all the snow we got for Thanksgiving this year. Sinwaan is quite adept at nudging it all aside so he can graze.

Round Pen

Even though I haven't been riding, Sinwaan has gotten some exercise. Once a week I go out to see him and we work together a bit before I let him graze on the good stuff.

Foothills of the Cascades

*FRIDAY*

The hardest part about endurance rides lately seems to be the act of actually getting to the ride! Friday I took the day off work, I had been cleaning and packing and getting everything ready all week after work so I wouldn't feel so rushed on Thursday night. Friday morning I was running right about on schedule - leave town at 10 am to get to Molalla before dark. Well Matt had been filming all night long and had taken the station-wagon, which refused to start after he made a stop at a gas station on the other end of town. We couldn't just leave it there all weekend, and we didn't have the time to wait around for it to feel like starting so I talked to the guys at Beeline and sent them up on a rescue mission. As it turns out they were able to get the car going without requiring a tow, but in the meantime I already had the camper loaded, hitched up to mom's car, and had taken the dogs to the kennel.

Ruth called me to say she had loaded up my horse and all my tack as well! Wow she is so awesome! Ruth met me at the kennel so I could do a visual inspection to make sure I wasn't missing anything important and off she went. Just a couple minutes later I heard from Matt that he was home. I decided to run down to Milton-Freewater for gas and propane. Had I been using my head I would have picked up Matt first so we could then continue on through Pendleton. But no, I had Hwy 12 stuck in my head so we took the journey south and then north again to get Matt. Well by now the kids are cranky and hungry again because it is almost noon so we had a short pit stop outside of our house to refuel the people and then finally, finally we got on the road about 1 pm.

We drove and drove and my mom said she can usually make it to Portland on one tank of gas. Well, that is without pulling a big camp trailer. We got down to a 1/8 tank so I pulled off for gas at Rufus or Biggs. The price seemed too high so I only put in $20. Back on the road and we still had hardly any gas (1/4 tank). I figured we would stop at the Dalles after that but they were having a lot of construction so we went on through. I was watching the road signs (mileage) and it seemed like we could make it to Troutdale but we got to 11 miles from Troutdale and the car said we had 4 miles until empty. Uh oh. Moment of panic. Then we passed a sign that said the next exit had gas. We took the exit. The next sign said that gas was 1.5 mi up the road. UP being the significant word. The car's computer now said we had 2 miles to empty. There was a 10% grade UP the mountain to get to the gas station! I was white knuckled driving up that STEEP windy road. 1 mile to empty. There was no shoulder and I could just imagine the car puttering out of gas and the trailer dragging us backwards down the mountain until we jack-knifed and flipped over. 0 miles to empty - beep! We barely made it to the little grocery store with one old pump out front. We had to turn around to pull up to the pump. My mom put in $15 - enough to get us to Troutdale to top off. Matt took over the driving from there and got us back down the mountain safely. We stopped again in Troutdale (Stop for gas #4) to fill up and then took the Fairview exit to drop off my mom with her cousins for the weekend.

At that point I texted Ruth to let her know we were leaving Portland, and she replied that it was about an hour + 15 min drive from there down to ride camp. We took 205 south to I-5 and the traffic was horrible. We were doing 10 mph for awhile, and then 40 mph until we got father out of the city. In Molalla we almost missed the little cardboard sign on a stop sign at Molalla Ave ("RIDE" with an arrow to the right). At this point I called Ruth to make sure we were on the right road. She assured us that we were. It was another 15 miles from there to camp. We pulled in at dusk. Sinwaan's corral needed to be set up. The trailer had to be leveled before we could turn on the gas and get the heater going. Brrr it was chilly there in the woods. Ride camp was smaller than some others I've been to but there were probably about 60 combined entries in the LD/50 mi rides. We had just enough time to get Sinwaan vetted in before the ride meeting.

This was the first time I had vetted in in the dark. I started out solo with Sinwaan but he was acting up, spinning around me and hollering for his buddy, so I went back to get Ruth and Otto. Ever since our halter show incident I have a fear of him tripping me and breaking my leg again during the trot out. So I play it safe if I can! He vetted through with all A's - wonderful scores except for his heart rate which was high - 64. I was a little worried about that but it was cold and he was excited and amped up.

Riders meeting was short and sweet. We (25 mi) were going out at 7:15 AM with the Ride-And-Tie people, just ahead of the 50 mile riders at 7:30 AM. Hold was 30 minutes. I had never ridden with Ride-And-Tie people so I was worried about that. And I was worried about the 50s being hot on our tail. We were starting with the 10 mile loop. I worried that my mental capacity would not be as good after the hold with the shorter loop first. Can you tell I worry about everything?! I heard something about a keyhole loop mentioned but wasn't really sure which loop it was for, or if it was even our distance.

We went back to the trailer and Ruth put up my electric corral (what a friend!) while I helped Matt level the trailer. It wasn't high enough in the front corner so I had to go bug Anna for some wood. We were able to get what we needed and finally that was done. We tucked the horses in with blankets, hay and water, and had dinner in the camper (haystacks). At some point in there I had to assemble my saddle, breastcollar, pad, rump rug, saddlebags and make sure all was ready for the morning. We called it a night before 10 am. It was pitch black. The kids went to bed and to sleep right away. That was a first!

*RIDE DAY*

Ruth's alarm, and mine, went off at 5:30 AM. We quietly got up and got ready. Threw some hay to the horses, had breakfast (I went with an egg/cheese/avocado on an english muffin, and split a banana with Levi when he got up) and started tacking up in the dark. I finally got to use my helmet light (3 green LEDs) - I had to, in order to see what I was doing. I was thrilled when I could easily cinch Sinwaan up to his old hole on the girth and I was happy when I saw my HRM was working and his HR was 40. I thought about wearing gloves - my hands were really cold - but in the end I left them at the trailer.

