> Sorry I missed her. My daughter and I did the pleasure ride. Said it
> was 12 miles. But felt longer to us. Husband said a bunch of people
> said ,"Aren't those pleasure riders back from their 16 miles yet?"
> Including one of the vets. We did just what I planned, rode slow
> easy training ride. Our horses had just been body clipped and never
> sweated, (well Champ butt did, but he always does)We came in and
> had pulses of less than 60 and 44 on the second loop, and went
> straight to our "vet checks".(They were so cute) I had wanted to see
> what Rascal would do in a new place with other horse moving past
> etc. He wanted to 'take off "
> the first 2 miles. But I firmly planted his head in Champs butt and
> told Charity to only walk till he remembered I was there too.Then we
> trotted some , jumped a few logs, made them walk the hills(boy,
> Rascal wanted to trot those). We only were front shod, Rascal has
> tough feet, but Champ gets tender on rocks; so there were portions
> if we'd had shoes on him, we would have trotted more. Didn't
> realise the yellow loop had at least 2-3 ? miles of gravel road.
> Then there were lots of roots and rocks.(But since it is only 45
> miles from my house,it is the same terrain I train Rascal in.)\
> But when they handed out those Topo maps I freaked (inwardly,400
> ft.drops and the little ele. map looked like hugh mountain drops to
> fall off of .When we were out we had 3 humps about 3 ft. high to
> cross and Charity said "Look mom, there 's those humps on the
> map"LOL.
> I found that when rider came up,Rascal said "let me go with them
> mom! I'm sick of Champs butt in my face and he walks like a granpa
> anyway !". Finally I let him pass Champ and go off at a trot and
> canter to get Champ to trot. Champ could have cared less. So Rascal
> got pulled up and got to eat grass till Champ caught up. Later near
> the end I went ahad again, Rascal did not need a babysitter anymore
> and we were trotting upto the finish line,with people sitting around
> it and flags overhead when Rascal stopped dead 12 feet from it.
> ."Finally, something I can spook at! no couches, no burnout cars, no
> refrigerators, no tvs bashed in no trash on this trail. >g<"The
> people cracked up and started saying"it's ok, baby, you can come in"
> Finally he realised ,those lumps were people and trotted on .
> It was nice to get an idea of his behavior, and my first Ld will
> be eaiser for me now that I've done this. I think I will be more
> relaxed because I'll know what to expect.I also got an idea of the
> trail there since it is so close. fHe camps just fine and was the
> energiser bunny when were were done. he probably could have done the
> 30,slowly. But I want to conditionhis "wind better"than it is now.
> We did "scare the saddleclub riders that were there " with our
> coolers on our horses. Course they scared me with their tiedowns on
> their horses so tight they have maybe 2-4 inches of slack from
> headset. They were polite to us on the trail, forgiving the cracks
> about us "needing to hurry up, we were way behind" jokes.(We were
> planning to be last on the pleasure ride, this was a training ride
> for Rascal in protocal:}).
> We did try to get out of everyones way,although Rascal got a bit
> nervous when they came up behind him to pass. I "tried to get him
> off the trail" but sometimes he just froze or I had to kick him to
> get him to move off. (And he hates to be kicked). But no incidents,
> he just wanted to go with them as soon as they passed.
> We didn't freeze that night(30's) tent,I slept ok with the foam pad
> over my air mattress ,that Idea from ride camp really worked . I had
> a 20 degree bag, plus and old quilt on top. And my hat and gloves
> and long underwear under a sweatsuit.>VBG<.
> The only problem the vet noticed was a slight soreness at end
> of saddle.She said it wasn't aproblem,but could be ina longer ride.
> She said some other riders had that problem and I probably just
> needed a thicker pad. I only had my tacky, tack pad on.And it did
> slip!the first loop. However 1)I forgot my crupper,2)and my
> girth,Luckily,Nancy S? lent me one "thanks a million " I almost
> cried when I went to saddle up . But had to run errands and got home
> late to pack and daughter and husband had packed some. (moral:pack 2
> days before, make a master list and take 2 of everything).
> So I guess I will sew some strings on my tacky tack to tie to
> saddle and add another pad to the saddle and try to tie it too. When
> I got my saddle they said to use a thick pad under it. I guess
> I'll try one of my toklets first before I buy anything.
> The only thing odd he did was bite at his side after I removed the
> saddle, like he was real itchy. Now he rubs alot after riding (his
> head) so I assume he was itchy, right above the girth under the
> saddle, he was sweaty under the saddle. I rubbed that area and he
> seemed to like that, but didn't notice anything else. He has done it
> at home, but I wonder if something else could be going on?
> Nice trails, l missed seeing any wildlife, like I do here,
> guess all the horses scared them off. We did hear wildlife at night,
> our little dog kept growling at them. Forgot to ask about bears, we
> get them here once in a blue moon ( we did put all food in the
> trailer ) . Laurie and Rascal
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