Stories

"Never try something new on an endurance ride."

That's the conventional wisdom. But, I'm a rebel.

I had been waiting impatiently for my new Barefoot Cheyenne treeless saddle to arrive. It arrived Wednesday. Antsy to try the saddle, I rode Phlyrt for a few minutes in the dark Wednesday night. Ahhh…. Comfy.

I had also designed and custom ordered a new sidepull-halter-bridle combo from Frontier Ranch Tack. Sue had made it perfectly to my specs, and it arrived promptly but I hadn't had a chance to do more than play with it for a few minutes before Friday and heading off to the Manzanita ride.

This ride was also to be Shyner's first ride (Moonshyne Z) and he would be ridden by my friend Rachel Olesen. Rachel had been consistently getting Shyner out all summer in preparation, but due to non-horsey commitments I had basically given Phlyrt the summer off and she had done almost nothing since May. I had hoped to have Shyner's first ride be a 50 for mental reasons, but we'd entered the LD not knowing what the weather would be like and not wanting to over-ride in the heat, and because I had the new saddle. Also, since we'd only entered the LD and my farrier was out of town the week prior to the ride, I'd opted to let the horses' feet go an extra week.

Friday Rachel and I loaded Phlyrt & Shyner up and headed down to San Diego. It was obvious that the weather was going to be perfect. After setting up camp we headed out for a quick trail ride before checking in. The saddle was so nice, and Phlyrt seemed just as happy with it as I was, so we decided to "go for it" and changed to the 50.

Friday evening at the ride meeting, we found out there were about 80 entered in the LD ride, 45 or so in the 50, and quite a few in the 15 mile fun ride and the 15 and 25 mile ride and tie events.

After the ride meeting, we headed back to our camp site to eat dinner. I'd also brought beer. I seem to have finally discovered how to sleep much better the night prior to the ride: one beer. Of course, I still got up a couple of times to check the horses and refresh their feed, but for the most part it was the best pre-ride sleep I've had yet.

In fact, Saturday morning I lay in the sleeping bag and said to Rachel that the LD might have been a better choice since we could have slept an hour longer.

But, we were tacked up and ready to go by the 6:30 AM ride start. We'd planned to head out about 5 or 10 minutes late and ride at the back all day, but as we moseyed over to the starting point the pack was heading out and the front-runners were already gone so we just went ahead and walked out behind them.

Phlyrt seems to have this ride start thing figured out. Shyner was giving Rachel a bit of a fight, but not nearly as bad as I had feared he might behave. After a couple minutes walking, we let them trot and Shyner settled in behind Phlyrt - giving her a bit of space after she let him know in no uncertain terms that she didn't want him on her ass. Normally she doesn't mind if he crowds, this was the first time I can recall her trying to kick him.

We trotted along slowly and pulled over to let other riders pass us as they came up behind. We were planning on turtling and were in no rush. Phlyrt was on a loose rein before we even got to the first scheduled water at mile 6. Unfortunately, the water wasn't there. There was, however, a bathroom, so I held Shyner while Rachel got rid of some of her morning coffee. I also took this opportunity to fuss around with Phlyrt's heart monitor which hadn't been reading correctly. I succeeded in getting the electrodes properly placed and suddenly my horse didn't have a "00" heart rate anymore. We both mounted back up and headed out again.
The rest of the first leg was pretty uneventful. We just moved along, alternating between trotting and walking. I was quickly getting used to my new saddle. I spent some time adjusting my stirrups up and down (I will need to punch a new hole half-way between two holes to get them where I need them). I'm used to riding in a dressage saddle, but even that saddle does not put my legs as perfectly under me as this Barefoot saddle does, so I was learning to balance myself in the new position.

Just prior to Vet Check 1 the first ride and tie folks caught up with us. They'd left a half-hour after our start time. Those are some fast running people. This section of trail was also a two-way trail so we got to say "hi" to the front-running 50s coming back down the trail; their horses all looked bright and fresh and happy.

Vet Check 1 was at 14.5 miles. We reached it at 9 AM, right on target for our planned slow ride. We rode in, got our time slips, dismounted, loosened girths, pulled bits, let the horses drink, and started sponging. Both horses were down to criteria quickly. After the horses' pulses were taken, we handed them to a friendly volunteer - both horses had their heads buried in food by this time - and Rachel went to find herself some food while I hunted down a bush.

