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[RC] Another Wild West story! - Tara ShermanYet another Wild West 50 story- long overdue, and from the viewpoint of a one-day junior.
At four o' clock Sunday morning, it seemed unnatural to be bustling around and eating breakfast. (Yes, we ate even that early!) Seeing as we only live 45 minutes away, my mom and I were driving up before the ride to get vetted in so that we wouldn't waste precious camping space. (That action turned out to be unneccesary- oh well.) That day, we had done some things that we neglected to do on our first endurance ride- including pre-packing saddle bags, sleeping in our clothes, etc. By the time the skies were pearly with dawn, we were hiking down a short trail to bring the horses back up the the house and load them into the trailer. Shadow decided that she didn't want to be caught- she was still supposed to be sleeping! She began to wander hopefully away, but before she could high-tail it across the huge pasture she noticed we had handfuls of the trusty apple wafers. Whew! Thanks to Manna-Pro, we were soon safely leading the already-wired horses back up the trail.
We were- not surprisingly- several minutes late leaving. However, we must have mis-judged the time from our house to Skillman Campgrounds! Without traffic to worry about, we were ten minutes early. Vetting in was uneventful- although I would have been incredibly worried if I was superstitous, because 543 was the same number as- let me get this straight. Our horse's previous owner's wife's horse and his rider. That horse had gotten a cramp and seemed to be incredibly lame, but nothing of the sort happened to us.
This ride, we left just after the main mob. At 7 in the morning, the ride wasn't very early and we had more than enough time to prepare the horses. The horses, by the way, were (though excited) much more co-operative than during the last ride- remember my description of Shadow "dancing?" It may have had to do with the interesting trail rather than admittedly bleak roads- lush, dazzling greenery granched out on every side and the curving trail couldn't seem to decide whether to go up or down! We let many people pass since we were just walking. Eventually, the trail widened into a dirt road, seemingly cut right into the side of a red-dirt mountain! Now that she could see the horses in front of her, Shadow decided that cantering was the key- for a while, riding her was like a trot/canter see-saw!
Shadow's pace was so fast that we soon caught up to Julie Suhr and Nick Warholl. Then, riding became like a see-saw with them- passing them, letting them pass, passing them, letting them pass... finally, when our horses' pace steadied a bit more, we just hung behind Julie. We wanted to take the entire ride easy, but still complete within time- Julie didn't seem in any particular hurry, so for a while we just stayed barely within view. Soon after that, the trail changed. The road remained, but became rockier and more shaded by huge trees. We passed through a water/trotby stop, and continued on a mild downhill slope.
Now, I can't quite remember how this happened... I think it was before we went all of the way down the hill, or maybe it was at the creek at the bottom or coming back off... however and wherever it happned, my mom and I found ourselves riding with Julie Suhr on her Tevis prospect and Nick Warhall on Zayante! My mom was shocked and delighted when she found out- especially that he hit a landmark distance! I (coughs) couldn't remember the distance for long, so whenever anybody at school or one of my relatives asked, I would just say that it was, oh, about nine billion, seven hundred sixty-three thousand, two hundred eighty-seven. It's close enough to 1200 (or whatever it was), right? And yes, we confess- my mom and I were the newbies riding with Nick Warhall and Julie Suhr, with the first completion that covered both of us!
We hung back and spent a lot of extra time at the rest stop. Storm- and even Shadow- went on strike and would NOT drink! Not at that stop, at least, but of course they eventually did... anyway. Once we got out of the rest stop, we rode with another group of riders. Amazingly, we weren't last! There was one small group after us, but they caught up at the next small water crossing. Many horses were ready to drink, but just as Shadow and Storm started nosing the water... motorbikes. Noisy ones, too, and an entire line of them! They would come speeding along the upper trail, then loop around and pause at the water so that they wouldn't disturb the horses. It was sweet of them to think of us, especially when they turned their engines off, but it was too late. Fidgety, excited, and wired, the horses wanted desperately to get back on the trail. Some people left while we were still hopelessly trying to coax our horses to drink, but we let the bikes pass.
Shortly after, the bikes decided to let all of the horses pass- so they stopped their bikes, pulling onto both sides of the trail leaving a spooky walkway for the horses to pass through! Luckily, the horses that did spook managed to avoid the cycles on the other side of the trail and nobody was hurt. Thankfully, the bikes made a turn-off onto another trail. From there, I really can't remember much until lunch...
At lunch, the horses passed the checks with one B each. All others A! (Yeah!) Our neighbor Kathie Ford, who has accompanied us on many training rides, graciously agreed to crew for us.
Believe me, it was sheer bliss to have even a little bit of help! We stayed late in the vet check, and discovered that even though our pace certainly seemed much more leisurely, we had been making better time than at the American River Ride!
Lunch left the horses and us feeling refreshed and relaxed. The ride had become more of a long, long trail ride than a competition... the atmosphere was delightful! The trail was curving, looping, dipping... in all, the entire ride was super fun! There were also advantages to being near the end. At one water stop, a volunteer had put a flake of wet alfalfa into a water tub that not many people were using. We met up with a friendly, helpful rider named Dory. (Beyond that, I cannot remember!) One kind woman gave us some tips about the trail, and we rode with many different people that day. The trails (and logging roasds) were varying, but were mainly either motorbiking trails in lush forests or else wide, rocky, hot, dry trails.
We completed... within time, luckily, although at the last vet check Storm was in danger of cramping. It was too bad they didn't give out a turtle award (or did they?) because my mom and I only had two people behind us, and they reached the finish line at the exact same time as us! Maybe someday, at a northern CA ride, you'll see my mom and I, hanging near the back and loitering at vet checks, campaigning for the turtle...
The awards ceremony, I may add, was just as good as the ride. A delicious barbecue of tri-tip/chicken filled everybody up after a great day! Completion awards were handy-dandy microfiber cloths embroidered with the Wild West logo... very useful, and a nice break from the previously-standard t-shirt! I hope that everyone had a great time on that ride... in my 2 ride experience, it is going on top of the list as best!
~Tara, who has sore eyes from looking at the computer screen for so long!! MSN 9 Dial-up Internet Access fights spam and pop-ups ? now 3 months FREE! ============================================================ Just because someone tells you that your horse isn't "fit" for endurance...doesn't mean it isn't, it just means your horse isn't fit to be "their" endurance horse! Go for it, you never know what you'll accomplish with that "saddle horse" or "trail horse" of YOURS! ~ Darlene Anderson - DPD Endurance ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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