Stories

Due to one thing and then another, June 25 was my first ride of 2005 and my first NW region ride. Coming from SoCal where the ride season shuts down in June for the summer, the year was starting to feel really weird. Well, all the rain hasn't made for a "normal" year for me or the horses anyway.

So, back to the ride… The Sunriver Ride is held outside of Bend, OR. The haul from our place in SW Washington took a little over four hours. Not bad for going to a different state and over a mountain range. It's a lot like going to another world. The western side of the mountains is a rainforest, the eastern side is desert. I felt like I was back in SoCal, but with more trees.

This ride marked the second 50 for Moonshyne Z (Shyner) and his first with me in the saddle and without Phlyrt along as his babysitter. We arrived in ride camp on Friday afternoon and he settled in well, alternating between eating and looking around. The camp is a huge open area, absolutely no shortage of space. The entire area is ringed with trees, with some spaces available in the trees for early arrivals. About the only complaint one could have about this ride is the dust; I'd heard about the dust and assumed it meant out on the trail, but the dust is actually the ride camp. Ah, well, if dust is the biggest (only?) complaint, that's a good thing!

After vetting in - with plenty of questions about his Easyboot Epics - I tacked Shyner up for a quick stretch. The trail leaving camp was wide open and recently graded. We didn't go far, I just wanted to take him out for a last minute tack-check and see how he was behaving. He was great, not at all bothered by being in a new location and confident leaving camp on his own.

The ride meeting was in the early evening around a big camp fire. Earlier in the day, when it had been so warm out - particularly for those of us coming from the wet side of the mountains - I wouldn't have guessed I'd want to sit by a camp fire, but it felt great. Who knew marshmallow toasting and s'more making was a spectator sport?

The rumor was going around that the temps would be dropping even more after dark so after the ride meeting I went ahead and put a blanket on Shyner even though the horses aren't wearing them at home. It's been wet and cold at home all spring, but I know the high desert nights can be brutal, so I didn't want to risk him being too cold overnight. I bundled myself up in my typical pre-ride sleep wear: my ride clothes covered in sweats and a second pair of socks and fell asleep right after dark (9:45 maybe?).

The temps actually stayed so nice over night that I wasn't even remotely cold and only got up once to check on Shyner during the night. Then I was up again around 4am to give him some new beet pulp & a new hay bag ("fresh" hay is so much tastier after all).

The 100 milers were leaving at 5am, so I was up again when I heard them heading out. It was time to get moving. My plan was to leave 5 to 10 minutes after the 6am start. But, after tacking and mounting up, Shyner was being an angel walking around camp and not remotely bothered by any of the excitement going around. So, when the start time came, I went ahead and left only a few minutes after the front runners.

Well, maybe I should have waited a tad longer. Shyner walked out of camp nice and calm, then the first horses trotted past us and suddenly I was riding a different horse. I can't really go into much detail on the first 16 miles to vet check 1 because it's mostly a blur. I insisted he trot, but the whole thing was a fight. Several times I turned him around or rode him in circles, but he was go-go-go. There were a few moments I thought he was going to conk his head on a tree he was fighting me so much. My hands and shoulders were taking a beating, as was his face in the mechanical hackamore. We passed some folks, and others passed us. Eventually we caught up with another rider on a big bay gelding who seemed well matched to Shyner's speed so the two of us rode along together. Even with me holding him back and spending time stopping and turning around, we came into vet check 1 at 7:34am; 16 miles in an hour and a half!

The ride was using a pulse box so I spent a few minutes sponging Shyner and headed over to the box. He was already down to criteria. This check was a "stop & go" so all we had to do was trot from the pulse box down to the vets and have a quick check. Shyner's hydration & gut sounds were B's, but everything else was A's. I wasn't remotely surprised by the lower scores given how wired he was and that he had refused every water out on the trail.

Even though we were officially good to go as soon as we'd vetted, I took Shyner over to the hay that management had out for us and let him eat for about 10 minutes. At first he was still too amped to even settle down at the hay, but he figured it out when another horse was brought over and joined him.

After he'd chowed down a bit, I climbed back on and headed back out. I wanted to get him out by himself and force him to leave all his new best buddies. He trotted away from the check without too much reluctance and then because he was behaving I let him start cantering. He's a canter horse, which I will admit is a bit of a luxury. I love a good trotting horse, but being able to just sit was awfully nice.

A few miles from the check he was relaxed enough that I asked him to walk and he actually did. I took out a protein bar and had a few bites while he walked nicely on a loose rein. Then I heard "hi Nicole!" from behind us and Karen on that big bay gelding (Omega, a Shagya Arabian) trotted up beside us, along with another rider on a smaller grey mare (Krista on Bushy Tail the mustang who had been Shyner's eating partner at the vet check). The three of us trotted/cantered most of this leg together, although at some point Krista and Bushy Tail dropped back. The trail was wide and smooth and the footing was awesome. Shyner & Omega were well matched, although Omega can actually out-trot Shyner (first horse we've ridden with that can do that). As Shyner likes to canter it worked really well with Shyner mostly cantering and occasionally trotting and Omega mostly trotting and occasionally cantering. Shyner was still sometimes pulling and trying to hurry - he and Omega would get into race-mode with each other - but, overall this was a much better leg than the first one. Having the two horses together was a big improvement.

