Re: Howard

["GESA BRINKS" <gesaeqfx@pe.net>]

I surley hope Howards horse pulled thru fine.  I "HATE" cliff hangers!!
       I have a weird "pull" story too.  In 1998 at the Sunland ride, my
mule Clovis was having a pretty good ride.  We came into lunch appx. 12th
place.  She ate and drank well and left looking good.  We unfortunately went
out of lunch alone.  As we left a long stream bed and began to climb (99% of
the ride is up hill <g>)  she began to slow down and look back down the
trail.  After a few sessions of this I broke a twig off of a tree and
spanked her on the butt.  She shrugged and trotted off, up the trail.  About
15 min. later she cramped up in her left hind.  Of course I felt like a
creep.  I got off and massaged the knott and let her stand in the shade for
about 10 or 15 minutes eating grass.  I could see a road up above me so I
led her up to it.  Low and behold a couple of number takers were at the top.
I asked if there was a short cut to the vet stop.  They said if I stayed on
the road, it would take me to the vc or if I changed my mind about pulling
her , the trail cut off to the left about 2 miles down the same road.  I led
her for about 1/2 mi.  when Vicky Green, (used to be RM for the ride) came
past hauling a trailer.  I told her I was o.k. as we waved to each other.
Next, 3 riders came trotting by and Clovis about jerked me off my feet
trying to go with them.  I found a rock to stand on, mounted, and she took
off trotting to catch up with them.  They cut off of the road onto the trail
with me hot on their tail.  We were on a narrow trail with steep hillside to
our left and a short drop off with dense brush and grass surrounding us.  We
could see the riders about 200 yds ahead of us and we were trotting out
nicely when all of a sudden my hackles and arm hair stood on end.  Clovis
slowly came to a halt and stared down the trail where we had seen the riders
disappear around a turn.  Clovis started to get "big" her ears were aimed
forward with one of them twitching back and forth.   The air felt thick.
Clovis actually started backing down the trail.  Then she slowly did a turn
on the haunches and seemed to tip toe down the trail the way we had come.
My hackles were still up and I felt a nervous tension until we got back onto
the road.  When we rode out onto the road I looked back up the trail and saw
absolutely nothing, yet, I had a sense of relief being off of the trail.   I
could see Vicky coming back down the road towards me.  I flagged her down
and called out " I'm pulling!" I loaded up my mule and jumped in beside
Vicky.   I told her what had just happened and that the whole ride since
lunch was just too weird for me.  She didnt even laugh at me.  She seemed to
understand that I had to stop at that point even tho I didnt really have a
good explanation why.  The vets at the finish checked her out and said that
Clovis looked great and they scratched their heads as to why I pulled her.
I asked a friend of mine Lydia Hiby, animal communicator, what she thought
had happend.  She said that Clovis sensed danger as apparantly my innerself
did too.   Lydia also told me that there had been a problem with mountain
lions in the area all summer long. (she lives up there).
I had no real explanation to pull, but, no amount of money could have made
me go back up that trail at that time.   gesa

-----Original Message-----
From: Barb Martineau <tothedogs@earthlink.net>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 8:36 PM
Subject: RC: Howard


>I'm still crying over Howards story.  But it rang a bell with me.  I did
>my first 50 of the season at Alpine in Oct 99 with my arab Mac.  We had
>been doing LD's and CTR's for over 3 years and I was finally ready for
>this physically - the horse had been ready for quite some time but the
>rider needed work.  He only nibbled at his hay the night before which is
>unusual for him but he looked and felt good so I didn't pay any
>attention.  At the first vet check his scores were good but he didn't
>want to eat anything.  We rested a little longer than usual but I got
>restless so we went on.  Finished the second loop.  The vet still says
>all signs look great but he still isn't eating.  Now I'm starting to get
>worried.  We started out on the third loop slowly while I thought this
>over.  There's an intersection coming up - one way goes on the third
>loop and one way goes back to camp.  Mac's moving strongly, anxious to
>go but I just feel something has to be wrong.  At the last minute I opt
>to go home.  As much as I want this 50 miler, it isn't worth it to risk
>my horse for a finish.   It's 10 miles back to camp and he breaks into a
>gallop.  He's moving out so strongly and smoothly, fighting me if I try
>to slow him down.  He's throwing his head around like he does when he's
>feeling good.  He galloped across the finish line, looking beautiful.
>Again the vets said he looked great.  I took him back to the trailer and
>he stood there for 3 hours without eating a bite.  I took him back to
>the vet twice during this period because I was really worried.  This
>horse doesn't stop eating for anything.  But they couldnt' find any
>signs of a problem.  He finally started eating and was perfectly fine.
>But I'm not sorry that we pulled.  Looking back, he had eaten 2 flakes
>of hay in 36 hours...he should have eaten 6-8.  I don;t know what was
>wrong...I don't really know if anything at all was wrong.  But it felt
>wrong to me and I still think I did the best thing for us.
>Just wanted to share this with everyone.
>Barb & Mac
>
>
>
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
>Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>