We arrived at ride camp reasonably early in the afternoon. As usual, it was quite packed. It took me a little bit to find a suitable place to set up camp, and when I did, I had to park right outside an area that had been "saved" for a latecomer. I decided it would work out just fine; they'd set aside up to a certain point, and we stayed outside that line.
After getting Hoss out of the trailer and set up with food and water, I went and got my rider packet and said hello to Evelyn the Tights Lady. By the time I got back to camp, my husband had the tent set up, the table out, and we were ready to camp. It's so nice to have him home!
I took Hoss to vet him in. I'll admit I was a little nervous he wouldn't pass, but he came through with all As and a heart rate of 40.
In the morning I got up plenty early to get Hoss fed and got myself some breakfast. My husband had volunteered and was helping out with Vet Check 1/3, making sure the rider refreshments were handled appropriately. He took my truck and loaded it up and was on his way before I was on the trail.
Headed out to the start, we needed to cross a small stream. Hoss stopped at the top of the hill down to the stream and wanted to stand and look around. I gave him a kick to get him going, and he pitched a bit of a fit. He bucked a little and kicked. I immediately pulled my crop off the front of the saddle and whacked him with it. That didn't make him any happier. He certainly wasn't happy about discovering I had my crop with me! After a moment of nonsense, he walked down and crossed the stupid stream.
Hoss gave me some trouble at the start, but he wasn't as bad as he has been in the past. He was more willing to behave himself than he has been in the past. It helped that we managed to hook up with another horse and rider we have ridden with in the past.
Because of the problem Hoss has been having all week, I really wanted him to walk the downhills. He had been most uncomfortable going downhill during the previous week, so I hoped by keeping him slow downhill we'd be able to get through the ride. I told the rider we were with this, and she was perfectly happy to stay with that program.
The first three quarters of the first loop is pretty good. Very few rocks, mostly good footing. There were some rocky areas, and Hoss would show ever so slightly off when he tried to go quickly over those areas. I was finding he was able to go okay at a particular pace. He was best on regular footing, either hard and even or soft and even. Rocks on the surface of the trail gave him problems.
The last few miles of the first loop is on the Harvey Moore Trail, which is a brutally rocky trail. Coming down this trail, we came to a particularly bad patch. The other rider decided to hop and off and took off on foot. I dismounted as well (not as gracefully as her; she can dismount while her horse is still moving, I can't do that) and started walking to let Hoss pick his way down the trail without my weight.
After a bit, the trail improved and I decided to get back on. The other horse and rider had disappeared. That gal can outwalk me any time! I saw her white helmet bobbing ahead of us once, and never saw them again until the vet check.
The trail returned to rocky and nasty, and I got back off and walked in to the vet check with five minutes to spare on the cut off time. A volunteer checked his heart rate, and he was at 56 when we walked in. Very nice.
There was a bit of chaos in the vet check. A group of stallions was misbehaving badly. A volunteer was kicked, and it was evident the riders really had little control over the horses. These horses had passed us earlier on the loop, and we had been warned one of them was kicking every time they tried to pass or were being passed. I kept an eye on where they were, determined to stay the heck away from them. Typically I don't like to point out the poor behavior of others at a ride, but in this case, it deserves a mention.
Hoss passed the vet exam, and we hung out eating and having some bran mash before our hold time was over. We ended up staying over time, as the stallions were getting ready to leave and I didn't want to end up in front of them. It would only mean being passed by them yet again. I didn't want to deal with it.
The horse and rider we'd been with before had left quite a bit earlier. We saw them about ten minutes ahead of us several times, but couldn't quite manage to make up the difference.
The second loop is much nicer. It's considerably flatter and faster for most of its length. I did forget to turn my GPS back on for a few miles, but remembered before it completely bollixed my data collection.
Hoss trotted out eagerly enough, at a good pace that kept him from showing any evidence of lameness. About a mile and a half out from the vet check, we saw a beautiful buck in velvet. He's gonna have a huge rack when they're done. I really wish I was quicker with my camera.
Once we hit Soapstone Grade Fire Road, the trail conditions suffered. We were forced to slow down and walk over the rocky, eroded portions of the trail. The uphill portion was particularly nasty. Once we topped the road and came around the hill, there were some trottable areas. We were passed by bicyclists and Hoss wanted to race with them.
