Stories

January 10, 2004 marked the first 50 mile ride for Phlyrt & me. We made our debut at the Warner Springs ride in northern San Diego county. I simply could not have asked for a better ride for our first 50. The footing was perfect, the weather was clear, the scenery was beautiful, and the ride was incredibly well run. There were loads of friendly volunteers, and management made everything smooth and easy.

I brought along my friend, Rachel, and her gelding, Winter, to do their second LD ride (Limited Distance; 25 miles). Rachel and I had an uneventful trip down to Warner Springs. We arrived a little after noon, and base camp was already packed. I expected it to be crowded, which was why I wanted the relatively early start on Friday, but even I was a bit impressed by the crowd that early. We pulled up to the manager's office/RV (luckily easy to find for a change), and asked if they knew of any good place to park the rig with minimal backing up. After a few minutes, Terry, the ride manager, found us a spot right behind the office that we could pull right into. The truck was pulled up right to the in-camp vetting area, but that would be clear for us to pull straight through on Sunday. Perfect!

We unloaded the horses and set up camp. We checked in at the office, all paperwork in order, no problems. Tacked up the horses and headed out for a short stretch. We found the area where Vet Check 1 would be held the next day just a short ways down the trail. We doubled back and headed into camp again, then went the other way (and across Hwy 79) to find the starting line, which was probably a half-mile away from camp. Usually the start is in camp, but this ride is a bit different since some people are at base camp and some people are over at Warner Springs Ranch in the bungalows and can have their horses either at base camp or at the stables at the Ranch. It was about a mile along Hwy 79 from the base camp to the Ranch, and the starting line was somewhere between the two for access from either location.

By the time we were done prowling around the first few miles of trail, it was time to vet the horses in. We untacked and stood in the (short) line for the vets. That out of the way we hung out around camp for a bit waiting for the ride meeting at 5:30. John Parke was scheduled to give a talk at 4:30 that we'd wanted to attend, but it was cancelled (I never found out why; I even rode with John some and never thought to ask).

The ride meeting was short and sweet. Good thing since it was starting to get COLD. Terry announced that she was hoping everyone would be getting in by dark, but Trilby was there so she'd have glowsticks out on the last miles of trail (both Trilby and John Parke are well known for taking the whole time to finish).

Rachel and I went back to our camp -- that long hike around Terry's RV. We found that the generator that was running the lights for the ride meeting was REALLY loud and Phlyrt was the horse closest to it. She wasn't really happy with it, so we changed the camp set up and moved Phlyrt to the other side of the trailer allowing her and Winter to stay on the far side together. This made both horses very happy: Phlyrt was giving Winter kisses (licking his neck) and Winter was enjoying Phlyrt's hay (he normally eats alfalfa, my horses eat bermuda & oat/wheat/barley).

After a quick dinner of sandwiches, we were too cold to do anything except climb into sleeping bags. Both of us were completely buried into our sleeping bags with our flashlights reading. Around 8:15pm I said something to Rachel only to find she'd already passed out. Being the insomniac I am, and having it worse when camping in the freezing cold, I was awake until at least 11:30.

At 11 or so I kept hearing squealing horses. I thought it was Phlyrt, but didn't think she'd be squealing at Winter. So, I struggled out into the COLD to check. One of the horses, a Paint, in the camp next to us had gotten out of his flimsy little corral and was visiting our horses and the horses on the other side. I made one attempt to catch him, unsuccessfully, and decided it'd be better to wake his owners than to risk having him run further away since I was a stranger & he didn't even have a halter on. Now, if you know me, you'll know I'm really shy. So, walking up to someone's RV and knocking in the middle of the night was not fun. I knocked. Dog barked. I knocked again. Dog barked. I yelled "Do you have the Paint?" Dog barked. Again, "Do you have the Paint?" More barking. Finally a human: "Why don't you come back in the morning?" in a VERY unpleasant tone. Now I'm irritated. It's not like I'm knocking on their RV in the middle of the night for a social visit. "Well, your Paint is loose." No response. Some mumbling inside. Fine, they're awake. I went back to stand by Phlyrt and make sure the loose horse didn't get tangled in her or Winter's leads since he seemed pretty interested in them. The owner did make it out of the RV and caught his horse with the help of one other person who was awake. I never heard a thank you. Oh, well. This is the second ride in a row that I've been involved in catching a loose horse. I think I'll stick to keeping mine tied, and stay away from those portable corrals.

