Nevada Derby II

I arose before 5am to a light dusting of snow on the ground. This was bizarre because, as the night had worn on, I had shed layer after layer of clothing. As the temperature dropped, I got warmer and warmer.

Getting ready to head out on trail with a little snow on the ground

 I got Hoss saddled and we headed out on trail. Kody called from camp a few times, and Hoss looked back, wondering why his buddy wasn't coming along.

The trail headed out and almost immediately up a steep hill. Hoss was pretty hot to get going, wanting to catch up to or keep up with other horses. A paint horse and another (very fat) mustang were ahead of us and he temporarily chose them as the objects of his obsession.

Once we topped the hill, I got Hoss around the paint and the mustang and kept him trotting until we hit some rather rocky whoop-de-doos. I slowed Hoss to a walk to negotiate this section of trail. And behind us, the paint and the mustang sped up and trotted through it, catching up to and passing us! Worried I'd end up in another situation like the previous afternoon, at the next opportunity I got Hoss trotting again. We passed the pair again and by dint of much kicking and cajoling, I kept Hoss trotting down the trail. I didn't allow him to slow until we'd passed the photographers halfway up the next hill.

The first loop was quite long – some 20 miles. The manner in which the ride was split created a bit of a dilemma. I had only brought along four total tubes of paste electrolytes and had two left. I like to give Hoss the electrolytes at particular intervals, typically as close to every 12.5 miles as I can. Usually he gets one of those doses at the mid vet check in a bran mash. With the way this ride was split up, it wouldn't be possible to get the mileage right without another tube of electrolytes. I finally decided to simply split the two loops evenly, 10 miles between electrolytes on the first, 15 miles on the second.

We reached the 10 mile mark at a rather convenient point. There was a water trough. I stopped and offered Hoss a drink. He didn't drink, but I gave him his electrolytes anyway. My experience with him is it's best to just give him the stuff whether he drinks or no.

Now we were back on the long trek back toward camp on the same trail we'd been on the previous day. 10 miles back to camp, and I could see camp from where we were. We trotted quite a bit and made our way back to camp a good hour before I had expected to make it back. My GPS read about 2 miles less than the loop had been purported to be.

My husband asked me if I'd rather buy the lunch being prepared by ride management. I decided that would be good, as all we really had was soup or boiled hot dogs. Since I am not a fan of boiled hot dogs – I prefer them grilled – we decided to have the prepared meal. We took lunch back to the trailer and sheltered inside from the wind.

I took Hoss to the vet shortly before our hold was up. Hoss had eaten and drank pretty well. The vet who watched him trot out was concerned he was landing harder on his left front than his right front. The head vet watched him (I had to trot him twice) and decided he pretty much always looks like that and cleared us.

A cow beside the trail -- she never bothered to move

 The second loop was quite long – 25 miles. This was over much of the same trails as on day 1. It took a little cajoling to keep Hoss moving, and he did better when he had horses he could try to catch up to, but he did pretty well all things considered.

We stopped at the water stop just a couple of miles from the check point. There was also hay, but it looked suspiciously like orchard grass, so I couldn't let Hoss eat it. Fortunately management had put out a significant amount of carrots. Hoss ate those happily until I pulled him up and got him moving again.

At this point we were more or less following two other horses. Hoss would step out well while they were trotting and he was trying to keep up, but when they slowed down and I asked him to keep going, he'd slow down as soon as we were ahead. It was a little annoying, especially since the other pair would trot for a while, slow down, then trot for a while again. This made it easy for Hoss to wait for them.

When we reached the check point, rather than a human taking numbers, there was a clip board with a sheet on which to put our numbers and the time we got there. One of the other riders we were sort of with did the writing for the three of us. Then it was time to head back down the hill and toward the second vet check back at camp.

Hoss typically does better going downhill than up. He was more reluctant than usual on this ride. It took more work on my part to keep him going. It didn't help when other horses were coming up going the other way. While Hoss knew going the way we were would take us back to camp, it still gave him an excuse to slow down and try to stay with other horses.

While we were heading down the hill and other riders were coming up, I was asked a couple of times one of the more annoying questions I think a rider can be asked: "How much further?" One woman even gave me a rather dirty look when I couldn't give her an exact distance from where she was. What do I look like here, an odometer? Sheesh. This one ranks right up there with "How many riders are behind you?" How the heck would I know that??

Back at the water stop, we turned up the hill and back into the steep stuff we'd done twice on day 1. Hoss slowed down here when the horses we had been "with" stopped at the hay but I made him go on. Another pair of horses passed us and he got motivated again. Fortunately not quite as motivated as the day before. He didn't quite pull my arms off trying to catch up to them while I forced him to go slowly down the hills and not charge up them. He handled the rock "stairway" well and thankfully for the last time.

We came in to camp for the second vet check. I had my husband bring hay and a bran mash to the vet check area rather than take Hoss back to the trailer. Hoss ate well, and toward the end of our fifteen minute hold, I took him to the vet and checked him through.

By this time I was really starting to hurt, so I broke down and took a painkiller. Once it kicked in, I was sure glad I'd taken it. Up to that point I had been feeling grumpy and behaving rather poorly. I was surly and kinda mean. Taking the painkiller meant I was a bit more cheerful for the final five miles of the ride.

Hoss was not feeling particularly motivated. There were a couple of horses ahead of us and he showed no interest in trying to catch them. I got him trucking along at a rather slow trot for a time but when we started up a mild hill he died down to a walk. Normally I would've forced him to keep up his pace, but I was feeling pretty good about life and hey, less than five miles to go, so I let him walk up the hill. Besides, I had a great 
book to listen to.


When we turned off the uphill and started going down again Hoss was ready to trot. Once again feeling cheerful himself, we trotted along the road downhill back toward camp. There were a couple places he wanted to slow down and I saw no reason to deny him. He did trot most of it anyway. Once we got back to the road back to camp, I hopped off and led him in. We finished nicely, and I tucked Hoss in for his last night in Reno.

Nevada Derby I

We arrived at the ride site outside Reno, Nevada early afternoon on Friday. It was a long drive. We had over-nighted in Bishop at the fairgrounds after picking up Kaity Elliott and her horse, Kody, in Apple Valley. The horses shared a pen at the fairgrounds and I learned to my dismay that Hoss is not a very nice guy. He bit Kody at least three times over night! Guess I won't be putting him with other horses again.

