The first ride for us this season. Thank God winter seems to have given us a
reprieve! In spite of ever present problems with hauling to rides, we made it to
the ride site, confident that the impending arrival of Jenny's uncle (the genius
mechanic) would solve the funny noises in our truck's engine.
Max and Malik immediately settled into the routine. These guys are getting to
be pros. They know about eating and drinking and hanging loose. I LOVE it! They
both vetted in with As. Malik, as always, must be entertaining. This weekend, he
met up again with Rae Birr as his vet and I do believe he kept looking over at
Steve Halstead (vetting comp across the way) wondering why Steve wasn't vetting
him! He does seem to have a liking for Steve. Except for dancing a bit for Rae,
he behaved within reason and gave her the proper "airs above the ground"
performance for which he is famous in order to impress her. I am sure she was
duly impressed until he tripped over his feet just as he made it back to her
from our trot out! How embarrassing! To make matters worse, as we walked away,
Max suddenly stopped directly in front of Malik and absentmindedly, almost as if
he were being obliging, Malik halfheartedly started to mount him (didn't make
it, of course) and then backed off with a silly look on his face. I don't know
if he was embarrassed or not, but I sure was! Everyone had a good laugh!!! (And
no, he wasn't even dropped or anything...I think he was daydreaming!).
Anyway, Friday night got COLD. There was ICE on the waters in the morning. I
had trouble sleeping and finally got up at 4:30 and tried to rekindle the fire
with no luck. So, I bundled up under the canopy in a lawn chair and admired the
stars, remembering the meteor showers I try to enjoy every summer. Just as I was
thinking it was too much to ask to see even one shooting star, one streaked
across the sky in a blaze of glory. AMEN! As ridecamp started to stir and the
birds started to announce the coming day, we all got up and got ready for the
day and the ride. Our only goal at this ride was to complete....I had two things
really that I wished to achieve. White River had been my first 50 in 1998 and it
took me a loooooong time so I hoped to improve that time (which I didn't think
would be hard since I was riding Malik and in MUCH better physical condition
than I was then...I also have stopped smoking since then). It was also Malik's
first 50 in 2000 and his first pull. Back then, his hindquarters just weren't
ready for that sand then! So, we both had something we needed to accomplish.
We tacked up and warmed up with some walking and trotting and a little
prancing. As Malik settled down, we finally checked in and simply were able to
stand around at the start line and wait. It is wonderful to be able to do that.
I enjoyed it immensely and even bragged a little bit to some of those around me.
Big mistake. We didn't have a problem waiting there not even when the hot foot
riders took off at the start. As we started walking toward the trail, Malik
became Mr. Parade Horse doing his elegant canter almost in place only circling a
bit this time and almost, almost acted like maybe he might just climb a tree if
I didn't let him go. However, I was not going to allow any out of control
behavior and we went off to the side and discussed it momentarily. I won. Kind
of. So we TROTTED off down the trail. Good compromise.
The horses had no problem with the first 15 miles though I was still trying
to slow down the pace (my stomach was not agreeing with me that morning). Nelson
and Uncle Daniel were faithful in their pit crewing though the horses really had
no interest in water yet. The first check was total chaos...I don't remember
there being that many horses at White River when I have been there and horses
were crowded around the vet in area. Rae had reduced the pulse parameters to 64
bpm to slow down some of those riders. When we presented Malik, he was at 68 (he
had been down under 60 but the horses literally crowding around must have been
too much excitement for him). So we had to wait. As we did, riders who came in
behind us came up and went around INTO the vetting area, ignoring what might
have been a line. We eventually got our pulses taken and wasted much time...had
I been a front runner and vying for top ten, I would have been quite upset but
our goals were more modest this time. In this case, "don't sweat the small
stuff".
Horses ate and drank like champs in camp during our hold and off we went for
our 10 mile loop at an easy canter. Malik finally settled into his huge trot and
my stomach settled down and life was more efficient. The day warmed up. Uncle
Daniel quickly settled into his slave labor role as the "water boy" (keep in
mind "Uncle Daniel" is about 30 something) and was a fast learner. What he
hasn't learned is that there ARE paybacks for those who get their riders wet at
pit stops.
The second vet check was much less eventful than the first. The front runners
were really running hard but far enough ahead of us to not cause any congestion
at the check. Now all we had to do was do it all over again. The hour hold
seemed almost too long and I wondered how I'd get back into it but I did and was
surprised at how easy it was to mount up and go again.
We slowed down on the 15 mile loop this time...the first ride of the season
is a rude awakening! We are never as ready as we hope we are!! I had also been
sick with a nasty cough the week before and my lungs were complaining and
causing some wonderful coughing spasms from time to time. We were also more
careful because the more horses that go over this trail, the looser and deeper
the sand gets and it seems to be 40 miles in sand that in the past has been
Max's and Malik's nemesis and they had both been a little tight at the 2nd
check.
