2012 Virginia City 100

We didn’t make it to Bridgeport. We didn’t make it to Grand Canyon. That’s 300 miles we missed out on with the temporary financial disaster we had. We did make it to Virginia City – and we sure had a crappy day.

Between this ride and Vail Lake I started a new diet. I started it as a result of my asthma having become much worse at the beginning of the year. Some time ago, a diet for asthmatics came out which cut out red wheat, dairy, and refined sugars. So I went on this to see what it did for my asthma. My results have been remarkable. A pain I’ve had for something like a decade has disappeared completely. My doctor thought it was my gall bladder but nothing was ever discovered. I’d started pursuing it with a gastroenterologist but dropped it when it became clear my new diet solved the problem. I also promptly dropped ten pounds.

The new diet does create a bit of a problem. It’s difficult to find things that will survive in the saddle bag which fit into the new diet. I’ve done pretty well in that department, finding several gluten-free breakfast and granola-type bar selections which seem to do well. I can’t drink Gatorade anymore, as it uses a wheat product as a sweetener, so I had to find a different electrolyte replacer. So far I’m doing reasonably well on providing my own foods. Foods provided by ride management can be harder to work with. I plan to mostly depend on myself as much as possible.

The ride started at 5am. The starting line was in the heart of down town Virginia City, about a 30 minute ride out of base camp. So I had Hoss saddled at ready to go and mounted up at 4:30am. We rode to the start in the pitch dark. Knowing many riders don’t like the use of head lamps, I kept mine turned to the red setting. It really didn’t do me any good. I couldn’t see much of anything or tell where the road was. I was reliant on Hoss, who was much too hopped up by the energy of ride day to make good decisions.

Once we started and got a little separated from the large body of riders, I turned my head lamp to the white light so I’d have some chance of seeing where we were going. Hoss initially spooked when I switched it over. Once it was on, though, he headed out confidently. It really helps when the rider has an idea where the horse is supposed to be going. We caught up to another rider who slowed down to let us pass. I’d say it was clear she didn’t like the light I was using.

I understand most people do just fine without additional light. I don’t. I need that extra light, or it’s like riding in the pitch black and zero idea where anything is. If Hoss steps off the trail, I won’t know anything about it until he’s headed off down some crazy slope. And, no, I can’t trust him not to do that. If we’re on any kind of switch back, he will head off cross country to catch up with the other horses, and he doesn’t seem to much care about the terrain. So I need the head lamp. I try to be respectful of other riders. I expect the same from them. I try to balance my needs with the preferences of others, and there’s only so far that can go.

 As the sky lightened I was able to shut of my head lamp. Which was probably fortunate as we had caught up with other riders on a section of single track trail. We weren’t going any faster than the leaders in that pack, so we were pretty stuck in the group for a time.

It eventually opened up into a nice trail where the faster horses left us behind. Hoss was trying to keep up with a couple of horses that were significantly faster than him on a section of dirt road when they got out of sight. We continued down the road for some time before I realized I hadn’t seen any trail markers in a while. I turned back. When I saw other riders coming toward us, I figured we must be on the right track and turned around again. All of us rode around aimlessly for a while before realizing we must have missed a turn. Heading back up the road, we found the turn. It was marked pretty well if you were coming at it from the wrong direction. I’m not sure why Hoss missed it. Usually he catches that sort of thing. This time he moved confidently on down the wrong way.

Once we were back on track, I noticed I’d lost my cell phone! At this point we were with two other riders. I commented my phone was gone. Lo and behold, one of the riders had seen it on the trail, gotten off and picked it up. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if I hadn’t gotten it back – especially since it died less than a week later, forcing me to go to the trouble of replacing the damn thing – but I wasn’t heartbroken to have it back.

Cut off time for the first vet check was 9am, so we needed to really keep our pace up to make it. The first twenty four miles were fairly easy, with trail that was largely trottable, so it wasn’t impossible, but the way the cut off times were split struck me as odd. Four hours for the first twenty four miles, four hours and fifteen minutes for the next fifteen miles, two hours and forty-five minutes for the next twelve miles, five hours for the next twenty five miles, four hours and fifteen minutes for the next sixteen miles, and one hour and fifteen minutes for the last eight miles. That is, of course, assuming one is riding right at the cut off times. A rider would have more time if they were riding ahead of the cut off times.

We made it in to the first vet check well under our cut off time. I had a limited supply of syringe doses of electrolytes to give Hoss on the trail. Between that, and knowing ride management would not be taking anything to the last vet check, I rode all the way to the first vet check without electrolyting Hoss. I figured that was the easiest way to manage him. He would do best skipping a dose early in the ride rather than later. As it was, he took a little longer than usual to come down at the vet check but did just fine. Once he ate his electrolyte bran mash his heart rate regularized and I was happy with how he was looking.

 During the first twenty four miles, Hoss had gotten cut in his mouth somewhere. I couldn’t figure out what had gotten bloodied, and even the vet couldn’t find anything. Still I chose to continue on without the bit at all, simply attaching my reins to the sides of his halter. After twenty five miles I was reasonably sure he’d be manageable enough to deal with sans bit.

The second half of the first loop was a bit more challenging, and I began to understand why the cut off times were split up so oddly. We got in to Bailey Canyon and it was a slog. The rocks were large and unstable. About five miles in, Hoss got stuck in the rocks and lost a hind shoe. He wasn’t sore, being at six weeks since I last shod him, so we kept going at a reasonable pace. I knew we’d have to slow down if the ground got hard, so we made time on the soft stuff.

