Death Valley Encounter {long} 2001

[guest@endurance.net]

Karen nvrider@charter.net
This years Death Valley Encounter was another really special ride.  My
horses have done it 5 times so they've got a thousand miles at this ride
now.  This year I rode Weaver and Calina Nicholson rode Rocky.  She is 12
years old and this was the first time a junior has ridden Rocky in an
endurance ride.  I figured with 4500 miles going to this ride that he was
broke enough :+}.

My horses have been so bored and really hate having time off.  This winter
has been the worst ever.  I have had to paint my entire barn with no-chew,
and that still doesn’t stop them.  I’m trying to ride them both at least
twice a week and chase them around several more times a week and they are
turned out to boot, and that is just not enough to satisfy them.  So I was
really grateful that Calina wanted to ride Rocky.  Like Barney Fleming
always tells me “he needs rode”.

So ride we did.  We started out the first day under cloudy skies with it
being a bit chillier than I remembered from other years.  We left from
Valley Wells and rode out of camp to do a 25 mile loop and then had lunch
back in camp.  I also had a second junior with me that day too  Troy
Ramsdell riding Buddy.  Some of you may remember Buddy as the horse that
flipped over on top of Troy’s older sister Kayla during the 2001 XP this
summer.  Buddy completed all 4 days of DVE this year and is doing really
well.  Kayla is no longer riding as a junior, at 14 she has gotten her
letter allowing her to ride unsponsored and she also rode the entire 4
days on her horse Gem all by herself.  Jamie Mitchell is another junior
who is also riding unsponsored now.  It thrills me to no end to have Kayla
in my weight division in my region.  :^P   btw, both girls completed the
entire ride and rode slow finishing most days in the dark.  They did a
real good job for their first time out unsupervised.

The start was a bit wild that morning.  Buddy was really excited and was
spinning around and not a quarter mile out of the start he lost one of his
Easyboots.  So we got off the trail and managed to get the boot put back
on while dozens of horses went past us.  Finally we got off on our way and
in no time all three of our horses were moving along nicely and relaxed.
Calina was still working out how to deal with Rocky and his S-hack.  He
likes to go on a loose rein, and he also likes to go fast.  This wasn't
going to be easy.  Troy had on a new saddle pad and it kept slipping back
so a few times on that loop we had to stop and make adjustments.  The
limited distance ride starts out on the same trail at the same time as us
so we had a few of those riders to contend with.  One guy was riding a
really hot horse that was just soaked in sweat and he kept galloping past
us totally out of control <sigh>.  He went flying by us way up ahead and a
few minutes later when we arrived at where the LD vet check was the horse
still wasn't recovered.  It’s nice when the kids notice things like that,
they can see what not to do, by example.

We made it into lunch and went to have our hour hold after P&Ring.  Lucky
for me, one of the benefits of riding with Calina is that her mom makes us
both lunch. :-)   What a deal.  I also had a crew with me, Renee from
Northern California came along so she could get an idea of what a multiday
is all about.  She was a great crew too!  We left the trailer just a
couple of minutes before our hour was up and vetted the horses on the way
out.  That works out about the best, since then the horses get nearly a
full hour to rest and eat and don’t get interrupted.  During the hold I
usually like to walk the horses over to a water trough at least once or
twice.  Miranda was moving my rig for me after lunch.  Next thing you know
we were off again on the trail, heading to Ballarat.  We had some
mountains to climb over and go up and down.  The kids got off and led down
a lot of it, and we encountered more rocks.  The morning part of the trail
had pretty good footing in comparison.  Then we got down onto the flat
area and the footing was better. We could see camp off in the distance,
about 10 miles away from that point.  We had to stop to fix Troy’s pad a
couple more times, but the Easyboots were staying on his horse.  Both of
my horses had Easyboots glued on all 4 feet and they are sure moving
nicely in them that way.  After lunch we moved up from 30 something at
lunch into 15th-17th place at the finish.  Everything after this summer
seems so easy for my horses.

The ride was fairly large this year, over 120 riders altogether the first
day.  I was able to find my rig quickly because Renee had put the 1861
flag up on top.  That sure makes it easy when you've got so many rigs over
such a large area.  There isn't much to Ballarat, a small general store,
an old grave site and….a bunch of endurance riders.  The views are really
pretty
from there, and as night closed in we watched an encroaching storm settle
down over the top of the mountain we were to ride up the next morning.
That night we set in front of a campfire drinking Maryben’s kahlua and
getting sprinkled on.  It was a beautiful evening.  Jackie announced at
the ride meeting one night that Robert Ribley now had over 20,000 miles.