We were ready to mount up about 7 AM as planned and started riding around, we rode over through the first gate and down through the pasture and to the second gate where we called out our numbers. That 2nd gate was the start so we could not go through until start time. We milled around and found a gal, Laura, that Ruth had ridden with at Elbe. Ruth knew her mare was fit and steady and wanted to try riding with her and her friend to set a good pace. Ruth had also told me that had she not held Laura back at Elbe, she probably could have top tenned there. So that is what we did. The trail opened and off we went, behind other riders and runners.



I think there must have been at least 10 people ahead of us at the start but one by one we passed most of them. We were moving out at a brisk trot and the horses were feeling good. New trails, cold air, the excitement was contagious. We passed by a lake and there was fog lifting off of it and it was so magical and beautiful, I really wanted a photo but at that point I could not take my hands off both reins to get the camera out. Later Sally told me it was called Dragon Lake.

We rode on double track trail for awhile and then cut into the woods, We went under a canopy that was really neat and then into dense forest. The trail turned into single-track and it was twisty, windy, watch-your-knees-on-the-trees kind of a trail. Sinwaan was trotting through it really well and keeping up with the other horses. It was fun! A couple of times I snagged my leg on a sharp branch as we passed too close but I don't think I tore my pants.



We did a lot of climbing up and down and there was a variety of things to see out there in the woods. We crested a hill and set a moderate pace and I was finally able to get the camera out for some photos of our little group, as the sun was coming up over the hills and we were riding through an area of reforestation.



At the first water stop the horses were not all that interested in drinking, and I was in awe of the steam rising up off of them. In this photo (above) most of the fog is probably on the camera from the heat coming off of Sinwaan. It was enough to fog up my glasses every time we slowed to a walk. This is Laura (left) and her friend Jennifer (right) on their horses.

Laura and Jennifer's horses were obviously used to really moving, and we seemed to follow a "canter when you can, trot when you have to" motto for that first 10 miles because it just flew by in a blur! I was a little worried about using up my horse too early in the ride.

We came into ride camp at 8:24 AM - an hour and six minutes for 10 miles. I could not believe it. The other crazy thing I noticed was that I did not see more than one person ahead of us. How was that possible? Matt asked me in the camper, "Now how are you going to catch that other guy so you can win?" I laughed at him. It's not possible for me and my fat old horse to win a mountain ride. But it sure is beautiful out there!

Sinwaan took a minute or two to pulse down, which I expected after that fast loop. Our out time was 9:05. Way too early for lunch, which simplified things. We vetted the horses through, Sinwaan again scored ALL A's, yeah! We gave them a chance to eat and use the restroom and pick up a snack for the saddlebags, then it was back out on the trail. As we headed out we saw two people ahead of us. We eventually caught them. The one guy fell back for some reason. Laura and Jennifer fell behind at the vet check, I think they were having some trouble pulsing down, but Ruth called out that she was sure they would catch us quickly.



We got back into our groove and continued with the fast pace. Another gal caught up with us on her gray gelding, so it was us four ladies for a lot of the 15 mi loop. The gray was a QH and the black-bay mare was a STB/Arab X. More single track twisty mountain trails - good footing but watch out for stumps and holes! Sinwaan had both front feet go down in one but recovered quickly. We did barely any walking on this loop, and when we did it was perfectly timed with when Sinwaan needed it to recover.



There was one monster hill, very steep and very long, it reminded me of the mile climb at the VA Highlands Ride. Actually lots of things about this ride reminded me of that one. There were a lot of rocks here too.



The one disadvantage to going so fast was that there was not a lot of time to see everything or take photos! The scenery was constantly changing and I tried to capture some of that.

At one water stop we saw a mounted Ride-And-Tie guy coming from the other direction, he had lost his runner and was confused about the trail. There was a sign that said "OUT" and our ribbons on the right going one direction, and ribbons on the right going another direction so we had a moment of confusion about which way to go. We finally decided on a direction and after coming around and back in we realized that was the keyhole loop that had been mentioned at the riders meeting. There were a couple of other times we almost missed a turn (thankfully the people ahead of us saved us some time) but overall I felt that the ride was well marked and offered a great variety in terrain (technical levels) and views.



There were some awesome trails about 3/4 of the way through that we just galloped on. I kept thinking 'this horse of mine is going to quit, he can't possibly be fit enough to keep this up' but he would prove me wrong and ask for more speed. Ruth would ask me "Who is this horse?" I think he loves to run and the cold weather helped with that.



At the end it was Ruth leading us in, and me following her, with the gray and black-bay horses right behind us. I told Ruth at the gate I was getting off to walk in, she continued riding to the check-in gate. I flew off, loosened his girth and took out his bit as we walked to try and give him every advantage to pulse down. I knew now it would be a race to meet criteria. Sinwaan hung in the 80s for a minute and then the 70s and then 66... I had a pulser come over but he was not ready. I gave it another minute and the seconds seemed like hours. We were so close to a win I could taste it. I loosened his girth more but I was using my HRM to determine if he was down, so I didn't want to take all his tack off yet. I was also using the rump rug to prevent cramping. Nope, still not there. Otto was also hanging. Then I heard that the black-bay mare had won it. Sinwaan was close - I had a pulser come over again. She told me he was down but didn't call it out, she was looking for her pen, when she did call it out the lady with the clipboard said the gray was down also so we would be third. Aagh! Well I was happy, third is a great way to end the season and we were only a minute off the first place horse.

Now that I could stop stressing about that, I turned my thoughts to Ruth, how was Otto? He was still not down, and at this point they said to keep an eye on him for the vet, now they were concerned that something could be wrong. Ruth went over to see the vet and discovered that he had lost a front shoe, and was also lame on his left rear. Oh noooooo. What a bummer! No completion for them today. Hard lesson learned. He was not shod in the rear and the terrain was just too rocky for barefeet on this ride. He never once let her know that he was in pain, he just kept going, and strong!

