Pirate Run (Part One)

[Howard4567@aol.com]

Pirate Run (Part One)

I missed this ride last year.  I was so looking forward to going this time; 
just me and my young Paint mare, who had turned 4 this past winter. It was 
now spring and we were going to attempt to complete her first limited 
distance endurance ride.   I've owned her since she was 6 months old, bought 
her at the Ocala horse auction, same place where I found Dance Line.

Her name is Moonlight Princess.   It was the first and only registered horse 
I have gotten to name.  I came up with the Princess part and Jennifer, my 
daughter, came up with moonlight.  Unusual name for an unusual horse.  She's 
almost all white with a dab of black on her face and on one of her flanks.  
Her tail is black and white and she has a touch of blue in each eye.  When I 
saw her at the auction I thought she was the purtiest horse there.  I got her 
for Jennifer, as a surprise.  It wasn't Jen's birthday, wasn't Christmas, but 
I got the horse for her anyway.

Ha, you should have seen the wife's face when she first saw Princess as I 
pulled in our driveway and unloaded her from the trailer!  Erica had thought 
I had completely lost my mind, bringing in a young filly with three much 
older, full grown geldings.  And she was right cause it took me a long time, 
maybe 4 or 5 months, before I could safely let them all out in the pasture 
together.

I had never owned a horse so young before.  I used to have a mare a long time 
ago, but I do prefer geldings.  Princess was going to change a lot of 
routines around my place.  And the first horse to take to her, and I mean 
really take to her, was Dance Line, my 17 hand Saddlebred.  He fell in love 
with her that first day I bought her home and not much has changed over the 
last 3 and a half years.  He's been her big brother and protector since day 
one.  I can't wait to go to a ride with the two of them.  And after Ponce, I 
think it will happen sooner than I expected.  You see, Jennifer now realizes 
Princess is a winner.  Till this ride neither one of us was sure how she was 
going to do.

It was a six hour trailer ride to Ponce DeLeon, a town I had never heard of 
before I met Kim and Michelle, who manage the ride and live in the area.  I 
always thought a town with this famous person's name would be on the ocean 
or, maybe, the Gulf of Mexico.  All I knew was I had reached that age where 
the fountain of youth would be just what I needed.  And, sometime, during the 
weekend, I'll be damned if a drop of it didn't touch my soul.  Something 
happened here that was totally unexpected and made me feel young and vibrant 
all over again.

This place was in a part of Florida I hadn't seen since my military days.  We 
were 15 miles from the Alabama border.  If you don't believe Florida is a 
part of the South, go to this ride.  You'll find out you were mistaken.

I pulled into Kim's driveway, after traveling ten or so miles down some dirt 
roads.  I was following a man driving a tractor, that was cutting off some 
tree limbs by the side of the road, probably so the horse people could get 
their big rigs through without difficulty.  I followed this guy for half a 
mile, knowing I was close to Kim's house and I don't think he ever knew I was 
behind him.  I wasn't about to hit the horn or anything.  We'd get there soon 
enough.

And we did.  Kim saw me pull in and greeted me.  I got out and yelled to her 
over the noise from my diesel engine, "Where the heck am I, Alabammy?"  She 
laughed, then kind of directed me where to park my rig.  Her entire back 
yard, which looked to be about 15 acres or so, had been recently cleared, 
just for this ride.

Randy, Bernie and Kay were already there.  I hadn't seen my Georgia buddies 
in quite awhile.  Kay took to Princess right away.  Said she was beautiful, 
what an unusual looking horse.  She just wanted to do things with her long 
flowing white mane and black and white tail and I let her; not like I had 
much choice.  When Kay was done, Princess looked like she had just returned 
from a trip to the horse beautician, her coat had no dirt on it anywhere and 
her mane and tail were groomed to perfection.

During that day (Thursday) I found out Randy had driven down here, from his 
home in Georgia, about a three hour drive, one way, with some large back hoe 
kind of equipment, and had helped clear out all of Kim's land.  Just for this 
endurance run, Randy had made several trips to Kim's house, during the winter 
months prior to the ride, and worked his butt off all weekend to clear out 
the land.  Last year they had held the ride on someone else's property.  This 
year it was to be on Kim's.  

I've seen Randy do similar things at other endurance rides but nothing to 
this extent.  He doesn't, normally, ride a horse at them, but helps crew for 
his wife, Kay.  Randy has so much energy, he is the first to help out a ride 
manager, with anything, if he finds out they might need something done.  I 
remember him providing much needed water at the Osceola ride, throughout the 
50 miles of trails, even though the ride manager didn't even know who he was. 
 If we ever provide an award for an endurance volunteer in the Southeast, 
Randy has my vote, hands down.  And he doesn't do it for the credit; he's 
embarrassed if you even bring it up to anyone who doesn't know about it.  My 
humble buddy, Randy.

Now Bernie, he's more like me.  He comes to ride, to look at and meet some of 
the women, and to drink a few beers.  He doesn't like me writing about him so 
I won't say much except you will probably find me at his campsite if I'm not 
at mine.  He rides a big ole Buckskin Walking horse, and has similar problems 
at rides, like getting his horse to come down within the required time limit, 
like I do with my Saddlebred.  If you don't think Arabian horses rule at 
these rides all you have to do is look at the AERC yearbook and the breed of 
the horses who win the various awards.  You'll soon discover a non Arab horse 
rarely receives much of anything.  We're lucky if they complete a ride.  

I do remember lookin through the yearbook, trying to find if any Saddlebreds 
do well at these rides.  I find that completing a 50 mile run with my guy, 
Dance Line, is one of the most difficult challenges I have ever attempted.  
We've gotten over the metabolic problems, but he seems to tighten up on me in 
his upper hind leg after the third loop, with one loop left to go. Part of 
the problem probably lies with the fact that I take a very long time at the 
vet check, to feed him, get him to drink, and make sure his heart rate comes 
down.  Then we go through the check, the vet says he's lame and we get 
pulled.   Drives me crazy cause I know he's not really lame.  I know this 
because when Jennifer leaves for that last loop, after I've found another 
sponsor for her, Dance Line goes crazy in his pen and starts prancing all 
over the place, with not a hint of lameness.  He can't stand it when Rebel, 
my daughter's Arabian horse, leaves him at a ride.

Anyway, I did find this one lady in the yearbook, who owns a Saddlebred out 
west, and the two of them seem to do quite well together.  And his name is 
Bullwinkle, which just cracks me up, cause I can see mistaken this breed of 
horse for a moose, even though I think Dance Line looks a bit like a giraffe. 
 If any of you know about this horse, or the lady who rides him, please email 
me.  I'd love to have a chat with her.

OK, I digress, I know.  I have a tendency to do this, sorry.  Back to Ponce.  
So, on that Thursday afternoon, I saddle up Princess and we go check out the 
two loops.  I want to take advantage of being here early and learn the 
trails.  I hate getting lost on these rides and it seems to happen to me at 
almost every one.