I actually fell asleep shortly after the loose horse incident. I woke at 4am and checked on the horses again. Gave Phlyrt fresh beet pulp. Got back into the sleeping bag to lie and wait for morning.

Sometime around 5:30 or so that extra loud generator turned on again. Ok, now it was time to get up. They'd have breakfast available at the ride office at 5:45, so I woke up Rachel (she had asked me to). I checked on the horses. Their water had a thick crust of ice on top. Hmmm. Guess it really WAS freezing out. I climbed back into the sleeping bag to change clothes in the relative warmth. Thanks to a suggestion on Ridecamp I now sleep with my riding clothes inside the sleeping bag all night so they aren't cold when I put them on. Rachel thought I was nutty, but I think she might have reconsidered.

We made that long trek around the management RV to grab breakfast. As usual, I just couldn't stomach the idea of food that early. So, I managed to get down a slice of melon and a glass of apple juice. We headed back to the trailer. The 50s had a start time of 6:45, so I figured I better get moving. Did I mention it was COLD out? I managed to tack up Phlyrt with my frozen fingers. I walked her around camp with her rump rug on to stretch her a bit. When I returned to the trailer I looked at my watch. Woops! It was 6:45! Akkk! Quick dash to the portapotties, slap on the helmet, and then I mounted up and headed for the starting line.

Now, in the past I've taken Phlyrt to rides in one of two ways. 1) We go alone, we camp alone, we ride alone. 2) We go with another horse/rider, camp with another horse/rider, and ride with that other horse/rider. This is the first time Phlyrt has trailered and camped with another horse and then been asked to ride away without him. Let's just say she was not happy. I was glad I'd decided to put her running martingale on; I haven't ridden her with it in quite a while, but had made the last minute decision to use it. It was a good choice.

I'm not sure what time we actually crossed the starting line. I thought we were only about 15 minutes late, but Melanie Snowhite (yes, her real name) who had left before us said she left 20 minutes late. So, we left somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes late, or 7:00 to 7:10am. We weren't the only ones leaving that late, so I didn't feel too bad.

Phlyrt and I rode alone for probably the first 40-60 minutes or so, less than half of the first 14 mile leg. I can't be more specific since much of it's a blur. My biggest problem at this point was that my fingers -- even in gloves -- were totally frozen. I had them clenched into claws on the reins and it was painful to try to move them at all. This sounds trivial, even now as I write it, but trust me at the time it was a big deal. Luckily, Phlyrt was fully under control because my hands were pretty useless and she could have hurt me if she'd tried; but all she was doing was being talkative. She was clearly upset about leaving Winter back at camp, and confused about this new situation. She's a talker by nature, but she's never this vocal if we camp and ride alone. Anyway, we passed a few riders early on, just going at a nice easy trot. The trail was incredibly gorgeous, winding under California Oaks, with perfect footing. Just as the trail started some small up and down climbing, we caught up with Melanie on her gaited Morgan, Tess (Bushaws Enchantress), and Dave Braithwaite (never caught Dave's horse's name). Melanie and I had briefly emailed each other about the possibility of riding together as this was her first 50 as well. So, as they were going the same speed I wanted to maintain -- alternating walk & trot -- I stayed with them.

Melanie and I found that Phlyrt & Tess were well matched, so we stuck together, with Dave sometimes with us, sometimes ahead, and sometimes behind. Due to our late start we realized it was unlikely we'd make it into camp before dark and decided to stick together as much as possible so neither of us would be alone in the dark on our first 50. Dave told us that this ride is a long 50, what a way to inspire first timers!