I almost cried. Out of happiness for myself, and sadness for Ruth, the combination of all those emotions just welled up within me. I could never have made this ride without her. She packed all my gear, hauled my horse, and then on Sunday hauled him back home and put all my stuff away! She is the closest thing I have to crew at these rides, always helping to look after Sinwaan.I wanted to see her do well, she sure deserved it.

I went ahead and showed for BC since we finished in the Top Ten. Sinwaan got A's on everything except for his back, which was a C; he had some swelling on his right side behind the saddle. The vet told me that anything that looks like pain really docks you the most points in the BC judging. I will have to try and figure that out now. Always something! His CRI was 12/13.

The veterinary score sheet gave us a 10 on recovery, a 5 on hydration, a 0 on lesions. Movement was 5 on soundness (B- on completion) and a 10 on Qual. Mvmt. Subtotal 30 and total score 300.

Ride management score sheet was ride time (us) 3:37. Ride time of the winner was 3:36. We scored 199 there.

Weight factor. The heaviest rider was 228. My weight (with tack) was 173. I was 166 at the Idaho ride so I guess I need to lose some weight!! My total weight score was 72.5

Total score of A+B+C=571.5 (higher than my Idaho score). The winner for BC was the first place finisher. Her score was in the 700s. Wow! Well earned!

I went back to the trailer and my whole family was asleep. I should have taken a nap but I was too wound up. I took a sponge bath and started some lunch because I was famished. One by one everyone woke up and we hung out for the afternoon. I took the kids for a walk around camp. Levi found a horseshoe. I talked to Bob Westergard and Dean Hoalst (also from Walla Walla) and they had placed 2nd (Dean) and 3rd (Bob). Dean and the winning rider had come in just an hour later than we did. Twice the distance!

There was a potluck at 6 pm and awards at 8 pm. I made some brownie bites in the camper oven but I haven't really used it much before so I kind of burned the cookies. There wasn't much on the tables for the potluck that I could eat (vegetarian) so I got some hot rice and some zucchini/tomatoes that were really good and went back to the camper. We had soup for dinner. It was getting cold so anything warm was really good.

Ruth and Ellie and I went to the awards at 8 pm. They were pretty quick. There were a lot of trail riders including a 3 1/2 yr old girl on her pony. There were 29 LD riders and 30 fifty mile riders and 4 Ride-And-Tie teams. The lady that won the 50 also won BC and it was said that she and Dean did this ride an hour faster than the rider that won last year. I'm thinking that was probably because of the beautiful weather this year. Usually I guess it rains. I think Laura finished in the Top Ten also, although the people 4th-10th were quite a ways behind us. The completion award was a pretty blue glass with the ride logo on one side and the ride name on the other side. It is really nice, but I also was hoping for a t-shirt. The Top Ten awards were horseshoe hook hangers.

I really enjoyed this ride - I would come back to do it again! Ruth and I can't wait for next year. Now we know there is no reason not to try for Top Ten. Heather will be on board with us then too so we will be a force to reckon with! :D Ha ha. Maybe I'll try a fifty at the end of the season. We'll see. I feel ready now, although I do wonder how Sinwaan will take it. I think he is getting the hang of the 25s now.

*SUNDAY*


Frosty morning! We got up at 8 and packed up camp. Ruth took the horses home and put my gear away. THANK YOU RUTH!! We stayed in Portland for a couple of hours to visit with my mom and brother.

Weather for Foothills

This ride has been known to be rainy at times, with it being so late in the year and closer to the west coast I guess anything can happen. I am excited! We head out tomorrow morning!

Ride in the RAIN

What a day! Most of the morning was spent at Matt's grandmother's memorial service. It was really neat, they had the horse-drawn hearse with the team of black Percheron's. The weather was perfect for it but the forecast called for rain.

At 1:30 DeeDee picked me up and we went out to get Sinwaan. Loaded up and it was looking cloudy. We drove out to Madam Dorian and by the time we got there it was really raining. DeeDee said "well, I don't mind getting caught in the rain, but I don't like to start out in it" and I agreed with her. We sat there for a minute in the truck and it really didn't look like it would let up any time soon so we turned around and drove back to Bennington Lake, where it was still dry.

We tacked up and I put on my cheapo rain jacket ($1 at WalMart) since I had never tried that before and wanted to see how Sinwaan would handle me in a trash bag. He did really well. It was breezy and it flapped around but he did fine until I got it caught on a thorn bush next to the trail. He spooked a little but couldn't go too far since DeeDee and Navajo were right in front of us. We had some good times, galloping all out up some of the hills. Sinwaan got a little competitive which was fun.



About 15-20 min into the ride it started sprinkling but it wasn't unpleasant. Half way around the lake it started coming down harder. Still bearable. DeeDee took me up a trail I had never been on, to show me the view. The footing was good and we galloped the horses all the way up that too. I got two photos of us up there.



After that we took the gravel road back alongside Rooks park to the trailer. The rain was just pouring down upon us. It got so bad heading into the wind and the rain that the horses' heads were down almost to the ground, they were not too happy. DeeDee told me "Ok, it's not fun anymore." Call me completely crazy but I loved all of it. Something about a new adventure, the experience of something you haven't really done before, I just love it. I was so glad to have gotten a ride in today even if it was mostly in the rain.

When I turned Sinwaan loose in his pasture he went over to his shelter, and tucked tail to the wind, and stood next to it, not in it, like he always does. Crazy horse!

Lone Fir, again

Had a good 3-hr ride today with Ruth, we went about 11 miles so you can see we took it fairly easy. Otto had a loose shoe on one hind so Ruth duct-taped it at the start but he wore that off pretty quick.




We tackled Lone Fir Road and wouldn't you know it today we saw a lot more traffic, probably 5 cars and a dirt bike (twice). The last truck of the day was the nice man who gave Sue a lift to catch Quaker last weekend. He talked to us a bit as we passed him and he said his daughter used to ride endurance, now she is a vet in Montana. He said it was good to see neither of us had come off today, and some other mention of "crazy Arabs." Well he seems really congenial overall and I thought it was down right cool that he "gets" us, what we're doing riding out there on his roads.


