Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Hi all.  I just have to share our news.  My husband Donnie, his horse 
Sancho, my horse Temba and I participated in Manzaniat LD this weekend.  
Donnie and I have tried this before, and failed.  We did not know that 
Donnie's horse injured himself in the trailer on the way to our last ride in 
May and we had to pull (stop) after about 20 of the 25 miles.  My friend 
Lynda and I had tried in March on Temba and Sancho. We finished but went 
over the alloted time of 6 hours.

So by now Donnie and I are hungry, we really wanted to finish this one!  
Donnie worked very hard to get Sancho in good shape for the ride.  We were 
nervous though.  Was Sancho ready?  Was I ready??  I injured a groin muscle 
in July and took a couple months off riding to let it heal.  Even though it 
still bothered me I had to get back in the saddle and rebuild my strength 
and endurance to prepare for this ride.  We even trailered out to the ride 
area the weekend before to explore the area and get the horses and ourselves 
comfortable with the terrain.

We packed the truck and trailer up Thursday night so we could leave as soon 
as Donnie could get home on Friday.  You must present your horse for the 
pre-ride vet check between 2 and 6pm, and the camp sites were 
first-come-first-serve.  I wanted to get there as early as possible.  
Luckily we did not have to go far, an hour drive to the southeast.  Donnie 
was home early and we were on the road by 2pm (yeah!).

We arrived around 3:30, after stopping for food and gas, and found a really 
nice camp site in the shade of beautiful oak trees near the center of 
activity.  We had paid extra so the horses could have pipe stalls, and not 
have to be tied to the trailer all night.  We even brought our own water 
from home, to make sure they were not put off from drinking by "strange" 
water (yes, it happens).  We settled them in their stall, and checked in 
with ride management.  This was a large ride.  45 entries in the 50 mile 
ride, 87 in the 25, 20+ in the 15 mile fun ride, and 10 or so in the ride 
and tie (that is a hard sport! 2 riders/runners and 1 horse).  You need a 
large camp for 150+ horses, riders and families!

The friday before a ride is a busy time as people come from all over.  After 
settling the horses, we set up our "camp".  Bored, we saddled the horses and 
went for a ride to let the horses strecth their muscles and to better 
explore/observe the rest of camp.  It passed the time, though we didn't find 
anyone we knew.  There were simply too many people there.  I love walking 
around and looking at all the different rigs and horses.  Most are arabians, 
but we saw gaited horses, quarter horses, mustangs, pintos/paints, and a 
mule or two.  The camp was full of tents, RV's, big fancy trailers with 
living quarters, trucks with campers, and a few beat up rigs (like ours!) 
that look like they barely made it there.  After the ride meeting we drove 
down the rode to a wonderful little resturaunt and had a dinner.  What a 
wonderful way to start the weekend.

Donnie and I did not sleep well.  Between anxiety and the air mattress in 
the back of the truck going flat, rest was elusive.  Since the 50 mile ride 
started at 6:30am the camp began stirring around 5:30.  This is a luxurious 
ride, with management providing coffee and donuts in the morning.  Our ride 
start of 7:30 crept up on us quickly, but we were ready and at the start a 
couple of minutes early.  The horses were very excited.  It is hard to blame 
them with that many other horses milling around.  This ride was going to 
have a controlled start, meaning the pace would be set by a point rider for 
a certain distance.  This is usually done when there are hazards or 
dangerous trail in the beginning of the ride.  The horses are all very 
excited, and someone could easily be injured in such situations.  In our 
case, there was a large wash close to the beginning, and the management 
wanted to make sure that the horses were past there before opening up to 
burn off steam.

We started near the begnning.  We had decided to keep what we thought would 
be a "middle of the pack" pace, but would rather be passed than have to pass 
a bunch of people to maintain our pace.  Sancho became quite upset when the 
front riders let loose and took off.  Donnie is such a good rider!  I would 
have been cursing or falling had my horse done the rearing/bucking spinning 
and cantering-in-place.  Once the front runners were out of sight, Donnie 
settled him into a nice trot and we were on our way.

Temba and Sancho are very different horses.  Temba is a grade Arab that we 
picked up at the auction.  He has a big trot and can move out rather 
quickly.  Hills do not seem to slow him down much, and he has literally (and 
figuratively) a huge heart with a low resting heart rate.  He is made for 
this sport.  Sancho is a mutt that we picked up through the recycler 
classifieds for $400.  We were told he is Tennesee Walker and Peruvian Paso. 
 He is is a beautiful mover, very collected and smooth.  However he is 
slower and gets tired more easily.  We have seen him become exhausted trying 
to keep up with Temba.  So our strategy was to let Donnie and Sancho set the 
pace, with Temba only leading when Sancho got lazy.

This strategy seemed to work wonderfully.  Donnie is braver than I am and 
would trot over ground when I would probably slowed down.  So we trotted and 
trotted and trotted.  It wasn't a fast trot, only about 8mph, but he kept us 
going uphill, downhill, over rocks, through the sand, over motorcycle 
whoop-de-doos, and twisting through single track trails in the brush. As a 
result, we arrived at the vet check at 9:15.  We had ridden 14 miles in an 
hour and 45 minutes!

We immediately offered the horses water, and began cooling Sancho.  This vet 
check had a 30 minute hold, and your horse must meet a pulse criteria of no 
more than 60 beats per minute before your 30 minutes begin.  The horse must 
also be checked by the vet and deemed "fit to continue".  Sancho has a more 
difficult time pulsing down, so Donnie and I poured water on his neck and 
chest to cool him off.  Temba was well within criteria when I called for 
"P&R" (pulse and resperation), but Sancho was still at 61bpm.  Back to the 
water tank, more water poured on.  3 minutes later he was down and we had 
our "out time"; our 30 minute hold had begun.  Now we took turns holding the 
horses while they ate so the other could use the restroom.  We refilled our 
water bottles, and grabbed some of the fruit provided for the riders.  I 
hadn't eaten since we left base camp, and I needed it!  It is also hard to 
drink when trotting over rough terrain.  Both horses passed the vet check, 
and it was time to go!  Wow, it goes so fast.