The rest of leg 1 went nice and smooth. We alternated between trotting and walking, with just small amounts of canter. Phlyrt likes to lead and Tess likes to follow, and on wide trails they were matched well side-by-side, so they're a good pair. Phlyrt's "powerwalk" is quite fast, so Tess did get a bit pacey at times, at other times Phlyrt would jig to in response to Tess' pacing, but overall they were good girls. Phlyrt drank well at all water all day except the very first one, and even there she at least looked at it and thought about it.

The cut off time for Vet Check 1 at 14 miles was 10am. We came into the check and pulsed down around 9:15, so plenty of time to spare, but clearly we weren't setting any speed records. The LD riders had a start time of 8am and the first few came into VC1 shortly after we did. Wow. We had a 20 minute hold here, and I spent the whole time letting Phlyrt go from feed pile to feed pile eating anything she wanted, and tanking up with water (she likes sponge water, I guess it's free electrolytes). There were loads of volunteers working and making the rounds with trays of drinks & food. I managed to down a cup of apple juice and one donut hole. Did I mention that I have a hard time eating in the morning? And a hard time eating and taking care of myself on rides? I thought I was getting better about it, and have been on LDs, but this ride would eventually prove that I need to make a conscience effort to care for myself as well as for my horse. Anyway, I let Phlyrt eat, then took her to be vetted (all A's except for two A-'s), then more food for her. I finally looked at my watch and I was about 10 minutes over my out time. Woops again. I really need to stop doing that. I took off her martingale, mounted up and headed out.

So, we were alone again. Melanie had mentioned that she needed to catch up with John Parke (boy, that sounds like an oxymoron if you know anything about John's reputation as a slow rider). She needed to interview him for an article for a gaited horse magazine; John rides Remington, an Icelandic with the record for his breed in endurance miles (6000+ miles). So, Melanie had headed out of VC1 while I wasn't paying attention to the time. I never even saw her leave. Oh well.

Phlyrt was vocal again, being alone. But, she was behaving herself and just walking & trotting along nicely. We hadn't gone very far when the first LD riders caught up with us and passed us. Phlyrt handled that well, other than calling out to them. Silly girl likes to talk. This was another 14 mile leg. It didn't take us all that long to catch up with Melanie, who had not caught up with John. We then caught up with Dave and a few other riders, as well as having some 50s and an LD rider or two catch up with us. Maybe half-way through this leg the LD riders turned off our trail, with their trail heading back to camp and their finish line. We joked that we must be crazy to keep going.

Shortly after parting with the LD riders, the trail started up. We'd been told there was one long climb, and that wasn't a joke. That was one LONG climb. At this point we were with just Melanie and Susie Niebergall with her Strike gelding, Koady (Koterja). I just dropped Phlyrt's reins and let her powerwalk up the climb. Tess & Koady followed. According to Susie, Koady is not normally herd bound (he's got some NATRC Regional awards I think), but he took a real liking to Phlyrt. Susie and Koady were in a car vs. trailer accident (a year and a half ago I think) and she was taking it really easy with him. We went up and up and up. Finally reached the top with incredible views -- sure wish I'd had the presence of mind to pull out a camera!

It wasn't too much further to the lunch stop and Vet Check 2. The cut off time for VC2 was 1pm, and we were in and pulsed down around 12:20 I think. Sorry, the times have gotten terribly fuzzy in my head. The hold here was an hour. Phlyrt tanked up on more sponge water, then proceeded to eat anything in front of her. She ate alfalfa, oat hay, Tess' bran with Complete Advantage, as well as fresh green grass and dried stick-weeds. Silly horse. I got her vetted (all A's), and then imposed on Mel's husband Bob to hold Phlyrt so I could grab something to eat from the lunch supplied for riders. It was a make-your-own sandwich deal, but I was too unorganized and unmotivated for that. I grabbed a couple slices of turkey, a slice of cantaloupe, and a Gatorade. Thought I was doing good getting protein and Gatorade into me. I sat down to eat my turkey and rest for a few minutes. Tess took a nap, Phlyrt ate.

