I will never forget my first 100miler , it was in
1990 in Forsyth MT at a ride called the Four Roses which is no longer being held
. I started out with a friend of mine who was going to show me the ropes and she
got pulled at the 30 mile vet check for lameness . At the 50 mile check I was
withen a couple minutes of leaving the vet check of a father and son and another
man who were also leaving the vet check on the 100 . They waited the
couple minutes for me and introduced themselves and said we might as well all
ride together . It was Richard Hickstein and his son from WY and a George whose
last name I forget now . The weather was hot in the high 90's-100 degrees but at
least here we have no humidity to contend with . At every gate we had to open
they had coolers full of iced water and sacks of candy for the riders . I
was riding in a pair of brand new riding tights that had "grippers" on them and
they had rubbed the insides of my legs raw and I was sunbrurned and sore , at
the 80 mile mark I said thats it , I have had it and am throwing in the towel !
George had gotten heat stroke and pulled at the last check , I went over to tell
the Hicksteins that I was quitting and Richard looked at me and said " One way
or another you are leaving this vet check on your horse , preferably astride !"
I went back resaddled and with the Hicksteins encouragement finished the ride .
I believe it took us something like 23 1/2 hours . I will never forget them for
helping me thru that ride and not letting me quit . For awards we were given a
wooden horse christmas ornament with our name and our horses name written on it
and the date , every christmas when I hang it on the tree I remember that
particular ride and the Hickstein family . Lots of lessons learned on that ride
:-)
