|
|
Day one is now history! What a great day it was too, the start was really
kewl. It went off like clockwork, no problem. Everybody just unloaded and
next thing you know we were off! I even set my GPS, Rocky stopped to pee
and eat some grass and then next thing you know there we were going down
the pony trail!
It rained on us, the sky was dark and ominous. Most of the footing was
pretty good, sometime later it really rained a lot and the roads all turned
to mucky mud. The horses did well though, I had four easyboots on mine and
he just motored thru it no problem at all. The mud here isn't nearly as
slick as the mud where we live, tho the horses with metal shoes were
slipping a lot. Lots of horses have easyboots on, and they went thru it
really well too -- most of those horses are pretty experienced multiday
horses so I think that has a lot to do with it. They adapt well.
I rode with several people today, Jim Mitchell and his juniors, Jaime,
Kayla and Troy. Louise Mahoney, and during the day several people --
Tinker, Sue H., Dorothy Sue, Phyllis B., Jim Baldwin, Clark P., Scott and
Beth....and a few others their names don't all come to mind. The trail is
the best marked/easiest to follow trail of any ride I've ever done. The
gps works wonderfully with it. Besides that, it was marked with white
arrows on all the turns so pretty hard to get lost. The gps is really
awesome, tho I'm not sure I really care to know exactly how far I've gone,
how far I've got to go and exactly where lunch is. I don't mind surprises,
but in a way it is pretty neat because it alerts you if you get off trail
so you can't get lost. And if you do the written directions are so good
you'd have to be blind to miss a turn.
After our lunch check we continued on -- it had rained on us the whole
time, and we were all soaked, or at least our shoes were and anybody who
had gotten off had soaked saddles. I had a big rain poncho on so my tack
was at least dry. Rocky was doing well, tho like I said he was pretty
amped. This was his first ride in six months and he was ready for it. I
took his S-hack off since it was raining and rode him in a halter. He was
controllable but reallly wanted to motor thru the mud faster than I wanted,
so we walked thru most of the deep mud. Where the footing was better we
trotted. It did clear up and I found myself riding in a sweatshirt and it
was hot and felt humid. I have been being real good and electrolyting a
lot, and using water to keep the horse cooled down. I was really pleased
to weigh him in at the start at 950, and when he finished todays ride he
weighed exactly 950. Pretty good, huh? It was 75 degrees and 76% humidity
when we finished. So I'm pleased he handled it so well. Once the
rainstorms stop and it warms up we'll really melt. But at least he's back
in the ballgame and into the routine again. Tomorrow is a new horse to
ride, hope he doesn't get rained on as much since he gets pissy about it
blowing in his face.
All in all, it was a great day. We had a great ride, everybody seemed in
good spirits in spite of the weather. We are all just happy to be here,
after all the planning and preparations to get here it's just great to be
going down the trail.
Tonight there are several thunderstorm warnings for the area we are in,
with high winds. I hope it won't keep raining as much every day. The
horses will all get scratches if they keep getting ridden in this much
wet. Nevermind that they have been standing in wet mud for the last
several days, well....most of them have. Those with good crews (me)
I better get off of this. I doubt this will get sent until next
weekend. We have almost no cell phone reception here. The ride meeting
starts in a half an hour, then I've gotta get the horses walked and taken
care of. Thunder, rain and wind are erupting all about. Oh boy. We even
got told what to do in case of a tornado.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Today was better, but still terribly difficult for the horses. It poured
buckets all night long, literally. The trails were muddy and it was warmer
and very humid. Right now, 7 p.m., it's 75 degrees and 85% humidity. It
threatened to rain on us all day but didn't. Earlier today the humidity
was 97%. It's hard to keep hydrated well, good thing I brought enough
Emergen-C to make 300 gallons of the stuff.
