Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Wednesday, Daniel and I packed up and headed for Henryville, Indiana,
and Clark State Forest. Time for Chicken Chase. Our traditional 1st
ride of the season. I love the trails and the camp and the atmosphere
at this ride. It is a must-do ride.

We arrived in good time and set up camp. 45 minutes after arriving,
Tanna was settled in his corral and we dozed for a little bit before
getting supper. Only a few other trailers were there. Four or five
other early arrivals.

Thursday was a lazy day. In the morning, I saddled up and took Tanna
for a quick ride to look at the beginning and end of the 55 mile ride.
We rode out at a trot and came blazing back at a good canter. A nice
little pick-me-up to expend some energy, but not too much.

The afternoon was spent getting ready for the Friday ride. Syringes
loaded with applesauce, electrolytes, Neigh-Lox, and/or probiotics and
carefully labeled for easy identification at the vet checks. The vet
checks would be away checks, so I packed my new crew bag with
everything we'd need and looped one of the handles around the 3 buckets
I'd need (drinking, sponging, eating). I checked in, paying for both
days up front. Optimistic that we would be able to complete Friday and
start Sunday. Tanna vetted in perfectly. More trailers pulled in all
day, bringing new and old friends to camp.

The ride meeting was around dark. No real surprises. 22 miles for the
first loop out to the vet check. A loop around Shaw Lake for a 12 mile
loop back into the away check. Then 21 miles back to camp for the
finish. 60 pulse. Tack on/off optional (I almost always remove tack).
40 minute holds. 7 AM start time.

After the ride meeting, I finished last minute preparations, took Tanna
for a walk around camp and retired for the night, setting my alarm for
5 AM.

Before we get to the actual ride, a little background on my horse,
Tanna. He has 200 endurance miles (as do I). He has had a very poor
track record with eating and drinking at endurance rides. Last year at
BSF, I tried adding probiotics to stimulate his appetite. While Tanna
ate some at BSF, he did not eat and drink very well, still. In January,
after a gastro-scope that suggested potential ulcers, I started Tanna
on Neigh-Lox.

On Thursday at ridecamp, Tanna was only picking at his food. After I
complained to my husband, he suggested to dose again with Neigh-Lox
(he'd gotten some in his AM feed, but hadn't eaten much of it). So I
grabbed a syringe I'd filled and dosed him with about 2/3 oz of
Neigh-Lox and 1/3 oz of probiotics. Within minutes, Tanna was grazing
on his hay and beet pulp and kept that up the rest of the day.
Thrilled? Yes, I was. Absolutely. Tanna also drank from the water
trough when taken to vet in. Optimistic signs, but would it last?

Overnight, I awoke around 1:30 AM and fell out of bed to take Tanna for
another walk and check on his feed situation. I was pleasantly
surprised to find the flake of hay I'd left for him largely devoured
and his water level down a half gallon or so. After walking around, I
put another flake of hay out and returned to bed.

I slept soundly until the alarm rang at 5 AM. Maybe not worrying about Tanna eating helped me to sleep??

I got up, tired, but eager for the ride. I made all my preparations and
was mounted and ready a few minutes before the start. I started the
ride with Elizabeth, Ana (Elizabeth's daughter) and another lady,
sorry, I can't remember her name! We thought we might be able to ride
together as we all planned to go slow. We started shortly after the
main crowd and walked for the first mile or so, then picked up a strong
trot. Tanna was eager and knew riders were ahead of us, but kept to a
strong trot without too much of a temper tantrum. Very good boy!

Within the first 5 miles, it was apparent that the 4 of us were not
going to be able to ride together. We were just going at different
speeds. Tanna was giving me a good strong trot and I wasn't about to
slow him down to stay with other riders. He would just fight me and
expend too much energy that way. Might as well use the trot to get on
down the trail while the getting was good. I knew hills were coming up
that would slow us down to barely a crawl sometimes. So one of the
riders waited for us to pass and we continued on. Soon, though,
Elizabeth and Ana also dropped back as Elizabeth's gelding kept wanting
to canter rather than trot and Elizabeth determined he should not
canter so much. So Tanna and I continued on alone for awhile,
alternating cantering, trotting and walking as the terrain and my
judgement dictated.

At the bottom of a steep switchback hill, I paused to take a pit stop
and was pleased when Tanna also took advantage of that opportunity. We
continued on and when we stopped a bit later for me to administer
electrolytes (didn't happen due to a syringe malfunction) and the
probiotics/Neigh-Lox mix (this did happen), Elizabeth and Ana caught up
and passed me. I mounted and overtook them again and stayed with them
for awhile before pulling away again. We continued this pattern for the
remainder of the 1st loop.

to be continued...

April
Nashville, TN