The forecast for ride day called for steady rain starting around 2pm and the possibility of snow. I knew this well in advance, and had treated my windbreaker with waterproofing. I treated it with so much of the stuff the darned thing still stank so bad when we packed up I had to put it in the bed of the truck so we wouldn't all be high by the time we got to Reno.

The week before the ride, I started having trouble with my asthma yet again. I knew I really needed a breathing treatment, but I didn't have any drugs for the machine. I was ready to go to the ER, but my sister was able to come through with some medications and I spent the weekend trying to knock the attack down. By Monday it was clear I was not going to get any better without seeing a doctor first, and I couldn't get in to see my regular doctor. But I had a problem. There were only two bales of hay left in the garage. The only day I had to go to the desert was Monday. I had to go get hay. So I hooked up the trailer and drove out for hay. My husband helped me buck it when I got home, and afterwards, wheezing like a poorly sealed air compressor, I drove myself to the urgent care. The doctor said he didn't need a stethoscope to diagnose me. He could hear me from across the room. I was seen quickly and given prescriptions for steroids, antibiotics, cough syrup, and medication for the breathing treatment machine. They also gave me an injection of steroids. It was probably the first time in my life when someone asked if I wanted a shot and I said yes. When I arrived home with my new prescriptions, I immediately took the first dose of antibiotics, a slug of cough syrup, and sat down for a breathing treatment. By the time the Albuteral had me vibrating, I was breathing easier.

The result of all this was, I was arriving at a ride with my breathing still compromised enough that, while walking to dinner with Kaity and my husband, I couldn't keep up with them. Trotting Hoss out for the vets was a bit of a challenge. It didn't help that the vets couldn't seem to determine Hoss was fine, he just sort of lumbers in the trot out.

The winds were pretty bad, and all we had to sleep in was the tent. The big one. Since my husband needed to head back in to town anyway, we disconnected the truck from the trailer and used it to block the worst of the wind from the tent. The horses were happy, as we were camping with two other rigs and had them set up to block the wind reasonably well so the horses were protected in the center. It could only have been better if we'd had one more rig.

This ride started at a civilized 7:00am. So I didn't need to get up until 5:00 to feed Hoss. I had brought along beet pulp pellets. I wanted to feed them right away when I got up, so I left them to soak overnight. I don't think I've ever seen Hoss so persnickety about his beet pulp! He ate about half, and went to his hay, ignoring the rest of the beet pulp. I've even been feeding him a little corn and barley to improve the flavor of his breakfast and provide him with a little more energy. Not good enough in his mind. This meant that, when I saddled up and we headed out on the trail, he hadn't finished his food and had not gotten his full dose of electrolytes. It couldn't be helped. Hoss would start the ride anyway. Maybe he'd learn something. Probably not.

We headed out with Kaity and Kody pretty much right at the start. Ride management wanted everyone on trail by 7:15, and since we knew this ride was probably the closest we'd ever do to 50 miles without going over, we knew we needed to use every minute we had.

We got the horses warmed up and picked up a smart trot. At the first water stop Hoss drank a bit, then we continued on up the hill. I noticed Hoss's trot was slightly different than it had been before. I had changed his hind shoes in an effort to improve how he uses his hind end. It seemed to have worked. His gait was more efficient. I could only hope the change wouldn't cause him to tire out from using muscles he hasn't conditioned well.

Turning down along the hillside, we headed down a trail with quite a bit of whoop-dee-doos. This resulted in more walking than we would have preferred to do, but it was better than risking injury.

Once we got out of the worst of the woop-dee-doos and back on level ground, we were able to trot out well again. Then we turned back into the hills and rode along some more challenging trail. This section went up and down with some extremes. There were sections of flat where we could pick up time, but the downs and ups were rather steep. At one point there was a rather challenging rock obstacle. The horses had to step down after a hard left turn. It was rather like a stair case. Kody and Hoss negotiated it fine, even if the riders were a little nervous about it.

When we got back to the road, the horses took a good drink at the water stop some 2 miles before the vet stop. There was hay, but it looked suspiciously like orchard, so I couldn't let Hoss eat it. At least I knew he had hay and bran at the vet check and we couldn't be far from there.

The first loop was advertised as 11 miles. Someone who had done the ride in the past told us it was more 
like 9. It was a good thing we didn't live by that. By the time we came to the vet check, my GPS was reading close to 13 miles. Yup, they got it that far off.

As per usual, it took Hoss a few more minutes to come down to the 60bpm criteria than it did for Kody. He didn't drink in the vet check – which didn't bother me as he'd had a good drink two miles earlier – but sucked up his bran mash and munched quite a lot of his alfalfa. I took him to the vet close to the end of our hold. The vet wasn't happy with his trot out (oy vey) but passed him and we headed out on the trail.

The next loop was purported to be 19 miles. After finding the first loop two miles longer than advertised, I was nervous this loop might be off, too. It could be off either direction, longer or shorter! Based on the experience, we would be pushing ahead on the assumption the mileage was misreported. At least this time, we knew we would be able to see camp long enough in advance to have some notion how far out we were.

It was cold and windy, but Hoss was handling it quite well. Not that I'm surprised. He seems to be unaffected by weather extremes.

We trotted down the trail around the mountain until we came to the long downhill. Kaity hopped off Kody and led him on down the hill. I don't have that luxury. I get off and Hoss is faster than me. It just ticks him off. It's easier and less aggravating for both of us if I just stay on. Kaity can jog down the hill, so it's easier for her to go ahead and get off, and gives Kody a break.

Once we got to the bottom of the hill, Kaity mounted back up and we headed off. Several other riders caught up to us. We were now about 10 miles (if we went by the map) from ride camp. The road we were on was straight and virtually flat. We could just about see ride camp from where we were with ten miles to go. The horses that had caught up were going much faster. Kody happily picked up a canter and kept up with the others. Hoss, on the other hand, wasn't particularly interested in going quite so fast. On the theory he'd catch up later, he allowed himself to fall behind.

The wind picked up, and a dust storm stirred up toward ride camp. We could see the dust cloud blowing across the desert. I certainly hoped it would die down some before we got to it.

Once separated from the other horses, Hoss continued to drop back, although he continued to trot smartly enough. Kody was doing quite a lot of cantering. This meant he got further and further ahead of Hoss. Hoss has never been particularly fond of cantering. He'd rather trot than anything. Hoss did start to get upset about it, and I had to hold him back to keep him from ramming through some sections of trail he needed to walk through. By the time we were in sight of camp, it was clear we would be some time behind Kody and Kaity. This was not unexpected, as the same thing happened at Twenty Mule Team.

