With a week and a half to go, other East team
members began to appear in our field. It seemed a little odd at first, but
we were glad for the company. Becky Harris from Ohio came in first with
Orsi from Hungary, Stagg's horse, and Val's horse - having picked up the latter
three on the road when Stagg's truck broke down. Cia and I still stayed up
late at night playing gin rummy as everyone retired early- we were getting
excited - suddenly it appeared as if we were actually going to have a
ride!
The appearance of team members, support staff and
vets in the next few days added more excitement. Our little field had
become a village with a buzz of activity. Keeping with tradition, the
East Team was out enforce and had the largest body of veterinarians (at least
9), farriers (at least 5), fashion consultants, caterers, and hangers-on of any
US team - all having come across the entire country to be there. We
performed arcane bonding rituals in our rented house accompanied by mounds of
food and gallons of drink. One evening included a 'Yankee Swap'
which entailed a shiny red jammie set (well, maybe not the type of jammmies your
mama would buy you) and painted Virgin Mary night light that were fought over
and schemed for. The event culminated with one of our volunteer vets
from El Salvador ending up with the Trout Lake fleece jacket that was very
highly coveted.
We continued to ride the trails and learn the lay
of the land, and the horses thrived. One day while we were out
riding, Lynn Gilbert's Chagall went through the little electric fence
attached to our corral, and over a barb wire fence into the road. He
was scrapped and sore, which eventually kept him from starting the ride, but we
were thankful our horses were not in at the time, adding more tragedy to the
situation.
On Wednesday we moved up to base camp with the
other competitors. At this point I had to leave Music with neighbor Mel
Sherman, as he was not entered in the ride, and couldn't stay at base
camp. Wave pined a bit, but being the trooper he is, he went right back to
business and only walked his corral in disgust for a half day or so. Music
being a friendly guy, made a new best friend at Mel's and never gave it another
thought! (thanks, Mel!)
Cia's husband Alex flew in and then my husband,
Mark, and our team was complete. We spent the two days before the ride
making sure we had anything we could need to get Cia and Wave through
successfully. USA East had a road crew who would take electrolytes and
rider supplies to P-stops for all 12 riders, and we added our labeled
products to the piles headed out on the trail. The coordination was
incredible and as usual, East was on top of things. At one away vet check
where the crew box was on hard packed gravel, one official commented that since
East was so prepared, he figured that we would have had sod delivered for our
area. I informed him that we paid the man, but he must have gotten
lost.
Cia had made it clear to the East vets that she did
not want to ride on the team, but as an individual. It was
pretty evident that a win was in the planning, but so many things could go
wrong!! Tension mounted, but good old Wave just kept munching and taking
it all in. He had been to Spain, he had been to the UAE - this was nothing
to him - there weren't even any airplane trips involved!
Ride day was just dawning when the mob of 90 or so
horses moved out of the clearing and onto the trail for the start of the 2003
PAC. Mark, Alex and I had our jobs and were ably assisted by Heather
Hoyns, who kept track of Wave's pulse as we headed to the Pulse box
and the vet. Alex called the shots, I fed, watered and
attended Wave (never leaving him when he was in the check), and Mark took care
of the vet card and Cia, even reading her the description of the upcoming loop
before she went back out.
The story ends with a win. Cia and Wave
navigated the last 13 mile loop in only 53 minutes (my wager had
been 1 hour 8 minutes), and cantered over the line in super shape.
The next morning we simply tidied him up and he trotted out for BC in his
typical casual fashion - but absolutely sound. He didn't look like he had
lost any weight at all, except for his grumpy ears (which would have perked
right up if he was headed down the trail) he was picture perfect.
Wave is not a big guy - probably 14.3 with his
shoes on. He is more than a bit ponyish - chunky, with long fetlock hair
and a thick coat, but he has the spirit of a survivor - eating and drinking at
every chance - and full of heart. Cia took fabulous care of him and then
rode him to his potential. It is said that 'success happens when luck
meets preparation', and it is true in this case. There are no short cuts
to this level of success and no small thing can be overlooked - from the
consistantcy of the horse's poop to the type of socks the rider wears - it
is all important.
Our PAC trip ended almost four weeks from it's
beginning, and none of us are any worse for wear. Half way back across the
country, Cia and I tied our third game of gin rummy, having both won a game to
2000 points, the horses returned to their fields happy and healthy and the
pictures have been developed. It was a great
trip.