We were once again trotting confidently along when I realized the horses ahead of us weren’t on the ride. I perused my map and decided we’d missed yet another turn. Another rider did catch up to us at this point and we turned around together. The turn we missed was shortly after crossing the road, once again not excessively well marked for the direction we had come at it. I think we’d done an extra mile or more.

We got to the “trot-by” vet check at mile thirty nine with plenty of time left. Hoss was beginning to feel that lost shoe by this point. He showed a little off to the vet at the trot by. After our fifteen minute hold, I gave him a dose of electrolytes and we made our best effort to walk twelve miles in just over four hours.

This sounds like a pretty easy thing to do. Not so much with Hoss. He must have the world’s slowest equine walk. Left to his own devices, he won’t exceed three miles an hour, and prefers something closer to two miles per hour. He’ll trot an easy seven to ten miles per hour, but his walk simply doesn’t match up. To complicate matters, the rest of the loop back to camp was nothing if not rocky and hard. So we really couldn’t trot at all.

A section of this trail is referred to as the “S.O.B.’s.” When we got there, I understood why. Two of the steepest uphill and downhill sections of trail I think I have ever seen. There’s a power line access road near trails I train on here at home that’s similar. It’s just as steep. What it doesn’t have is the loose scree rock. It was clear to me I wasn’t going to be able to safely walk up or down those hills. Hoss was going to have to carry me, lost shoe or not. It took some doing, and he lost a front shoe in the bottom of one of the hills – I expect he stepped on it but didn’t pull it in Bailey Canyon – but we made it through.

We got back to base camp just at 5:00pm, cut off time. I was leading Hoss on the road in to camp. His other hind shoe was loose. I didn’t want to ride him on the paved area because I was afraid he’d be more likely to slip. With half his shoes gone and one nearly off, I had to shoe Hoss before I vetted him through. We had an hour hold. I think I set a personal best record for shoeing a horse.

Once he was shod I took him to the vet and he passed, although I was asked to trot him twice. Not really a surprise. The same vet saw him at Twenty Mule Team and she made me trot him several times there, too. He was his usual obstinate self about the trot out.

We headed back out on the trail at 6:00pm, with less than ten hours of real trail time left to us to complete the last forty nine miles. At Twenty Mule Team, it took Hoss nine hours to complete the last thirty five miles. I knew I had my work cut out for me, and our odds of beating cut off times were slender, but we had to try.

We were the last ones out on the trail. No one left behind us. We got out of the stickiest part before dark, and were climbing a hill some eight miles out of camp when Hoss snatched off a front shoe. He was immediately foot sore, the kind of foot soreness that made him dangerous to ride. He would stumble when he stepped on something unpleasant. At this point we were eight miles and two hours out. In order to make the cut off, we needed to be making a solid five miles an hour or better. We’d made four miles per hour. There was no way we were going to finish. Even if he hadn’t lost the shoe, we probably would not have made cut off. I dismounted, got over my frustration, and began walking back.

There were no glow bars on this part of the trail. We were walking back in an area with multiple turn offs. It was very easy to make wrong turns. I had my head lamp on and was carefully looking at the road for hoof prints. Using hoof prints wasn’t as good a trick as one might think, as the area has multiple herds of wild horses. In the daylight I can easily discern the difference between shod and bare hoof prints, but in the dark it’s not nearly so easy. I had my GPS on the bread-crumb track screen and watched that to get us back. I got off track several times in spite of the GPS. I would head down a road and the track on the GPS wouldn’t diverge until I’d gone some way and we’d have to turn around and track back. I think if I hadn’t had the GPS I might very well have unsaddled Hoss and found myself a reasonably comfortable place to lay down until dawn or someone thought to call me, whichever came first.

A few times I made Hoss pack me up a hill or on the softer sections of the trail where he wasn’t so foot sore. During the times I was riding him he made very clear he knew where he was going. Unfortunately when I was off he didn’t seem to realize we need to go back down the same trail and didn’t indicate to me when I’d made a wrong turn.

Four times I took a fall. The first time was while walking along what I thought was flat road. I couldn’t see the rut in the artificial light of my head lamp. I set my foot on the edge and slipped, falling right on my butt. Twice I slipped on rocks while walking down hill and fell. The fourth time nearly cost Hoss his life. We were walking on a downhill when Hoss decided he had to have a bite to eat, and he had to have it right then. He stopped and whipped his head to the side to snatch at some grass, yanking me right off my feet. It didn’t help Hoss was behaving somewhat like a thousand pound lead weight I had to drag behind me. When he pulled me off my feet, it was all I could do not to just leave him there.

By the time all was said and done, we rolled in to camp about 1:00am. Between all the wrong turns, we added an extra two miles to our trip back. I presented Hoss to the vet, then got him unsaddled and settled in for the night. I crawled in to my tent and sulked my way to sleep.

 I’m really hoping our run of bad luck is over now.

Nothin’ Much Goin’ On Lately

After the Descanso ride, Hoss and I have taken a little break from competing. Hoss went to the trainer for a month for polishing work, and DC went with him to be started.

After a couple of weeks, DC started showing signs of, not lameness exactly, but certainly being off. We suspected she had strained something in her leg, so I brought her home to rest and recover. After a couple of days, I started taking her for the morning walk again. She had been very unhappy to be left behind and wasn't thrilled about living alone either, so I took pity on her. After a couple of morning walks and doing our exercises given by the trainer, I contemplated her feet.

