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[RC] My first Biltmore - Ridecamp GuestPlease Reply to: Deb Ambrose mkkgs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== Hello all, I had been looking forward to this ride for the three years I've been doing endurance--it finally worked with our schedule. But barely!! Lippy, my Arab/Appy had a cough that finally resolved a bare week beforehand. We drove over on Thursday to find a camp filling up already in a beautiful valley along the French Broad River. Friday was warm and sunny, and my husband made it late Friday night to help warm up the tent :-) We set off Saturday morning near the back of over 100 50-milers. Lip was calm. Are you like me, thinking "My horse must be ill?" 1 cough as we climbed the first hill, my heart sank, but that was it all day. He finally settled in with a minimum of head tossing and charging and we wound around the first 17 mile loop. We rode with Dody (sorry I'm last name deficient), and she was kind enough to let us set a moderate pace. We vetted through, and Lippy was enthralled about all the green grass everywhere. I remembered the Ridecamp discussion previously about clover content and tie-up, yet another thing to worry about! But I let him munch. Indeed he had A's on gut sounds all day. And peed often. Back out for the 19 mile loop--we let Dody go on as her boy needed to move out a little more. After a couple minutes of soul searching, Lippy was with me. We had a magical couple of miles while we saw no one, just our hoofbeats on the perfect footing under a shady canopy, a perfect spring day in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This loop took us back down to the river, under I-40, a thrill for my traffic shy pony, and up into the hills again. Some trail was newly blazed along the Blue Ridge Parkway, steep and soft, but very well marked. A couple times I got off to jog ahead of him down some long down slopes, and we had good creek water several times. Back toward camp, I saw my husband waiting out on the trail near the turnoff to the barn. Apparently, the word about the fall of horse and rider had reached the far corners of the camp, and he was ready to come hiking up to recover my remains. Lip was glad to see him! We vetted through, and survived the recheck before being released for our final 14 miles. We set off the other way for a final trip around, and Lip surprised me be being willing to trot out of camp. We crossed a small bridge and a gal from Knoxville caught up with us. We had a great time chatting and easing along. Eventually, Lippy wanted to trot some more, so we left her with another gal and set off with that nice feeling of heading home on a loose rein. Around a big field, up into the hills again, and soon we were at the water stop on top of the hill with 1.5 miles to go. We reached the hard packed trail down to the river and I hopped off to run again. My horse does not have the ground manners of a saint, but this time I only knew he was back there by the fact I stil was holding the lead. I looked back once or twice and he was picking his way with a cheerful look on his face. We crossed the stone bridge, made it past the geese, and I climbed back on. He didn't wait for me to stow the lead as he swung into a long trot heading up the grassy finish. All the heat had left the day, and we were left with glassy blue skies, and every tree in bloom. I could see me husband walking out to greet us, and I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude to my horse for the effort he made to be my partner, and the effort it takes to put on any ride. We got our completion, somewhere in the 65 region out of 100+ starters and 78 finishers. I was proud of my guy, and thankful to all who helped put on this ride. Deb Ambrose & Lippy, 575 miles Aberdeen, NC =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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