Caspers Park Ride (long)

[Victoria A Thompson <toriandsteve@juno.com>]

The weatherman promised lots of rain for today, so I figured this would
be the perfect time to write about my misadventures at the Caspers Park
ride last weekend.  It hasn't rained for a good 3 hours now, but I
decided to stay indoors anyway.  

About two weeks ago Lynne Glazer asked if I was going to Caspers.  I said
no, but if she wanted me to crew for her I'd be happy to oblige.  A few
days later I saw Lynne for the last time before we were to meet at
Caspers on Friday.  I believe my last words to her were, "I'll see you in
camp."  I haven't been to Caspers Park in years and couldn't for the life
of me remember how to get there.  No worries.  I have a binder full of
ride descriptions and directions.  I tore the house apart looking for
that binder.  I couldn't find that thing for love nor money.  All I could
think of was that I must have tossed it when we moved in July.  I hopped
on the Internet and went to the Endurance Ride Calender .... no
directions.  Now I was beginning to feel a little stupid (have you people
noticed that I tend to feel stupid ALOT!)  I couldn't bring myself to
call Lynne ... it was just too humiliating.  So, I wrote a quick note to
Ridecamp.  Of all the people who responded to my request the very first
reply I received was from Lynne!  It just had to be !@#!@$@%!#$ Lynne!! 
Well, judging by the number of replies I got I dare say I will never
forget how to get to Caspers Park again.  

My intention was to get up bright and early Friday morning, get Taffy out
for a quick ride, do a couple loads of laundry, run a couple errands for
hubby and be on the road by 3 PM. Friday started off pretty good.  Lynne
pulled up to the barn to load up Ember just as I was finishing tacking
up, so I helped get Ember loaded and got them on their way before my
ride.  It was a quick ride too.  I was back in 30 minutes.  Taffy was
being so cooperative I decided to put her in our little grazing arena for
15 minutes while I ran to the feed store and bought a bag of grain. 
Well, in those 15 minutes my whole schedule went to Hell in a hand
basket.  

Apparently when I left Taffy went berserk.  She threw a total conniption
fit because I left her alone.  When I got back my nicely groomed horse
was totally covered with sweat and foam.  She was out of breath and the
grass had been torn to shreds.  The minute I drove into the yard she
stopped her tantrum and stood by the gate with her leg in the air gasping
for breath.  I swear, if a Kal Kan representative had walked up to me at
that point in time I would have handed over her #$!@#$% carcass without
so much as a toodleloo. I was so mad.  I had to walk her around, hose her
off and wait for her to dry all over again.  I was now over an hour
behind schedule.

When I left Taffy she was in her stall eating her goodies happy as a
clam.  When I returned home I grabbed my laundry and went to the laundry
room.  All the washers had clothes in them, but the machines were
finished.  I waited a few minutes, but nobody came; so I pulled the
clothes out of a couple of the washers and put mine in.  Before I got the
machines started a great big woman (bigger than me!) comes in and starts
giving me @#$@# for touching her clothes.  I was really proud of myself
for maintaining my temper, and walked out telling the woman if she didn't
want people touching her clothes she'd better get to the laundry room
before the machines shut off.  Makes sense to me.  I went back 30 minutes
later and put my clothes in the dryer.  An hour after that I went back to
get my clothes (I had since run hubby's errands and was pretty much ready
to leave).  The doors to my dryers had been opened and my clothes were
still wet.  Gee, I wonder who did that.  It took another 30 minutes to
dry them and that pushed me passed the 1 1/2 hour behind schedule mark.

Just as I was getting on the freeway I remembered one last hubby request
I forgot to do.  I pulled off the freeway and took care of that and was
back on the freeway at exactly 5 PM. Two whole hours behind schedule. 
Nobody in their right mind tries to go anywhere at 5 PM in Los Angeles
except home.  Lynne said it would take me an hour to get to Caspers so I
tacked on another hour because of rush hour.  I was at Caspers in 35
minutes!

