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Please Reply to: Laura Hayes mark@xxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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My email is not working so I am posting as a guest....

I'll start at the end - we arrived home at 4 AM today after driving straight 
for over 700 miles.  The former back window of the NEW GMC one ton is covered 
in black garbage bags and taped on all the edges, the stand that holds the 
trailer up is in the back of the truck - it's welds broken, the whole rig, 
inside and out, is covered in Nebraska sand with a layer of Wyoming mud 
underneath, the living quarters smells of dirty sneakers and wet laundry from 
four people, two cats and a dog, and the crew is still bleary eyed at 4:00 in 
the afternoon.  BUT WE HAD THE BEST TIME!!!!!

Let's go back a couple weeks.  I think the last time I posted was July 15 and 
we were in the South Pass Historical Area in WY.  We were camped in a meadow 
surrounded on two and a half sides by beautiful climbable, 100 foot rock 
formations.  The rocks were perfect for cell phone reception and to just get 
away from it all!!

We were there for four days and by the third day the wind stopped blowing.  My 
goodness the wind can blow in WY!  The kids took the truck off the trailer to 
take it to the Salt Lake airport and pick up my niece, Carly, from Boston, who 
was joining us for the rest of the trip, and to get it serviced. After 
returning 'home' with Carly and hitting the sack that night, the 14,000 pound 
Mothership fell off it's jack stand and crashed to the ground!!!  I jumped out 
of my 'dinette' bed, Bryan hit his head on the ceiling, getting out of the 
bunk, and we raced outside.  The mares, tied to the back, just stared at me as 
I ran around the corner and shined the light in their eyes.

When I realized what happened and that the girls were all right, I went right 
back to bed with the Mothership in an angled dive position!!  It is amazing how 
unimportant that was to me as long as my horses were alright!  The bottom line 
was that the jack stand broke right off the trailer and we tossed it in the 
back to be welded when we got home!  Thank you to Steve and Howard who worked 
hard to jack it back up and get it on the truck.

The trails in WY were fabulous.  We headed up over the Medicine Bows one day to 
Esterbrook, WY.  The 50 miles took me almost 12 hours on my formerly colicy 
mare, Equal Terms.  I had thought she was suffering from a bladder stone, but 
she seemed ok and I wanted to see if I rode slow, if she would show any 
discomfort.  She was great--So I formulated a plan to ride her every day for 
the last week.  The only 5 day horse and rider team we had was in the first 
week- Don Funk and his great little Mustang Stallion, Geo.  They had since gone 
home and no one else had accomplished the five day pioneer event.

The last week was mainly in Nebraska and we had to deviate from the Pony Trail 
as the planted fields, irrigation systems and ranches took up the countryside.  
After a beautiful canyon near Scott's Bluff, we navigated mostly dirt roads 
through farmland -sometimes in the pouring cold rain, until reaching the 
Rushcreek Ranch and heading cross country on Friday afternoon.

I started slow each day, though convincing the speedy and ever-ready E that we 
could do it this way was a chore!  I have to appoligize now to everyone I rode 
with for the first two hours of those days - I don't really swear so much, 
honest!

To avoid any stomach trouble, I took her off of every supplement, all 
electrolytes and fed her JUST good senior feed, beet pulp, hay, and all the 
grass I could get her to eat on the trail. To make a long story short, we 
negotiated the roads and canyons and pastures all the way to Rushcreek on 
Friday, winning the 5 day award and BC.  She looked fabulous and dragged me 
into camp each evening and jigged out each morning.  No trace of her former 
illness - thank goodness.

I finished the trip with 905 miles according to Duck- I had lost track!  I was 
the second highest mileage rider next to the fabulous Dave Rabe who rode every 
mile - 1250!!  My mare Equal Terms had 450 AERC miles, baby Allure had 200, and 
Fly had 300 - 100 of those put on by Marcy Cunningham who rode her with E and I 
the last Wed and Fri. I had additional 'club' miles on days I chose to not go 
the whole route, that made up the rest of the 905.

I returned home with three sound and happy mares, three kids who had the 
adventure of a lifetime, and my own happy memories.  The Mothership will take 
days to hoe out, the credit card bills will arrive, and I will have to go back 
to work....but it was all worth it.

Some answers to FAQs....
    1.I took 500 pounds of extruded senior feed that was alfalfa based, had 
beet pulp in it, and 8% fat.  I bought four more bags of pelleted senior feed 
along the way and added that to the younger mare's feed-keeping the older mare 
on the extruded feed for the duration of the trip.  I fed copius amounts of 
beet pulp.  I fed 6 to 8 times a day, getting up at 11, 1AM and 4:30AM to feed.

    2.  I took 20 bales of new grass hay (I had an 8x8 foot mid tack) from 
home and bought several bales of alfalfa and mixed hay along the way, trying to 
feed the alfalfa sparingly.

   3.  I tied the girls to the trailer, or used a high tie from the trailer to 
the car roof rack.  On weekends we set up the Corral 2 Go and rotated the girls 
in and out of it.

   4.  We had NO trouble with scratches despite more than half of the feet we 
had with us were white.  I did desitin on a hit or miss basis...

I know there is more I want to write, but I am more than a little whooped right 
now.  Maybe I will write a story about some of the most memorable 
moments--there sure were alot!

Laura Hayes and Team Estrogen--now out to pasture for awhile enjoying the lush 
NY grass!


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