We were starting at 7 a.m. every day so I had Calina come over by about
6:20 each morning so we would have time to tack up both horses and warm
them up good before the start.  She was on time everyday and we got all
the snacks and drinks packed.  We made sure to have plenty of warm clothes
on since we were going to be climbing several thousand feet into the fog.
It was a long climb, steep in spots and lots of rocks (have I mentioned
how rocky it was?).  Near the bottom there is water and it flows down the
trail and we ride thru willows.  It was really pretty, Calina said this
was one of her favorite places on the trail.  When we reached the top
Sparrow was up there waiting for us with water for the horses.  They drank
and we electrolyted them and then left quickly.  It was sort of
leeting/snowing on us up there and was really cold.  The horses had rump
rugs on and I was sure glad, since they had both been body clipped.  I had
GPS’d it and was sort of shocked at how long this loop was.  A lot longer
than I thought!

Now we had a lot of downhill to do.  We did some of it on foot, then got
back on and jogged or trotted most of the rest.  Both of my horses are
good at that, and next thing you know we were up in the front group of
horses into lunch.  The two wild burros we passed on the way up were still
there, in almost the same spot.  At lunch we signed up Elfta as one of
Calina’s sponsors so that at the end of the ride she could take Calina and
hopefully have her finish in first place.  I knew they had the two fastest
horses, and sure enough, Rocky came in 1st and Luna got Best Condition
that day.  I finished not far behind in 4th place because I had stayed
back to help Jeremy with Bandit (Maryben’s horse).  He just decided he
didn’t want to go anymore, but would go along fine with Weaver's help.

Both horses were hanging in there and looking great, adapting well to
changing their routine from every other day like this summer to continuous
days.  Calina was getting tired and was having a hard time getting on
Rocky, but she was pretty excited about getting to finish in first place
and the possibility of getting to do all 4 days.  She really wanted to get
a sweatshirt, since nearly everybody around us on the ride has one from
previous years.  In order to get one you have to complete all 4 days on
the same horse.  Each day we got our completion awards, a choice between a
goblet or a bowl.  Calina also got a gift certificate from Sportack for
being first.  Next year we are going to be camped at a different spot, and
have some new trail.

The third day of the ride is point to point.  We are riding from Ballarat
to Panamint Springs.  The morning seems long because there are so many
rocks and a lot of deep sand, and a long steady climb.  I had Troy again
this day too.  He had ridden the day before with his grandpa John.  John
didn’t ride on the two days that the rigs needed moving, so those days
Troy rode with us.  This morning Kayla started out riding with us, so the
four
of us were together until lunch.  Another day I was happy to have four
Easyboots on the horses, as they just motor along over all the rocks and
have a lot easier time in the deep sand.  The kids kept dropping and
losing things, so we had to stop pretty frequently to pick stuff up.
Calina was doing okay, if only her horse would stop growing overnight!  He
was so tall by the third day that we had to hold her stirrup for her so
she could get
on. :^D   There were two water stops on the way to lunch and some hay for
the horses to eat.  When we got into lunch Kayla, Calina and I P&R’d at
the same time, but Troy’s horse took a minute more.  When lunch was over,
Kayla took advantage of that minute lead and we never saw her again.
Renee was at the lunch stop to crew for us and had driven out with Gordon
Westergard and they were there crewing for a bunch of us.  Sharon and
Robbi both rode all four days on their horses, Ripper and Splash.  Splash
is a stallion but you would never know it.  He’s got over 4,000 miles now.

Not too far out of lunch, Troy noticed that his horse had lost both of his
Easyboots.  He had been trotting behind us so nobody had seen when they
had come off.  Calina was getting really antsy as she was just dying to
catch Kayla.  I told her that no way would we catch Kayla because I had
taught her over the summer how not to get caught {bg}.  Well, now this
really drove Calina nuts because she just had to know what it was that I
had taught Kayla.  I told her I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.  So then
she was just dying, every time we stopped for anything she was ready to go
first~~instead of being the last one ready and moving like refrigerated
molasses.  So I got the bright idea that ok, if you want to know the
secret I’ll tell you.  But here’s the deal. :+D  For the rest of today and
tomorrow you have to do everything I say and you have to stop pulling on
Rocky’s face.  If he gets pulled on, even a little bit, he puts his head
up and he was starting to get a bit irritated.  Well, this worked out
really well because she really tried hard to keep him on a loose rein and
not get busy talking and forget and pull back on the reins.  This actually
worked!  Why didn’t I think of it sooner….hmmmmm

It sure seems like such a long way up that hill into Panamint Springs.
Then, you feel like you are almost there and pass a sign that says it is 3
more miles.  Ugh!!!  The horses all knew where they were going and seemed
to be in a hurry to get there.  I was really glad that they were body
clipped, so they would be dry before dark.  Kayla finished in the top ten
and we were just behind her.  I think one of us was in the top ten but
they had the finishing order wrong at the awards so I don’t really know.
We vetted thru and took care of the horses.  They were eating really well,
and we were putting ice boots on them every day after finishing.  Troy had
been nervous about finishing, thinking he was gonna get it for losing his
Easyboots. :^0   Luckily, somebody picked up both of them and he got them
back so he was very happy about that!  John Bass moved the rig for us on
this day, and he and daughter Libby moved rigs for other people too.
Miranda was also there moving rigs.  (thanks!)  The weather was still
clearing and it felt warm.  Panamint Springs has showers since we are
staying in an RV park.  My dad was there with his new motorhome so I got
to shower there.  :-)  We ate dinner in the café that night and it was
pretty good.