God bless the 241 toll way!  I'd never taken it before (Lynne said to use
it).  I rolled into the  toll station expecting to have to pay $5 and was
pleasantly surprised when it was only $2.50.  Not only was the price
really reasonable there wasn't anybody on the road!  A freeway in Los
Angeles during rush hour that doesn't have a soul on it!  Talk about
Twilight Zone.  I cruised along at 85 MPH thinking life wasn't so bad
after all.  Than came the second toll station!  That sort of broke up the
momentum I had going and irked me a little, but I left the toll station
only $1.50 lighter.  I still got off the toll road paying $1 less than I
figured, so life wasn't all that bad.  I turned onto the road I was to
take and was immediately blinded by the setting sun.  I couldn't see the
names on the street signs until I was  right under them, so I missed my
first turn.  Once I got back on the right road the sun was no longer in
my eyes and I just breezed the rest of the way into Caspers. 

Lynne had found the perfect spot.  Right behind a great big oak tree that
separated her from the vet check and between the in and out gates.  Ember
was lazily munching hay and Lynne was pretty much kicked back too.  I
came fully prepared to work for her and she had done it all by the time I
got there.  She even started cooking dinner when I drove up.  I had the
decency to take that job away from her, but this was the easiest crew job
I've ever done.  

Donna O'Gara was helping out at the check in desk and when her work was
done she came over to visit.  She was going to be the in-timer for loops
1 and 3.  Since our camp was just a little ways away I figured I could 
help her out inbetween Lynne's vet checks.  We went to the pre-ride
meeting, gabbed with a few people and then went back to camp.  A few last
minute chores and it was bedtime.  

The 50 milers didn't start until 6:30 so I set my alarm for 4:45.  I
crawled into the back of my car and had a pretty good nights sleep
considering I wasn't in my  bed.  I got up as bright eyed and bushy
tailed as you can be for 4:45 AM and fed Ember.  Lynne was up (sort of)
getting dressed, so I went to the little girls room (real flush toilets
here!).  I was being real quiet.  Nobody else was up (at least not that I
could see) and I didn't want to disturb anybody.  I didn't need a
flashlight, but it was still very dark out.  The door was closed so I
grabbed the handle and pulled.  Nothing.  I pulled a little harder. 
Still nothing.  I couldn't believe the park service would lock the
bathroom doors at night!  Sure enough, though, that door was locked
tight!  However, the mens room door was standing wide open.  I figured,
what the heck.  Nobody's up.  So in I went.  While I was in the mens room
someone went into the ladys room.  I finished up and went back over to
the ladys room.  The door is shut, but someone is inside.  Ever so gently
I raise my hand and give the door just the slightest push ... swings
right in!  I cannot begin to describe to you how ridiculous I felt. 
Suffice it to say having the words REALLY STUPID tattooed on my forehead
was looking like a good idea.

I got back to camp and started brushing up Ember.  I toasted some English
muffins for Lynne and got her eating while we discussed strategy.  We
saddled Ember and Lynne mounted up to get Ember loosened up before the
start.  One last check to make sure she wasn't missing anything and the
race began.  As I was walking back to camp I pounded on Donna O'Gara's
van to get her up and to demand coffee.  She was already up and didn't
have any coffee.  What a bummer.  The best Donna could offer in the way
of caffeine was warm diet Dr. Pepper.  I'll pass, thank you.  I cleaned
up camp a little bit and got things ready to be at hand when Lynne came
in for her first vet check.

After the 25 milers left (7:15) Donna got herself settled into her
in-gate.  I joined her and we had a grand, old fashioned, gab session. 
Before we moved Donna and I used to have lunch every Friday and now I
haven't seen her for over 6 weeks.  A nice looking buck went walking
across the field about 100 feet from us.  After living with a hunter for
22 years I couldn't help but think ... BOOM.  And here I go and complain
to Steven that just once I'd like to go somewhere and not have to listen
to him talk about killing animals.  I've been polluted!  

Red Alert!  Warning!  Warning!  Danger, Will Robinson!  Danger!  All
names from here on are omitted because of writers inability to remember
any of them!  End Red Alert!

The first 3 riders came in about 8:45.  We weren't expecting anyone until
after 9, so we figured these 3 must have really been cooking.  Around 9 a
couple more riders showed up.  A few minutes later 2 of the original 3
front riders went back up the trail ... they had missed some trail and
were going back to pick it up.  The third rider chose not to go back and
pulled from the race.  I was thinking it was getting close to the time
Lynne would come in so I went back to camp and gathered some gear and
brought it back to the in-gate.  Since it was just a 20 minute hold Lynne
was going to keep Ember at the vet / PR area instead of taking her back
to camp so as not to give Ember the impression she was through.  

