Well, for all you
out there in endurance land, FlyBye finished a 50 miler dead last this past
weekend. We started at 7:15 and finished at 5:15. What an enjoyable ride and I'm
not even a bit sore! For those of you who haven't followed my problems, the
short of it is my horse won''t take care of himself at rides but likes to go
fast. Many made suggestions of how to fix the problems and here is the
result.
This happened with
the help of a good friend who also wanted to ride her horse slowly for his first
50 at the MW Mountain Quest Ride in Prairie duChien WI.
It was a
spectacular ride with about 1000 ft of elevation changes, lots of ups and
downs on the mountains and field riding as well. The only down side was
there was no water on the trail and at least 2 of the 4 loops for the 50 had now
water provided as promised. It was however well worth the 8 hours in the
trailer to get there. The ride temps started off in the 30's and it warmed up to
50 something by the end of the ride.
The vets made some
chiding comments when the last three of us riders crossed the finish line, but
my goals were achieved. FlyBye stopped and chowed down on grass,
grabbed a few corn husks and drank like he has never done since we started
this sport. I saw so much more of the gorgeous trail than I would have had
we been doing our 10 MPH loops. I had a lot of fun riding slowly but I didn't
enjoy the same excitement that comes with the speed thing. I didn't remember to
be efficient in the holds either because of the more relaxed pace. It was a very
different ride indeed. I'm so glad I was able to do it.
Fly's gut
sounds were not A's but we ended up with a B at the end of it and all other
parameters were A which is definitely an improvement. Electrolyting was only
done twice with PNW in his beet pulp slurry at holds and I maaloxed him
also at all three holds. I think he does better without the heavy elytes. The
only thing that did not improve was drinking in camp. He hardly touched either
water bucket (1 brought from home and 1 from camp) during the 3 days we were
there. It's a good thing he likes soaked beet pulp and drank on trail 2 of the 4
loops. Any ideas about how to impprove the drinking in camp
anyone?
Thanks to all of
you out there that encouraged us to slow down and smell the roses. We'll do it
again!
In His Hands,
Susan, Fly Bye &
Dandy
"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given
you." -Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings
