Chalk Rock

[SoulsSerenade@aol.com]

Okay....here goes.  
    This past Saturday, I completed my second LD ride.  It was also the 2nd ride for my horse, but our first ride together.  
    The Friday before the ride, it rained...it poured...and I didn't get much sleep because my friend, Sequoya, who was sleeping in the back of the truck with me, was snoring like she's never snored before.  
    We woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful day.  It was a little foggy, but by the time we got to the top of the first hill on the ride, we were way up high, looking down on the fog.  I helped mark trail the weekend before, so I was familiarized with "paradise".  But Sequoya could NOT get over how beautiful it was.  
    Our horses (I was riding my 6 year old mare Soul's Serenade, and Sequoya was riding a 7 year old gelding named Torc who happens to be my horse's uncle) were a bit frisky at the start, but I think Sere remembered the huge hill right out of camp and she settled down right away.  
    The first loop was perfect....tho Torc did lose a shoe.  We put a size 2 easyboot on and I said, "uh, you might want to watch it...I really think it's coming off".  and of course, after about 4 strides, I look back to see a black boot fly off Torc's foot and into the grass.  We found the easyboot right away and Sequoya decided to lead Torc into camp so she could put a size 1 on him.  Meanwhile, Sere and I boogied into camp for our vet check.  She vetted through fine. 
The rest of the ride was great.  
I got lost for a little while but we only ended up going about a mile out of our way.  When I finally let Sere turn around, she insisted on galloping to catch up with her buddy.  
Towards the end of the ride, we met up with Dennis Souza who was also riding the 25.  He told us we had to motor along if we wanted to make it back in 6 hours.  So, we picked up the pace and made it back to camp for the finish.  It turns out we had plenty of time.  We finished in 4 hours 28 minutes.  
About 100 yards from the finish, Torc's OTHER front shoe flew off and "chased" him down the trail.  He took off bucking towards the finish.  I swear his name should be "Dork"...not "Torc"
oh well
we had fun.  
Renee and Soul's Serenade
50 miles under our belts...and many more to come :-)