We weren't able to get out in time to make it for Day 1 of this multi-day ride. Since my surgery is now scheduled for March 3, I found myself with far more to get done than there's really enough time for. As it was, we got out late, and arrived at camp at just about 6pm. This meant setting up camp pretty much in the dark! What an adventure! I was very glad to have my husband along.
I went to the ride management area and got my ride map and put my card in the famous box. Then I returned to camp to help my husband finish setting up camp. We were given by a friend a rather large tent. It's tall enough in the center to stand up in. Love it. It claims to sleep eight, but I can't for the life of me see how that's happening. Still, it's large enough that we had our king-size air mattress, both camp chairs, and all our clothes and two dogs in the tent quite comfortably. Of course, if I go to a ride by myself, I probably won't be able to set up this particular tent by myself!
It was cold in the morning, and the forecast predicted a cold day. I got up early to give Hoss a bran mash and hay, then back to bed for another hour or so. My husband got up and made breakfast, bless him. I hadn't slept well, so I had a hard time dragging myself out of my sleeping bag and getting dressed. I even ate my breakfast in bed!
Once I was up and moving, I started to feel more motivated. I stripped off Hoss's blanket and got him groomed and saddled up. I took him to the vet for his official vet in, and we were off. We got out on the trail just a little bit after the official start. Hoss was being his usual self, absolutely hell-bent on catching up to the horses that had already left camp. I tried using a trick we had started on in our training sessions, which he knows now what he's supposed to do. Instead of listening to me and walking quietly, he pitched a hissy fit. He kicked out, bucked, and just generally gave me a hard time. When I got him back under control, I heard a chorus of impressed sounds. I was told by onlookers that they thought for sure he was gonna pitch me. Honestly, I never felt even remotely like I was in any danger of losing my seat. I was a little confused; must've looked worse than it felt!
I really didn't have as much control as I'd like, but I was able to keep Hoss to a fast walk that was more of a jig. I wasn't about to let him start trotting until he walked properly! Finally, I got a few steps of walking, and I gave him to cue to trot. He was a little surprised, and didn't trot immediately, going back into his jiggy walk at first, but then settled in to a nice, if fast, trot. We caught up to some other horses, and I let him latch on for a bit. Then I made him move out and get on more or less by himself.
At some point, we got bundled up with three other riders, one on another mustang. I was perfectly content to stay with them and let them set the pace. So we stayed behind the two horses with the other mustang. The other riders were pleasant and easy-going, not going too fast nor too slow.
We started trotting at the last bit of the downhill portion of a dip. The horse in front of us negotiated over/around a chunk of Joshua tree that had fallen on the trail. In the process of doing so, he managed to touch it just enough to cause it to roll toward Hoss. Hoss saw it, stepped over it with his front feet, then proceeded to try to kick it on his way by. He didn't exactly pick the best place to try this trick. We were in the bottom of the dip, and when he kicked out, his front feet needed to start ascending the hill. Not exactly the easiest thing to do while kicking. He ended up tripping and on his knees. Hoss is a very athletic horse. He didn't even miss a beat. He hit his knees, got his hind feet underneath him, got back up on his feet, and continued on his way. You would have thought nothing had happened.
The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Of course I left my camera behind in the truck! I was quite annoyed with myself for that particular failure. Although, it's likely that I wouldn't have been able to get too many pictures with Hoss behaving as he was.
We came in to the vet check to the most wonderful aroma: Hot dogs on the grill! I scooped up Hoss's crew bag as he was pulsed in, and took him in to the old corral to feed him. I tied him to the fence and gave him his alfalfa, then went to make his bran mash. Once I got him settled, I went and got myself some lunch. Hot dogs have never tasted so wonderful.
Toward the end of our hold time, I packed up the remainder of Hoss's hay and got him ready to be seen by the vet. She commented that it looked like he needed to drink more. I told her he had had a good drink at the last water stop and a nice sloppy bran mash during the hold. She was satisfied with this, stating that it can take a while for a good drink to show up in the skin tent test.
At these rides, the vet check is a bit more relaxed than at other rides. All the vet did was listen to his heart, check his skin tent, and watch him trot. Over the course of the days, this became somewhat less, to the point where on the last day, the vet only listened to his heart and watched him trot. I'm gonna get downright spoiled by these rides. One vet check, and they don't go over my horse like it's a pre-purchase exam? Love it! The vet did, on mid-ride checks, feel the horses' butt muscles to make sure nobody was cramping up.
(The very first time I did Death Valley with Phoenix, I came in toward the tail end of one day of rides. I brought Phoenix up to the trailer where the vet, Dr. Dave "The Duck" Nicholson was. I knocked on the door. He poked his head out, looked at Phoenix, and said, "Okay, see ya tomorrow." This is a Duck vet check!)
On the second half of the ride, I continued to stay with the other three riders. We were all getting along just fine, and everybody was happy enough. However, at some point, the other mustang rider and I managed to lose the other two ladies! We were trotting along happily enough, she thought to ask a question, we looked back, and they were gone. Well, that was all right. Our two mustangs got along just fine, and were well matched to boot.
The ride was virtually flat, so I certainly didn't mind letting Hoss move out a bit. While he's still recovering from the hock injury, I don't want to over-stress him. The flat stuff and the slight downhill stuff, though, he feels really good on. He'd hardly taken a bad step or tripped at all without an obvious reason. And, I have to say, he feels like he's moving out better with the boots than he did in shoes. I have no explanation for this beyond the simple weight of shoes changing the flight arc of his feet.
We continued on in with the other mustang. It was really a lot of fun. We joked about "Mustang Power!" At some point, while we were trotting on down the trail, Hoss managed to run my right knee into a Joshua tree. Boy, was I annoyed at him! I'd been asking him to go around it a little wider, but because it was my right leg, and near the end, I wasn't able to give him a terribly strong cue, so he ignored me.
Once back at camp, we went straight to the vet and checked out. Hoss looked pretty good! I got him back to the trailer, untacked him, gave him some beet pulp and more electrolytes and hay, and let him relax. The sun was out, so I didn't put his blanket on just yet. I've learned he really prefers not to have it on if it's daylight and not raining. It doesn't seem to harm him any to leave him unblanketed, either. He does have quite a thick winter coat on, so I'm not too worried about him getting too cold!
My husband was quite surprised to see me come into camp at 330 in the afternoon. Our ride time was 7 hours 30 minutes! Fastest 50 we've ever done. I must say, it's really nice to finish in the daylight. Now that I know he can do it, I'll be doing less holding him back than I have been!
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