Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Summer Breeze 2006, part 2 of 2

continued from part 1...

11:27 AM
Time to go out on our 2nd loop. This was to be a 15 mile loop headed
up to the cabin and then back to camp the same way as the 1st loop. We
were planning to meet the guys at the same place as before. I was
looking forward to getting back to that cabin and the nice cold water.
:-)

It was hot and sticky but I was out on trail. 15 miles was nothing.
Way less than our weekly training rides. 15 miles was doable, so off
we went.

In 30 or 40 minutes I began to recognize the terrain and had a moment
of freaking out that we'd made a wrong turn. But then I remembered my
map and realized we were headed towards the cabin and the split that
would send us in a loop up around some bean fields to come back down
to the cabin.

The bean fields were nice. We were on private property and I was
pleased to see that the bean plants looked intact. Hopefully, the land
owner would not have any complaints about the endurance riders going
along the edge of his property. For some of the way, we were blessed
to have some cloud cover. Then the sun came back out and I was very
pleased to see the trail veer off into a nice shady trail along a
creek. We sent our horses into a nice trot and I expressed a wish to
get down to the water when the trail turned and went right over it.

Tanna and I got into the water on one side and Angie and Khasey went
to the other. Then they came over to our side which was a little
deeper and we stood in the water and sponged for a few minutes to get
the horses cooler and give them a break. We were moving pretty good in
the sun and taking advantage of the shade and water when available.

Immediately upon leaving the creek, we were back along the edge of the
bean fields and on the last leg to the cabin. I didn't realize how
close the cabin was. Neither did I realize how much effort cantering
was taking, so I let Tanna canter along some and overshot the turn to
the cabin. We dismounted and walked to the water troughs. Tanna was
breathing heavily and didn't really stop. I decided that was enough
cantering in the sun.

Again there were wonderful cold water bottles and the volunteer came
out of the cabin and very graciously hosed our horses off for us while
we stood there and tried to get in the way to get sprayed, too. ;-) We
moved the horses into the shade and let them rest and graze a minute.
Then I electrolyted again. Or rather tried to. My mix had clogged the
syringe and wouldn't come out. Fortunately, Angie had some LyteNow and
was very gracious in allowing me to mooch for the time being.

12:50 PM
We spent 14 minutes at the cabin again, then headed up the hill along
the trail headed for the open road and our crew not too far away.

This time I didn't allow Tanna to canter the road, but asked him for
his nice fast trot, trying to keep him from extending. He was going
crooked and I was allowing him to some since I figured he was favoring
that front left shoulder where the rubbing from the saddle was
occurring. I had reapplied furazone at the cabin and it was a good
thing I had as it was almost all gone. I guess it was sweating away.

Despite the fact that I didn't allow Tanna to canter this time, we
made better time on this stretch than the same stretch on the last
loop. Khasey is a good trotter and I was using him to get Tanna to
keep his fast trot.

1:18 PM
We reached the designated crew spot and saw nothing but Patty's bucket
sitting by the side of the road where the guys had left it for her
last loop. (BTW, Patty's mare had passed the vet check and she had
been planning to continue on the second loop, but was a good ways
behind us...)

After a couple of minutes, though, we heard the truck coming up the
road. Whew. We really wanted the horses to have something to eat
before tackling those hills on the last stretch into camp. There was
absolutely no shade, so Daniel constantly sponged water on Tanna while
I fiddled with the saddle applying more furazone and electrolyting
him. I downed a couple of gulps of water and we headed out again.
Angie had some ice and I immediately thought that was a great idea and
Daniel gave me some ice before we moved off again.

1:34 PM
We had spent a lot of time at that stop, but we all felt refreshed for
the miles ahead of us into camp. This crewing thing is really nice!
:-)

Those hills were getting longer every time we did this stretch. Tanna
was breathing way harder than I ever like to see, but we kept going.
His heart rate was still pretty good and he would drop when we'd stop.
Sometimes not as low as I'd like, but he would drop. I walked one or
two of the hills, but felt overwhelmed each time I did. We were making
slow but steady progress.

2:27 PM
We came in for our in-time. We had 3 hours left. Minus a 40 minute
hold, we would have 2 hours 20 minutes to pulse down and then complete
the remaining 10 mile loop. Sounded doable to me, but I wasn't going
to waste any time getting Tanna to drop as low as the 40s. Daniel and
I stripped his tack and used the hose to get him down to criteria. As
soon as he was down, we turned the hose over to Angie and David and
headed to vet in.

Tanna's withers rub was a little worse and now there was a spot on the
other side of his withers, too. The vet recommended desitin this time
since it was unlikely to sweat off as easily. Duh. Not sure why I
didn't do that before. Guess I had too much heat and not enough sleep.
We were cleared to go. He had more Bs this time and an inverted CRI,
but still seemed ok. I hated that heavy breathing that he was doing.