On the way out I asked the timer how many riders were in front of us.  only 
10!  It didn't change anything.  Donnie I were excited, but we had our 
strategy and we were sticking to it.  Neither one of us wanted to push the 
horses just to "compete".  Sancho led on the way out, but had definitely 
slowed down.  It wasn't long before Temba and took the lead to keep us 
going.  Donnie had the GPS, and he would yell at me to slow down when Temba 
started going too fast.  Temba has a good working trot of about 9-11mph, 
with a "big" trot of closer to 14.  But the trot that Sancho can maintain 
for a distance is only around 7mph.  After a while Temba figured out the 
routine.  He would trot out where he was comfortable (9+mph) but when he got 
a bit ahead he would slow way down and let Sancho catch up.  I thought it 
was funny.  The second loop seemed to have more hills, and our speed slowed 
quite a bit.  Finally, we saw a sign that said 5 miles to go.  I was sooo 
happy!  The horses picked up on our enthusiasm and we moved out faster than 
we had all day.  With such a short way to go, I didn't try to slow Temba 
down, but just let him trot out as big as he wanted.  About a quarter mile 
from the finish Donnie and I dismounted and walked them in.  Your finish 
time is based on when the horses meet pulse criteria, not when you cross the 
line.  We were passed by a couple of people while we walked.  Didn't matter. 
 This was how we wanted to handle it.

Of course the first thing we did when we entered the vet check and finish 
area, was offer water.  Donnie began pouring water on Sancho.  I felt for 
Temba's pulse, and called for P&R.  Our finish time of 11:13.  The timer 
asked me if we wanted to show for best condition.  What?!?  Only the first 
10 riders in could show for BC.  We had come in 9th!  Others that had passed 
us were still waiting for their horse's pulse to come down.  Sancho came 
down right after us with a finish at 11:16; 10th place!  We had made the top 
ten finishers without even trying to!  WOW!

Now we had to hustle again.  Within 10 minutes of our completion we had to 
present to the vets for a "CRI" (cardiac recovery index).  The horses pulse 
is taken, then they are trotted 250 feet, and the pulse taken again 60 
seconds after the first pulse.  It gives the vets an idea of the horses 
fitness and level of fatigue by how quickly they recover.  Temba had an 
initial pulse of 40, and a second of 36.  WOW!  That was great.  Sancho was 
a 44, and 52.  Not bad.  Next we had to strip off the saddles/bags and weigh 
in.  The weight of the rider and tack is calculated into the best condition 
score, with the lighter weights having points deducted.  Then, within one 
hour of our completion we had to present the horses for a more thorough vet 
exam and scoring.  So we hurried on back to our stalls to feed and clean the 
horses up, and maybe grab some lunch for ourselves.

Again the time went quickly, and by the time we were done cleaning the 
horses up and inhaling sandwiches it was time to present.  The vets examine 
the horses for hydration, check for injuries (including saddle sores, etc) 
watch the horses trot out to check for soundness and observe overall 
attitute.  Temba was all "A's" with one A- on something (can't remember, 
gums maybe?)  Donnie trotted him out for me, I was definitely not "fit to 
continue" LOL, and would not have presented Temba well.  Sancho looked 
tired, but well.  He got all A's, except he had some swelling from the girth 
maybe being too tight.  We did not get to see the horses that finished in 
front of us.

We finished!  We did it so quickly that now we had nothing to do all 
afternoon while we waited for the ride dinner and awards.  So we napped, 
snacked, drank a couple of beers, watched the horses eat, showered, and 
watched the 50 milers race in.  The first 50 finished 1 hour behind us.  I 
can't even imagine!

Dinner was wonderful!  They brought in a caterer that had a big BBQ set up 
on a trailer.  There was tri-tip beef and marinated chicken, salads, rice 
and bread.  This was followed up by cake.  YUM!  The awards began as soon as 
the last 50 miler came in.

Everyone that completed on time recieved a completion award.  You had a 
choice of a t-shirt or personalized lead rope. They began with the 15 mile 
fun ride, and then the 25's.  The 25's were called in order of finish.  
Donnie and I were very proud to have finished 9th and 10th out of 75 total 
finishers/87 starters.  Then came the annoucement of Best Condition.....  
Temba won!!!!  EEEEEEEeeee!!!  I couldn't believe it!  We won Best Condition 
on our fist completion!  WOW!  I am still blown away.

We stayed for the 50 awards, then packed up and came home.  We were all 
tired, and the farm was waiting for us.  Donnie and I slept wonderfully, and 
the horses seemed happy to be eating in their home stalls.  Of course this 
ride really threw our plans for the ride season out of whack.  I figured we 
would do 25's at least until spring, and then look for an easy 50.  But the 
first comment from those around when we were awarded BC, was "Well, looks 
like it it time to move up to a 50..."  I know Temba and Donnie can do it, 
but are Sancho and I ready?  Switching horses and riding in different 
catagories is not really an option.  We do this together.  I don't think I 
would do as well riding without Donnie, and Sancho wouldn't do as well 
without Temba.  So we will stick together and ride what we can as a team.

Thanks for listening to me babble.  And thanks to the ride management for 
putting on an excellent ride.  And thank you most of all to Temba and 
Sancho, we couldn't be prouder of you!

Jena & Temba
Donnie & Sancho
Poway, CA



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=