I hopped off Hoss when we arrived at the road to ride camp. This typically gets him to calm down on the way back in to camp. If I ride in he tends to stay hopped up. We walked in, gave our number to the in timer, and went to pulse down.

By this point Hoss was pretty hungry. He wanted to eat! It's not unusual for his heart rate to stay up unless I allow him to eat. I told the P&R person he'd come down if I let him eat, but she was convinced I shouldn't let him eat. Most horses' heart rates will increase if they put their heads down to eat or drink. Even Hoss's heart rate will go up when he eats. But at that particular moment, his heart rate was up because he wanted to eat. Once I let him drop his head and start eating some hay, his heart rate dropped immediately. I walked him back to the trailer and gave him bran mash and let him eat his hay.

Kaity and Kody had arrived back about fifteen minutes ahead of Hoss and me, so they'd be leaving before our hold time was up. I sat in the truck and took a breathing treatment as a preventive measure. My husband made me some lunch and I sat behind the trailer as much out of the wind as I could get and ate. By this time the wind had shifted so the rigs weren't creating as much of a wind break for the horses as we would have liked. Hoss was basically standing directly in the wind the entire time we were at the trailer.

Hoss was napping when Kaity tried to sneak out with Kody. It didn't work. Hoss immediately woke up and started calling for Kody. It was time to go ahead and vet him anyway, so I got our stuff together and headed up to the vet.

The vet checked Hoss over, giving him a "B" on skin tent (hydration) and asked if he'd had much to drink at camp. I allowed I wasn't sure, but that he had drank well on the trail and had been standing in the wind for nearly an hour. Then we trotted out. The vet had "the look" when we got back. She thought he was off. She asked how he felt on trail. I told her – honestly – he felt totally normal. She called the head vet over and I trotted him out again. The head vet assured the first vet Hoss always moves like that, and we were allowed to head back out on trail.

By this time the real weather had moved in. With about 20 miles left to go, the wind and rain had well and truly come up. We headed out in much the same direction we had started in the morning. Hoss and I were pretty much by ourselves at this point. As we trotted along the road with the wind in our faces, I was grateful I had decided to put his riding fly mask on. The rain had become snow. Stingy, needle sharp snow. Hoss had his fly mask to protect his eyes. I was not so lucky. It was dark enough if I put my sunglasses on I couldn't see any better than I could without them. I would be very happy once we turned back in the other direction and got the wind at our backs.

Somehow two of the horses that had caught and (I thought) passed us on the loop prior to lunch ended up behind us – and caught us again. Hoss immediately locked on to them. He wanted to keep up with them. Unfortunately they were simply too fast for Hoss. Yet more aggravating, they didn't maintain speed well enough to leave us behind.

We turned up and headed back toward camp, going the opposite direction on the same trail we had started out on in the morning. Now behind a pair of faster horses Hoss wanted nothing more than to catch up to, I was getting hauled along pretty hard. At this point I expected to have the wind at my back, but no, it shifted. The wind was once again in our faces. Hoss developed quite a collection of snow on his brow ridges.
A few weeks before this ride, I finally saw an orthopedic surgeon about my hip. He diagnosed IT band syndrome (look it up; there's just too much to explain on the blog), injected me, and told me I didn't need the painkillers I had been taking. Ooookay. So I stopped taking them, knowing I wouldn't be getting more from this guy, and figuring I'd need them to get through this ride. I had a few left over. I'm glad I'd kept them, because I don't think I would've gotten any sleep without them.

The section of trail we were on now was the extreme up and down part. We were riding alongside a barbed wire fence as well. I could not get Hoss to give up on the idea of catching up with the other horses. And they would slow down just often enough to always be just over the next hill.

We got to the rock obstacle we had gone down in the morning. Now we would have to go up it. Going up involved heading, for all intents and purposes, directly toward the barbed wire fence and nearly running into it before making a sharp right turn. Fortunately Hoss, despite his distraction, is a practical fellow. He paid enough attention to the obstacle to make it safely to the top before attempting to charge after the other horses.

Riding this section with my hip the way it is and no painkillers was not fun. The only way I could keep Hoss head up and keep him from plunging out of control down the steep hills was to brace against my stirrups. This resulted in my hip really being painful. I tried getting in the saddle and keeping my legs on him, but it wasn't as effective that far in to the ride. I simply had no leg left.

We got back to the road toward ride camp, still fighting to catch up to the pair of horses. I saw a familiar helmet in the near distance. After a mile or so, we caught up to Kaity and Kody. I was surprised. They should have been finished long before us.

Kaity explained Kody had slipped on the rock obstacle and she'd taken a fall off of him. When they got everything back together and continued on, it quickly became clear Kody had pulled a muscle in his hind end. Fortunately when we got back to camp Kody passed the final vet check, but he was done for the weekend. Kaity and Kody would not head out on trail Sunday.

After the miles of fighting with Hoss, I was happy enough to slow down and walk in the last few miles with Kody. At first, despite being back with his buddy, Hoss continued to fight to keep up with the other horses. I made him walk back with Kody. Kaity voted Kody through right away while I took Hoss back to the trailer and got him cleaned up and let him eat for a while before I took him to the vet. I needed to get his vet card for day two anyway.

Hoss vetted out just fine. The head vet teased me about actually wanting to head out on day two, which at the time I was a bit put out by. Later I realized she really was just teasing. I think the pain was making me extra sensitive. After I'd taken a painkiller I was less bitchy.

One day down, one to go!

Twenty Mule Team 100

Thursday evening I was still feeling a little less than perfect, but I felt well enough to go to the ride. I spent much of the afternoon napping, as we planned to leave around midnight in order to get to ride camp with 24 hours for Hoss to recover from the trailer ride.

My husband had spent Wednesday night pulling an "all-nighter" so he'd be able to drive most of the way to Ridgecrest. He also spent most of Thursday afternoon sleeping. It was a hot day, and I don't know how he managed to sleep in that hot bedroom. I couldn't do it; most of my napping was in my chair. I guess that Navy career really came in handy for this particular day.

