[RC] First LD for horse - Liberty Run - what I learned - Kathy Ramspott
The ride was awesome.? Thank you ride managers who did a
great job, the trails were marked great, all the administrative stuff was very
organized the camp site was awesome.? Thank you Roger, Susan, Pam and Stagg for
being so patient with questions and during the ride and helping both my horse
and me do our best.
Short story and what I learned:
I had trained for this ride for last year and never made
it.? Long story short traded the horse I had for the mare I now have and up
until yesterday, even though the other mare and I did NOT get along and
everyone who knows both mares said I ended up with the better horse, I was
wondering if I had made a mistake.? Maariahh does not drink on conditioning
rides, she has the slowest walk EVER, gets real fussy to the point I have had
the vet and a trainer I was using when I first got her examine her to make sure
there was nothing physically wrong. We never found anything wrong.?? So, even
though I was still a bit hesitant because I thought maybe I hadn’t put
enough miles on her, we decided to go.? Even that day when we were already
packed up and ready to go I saw rain in the forecast and thought, oh well, can’t
go, she isn’t used to slippery trails, don’t want her getting hurt.?
Well, there was only a 30% chance of rain by Saturday
morning so we went.? I was worried there would be no parking that late in the
weekend, we got there and there was a beautiful spot next to the lake AND the
vet check.? I figured, well, this is all just going too well.? Maariahh will
pull her not drinking and get pulled or she will just stop dead and refuse to
go any further and I’ll have to quit.
WAS I WRONG!!? Maybe it was the trail and footing, maybe it
was the company, Susan Reid, Roger Rittenhouse, Pam (forgot her last name
already) who were all experienced and awesome people to ride with but Maariahh
did fantastic.? She really came out of her shell.? She had never camped, never
been on a trail ride with more then a few folks (as I understand her history)
and certainly never rode this far.? She was good at the start but actually gave
me a little buck a ways out that we still haven’t figured out why but it
was innocent enough, just surprised me because she never even hints at doing
anything like that.? She kept going and although she never got the idea of
speeding up her walk with the ‘bumping’ I was trying any time we
walked she eventually DID drink.? What might have been part of it was I wasn’t
?giving her enough electrolytes.? Before conditioning rides and even this
weekend I was giving 1 scoop of perform n win.? At the 100 mile clinic that
Stagg did (Thank you Stagg again for that! I learned a lot I was even able to use
during the 25 ride and has inspired me even more to think WAY down the road to
a 100) someone had mentioned using 2 ounces of electrolytes that I interpreted
as two scoops.? At the vet check I used two scoops in her ‘mash’
and thanks to my riding buddies for being so patient and hanging out at
watering holes extra long to try to encourage her to drink, she finally went
right down to the lake and drank and drank then at every opportunity after that she drank.
So if any of you out there have what seems like a bit of a
lazy horse don’t give up, they just might surprise you at a ride!!? I
also now agree there are some horses that just have to get thirsty enough and
then it will drink.? I could NOT believe she had lost 50 pounds after only the
first loop of 15 miles!!? She gained over ½ of it back once she started
drinking.
Vets were awesome answering questions and the vet checks
were so efficient we just went right through with no waiting ever.? Just a
great, great ride.?
It helped so much riding with folks too.? I like riding on
my own well enough but I realized I never pushed her hard enough.? Riding with
folks pushed both my horse and me just the right amount.? We are both fine
today and were fine yesterday after the ride.
