Ride Day is on Saturday! First 50 miler coming up at Wickenburg, and I’m jsut about ready. The trailer is packed, the food is bought, the clothes are even packed! All I have to do now is bathe the ponies and fill their haybags, and they’ll be ready to go! First ride of the season for me…getting a bit nervous, I have to admit.
Oops…
Hehehe, so much for regular updates…um, I blame school?
Actually, I got really busy, and everything kind of hit the fan after Man Against Horse. Mimi came out of that ride badly…it was by the skin of our teeth that we passed the final vet-out, because she was moving very weird. 2 weeks before, I had thought she was lame, but then thought the massage therapist fixed her. Felt a little more bouncy than usual, especially at the first part of the ride, then the vet made a comment at the check about the odd way her back legs, especially the right hind, were moving.
By the end of the ride, she was definitely sore. After we checked out, she went back to the trailer and curled up, looking find of miserable. Not her usual post-ride behavior. Even tried a tiny bit of colicky type of behavior, I think now it was because she was hurting.
Ended up bringing the vet out after we got back from the ride and springing for hock x-rays, which revealed that she’s losing a lot of cartilage in her right hock and starting to get a bit of fusing. Tiny bit showing up in the left, but not as bad. So I went ahead and had the vet do the hock injections…basically, the ones that help to replace the lost joint fluid. It’s like I have a whole new pony. She’s smooth and springy and happy again, and our endurance career is back on track!
Had a 5 week break from school, much of which was spent conditioning to get the ponies ready for their first 50 miler coming up next weekend – Land of the Sun in Wickenburg.
Been experimenting for the last several months with Renegades – http://www.renegadehoofboots.com/. Kirt and Gina make a fantastic boot – super easy to put on, and they stay on! They’ve been in the experimental production phase now for the last couple years, and Dad was one of their first guinea pigs. Now that they make them small enough, I’ve been using them on Mimi. I had been using an 0 on her…a size too big, but I was able to manipulate it down to where it fit. Now, we’ve got 00 boots, and they’re so cute! They fit her great, and they look adorable…sparkly golden yellow for Skip Me Gold! Appropriate.
So, needless to say, after having a bit of a downer ride at Man Against Horse, I really didn’t want to write up a whole ride story. The highlights:
-Dad got bucked off at the start when his saddle slipped as he was mounting and Beamer spooked and bucked. After that, though, the horse was an angel, and did quite well for his first LD ride. He enjoys trotting. Wasn’t so amused by the 1000-foot-elevation-in-4-miles climb up to the vet check, and he kind of trudged up the hill at the end, but after some food and water, he became quite cheerful again. (Dad’s thoughts: this is a highlight, how?)
-Due to the above reason, we got almost an hour later start. Consequently, we made it in with 7 minutes to spare…and we weren’t even the turtles! I took that title home last year, thank you, when we tried to turn Dad’s foxtrotter into a LD endurance horse. Didn’t happen, and we straggled in, literally in the 11th hour. Actually, the 5:59th hour, since this is an LD…
-Had we not started so late, we would have finished mid-pack. Eh, life. At least we finished. As it was, we came in 41&42 out of 47.
-The weather was perfect. Normally, Prescott is super windy, especially in the foothills of the mountains. Not so in this case. Friday was insane. Blustery, cloudy, cold. But Saturday more than made up for it, with just a light breeze keeping the air moving. I think the high was in the high 50s that day. Absolutely lovely.
-It really is a fun trail, although I call part of it my Tevis Practice Trail, because it’s a switchbacking singletrack that winds its way down the side of the mountain with a 1000 foot drop, and nothing but manzanita and a few pine trees to catch you. Urgh. Lots of “don’t look down” mantra happening. And singing. I have a horrendous singing voice, but I found that singing makes me breathe, and keeps me calmer, and thus, my horse. She doesn’t mind my singing…pony must be tone deaf.
The view from about 3/4 of the way up to the first vetcheck. This is about mile 11 or 12 on what is called Grapevine trail. Beyond the mountains is Prescott Valley.
Dad and Beamer at the start…before the airs about the ground. Walking him out doesn’t really work…he’s much better if you’re in the saddle.
Pony!Cam shot of going up Grapevine. This is what a lot of the trail looks like…narrow, twisty, and covered on both sides in manzanita. Every year I’ve done this ride, my leg wraps have gotten a new rip or tear. Better them than the pony’s legs.
We’re off to see the…mountain?
Mingus Mountain, to be exact, for the Man Against Horse endurance ride! Woohoo! Just a quick post, because there’s no way I could catch up on everything that’s happened since August. Let’s just say life has been nuts. Thank goodness for well-conditioned horses that can stand to miss a couple days here and there.
Naturally, we had to have some nail-biting tension 2 weeks before the ride when Pony went lame. Turned out she jsut had some muscular stuff that was off. Darla Vanni with A Midas Touch Equine Massage worked her magic and returned my pony to good as new, and we’re ready to roll!
The trailer is packed (except for my duffel bag and saddle), the horses came flyingin from pasture this afternoon for their baths. They’re ready to go, Go, GO! We’re planning to pull out of the barn by 8:30 tomorrow morning and get up to camp nice and early so we can preride and let Beamer get his heebie-jeebies out, since this is going to be his first endurance ride! He’s got 3 NATRC rides under his cinch now, and a brain in his head, so we’re hoping this’ll go off without a hitch. This ride is old hat for Mimi…this will be our 3rd year doing it. And this ride is always special to me, since it was my first AERC ride. We’re only doing the 25 this time, for Beamer’s sake. And because life hasn’t given me the time I would like to have them ideally conditioned for a 50. But now that the weather is breaking, we’re on the path to a 50 once more!