I don't know what's going on here (in the photo) but it was better than the other one. After Ruth took this with my cell phone she said "Uh, he's bleeding from his nose." Panic. It was not a lot of blood but there was some there. We came to the conclusion that he must have poked it from diving his head into the cut wheat chaff. It looked fine by the time we reached the trailer.

His midsection is getting ever so slightly smaller. I just may have the girth back to where I want it by the time of the ride. Only one more weekend of riding between now and then!

Lone Fir Road - and adventures with Sue

For one reason or another Sue and I have not gotten an opportunity to ride together again until today. Sue had done some scouting and thought Lone Fir Road might be a decent place to ride. We met at Cottonwood and Hood roads and went about a mile from there to Lone Fir to park. The road turns to gravel there and it is wide enough to park on the shoulder. It is not a road that sees much use either, which was nice.

We rode up and found that many surrounding fields had been wheat which was harvested, so we were able to ride on the edge of the field for better footing. Quaker, Sue's horse was barefoot so it was easier on him than the gravel, although the gravel was not bad compared to some I've ridden on.

Once we got up a ways and could see over the valley we took some photos.

Sinwaan is already sweaty in this photo and it is only a couple miles up.

There was a lot of climbing but it was more gradual that Cache Hollow, and there were more level areas as well.

This photo was probably about 4 miles up and you can see the road is harder-packed and more dirt than rock. It was great footing. The views (to the left) were spectacular. Sue pointed out other trails that she had ridden on from a neighboring ranch for the last ACTHA ride that she had helped with.

Another view of the road heading up. It was addicting, to keep going and see what was around the next bend. I felt like a kid again, exploring.

A couple of times we started trotting and I sensed Quaker lagging so I asked Sue how he was doing. She thought he was feeling a little off, so we stopped to put on his boots. After that he did better, but we still turned around once her GPS said we had done a little over 5 miles.

The only drawbacks about this area that I experienced today were 1) The bees. There were a lot of them in the last mile as we gained elevation. They did not bother us but I could see a lot of them on the edge of the road and flying around.

2) The stickers. Heading back down the trail Sue had Quaker on the edge of the road in softer footing. It looked like just weed grass growing along the edges. I stopped to wait for Sue and as she walked up I looked down and saw Quaker had lots of little stickers/burrs on his boots and fetlocks. Trying to remove them by hand was tough because they would stick into your skin! It hurt, and then you couldn't get them off yourself. I dug a tool out of my saddlebag and it had a plier-type end on it that Sue was able to use to get all those darn stickers off her horse. While waiting, Sinwaan tried to eat them. All I could think about was him depositing the seeds in his paddock and having a new weed to deal with next year, NO THANK YOU. So I pulled them out of his mouth, crazy horse.

Some of the fields were seeded, and we stayed out of those, but the fields that looked barren we did ride along the edge of. We were making better time on the way back because the horses knew they were headed for the trailers, and it was downhill. We walked a lot on the way up, we did more trotting on the way down.

When we were about 1 1/2 miles from the trailer we were moving out pretty good, Sinwaan was cantering but I had him fairly collected and Quaker was not far behind us at the trot. I slowed him down because I knew a culvert was coming up to our right. We passed it and Sinwaan did not seem to notice but then he started bucking! I ATT ATT growled at him and got him back under control only to hear Sue yelling also. I turned him around and saw Quaker in the midst of bucking and Sue falling to the ground. Yikes! Thankfully she landed in nice soft dirt and quickly was up on her feet but Quaker.... ah he was hightailing it OUT OF THERE. I don't think I have seen a horse run that fast, that far. He ran full throttle until he was just a speck in the distance. Of course this upset Sinwaan and he started spinning around. I heard Sue say "you better get off" and I had the same thought but was waiting until it was safe to do so. Finally he stopped for an instant and I took the opportunity for a quick dismount. Sue commented that she hoped Quaker could find the trailer!

We started walking together through the field, trying to keep an eye on Quaker. Sue said "He's found the road" and then "Oh, there's a car." (The first car we'd seen all morning). Thankfully there was no collision and the car (a pickup) kept coming up the road towards us. It pulled over when it reached us. The driver and his companion said "Did you lose a horse?" and then offered Sue a ride. She asked if I would be ok on my own. I said yes, go catch her horse! They continued on up the road until they could turn around and then came back past me. Sinwaan was being a little anxious - after all his new buddy just galloped off like his tail was on fire. We walked a short distance and I decided to get back on.

Sinwaan was controllable, and I think glad to be trotting once again. Another half-mile or so and I saw Quaker, still running, but not to the trailer, away from it, along a vineyard. Not far behind the pickup was 4x4'ing it into the field, bouncing and speeding along. Just then Lone Fir turned left and there was a steep bank in front of us. By the time I found a low spot to get into the field, I saw the truck had passed Quaker and had stopped, Sue was out walking towards him, and he had slowed to a walk himself.

Sue seemed to catch him without any trouble and led him back along the vineyard the way he had raced in. We trotted to catch up and walked along with her back to the trailer.

Sue said the people in the truck were the Nibblers and that they owned most of the land here. She had been worried about the speed he drove through the field, commenting that "there's a ditch around here somewhere, hope we don't run into it." She was glad for her helmet.

Despite the rodeo adventure at the end, I had a great ride and look forward to going out there again. I've made a discovery - I am a bit of a mileage junkie now, 10 miles didn't feel like much and I want to go back, ride farther, see what is around the next bend. I might get into riding 50s yet. First I have to be competitive at LDs, but a longer distance doesn't scare me anymore.

Mountain Ride

I got incredibly lucky this weekend and fit in two rides in a row!

