I left Roxy tied to one of the tent stakes with the tent open. She laid on my bed and settled in to wait. At this point in her life, she has no interest in following me down the trail.
The ride started at 6:30am. This being before the time change, it was still pitch dark outside when I mounted up on Hoss and headed to the trail. I don't see very well in the dark. While I'm not night-blind, I'm just this side of it. So it was very nice that the trails in the Wind Wolves Preserve are really more like single-vehicle roads. And that the trail we started on was pretty idiot-proof. There really wasn't anywhere to get off trail, in spite of a shortage of glo-sticks. The biggest problem I encountered was being able to identify that yes, that is a horse up ahead, before Hoss ran up its butt.
Hoss was, in typical fashion, very excited about the ride. He gets really amped up by the whole ride thing. The funniest part is, he'll be fine right up until somebody says "go," and then he just sort of loses his mind. If I get to the start line after the ride has started, he's just an idiot the whole time rather than waiting until after the "go" word is spoken. There's a certain level of competitiveness that he's started to show. He not only wants to catch up, he wants to pass. Unfortunately, he still wants to be able to see other horses close by. If he doesn't think there are any more horses to catch, he'll slow down and let the horses he's already passed catch up, then take up their pace.
This ride has a lot of elevation change, so I was much more careful than usual to pace Hoss. Usually I don't have to worry too much about him using himself up. This ride, we were warned, there is a very steep uphill on the second half of the ride, a section dubbed "Tevis Trail." It is aptly named, but more on that, later.
Shortly in to the first loop, we passed what's called Dorothy's House. This is an old "shack" (if that house, in its heyday, is a shack, then what am I living in, a hovel?) that was used in the filming of a sequel to the Wizard of Oz. After Dorothy's House, the terrain becomes more rolling and we started heading up into the foothills. On the first loop, thirteen miles, you climb up about 2500 feet, but do it in relatively short order.
The whole area is absolutely spectacular. I don't think I can do justice to describing it. The landscape is lush and was very green for the time of year. I didn't get to see any interesting wild life, but I am assured it is there. Having seen some of the prints, I am confident of it.
The dawn was beautiful over the mountains as I fought Hoss to stay at a rate I knew he could handle. I like him to walk up many of the hills at this point in his career. Hill are tough for him, and I want to get him very well conditioned to it before we go flying up the hills like Phoenix used to do. I figure that will come. He's just not there yet.
Just prior to the first vet check, the photographers had set up. The area is sort of a little dip, and they'd set up at the far crest from where the riders come into it. Well, the wind had picked back up, and wow, did it get bad here! I'm sure my pictures look very interesting, with squeezed-shut eyes, arm thrown up, etc. At one point, a wind gust came through that was so hard, for a moment it felt like Hoss and I were held suspended by it.
We came in to vet check one feeling good. Hoss was hot headed and not ready for there to be a vet check yet, dammit. It took a few minutes for him to meet criteria, which was set at 60bpm all day. He did not take as long to come down as he did at Manzanita, though, which I was quite happy to see. It really does seem that my strategy adjustment has already paid off.
The biggest obstacle we had to overcome was the shortage of vets at this ride. With only three vets and three vet checks, there was but one vet at each check. We were told this at the ride meeting, but that didn't make it go any faster. By the time I got Hoss to the vet, our hold time was over. I got him checked over and off we went.
I switched out the bit for the hackamore at vet check one. He was being very good, all things considered. Also, he still has a heck of a time creating a seal around the bit when he drinks. It sounds like he's drinking through a broken straw. Concerned that might be part of why he wasn't drinking much, I decided it would be just as well to continue in the hack.
We didn't get very far down the trail when I realized I should have availed myself of the available facilities at the vet check. Now, this area is beautiful, but it suffers from a lack of brush. It's pretty much all grasslands as far as the eye can see. There are, however, plenty of large water holding tanks. So, I took Hoss off the trail behind one of these tanks and took care of business.
There is a lot of water available on these trails. There are stock tanks every few miles through much of the ride. Hoss drank pretty well, not taking huge drinks but drinking frequently. The temperature was comfortable without being overly hot and the wind was strong but not cold.
At some point not many miles out from vet check one, I noticed that the chin chain on the hack was swinging merrily in the breeze. I stopped Hoss to figure out what was going on. One of the quick links was missing. And I had made sure they were tight before I put it on him! Well, nothing to be done about that at this point. I undid the remaining quick link and removed the chain. Wasn't going to help me, anyway.
About seven miles into the second loop, I realized I needed facilities yet again (what, my kidneys work overtime now? Really?). Fortunately, we passed right by vet check 2 on our way, so I cruised in. Oh, you should have heard the uproar! Coming in this way, I caught up with the leaders. Well, I explained that I was just there for a quick stop, not claiming I had finished the loop. I don't think I've heard so many people so outraged. Well, I took care of that, hopped back on, and we went on our way to finish the loop. Not cheating. Really.
Vet check two was an hour old. The vet in charge of this check insisted on saddles off. Oy. Not really what I wanted to deal with. With the wind, taking the saddle off allows the horse's back to chill. And, I realized when I was resaddling, the saddle pad, rather than being warm and wet, is now cold and wet. Not to mention that saddles had to be placed on the ground! Fortunately Hoss has a rather thick winter coat, and while I had trace clipped him, I hadn't clipped his back. So, despite not having a cooler to hand, Hoss did just fine. By the time the air got down to his skin, his coat was dry and he wasn't chilled. Of course, I still had to put the cold wet saddle pad back on him! Not that he seemed to suffer any ill effects, it just seemed a little unfair.