The trail, as mentioned, was just awesome. The footing was impeccable. Much of the trail was wide soft dirt "roads" with some single track. The weather was cool as we rode through the dry forest of pines interspersed with desert brush and manzanitas (first ones I've seen since leaving CA). The trail marking was perfect you'd have to work hard to get lost on this ride. And, by some miracle the trail was all either flat or downhill. Karen and I discussed this on several occasions and still don't know quite how it happened; there were no climbs to match the downhills, yet there were lots of downhills. There were a few short, gradual climbs, but nothing of significance and, seriously, not nearly enough to make up for the elevation we were losing in downhills. Still don't know how that was possible.

We managed to go a little bit slower on this second leg than the first, but still came into camp for the lunch hold at mile 30 at exactly 9:30am. We had to pull tack for the check, so I did that and took Shyner to the pulse box where he was already down to criteria. At the vet he was all A's except his gut sounds were still low. The vet said they weren't bad enough for an exit exam, but just to make sure he ate. So, I gathered his tack (a big thank you to the volunteer who held my still-amped horse so I could throw the saddle back on him) and went back to my trailer for our 45 minute hold.

At the trailer I stripped the saddle again and threw a cooler on Shyner. He was still wired and looking around (for Omega I'm sure), but did spend most of the time eating. I sponged his legs, checked his Epics, and added splint boots to his front legs as he'd knocked himself a few times (what a klutz). I checked his gut sounds and he was nice and gurgly. Even though it wasn't yet 10am, I forced myself to eat half a sandwich and drink a bottle of water. By the time I'd done that and went over to the portapotty it was past time to tack up and head back out.

As I mounted up and came around the trailer, Karen & Omega were headed our way. Their out time was a few minutes past ours, and we went out together (with the out timer mock-scolding me for being late to leave).

The next leg was 11 miles and the boys were much more relaxed and less hurried. We spent much of the leg trotting and cantering again, but this time they were also willing to walk when asked. Shyner was starting to drink much better at the water stops, although the weather was so perfect he wasn't as good as I'd like (that boy needs a hot ride to teach him to drink when water is offered). The trail continued to be awesome, with more of the geography-defying downhills without uphills. We came into vet check 3 at 12:03pm and Shyner pulsed right down again. This time his gut sounds were a B+ and everything else was A's. After vetting he dove right into a pile of hay and was very happy to spend the 15 minute hold eating. Ah, he's getting it.

Neither Shyner nor Omega was all that thrilled to leave the hay, but at the end of our hold we mounted back up and headed out on the last 9 mile leg. Both boys were content to walk along and relax until Krista and Bushy Tail caught up with us and trotted past. Suddenly they came to life and we raced along to catch and pass her. We spent a while leap-frogging with her as the boys would lose motivation after passing and then regain it after she'd trot by us. Luckily Bushy Tail is a good calm girl and Krista said she wasn't bothered by this; it's the kind of thing that makes me crazy when I'm riding alone and others do it to me. Finally, however, Bushy Tail trotted happily up a hill - yep, a hill, but not enough to make up for all the downhills - while the two boys told us that walking was plenty fast for them. That was the last we saw of her on the trail.

About two and a half miles from the finish another mare came zooming up behind us out of nowhere. Her rider said she was going to go fast to the one mile mark and then wait for her husband whom she'd left behind. That little mare really brought the boys back to life and they happily chased along after her. On a wide stretch the two geldings really put on the speed and passed her, then we slowed to a walk and she caught up again. At the one mile mark her rider (I never caught her name!) said she'd wait, as planned, and we went on ahead. Then about a half-mile from the finish she suddenly reappeared and ran past our walking horses again. The race was on and the boys took up the challenge. Omega picked up the lead, the two of us racing past the little mare then Shyner pulled ahead and we galloped across the finish line. What a blast!

Turns out that little mare is 25 years old and has 3000 miles since she turned 16. How embarrassing would it have been if our two big (15.1 & 15.2) young (12 &10) geldings hadn't been able to pass her?

We had a ride time of 6:52 (total time of 7:52 with only the one hour of official holds). I took Shyner to the trailer, stripped his tack, threw on a cooler, and took him back over to vet out. Fifteen minutes after our gallop he had a final CRI of 56/44 and all A's except a B on gut sounds (guess what he needs to work on? Eating and relaxing!).

I took Shyner back over to the trailer where he chowed down and took a nap. I spent the afternoon chatting and relaxing with Karen and a few friends of hers that came to visit. I took Shyner on a few walks around camp and fell asleep myself around 8pm. A couple times during the night I got up to check him and walk him, and in the morning we walked around some with Karen and Omega. She and I will have to ride together again.

The awards were around 8am. There were 14 starters and 13 finishers on the 100 miler; the winner and BC had a ride time of 9-something hours. The 50 had 88 starters with 71 finishers; the winner had a time of 5:02. I didn't catch the numbers for the 30 miler. Most of the pulls were lameness (sh*t happens) and there were zero horses treated for metabolic problems. I was shocked to find out that Shyner and I were 25th as I figured we were middle of the pack.

Then we loaded up and headed home to the rainforest. Shyner spent the day grazing and happy to be back in his pasture of girls. Looks like I now have two endurance horses.