Lynne came in in 18th place.  Ember was looking good.  Lynne was fine. 
Ember passed PR immediately and vetted in reasonably well.  She had a B
in gut sounds, but everything else was A and A-.  We took her over to the
hay piles and let her munch away.  The weather was really weird.  One
minute the clouds were covering the sun and it was chilly, and the next
the sun would come out and it would heat up.  Just as you were taking
your heavy shirt off the clouds would come back.  It made getting
comfortable really difficult.  It was time for Lynne to mount up, but she
wanted to wait a couple of minutes so she could go out with the girls she
came in with.  They had gone back to their camp site so we didn't realize
they were already gone when we got to the out-gate for loop 2.  Lynne
took off alone.  Bad idea.

I went back to help Donna.  A rider had lost his horse.  The young man
was having difficulty keeping his horse under control and when the horse
started bucking while going up a rocky hill the fellow bailed.  The horse
took off.  The horse is familiar with the area and seemed to know where
it wanted to go, but it never came back to camp.  The young man (a boy if
you ask me, but not a junior - he looked about 18) finally came running
down the trail.  He'd been running for 10 miles.  Looked like it too. 
The horse had been spotted down on the street, but I don't know exactly
where they caught it.  Cars had to stop to keep from hitting it and a
motorcycle rider laid his bike down to keep from crashing into the cars,
but other than that the horse is fine.  So is the motorcycle rider.  

Necessary break taken in story to prepare dinner and play pool.  Story
resumes 24 hours later.

So, where was I .... ah, yes, Caspers Park.  It was getting close to the
time when I thought Lynne should be getting through with Loop 2 so I
gathered some stuff and headed over to the proper in-gate.  I talked
baseball with the fellow who was manning that gate for about 15 minutes
helping him with his chores while waiting for Lynne.  The first 25 milers
started coming in and we directed them to the finish line.  

Lynne came in in 17th position and not real happy.  Ember had given her
grief almost the entire 12 miles of that loop.  It's an up and back
actually, not a real loop; and Ember was pretty emphatic about telling
Lynne she was going in the wrong direction.  Lynne's back had been giving
her troubles all week, and Ember's antics weren't helping.  Lynne looked
a little stiff when she dismounted, but Motrin and ice do wonders in an
hour.

We took Ember straight to PR, but she didn't come down right  away like
normal.  It took a few minutes, but she finally passed; and we headed
over to the trailer to get her untacked and eating.  Ember dove right
into the water, hay and bran mash.  I've seen horses that are more
voracious about it, but Ember just likes to keep things neat.  You know,
dabs her lips with the napkin after every bite and sips her water in a
polite manner instead of swigging the beer.  I got Lynne eating the
sandwich she made Friday (instead of letting me make it for her fresh)
when some people showed up.  One lady wanted to talk about Reactor Panel
Saddles and some others dropped by simply because they are friends of
Lynne's and wanted to say hi.  This group entered our camp and one woman
pipes up with, "Okay, which one's Victoria?"  Well, I never use that
name, ever, but when nobody else claimed it I figured it had to be me. 
So I said, "I don't know who told you that is my name, but I guess it's
me." Lauren (HA!  I did remember a name!!) introduced herself as one of
the sweethearts that answered my request for directions.  I didn't
realize my full name appears in part of my e-mail stuff (I don't send
myself e-mails).  I'll have to change that.  Can't have people calling me
Victoria ... always makes me feel like I'm in trouble.

Anyway, back to the story.  Lynne gabbed while I went in and cleaned
Ember up.  It was too chilly to really sponge her off well, but I got
most of the surface dirt off and cleaned her legs up real good.  I washed
off her splint boots and cleaned her girth.  I can't remember if I
cleaned her hooves, but I can't imagine Lynne leaving without one of us
having done that.  It was time to take Ember over to the vet.  Her gut
sounds were down to a C and something else was a B, but everything else
was an A.  We took her back to camp and saddled up.  We headed to the
out-gate a couple of minutes early so that Lynne could tag along with
other riders so Ember wouldn't be so much of a handful.  Out they went
right on schedule.  I went back to camp and cleaned up then headed back
to the Loop 3 in-gate to help Donna.