Today Ruth and I trailered out to Cache Hollow Road, my old stomping grounds, to have ourselves a mountain ride. It was 3 hours of long slow distance (LSD) as we climbed up up up Cache Hollow, stopped at the top for a breather and to enjoy the 360 degree view of the surrounding valleys. Onward to the connecting Kinnear Rd and more climbing... hmmm I remembered this road as being flatter than we experienced today.



Our horses seemed a bit tired from the sandy ride yesterday but they gave a good effort. When it seemed Kinnear would never end, finally we spied cattle, and the stock/holding pen with the cattle chute, meaning we had reached the intersection with Lincton Mountain Road. I told Ruth it was all downhill from here. Well I ate those words as we turned left towards home and had to climb another hill before the road took a turn downward.



It was a hard ride, I quickly went through both of my water bottles before the end. When we were about a mile from the trailer it started to rain, just cooling little sprinkles, but a warning of what was to come. Hooray, we finished just in time! I told Ruth I thought I had mapped this ride out before at about 10 miles but in doing the math once I got home I found it was either a 10.9 or 11 mile loop.

Cache Hollow Rd 2.7 mi
Kinnear Rd/Lincton Mtn Rd 3.6 mi
Lincton Mountain Rd. 4.6 mi

The math above adds up to 10.9 but if you draw out the loop on Google maps it comes up as 11. My GPS has a dead battery currently, I'll have to ride it again and try it out to see what it says.

Friday Ride

Today Matt was gone most of the day to film the 100th anniversary parade in Pendleton, so I took off work to look after the kids. It was a good day, and when Matt got home Ruth and I loaded up and went riding at Madam Dorian!



We probably did at least 5 or 6 miles, hard to tell without a GPS. The sand was pretty deep in places and Sinwaan wore himself out fairly quickly. I shot two photos of Ruth and Topper on the way back to the trailer as the sun was setting. (We rode back on the gravel road). A beautiful ride and what a way to end the day!

And it's a 1.2!

Checked out Sinwaan's Achievement Award progress on the AHA site tonight. Looks like he earned 1.2 points for our Klickitat placement. That is exciting. I don't know what I will do with .2 points but it's better than .0! :)

We still have a long way to go to get to 75. Not for sure we can do it in his lifetime, but it's a goal. Next year we are planning to be more competitive, aiming for Top Ten placements instead of just going along, so perhaps we can pick up more points that way.

Bennington Lake, Labor Day

This afternoon Ruth picked me up at home and we went out to where Otto lives. I helped her hook up the horse trailer and we had him loaded up in no time. Went and picked up Sinwaan and I was astonished by the tight turning radius of her truck + trailer. I loaded the tack and she fetched the horse and we were soon on our merry way.

We decided on the good ol' Lake today since it was nearby and would be a good workout for the horses with the occasional elevation changes. Safer than the road also.

It was gorgeous weather and I was surprised to see no other horse trailers there at that point in time. The boys were well behaved today and we had lots of good conversation and it was just really nice to have a friend to ride with again. I forgot how much I missed chatting it up on the trail!

We rode up from the bottom and around the lake, then at the parking lot turned down and came back on a dirt trail closer to the water. We probably rode close to 2 hours. It was a great ride.

Road ride, Saturday

Today I was determined to ride since the weather has been so nice lately - the days are getting shorter and my horse is getting fatter! Although plans at the moment are really up in the air about the new Elbe ride, in order to have a prayer of going and completing, he has to be in shape, so there is only one way to do that - ride!

I saddled up and - wow - he is fat! Hard to get the billet through the buckle initially. I thought about riding our 8 mile loop. It was pretty windy out and usually the wind doesn't bother us too much but he has had a lot of time off lately so I was ready for anything.

Heading out from the property he was good, walking and attentive. We made it about a 1/2 mile down the road and he zoned in on a gas tank in someone's yard. Then the wind picked up and we were next to a half-dead cornfield so it was rustling. Sinwaan froze and did not want to move. Then far off in the distance - a gunshot? He jumped in place. He had barely recovered from that when bam bam bam bam, a cluster of gunshots. They sounded miles away but that was all it took. He spun around and bolted, faster than I ever knew possible. before I knew it we were galloping down the center of the road for home. Well, I was ready for it, even though it happened that fast, I still had a deep secure seat and was able to bring him back down quickly. He halted and then refused to go forward. I had thought after the bolt that we really didn't need to be out in the road if he was going to act this ridiculous. So I urged him onward, back towards home. He started backing up. He was acting so psychotic that I dismounted. I really don't know what was in his head. Normally he loves heading for home. He was out of sorts and I wasn't going to take a chance riding him in that state. So I got off and led him.

I decided to try and see if I could get him past his fears and continue on the direction we aimed to go in the first place. He was being very bad, not respecting my space and surging past me and then trying to circle around me. If nothing else, it was a good opportunity to remind him who the boss was - ME! I had to pop him in the nose a couple of times (I have a popper on my reins) but once we worked that out he walked calmly next to me and regained his brain. Once we got past Jenee's he was being really good so I mounted up and we rode on. We did more walking than usual - there were some weird howling sounds coming from a pipe next to the telephone pole, and he had to look twice at things he usually doesn't see, but it was progress.

We went down the usual way until we got to the T intersection at Frog Hollow. Usually I go left for the "lollipop" of our 8 mi ride. Instead I turned him right, for a shorter (distance) but tougher (elevation changes) ride in a large country block. Even though the road was headed uphill, he took off in a big trot and I let him go. With the wind in our face, it felt like we were going 40 mph. There was flapping plastic, and a running tractor at the roadside but he barely gave them a second look. He was on a mission. I wasn't sure where all that gas in his tank was coming from. I talked him down to a slower trot a couple times but he was really wanting to go, and I find that with a outlet for his energy he is easier to manage. Give and take, like any relationship.