The trail was actually very nice, we're riding thru Kansas now thru corn
fields and farms. It's really green and lots of green grass, along with
puddles from all the rain for the horses to drink out of. Weaver seemed to
handle it pretty well, I have been electrolyting the snot out of him and
hosing and cooling him down every chance I get. I think going thru all
that deep sticky mud tired him out even tho we were holding them back at
the end -- they knew where camp was and just wanted to get finished. It
was a long day. 9:10 ride time for us, and we were 26th and 27th. I rode
with Pat Verhuel most of the day and we had a great time together. I have
lots of photos all ready to put up (and send this email) as soon as I get
an internet connection. We aren't getting strong enough cell reception here.
Rocky looks ready to go for tomorrow. I've been keeping an eye out for
scratches. Lots of horses are going to have them. Especially the greys. I
counted a half a dozen horses going down the trail today thru the mud with
totally bright pink heels. This is my greatest fear for Rocky. Weaver has
never had scratches (knocking on wood). I wonder how many people are going
to be losing shoes after going thru all this mud? I've kept 4 easyboots on
the horses each day and I think that really helps. We haven't slipped in
the mud once, and it's a whole lot more secure on all the pavement.
The weather is nice right now, at least we see blue sky for the first time
since the day before the ride started. Everybody has been busy taking care
of business. Only 56 riders started the first day, and 50 started
today. Yesterday I only know of two pulls -- Karen Nelson, whose horses
pulse stayed high and Kathy Thompson. Kat Swigert finished yesterday but
did not ride today. She has a 16 year old crew person, poor thing --
driving a stick shift on a rig that keeps breaking down.
Scott and Beth Wachenheim were attacked by a badger. We were trotting down
the trail a couple of hundred yards behind them when Beth's horse spooked
sideways, then suddenly out of the bush comes flying this badger after the
horses legs -- they got away but the badger came after them a couple of
times. We waited for it to go back into hiding then galloped by.
Today Louise's horse Sloan tied up just before lunch. She is okay, never
got stiff or anything. Poor Louise, they have had such a traumatic trip
wit almost losing their dog. Finally, Barney diagnosed what was wrong
after two other emergency vets that they went to (on in MO and one in KS)
failed to do so. Tinker pulled on her stallion at lunch too. Dave was
crewing for both of them so they both got a ride back in my trailer. Good
thing I didn't pull too we wouldn't have had room! :+P
Enough for now, there aren't enough hours in the day when you are taking 10
of them to ride and have two horses to take care of. I don't know how we
are going to get food bought and our laundry done. Luckily the weekend is
coming. Ride meeting was at 8 p.m. tonight. It's now 10 p.m., and we just
finished walking the horses and feeding them again. We don't know where we
going tomorrow because an hour before our ride meeting tonight we lost
tomorrow nights basecamp. In the morning we'll have a meeting and find out
what we are doing. We are in Seneca, Kansas now and are supposed to go to
Hollenburg, Kansas.
******* (3 hours later)
I think the humidity and heat are getting a lot of people dehydrated and
they are losing it. I just had a conversation with another XP rider that
went something like this.....so what's what flag (our 1861 flag), and I
explained that we got the flag with 34 stars because it was from
1861....then...."so what is the significance of that". rofl
We have a small lake across the street from us, and the dogs have had a
blast. There are lots of , all are getting a long well. So far, everybody
is having a really great time. It's going to get easier we keep telling
ourselves, the first couple of days have definitely been a challenge. Like
Pat said, we've all been dying to do this for 2 1/2 years we aren't going
to quit or wimp out just because it's raining or a bit muddy. What is
really funny is how we have revised our opinions of what muddy really is.
We got to shower tonight, with real hot water, in a real shower. Woohoo,
my first shower in a week and a half....well, I've been using a cold
sunshower and that ain't been so hot (literally). Even got to hose the
horse down, ain't life grand!
Got the GPS all figured out now. It's totally amazing, the riders are all
doing extremely well with them and it's just awesome. There has never been
such a well marked trail in the history of the sport, this is just
incredible. The written directions are also really great each day, nobody
that I have heard of has had a single problem. At least not following the
trail, lots of people will have some really incredible stories to tell.
Oh yeah, BC today was to Michelle Shaw and I don't know what horse,
yesterday was to Pat Henslee on her stallion. I have no idea who won, and
don't really care :+D We're just here to ride, and have a good time. Pat
told me today that a third of the people are here to have a good time. so I
asked her well what about the other 2/3?
