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Rain and a Large Filly

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Loaded up Mr. Blaze and met N and Willow at the lake this morning. It was cool and chilly when the sun went behind the clouds, and as we meandered/spooked/stumbled/snorted our way around the 6 mile horse camp loop in 2 hours, it got darker and chillier. N and I agreed we were both ready to ditch the horses and take a nap so we called it after the loop and as I drove home rain drops were falling!
N and Willow blowing in the breeze:

Part of the trail underwater:

Blaze ears:

After I got home I was killing time while Blaze’s trough filled so I took some photos of my over sized filly who trod upon my toe this morning in her enthusiasm..


Matchy matchy

She got mom’s tail!

Look at me ma!

Joey & Ground Driving

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I was out early this morning heading south to ride my friend’s Pintabian gelding, Chief. We had a fun 10 mile ride with some good trotting and hill work and a great cool down in the river at the end.

 I made it home just in time to meet my trainer friend, B, to work Joey. Joey had the week off last week since the focus was on Desire and the ride, but today he was back to it. Today was some surcingle and ground driving work, though turns out he wasn’t into having her behind him in any way, shape, or form, until the very end. The winds were high today and the horses over at the neighboring horse “rescue” were calling and restless, so he was pretty spooky and wired. Still, he did good work and he really is smart as a whip!
Checking out all the new equipment. Notice the doggie helper sticking his head through the gate…that’s our lab mix, Tady, who comes and sleeps next to me during every training session.

Moving out with the surcingle:

 Feeling the long line on his bit, getting used to a little weight on it (just the weight of the rope itself)

Moving out with a slight bend, Hmmm, what is this new feeling?

Good boy, has a great Whoa these days:

Moving out with long lines through the rings and over his back, very exciting:

Hmm, new and strange, but I’m okay..

Look at the stretch!

Just a pretty boy!

 He didn’t like her to truly ground drive behind him, you can see the tension here:

Hmm, well maybe you’re okay back there..

By the end he was walking off with her almost (not quite) behind him:

First time seeing him bend and figure out how to carry his head besides HIGH!

He did a solid hours work and had a bath at the end, and THEN it was (happily) dinner time for all!

Sound?!

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Pulled the 4 Glue-ons off. It wasn’t as bad as everyone had led me to believe, I just stuck a flat head screwdriver in the heel of the boot where it was already separating and from there tapped it with a mallet, wedging it down around the boot to free the boot from the hoof. Desire was great with the fronts, kept lifting the backs in an irritating fashion, but after the first boot I got to where I could work the screwdriver around the whole boot once and pry it off successfully on the first try.
She came right to the gate and nickered at me today, ready to be haltered. I was expecting her to tell me to go fly a kite like she did after the Cache Creek 50. I think that says something for how well she did eating and drinking and electrolyting, she didn’t lose much weight at all and wasn’t feeling tired or cranky– and was happier to see me after 90 miles than after that 50!

The left front boot, freed from the hoof and ready to pry off:

Left front hoof with coating of Goober Glue:

Left front after Goober Glue peeled off…VERY stinky and soft and some of the sole peeled off with the Glue..she isn’t actually missing a chunk from the toe, that’s just excess glue that makes it look that way..

I only took photos of the left front as that was the one I was obsessed with, but all 4 looked pretty much the same, though I do think the left front was the stinkiest and softest.

I sprayed all 4 feet liberally with Veteriycyn and then….

SHE TROTTED OUT SOUND!

I took a few tentative jog steps on the soft dirt heading back to her paddock and she jumped right into a solid trot. I couldn’t believe my eyes and did it again, then had her trot around me in each direction and she was sound.

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit.

Hat Creek Hustle Day 2: 38 Miles of Yay and an Oh Sh*t!!

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Pro Ride Photo, Day 2

Day 2–>Getting the Heck Outta There


Saturday night ride dinner was Tri-tip and the usual fixings (salad, rolls, etc) and with another 50 completion under my belt, a heaped plate, and a splash from Funder’s flask in my Coca Cola, I thoroughly enjoyed my evening. Before long it was bedtime though, with another 50 starting at 7 am the next morning.