The road is up and down and up and down, significant hills for a back country road. I was glad that there was minimal traffic today. The roadside is rougher than I like to ride on for part of this block, especially at speed.

As we turned back down the road leading towards home, he started pulling on me again and even went into a collected canter. It was comfortable so I let him go through the field headed for the barn. When we got close, however, I turned him without allowing him to break gait, and made him canter back the other direction, towards the road. He wasn't too happy about that and fell down to a trot. I kept him to the trot the length of the field and then asked for a walk on a loose rein to return to the barn.

All told, it was a good training ride. 5.8 miles.

Bennington Lake, Aug 22

This afternoon we trailered out to Bennington Lake. Matt and the kids came along. While I saddled up, Matt got the double stroller ready and the kids buckled in. They went on a walk while we were out there. I rode out alongside the river and saw two Blue Herons.

I had to use the restroom so I dismounted when we reached it 1/2 mile in, and I looked around for someplace to tie Sinwaan. There was a post in some tall grass with a hold in the top so I went over there and was trying to poke the lead through the hole when I felt something crawing on my finger. Yikes! I shook it off and decided perhaps I should look in the hole since it didn't feel like it went all the way through. What did I see? A wasp nest complete with wasps! I hightailed it to the other side of the restroom.

Luckily there was a hole in the top of the supporting wall. I unclipped Sinwaan's reins and ran it around and back to his chin ring. He seemed content.

It was such nice weather that it was a very busy day at the Lake. I saw a lot of foot traffic and a couple of people I knew on bicycles. Sinwaan did awesome. I wasn't confident that he would behave since he's had so much time off and last time he was so bad. He had a couple of nervous moments, little spooks at this or that but nothing major and we had a great ride.

The trails had been maintained and some were even still green.

We came across DeeDee on her new gelding, he is a really pretty horse and I hear doing well on the trails despite being an arena horse all his life.

Matt called me about 40 minutes in and we decided to meet back at the truck in about 30 minutes. On the ride back I saw them picking (and eating) blackberries!

Summer ride

It's been a long time since I've ridden, perhaps only once since pulling his shoes after our last endurance ride. Today we had a break in the weather, a slight breeze, so I planned to ride a short bit before helping to move a ton of hay. He was eager to go and met me at the gate. His hooves were very hard packed and it took a bit for me to even find the frog. He has put on a little weight (as expected) and I found his english girth to be a hole larger than average.

We headed out to the field and I mounted up. He walked to the end willingly but as we turned east the acting up began. It was just as I'd expected and experience before. First I had him back a couple steps every time he acted up but that soon led to him balking and then spinning and all while his head was high up in the air. There was probably a couple of minutes when I was not sure if I would win the battle but I worked to get him moving, to give him an outlet to channel his energy and eventually we worked through it. He wanted to run for the barn, so I worked to keep him to a slow trot (or jig), then made him move out (faster trot) heading away from the barn. Back and forth a number of times. When I could finally ask for the walk heading back and get it, then we called it a day and ended on a good note.

Lazy summer

Weather has been in the 100s. No riding lately for us. Sinwaan is getting fat and I think misses the trails. I did spend some time with him last Saturday just grooming and getting tangles out of his mane. The farrier isn't scheduled to come out until Aug. and I still don't know if I can go to Elbe for sure. I can't ride on the roads barefoot with him, and have limited time/funds to trailer out to softer ground. Hopefully soon we will go out again.

Riding again

Went for a ride at the lake today. Not sure how long we were out there or how far we went but it was a great ride! Perfect weather. We saw three deer. The last one was right along the edge of the trail and we were right up on it before it realized we were there. Fun to watch it bounce away! I worked on some transitions with Sinwaan, from trot to canter, a couple of times he tried to act up a little so we tried again until he got it right. At the end of the ride I noticed he had a small spot on his rear right inner fetlock where he may have been interfering. He is still barefoot so I am not sure what is happening there. He looked pretty fat to me today, three weeks off and his waist goes up a size (so does mine) LOL I did not have the girth up as tight as usual and I wondered if the saddle was slipping a bit on all those hills.

All weekend we have had perfect weather, I should have ridden on Saturday when I had the opportunity but I just lacked the motivation. I decided to make chocolate cake instead. I think that is my depression about not having ride money kicking in. When I know a ride is coming up I have the motivation to get out there and get Sinwaan fit so we are both ready for it. When my bank account is empty and I am just pleasure riding it is not the same. At this point I don't know if I will have the money for the ride in Sept. I hope so. It would be nice to train for one more (new) ride before winter.

Worms

Saturday Cindy took in a fecal sample for me as I was out of town. Turns out Sinwaan has strongyles and small strongyles. Perhaps this is the reason he has been rubbing the hair off his rump? I hope so, as it is treatable. He was last given Strongid in March.

ACTHA Ride

A while back Dale had asked me if I would like to go for a ride the end of June up near Tollgate. It sounded lovely but I wasn't sure I could get away from home for as long as it would take to make a trek up there.

Thursday, I believe it was, Dale posted a link to ACTHA on facebook, with some details about the ride he was participating in. I checked out the link and realized it was a competitive trail challenge. It sounded like a lot of fun. I forwarded the link to many of my local horsey friends and Cheryl came over to talk to me about it, and she was really excited, having seen all about this organization on RFD-TV.

It was advertised as the Largest one day gathering of horses and riders in history, and encouraged riders to show up and be a part of the Guinness®World Record for The Largest Trail Riding Competition!

Having used up all my money on the last endurance ride, I told Cheryl I didn't think I could afford to go. She said she could haul me up there and to try and work it out. So after talking it over with Matt, I signed up online. This ride was pre-entry only, and entries for the Sunday ride closed at 3 pm on Friday.

The neat thing about ACTHA is that by becoming a member ($25/yr) you are then given $25 back in "ACTHA bucks" to spend at any of their sponsors businesses. I wasn't sure what I would want, and didn't want to spend any additional money so I was suspicious. However, I did find that Trail Blazer Magazine allows members to spend their bucks on a yearly subscription ($35 value). Oh man! I felt like I was ahead by $10 already!