It had only been a couple of weeks since I had trimmed her, and I was very unhappy with how her feet looked. I thought about it for a while, and decided to go ahead and shoe her. Due very likely to a certain degree of neglect when she was quite young, and not getting the exercise she needed, her feet simply do not match. She has either a mild club foot, or what is known as a negative palmar angle on the other foot (essentially, the bone inside the foot is pointing up at the toe rather than slightly down; the only way I can know for sure is through radiographs, so at the moment I am content to simply see if I can fix this through external observation and correction). Her hind feet are a bit of a wreck, too, with one foot wearing off significantly on the outside, making it impossible to get level through trimming alone, and the foot was quite short, making me suspect it to be sore.

Having made these observations, I made the decision to nail shoes on her. She was very well-behaved about the entire process, standing quietly beside me with her lead rope tucked in my back pocket while I went around her trimming feet and fitting up shoes. She was great about getting the shoes burned on, though I didn't do a full burn like I'd do on a horse that's been getting it done for a while. Turning the forge on caused her a little alarm which she let go of easily enough. I expect her feet to improve with time, shoeing, and work. My observation over the course of my career is, when a horse is working correctly, its feet will improve vastly over a few shoeings.

I gave DC a day off from exercises, although took her on the morning walk. The next day I put her back to what we laughingly call "work." I noticed immediately she looked sound and much more confident than she had before the shoes. So I started doing a little more with her each day. I set up a saddle for her and started taking her on the walk with a saddle on. She loved it. I started working with her on being mounted and in not many days, I was sitting astride. Within a few days of that, she took a few steps. Now we're riding up and down the driveway. She would really like to go further, but I'm riding her in just her rope halter and reins, so I'm not terribly confident about taking her off-property quite yet.

DC will be heading back to the trainer for her last two weeks of starting work. Once that is done, she'll come home for conditioning and continued schooling to the level I am capable of. I am hoping to take her to Death Valley to do the limited distance rides, if not every day, then at least a couple of days. I'm confident she can fit up enough to do four slow LDs between now and the end of December.

Beth (my trainer, as previously mentioned) was concerned about Hoss's topline and the fact he really hasn't been interested in cantering. He'd trot everywhere, but cantering did not interest him. I squared off his hind feet some time ago to partially address the topline issue. He was over-using his loins and not using his butt to propel him forward. By squaring off his hind toes, I forced him to stop using his loins and start using his butt more. Still, I am not a trainer, nor am I a particularly accomplished rider, 100 mile finish aside. He needed time under Beth to get him properly collected and improve his appearance.

It took some doing, Hoss being the extra-stubborn Mustang he is, but Beth got him to come around. In just thirty days, his topline improved to the point he looks much more normal. His way of going is far better. Watching him free-lunge, his gait is much more relaxed and free-flowing. He used to look sort of like he was pistoning his legs around. Beth describes it as not using his body. He's also much more eager to canter.

Now that Hoss is home, we are working on the cantering thing. Right now our homework is to canter. A bunch. As much as possible. It's killing me. I am quite fit for trotting, but cantering? Not so much. Still I get him out nearly every day and we ride up to a section of wide, flat trail and canter back and forth. Most days I bring him home in a full body sweat. It's hot here, even in the evenings, and we keep going for 20 to 30 minutes each time. Hoss seems to be enjoying it for the most part. He especially likes it if I let him hand gallop up the small hill at the far end of the trail. He has his moments. He's pretty good while we're headed away from home, but as soon as we turn around, he wants to "Nazi" canter, meaning a rough, runaway sort of cantering. So we go back and forth a whole lot until he finally decides he'd better canter properly or we might be out there all night. Of course, there's always me to blame for not getting it right. And we are taking our weekly lesson.

A couple of days ago, I took Hoss out for our canter workout and while we were doing our back and forth cantering, he stopped responding appropriately to the bit. I was quite puzzled. I noticed a metal-on-metal sound. Upon investigation I discovered the curb chain on the bit had broken. Well. No wonder his response was off. Can't respond properly if the bit isn't working properly. So I cut our workout short and rode him home.

Our next planned ride is August 18, the Eastern High Sierra Classic. This is sort of a no-brainer. Having already completed all four days of 50s at Death Valley and the 100 at Twenty Mule Team, we are just this one ride away from being awarded the Fire Mountain Horse of Excellence award. Not going would be a bit of 99 yards and drown*.

Since this is a pretty significant ride, of course problems have arisen. Because we haven't competed for two months, and I haven't been going in to church three times a week, we should have been able to sock away some money and get all squared away. This was not to be.

My husband was recruited by a new company, making significantly more money than his previous employer. Part of the process was a required physical exam. Okay, fine. This I am not worried about. He's been passing physicals for this industry for five years. Then I get a call. He's flying back home, 24 hours after having left. The physical had included an EKG, which the computer interpreted as showing a cardiac infarction. Until he could get an echocardiogram and a stress test, the application process for the new job was stalled out.

Hubby had already been home and not working for three weeks, which is normal. Not normal is not going back to work at the end of those three weeks. He came home and started hitting up his doctors at the VA to get the wheels set in motion. Of course this took for-stinking-ever. Eventually all was taken care of. Not only was the echocardiogram completely normal, the stress test was beyond easy for him. He was finally able to fly back out to retake the physical, which he passed, and start the new job.

The fallout from all this has been a financial squeeze. I don't yet know when hubby will get his first paycheck, but I hope it's soon. We cannot survive on my income alone, let alone can I get to an endurance ride. So, keep your collective fingers crossed for us. I really do want Hoss to get that Horse of Excellence award!

*In middle school, the band director told this story/joke when someone came close to accomplishing something, then blew it at the end:
You take a boat and row out 100 yards. At this point the boat sinks. You start swimming back. You swim 99 yards and drown.

