Since Kody was back on the injured reserve list, Hoss and I were on our own for day two. This was the 55 mile day. It was flatter than the prior day, so should be easy enough. Management did decide to start earlier due to the high temperatures, so we started at 6am. This had its benefits, but I hate starting that early. It's better than 5am, I suppose.
The whole pack headed out at a steady trot. We were able to go along with the flow quite nicely to start. We were not riding with anyone in particular, and it wasn't long in to the ride before we were on our own.
As predicted, this day was largely flat. There were climbs, but nothing much. We did have to ride through some rolling stuff and some areas with a lot of turns. Hoss isn't real good at turning one way then the other. We've been working on bending through turns during our lessons, and I used the opportunity to work on getting him and me bent properly through turns.
The vet check was back at camp. It got pretty warm pretty early in the day. I sponged Hoss at every water stop. When we arrived back at camp for the hold, Kaity met us at the vet check area and helped sponge Hoss down. He pulsed down quickly and we got him checked and back to the trailer for food and electrolytes. Kaity walked him back so I could get some lunch. The ranch we were camping at donate grass-fed beef burgers, which were very good if rather small.
Once our hold was over we headed back out on the trail. While on this loop we got caught up by a group of other riders. Hoss wanted to stick with them, but he's simply not fast enough to stay with most horses. It wasn't long before the other horses were well ahead and Hoss was struggling to keep up with them.
This is the situation I dislike the most. Hoss gets obsessed with trying to keep up with horses. Often this gets particularly frustrating when we get to water stops just in time for the other horses to leave. This means if he stops for a drink, the other horses get farther ahead. There's no incentive for him to stop and drink rather than chase the other horses. I had to force him to stay at water stops. It was while this was going on that I discovered that, while you can lead a horse to water but can't make him drink, Hoss will drink if I whack him between the ears with my crop!
Again, the ride is something of a blur. I remember stopping at a water trough and dipping my helmet in it. It was a cow trough, so it was nasty and smelly. I didn't care. I was hot! Hoss got a good sponging as well.
Because this was the 55 mile day, I was feeling a little stressed out about getting done on time. My GPS was showing a good fifteen miles left to go and not really enough time to finish if we didn't get up and go. So I pushed Hoss to keep up his pace. It was tough through the twisty stuff, but he persevered.
Either my GPS was way off, or management's measurements were off. After starting at 6am, Hoss and I finished at 3:30pm. That's the fastest we've ever done. I have a hard time believing the mileage was right!
When we got back, the gentleman who greeted us said, "You won the lottery!" Being tired and having taken a painkiller for my hip, I was rather addled and his comment made no sense whatsoever. It turned out he meant our number had been drawn for random drug testing. It took a rather significant amount of time for the vet to draw the blood and prepare everything. Kaity finally came over, concerned something was wrong.
The vet finally wrapped up the whole drug testing thing and I was able to take Hoss back to the trailer.
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