Cheryl wanted to pick me and Sinwaan up at 7 am in order to make it up in plenty of time for the 9 am rider's meeting. So I got up at 6 am and tiptoed around the house so I wouldn't wake up Levi. Success!

When I went to halter Sinwaan I noticed his rump fur looked kind of messed up. Oh no. I tied him to the trailer and went back to inspect. Darn horse rubbed hair off the top of his rump again! What on earth is causing him to do this? I don't think it is quite as bad as last time, however now there is no added "shock value." I knew I didn't have a lot of time until Cheryl showed up, and there were no refunds for the ride. I knew it was a cosmetic problem and not a physical one so I pulled out the hose and cleaned him up. I added Aloe Heal to it and just then Cheryl pulled in. We loaded up horse and tack and helmet and away we went.

The drive up was fairly uneventful except that we didn't have directions and were not for sure where we were going. We got lucky and saw a horse trailer go on ahead of us while we were parked at the Spout Springs Chalet trying to find someone to ask. We continued up the road and found the ride to be incredibly well marked with two large signs out on the main road (highway 204).

We unloaded the horses and groomed them and tacked up, then I went down to the registration desk to see what else needed to be done before the 9 am ride meeting. I ran into Dale and Kittee (who gave me a big hug) and Sue Webb and her friend. We chatted for awhile. Everyone had to check-in and they gave me a number to pin on my back. Cheryl put mine on, bag and all! We also had to pay a $3/person trail-use fee. I paid mine in dimes. They also asked us to sign up on the form which time we wanted to head out. That was kind of a no-brainer, the first time available!


Shortly after 9 am George Ehmer wanted to start the meeting, so I walked up towards our trailer and shouted that the ride meeting was starting. George got up on the bed of a truck and told us the rules. He also introduced the EMT for the day. Most of the stuff George said was common knowledge for endurance riders. He had marked the trail with pink ribbons, on the right. Three colors of ribbons together meant a turn was coming up. Rider should carry water. He explained all six obstacles, the rules and deductions for each. Pleasure and Junior division riders rode at the same difficulty level. The open division riders had the same obstacles, but their execution was a bit more complicated. Due to some wet areas along the bottom of the canyon, the trail had been changed so instead of it being 6-7 miles, we were actually going to be riding closer to 10 miles today. Wahoo! Bring it on! Annie spotted me at the meeting and ran over to say hello. We were both wearing Mt Adams ride shirts.

Sinwaan doesn't have shoes now, so I had brought his red EZ Boots and I was very glad to have them as probably half of the ride was on hard dirt roads with a fair amount of rock/gravel. I put them on before we rode out.


Finally at 9:30 the first group was ready to head out. We rode down to highway 204 and waited. A gal was there to check us out, asking for our numbers (I was 132) and our names. When there was no traffic coming a man in an orange vest walked out into the road to help watch for traffic and we were allowed to cross.


In the first group was Cheryl and myself, Dale McKain and Kittee Custer, an older man named Jim on a spotted mule from Idaho, two women on Appaloosas and also two lead riders. I did not realize there were lead riders. I must not have been listening when that was mentioned at the meeting because I did not recall hearing anything about it.


The lead riders, Dale and Kittee, Jim and the women on Appaloosas got out ahead of us at the start. Cheryl's mare "Perfection" was chomping at the bit to go as she does not like having horses out ahead of her that she can see. So I suggested to Cheryl that we get up ahead of everyone when it was safe to do so, so we wouldn't have to worry about going slow. We caught up to the group shortly before we came upon Obstacle 1. So we waited our turn in line.


Obstacle One - "Trot and Stop" There was lime on the ground marking the start line and lime on the ground marking the stop line. After you call out to the judge your number, name and division, you then trot your horse (open div. canter) and then come to a smooth quick halt before crossing the stop line. Cheryl wanted to do this one first (before me) and I didn't really care so it wasn't a problem. The large group ahead of us was kind and they waited while Cheryl did the obstacle. I am sure I got docked points on the halt because Sinwaan was wanting to get to Perfection so he was a little hard on the bit. They dock you for open mouth, head up in the air (Sinwaan's always is), etc. Our score: Sinwaan (9), me (10).

We were able to get past the large group of riders after Obstacle 1. We trotted on by and didn't think twice about the Lead Riders. When we reached Obstacle 2 I think the judge asked us "Are you my lead riders?" and we were like "Um, sure, we're in the front I guess, right?" Cheryl did have to specify that we were competitors so that should have been a clue right there.


Obstacle Two - The Box Turn. Make a 360° turn and continue on. (Open div - turn on haunches). This seemed too easy. I will be curious to see my score on this obstacle. Our score: Sinwaan (9), me (10).

We trotted onward together down the trail, enjoying the perfect weather and beautiful scenery. Cheryl pointed out some little flowers and other plants that were just coming out.


Obstacle Three - Turn on the Forehand 180°. I knew this one would be tougher for us, although I thought we could do it. Cheryl attempted it first and actually did quite well. When it was our turn I got Sinwaan's front feet in the box and asked him to move his hind end over and he got kind of confused and bumped the log and it moved and we had to start over again. I was thinking we had failed but the kind judge reminded me that we had 60 seconds for each obstacle, so I kept at it. We were able to complete the obstacle on our third try and by then I actually had him going around it really well! (The Open Div had to do 360°). Our score: Sinwaan (2), me (5).


From this obstacle the trail went off into the woods and turned into a single track trail along the rim of the canyon. It was gorgeous! Lots of deadfall trees had been cleared from the path. It was a bit damp and Sinwaan slipped a couple of times. I was not sure if that was because of his boots but at times it felt like we were both going for a ride and not just me. Perfection had a nice gait going and Sinwaan trotted at a medium pace to keep up. We crossed mountain streams at least 6-7 times. In some places the snow melt had caused the whole trail to be wet and marshy. I could hear Sinwaan's boots squashing and squeeking after we schlepped through some of the mud and wetness, but they stayed on.