2012 Descanso Endurance Ride 50

Since this ride is so close to home, we did our normal Friday routine and went to Sun Coast Farm in Imperial Beach for a lesson. I got a couple of horses trimmed while we were there as well. Because the ride manager – Terry Woolley-Howe – elected to include a Friday night dinner this year, I didn't have to pack any food for myself at all. There's a reason many of us differentiate between rides by referring to "Terry" rides. At a "Terry" ride, one hardly needs bother to pack a thing for ride day, for horse or rider. Of course, because of Hoss's dietary restrictions, I usually still pack him something to send to the vet checks. This year I only packed a bran mash with electrolyte to send to the mid vet check. I knew there would be enough hay he could have at the other two checks, plus if all the mashes had stuff he couldn't have in them, I could always procure more without it.

Before getting my dinner, I went over to the vendors and picked up another saddle pack. Now I have enough storage for all four of my water bottles, snacks and Gatorade mix for me, electrolytes for Hoss, my camera, spray sunscreen and bug repellent, a stethoscope, a hoof pick, and first aid supplies. And I could probably get more into it, but that was all I could think to cram into the packs on Friday evening.

The ride started at 6am on Saturday. I got up at 4:30 to feed Hoss and get dressed. Breakfast (fruit and donuts and coffee and hot chocolate and juice) was served at 5am. I walked over and grabbed food, then walked back to eat it in my truck. Once I'd eaten and Hoss and polished off his breakfast, I got him saddled up and we rode over to the start.

At NASTR, I had still been using an S-hack on Hoss. After the ride, he had pulled so much and so hard that not only were my hands horribly sore, the hair had been rubbed off his nose. My trainer and I elected to switch him over to a curb bit. So the previous two lessons had been taken in the curb bit to get him used to it. He wasn't any less antsy on the way to the start, but he was significantly easier to control. Although while we were walking he got a bit too frantic and I decided to back him in an effort to redirect his brain. We hadn't practiced backing in the curb bit in lessons, and it didn't occur to me doing it in such a fraught situation might result in rather more dramatic behavior than usual. I stopped Hoss then asked gently for him to back up. The next thing I knew, he had dropped back on his hocks and nearly fallen to his knees! It was quite disconcerting, but I kept my head and got him back on his feet. He seemed appropriately chastened by the experience and once I was reasonably sure he hadn't hurt himself we continued to the start line.

Once the start was announced I held Hoss to a walk and felt pretty good about his behavior. So I asked him for a trot pretty early on. He really wanted to keep up with the front runners. Knowing he'd never last, I kept him back some, knowing they'd get away from him soon enough. We came to a steep downhill everyone was slowing down for. By the time we got to it, all the other horses had continued jamming on down the trail. This made Hoss a bit anxious and he wanted to bomb down the hill to catch up. I forced him to walk to the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately when I asked him for a trot at the bottom of the hill he tried to bolt. That doesn't fly. I cranked him back to a walk and his "trotting privileges" had been revoked until he could get himself back under control.

Time for the frustrating if necessary part. I held Hoss back to a walk while he tried every trick he's ever come up with to go faster. With the curb bit it took much less effort on my part to keep him down. Even when he was misbehaving I was able to spend a good deal of time on a loose rein. Of course making him walk resulted in being passed by many horses, which just spins Hoss up. I told him, over and over, if he would just walk calmly and trot calmly we could pick up our pace, but if he was going to threaten to bolt he was going to be walking until he gave that crap up. Of course I wanted to get on with it just as much as he did. Which doesn't mean I'm going to put up with dangerous behavior.

It took some time and a few miles, but Hoss finally gave it up and walked a few good steps. I asked him for a trot and we were off again. He didn't bolt and kept a reasonable trot and listened to me. At this point we were behind two riders, Gabriele Mitteregger and Don Huston. We had to keep a little further back than usual from Gabriele's horse, as he was kicking out in frustration. He wasn't kicking at Hoss, it was kicking to express his displeasure. Hoss pretty quickly got the idea and stayed well back to keep from getting his nose kicked in.

For the most part Don or Gabriele led, but there were moments when their horses flagged and Hoss would take the lead. Of course as soon as Hoss was out front he'd slow down, but during the morning he didn't slow down to the point I needed to pedal him.

Climbing the hill up West Mesa Fire Road, I wondered how I could ever have viewed it has a particularly challenging hill. Sure, it's a hill, but it's nothing like what we saw at Vail Lake. Hoss trotted up the hill with little pushing from me. He seemed just as unimpressed as me.

Coming down into the vet check, Don and Gabriele got off their horses to walk in. I continued to ride in. I figure he's fit enough at this point to carry me all the way. Besides, in this particular area getting off and leading is treacherous for me. Coming downhill among the rocks really increases the odds I'll hurt myself. It's better for both of us if he just packs me in. So we came in a little ahead of Don and Gabriele, which I figured wouldn't make a great deal of difference as Hoss wouldn't come down immediately.

As it turned out Hoss's heart rate did come down quite quickly and we wound up leaving the vet check well ahead of Don and Gabriele. I'd rather not let Hoss get too used to being with other horses all the time, so I was perfectly okay with these circumstances. We were passed by other horses, which stimulated Hoss to try to keep up. But he's not consistently fast enough, so I held him back and tried to keep him from getting overly focused on the other horses. After a time we wound up in a "pocket" by ourselves.

About halfway through the second loop I realized I'd forgotten to give Hoss his electrolytes before we left the vet check. I went ahead and gave him the missed dose before we continued up the steep fire road toward the lake.