This year the second vet check had been moved from the Stonewall Mine area to a new staging area across Highway 79. So we rode through the old vet check area and continued on our way. We crossed a boggy area behind two other riders. The first horse suddenly dropped about a foot into a hidden hole, followed closely by the horse behind him. I managed to direct Hoss around the hole, but of course there was no knowing for sure what would happen.
Another boggy area had to be crossed before we crossed the highway to the vet check. Hoss wanted to stop and eat the yummy green grass growing in the area. I would have let him, too, had we not been pushing the cut off time for the second vet check. The third loop is a real booger, so I really didn't want to waste any time getting in if I could avoid it.
After crossing the highway, I dismounted and led Hoss the rest of the way in. We had to get past a tow truck backing down the road to a stuck truck. One of the volunteers and a friend of mine had made the mistake of trying to park her truck in a ditch. I felt very badly for her. Fortunately it appeared the truck was not badly damaged by its misadventures.
Hoss's heart rate was 52 when the volunteer checked him. Very, very nice! Once I got him to trot – he still thinks trotting in hand is stupid – he passed the vet exam. He even got an A- on gut sounds, the first A that vet had given out all day at the second vet check. Of course, by this time he wasn't much interested in the foods provided. Well, at least not interested in the ones we was allowed. The ride manager provides grain at all of her rides. Grain with oats. Hoss is allergic to oats. So, of course, that was what he wanted.
We ended up leaving the vet check early due to the tow truck. For unknown reasons, the tow truck driver was uptight about the horses in the vet check and wanted us all gone. The volunteer running the vet check decided to simply let us all go early and shut down the vet check. It was really strange. It turned out the tow truck wasn't taking up enough space to prevent horses from going by, so there was no reason to get excited about it. In fact, I left Hoss with a volunteer so I could use the porta potty, and he was standing there being passed by the tow truck maneuvering into position, completely unconcerned about it.
We were the last ones out of the vet check. We made our way up Middle Peak Fire Road. This is a steep, rocky trail. There is not much opportunity to trot on this road. I did get Hoss moving every opportunity we got, but it was still slow going. When we finally got off the worst part and were able to actually move out, we caught up with our friend from earlier at the water/cookie stop. We hooked back up with them, and rode on together.
Much of the Azalea Spring Fire Road is rocky and uneven, forcing us to walk much of it, but once we got on the West Side Trail, we were on our way. This loop is tough, and we were really chasing the cut off time. The West Side Trail is good footing in spite of being overgrown and having a few trees encroaching on it. We moved in to a nice trot and made good time.
Since Hoss had been doing so well, and he wasn't showing any signs of soreness, I decided to risk the faster trot even though it was downhill as well as flat and uphill. It was a calculated risk. As close as we were to the cut off time, we were either going to end up being over time, or risk a lame horse and make the cut off.
Unfortunately, the risk didn't pay off. When we came in to the vet check, Hoss's heart rate was at 70. I was pretty sure I knew why. He was favoring his right front foot. He was also extremely hungry. He dug in to a bran mash and absolutely would not be pulled out of it until he'd licked the bowl clean. It took 20 minutes for his heart rate to come down.
When I took him to the vet, Hoss's heart rate was bouncing. I pointed out to the vet that he would probably be lame when he trotted out. She wanted to get his heart rate down to criteria, probably thinking if he didn't come down he would be a metabolic pull. Which annoyed me only because it would skew the overall statistics for AERC. Leave it to me to be worried about data collection for someone else. Hoss's heart rate did come down and stay down long enough to move on to the trot out, and he was lame, right about grade 2, which isn't technically a pull under AERC rules, but I wasn't going to continue anyway. At that point there wasn't enough time for us to make it back to camp at a walk and sound. Either way, our day was over.
Hoss went in the trailer and I caught a ride back to camp with a volunteer. I couldn't even ride back in my own truck – still there with my husband – because there wasn't enough room after he crammed all the stuff he needed to take back into it.
Back at camp, I got Hoss fed and cleaned up. My husband and I had dinner, then came back and broke down camp. After the awards, we loaded Hoss up in the trailer and came home.
I put Hoss in his 24x24 corral to recover from his lameness. I didn't want to let him stay in the pasture, which is not level, until I am sure he is better. If he isn't sound in a week, I will take him to the vet for radiographs and a lameness exam. However, I do suspect whatever the problem is, it will ultimately be addressed by the shoes I nailed on him. Already he looks perfectly comfortable, although he'd rather be in his pasture!
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