After a turn off the single-track and a short climb up we reached Obstacle Four - Cavalettis. There were four or five small dead trees laying across the trail and the Pleasure division had to walk over them, the Open Div. had to trot. Easy! Although Perfection clipped one and moved it slightly, and Sinwaan also clipped one but didn't move it. The judge commented that she was not expecting us that soon. Were we the lead riders? Our score: Sinwaan (8), me (6) (WHAT?)


This photo is right after we completed the obstacle. Shortly after we had a woman on horseback riding towards us. She asked us if we were the lead riders. We said yes, we are out front. She said she was rushing over to get photos of people doing the obstacle and we said oh well, we already did it. She told us her partner would be shooting photos at the last obstacle. It didn't matter much to us since we both were carrying our own cameras.


Obstacle Five was the L-Back. When George announced this at the riders meeting my heart sank. I know for a fact we are no good at this obstacle. My spirits rose a little when George said that the Pleasure riders only had to back in, and not back through the whole L with the corner. The Open riders had to do the corner. So I thought maybe we could do it after all if all we had to do was back in a straight line. Ha! Cheryl and Perfection did a nice job so here is a photo of them at the obstacle. When it was our turn I lined Sinwaan up and asked him to back. His rear went to the left and his foot clocked the log and knocked it over to the right. I moved him forward and tried again. I could not get him to back up in a straight line for the life of me. He kept going over to the left, even with leg pressure on the left. I guess we need to work on this when we get some arena time again. We used our full 60 seconds and still could not get it. I am sure we scored a big fat 0 on that one. Our score: Sinwaan (0), me (0).

From that obstacle we headed down a hill and back up a hill, the whole time climbing over fallen trees and around little trees and watching out for holes. Cheryl found the way and I followed her. Later we were talking to George about that spot, it is the only section that had no real established trail to follow, and he said he marked it on foot. He was careful when marking that if you could see one ribbon, you could see the next one too. The whole trail was that way, so all you had to do was look around to keep from getting lost.


After that spot we went through a little meadow. I asked Cheryl if she would like to pose for a photo and she said yes so I took her photo. Then when I was trying to line Sinwaan up for his photo he decided it would be a good time to have a pee break. So after that I moved him to a different spot and Cheryl got this nice photo of us.


We had a pretty good lead on the other people due to all our trotting so when we came up on the last obstacle there was no judge. The photographer, Sibbea Browning chatted with us and explained that they were short on help for the ride and the judge for #6 was also the judge for #1, so once she was done with the first obstacle she would come down to this one. So Cheryl and I waited. I let Sinwaan nibble on what grass he could find. After a solid 20 minutes the group of others descended upon us. One of the ladies said "we didn't think we'd ever see you two again" and Cheryl said "You wouldn't have if the judge would have been here." Then Cheryl got to looking at the woman and noticed two of them were wearing the same shirts and she asked her "Are you the lead riders?" The lady said that "yes they were." We apologized as we had not realized that when we passed them. They were just glad we were having a good time and had not gotten lost.


After waiting around some more Sibbea asked if we would like a group photo, so we all lined up and she took some with her big lens and then agreed to take one for me on my camera.


Dale and Kittee got tired of waiting so they crossed the obstacle and headed back to camp without a score.


I figured we had waited 30 minutes we might as well keep waiting and sure enough within 5 minutes the judge showed up. Obstacle six - Tarp. Perfection did pretty well going across the tarp and while we were waiting our turn Sinwaan got very naughty. He started acting like a little kid having a tantrum; stamping his feet, tossing his head, trying to take the bit, just being very bad. I thought that was strange since we had gone over enough obstacles by this point for him to know that Perfection would wait for him. (Which she was, standing patiently at the other side) When the judge said ok we moved across that tarp like the wind. I don't think he even saw it. He only had eyes for Perfection. I will not be surprised if we get a low score due to his behavior at the start. I don't know how much of that they judge. Our score: Sinwaan (9), me (10).

Once over that obstacle we trotted onward down familiar trail back towards camp. We caught up to Dale and Kittee and passed them. Shortly after that we had a nice little canter and Cheryl turns back to look and says "You lost a boot, I can tell by the sound" So we turned around to go back and look for it. Dale and Kittee hadn't seen it, I must have lost it right before we passed them. We found it there in the middle of the trail. Thankfully it was easy to put back on and I hopped astride and off we went again. Caught up to Dale and Kittee and passed them again. When we reached the last natural water source we paused to give the horses a chance to drink and they were not interested so we continued on. The man in the orange vest was waiting to help us cross the highway and that was easily done. The gal at the finish was there to check us in.

Riding into camp it was eerily quiet, kind of like a ghost town because we were the first ones back in. Too bad it as not a timed event! LOL There was a great turnout for this ride, about 40 entrants. We took the horses back to the trailer and got them untacked. I put some water on Sinwaan to clean him up a bit and got his boots off. Cheryl and I went down to the registration table and we both got a certificate of completion and a little participant ribbon. There was also free samples of Vetericyn so Cheryl grabbed one for me. Maybe it will help with his rump. We decided not to stick around for awards because they were scheduled to be after lunch (after all riders were back in) and it was already close to 1 pm. I had told Matt I would be home by 1! Oops... we still had about an hour drive home.

This event was a lot of fun and I have some specific areas to work on now. Cheryl and Perfection were fantastic riding partners. (She asked some questions about endurance while we were out on the trail too). I appreciate how close it is to home and how fun and family are encouraged. I think George and all his helpers did a fantastic job putting on this ride. I hope to attend another one soon.

Later Annie told me she had placed 3rd in the pleasure division, and Cheryl emailed George and found out she had placed 20th. I will post all results once they are available online.