Shortly before we got into the second vet check Don and Gabriele caught up to us. Once in Hoss took a few minutes to recover, then we started our hold. I made up a bran mash with electrolytes for Hoss. The vet running the vet check decided we needed to remove saddles, so I stripped it off of him. I didn't want him standing around too long with his sweaty back uncovered to get cold. As soon as he'd slurped up most of his bran mash, I took him to the vet and got him cleared. Once back with his bran and hay I put the saddle back on him. We hung out for the duration of our hold.

Done with our hold I got Hoss's bit back in his mouth and saddle adjusted and we headed out. Don and Gabriele were out shortly after us and caught us up quickly. Hoss wasn't much feeling the trot up the hill thing, so it worked to our advantage to have Don and Gabriele catch up. Having the other two horses kept Hoss motivated, and he even led some up the hill.

We came into the last vet check well ahead of the cut off time. There were even a fairly significant number of horses behind us. We did our twenty minute hold, I gave Hoss his electrolytes, and we were on our way.

After crossing the water under the Sweetwater Bridge, we headed back toward camp. Somehow Hoss and I ended up ahead of Don and Gabriele. Hoss kept up a good trot for a while, but he started to die off. By the time I was pedaling him hard, Don asked if they could pass and I gratefully allowed them to go ahead. I'd just been about to suggest the idea when Don spoke up. Once Don and Gabriele were ahead of us, Hoss was plenty motivated to keep a decent speed going.

There was a five-minute hold about two miles from the finish. It has been in a different place in past years. This year, we had to make a deliberate left turn to get to the location. Unfortunately it was poorly marked. Don, Gabriele and I made it into the hold as required, but we learned later many riders had missed it. A yellow sign on the trail directed the ride and tie participants to head back to camp. Another sign, up and to the left, directed endurance riders to the five minute hold. It was not well placed. I could easily see how so many people missed it.

We arrived at the finish line just before 5:00pm. I was quite pleased with our finish time. About 9 hours and 20 minutes, give or take. Hoss is getting a little bit faster at this, which he really needs to be for Tevis. I'm hoping by the time we go to Tevis next year, he'll be consistently staying ahead of cut off times.

2012 NASTR 75

Due to Kody’s continuing troubles after his injury at the Nevada Derby, Hoss and I were on our own for this ride. We set out on Friday for the Sunday ride. I expected to take the better part of two days to get to ride camp, thinking we’d get there about mid-day on Saturday. My plan was to overnight in Bishop at the fairgrounds. Unfortunately, as we arrived in Bishop in the evening on Friday I realized this was not going to happen. I’d completely forgotten Memorial Day Weekend is when Mule Days happens in Bishop. So the fairgrounds were occupied and we were forced to continue on our way. I didn’t have a clear idea where we’d find to pull off. From driving through on our way to Derby, I knew our choices were limited at best. In the end we spent the night in a highway rest stop. Hoss chose to stay in the trailer after we walked around for a bit. I put his blanket on, as it was snowing lightly and rather cold before letting him back in the trailer. I spent six or so hours sleeping in the back seat of my truck, before my hip was screaming at me and it was time to go. I checked on Hoss, gave him water and his breakfast beet pulp mush, and we were on our way.

It took far less time to get to ride camp from there than I had anticipated. I even stopped for a sit down breakfast. Still we arrived in camp at just after 9am. There was not another soul in camp. Not even ride management was there. After scoping the place out, I decided on a decent spot to set up camp in and got set up. While I was getting situated, ride management did arrive and I spoke with them briefly. My plan was to get my tent set up and lay down for a while. There was a storm moving through the area, so I knew I was going to get rained on. It did rain quite significantly later in the day. I ate my dinner in my truck while hail pelted the windshield. Fortunately the rain was largely gone by the time the ride meeting was held, and Sunday dawned cold but clear.

The ride started at a truly inhuman 5am. For me this meant crawling out of my sleeping bag at 3am to get Hoss fed. He was truly an eager eater. He wanted his beet pulp right now, thank you very much, and chowed down with a will. I got back in my tent, dressed and laid down for another hour or so before saddling in the dark. I had gotten my pack loaded and my vet check bag set up. This ride had one place where all vet checks would be held, which was quite nice. I only needed one crew bag for the entire day, with two bran mashes and two flakes of hay and my second set of water bottles.

Once saddled up I rode Hoss over and we checked in for the start. Hoss was quite excited and really wanted to go. I had difficulty holding him back with just the hackamore. We had quite the battle for the first several miles of the ride as other horses passed him and he tried to bolt after them. My new rule has been, if he can’t walk with control, he can’t move up to the trot. So we walked. Or, at least, I told him he needed to walk and he did an awful lot of doing everything in his power to go faster.

In the midst of having this little discussion with Hoss, I realized my GPS had shut off. I turned it back on only to have it shut down again. The third time I turned it back on I kept it in my hand long enough to realize its batteries were dead. Not long after that, I realized the batteries in my camera were dead as well. My phone had a low battery, so I had shut it down. So I was without my tech devices other than Hoss’s heart rate monitor for the duration of this ride.

The one and only picture I was able to take

After some time we finally managed to get into a “pocket” by ourselves and I was able to get a walk and then a decent controlled trot out of Hoss. We caught up with another horse and rider and passed them, but only for a short time. They caught back up to us and we rode together for some time. The other horse led quite a bit, as he was a good deal faster than Hoss.

We rode up into higher elevations, and I realized what I had thought were water droplets clinging to the ends of the pine needles were in fact frozen. It was beautiful and cold. I ended up getting my gloves out for a while to keep my hands warm. We were not up in those elevations long, but it stayed chilly for a good deal of the first loop. The first loop was 26 miles, an interval Hoss seems to think it pretty good. He doesn’t seem to feel the need to stop every 12.5 miles like some rides have us doing.