This is the first ride camp trip with a new bedding strategy: 2 thick foam mats on top of each other instead of our usual air mattresses. It. Was. Epic. We bought a new air mattress for this ride season, which promptly failed at Whiskeytown, and when we saw the foam mats at the very random Surplus City store in town we had to go for it. They were about $50 a piece but are easy to roll up and strap on top of the camping load, can’t go flat, are firm and officially now ride tested, rider approved. If I never have to inflate and screw with an air mattress again, I’ll be happy.
SO, after a 4 am stumble-out-and-pee (does anyone else find it nearly impossible to stay vertical during an early morning ride camp pee stumble? I swear it’s like I’m drunk, but probably just get up too quickly coz I’ve been holding it too long..) my alarm actually *woke me up* from a deep sleep at 6. The 25s and 50s were starting together at 7 since there were fewer riders, and after a morning chat with N and goodbye to Funder who was heading home, Desire and I were off for the start. Everyone did a trot-by for the vets on the way out to the trail and we were given the thumbs up so off we went on a 15 mile Pink loop. 
Sunday Am:

Surprise, surprise, you would never have guessed Desire had gone 50 miles the day before! We were on a nice loose reined walk for about 50 seconds until a rider passed us leaving camp and it was back to prance, prance, chomp, chomp. After turning her back towards camp to let a couple small groups pass, we picked up a decent collected trot and played leap frog for the first loop with D and her Foxtrotter mare on the 25 as well as a few other riders. I wish I had videoed D’s mare Foxtrotting out as fast as Desire trotted, it was AMAZING. She’s not a big mare and her feet were flying under her, but D sat steady as if none of that business was going on below, so clearly it was smooth. My Foxtrotter never Foxtrotted worth a damn, and that mare is the best at it I’ve ever seen. D is in her 70s and a very tough lady! 
I know Desire is being a true pill when I’m checking my mileage over and over to see if we’re getting close to camp yet. I had charged my phone full overnight so it lasted running the free mileage tracker app for a few hours. I was ready to be D-o-n-e with Loop 1 after about 10 miles and looked forward to a more normal-brained mare on Loop 2. A few miles from camp at a water trough one of her *beloved* splint boots slid down too far and she had a real leg kicking session, including circling me obnoxiously as I tried to fix it until a nice rider on the 25 offered to hold her head so I could get to her hind leg safely. At another point where I dismounted to walk her down a hill (rather than jig down the rocks), a pair of passing riders stopped and waited for me to get mounted which was also very nice. These small gestures on the trail when my mare is being a pill are SO appreciated, and I  mean to pass the good deeds on and encourage others to do so.
On the Trail, Day 2, wearing my completion award t-shirt from Day 1:
After the 15 mile Pink Loop there was a 1 hour hold since they were doing a big breakfast of biscuits n gravy, pancakes, sausages, and fruit. While I appreciated the food greatly after 15 miles of Mad Max Mare, it was a little weird to have an hour hold so early in the ride. Desire pulsed right down,  got all As, and went right to gobbling mash while I retrieved my biscuit and gravy feast. Georgia had some too.
In no time we were back out on the trail for a 25 mile Yellow loop. As predicted Desire was about 100 times better, happy to walk out at speed or pick up a consistent trot. We had a great time alternating walking and trotting depending on the rockiness of the road, then crossed the main road (with the aide of some cheery volunteers) and flew along some beautiful trails winding through the forest. The footing was great, there was plenty of shade, she was drinking and eating well, and felt sound, sound, sound. 
Great footing through the shady forest:

After the loop out, heading back to camp, a rider caught up to us and we fell to chatting at the water stop just after re-crossing the road. Turns out it was the lady who had given us electrolytes at at a time of crisis at the  Cache Creek 50 last month. She hadn’t seen us since we were having some trouble at the bottom of the biggest hill in the heat of the afternoon, and was delighted to see that we had not only survived, but finished, and here we were at another ride. Riding together at the walk for a few miles, letting the horses graze intermittently, we chatted more and discovered she also lives near where I was born and had been married to the first vet I ever used in my hometown, so as usual endurance riding proved itself to be a very small world. 
A few miles out from camp we decided to pick up the trot again and get in for the last hold. Her gelding trotted out and Desire started to but took a few funny steps. My heart jumped into my throat, I stopped her immediately, walked a few sound strides, then asked for a trot again and felt nothing, she trotted sound. I called to the lady who was trotting ahead and asked her to watch us trot, and she did but said she saw nothing and Desire looked sound. I slowed to the walk then picked up the trot again and she took a few more off steps. 