Our out time was 3:19, leaving us 2 hours 11 minutes to do 10 miles
assuming we went out at our out time. Pretty doable to me!

3:25 PM
Well, we were a little late getting out at our out time. I am very bad
about that. I almost never go out on time. The first part of the loop
was pretty easy going. Some of it was shaded, some wasn't. We moved
out pretty good though. We knew we'd hit the woods and have to deal
with the hills closer to the finish, so we moved out where the footing
was good.

Angie mentioned that the horses would pick up on our energy if we rode
energetically so I made a concerted effort to be upbeat and encourage
Tanna. I chattered pretty constantly for the next 30 minutes getting
Tanna to move out and using Khasey as a pacer.

We actually came up behind another rider. We weren't expecting to see
anybody. We walked behind for a few minutes and I took advantage to
drink lots of water and pour some on Tanna. Then we passed and moved
on. We thought the other rider would come along with us, but she
didn't so we were on again, our team of 4.

We came onto the road sooner than we anticipated. We had driven the
car out here on Saturday so Angie and I knew where we were. We had a
couple minutes of spooking and we sent the horses into their good
working trots. If they had energy to spook, they had energy to keep
moving forward and get out of the sun.

Soon we came to where the last loop met up with the last stretch of
the other 2 loops. We finally knew where we were. What was ahead of us
and how much effort it would take to get there. We had made very good
time and had plenty of leeway to allow the horses to take their time
on the wooded footing and the hills. We spent a little time at a water
spot. Tanna wet his mouth but didn't really drink. I would have
preferred him to drink, but I wasn't too concerned. We were close and
we were gonna make it. We sponged and rested in the shade for a couple
minutes and moved on.

Tanna and I took the lead since he excels at the windy woody trails.
He was moving slower than on the road, but he did well about putting
his feet where they needed to go and was responsive to me asking him
to trot.

When we reached the last bit of good water, we stopped and
electrolyted. I was worried since Tanna's heart rate would not go
below 75. He was breathing heavily, but so was I. It was thick out
there and we'd been going for hours. He still didn't drink, but I gave
him a good sponging.

We had to keep moving to make time so we moved off again. Finally we
reached the last hill. The finish line was only 1/3 mile away. We
allowed the horses to graze in the shade until they slowed down on the
eating and then we moved them off, trotting the sunny road toward the
finish line. There was a bit of a hill right before the finish line,
so we walked that. Then we picked up a trot again and trotted across
the finish line side by side. Both horses had their ears up and were
focused towards camp which was still a bit of a walk away.

4:49 PM
We crossed the finish line!!!! We made it! I never thought I would
have crossed that finish line! Especially not during the first 5-10
miles of the ride.

Tanna was tired, but a very good boy. Daniel helped me cool him down
by running water over his body and his head. Amazingly, even though
Tanna HATES water flowing down his face, his heart rate dropped 12
beats in 10 seconds or so. We made sure his heart rate was good and
down and then headed to vet him out. Walking over to the pulse takers
made his heart rate go back up so we made use of the water trough.
Joni Buttram was hosing off one of her horses and graciously handed
the hose over without me having to ask for it. She explained that they
were just hosing the horses to take them home and I needed to cool my
hrose for my completion. Very nice young lady! :-) When Tanna reached
criteria not too long after I passed the hose back and thanked her.
Then on to the vet.

Tanna still had the withers rubs, of course, and they were a bit
worse, but the desitin had really helped. He got good marks on
everything and a completion! Whew!

Daniel and I went to weigh him. He'd weighed in at 816 the evening
before. After the ride he weighed 778. Not too bad. 38 pounds. He's
lost 60 pounds before on a less grueling ride. A true testament to the
fact that he did eat and drink on this ride.

After getting Tanna settled and Khasey was settled in (after HIS
completion!!), we got to thinking about food. The guys headed out and
found some pizza and brought it back. So the four of us and Patty sat
around eating yummy pizza while we discussed everything under the sun.

So I learned some stuff on this ride. First, my saddle will not do
anymore. So no more 50 miler rides until this saddle has been
replaced. Second, a long 50 is better with a great crew and great
company. Third, I waste a ton of time. If I just stop stopping so much
I might have faster ride times. Course, this last ride would not have
been the time to try that theory in that kind of heat.

This was a hard ride for me and Tanna. The trails were pretty good.
Some new blazed trails. I loved the cabin stop. :-) I am very glad I
padded. Very. I don't think we'd been able to finish if we hadn't had
pads. We would have had to go slower on the roads and that's where we
made a lot of good time. The trails were marked well. We never got
lost. I think this ride would be perfect for December! LOL.

Thanks to the ride management, vets, volunteers, and Willow Creek
Campground for such a challenging ride.

April
Nashville, TN

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