Because the GPS was down, I had to guess based on our typical speed when it was time to give Hoss his first dose of electrolytes. I got off at about 7:30, figuring this was about as near as I was going to get to knowing we were about halfway to the vet check, and gave Hoss his electrolytes.

We got into the vet check right around 10am, going a little faster than I’d expected to go. The first hold was 40 minutes. After Hoss had recovered and our hold time started I got my crew bag and set up an area for us to hang out in. I gave Hoss his electrolyte-laced bran mash. He was having a particularly contrary day and did not eat it. He was only interested in his hay. Having only brought along two syringe doses of electrolytes and depending on three mashes to give him his other doses at vet checks, I had little choice but to hope he’d be okay despite not getting his usual doses.

After our hold we headed out on the second, 25 mile loop. The temperature never got particularly hot, in fact I spent much of the day trying to find the right combination of t-shirt, sweatshirt and jacket in order to be comfortable. This did, however, enable Hoss to do okay without his regular electrolyte dosing.

On the second loop we were caught up by four other riders, with whom we more or less ended up riding the rest of the loop. When they caught up to us, we were moving along near a ranch. Hoss was slowing down as they caught up. Once they passed us, he picked up the pace.

It wasn’t long after they had passed us that the group of us realized we hadn’t seen a trail marker in while. It didn’t take long after that to realize we had missed a turn. Fortunately Dave Rabe was in the group and he was able to get us back on trail.

About halfway through the loop we came to a water trough with a special treat for the riders in it. Beer. At that point in the day it was warm enough for a beer to sound just about right. Unfortunately there was only one left, and Dave split it with me, kind man that he is. I gave Hoss another dose of electrolytes and we headed on our way.

We came to another trough with yet more beer in it. There was enough for those of us who wanted them and still leave some for the last rider, who was about ten minutes behind us. Dave and I even got two a piece. We loitered at the trough until some riders started feeling a bit cranky about it and went on our way.

As we approached the vet check we could hear the crack of gunfire. Campers were target shooting near the vet check. I’m a little less annoyed about my neighbor’s habitual shooting of ground squirrels. Hoss’s reaction to the gun fire was mostly to pretty much think, “oh, that freak-o neighbor guy is out here, too,” and keep doing whatever it was he was doing. Many of the other horses flinched at each shot.

The second hold was one hour. It was about 2:30pm. I gave Hoss the uneaten bran mash from the first vet check and left him in search of lunch for myself. This time Hoss ate the mash. I had a hamburger and some chips and found a bucket to upturn and sit on while I waited for our hold. Hoss ate well over the course of the hold, and even took a nap for about ten minutes or so. When our hold time was up, I got us out of there close to on time. I wanted to get done and not spend more time in the check than necessary.

The other riders I was with had better recoveries and should have left the check at least a few minutes ahead of Hoss and me. Instead they dawdled in the vet check. I really wanted to get the third, 10 mile loop done in two hours or less, and be back for the third check by 6pm. So we set out and once I felt Hoss was warmed back up adequately, I pushed him into a trot. Without other, faster horses to pull him along it was a bit more of a challenge to keep him moving. I know that he’s got it in him. He just wants to be motivated by something other than, y’know, me. He did maintain a reasonable speed over most of the ten miles and we were back at the vet check in less than two hours and well before 6pm. The other four riders came in some ten minutes later.

The third hold was twenty minutes. Once Hoss was recovered I got him to our spot and gave him another bran mash, which he ate reasonably well. He spent more of this hold resting than eating, but having been there only two hours earlier it didn’t really surprise me. I got our gear packed up and moved to where it would be hauled back to camp and got us back on the trail on time, again ten minutes ahead of Dave Rabe and crew.

The final leg was 14 miles back to camp. I figured we should be able to get that done in something around three hours. The challenge being keeping him moving without the motivation of the company of other horses.

At this point Hoss had spent just enough time with other horses to think he should be allowed to wait for others to catch up to him. We were by now far enough ahead of the riders behind us and far enough behind the riders ahead of us to be in something of a “pocket.” If he maintained a decent speed, he would neither catch up to nor be caught up by other horses. Of course he wasn’t keen on this notion. He told me I don’t know how many times he was just dying and couldn’t possibly go on another trot step. But I could feel him and he was bluffing me. He just wanted to be caught up to. I pushed him an awful lot. I was able to keep him going if at a somewhat lower speed than I’d like him to be doing until the (now three) horses behind us got close enough for him to hear them.

Hoss does a rather peculiar thing. With the exception of the beginning of a ride, when the very idea of being passed by another horse is a terrible affront, he will slow down when there are horses behind him. Once they pass him, he’ll cheerfully speed up once again. While other horses are behind us, though, I’m pedaling like a maniac just to keep him trotting at all. Now that the horses we’d spent some time with had caught back up, he was slowing down determinedly. Once they caught up I was forced to pull him off and let them pass.  Once he was behind them, it was like riding the same horse I’d started the morning with.

The only drawback to being behind this group again was they were not keeping up a consistent trot speed. I would have much preferred to consistently trot all the way back. Instead, partly because they were rather taking up the entire trail and partly because there’d be little point in passing them anyway, we had to go at their chosen speed. And they were faster when they trotted, resulting in Hoss falling further and further behind and getting more and more annoyed by it. By the time we got back to camp, I had to get off to keep him from charging after them.