Lynne came into camp the 3rd time still in 17th place.  They both looked
good.  Ember was much happier because she had company.  She flew through
the vet check and munched hay for 20 minutes just as nice as you please. 
Lynne left for the final 8 mile loop right on schedule.

Less than an hour later (58 minutes if you must know) Lynne crossed the
finish line.  Ember was tired.  When asked to walk out she moved right
along, but you could see she was pooped.  We got her into camp and
cleaned her up while she ate and drank.  The clouds were pretty much
there to stay now, and every once in awhile a drop of rain would hit you
(it never really rained, though).  While I've been at races where it was
a great deal colder, you just couldn't get the temperature right here. 
We threw a wool cooler over Ember, but she didn't appreciate it.  We took
it off, she got cold.  She had a couple of patches of sweat that just
wouldn't dry, and those stayed cold no matter what we did.  After about
30 minutes we took Ember to the vet and she passed with mostly A's.  Gut
sounds were still a C, but Ember was eating and drinking well.  We put
her away and just left her alone to eat.  Lynne rested and we mostly just
sat and watched Ember.

Something was not right.  Ember just wasn't acting normal.  She was all
hunched up and every once in awhile a muscle would tremble (just one
muscle, not the whole body). She wasn't eating much and refused carrots. 
Lynne wanted the vet to take a look.  There wasn't anybody at the VC so
they all huddled around to look as Lynne trotted Ember out.  They wanted
to see if she'd eat so Lynne took her over to a pile of alfalfa and Ember
munched away.  I was standing with the vets and they just all agreed that
she was probably just cold and to keep her eating.  

About this time a fellow came over and started talking with us.  I had
been watching Lynne, but my ear caught the words work ... NBA.  Well, I'm
sorry to say I stopped looking at Lynne.  We all stopped looking at
Lynne.  I didn't even see Lynne walk by us and go back to camp.  All I
can say is when I got home I got to tell my husband I got into a little
hip rubbing with a man who makes his living with the NBA.  My husband
lives and breaths Lakers basketball.  Basketball period.  Then fishing
and hunting, work, pool, baseball, reading, fine dining, then me.  At
least I think I make the Top 10.  Okay, so he isn't a player.  He is a
statistician, but he gets to sit up front and in the middle of every
basketball game the Clippers play (and since his dad is the score keeper
for the Utah Jazz he can go to those games too).  I looked around after a
bit and didn't see Lynne, so I went back to camp and told her the vets
just thought Ember was cold.  Lynne had already put a light blanket on
her, but we put the wool cooler back on over the blanket so we could
cover Ember's neck as well.  After about 30 minutes Ember was starting to
look much better.  

We went to the awards ceremony, but because most people had left already
they canceled it.  Placements were read for the half dozen or so of us
that had remained, but I don't remember who came in first or who got best
condition.  Some ladies starting up a business passed out free water
bottles to those of us that were still there (even me!) as a promotional
thing.  If the water bottle was handy I'd tell you the name of their
company, but it's still out in the car.  We went back to camp and Ember
was looking so good Lynne decided to pack up and go home.

We broke up camp, loaded Ember up and left for home.  I followed Lynne. 
When we got to the 241 toll way I was expecting a repeat of the day
before.  This time, however, instead of a person there was a machine that
you throw coins into.  No bills.  Exact change.  I didn't realize this
until it was too late.  There were cars behind me and I had no way to get
out of the way.  The toll was 75 cents and I had 60 cents.  I opened
every cubby hole in my car searching for 15 cents and couldn't come up
with anything.  Oh, what the heck, says I, I'll just pay 15 cents more at
the next toll booth.  As I drove passed the red light a camera took my
picture.  Smile .... that little faux pas cost me $76!  I tried paying
the extra 15 cents at the next two toll booths, but they couldn't take my
money.  I have to wait for the ticket to come and try and talk them down
to just the 15 cents I owe.  Fat chance.

I followed Lynne to the barn and helped unload Ember.  She came out all
nice and warm and happy to be home.  Ember had a good roll while I went
over and said good night to Taffy.   Okay, so I gave Taf a little grain
and a scratch before I said good night.

Ember was happily munching hay as Lynne and I left.  And with that, dear
friends, I shall bid you adieu.

Tori