Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

A couple days ago I went to Levi's and Kim's Ponce de Leon ride. (and for those who don't know who I am, I'm Jennifer aka Howard's daughter) I bet many of you have heard about my father (and his mouth/imagination) and for once I wanted to write a story without my dad making up fake neighbors with shotguns and who hate litterbugs and what not. So here it goes:

 

    I am always excited the day we left for rides, I guess my whole family is.  I woke early on Maundy Thursday and helped my dad pack the rest of our stuff into the yellow sub (yes I read some of my dad's stories). Well we throw everything that we forgot and get ready to load the horses (aren't we so neat?).

I loaded American Spirit first while my dad was trying to "organize" the inside of our horse trailer. A while back my dad met this lady who owned Spirit and my dad seemed really interested in him. After talking to her, and realizing that she was willing to sell, my dad was quite happy. But the only problem was, we have a three horse trailer and we already had three horses with us: War Cry, Princess and my beloved Rebel. That ride had already been over and done with and I had ridden War Cry, my dad rode Princess and my mom rode Rebel. Now I had had Rebel since I was 5 years old and loved him very much, but I understood that he was getting old, and so my mom began riding him. Other than a stumble or trip here and there Rebel was a great endurance horse, but there was always a 50-50 chance of getting pulled, and not only had my mom hated this, but so did I because I knew my childhood horse was getting too old. Well to make and long story short, we traded Rebel for Spirit and paid a little extra for her (even though in my mind it should've been vise versa because Spirit had looked skinny and had many scars). So we've had Spirit ever since.

 

    Our horses know they're going somewhere and I took Princess up to the horse trailer. Even though we've had the "Yellow sub" for some time now, Princess always seems interested what is inside it, but never gets too close. So War Cry is with Dance (my dad's enormous American Saddlebred) at the barn. Now this is where I think War Cry got his name because whenever he can't see his mare (aka Princess), he goes berserk and does everything he possibly can to get to her (scary thought seeing that I'm riding by myself, trying to get away from Princess). I put a lead rope on War Cry and prepare to be run over, I try to coax my horse telling him he WILL see Princess again in the next 30 seconds. Not only had War Cry transformed over the years but so have I. This horse has taught me to always be ready with every step I take and to always look ahead to see if there is anything that will spook (or eat) my horse. But I defiantly wasn't as prepared as I thought I was for this ride up in the pane handle.

 

    After about 6 hours traveling, we reached the campsite, and spotted a nice level shady area and set up camp. My mom and I have learned throughout the past not to talk to my dad while he's packing, unpacking, thinking, setting up camp (it's basically don't talk to him unless he talks to you scenario).  So we get all set up and unload the horses. It's not too hot now, partly cloudy, but hey it's only Thursday and the ride's not until Saturday so the weather could be anything (scary thought, huh?) Well we hung around the camp site for the rest of the day, unloading all the things from underneath the Yellow Sub and all that great stuff. We had dinner and then I walked around the camp a little, when I noticed my friend Ashley pulled in with her mom. Ashley and I can both ride unsponsered and I was happy to see her, so now I had a riding buddy! Well then I forgot, her horse had been out of endurance for awhile, undergoing leg problems, but looked great now. After helping them set up in the dark (what FUN!), we all hung around in the RV, watching my dad trying (key word TRYING!) to make drinks. Well my dad's friends stayed around for awhile (11:49 p.m. ? I kept looking at my watch.) and I know that's not late but going 6 hours driving takes a lot outta ya. But (most hehehe) of my dad's friends I liked so I didn't saying anything until AFTER they left!

 

    Well on Friday I made pancakes (awww the luxury of the Yellow Sub!!!) and we registered for the ride, and my buddy Ashley decided to take it safe and ride the 25, since it was going to be hot, hot, hot I thought that was a good decision, even though that left me without a riding buddy! I mean my buddy Sam was riding a 75 (GO HER!). So I was all alone with my baby War Cry. At the pre-vet check, War Cry not only looked great, he looked goofy! I took the black and orange crayon things (the things you mark they're number with on their butt) and I drew "war paint" under his eyes and in his mane and tail. Boy did he look goofy! He really lived up to his name with all the cute things I put on him. Well after I was done, it was my mom's turn. I made sure Princess could see War Cry and most importantly that War Cry could see Princess! Well Princess trotted out and looked great, and so then it was my dad's turn. Spirit stood there while the vet took his heart rate, poked around and then my dad had to trot him out and from the first step, he looked off! It was awful! I mean it's been a really, really long time, maybe even the first time my dad has not been able to start a ride! Looks like it was just me and my mom.