Ride story - Long

[JANUSSTUDIO@aol.com]

Top of the Rock 25, 50, 100 mile Endurance 
June 2-3, 2000

After last weekend when I failed to finish a 30 mile CTR, Sheltowee Run,  my 
first competition of the year, I was anxious to finish this ride. It wasn't 
Rider's fault that we didn't finish the CTR, it was me.  I hate to ride in 
the rain, but I thought I was being brave as I was planing our strategy for 
the next loop (two 15 mile loops) as we were trotting along on the first go 
round, splashing, dripping and sucking mud. Had every intention of doing the 
next loop even though my white tee shirt was plastered to my body (big 
mistake), my shoes were making squishing noises in the stirrups, and water 
was dripping off my horse's chin. I know this because I was bent over his 
neck  as we swam through the low hanging foliage. One of the images that 
sticks in my mind like a great snapshot, and you don't have your camera, was 
when about five of us were standing in a creek sponging our horses as it was 
raining in sheets. A fellow rider spoke what none of us seemed to think at 
the moment. "Is something wrong with this picture?" 
The negative turning point was when the wind picked up several notches to 
blow down trees in the forest, even over the trail, lighting was striking way 
too close, and the rain was coming down so hard I couldn't keep my eyes 
clear.  The trail turned into a running, muddy stream. Then I got cold.  This 
wasn't fun any more, and that's why I do it. So about 3 miles out from camp, 
I became a quitter...

However, this weekend proved to be just the opposite. What a difference the 
weather can make.  Friday was hot and very humid, but the forecast was for 
late afternoon showers and cooling off for Saturday. Thank the heavens they 
were right!  Saturday proved to be one of those perfect days, low temps, low 
humidity, and sunny.
Rider was full of himself, as he hadn't been ridden all week. He bucked at 
the trot out, so got an A for impulsion. By-the-way, Rider is a Paint, not 
one of those light footed, floating Arabs. Actually he got all A's at his 
check-in which pleased me, for his back can sometimes be a problem and I've 
run out of money for saddles.
I lounged him for a while after supper to get some stink out. Then got on 
cold the next morning. After a tiny bucking attempt, all was well and we were 
off on our first Endurance competition. We were riding with a friend who was 
riding a substitute while her regular mount recouped from a lameness problem. 
Mary Lynn is quite daring, as her substitute (cute little Arab mare) hadn't 
been ridden in distance competition in two years!  My horse just turned five 
with one year of slow (Novice) NATRC under his belt, so we certainly weren't 
going to go fast, and racing wasn't in either of our minds. Did I mention he 
is a Paint, as in way non-Arab. We started near the end with others of like 
mind.
All the horses were feeling great and Rider was full of go.  We were facing 
into oncoming 50 milers at the beginning where the trail back-tracks, and 
this had Rider's head up, but after thirty or so flying by us, he finally 
accepted the strangeness and kept up his forward motion instead of wanting to 
jump into the trees. Mary Lynn's mare is a real go getter, so her forwardness 
wasn't a problem, the fact that her stalemate had left her with this ‘non 
Arab' for company wasn't setting well at all though, so her HM was showing 
really scary readings. We slowed to a walk until she was within norm for a 
workout, then off we would go again. Mary Lynn was having some trouble riding 
such a different horse, that I was hearing some growling about burning 
thighs, and why she ‘really' didn't like to ride mares. Even so, the trails 
and scenery along the way were awesome indeed.  Life is good.
Well, for me at least.  Mary Lynn's little mare was showing lameness in her 
right front at the 15 mile check, so had to pull. I ‘think' she was 
disappointed.  I was, for Rider likes to have a friend for support as he 
faces all the ‘scaries' out in the great wilderness. We had done the 15 miles 
in 2 hrs. and 5 min.s.  Whoa, that's faster than Rider has ever gone, except 
for his regular 6 mile conditioning course here on the farm. I was very 
pleased with the way he was handling it, and the vet. smiled at me as he 
said, "You are not hurting this horse one little bit."  That's the idea, 
right? All A's and B's here, so, I made a pitiful face to Mary Lynn's 
husband, Greg and another wonderful friend Brenda who had left us at the 
start.  Therefore, they stuck around the extra few minutes so I could try to 
keep up with them. Well, the next ten miles were as thrilling as the first 
loop was.  And this time Rider got to see horses (the racing 50 milers) fly 
by him from the rear.  He handled this much better than I expected, and I 
used those opportunities to let him pick up his pace. He proved to me he 
could lead the pack quite well at good speed.  His problem is following on 
one track trails.  He sees nothing but the horses ahead (which he tries his 
darnest to right on top of), so trips over every little thing, not to mention 
nearly falling several times.  Grrr.  But even this improved as we neared the 
end of this loop, I just have to keep reaching for my bag of tricks, as in, 
communication. He ‘finally' drank from a stream also, out of desperation I'm 
sure. At the finish we walked them to the pulse check, then on to the final 
exam.  Again all A's and B's, his skin tenting even improved from B to A, and 
hallelujah his back stayed with an A!. We finished in the middle of the pack, 
I hope to know the time spread soon. We did the last ten miles in 1 hr. 30 
min. He's seen and learned a lot on the first two rides of the season and am 
hoping that soon he will be the brave trail horse that I see so many flying 
by solo. What wonderful creatures they are to give so willingly to our whims 
of enjoyment. I know we aren't supposed to credit human feelings to our 
animals, but I swear Rider was as proud of himself as I was of him.
    Thanks to Lois McAfee, Ride Manager - great trails, smooth, well run 
ride. Thanks to Bill Wilson, whose farm we camped on - just beautiful, nice 
and roomy. Thanks to good friends, Mary Lynn Stockdale, Greg Jones and Brenda 
Kenley - for their patience and laughter. Thanks to God for the great 
weather.  And thanks to Rider, who gave me a great ride on his first ever 
Endurance (25mile LD), and my first endurance ride in ten years!
Now the trick is to convince him to slow down and behave for NATRC again. 
Well, we were going Open this year...

Jan & Rider - the non Arab