It felt like a really, really long day, but midnight finally rolled around and it was time to load up and leave. Hoss saw the trailer pulled out and was ready to go when I brought the halter out to get him. D.C., however, was very unhappy and promptly began pacing. She spent most of the time Hoss was gone pacing. There went all the weight I'd managed to put back on her!

Our arrival in ride camp was delayed by the GPS directing my husband to the wrong place. I was still lying down in the back seat and did not see us pass the fairgrounds. When the GPS told my husband he had reached his destination, it was in the middle of a dirt road! It was still dark, so I had difficulty determining where we were in relation to where we wanted to be. After some fumbling around and driving into strange places, I took over the wheel and my husband used his iPhone to find where we needed to go. We made our way back to the fairgrounds and pulled in to ride camp a little after 6:00am.

After unloading Hoss and getting him set up, we unhooked the trailer and my husband headed back in to town to get us some breakfast. I got out my anti-gravity chair and hung out reading and keeping an eye on my horse.

The only drawback to getting to ride camp so soon is there's really not a whole lot to do. It's kinda boring, really. And it certainly doesn't help my anxiety level! By the time the ride meeting came around, I was so spun up I could've gotten on and rode right then. The extra time was good for Hoss, though. His heart rate was higher than usual, probably because he was standing in the sun all day, but otherwise he had recovered better than usual.

It finally got late enough to crawl in to bed. We had set up to sleep in the back of the trailer, as the weather was nice. The only problem is when Hoss starts digging deep in his hay bag, he makes the whole trailer move. It's not so bad in that I can be very sure he hasn't managed to untie or unclip himself and wander off.

About two hours before start, I got up and gave Hoss some more hay and his beet pulp mush. I laid back down for an hour, then got up to groom and saddle and get ready to go. My husband made me a wonderful breakfast of fried eggs and sausage.

Not having ridden with the flank cinch for very long, I wasn't sure how tight I should make it. As a horse works, it will tend to suck up its belly, resulting in the flank cinch becoming loose. When I'd ridden him to test the flank cinch, I hadn't ridden him long enough to determine how much he'd "shrink" his belly. I knew I wanted it to be snug enough to remain against his belly.

A little before start time we headed over to the start line. We met up with our riding partners for the day, Kaity Elliot and Kody. We headed out in the pre-dawn light. Hoss was a bit of a handful. You'd think after 1000+ endurance miles he'd be better than this. Instead I have a horse trying to bolt and generally acting a fool. Interestingly I've gotten rather good at putting up with this without yanking on his face or using the reins to hold him back. He pitched a nasty fit, behaving as though I was yanking on him when I had no pressure on the reins at all. I did find he settled down much earlier than usual. Whether that was because I wasn't fighting with him or he's finally decided it doesn't do any good I don't know.

The first sixteen miles went remarkably quickly. While we were riding on an old railroad track bed, Kaity found the turn, but a good ten or fifteen other riders (65 milers who had caught up to us back of the pack 100 milers) rode on past the turn. I recall when I attempted the 65 years ago with Phoenix we missed that very same turn. Added a good five or six miles to get all the way to a road, figure out we'd missed a turn, and make it back to the turn. This year the turn was not as well marked as it had been the year Phoenix and I missed it along with several other riders.

I noticed Hoss was not trotting quite like usual. He felt a bit choppy and short-strided. I looked at our shadow and noticed the flank cinch had become significantly looser. My guess was the loose flank cinch was a bit tickly and most likely the cause of his altered gait.

Just before we arrived at the first vet check, someone fired some sort of shotgun. Hoss really dislikes gunfire, and his heart rate shot up. Adding to his distress, Kody and Kaity had gotten fairly far ahead of us. Hoss really needs to walk in to vet checks in order to get his heart rate down. I had tried to slow him before Kaity had slowed Kody. This did not go over well. The result of all this madness was Hoss taking a good five minutes longer than usual to come down to criteria (set at 60 for this ride).

The first vet hold was 15 minutes. Once Hoss's heart rate had come down I took him directly to the vet and got him passed. My husband had set up Hoss's food and water across from where Kaity's crew had set up. Hoss was impossible. He was looking for Kody and not paying any attention to food or water. I finally gave up and we went over to be near Kody. Even though he was near Kody, however, Hoss did not really eat, instead more interested in looking around and nibbling on the local bushes.

Kaity decided to stay the extra time so we could leave the vet check together. We would make up the five minutes on the trail.

I had tightened Hoss's flank cinch during the hold. Once we had been back on trail a few minutes, we picked up the trot to continue on our way. Hoss's gait was more normal. I could only conclude the flank cinch had, indeed, caused him to trot weird. In the future I'll have to remember to snug it down further than it seems it should go.

The next 15 miles went somewhat less quickly, but quickly enough. Kaity and Kody cantered several times, but it became clear Hoss wasn't really interested in cantering. He'd rather trot. Not that he didn't want to stay with Kody, but he wasn't motivated enough to run to do it. The wind was blowing pretty hard, but it kept the temperatures down so I really couldn't complain. It wasn't blowing as bad as it had at Fire Mountain, so it really didn't feel like much in comparison.

We came in to the 31 mile vet check and hour hold, and I checked Hoss through. His heart rate came down much more quickly, and when Kody walked away from him he really didn't seem to mind particularly. The wind was blowing enough in the vet check area to put up dust clouds from time to time. My husband had set up a bran mash and hay for Hoss and was cooking up some soup for me. Hoss was being a bit of a pill. At first I didn't tie him off, and he wandered away. My husband had to go retrieve him. At that point I tied him to the workbench inside my truck. He still wouldn't eat once he'd finished his bran mash, so I took the hay bag off the truck and put it on the ground. Hoss doesn't like to eat with the hay bag up high. He can be more than a little persnickety. Once the hay bag was on the ground he ate a little better.

The next section was quite a bit longer. The next check was at 55 miles, making for 24 miles between the second and third checks. We took off with Kaity and Kody. We crossed under the train tracks and were on a relatively flat, broad section of trail. Once again Kaity and Kody cantered several times, leaving Hoss and me behind.

We came to a long uphill climb. Kaity and Kody had caught up with another rider. We had all three ridden together for a time, but Hoss faded back when we were going up the hill. The other two horses were simply faster up the hill than Hoss is. Hoss plugged along gamely enough, but he just couldn't keep up. The other two horses would periodically slow down, allowing Hoss to catch up, only to speed back up to a trot, and Hoss had to simply keep working. He was getting a little fed up with the whole thing.