And here enters the Ohhhhh shit. 
It was pretty confounding. We had been swinging along at the trot in fine form just minutes before, now she was suddenly trotting lame every few steps???!!! The lady went on ahead to camp which prompted Desire to go cuckoo and since I didn’t think jigging on a possible lameness was wise, I bailed off and had a hot, panicky walk down the gravel road in the sun back to camp. Fortunately it wasn’t far and I zeroed in on Dr. Lydon immediately to come watch us trot. I pulled her tack, he checked her vitals and then had us trot and WOW, she was LAME. I mean from a few off steps out on the trail, the sound hand walking back, to now this moment, where she was now head bobbing lame on the left front at the trot. I was horrified, sad, frustrated, and felt inexplicably guilty. I didn’t know what had caused it but was sure I had done something wrong. Lydon gave us his condolences, advised a few days rest and then a test trot out to be followed by vet visit if the problem persisted, and that was that. We went 90 out of 100 miles but it was not to be. 
Desire was in fine spirits, slurping water and grazing greedily as we walked slowly back to our camp site, me lugging the saddle because I couldn’t bring myself to put it back on her. She was always sound at the walk, but very sore on the left front to trot. I ditched my tack in a heap, cleaned her up and rubbed Sore No More on all her legs, syringed her a dose of electrolytes (none of which were spit out, miraculous) and she got to work on her second sloppy mash of the day. I debated on staying and letting her rest vs. getting home and getting the boots off, figuring things out etc, and just couldn’t bring myself to sit there alone in camp all afternoon worrying. Camp was almost empty by that point and it was a relatively short haul home so I went for it and broke down camp. 
Packed to go:

Try as I might I couldn’t get my giant cooler back into the truck, it’s too long to get my arms to both handles and was nearly full to boot, so I went in search of help, though talking to anyone was the last thing I wanted to do at that moment. It’ll tell you how empty camp was that my cooler loading recruit was the ride manager Dr. Lydon himself, but I’m glad I found him as he made me feel a little better. I queried him on what I could learn from this experience and he said something along the lines of ,”Well you know, shit happens. If you flip the coins enough times, it’s bound to come up heads.”  Believe it or not, since I had no one to rant or cry to there in camp at the moment, I found it comforting somehow. I guess just that the ride vet didn’t think I’d ridden my horse into the ground or done anything stupid, though I knew deep down I hadn’t. 
I got home Sunday night to find an electric gate opener hanging on a bow in the driveway, and our creaky old gates replaced with a shiny new electric gate!!! Holy cow!!

And pulled in only to see the ugly bed of weeds and holes in front of the house now looked like this:

 That’s it, my husband is staying home from rides more often…   😉

My first endurance pull, my first lameness issue…the left front is the boot my trimmer and I had trouble getting on the first time when we did the boots..we had to wait and file the glue off and reapply the same boot which already had Goober Glue in it..that is supposed to be extremely slow drying..but maybe in between times something got lumpy in there and made a pressure point? I don’t think it could be a coincidence that the one boot we had trouble getting on is the leg she is sore on…?

I was sick as a dog yesterday but am off to pry off the boots now…

Hat Creek Hustle 2012: Day 1, A Success

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Day 1, photo credit Baylor/Gore
I’ve been barely conscious with a migraine today and am just now back on my feet, so here is the write of up of Day 1 from Saturday PM.  Tomorrow we’ll discuss how we went 38 fantastic miles Sunday and then Things Went South…
Friday–>Saturday 50 miler
I was out of the driveway by 7 am Friday and after a stop for fuel and ice we were on the highway headed for Lassen. My gps and google mapping directed me on a different route than my husband and I took last year to the ride, but the route I drove still seemed very familiar to me. It took me ¾ of the drive there to remember I had taken this scenic route toward Susanville to try out a horse a few years ago, before I bought Desire. 
I ended up taking the tourist route through Lassen Park itself, which included a $10 entry fee and 30 minutes of white knuckled, map-double-checking driving (but careful, don’t check that map for long!) along the edge of a cliff. It was a beautiful, slow, windy drive at 15-25 mph tops. Snow was six feet on the sides of the road and the views were breath taking, as was the wicked drop off immediately on the passenger side of the road. I won’t take that route again with truck and trailer as the $10 fee and slow speeds were slightly resented (by moi), but it was worth doing once! 
Ride camp was still pretty empty when I pulled in around 11 am and I tucked the rig back in the trees in almost the exact same spot as last year. No one was around to see my ungodly struggle to the get the canopy up, luckily. So, turns out the “Easy-up” canopies, while easy for 2 people, are incredibly sucky to put up by yourself. The winsomely simple illustration of squeezing the cross bars up to click the top into place…um, maybe if I had Schwarzenegger hand strength, but in my case it was more like pushing, pinching, squeezing, wedging, swearing, and CLICK! Triumph. So it wasn’t a pretty process, but I *did* recreate the cozy Arabian Nights Tent my husband usually constructs for us.
Arrived:

