Death Valley Encounter Day 2, 2011

Since Hoss had behaved pretty well on Day 1, I decided to set up his lighter dressage bit. The advantage to this bit is he's less resistant to it. He'll take it much more readily. The disadvantage to this bit is he's less resistant to it because it's easier for him to fight than the Kimberwicke.

The ride management had titled this day of the ride the "Helter Skelter Trail." It was an up and back trail. About a mile from the end of the trail, where we all turned around, is the ranch where Charles Manson was captured, thus the moniker for the ride.

I made a huge error on this ride before we even left camp. I forgot my pouch with my medications in it. When we passed Dr. Nicholson, I asked if anyone was back at camp who could get my husband and have him bring it to the vet check. Unfortunately, by that time, everyone he could reach had left camp, so I was going to be getting through this ride without the meds I really needed.

The trail started out up the same dirt road we'd started on the previous day, and through the canyon. Where the trail met with the salt flats, we turned right toward the vet check area. This was where the 25 milers would turn around, and the 50s would have their check on our way back down.

From this point we entered Goler Canyon, which is absolutely spectacular. The different stone formations and colors are just amazing.

The problem we encountered was a pair of riders who, when they trotted, went at a significantly swifter speed than Hoss can maintain. He wasn't truly "locked on" to them, but it got frustrating. They would slow down, and we'd catch up, and we'd pass, and Hoss would lose his momentum, and they'd catch up again. I'm sure it was annoying for them, too.

We got caught up to and rode for some time with a woman on a beautiful black stallion by the name of Echo. While he was pretty fast, he wasn't so fast Hoss would fall too far behind, and his rider wanted to slow down a bit for this day anyway. We stuck together for a while, then she needed to stop and get Echo to drink from the stream flowing through the canyon, so we left them behind again. I just wanted to keep Hoss going. I don't want him to get back in the habit of needing another horse to keep him motivated.

About a third of the way up, we had to negotiate what had been dubbed "Burro Falls." This involved going over a very rocky trail alongside the falls. I decided to ride up it rather than lead. I was not confident my hip could take it if I did walk up the trail.

By the time, the black stallion had caught back up to and passed us. I let them go first. Echo's rider chose to walk up the trail, and nearly took a nasty fall all by herself. Echo did just fine.

Hoss started out pretty well, but managed to get hung up and sort of fell up the trail. He pulled his right front boot during the incident, and I had to get off and reset it. I noticed he had broken through the toe of the boot, one of his Gloves. Well, that pair would be no good by the end of the ride!

Goler Canyon is a hard uphill pull. It isn't overly steep, but it is unrelenting. Hoss isn't especially keen on going uphill, especially trotting uphill. I kept after him and encouraged him and while he wasn't keeping up his normal speed, he was continuing to trot. I would allow him to slow down to a walk for a while from time to time, but never long enough to allow the horses we had passed to catch us back up.

As we approached the top of the canyon, we began encountering horses coming back down. Hoss thought we ought to turn around and go with them. It became a little difficult to keep him motivated, but it wasn't the first time he'd encountered this sort of phenomenon.

We finally made our way up to the top, got our playing card – proof we made it to the top and didn't "cheat" and turn around early. Once we turned around and were headed downhill, Hoss had a little more get up and go, and picked up a bit better trot. By this time, however, I needed pain control I didn't have. My riding was affected, and thus his movement was affected. It wasn't his best trot, but it was okay under the circumstances.

When we reached Burro Falls again, I decided to dismount and lead him down. We had caught up to a horse following his rider, who led him down the falls and on away. I was still a little wary of walking the falls trail on my own, but decided it would be safer for Hoss. I picked my way carefully, and Hoss was careful, too. We made it down without incident, but my hip told me all about it when I got back on.

We trotted on toward the vet check at the end of the canyon. When we were close, I got off and led him. His heart rate was down when we walked in. I found Hoss's crew bag and got him set up with hay and a mash. At this point I was pretty painful. I laid down on the ground beside Hoss to wait out our vet hold.

Another rider was able to give me some Advil, so I took a bunch of that to get me through as best I could. We left the vet check and headed back toward camp. I was pretty uncomfortable, so I mostly just hung on and let Hoss follow the horses ahead of us. At that point, I just wanted to get it over with. We weren't going too fast, as we were going back through the canyon we'd come through in the morning.

Hoss did very well, despite having to pack me along, out of balance and in pain. At the water stop some six miles from the end, I gave him his last dose of electrolytes. While I was off, I set my whip down, confident I'd remember to pick it back up. We were nearly back to camp when I realized I'd left it behind!

Back at camp, Hoss vetted through just fine, and I took him to the trailer. I also took some meds, trying to get the pain back under control.




I was worried about my whip, so after I'd cared for Hoss, my husband and I went looking for my whip. We didn't find it, but at the post-ride meeting, another rider approached me and told me she'd brought it in. I retrieved it on my way back to my trailer after dinner.