After we topped the hill we came to a long, slightly downhill power line road. Hoss did better along this part of the trail. Still, when the other horses started cantering, he wasn't interested in doing the same. The other horses got further and further ahead, and Hoss quit trying to keep up with them, although he would have been happy to catch them. By the time we got to the next water stop, some three or four miles from the 55 mile vet check, Kaity and the other rider were well ahead of us. By the time we arrived at the vet check, Kaity and Kody were about ready to leave. Hoss's heart rate had come down, but I didn't feel like he was really ready to see the vet, as it looked to me from his heart rate monitor that he was still a little elevated. Hoss always seems to do his best if he gets to eat a little bit before going to the vet. Kaity asked if I wanted to go ahead and vet him while Kody was still there, but I sent her on her way. Hoss didn't seem to particularly care whether Kody was there or not. Which only lasted until Kody headed out on the trail. Hoss started calling for him almost immediately. It really didn't seem to make much difference, though. He gave it up pretty quickly in preference for the bran mash and hay my husband had laid out for him. Toward the end of the 15 minute hold, I took him to the vet and he passed well.

The next ten miles were difficult. Hoss was not particularly interested in going much faster than a walk. I suspect he was thinking this was just about over. I managed to get him to trot on the flatter and downhill parts of the trail, but he was dragging on the uphills. We finally arrived at base camp about 5:30pm, not bad really. Hoss's heart rate came down immediately and we headed to the trailer for our hour hold.

The vets wanted to see horses with saddles off for this check. I pulled Hoss's saddle while he ate and sat down for my own dinner, prepared by my awesome husband. (Do I say how great he is often enough? I don't think so.) When we had about fifteen minutes left in our hold, I took Hoss to the vet. He passed, once again with flying colors. I did have to take along a whip as a little incentive to get him to trot, but once he did he looked fine. He just needed a little more encouragement than the end of his leadrope waved at him could provide.

When I tied Hoss back to the trailer, he stuck his head back in his hay and started eating. Well, once I put the saddle pad back on his back, he stopped eating and got this absolutely disgusted look on his face. He made his displeasure evident when I mounted and headed him back toward the trail. Not interested, he said, and walked like a drunk. I did get him back out there, but he was less than pleased about the whole idea. He thought we should be done by now, dammit.

The next 25 miles were difficult to say the least. I could manage to kick Hoss up to a trot for forty or fifty yards, but then he'd fall back to a very slow walk and refuse to move any faster. When we reached the highway, another horse was waiting for a trailer. His rider had decided to pull. I let Hoss stop in hopes he'd drink, but he was more interested in food. Unfortunately the only hay available was stuff he can't have, so I was only able to allow him to eat the natural stuff – more like sticks – around the water tanks. (There were several other people around, and I always love it when people try to tell me I should just let Hoss eat whatever he wants. Would they tell me to eat shellfish if that was the only thing available, despite being allergic to it? I don't think so!) 

The trailer arrived right about the time I was getting Hoss back on the trail. He was really unhappy. He wanted to get in the trailer, too! When we crossed the highway, I couldn't get him to move faster than about 2 mph for some time. He did eventually give it up and move a little faster.

I was very grateful for a fairly good amount of glo-sticks. Had it not been for the dim glow in the distance, Hoss and I would've ended up out in the desert wandering around 'til dawn. One of Hoss's favorite tricks for slowing down is to start heading down what he knows is the wrong trail. At this point we were back on trail we had covered earlier, and there were turn-offs every 100 yards or so. It was down hill, so I was rather insisting Hoss trot. He would point himself down a wrong turn, and ignore my leg (which was pretty much gone by this point anyway) until I was forced to take up the reins and force him over. Well, of course, if I pick up the reins it must be because I want him to slow down! At that point in a ride (some 80 or so miles) I simply didn't have enough leg to keep him going and turn him at the same time. I would pick up the reins to push him over and he'd comply, and drop to a walk at the same time. We went through this several times.
When we finally arrived at the water stop a few miles from the final out vet check, I got off to give him electrolytes. The muscle in the back of my right leg promptly cramped up. For several minutes I was laying on the ground beside my horse hoping I could get the cramp to die down enough to finish the ride.
The cramp finally released enough for me to get back up without ending up falling down. I gave Hoss his electrolytes, although he didn't drink at that point, then managed to get back in the saddle.

Hoss recognized where we were and sped up, but not much. We still mostly walked the rest of the way to the vet stop.

While we were walking through the wilds, I saw a pair of eyes glowing off to my left in the light of my head lamp (due to my extremely poor night vision, I must use a flashlight at night; I did try several times during the night to go without the light, but Hoss would have succeeded in getting us off trail if I had). About thirty seconds later, a silver fox darted across the trail. I could only see it because of the head lamp. Not long after that, I saw the glow of the fox's eyes again, and once again it darted across the trail. This went on for about a mile. It was truly a cool experience. I really wish I had a camera that could take good night shots!

We finally made it to the vet check and Hoss was just so hungry I couldn't make him just continue on after being checked over. This was a "pulse and go" style hold, so we did not have to stay, but I gave Hoss fifteen minutes to eat before we made the final 10 miles back to camp.

Hoss really knew now we were headed back to camp. While he still didn't want to trot, his walk picked up. I did bring along the whip I had put in the truck for the final out vet check, in an effort to get him to move out at least a little more. It didn't work as well as I had hoped. There was no way he was going to trot uphill at all. He would trot some on the flat and downhill, but not fast. Really for the most part it was just as easy to let him walk. By this point he was at least walking at a reasonable pace.

We finally walked in to camp at 4:30am. Hoss's heart rate was well below criteria, and he passed the final vet check quite well. I would've liked for him to trot out better, but it was adequate. I took him to the trailer and got him untacked. I was thinking it wasn't very cold and I might leave his blanket off until I happened to check my husband's clock with the thermometer on it. It was 36 degrees! Much cooler than I felt it was. So I went ahead and put Hoss's blanket on, even though I knew once the sun was well up I'd have to take it off.

My husband didn't stir as I got in the trailer and changed. He woke up a bit as I crawled into my sleeping bag, and I teased him about not being up to see us come in. The end of an endurance ride is a little anti-climactic, unless you happen to be the one on the horse. I was asleep in minutes after I lay down.