We then took the horses to be vetted, Phlyrt was all A's and Shyner was A's and a B+ on gut, not surprising or at all disappointing for a first ride. By this time our 20 minute hold was basically over, so we mounted back up and headed out. Thanks to my new sidepull-halter-bridle, I didn't bother putting Phlyrt's bit back on and she wore just the sidepull for the rest of the day.

The next section of trail looped out a couple miles and then headed back past the Vet Check and down the two-way trail before splitting off and going back to camp via a different trail. This was a 10.5 mile leg back to camp, and both horses were happily moving along on loose reins. We spent much of this leg leapfrogging with a couple ride-and-tie folks. They are amazing, both the humans that alternate running and riding and the horses that stand tied to bushes and twigs that they could easily pull free from if they tried. We witnessed a really cool trade-off where one guy dismounted and still had his foot in the stirrup while the other guy mounted from the other side. Good horse, too.

We got into camp and the lunch hold around 11:30 AM, so still exactly on time with our planned schedule. Both horses again pulsed down quickly and were happy to hang out and eat at the trailer. Shyner seemed a bit confused to still be wearing his saddle, but never flinched at his new rump rug (there was just enough of a breeze for me to want them to wear them while standing still).

We'd been asked to vet at the half-hour mark during our hour hold. We took the horses back over to the vetting area, and both received excellent marks, all A's for Phlyrt & A's and B's for Shyner). Shyner, however, thought that being asked to trot out after 25 miles was pure sadism on Rachel's part. The vet laughed and said if necessary I should trot Phlyrt out with them, but Rachel succeeded in convincing Shyner that it really wouldn't kill him. We took them back to the trailer to eat some more before heading back out.

I warned Rachel that an hour was going to fly by, and it did. Before we knew it, it was time to mount back up and hit the trail again. Phlyrt was well-rested and ready, and even Shyner was bright eyed and perky once he was convinced that, yes, we really were going back out there.

Leg three started out on the dirt road that we'd driven into camp. Then we headed off onto single track again, like much of the ride (my favorite kind of trail). After winding through the manzanitas (this leg was the first where I actually started to pay attention to the scenery) we entered an area that was filled with California Oaks, which surprised me. Here we were in the desert, with jumping cholla & various desert bushes as the predominant plants for the first half of the ride, and suddenly we were in among Oaks. The shade and magnificence of the Oaks was quickly behind us, but it was a surprising treat out in the desert.

Now the trail looped back in such a way that it caused a bit of an illusion to both horses and riders, as it almost came back into camp (which the horses were well aware of) with the trail markers clearly visible to the riders on the opposite side of a fence. So, we rode down one side of the fence as if heading back to camp, then rounded the end of the fence and headed back up the same fence line and away from camp. Psych! Phlyrt has done enough 50s that she didn't even flinch, but I'm not sure Shyner appreciated the taunt to his sensibilities. To his credit, he didn't even try to tell us that we were crazy and camp-is-THIS-way-stupid; he just followed along after Phlyrt.

We shortly came back up onto a dirt road that we'd ridden a bit on the second leg of the ride. Here the trail was two-way again for a bit, and at a water stop we crossed paths with some riders that were nearly done for the day. After the water, we were walking down the dirt road and listening to the horses' hooves. I commented that Shyner sounded like he had a loose shoe. We listened. They walked. We agreed that it sounded like the left front. Both Rachel and I were looking down at Shyner's feet and he stepped right out of his shoe. It was pretty amazing that we were looking right that second. Rachel jumped down and picked up the shoe. Luckily we were no more than a half-mile to the Vet Check so we just walked on in.

Vet Check 3 was in among some more of the misplaced Oaks in an oasis in the desert. The horses were pretty much pulsed down as we came in, so we got their pulses taken and then we took them to munch for a few minutes while a volunteer brought us popsicles (yes, really). Rachel gave the farrier Shyner's shoe and took Shyner over to be fixed back up. Phlyrt and I settled down to wait (her eating, me sitting on a rock). The farrier took his time, and actually trimmed Shyner's foot rather than just tacking the shoe back on. This meant he had to do both feet so they'd match (I'm not sure he was going to do that until Rachel asked him). While waiting, I went ahead and got Phlyrt vetted, then let her continue to munch and relax. Finally Shyner's feet were done and he was vetted out and was still sound. By this time we'd been in the 20 minute hold for a full hour. So, while we'd ridden into the hold only a little behind our planned schedule, we were well-behind by the time we left.

