[RC] Eastern High Sierra 30 ride story - Part I - Typef
First of all, I want to say I LOVE MY NEW HORSE, I
LOVE MY NEW HORSE! I LOVE MY NEW HORSE! Thanks again to Brett and Katey
Gies, of Twin Falls, Idaho for picking me to be Tank's new Mommy. I had the most
perfect ride a person could ask for on my new Arab cross 10-year-old gelding. If
my first ride of the season is a sign of things to come, I will
have pretty much effortless rides for as long as I choose to continue in
this sport. What a guy!
Second, I want to thank Jackie Bumgardner and her
volunteers for putting on such a beautiful ride. It was just a WOW all the way
through!!
Now, on to the ride ...
We woke up to the hustle and bustle of the
50-milers getting ready to go out at 6:00 a.m. The usual kicking of panels and
banging of buckets and whinnying everywhere. Tank watched the whole thing,
resting one leg, with an amused look. "Yeah, been here, done that. WHATever."
Not knowing how this horse would react when I got him to our first ride
together, I had no idea what his reaction would be. It never changed. I
marveled. The 50's went out on a controlled start with much screaming, dancing
and prancing and and at least dump of a rider. Of course, there were
equally as many not-so-antsy-to-get-out there mounts. There was even one with
only a neck rein. Boy, was THAT impressive. No bridle, no halter, no
anything.
So, now, what do we do? 30's weren't due to start
until 8:00 a.m. We enjoyed a cup of coffee and just sat down and did nothing for
awhile. The only two LD rides I did last year started a half an hour after the
50's so the general "air" was quite different. Finally around 7:30 I saddled
Tank and went out to walk around for awhile. To my surprise, only one rider,
Kelly d'Andrea, was out warming up her horse in the main area. Knowing her to be
a usual Top Ten finisher in 50's in her previous ride career (she's been off for
a few years raising 3 kids), I knew I wouldn't be going out the gate with her
since I intended to start at the back of the pack. But we had a nice time
chatting wondering where the heck everyone else was.
8:00 a.m. came and we're still the only ones there.
Kelly took off since she was planning on finishing first. And a nice gentleman
on an 18-year-old Tennessee Walker went. I'm still sitting there on my
"cow pony" waiting for all the rest of the people to leave and Potato Richardson
(who was helping out), yelled "People, it's time to go!!!" Still nothing. It's
8:02 and I said "Oh what the heck, I'll go out and as people catch up to me I'll
let them pass." I didn't have long to wait before three people riding together
(Bill, Diane and Robin ... I'm bad at names, hope I got them right) passed me.
Tank was having nothing to do with being left behind. Fortunately for me, they
were traveling at the pace I intended on going, 5.5 mph. My goal was to let him
follow them for awhile and then pull him back if they got going any faster.
After all, I wasn't trying to finish fast, just go out for a nice jaunt through
the woods.
As loop one wore on, I was positive we were doing
the loop backwards because there was nobody coming behind me. The trail was so
oustandingly gorgeous, I really didn't care one way or the other. I was just
having such a good time looking at those beautiful mountains and meadows.
Finally, one pretty little 5-year-old pinto or paint (I can never remember the
difference, sorry) arrived on the scene for awhile. I rode the entire first loop
with Bill, Robin and Diane and the Tennessee Walker, and occassionally the
Paint. Kelly was out in front and got lost in the meadow and we caught up to her
there. By the 30-minute vet check, my horse was still doing great, we were still
averaging 5.6 mph and outside of the fact that my back was screaming and I was
threatening to pull myself (I'm 45, fat and overweight and out of shape), Tank
was doing great. He's only had 10 conditioning rides this year, another reason
why I was just out for a jaunt. However, last year he completed eight 50's,
so if I can get my fat body into shape, next year we'll be doing 50's
together.