We were awakened a few times. Once by another entrant asking if I had finished. Which prompted me to have to get up to check on Hoss. He was fine, but I gave him more food. We slept another hour or so, then headed over for breakfast. The ride meeting wasn't until much later, so back to bed I went. Unfortunately my hip started to really give me some pangs, and the painkillers were not touching it. Later in the morning I was able to rest comfortably in my anti-gravity chair.

I remember a time when a twenty five mile ride left me exhausted. I remember when fifty miles was enough to cripple me for days. After having completed my first 100 mile endurance ride, I can say this is the truest test of endurance for horse and rider.

Looking Good

I was really getting to the point where I was resigned to not making Twenty Mule Team this weekend. Then I got up this morning and, while not feeling perfect, I certainly felt perky enough. I'm still coughing, but while I sound like something that shouldn't come up will, I feel pretty okay. The only icky feeling I have is most likely the side effect of taking a combination of Albuterol inhaler, narcotic cough syrup, and the narcotic to control my hip pain. My hip wasn't particularly bothering me since I started the treatment for the pneumonia, but this morning I started to notice it. I take that as another sign I'm getting better. It can't possibly be just the narcotic cough syrup covering for that, too.

Based on feeling better, and since I haven't ridden in something close to three weeks other than a lesson, I took Hoss out for a ride around the neighborhood. Hoss was so excited when I took him out of the pasture. He was more than ready to get out. Since I've been sick, I haven't been taking walks so he hasn't gotten out at all in several days.

I cleaned Hoss up the best I could, considering how long it had been since he'd had a good grooming. I saddled him up and put a flank cinch on. With the girth gall we've been fighting since June, I decided I needed to try a flank cinch to hold his girth back off the area that keeps getting rubbed open. Having had so long off, it's nearly completely healed and I'd like to keep it that way. The only flank cinch I have is from his old saddle, so I had to pull it off and wrestle it on to the saddle we're now using.

It's amazing how hard it can be to do something so simple. This saddle has slots cut into the leather for a flank cinch but they've clearly never been put to use. I had to get the billets, which are really a smidge too thick for the holes in the saddle, not just through the leather, but through the less-than-fully-cut-through fleece on the bottom of the saddle. I was panting rather hard when I was done, but I got it done. There's another fix I need to do on the saddle, namely the Blevins connectors for my fenders, but I forgot to do it. I did get a new pair, but unfortunately they're too narrow. I will have to pull the ones off of the old saddle and hope they fit. I'm not too keen on riding 100 miles with one bad connector, even if the fix my friend did in Arizona has held for over 400 miles now.

Since the plan was a walking ride, I decided it would be okay to let Roxy come along as well. Despite her age and infirmity, she still wants to go. The past couple of days, my daughter has taken out the mountain bike and done a couple quick laps with the dogs to make up for me not walking. Roxy has been going on one lap, but coming home after that. I was planning to go farther, but walking she should be able to keep up well enough.

Hoss behaved himself very well for a highly fitted up horse who hasn't had a good ride in several weeks. A few times I had to get after him for silly behavior. He was using any barking dog as an excuse to try to spin around and run away. It took a little work, but he was pretty obedient for most of the ride. We only got in about five miles, but it was nice to get out.

The fresh air and stimulation sure seemed to help me. My lungs started to feel clearer about halfway through the ride. It was a warm, dry day, perfect for clearing up yucky, wet lung conditions.

By the time we got back, Hoss had worked up a decent sweat, and we'd hit enough hills to see if my flank cinch was helping keep the girth back. It appears to do the trick, so we'll be using it at Twenty Mule Team this weekend. Yep, we're gonna go.

I gave Hoss a nice bath, which he desperately needed. He even seemed to enjoy the bath. Especially since after the bath he got his beet pulp mush. He was tied to the trailer while I went into the garage to get his beet pulp, and he was quite perked up when I came back out with it. He really wanted that mush!

While Hoss was eating I got DC out. She had run herself into a sweaty mess and had had just as little grooming as Hoss. She, too, was happy to get out of the pasture, if only because Hoss was out. I don't know how much exposure DC has had to bathing, so I didn't tie her off to hose her down. I was hoping she would accept it well enough to get a full shampooing, but she was definitely not going to do well in that department. If I could've run her in an arena before trying to bathe her, I might have been able to get more done. Her response to the water being turned on, however, was to leap sideways and halfway rear. I hadn't even turned it on her. It didn't take a whole lot of effort to get her hosed off, but she acted like she had never been hosed off in her life. I can believe she's never seen the type of hosing device I use, but I imagine if I ask Beth she'll say DC has been hosed off before. I contented myself with getting her well hosed off before tying her to the trailer and getting her beet pulp mush.

While the horses ate I started on getting things ready to go to the ride. Once the horses were dry I brushed them out and applied Laser Sheen liberally to both of them. I contemplated going ahead and trimming DC and shoeing Hoss (he hasn't seen a trimming since I put shoes on him at Death Valley; bad horse mom), but decided against it because I felt it would be just a little bit too much in my condition. I'll do feet tomorrow.

After the horses were put away, I got much of the horse-related loading done and Hoss's saddle pad and cooler in the wash. We'll have nice clean things to use at the ride.

Well, I'm not 100% yet by any means, but I feel well enough to go. Since Hubby Honey is home, he is happy enough to do the lion's share of the driving both to and from the ride, giving me more time to rest and recover. Our plan is to leave late Thursday night, in an effort to arrive at the ride with as close to 24 hours before the ride as possible for Hoss to recover from the trailer ride.

Another wonderful thing, I'm actually feeling tired! I've been having a hard time getting to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning. Tonight, though, I feel ready to go to bed nice and early. I'm going to get my bag packed or at least started, and go to bed, hopefully to sleep well and peacefully and get up at a decent hour for once.

Reality Check

After being all excited to find my name at the top of the list on National Mileage, I thought I'd better go back and see what past records are.

In the past five years, most winners of the National Mileage award had 2000+ miles. Only one had a little over 1800 miles.

Well. That's not about to happen for us this year. It's only Hoss's third competition year. I'm not prepared to try to get to that many rides this year. I've already selected our rides for the year, and it's double my goal for the year as is.

Add to that, due to this past weekend's Eastern Mojave Scenic ride, at least two riders have surpassed our mileage once those results post to AERC. What has happened nationally, I don't know. Other riders may have already out done us and I won't know it until those results post.

