Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Please Reply to: Bill Taylor wjt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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I'm a guest-lurker-shy person who needs Powdermilk Buscuits to do what has to 
be done. I also have not done the Tevis but am on my way from Ohio to give it 
my best. Julie Suhr is the reason I'm headed that way and when she calls for 
comments I feel the need to oblige. I've visited the trail, run some of it and 
look forward to the adventure. I'm relatively new to endurance and my AERC 
number only goes back to 1994. I'm a "mature" guy with several former lives. 
The Army gave me the opportunity to experiment with various light filters, all 
designed and manufactured for our safety by the lowest bidder. Red ones do 
allow human eyesight to revert to night vision faster but aren't useful at any 
distance. I preferred the green filters for reading maps in helicopters and 
messages like " If anything happens to you, can I have your stuff?" When the 
helicopter dropped us off and it behooved us to get really quiet and really 
small it was amazing how much we could see in the dark when highly motivated. 
It's a whole new world at night. When guiding hunters in a roadless wilderness 
in Montana, I learned from old timers to trust horses and mules to follow the 
trail at night. I lead accomplished executives who weren't afraid of leveraged 
buyouts but were reduced to whimpering at the prospect of riding in the dark on 
a narrow trail with a bottomless canyon off their stirrup. I often had to 
relieve them of their expensive flashights to keep them from trying to "help" 
their horse find the trail. If they were afraid of getting brushed,I had them 
put their hand on their head with elbow forward so the branches would slide 
over their forearm and not hit them in the face. I don't know the exact 
recovery period, but light of any color does disorient horses for some time. 
Horses have a sense of trail and self preservation that should keep them from 
stepping off into the void if we don't drive them there. They also do what we 
ask in spite of their better judgement. I've tried to prepare my midwestern 
steed for the dark after Foresthill by allowing him to pick his trail in 
daylight or dark and not guiding every step. As long as he's headed in the 
right direction and between the trees I stay out of his way. We know from 
experience that horses pick up signals from us. If we brace, they worry. If we 
relax, they relax. I'm eager to learn from folks with experience. When Julie 
Suhr and Hal Hall advise us to embrace the dark, I'm inclined to give them 
creedance. My ride packet says "No matter what lies ahead for you on your 100 
mile trek over the Sierra, riding by the full moon is truly a spiritual 
journey-one that you will remember forever." Please don't mess with my 
spiritual journey!


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