Tess had pulsed down a few minutes earlier than Phlyrt (Phlyrt was violently rubbing on me the first time the pulse taker tried to get her and wasn't coming down as fast as normally -- this was the first ride she hadn't come into holds at criteria, I think it was partly due to the left-Winter-at-camp thing and partly because she was coming into heat). As Mel still had to catch up to John, who left lunch a little before us, Mel headed out as soon as her time was up. This left us as basically the only horse & rider in the hold besides Trilby and the drag riders! We certainly weren't setting any records.

We left the lunch hold and headed out on leg 3. This was a 10 mile leg and rumored to be the "longest" of the ride. No kidding! We caught up with Mel, Susie, and John within minutes. Yes, Mel finally caught John! We were heading uphill, and John and Remington go uphill by alternating trotting and walking, but Remington isn't very fast at either gait. I just asked Phlyrt to walk along behind them and they'd trot away, then slow to a walk, we'd catch up and they'd trot away again. Koady & Susie weren't far behind us, also just walking along. It wasn't too long before we came to the really long part of the ride: the downhill. John and Remington make up time on the downhills, trotting the whole way. However, Tess doesn't trot downhill well, so I made the decision to hang back with Mel and just walk even though Phlyrt does well trotting down mild grades (I don't like to trot downhill too much anyway as it's hard on their legs). And, as Susie was taking it easy with Koady, the three of us walked down all that long way together. That was a LONG way. Very scenic though. Again, I should have taken out the camera. There were quite a few spots where we were basically riding on a cliff face -- straight up on one side and straight down on the other.

Somewhere on that long downhill I hurt/pulled something in my groin/upper leg. Ouch. Oh well. No whining!

We reached the bottom and had to try to make up some time. Unbelievably we finally reached the 35 mile marker! Everyone says that 35 miles is when you get depressed. However, I was thinking only 15 miles to go! Woohoo! We're gonna make it!

We were riding along a dry creek bed when we finally saw the "1/2 mile to Vet Check" sign. We slowed to a walk to let the horses rest into the check. Then kept going and going and going. Ok, where's the check? That had to be the longest 1/2 mile in history! Finally, we see it across the road. Yeah!

We rode into the check and all three horses pulsed down quickly. I was definitely lame from whatever it was I hurt/pulled. After they chowed down some feed and tanked up well on water, we headed for the vets. I wasn't sure I could trot Phlyrt out, and the vet secretary volunteered to do it for me, but I was stubborn and did it myself. Phlyrt got A's and two B+'s (humph, but I guess it's all subjective and this was a vet I'd never seen before). I overheard the other vet working the check that she has warmbloods herself and if you rode them 38 miles and then asked them to trot out they'd never do it; she's clearly impressed with all these "little" endurance horses. This was another 20 minute hold, and went the fastest of any hold all day. We only had 12 miles to go! It was almost 4pm (again, I'm real fuzzy on the times, I know the cutoff for getting into this check was 4pm and we left before the cutoff). Trilby was still the only rider behind us besides the drag riders. John had left word with the volunteers at this hold that we were to hurry up and catch up with him so we wouldn't be alone in the dark.

We'd been told the last leg is a fast one. I realized that I was getting dizzy and nauseous so I scarfed down a Tiger's Milk bar from my saddle bag just as we were riding away from the check. The trail here started off with an uphill -- we almost caught up with John again before he hit the downhill and left us behind. Yeah, more downhill. But, it was only a mile or two this time and then we were at the bottom and it was smooth sailing. We quickly caught up with John in the cow pastures that we were riding across.

