Death Valley Encounter Day 1

We set out nice and early in the dawn light. I let everybody set out before us and left 20 minutes after the official start. Hoss started reasonably well behaved.

I wanted to walk for a mile or so to get Hoss warmed up. He hadn't been out of the pasture in 10 days, so was feeling pretty fresh. We were doing great until a pack of horses caught up and passed us. Well, that was it. Race brain set in.

I used every strategy I have to keep Hoss at a reasonably pace. He just doesn't get it. He simply cannot go as fast as those slender little arabs. I did get him to go with his head in an appropriate position from time to time, but mostly I had the back of his head in my face.

We caught up to a pair of grey arabs and passed them. At which point Hoss promptly slowed down to stay with them! He wanted to be ahead, but to feel like he was the leader and not alone.

Coming in to the town of Johannesburg, I managed to leave the grey arabs behind, and we caught up to another group of horses. We rode with this group for some time.

While riding through Johannesburg, one of the riders commented on my tack and asked about Team 91. I explained why I have the colors and the significance of Team 91. I said it was an homage to my father. He thought that was very neat. This was an older gentlemen, probably near the age my father was when he passed, so the compliment coming from him meant a lot to me.

After passing through Johannesburg, we went right down the main street of Randsburg. What a charming little town. It's described as "a living ghost town." I commented that I'd love to visit some time when I wasn't just passing through on an endurance ride. There are some neat little antique shops and it's a colorful slice of California's mining history.

Negotiating a steep, slick downhill, Hoss slipped rather frighteningly. We had stopped to let the rider we were with dismount. I wasn't going to get off because Hoss can walk so much faster than I can downhill. Then, Hoss's right front just slipped out from under him! It startled me enough that I got off and led (or rather, followed a lot) the rest of the way down that hill. Several times Hoss stopped and looked back at me as if to say, "just get on; we can go faster!" I don't blame him. All the other horses were being led far faster than he was.

Once the trail was less slick, I got back on. It was still downhill, but neither quite so steep nor so wet. Once I was on, Hoss forgot how to walk. Those grey arabs had passed us while I was afoot. Now Hoss was determined to pass them back up again. So down the hill we went trotting. Hoss likes to trot downhill better than anything. Once we caught and passed the arabs, he wanted to slow down again. I kept him going – although at a slower trot – for a ways before I let him drop back to a walk.

Not long after I let Hoss walk, the ladies on the arabs started trotting. Well, Hoss couldn't be left behind. He started trotting as soon as they started passing him. He was being kind of a butt. He wouldn't drop behind and he couldn't get ahead.

I don't like having huge fights on rides. There's a time for working on discipline, and during the ride typically is not it. Oh, I'll get after him on really important stuff, but I'm apt to let the little stuff go. This has probably led toa certain degree of unruliness on Hoss's part. He knows full well when I'm going to be a hard ass and when I'm not. Add to this the need to pick my battles based on how my shoulder is, and it's a recipe for a snotty horse! Fortunately Hoss is relatively easy going. He doesn't really care if he's with other horses or not, he just wants to be with or ahead if they happen to be going the same way he is.

At about 13 miles we came to the trot by check. I can't be sure, because when I got off to use a bush, I discovered my GPS had shut down. I was pretty sure this was due to low batteries, but I turned it on to be sure. I'd had the foresight to pack spare batteries.

After changing my GPS batteries and trotting for the vet, we headed back out on the trail. We passed under the railroad tracks and into some of the prettiest countryside there is.

There was a pretty significant climb. Hoss was happy enough to walk it. By this time those grey arabs had caught back up. Now Hoss was obsessed with them! Several times I tried to get away from them, but to no avail. Hoss would slow down until they caught up. Of course, he slowed down to the pace I wanted to set anyway, so it wasn't like I could get after him for it.

I did get quite a few pictures. Some places were very beautiful, but the trail too technical to have my camera out. So I got what I could get.

The loop from the trot by back to the vet check was about 17 miles. Hoss and I disagreed mightily about how fast to go. There was a lot of deep, sandy stuff. Not the kind of surfacewe often see. I wanted him to walk. By now we had passed the grey arabs and left them behind. I had gotten him behind another horse and used that horse to keep him going. Then we got caught up by a fast walking arab. Hoss did not like that one bit. That horse was passing him!

I'm sure the rider of that arab thought us the rudest team out there. Hoss started jigging in the deep stuff. I corrected him many times before I decided to let him trot (less "let" than "put up with"). Once we caught up, I made him pass and keep going. For once he seemed pleased to do so.

We came to another uphill, which I had Hoss walk. Well, this resulted in being caught up by the fast walking arab and the horse they were riding with. Hoss couldn't possibly let them pass! He was being a total brat. I finally managed to force him to let them by and kept him to a walk long enough to let them be ahead.

We were getting close to the vet check, and I wanted to walk in. Hoss wasn't having it. He wanted to catch up that pair of horses with a fiery passion. There were back in sight and he was going to get 'em!

We came in to the vet check far hotter than I'd have preferred, so I wasn't surprised his heart rate was a little high. Thinking back, I should have been. Criteria was 64.

I found Hoss some hay. Ride management had brought orchard, which Hoss is allergic to. Oops. Lesson: always, always, always bring hay Hoss can have and send it to the vet checks. Fortunately someone had left a flake of alfalfa and kindly said anybody could use it. Hoss was hungry enough to eat dirt, so I was extremely grateful to find something he could have.

I presented Hoss to the vet about half an hour into our hour hold. They were getting ready to clear the vet check, so they wanted to get everybody vetted before the vet left. When I trotted him out, the vet said, "That's why! You want a trailer ride to camp." Hoss had a cramp in his right hind leg, explaining his high heart rate. Up to that point I had no indication anything was remotely wrong. In fact, it was the first time he'd simply trotted out at a vet check. In the past he's required hazing.

The vet located the muscle in question. It was in a pretty good knot, up in his groin. I massaged it, but entertained no notion of going on.

My suspicion is the cramp is related to a slip or other bad step he'd taken during the ride. I distinctly recall feeling his right hind half collapse. He continued on, so I thought nothing of it until he was lame at the vet check.

We took the trailer ride back to camp. When I unloaded him, I found Hoss had whacked his head enough to just slightly skin his face just below and inside his left eye. He did not like that trailer ride. I'm pretty sure the cramp was worse by the time we got back.

Due to weather concerns, the entire ride picked up and switched camps a day early. My daughter drove us to the new camp and we got ourselves situated. I told the ride manager that I was scratching for day 2 and would see how things went from there.

Before going to bed, I walked Hoss around and massaged his crampy leg. To my admittedly less than expert hands, it felt nearly gone.