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[RC] GERA ride - rides2farJust back from Dawsonville. Sometimes the weather is kind to those who ignore the weather man. :-) Friday I had to work (I teach) and kept checking the radar. This huge green blob with a core of yellow and red was creeping in from the west and I was feeling sick thinking about it. One of my students looked at the radar and said, "They still have it"? "Yes". "Do you *have* to go?" "Yes...because if you don't the front will miss them, or the storm will be overnight and then the next day everybody will tell you how cool and perfect it was and that you missed the best one ever"! Another problem was that I was planning on shoeing my horse after I got there. I'm riding my neice's horse this fall and he had arrived with shoes about 6 weeks ago. I am supposed to sell this horse for her eventually since my neice got married last week and is in grad school with no time in the near future to ride. I wasn't crazy about the length of his toe and really wanted Jaye Perry to have a good look at him. Jaye lives right by Dawson Forest and said he'd shoe him there. So here I am showing up at 6:30 with a horse that needs shod and a storm blowing in the distance. :-P Jaye pulled the old shoes and underneath there was a little black line along the white line. He put hoof testers on it and thick black liquid oozed out. I had never seen anything like it. He told me what it was, cleaned it out and didn't seem particularly worried. Just medicated it and put pads on. This horse is 15 years old. has 670 miles now, and has just been competed sporadically since he was 5. He hadn't done a 50 since 2001 and I'd only had him back for a month so I knew I was pushing it to do 50...but then doing unconditioned 50's has been his specialty since he spent a lot of time as a backup horse. :-P I asked Jaye if I should drop down to 30 but he just said, "He's not sore. I took care of it, do what you came to do". Sometimes I think Jaye's like Peter when he walked on the water. If you just have faith and say it will work it will. If he tells me I can do it I have a habit of believing him and it always works out. >g< The roads at Dawson Forest are hard packed with big ol' chunk gravel. The trails are beautiful, hilly going up and down into the river bottoms. I think the trail was the prettiest I have seen it there, but it could be that the weather was so cool and breezy I was just able to enjoy it for the first time. It was also nice to be on a horse that was willing but in control for a change. Not too far into the ride we came up on where a bunch of pine beetle damaged trees had blown over blocking the trail. Jim Holland and some others were backtracking after being unable to get around it to the right of the trail. The woods looked like a tornado had been through. I'd thought we were towards the back but soon a LOT of horses showed up and everybody was really at a loss for what to do. We were actually wondering if we were on the right trail since we were following permanent markers on blazed trees and wondered if we'd gotten on the wrong trail. Suzanne Solis showed up and as a member of management HAD FAITH, and *willed* herself to find us a path through the deadfall, then held back limbs while we all managed to get back up to the trail which was fine after that spot. Not too far down the trail we had a road crossing where Mary Yeager was turning us down the road to avoid another patch of trees that had fallen during the night. I have no idea how management knew about that one so soon but there was very little delay over either "emergency" and it all worked out great. They had somebody out there with a chainsaw to clear it before our 2nd time around. All day long the weather was GREAT. It always looked like it might rain. The sky was gray with the sun only peeking through for about 30 min. in the afternoon to show us how bad it *could* have been. There was a good breeze that made the humidity less of a factor and it was a HUGE help. This was my 4th competition this year, on four different horses...three of which I didn't own or usually ride. It's interesting to ride a strange horse but you're a little leary of what weaknesses might show up. I honestly had a ball riding Rock though. It took him awhile to figure out that I was crazy and he'd better eat and drink since we were going to be out there awhile. Suzanne Solis and I both just wanted to get around with the minimal wear & tear on the horses so we had a good time blowing along on the flat and having long gossipy walks up every incline. I was thrilled to see Rock stay 100% sound even though he was on fresh shod feet without pads in the rear. He had some B's on gut sounds in the middle of the ride but kicked in and ate & drank well after a little lul and was very good at the end. The rain held off till we were about 1/2 mile from camp and then the bottom fell out just to let us know how bad it "could have been". Got a quick inch of water in the buckets all around the truck. Small price to pay for a breeze & shade all day. :-) After the ride I'd decided Rock would be perfect to market as a junior horse for a fast sponsor since he has speed but is controllable. I was amazed I wasn't very sore after doing such a slow ride on him. Then this morning I took him for a walk he was prancing circles around me and he looked so darned good I'm thinking, "Maybe I'll just ride him in a few more rides before labeling him. >eg< The best part is that my neice also has a 3 horse extended dressing room Aluminum Exiss she wants me to sell...but they told me not to sell it till after the horse sells...and drive it till I sell it. Hmmm. Let me see, *what* is my incentive to hurry? >eg< As to ride results, sorry I don't know the name of the winner. She looked twenty something, slim, nice skin, attractive (so obviously hasn't been competing long >eg<) I think she & her husband were both in top 10... M.... last name??? Others in top 10 I remember, Debra Ivey, Bud Davidson, Adele Dennard, "Sheik Josh"(He's really from India, we're messin' with him), Samantha & Sandy Thompson, Wes Crowe was up there, Jody & Joanie Buttram were 11 & 12 and Joanie was first Jr. I know Jim Holland finished. The lady who won was BC. All I know about the 25 was that Wes Crowe's old horse Fact (sp?) won. Completion rates were very high in both rides. No horses treated. Management did a great job responding to trail emergencies. Thanks GERA. :-)) Angie & Southern Rock Not the quarry but the chase. Not the trophy but the race. ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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