Still, it's fun to be "in the running," as it were. No, we're not going to win this year. We may not even win next year. But I know we can win, we'll just have to do a whole lot more miles. I might have gone to Eastern Mojave if it weren't so close to Hoss's first 100 miler. Once he's completed a 100 mile ride, I'll probably be more willing to do multi-day rides closer to 100 mile events. It will depend on his performance and how he feels about it afterward.

We're supposed to go to Twenty Mule Team this weekend for our first 100 mile ride. I'm not at all sure we'll make it. It's not Hoss, it's me. I'm still getting my butt kicked pretty hard by this bronchitis/pneumonia thing. I had chest x-rays done today. I should find out later for sure what is going on.

Three days into treatment, I don't feel appreciably better. I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll feel like I'm on the mend. What I'm worried about is I'm not getting the right treatment for the condition I actually have. We'll see. I really, really do not want to have to withdraw from this ride. It really is our only chance this year to do a 100 mile ride.

These days, 100 mile rides are few and far between. It seems I'll have to do a great deal of driving in order to get many 100 mile rides in during Hoss's endurance career. I really wish more managers would put them on, but I understand the dilemma. The 100 mile rider seems to be a dying breed, with the exception of the International riders. International riders want to ride 100 mile events that are sanctioned by the International body, and tend to skip the ones that are strictly AERC sanctioned events. This leaves those of us who want to ride 100 mile rides but have no interest in International competition with few choices for 100 mile rides.

So, I really am holding out to the last minute to make the final decision whether we go to Twenty Mule Team or not. I surely hope I can make it. At this point, I'll take better than I am now and just go!

Oh, and on another note, Mom was checked out and released from the hospital. No new damage on the CT scan. With any luck, this too shall pass and we won't have any further scares.

There Are Days, Part 2

Mom was greatly relieved to be home. We were assured by the neurologist she would be recovered within a week. I was a little skeptical of this prediction, as I have suffered a brain injury (which is, in essence, what a stroke is) and it took me way longer than a week to be recovered. My own brain injury was far less significant than my mother's, so I doubted the doctor's veracity. Still, I was happy to have her out of that place and was content to have her seen by her regular doctor and referred to a neurologist by him.

Tuesday my husband went down and spent the day with Mom. Her roommate, my sister's best friend since high school, was working, and I was supposed to work, so my husband was "it." We talked several times over the course of the day. I reminded Mom to make an appointment with her regular doctor, which she got for Wednesday.

On Wednesday I went down to spend the day with Mom and take her to her doctor's appointment. The appointment went just fine. I did have to correct things she said from time to time, and add stuff she forgot. I'm glad I was able to be there with her, as it's clear she'll need someone with her at appointments to make sure the story is always straight. Her doctor gave her referrals for a neurologist and a vascular surgeon.

Once I got her home, I made sure she called and made appointments with the neurologist and the vascular surgeon. I also made sure she took her meds, as she had forgotten to take them in the morning.

Mom was very keen to go to bells and choir that afternoon/evening. I headed out to pick up a prescription for Mom and some Rimadyl for my dog, Roxy, and made it back just in time to head to the church for bell rehearsal.

During bell rehearsal, Mom had a difficult time finding the measure the director wanted. I was asked to sit in, and was beside Mom, so I pointed out the appropriate measure to her. She couldn't really keep up, and it wasn't until the end of rehearsal that she was confident enough to ring from time to time.

After rehearsal I noticed Mom was having much more difficulty communicating. Everybody wanted to talk to her and my protective mama-bear side came out. I did my best to shield her somewhat so she didn't have to speak more than necessary. I knew from experience the less she had to think, the better. It was clear to me she was over-tired just from that little bit of mental exercise.

We went and had dinner at the local Subway with another member of the bell and vocal choir. Mom was having trouble getting out what she wanted to say, but didn't seem so bad as to make her go home before choir rehearsal.

The surprise when everyone saw Mom at choir rehearsal was priceless. The choir member we went to dinner with said the bar was being set way too high. Since Mom had come back after having a stroke (and I had come back after shoulder surgery, and another member had come back a week after giving birth with baby in tow) the only acceptable excuse for missing choir rehearsal from now on would be death.

After choir we visited with the other members over cookies and juice for a time before heading home. I drove Mom home before heading home myself, getting me home rather late with an early start working in the morning.

On Thursday my husband went back to Mom's to spend the day. It turned out her roommate had the day off, so he didn't need to be there, but they had been experiencing problems with the wireless internet dropping out, so he stayed to put in a new wireless router and do some other "honey-dos" around the house. Mom had a nail appointment that morning.

I called my husband to see how things were going. He told me, quite casually, Mom thought she had had another stroke, as she wasn't any better than she had been the night before. I can only say I freaked just a little bit. Mom's roommate had already taken her for her nail appointment, but they had put a call in to her regular doctor. To which I said, he's only going to tell us to take her to the ER, after which he'll hang up shaking his head. I had my sister call her friend, as I was pretty sure I was just going to end up yelling.

I was right when I said the doctor would say to take Mom to the ER. I later got a call that they were heading out to Sharp Hospital. I was working, so I had to be kept up to speed through texts and phone calls. It made for a tense and stressful day, but if there's one thing horses can do it's keep me from getting too worked up. If I started exhibiting too much stress energy, the horse I was working on let me know it and right now. I had to breathe and let go of my angst in order to get my work done.

By the time I was finishing the last horse, it became clear I was coming down with some creeping crud. My husband was with my mother, so I needed to go home to feed. I was coughing and sniffling like mad. My husband told me not to bother coming down. The hospital staff had kicked out a woman who was exhibiting signs of illness, even though it was her minor child she was there with. Very strict no sick people other than those being treated policy. They let the mother wait in the waiting room but she had to wear a mask.

The neurologist at the new hospital was filled in on what was going on. In the morning my husband called me and gave me the sketch of what the doctor had said. She was very concerned about the medications Mom was on. Indeed, she called it a "Molotov cocktail she won't wake up from one morning." I was a little skeptical of this and asked for further details. It turned out the doctor thought Mom was on a cornucopia of pain drugs. The drugs she thought Mom was taking should have been on the list of drugs Mom is allergic/reactive to.