Glad to be here.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Three down, thirty seven more to go. We ended up at a real nice
fairgrounds to camp tonight. Again, I've got the best crew -- the horses
have pens to be in and we are parked on a nice lawn across from real
showers and bathrooms. I even got to hose the horse down after finishing
today.
The ride today was the nicest so far. The mud is drying up a bit and the
footing is extremely nice. It was very warm though, high 80's and also a
pretty fair amount of humidity. Luckily, there are still tons of puddles
along the way to let the horses drink and scoop them. We've also been
lucky and some of the local farmers have let us use their horses to cool
the horses off, which is really great.
We rode past a couple of Pony Express stations today, and finished the ride
at the Cottonwood Station in Kansas. We're now in Washington, KS. Tomorrow
we trailer back somewhere to start. By 5:30 a.m. this morning they had new
directions all printed up for all of us telling us the new basecamp for the
night. We start at 6:00 a.m.
Barney and Linda leave tonight to go vet the Fort Schellbourne ride. We'll
miss them while they are gone. I took Weaver over earlier and had him
watch him trot and make sure he was okay to go tomorrow, it'll be his 2nd
day to go and my 4th day. Each night we have to fill out our start card
with our name, date, AERC #'s, horse info and turn it in or else! So I've
got Weav's all filled out for tomorrow. It should be a lot easier day on
him -- it'll be hotter but we should be minus the strain of slocking thru
all of that mud.
There are a lot of cemeteries out here. Corn fields, and oat hay
fields. Farm fields, dairies and cattle. The terrain is rolling, not flat
like we thought it might be. Maybe it'll be flat later? Everybody we
meet is really nice and friendly.
Today was the hardest day from a crewing standpoint. We had to trailer
twice today. Once during the ride, to get thru the town of
Marysville. Then we had to ride another 10 miles and then when we finish
trailer here to the fairgrounds.
I've been drinking Emergen-C by the quart, several times a day. Water
too. I hope I'm staying hydrated well. I know the horses are, I've been
being really careful with them because they aren't used to the
humidity. Today we cruised along on the HRM between 90 and 103 at a trot,
and maybe once got as high as 123. Yesterday, because it was muddy I had
Weaver's Hr up to 144 twice, and slowed him down (going uphill) when it
went up. He spent a total of 11 minutes with his HR above 120, and the
majority of the time with it under 90. I have the 90-120 thing set on the
thing for training purposes, so it's kinda neat to see during the course of
a ride how often their HR is above and how often it's below and how often
it's in that range. I just don't want them to get too hot. I get off a
lot and scoop water all over their necks to cool them. The puddles aren't
reachable to use a sponge, or I'd use that too. Today was a long day too,
10 hours from start to finish.
Another day with 4 easyboots on, and haven't lost one. :+) The back ones
on Rocky are glued on with a heel strap, we did that the night before the
first day of the ride and they are still on even with all this mud and rain
and wet. His skin looks good around his pasterns, no pink showing thru.
I better go work on my photos from today before the battery goes out on
this thing.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Today was a great day too. We hauled to the starting line, from
Washington, KS and unloaded for a 6:00 a.m. start. Up on the hillside on
the way there was a silhouette of a pony express rider galloping over the
ridge, it was totally awesome to see with the sun rising over it. Now I
can say that I've ridden in Kansas and Nebraska, since we crossed the state
line about 15 miles into the ride. We were all relieved to be able to say
that we weren't in Kansas anymore -- goodbye to all of the mud and bad
weather! Tho you really can't tell much difference. It is all rolling
hills, and rural countryside. Lots of green everywhere, and still plenty
of puddles for the horses to drink from. It'll dry out in another day or
two though and then we'll have to rely on our crews a lot more.