Modified Olive barrel=awesome bucket filling/head wetting system:


Arabian Nights Tent, the Bird edition:
My crew for this ride, Georgia:

We were checked in and vetted in by 3:30 and I spent the rest of the afternoon visiting–N and Willow were there, another hometown friend, D, and her Foxtrotter mare, some folks that loaned me a bit last year, and later Funder and Dixie arrived and camped near us. Desire was in true dippy trippy mare-in-heat-space-cadet form all afternoon. We visited with her FavoriteHorseintheWorld, Willow, and when we parted ways Desire was quite upset about it and continued to be a pill throughout our few mile leg stretcher ride, which was more of a misbehave, correct, jig, swear, repeat- ride than anything. She was just being a total snot, and spooking at any and everything. 
Desire’s endless love, N’s mare Willow..kinda like looking in a petite-izing mirror:

Ride meeting was basic, no maps, no numbers on the horses at vetting in (pulse: 40, all As, btw), and the loops were blue, red, orange for the 50s, with a planned 30 minute hold in camp after blue, and an hour lunch hold in camp after red, after a no-hold vet check out on the red trail. Ride start was 6:30 am. 
Ride meeting, Friday pm:

Funder vetting Dixie in, with Dr. Lydon:



Funder’s Dixie, Friday pm:



I believe one of the beauties of endurance are the extreme highs and lows we experience while following the ribbons. I find myself entering a microcosm on the day I leave for a ride, where all that matters is my horse. I don’t think about the outside world one bit until the morning after the ride when we pull out of ride camp, when reality suddenly, and often unnervingly, rushes in. 
While I’m living in Endurance World though, there is still *plenty* going on. My girl Desire is tough, strong, sometimes hot, sometimes silly, and *usually in heat* at rides. She is not a boring ride, to say the least! She is well trained at the core and never (okay, not often) dangerous, but she is a fast, agile, stubborn mare and you’d better not let your mind wander far when riding her. 
Saturday am, ready for the start:
All that said, our first 10 mile loop of Hat Creek Hustle 50 2012 was the worst Desire has been since our first 50 together at Day 1 of Cuyama in March. It was a controlled start and she was jigging and jogging along, there were little groups of riders everywhere and I didn’t think we had a prayer of finding a pocket, but the group just ahead of us was dawdling so I passed them and set off on the nice winding forest trail. I did this loop last year on the LD, it’s a really nice loop with good footing and a gradual climb you don’t even notice until you’re suddenly going obviously downhill. 
I leap frogged with Karen Chaton and Funder for most of the loop and Desire was at her hoof stomping, bit chomping best. We didn’t have a minute of composure on that loop and she stared after the horses at the troughs and pranced away without drinking  a bit. Fortunately at only 10 miles I wasn’t too worried about her hydration, more about whether her brain would ever return. 
Nice forested trails on Loop 1:
A half hour hold with tack on, all A’s, and the usual hind hoof stomping that attracts so much attention at vet checks. She *hates* her hind splint boots but if she doesn’t wear them she will start to interfere as she gets tired, to the point that she had a raw spot on her left hind fetlock after Whiskeytown. So at any and all vet checks or rest points she stomps her hinds and it’s loud and looks like she’s being a bitch. Every single ride one vet or another asks if I can’t take them off, are they really necessary, etc. Here’s the deal. They aren’t cosmetic, they are high quality breathable boots, and she wears them to protect her legs. Clearly?  I don’t think they’d rather I showed her with a cut on her leg and it’s much hotter (and more annoying) to vet wrap it. Sorry folks, she doesn’t like her splint boots and wants everyone to know about it. That said I am in the testing phase of the shorter ankle boots, fingers crossed she takes to those with less drama. *eyeroll*
At first hold, thanks for the photo Funder:

I rode the second loop, 25 miles, with Karen Chaton and her boy, Chief. Desire and Chief rated well together and Desire wasn’t even particularly competitive and snotty about trotting along with him. In fact, she was a completely different horse than she had been the first 10 miles. She walked out nicely from camp, trotted along sanely, and though she chomped the bit some, she behaved pretty darn well riding with Chief. I like to ride her alone usually because she gets so competitive but they were just rolling along with their nice extended trots and it was a blast to be in good company on good horses without a boot worry in the world!  Hallelujah all 4 Glue-ons stayed on and I had the best ride I’ve had in months! 
Riding Loop 2 with Karen Chaton & Granite Chief:

Lava Rock of Doom:


Winding up to a plateau with views of Mt. Lassen AND Mt. Shasta:
Mt. Lassen:

Making the most of the Vista Point!

The 25 mile loop had some nice scenic spots and an awesome stretch of perfect footing through the forest where we just flew along at a booming trot. We didn’t get maps, I didn’t have a gps, and it didn’t matter. We were on the right trail, flying, and loving it. 
We were still trotting when we caught sight of camp which wasn’t our plan, so it was time to bail off and loosen girths and work on pulsing down. If I drop Desire’s girth significantly and take her bit out, she is almost always pulsed down, and that was the case this time. She vetted through with As and a few A-s  and it was back to the trailer to stuff our faces. 
And stuff we did! Desire usually sleeps at lunch holds but today she powered down a whole big sloppy mash and had moved onto the hay when it was time to tack up and go. I dove into the salami and cheese and watermelon and had a great appetite as well. Desire is getting better with the electrolyte syringing, that is she still spits as much out as she can but she is getting better at letting the whole syringing process happen. The first time I de-wormed her after I bought her she took me off the ground rather than take the syringe, so this is progress.
The last 15 mile loop was the final loop of the LD last year so I remembered it well. I had eagle eyes out for the turn I missed last year or could well have missed it again. It’s a sharp right turn off a wide open uphill trail and if any corner deserves to be marked with water troughs as is Lydon’s habit, that corner does! I wasn’t the only one to get lost there last year, not sure if anyone missed it this year, though I know some, including Funder, did take a wrong turn in the second loop and had a long day.
After our brisk 25 mile loop we took the last loop very slowly. Karen and I missed each other after the hold so Desire and I did the last loop totally alone. There was a lot of rock and it just wasn’t worth risking a wrong step to move out any quicker. On one particularly rocky, single track trail along the edge of a hill I got off and walked and it was nice to stretch my legs. I remembered about every part of that loop so it was relaxing to know where I was, know I had plenty of time, and just meander along with my mare. When the trail got decent again I re-mounted and we did a booming trot to about ¼ from camp. It was too funny, she felt fresh as could be on the trail to the finish but when she caught sight of camp all fight went out of her and she went into snooze mode. 
Some nice footing on Loop 3:

Dorky riding goggles for the win!

A good spot to get off and walk!

View to the left while walking the narrow rocks above:

My friend D rode both 25s on her cute little Foxtrotter mare and good soul that D is, she camped out at the finish line Saturday with an ice cold bottle of water that she handed off to me when I appeared. The cold drink was great and it was nice to see a familiar friendly face at the finish line, too. 
I untacked and cleaned her up a little before returning for the final vet check where she got As and A-s. The vet asked me to trot her out again because he thought he saw a little something in her hind, which I have no doubt is that spot she knocks when she gets tired. I took off her splint boots before the final vetting so she wouldn’t stomp and could relax, and I think she knocked that spot on her first trot out because he said it wasn’t consistent but just a slight *something* trotting out that he didn’t see coming back. He asked me to trot her out for a vet in the morning before leaving which I think is very fair. I think she was just tired and hit the spot but if she is a little off in the morning we’ll deal with that too. I had such a great ride today it made it all well worth it and if we get to do another 50 tomorrow it will just be icing on the cake. 

Mid-mash-slurp, after the Finish:

To be continued..