We had been warned by the vet at lunch that the leg following Vet Check 3 was long and full of deep sand and strong sun. As the day was waning at this point, the sun wasn't bad. There was quite a bit of sand, though. This leg was only nine miles long, but it was a long nine miles. We were worried that Shyner might lose a shoe again - his right foot had had a hoof repair from a previous lost shoe, and when the farrier pulled and replaced that shoe he removed the repair job. That right shoe only had one well-seated nail on one side, so its stability was in question. We walked a lot more of this leg than we'd planned, and it seemed to go on and on. It was a very pretty leg, though, as it wound through some hilly areas and in among some rock formations.

Finally we were back on the dirt road and let the horses move out a bit back to the Vet Check area where there would be a five minute hold prior to the last four miles of trail into camp. We came into the hold, and let the vet and EMTs know we were fine, so they were able to head back to camp themselves; they'd been waiting on us as the last riders. Five minutes was done as soon as we'd dismounted, loosened girths, and let the horses take a long drink.

This last section of trail was just four miles, and much of it was on that dirt road. If we'd thought the nine mile leg was long, it was nothing next to that last four miles. I'm not sure I've ever ridden such a long four miles. It was made worse because as we trotted down the dirt road, Shyner started limping. It was minor, but it was enough that we walked all the way back to camp. That dirt road just kept going and going and going. Each time we'd turn a corner we'd expect to see the trail heading off the road and back to camp. Both of us were worried about Shyner, and worried that he'd hurt himself further if we allowed them to go faster. And walking was making the horses lose motivation, too. Even Phlyrt was drooping due to all the walking. Finally, the trail turned off the road and we made it down that last mile or so of trail to the road into camp.

We rode into camp with about 20 minutes left on the clock for our completions. There was no in-timer to be found. We walked over the vetting area and it was abandoned. This is the first time I've attended a ride where this has happened, even though I've turtled on other rides. So we walked over to the dinner and awards area where we found someone willing to find a vet for us to get our completions. Our cards were marked as finishing at 6:15 PM. At the vetting area, we trotted the horses out together - the vet remembering Shyner's attitude from lunch - and Shyner's minor limp was marked. He was, however, allowed to complete. The most likely cause was the lost shoe, new shoeing and just general foot weariness - I'm sure having his feet pounded on at mile 37 wasn't helpful.

We took the horses back to the trailer, untacked, blanketed and let them settle in to eat. The awards for the LD riders, ride and tie, and fun ride were over by this time and we heard an announcement that the 50 mile awards would be held momentarily. We had no time to change clothes, so walked over to the awards area in our ride clothes. Dinner seemed to be totally gone, so we jogged back to the trailer to grab sandwiches and beer. Just as we returned, our names were called as the Turtles.

Every ride is a good ride. This one turned out to be much longer than planned, but we had a good day! I hope Rachel's enjoyment of her first 50 wasn't marred too much by the shoe incident, but she and Shyner finished! Both horses were bright-eyed and perky the next morning. Phlyrt was doing her normal drag-me-around-camp deal, letting me know she was ridden too slowly. That horse is a multi-day horse in the making.

We headed home bright and early Sunday morning. The horses enjoyed a roll in the sand following their baths in the afternoon sun. Oh, OK, Phlyrt enjoyed a roll, Shyner doesn't roll (yes, you read that right) so he enjoyed his rubbing on the fences like a giant cat. Phlyrt romped and bucked and acted like she hadn't gone anywhere. Shyner was still in a bit of a what-did-you-do-to-me mood, but appreciated wandering around grazing. A couple days later he had recovered from his first 50 - his first AERC ride, period - he'll be back out there to do it again!

Oh, and back to my premise of trying something new: I'm very glad I went ahead and rode this ride in my brand new saddle and my brand new bridle. Both worked extremely well for Phlyrt and me. And I'm sure she appreciated no tree and no bit!