A fun night ride!
San Tan Mtn Park
“The big loop” – main road to Fox Wash to the 4 lane highway to west hills down to backside wash up the trotting road across to the big rock wash and double track road home.
Went out for my first night ride at the San Tans last Saturday…what a blast! There were a group of 4 of us that met up and rode for about 3 hours…myself, Stephanie Palmer-DuRoss, her husband Pete, and friend Denise Martin.
Amazingly, all 4 of us were riding mares, and not a single hoof or tooth flew during the entire ride! We went for the big loop that runs out to the backside of the park and along the back wash. The park has made that into an official trail now! The downside is that means more traffic on it when the weather gets nicer…ick…but at least they’re giving us more trails again! Yay! And parts of that trail really could do with some more improvement. Now they need to fix the north hill climb other than just posting a sign that says “dangerous trail ahead.”
But this was my first time riding down at the park at night, and only Mimi’s second night ride. She did so amazingly well! I’m so proud of her…she had a blast. Stephanie and I took turns switching off leading, and when I wasn’t leading, I relegated the pony to the back of the pack, and she actually did so well back there. I think the fact that we did so much trotting really helped make her happy.
The one downside was my Easyboot Bares were giving me fits…her front ones are a little big, and one of them got so filled with sand that the gaiter ripped off and I lost one of the boots. Well, I retrieved it, but that still left her bootless in the front, so I yanked off her back boots. They’re old enough now that they are flexible enough to cram on her front feet, so that’s what I did for her fronts, and we went barefot in the back for the last half of the ride. Fortunately, the second half of the loop involves a lot of sand wash.
It was so awesome coming back through the sand wash with the big horse-eating rocks. She tiptoed by the rocks, then we lead the way back through the sand wash. She was going at her big pony trot, not spooking at anything, on a loose rein. I just did my best “well-balanced bump on a log” impression and she went flying down the wash. Didn’t even use any glowsticks or anything…I had them on my breastcollar, but never used them…those suckers are expensive, and I didn’t want to waste the money when we were out in full darkness for less than an hour. But I felt like I didn’t even need them, which is awesome.
It’s amazing what being on a well-trained horse you’re accustomed to can do for a confidence booster. I’ve got a really good feeling about the night portion of Tevis now…Mimi was less trippy and spooky in the dark than in daylight!
We pissed off a big-ass rattlesnake around dusk. We were all trotting down the wash, came around a curve, and sprayed a snake that was huddled int he corner with a bunch of sand…he was so mad! I was at the back of hte pack, and by the time I reached him, he was hissing and rattling! I don’t know how big he was…I just got a glimpse of him, but he looked big. And mad. Mimi cantered by him. :)
Seriously, though, it was a lot of fun, and I think I’ll be riding at night more often now.
Pony Power!
From the USET:
IT’S GOLD AROUND THE WORLD ONCE AGAIN FOR U.S. ATHLETES
Pony power wins for the USA!
Theodore “Teddy” O’Connor led the U.S. Eventing team to both team and individual Gold at the Pan American Games in Rio this past weekend. In addition, Miranda Caldwell drove her ponies to individual Gold in the Pairs division at the Combined World Pony Driving Championships in Dorthealyst, Denmark. It was quite a showing all around.
At the Pan American Games the Eventing team seized the lead from the very beginning and never let go. The team earned the Gold medal with a combined score of 162.80, far outstripping the Silver medal Canadian team at 211.10 and the host Brazilian team at 235.60. Teddy, the 14.1 hand Thoroughbred/Arabian/Shetland cross, ridden by owner Karen O’Connor, placed third in dressage, led through the difficult cross country phase, and finished with a clear round in stadium jumping. Phillip Dutton, riding Truluck (owned by Ann Jones and Shannon Stimson), was extremely close to O’Connor’s score, finishing only 1.1 point behind. Completing the victorious team were Gina Miles on McKinlaigh (owned by Thomas Schultz and Laura Coats) and Stephen Bradley on Charlotte Harris’ From.
The U.S. team also swept the first four places in the individual standings with Karen O’Connor (Teddy), Gold; Phillip Dutton (Truluck), Silver; Gina Miles (McKinlaigh), Bronze; and Darren Chiacchia on Better I Do It (owned by Adrienne Iorio), fourth. Stephen Bradley finished 13th overall and Mara Dean retired her mount, Nicki Henley, during the cross country phase.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, the USA’s Miranda Caldwell and her ponies took the individual Gold medal in the Pairs division by a slim 0.73 points over Germany’s Steffen Abicht. In the team competition, the U.S. finished with a Bronze medal behind Germany and the Netherlands. The team consisted of Rochelle Temple and Suzy Stafford (Singles), Miranda Caldwell and Tracey Morgan (Pairs) and Allison Stroud and Laurie Astegiano (Four-In-Hand).
A marvelous weekend all around for U.S. teams!
Up next is Show Jumping at the Pan American Games, with team and individual competition starting on Thursday.
Go Pony • Go the Distance 