We finished the ride in a respectable 14 hours and 21 minutes. For reasons I cannot begin to explain the results show us finishing in 15 hours 21 minutes, but I know we were in at 9:20pm and there were 2 hours of hold time, so somebody got the math wrong. Not that it makes any difference.

Vail Lake Endurance Ride 2012

Hoss and I arrived at ride camp fairly late, close to 5pm. After getting him set up with water and a nice bran mash, I set up camp and got my rider packet. Once Hoss had a chance to eat and drink, I took him and vetted him in. After he cleared the vet, I took him back and braided his mane. Evelyn Allen had sent me new riding tights, and many strips of cloth left over from making them. I used the strips as ribbon in Hoss's mane. Looked pretty cool, and we matched.

....Even if it does make him look kinda girly

The ride started at a marginal 6am. I much prefer the 7am start. Especially this time of year, there's little reason not to wait until 7am. Unless it's going to be particularly hot (like it was at Prescott), there's plenty of daylight to do a later start. Maybe it's just me. I don't want to have to be up at 4am.

Hoss wanted to just go. I made him start toward the back (we'd finish back there anyway; might as well start there). One of the biggest problems Hoss has is getting upset when another horse passes him. I decided we were not going to trot until he settled down and walked properly. It just was not happening. Instead he was doing a pretty passable pace. This reinforces the idea he probably has a gait, but doesn't do it as naturally as would be ideal. Several times I circled him to a stop before we continued. Still not walking. I got him to walk and was just about to ask him for a trot when another horse passed us and all bets were off. He was pacing again. It took quite some time and close to three miles, and much "reminding" him he's not allowed to look at other horses, before he walked decently and I was able to ask him for a trot.

Of course, the "trot" I got was more like the jackhammer Nazi trot style. I stood up in my stirrups and just rode it out until he settled a bit and started trotting more naturally. He still wanted to go faster than he really should, but at least he had a trot with a proper rhythm and a little bit of suspension.

The first leg of the ride was mostly on dirt roads. Hoss does very well on dirt roads. It's just about his favorite surface. So, despite some steep but short climbs, it was pretty easy for him to do. Unfortunately we were behind the time I was hoping to make due to his refusal to walk for the first three miles. We walked in to the first vet check about 9am. I had hoped to be there by 8:30.

Hoss recovered in about two minutes, with me sponging him. He really likes being sponged, even if it's not super hot. His favorite is to have the sponge placed between his ears and let the water run down his face. Once he'd pulsed down, I took him and vetted him through. I made up his bran mash and set out his hay. He was more interested in the weeds than the hay once he finished the bran, but he ate decently. I got a little bit of fruit and a couple of donut holes.

Once our hold was over, we got back out on the trail. The second leg was a bit of a shock. There was much more technical trail, including narrow single track along a steep hillside. It was narrow enough not to risk trotting on. Much of the trail through the hilly parts was clearly new, and not as stable as older, more established trail. There were large rocks to negotiate both up and down. Several times Hoss did stupid things and tripped. Once he nearly slid over the edge of the trail.

During this section I got my first notion this ride wasn't going to be as easy as I'd been led to believe it would be. Yes, the footing was "good," but the steep sections were really steep. I quipped to another rider, "Is this an endurance ride or a moto-cross track?" The roads we were on were often very steep. Too steep to more than walk up or down.

The second vet check was back at camp. I hopped off when we were within a few hundred yards of camp and led Hoss in. His heart rate came down in three minutes, again with much sponging off. We got in about 11:30, an hour ahead of the cut off time. It wasn't terribly warm yet, although I was down to my tank top (it's so nice to have nice weather). I took Hoss back to the trailer once he'd been vetted and gave him bran and a flake of alfalfa. I went and got myself a sandwich and drink, then sat with Hoss for the remainder of the hold.
 
During the ride meeting, we had been told the second half of the ride would be tougher than the first. If they were right, it was going to be really difficult. The first half hadn't exactly been a breeze.

Once our hold was over, we headed back out on trail. Once again we were using trail that had been recently created. Much of it was pretty nice, but there were areas that could use some work. While we were riding, we passed camping areas. One had a stage set up and live bands performing. That was kind of interesting. Hoss didn't seem to care at all. What got to Hoss was the sound of people yelling and screaming ahead at one point. I don't know what it might have all been about, but whoever they were they were loud!

We rode through another camping area where a pair of model dinosaurs had been erected on a hillside. I missed them with the camera – dammit. We rode past a pool were a large group of people were doing something indefinable, but it was clearly some organized event.

There was a great deal more climbing on the third leg of the ride. We rode along the top of ridgelines and climbed hard. Then coming down in to the vet check, the trail was steep and treacherous. And the worst was yet to come after the vet check.

We came in to the vet check at 3pm, half an hour ahead of cut off. This time, with the higher temperatures and the much more challenging trail, it took Hoss nine minutes to pulse down. There were no sponges at this vet check – I had been unable to find mine in the trailer during the second hold – so I used one of my empty water bottles to scoop water over Hoss's neck and face and front legs. Once again Hoss got a bran mash (the advantage of the three-hold ride – giving Hoss a bran mash with electrolytes at every stop rather than ramming it in to him with the syringe) and I gave him some hay. There were also popsicles for riders and I gratefully had one. By now it was particularly warm. I had emptied one bottle, which after I used it to scoop water on Hoss I refilled with Gatorade.

After our hold time we got back on the trail again. I saw other horses riding through the open field across from the vet check area, so I knew we should be over there. I realized pretty quickly as we rode along the road that we'd missed a turn. I turned Hoss back to look for the turn. He trotted along nicely, until I turned him where we'd missed. He thought we were going back to the vet check!