I am still being really careful with the horses since they aren't used to
this heat and humidity. They are dealing with it well though, I think. I
won't let their HR's go up over 120 and if it does we slow down. Mostly
we're staying in the 90's just because I don't want to have them get
hot. So what if it takes us 10 hours. We are definitely going a full
distance ride, since our GPS's don't lie. The GPS's are turning out to be
really terrific. I think everybody has them figured out pretty well
now. This is the easiest trail to follow with or without the GPS. Dave
(crew) has even figured out how to interface his GPS with my laptop and map
software. So he can keep it on while he drives, and see in an instant
where he is and how to get to the next waypoint if I tell him I want him at
waypoint 87 and 110 with water, he'll be there. I love this! All the
crews are working well together, helping each other out. We send our spare
horses to the next camp so they don't have to be in the trailer all day,
and then the others crew all day.
We probably should have ridden faster in the morning when it was cooler,
but took 5 hours to get to the 26 mile point for lunch. Then we had an
hour hold and had another 6 hours to go the remainder......we did make it
in with about an hour to spare but it sure got hot later. Luckily, crews
were everywhere with water along with really friendly residents who let us
use their horses to cool our horses and water them. It has really been
great for the horses! The faster riders probably aren't getting all of
those luxuries though because I doubt they are willing to stop and chat
with all of the locals. They are all interested in what we are doing and
are so nice to us. They are also telling us where things are, like the
wagon train ruts, and grave markers. One guy even drove Pat's husband Bob
up to the wagon train ruts to show him where they were. Another lady
brought us ice water to drink. We totally cracked up when an old guy in a
pickup drove by us while we were walking today and said "the real pony
express rode a lot faster 'n that!". It was too funny!
The highlight of the day was when, after leaving the vet check.....we saw a
Schwann's ice cream truck. The poor driver had broken down and there he
was stuck. So we whipped out some cash, and soon had ice cream sandwiches
in hand. Boy, ice cream has never tasted so good!! mmmm mmmmmmm
Basecamp tonight is really nice. Lots of green grass for the horses, and
plenty of room. Jack trailered here this morning with Rocky and Sloan
(Louise's 2nd horse) and set them up, so they got a full day of rest in a
corral. We even snuck in after finishing today and vetted thru and got to
the trailer before my two horses realized that they were both here. They
are so attached, it's embarrassing at times. They are getting much
better. The first day Weaver got left behind he was a butthead and
squawked and pawed and acted basically like an idiot. The next day I rode
him, then the day after that we left and he was totally fine with it.
Some riders have been riding the same horse all week, and others have been
alternating. Yesterday 49 started. I don't know how many today, and I
don't know how many pulls there have been. Today Scott Wachenheim pulled
because his horse wasn't eating, and Beth also pulled to go back with
him. His horse is okay now, Miranda (crew) told me that all is well. She
seems to be having a good time too.
Karen Nelson's 3 horses are all out right now, so she isn't riding. Sue
Hedgecock isn't riding either. She needs a crew. Other people have one or
two horses waiting repair then will go again. I've heard of a few rope
burns. I think everybody was tying the horses real long so they could eat
grass. Gotta be careful! Eric Thompson is busy putting a transmission
cooler in Karen Nelson's crew truck right across the way from us. Scott
(??) from Oregon left already to go home and get three more new horses. If
anybody wants news of somebody or to send a message to me to give to
somebody, email me back by Sunday night and I'll do my best. Use whatever
email address this post came from (I have no idea which one will work since
it depends which provider I use).
Tomorrow is the last day of our first week. I'm riding Rocky and Louise is
riding Sloan. I'm still getting a feel for how fast I should or shouldn't
ride. Is it better to go in 10 hours and spend 2 hours longer in the heat,
or should I try and finish in 8? I guess we'll see how hot it gets and how
much water we get.......there hasn't been much of a breeze. On the way in
today we passed Jim Baldwin and he was looking a little wilted......tho I
think all of us were to some extent. Heck, I even held my squirt gun to my
head and shot myself! Sure did feel good!!!!
Time for the 8 o'clock ride meeting. We still have lots to do. Getting
about 4 to 5 hours of sleep each night if we're lucky. But I feel great,
horses are doing well. They are even eating their fat pak and all the beet
pulp I give them.