The three of us started to head out with our horses pulling strong and basically racing each other. Mel was having trouble controlling Tess (I think I forgot to mention earlier that Mel suffered a bad foot injury during the recent fires, so she's one tough lady to be doing this at all!), so we slowed down to let John catch up again. But, Susie & I wanted to try to get into camp as soon as we could, and avoid as much dark as possible. So, we left Mel & Tess parked behind Remington's butt, and took off flying. I can not begin to describe the feeling of knowing you've ridden 40+ miles and your horse is so fresh it's pulling your arms out wanting to run! We trotted and cantered those last 8-10 miles. We didn't even slow for the last couple gate step-overs so Phlyrt learned to jump, following Koady's example. We caught up with and passed/rode with several others during those last miles through the cow pastures and then on single-tracks and some dirt roads through the dusk and dark into camp. True to their word, glowsticks had been left out by volunteers to mark the trail for those of us that were still out on it. It is an amazing feeling to fly along at the end of the ride on a horse that has gone that far and is not only able, but wants to run. We trotted right into camp and up to the ride office where they were taking numbers for completion (they'd stopped manning the finish line).

I went back to the trailer to find that Rachel had been a sweetheart and had everything ready for me. Rachel and Winter finished their ride by 1pm! We untacked Phlyrt and put on her anti-sweat sheet. Those last few miles were the first time all day she'd really sweated at all! And it was getting cold fast. I let Phlyrt rest and eat and drink for a few minutes. Then we headed over to do our final vetting about 20 minutes after our finish time. Phlyrt wouldn't even stand still! Where's Winter?! Silly girl. (My bad for not asking Rachel to bring him over with us.) The vet just laughed and told me she's ready to do another 50 tomorrow. And he gave me a little grief for riding her too slow.

What an amazing way to finish our first 50!

I think our finish time was right around 5:30pm, giving us a ride time of 9:05 (10:45 minus the hour & 40 minutes of hold; I'll verify just what our finish time was when the results are up). However, as we started late and dinked around in that first Vet Check, I think our ride time was closer to 8:35-8:40. Not too bad for a first ride where we were going intentionally slow.

After making sure Phlyrt and Winter were comfortable, we grabbed a ride on the van headed over to the Ranch for dinner and the awards. Dinner looked really good (it should have, it cost $21), but I was both too hyper and not feeling very well, so I only had some soup and drank a lot of soda (that's all we saw besides booze, and I was in no shape for booze even if I'd wanted some). Melanie and her husband, Bob, came over and joined Rachel and I for dinner & the awards. Turns out Melanie and John were officially the last to complete the ride, I think Trilby was over time. After the awards, there was a gathering at the hot pool for drinks and socialization, but Rachel and I both wanted to check on our horses. We also didn't look forward to walking a mile back to base camp after stepping out of a hot spring and into the freezing air. So we walked back and made sure the horses were comfy, then went to bed. I was so wired I managed to lie awake most of the night (unless you're an insomniac, you can't know how awful this is).

The horses were perky in the morning. Phlyrt dragged me around camp when we stretched their legs. She also rolled while tied to the trailer. At least I now know she can do that without getting tangled. When I pulled her sheet, Phlyrt didn't even look like she went anywhere. We loaded them into the trailer and headed home.

At home I turned Phlyrt out and she acted like her normal self, running around with the other horses and getting a good roll in the sand. She quite literally looked and acted like nothing had happened. Her legs were tight and clean. What a wonderful weekend!!

I learned a lot on this ride. Phlyrt can go faster (our next ride we'll go just a bit faster -- I'm not going to let her think she's Wonderhorse, even if she is!). Phlyrt is getting really good at taking care of herself, but I'm really bad at taking care of myself and I need to eat and drink like my horse does (I was pretty sick all Sunday and into Monday, possibly dehydrated, possibly some other nutritional imbalance). And I learned that the difference between an LD ride or a 2-day 60 compared to a 50 mile ride is a lot more than the miles. It's psychological. This was just a totally different experience than anything else I've ever done. I simply could not be more thrilled with this mare that I bred, raised, trained, and love very much!

I really couldn't have asked for a better first 50 experience. I am still high from it. Phlyrt is wonderful! Terry is wonderful for putting on a ride like this! And I can't wait for our next one!