Boy, I just get back from Quicksilver and find
RideCamp has been a sea of discussion. It's taken me an hour to wade through 300
emails! Some days there's hardly anything and then WHAM!
Just wanted to give a quick thank you to the ride
managers for the Quicksilver Fall Classic. Even though we were overtime on the
25, we had a great time, enjoyed the very challenging trail and really couldn't
be happier. Well, ok, we could be a little happier ... we would like to have
finished in time!
My conditioning buddy Liz Carey joined me on this
ride for her first time out at a "legal" 25 in several years and had every one
laughing at the start with her "Happy, happy, happy" speech. Liz's mare Basia
came out of the womb fit and a 25 is a waste on her so she spent the day pulling
her back, waiting for me. We've agreed that the next ride we go to together,
she'll be doing the 50 and riding her own ride. I might still be doing the 25
but am hoping to move up to the 50 by Lake Oroville on Nov. 1st. I readily admit
that the discussion on LD's over the weekend reads like ME completely in the
fact that the 25's are for me at this point. I know my horse can do 50's as he
did 8 of them last year with his previous owners. I, however, am completely
trashed at the end of a 25, although this being my third one this year, my body
is starting to cooperate and I didn't hit the wall until about mile 20. At my
first one last year (of which I was only able to do two), I hit the wall at mile
10. So I'm getting better. I don't think my horse cares one way or the other
whether he's doing a 25 or a 50. He's not a racer and he's perfectly capable of
doing a 50. However, he's just a laid-back cowpony in attitude so I can't see
that doing a 25 hurts him in any way mentally. Heck, he didn't want to go out on
the second loop at Camp Far West 25, since vet check was in camp. But I guess
we'll just have to see when we get to the 50.
So, THANK YOU Jill Kilty-Newburn and your very
capable helper Maryben Stover, for a job well done. And also, to Trilby Pederson
for making the absolutely gorgeous horse motif lap blankets for all the
finishers. Now that's something to cherish!