The next day Maryben said she was going to ride.  I wasn't going to talk
to her again if she didn’t.  As if she cares.  I can hear her comments
now.  I still stopped over to try some more of her kahlua, this time with
creme in it.  Pretty good stuff.  Jeremy hadn't ridden that day, but
Heather had and ended up doing all 4 days on her mare.  Over 30 riders
ended up doing all 4 days on the same horse.

The ride seemed to be going by so fast.  The next morning we were ready to
go and had the horses in their New Year’s party hats, since it was
December 31st.  The ride starts out going up the road and then towards
Darwin grade.  It’s flat for awhile then we begin a long climb up over
rocky footing. Then some downhill and thru a canyon winding our way up
over some old decaying paved roads into the town of Darwin.  It’s such an
odd little place, with statues and art all around.  We stop here for
water, and the LD riders have their vet check here.  We continue on and
head up a long hill, in the sand and over some more hills. Then down into
another water stop and turn right across the valley towards the vet check.
We’re riding thru sage
and Joshua trees, and this day has the best footing of the entire ride.
When I stopped at the water stop I let Sparrow hold my horse.  That wasn't
a good idea.  Next thing you know, Weaver had his bridle caught on a hook
on the truck (I only used the bridle so he could wear his party hat), and
it ended up breaking and the horse fell down completely and sort of went
over.  Yikes!  He got up and was okay and so we went on with the rider
being the most shook up.  We got off and walked into lunch.  Everybody
said the horses both looked great.  Clouds were hanging over the vet check
from a few miles away, luckily by the time we reached it they had burned
off and it felt warm and nice.  The sky was blue and it was a gorgeous day
with mountain peaks all around with snow on them.  The hour hold went by
pretty quickly and just before leaving we vetted out and were on our way.

The GPS had said we had gone 25 miles to lunch, so we knew we had 25 miles
more to go going back.  Back thru the water stops, thru Darwin and down
all that old pavement.  The horses Easyboots were holding up well.  I felt
bad for some of the other horses there who didn’t have on pads or
Easyboots, you could see the red bruising coming thru their feet.  This
ride is really hard on a horses feet, I really felt it myself when I got
off and walked and jogged down Darwin grade on the way back.  The rocks
were hurting my feet thru my tennis shoes.  We passed the burro carcass on
the side of the trail and neither horse noticed.  I was quite impressed
with Rocky as he had done the entire ride without spooking once with
Calina.  I am sure he’s saving it all up for the next time I ride him!  We
had a great ride in and finished with letting the horses run into the
finish.  Calina was holding Rocky back, afraid to let him go any faster.
I really shouldn't have done that, kind of a stupid thing to do.  Calina
finished 7th that day, and ended up first junior overall.   The horses
were feeling great, even Weaver was trying to jig on the way back into
camp and he never does that.  This was the fastest multiday he’s ever
done. It just seems so easy now, though I probably shouldn't do that very
often.  {guilt sinking in}  On his next ride, he'll go over 5,000 miles so
no use hurting him now.   I was really surprised to end up 1st in my
weight division, we were just trying to get the kid thru first in her
division.

We went to the dinner and awards and listened to the band play awhile.
They served prime rib for dinner.  Trilby went by and nearly got herself
mauled carrying this giant piece of chocolate cake <G>.  Nobody else had
managed to find the deserts.   Next time, I’m following her.

The ride was really nice this year.  The trail was well marked, there was
plenty of water and everything seemed to go really well.  It’s nice
getting to see the same people year after year and lots of the XP’ers that
we’ve been riding with all year.  Lots of horses and riders there with a
lot of miles.  Zayante of course, Bob and Julie, Randy doing all 4 days on
his mare with 6800 miles.  He also received BC on two of the days.  The
Toad award went to Gary Rexroad and Gordon Westergard received a Good Guy
(or something?) award.  Hey Jackie why don’t you make this a 5 day ride
next year? :>)

I have a ton of photos to get up (soon).  They’ll be here:
www.endurohorse.com    btw, if you did the ride (or any AERC ride for that
matter) you can go there and rate it and put in comments for other people
to see.

Oh yeah......and Calina did get a few secrets out of me.  You guys better
watch out.  :+D

Happy Trails,

Karen
in NV
& Rocky, 4,770 miles
& Weaver, 4,970 miles
http://members.tripod.com/ridephotos/