[RC] Little Manistee Memorial Ride part one - Maggie Mieske
OR the Forrest Gump Rain Ride
Remember how Forrest Gump described the rain in Vietnam?
Big, fat rain. Small, sting-ging rain (don't forget the twang there). Rain that
came in sideways and even some rain that came straight up from the ground. We
had that and MORE at the Little Manistee Memorial Ride!
First, it rained all night.
Then, the day dawned dark and dreary and now that I have
the poetry out of the way, let me just say that the morning dawned YUCKY! It was
dark all right. And dreary. If you could call it dawn, but I wouldn't. It was
raining and it was thundering with horrendous flashes of lightning.
We were due to head out at 7:30 a.m. on the 50 miler. We
didn't really decide that we WOULD attempt this ride until 7 a.m. and brought
the horses out one by one to saddle them under the awning. For once, they didn't
argue about being under the scary awning. However, Max and Malik both gave us
very disgusted looks as we saddled them. I couldn't blame them. But in weighing
the options, it occurred to me that the word "endurance" does not imply FUN or
EASY or JOYOUS. "Endurance" is enduring and sometimes what we endure is not fun,
is not easy and sometimes is heartbreaking. This was just some RAIN. OK, so it
was also 39 degrees. Luther, Michigan is not the Arctic. And besides, my dear
daughter, Carrie, offered me the use of her expensive waterproof Columbia coat.
And to be brutally honest, NO, we were NOT prepared to ride in the rain (which
will be rectified before the next ride!) but neither was the Donner party ready
for winter. Well, maybe that isn't the best analogy!
In any case, we warmed up and actually left out a few
minutes behind everybody else. We wanted to COMPLETE. We wanted sound, happy
horses at the vet checks and at the finish. Malik and Max were thoroughly
disgusted as it became apparent to them that we weren't just messing with their
heads but actually meant to RIDE in the slop. We took the back loop behind camp
that brings us out to the road and then down to the Tin Cup Springs trail. When
we got on the road, they could see horses ahead and suddenly realized it was a
"ride". A real ride! They perked up and never looked back.
I soon discovered that glasses are a girl's worst
nightmare in Forrest Gump rain and removed them to a pocket (after I found one
in my unfamiliar loaner). I was now, for all intents and purposes, blind. Jenny
devised some ingenious hand signals to guide me through roots and mud and water
(it was raining too hard to hear her!) but I basically turned it all over to
Malik and was supremely pleased that he never once faltered, even when I missed
a signal from Jenny. He never missed a step that whole fifty miles. Maybe I
should ride like that more often.
Our first check went great. Max's guts were a little slow
at first but he chowed down on the beautiful alfalfa I set aside for the ride
and they came right around. He had A's on everything else, as did Malik. I
couldn't believe they were doing so well in such awful weather. Ride management
was having quite a time of it with vet cards disintegrating into oblivion. The
vets and timers and vet writers were wonderful working under pressure. Many of
the riders were on the honor system and for the most part, I feel most if not
all were honorable. It was not the best of circumstances but spirits were high
and there was a lot of laughter in spite of the rain!