The neurologist came in to see Mom and my husband called me so I could participate. My sister was at work and unavailable. So it was on me to make sure things were going right. By this time several tests had been done, most of them repeats of the tests done at Alvarado. The neurologist told us she had "no idea what they were talking about" in reference to the degree of blockage in Mom's carotid arteries. According to this doctor, there was little to no blockage, and certainly not enough to be the prime suspect in Mom's stroke. The neurologist wanted more tests. She was determined to discover what had caused Mom's stroke. She set up for Mom to be seen by a cardiologist, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and physical therapist.

I made sure the neurologist knew Mom wasn't on the narcotic medications she had thought Mom was taking. This clearly relieved the doctor. I'm sure she corrected the record. Somewhere along the line, someone had written those drugs in the wrong place.

Further testing came up empty. We still don't know why Mom had a stroke. We expected the neurologist would want to put in arterial filters to help prevent future strokes. This did not turn out to be the case, and once Mom was seen by the various doctors and therapists, she was sprung on Monday.

Unfortunately, as of this morning, Tuesday, Mom was sent back to the hospital by the neurologist because she is experiencing right side numbness. With any luck, it is only a blip and not a new stroke event. The neurologist evidently sent her back more as a precaution than because she thought something was really going awry.

I am far more comfortable with the treatment and attention she is receiving at this hospital.

We have learned a lot of things in this experience. When Mom was first admitted to Alvarado with a suspected stroke, she should not have been given her high blood pressure medications. One of the body's responses to a stroke is to raise blood pressure in an attempt to clear the blood clot/s on its own and increase blood flow to the brain in general. By controlling her blood pressure, the attending doctor made a conscious decision to ignore the ER doctor's concerns. Mom should have been in the MRI within 6 hours of arriving in the hospital. It was well over 24 hours before an image was taken.

My sister asked the neurologist, point blank, if there was any chance of suing Alvarado Hospital over the clear errors they made. The neurologist said it would be very difficult to prove any harm. I suspect if she were able to confidently point to any absolute harm she would be more than happy to testify on Mom's behalf, so I believe her when she says it would be difficult.

I think the biggest lesson I took from this was, never go to Alvarado Hospital!

A Pleasant Surprise

I'm going to break up the whole craziness with Mom with this post. At this point, Mom's situation is not well known. I would like to be able to have a final diagnosis/prognosis before I finish posting about her. So, on to a more endurance-related and fun post.

On a lark I decided to check out the points standings on the AERC website. It is my goal, some day, to take Hoss to win some high-mileage awards. It occurred to me we had done enough miles we might be in the standings.

I went to the AERC website and first pulled up the points standings for Pacific Southwest district. Imagine my surprise when I found Hoss and I are in third place in my division, and tied for first overall!

Another mileage award we would be eligible for is the Pioneer Award, for those riding and completing all days of a multi-day ride three days or longer. So I checked the Pioneer Award, and we are in fifth place, again in my weight division (middleweight). Every rider on the Pioneer Award list has the same number of miles, but because Hoss and I are rather pokey, the other riders have more points than we do. Points are based on where we finish in each day's ride. I only have a dim understanding of points, as I have little hope we'll ever be high-point winners, but rather will win through sheer mileage.

This caused me to investigate further, and I pulled up the National Mileage standings. My eyes just about popped out. We are currently in first place! Now, we're in first place by a mere 50 miles. The ride season is still young. These standings could change from week to week as ride results come in to the AERC office.

This leaves me with a challenge. I went through the ride calendar, and I have another 1035 miles of endurance I want to do this year. I know I said our goal is 750, but that doesn't mean we can't aspire to more. Besides, seeing our names at the top of the National Mileage standings felt good. I'd like to keep us there if we can.

There's a lot of time left in the ride year. Anything can happen. I am encouraged by Hoss's performance in his last 400 miles. I think so long as I am careful and manage him correctly, we have a real shot at winning or at the very least placing in National Mileage, if not in my weight division.

February 25 is our first chance at a 100 miler. It is the only opportunity we'll have this year. It's important to me that Hoss and I complete at least one, preferably two, 100 mile rides before we go to Tevis. We already have enough endurance miles to qualify to enter Tevis. I'd really like for both of us to have experienced riding all day and all night before we hit the Tevis trail.

So, of course there's a complication. Aside from my mother's health, I have taken a turn for the worse in the health department. On Thursday, while I was finishing the last horse of the day, I noticed I was beginning to feel a little off. By the time I was done loading the truck, I had developed a cough and a very mild sore throat.

Friday I was very definitely sick, but still confident I'd get over it in little time. Saturday came, and wow, I was still sick, but felt well enough to take the dogs for a walk. That was, however, all I could do. I spent the rest of the day camped out in my chair. I had hoped to get in a short trail ride, maybe give Hoss a bath, but it wasn't going to happen.

Sunday (today) I was not any better. Overnight I had a difficult time sleeping. I kept coughing and just felt miserable all night long. No medications seemed to be doing me much good.

I had to be at church early to ring in both services, along with my daughter who was standing in for her grandmother in bells. My voice was pretty much gone. Of course, everyone wanted to know how Mom was, so I didn't get much of a break for my vocal chords.

Between services I decided I was bad off enough to head out to the urgent care. My hope was to get some sterner meds into me so by Monday I'll be well enough to work. My daughter took me out to the urgent care. The doctor thought he heard a little pneumonia in one of my lungs, but decided not to go for an x-ray unless I get worse. He gave me prescriptions for antibiotics, steroids, and a rather stern cough medicine.

I've been home a few hours now and have taken the first dose of steroids and antibiotics and the cough medicine. Aside from the cough having quieted down, I don't feel appreciably better. Usually, with plain ol' bronchitis, I'm already feeling better within a few hours of the first dose of steroids. I'm afraid I may have pneumonia, and now I regret not going ahead with the chest x-rays. If it is pneumonia, it's the first time I've ever had it. Monday is a holiday, and I'm worried my doctor's office will be closed. I swear they take the least opportunity to take a day off.

If the doctor's office is closed, I'll have to go back to the urgent care or the hospital. The cough medicine wore off enough for me to start coughing again – it's supposed to last 4 hours, but seems to only be good for 3. My husband is threatening to take me to the ER tonight because the cough is so painful. I may go along, as the sooner I have a diagnosis, the sooner I get appropriate treatment and get over this thing!

The long and short of it is, I need to get better in a hurry. I'm pretty set on going to Twenty Mule Team this weekend and finishing 100 miles. Since it is our only chance to get in a 100 miler this year, it's not like I can toss it aside easily.