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
The weather is just gorgeous, and we even had a nice breeze. Crews were
out with water for us and there were plenty of puddles so I stopped a
couple of times to sponge and Rocky drank well. He was sure full of it
this morning. Took photos of some of the historical markers showing that
we were on the Pony Express and Oregon Trails. Rode along the river, and
thru more cornfields. Rocky felt great, then when we got to the vet check
he was a bit sore on a front foot. We're not sure if it happened when he
spooked at something or because he has some gravel that worked it's way up
into his foot under the shoe. So we chose to not continue since it
probably wouldn't have helped anything and hope he will be okay after the
weekend. Keeping fingers crossed. I think I'll glue his front boots on
next week, like I did the back ones, then nothing can get in there if we
end up in a lot of mud or wet stuff.
The trail is really nice. We've ridden thru a lot of wild marijuana, it's
everywhere. Too bad it's not more mature or we could figure out a way to
pay for the trip. :P
Now we are on our way to Glenville, where we are staying for the
weekend. We get Sunday and Monday off, so can get things caught up and do
some shopping, laundry and cleaning. Things are still quite a mess from
all the mud and rain we had. I'm sure the laundry is about ready for the
toxic waste incinerator. The ride basecamp is a ways away, but we kinda
wanted to get away from it all.
Not everybody is getting along, if you know what I mean.
Guess we need to check the dogs over for ticks. Everybody has been picking
them off, they are everywhere. We haven't found any so far. The bugs are
driving the horses nuts out on the trail, with all this moisture there are
tons and tons of flying insects. I'm still feeling pretty good, not sore
anywhere and definitely looking forward to next week. Lots of people are
riding half days or taking days off, that's why there are so many people,
rigs, and horses even tho only 50 or so riders each day. Most everybody is
sunburned. I'm trying to ride in long sleeve shirts as much as
possible. It's hard to keep sunscreen on when you are putting so much
water on the horse over and over.
Most nights have had catered meals, which everybody says have been really
good. We're eating our own food mostly, since we brought it and wasn't
planning on having anything provided. Have been lucky enough to shower
each day, and get the horses cleaned up well. They have benefited greatly
from all the nice green grass. We need to catch up on some sleep.
I need to get off of this for now. Dave has to drop me off at the place we
are staying, then go back to the finish line and pick up Louise. He sure
likes how this thing navigates together with the GPS. The directions on
this ride for the trail have been most excellent, and so have all the GPS
waypoints -- you'd have to really try to get lost (nobody has
yet). Yesterday I was able to look at the GPS and see what the nearby
towns were off in the distance. The crews are all learning how to get
along pretty well too, Nebraska is pretty easy. Everything is laid out on
grids so if you miss a turn you just keep going and turn at the next road.
*****four hours later
We're nearly all situated in our new place. I just finished doing my
photos from today. Greg (who we are staying with) lives right on the Pony
Express trail, and has a satellite internet connection so later I can
upload all of my photos and it'll be a lot faster. I've got an entire
weeks worth to do at once, so that'll be great! My horses are out in a big
arena now so they can move around until our other friends get
here. Hastings is 10 miles away (where KoolAid was invented, I knew you
all knew that, right?), so we can go there this weekend and do all of our
chores. Greg is so nice, he is gone right now picking up 40 bales of hay
for us so our ponies can eat until next weekend when we get to North
Platte. I may or may not be able to get back on again until next weekend,
we'll have to see how it goes. There just isn't enough time in a day to
find a connection on the days that I am riding. I think my fastest day
(besides today
Happy XP Trails,
Karen
Photos will be here: www.endurohorse.com
This link will take you to
www.endurohorse.com.
To get to the XP photos use their search tool (top right). Search using the phrase "XP 2001". Enjoy!
& Rocky, 1 XP day down :+)
Photos will be here: www.endurohorse.com
.....2 down, 38 to go!!
& Weaver & Rocky, 50 more miles each :+)
Photos will be here: www.endurohorse.com
& Weaver
& Rocky, 37 more to go!
& Weaver, 100 miles down
& Rocky, 100 miles down.....1800 more to go!
& Weaver, 100 miles
& Rocky, 125 miles
35 days to go!! (& 7 weeks)