We trotted along the road and turned back up toward the hills. Trotting along this windy section of little-used dirt road, I heard a vehicle coming toward us. It was coming fast, and the driver had no way to know we were there. I urged Hoss to the outside of the road so we'd be visible as early as possible. An older white truck came screeching around the corner. I made eye contact with the driver, but he made no effort to slow down. As his truck started skidding sideways toward us, it was clear it was up to us to get out of his way. Hoss didn't really recognize the danger. Why should he? He's never had a vehicle do anything but avoid him. I kicked the hell out of him, sticking him hard with the spurs to get him off the road just in case that idiot driver lost control and rolled it. The truck flew on past and, heart in my throat, I got Hoss back on the road and trotting again. Then I heard a second vehicle, and a police truck came flying around the corner. This truck at least stuck to the road and I didn't fear he was about to wipe us out.

I was still running a little bit of an adrenaline high when we got to the water buckets. I let Hoss get a good drink while I contemplated the hill ahead of us. This hill, basically a dirt road, must have had a better than 7% grade. I've walked 6% grades, and this was definitely steeper. I decided I'd better tail Hoss up it. He wouldn't be able to walk any faster with me on him, and if he didn't have to pack me it would be at least a little easier on him.

The hill was long. Really long. More than a mile I tailed Hoss up the hill. Several other riders got off, but rode more than half the hill, usually getting off midway and getting back on closer to the top. Those horses trotted relatively easily up the hill. Hoss, on the other hand, doesn't do so well on hills. Even tailing up he goes pretty slow. It took us a long time. We're going to have to work on getting up hills better.

Once up the hill, we started down the other side. Well, sort of. It was a bit rolly. Sort of moto-cross track rolly. Again. There was very little trottable area, at least for Hoss, since he kinda sucks at the trotting uphill thing. So we trotted the flattest parts, trotted at the bottom of hills and starting up the hills. We needed to make time. We had less than two hours to complete.

Finally we got out of the hills and were able to get serious about trotting. The wind was at our backs. Who needs to eat someone else's dust when you can eat your own? The wind blew the dust just ahead of us, creating our very own personal dust cloud to ride in.

We were really coming down to the wire, but I could see camp and the end of the ride. Usually we walk the last mile or two back to camp, but we trotted in this time. We came in with just five minutes left on the clock. It turned out we were the last finishers. The final two riders behind us simply could not make the time. They were over an hour over time, partly because they realized they weren't going to make it and stopped trying.

In the end, this ride was a significant challenge. It was described as "moderate," which I would disagree with. After the first half I would have called it "moderate plus." Now I would be more inclined to describe it as "challenging." And the manager is talking about doing a multi-day event there. Oy! Only if it doesn't have quite so many vet checks….

2012 Prescott Chaparral Ride Day 3

One last day. At the ride meeting the prior night, we were told to expect a hard climb on this ride. We were riding in to the Granite Basin and it was considered to be the toughest trail of the three days. The reason it was held for the last day was because the Forest Service didn't want us out on heavily used trails during the week. So it was done on a Monday.

I got Hoss ready to go and headed out to the start. We trotted out for the vet and made our way out at the start.

The trails were truly beautiful on this day. Hoss and I were alone pretty much all day, not hooking up with any other horses during the ride. Just the way I like it.

It was very hot, and I was starting to get tired. I forgot what color ribbon we were supposed to be following. It didn't take me terribly long to realize my error and turn around and get back on the trail. We met up with another rider who briefly thought I was going the right way. I disabused him of the notion and we headed on up the trail.

We were with the other horse briefly, until the rider dismounted and led his horse. We had reached the climb (I didn't realize it was the "long arduous climb" described in the meeting; it seemed pretty tame to me). Hoss and I passed the other horse and rider and headed on up the hill.

It wasn't until we got to the top and started dropping down I realized the hill we had been climbing must be the one management had warned about the prior night.

There had been no water since before the climb and Hoss was beginning to show signs of being particularly thirsty. As we dropped down along the trail, I could see a stream running along down the embankment beside us. There was no safe way to get down there, but the smell was driving Hoss nuts. Finally we came to a spot where two other riders had made it down the embankment and their horses had been able to drink. Once they cleared out I rode Hoss down to the stream. He was so thirsty he wouldn't cross to drink from the flat side. Instead he stayed with his butt up on the embankment and dropped his head to drink. It was an awkward position for me, but we got through it. Once he'd slaked his thirst enough to be more reasonable I got him across the stream and allowed him to drink from there.

Once we got out of the trail down into the Basin we came to a parking area. I followed ribbon and realized somehow we'd gotten off track again. It took some riding back to find where we'd missed the turn but we did. The turn had not been terribly clearly marked. We had been told to work the trail "counter clockwise." Well, that doesn't mean much if you can't be sure where the trails are in relation to one another.

We finally reached the vet check. Hoss recovered well and we settled in for our hour hold. Hoss ate a bran mash and some hay and a little bit of soaked beet pulp.

After our hold we hit the trail again. I will say this was the toughest of the three days. We had to make time everywhere we possibly could. We climbed back up the trail alongside the stream and out of the Granit Basin.

Much of the rest of the trail back to camp we had covered on the prior two days. Hoss recognized it and at least didn't dally particularly.

Of the three days, this one took us the longest. I was pushing toward the end, worried about making the cut off. We made it in with a little over half an hour to spare. I was pretty happy with our time, considering how difficult the trail had been. While not impossible, it had been more challenging than the prior two days.

2012 Prescott Chaparral Ride, Day 2

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.