It didn't take long at all for Hoss's heart rate to come down at this stop. I think it was on the order of four minutes. The weird thing was, if I stopped him eating, his heart rate would spike. Normally, if a horse is eating or drinking, that will cause a spike in the horse's heart rate. Stopping them from eating will cause the heart rate to drop. Well, his heart rate didn't go down until I allowed him to drop his head and eat. Of course, as quickly as he came down, it's hard to say if my observations have any validity!
At this point I decided to go to riding with the reins hooked into the sides of Hoss's halter. The hackamore had no chin chain, and I was worried that it was worse than useless. If it rode up on his face, I'd have even less control. Besides, by this point he was actually listening to me. So riding this way didn't seem like much of a risk.
After a nice little rest, off we went for loop three. This is the part of the ride where they had used Tevis Hill. And wow, is it a doozy. I don't think we've ever surmounted a hill quite that steep and long. It's not really appropriate for tailing, unless your horse is very good at it. Hoss has not had a lot of practice, so he ended up carrying me up the entire hill. At the top, Hoss felt pretty good. He wasn't real thrilled about having done the hill, but he got it done.
Going back down, Hoss picked up the pace from time to time. He likes to trot downhill. I've been working on him doing this in a collected manner, and he's doing far better. I'm not getting the "Nazi trot" anymore. But, as we went down the hill, he started dropping his head like he had an itch. After a moment or two of this, he stopped. It wasn't an itch. He wanted grass! He cropped up a mouthful of grass and continued on our way, munching away on the grass. A little bit later, he repeated this routine. He must have been really hungry!
When we got close to vet check three, I hopped off and loosened the girth. Hoss felt he was surrounded by far too much yummy grass not to be getting some of it. He would stop, crop up a mouthful, and then walk on down the trail. I think it took us nearly three times as long to cover the remaining distance to the vet check than if he'd just walked along with me. But, I figured it was okay. Gave him more time for his heart rate to come down. I finally got him in to the check, and over to the water. But he just wanted to eat grass! This time, if I let him eat, his heart rate would not come down. So I walked him to an area without food, and stood with him. I listened to his heart rate until I was getting 60bpm, then called the PandR person over. He got 56. Cool.
The vet line was long, and there was no hay left at the vet check anyway, so I got in line to get him vetted. He cropped grass the whole time. By the time we got to the vet and checked, we had two minutes until time to leave.
This is where things got interesting. An ugly front of huge black clouds was moving in. There were reports of rain. Now, we were still in the sun, but I could see, I was in trouble! I hadn't brought a jacket. I just had my t-shirt. Fortunately for me, a very kind lady offered me the use of her jacket. She was switching to a rain coat, and just didn't want to see me suffer. I was very grateful.
After vet check three, there's just eight miles to go. We had enough time, so we headed on out, and ended up hooking up with the lady who had loaned me the jacket and her friend. They were quite pleasant trail companions. They were funny, too. I imagine they thought of me as somewhat dull, but I was distracted. I was watching those clouds. I was thinking of my dog and my tent and my clothes. My tent was open. My tent had no rain fly. My tent – and everything in it – was going to get wet.
Well, we got about four miles, and the rain hit us. This was no gentle rain. No, it was more like a downpour. Fortunately it wasn't a particularly cold downpour. I still got utterly soaked. Poor Hoss was completely soaked. There was thunder and lightning, and I worried about Roxy all by herself in the tent with no place to go to get out of the rain.
Rain makes those last few miles feel like forever. The trail was slick and slightly downhill, so it was strictly walking. Hoss is heavy enough that areas that don't give under the lighter horses were giving under him. I felt his feet break the surface and create holes in more than one place as we walked along. We finally – finally! – crossed in to base camp at 5:45pm, 45 minutes to spare.
Coming in, we had to pass by our camp on the way to the vets. Roxy was out of the tent and under my truck. She looked very wet. She wanted to come with me, but she seemed to get it when I told her to wait. I rode the rest of the way down and got Hoss checked before heading back to camp. When the vet checked Hoss, he commented that Hoss's heart rate was 52bpm! That was awesome.
The lady I borrowed the jacket from made a move to reclaim her jacket before heading back to her tent. Her friend, utterly shocked and scandalized, said, "You're not going to make her give it back NOW?!?" She didn't. I was so sure I would find her later that I didn't worry about it.
When I got back to camp, I discovered my worst fears realized. My tent and all my clothes were wet. My sleeping bag and memory foam were soaked. Even my book was wet. I was very fortunate in that the young man camped next to us did his best to protect my belongings. He moved the little bits of electronics I had so they wouldn't be in puddles, and helped Roxy find her way under the truck. I am very grateful to him for doing what he did for my dog and me.
Fortunately, I had left my sweatshirt and windbreaker in the truck. This meant that I at least had something dry to put over my wet clothes. So I removed the wet jacket I was wearing and put on my sweatshirt and windbreaker. Since everything was wet, it was evident I would not be able to stay another night. I was going to have to make the drive home after that ride. Not exactly something I was looking forward to, but I couldn't stay in the truck with nothing dry. I got Hoss untacked and under a cooler and fed, then broke down camp.
I went down to get something to eat and to return the jacket. Dinner was barbecue chicken. It was quite good. I don't even like chicken. I hadn't had much to eat on the trail. While I had been prepared to bring my own lunch, I decided not to make a sandwich as I didn't think it would hold up well in my saddle bags. So all I'd eaten was a couple of granola bars.
I wandered around at the dinner area carrying the soggy jacket for a while before I decided I had missed its owner while packing. So instead I wandered around camp looking for her. It was once again quite dark. I couldn't see a thing. After a couple of circuits, I gave it up as a bad job. I wasn't going to be able to find my butt with both hands in these conditions. So I brought the jacket home, washed it, and I've emailed its owner in hopes of returning it to her.
Overall, a very nice ride. I certainly won't miss it if they put it on again. And I sure hope they do put it on again.
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