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[RC] Fun new ride! - Marlene MossTitle: MessageThis past weekend,
my husband (Stace) and I attended a new ride in Colorado, called Turkey
Creek. It was held just south of Fort Carson, on Turkey Creek Ranch.
Many thanks to the owners of the ranch, as well as ride manager Brigett Helm and
Fort Carson for allowing a great new event to be held.
The trails were fun
and the scenery was great. A little bit of trail confusion as sections of
trails were near each other in winding around trying to make miles, so you
really had to watch. We repeated one little loop and found the way out the
second time!
One experience was
definitely new to us - riding in the lead group for a 50. Wish I
could say it was because my horse was so awesome, but it was because the front
runners missed a turn. We hollered and thought they were following us, but
it was just such a great place to canter, a group of us really got to move out
and had no idea how many were behind. We ran back into the other group as
we were finishing that little loop in the trail - I guess they had a nice
excursion up to Fort Carson!
So 6 of us were
moving right along and I knew we all were thinking that this would be a great
chance to race for first - the finish was going to be on a perfect road that
wasn't too hard. Stace and I had already agreed that if it was only the 2
of us at the front that he'd let me go because he had a better shot at BC with
his weight. As it was, there were 6 of us with horses ready to run at the
end.
But fate jumped in
on the last little hill before the road. My horse is extremely nimble and
I barely even gave the footing a second thought. Stace was a couple horses
behind me and all of a sudden we realized a rider is off. It was Stace and
he said his horse had tripped and actually rolled over sideways. Our whole
little group stopped (plus a couple of the original lost group that was a loop
behind us) and made sure they were ok. Amazingly, the horse had a couple
surface scrapes on his nose and knees and Stace was fine too. We sent the
rest of the riders on, planning to walk for quite a bit, if not the rest of the
way in to make sure the horse was ok.
He was walking well,
so Stace hopped back on and the horse immediately picked up a trot and then
popped into a canter. He looked great, so we did a nice easy canter to the
finish line. We found out a couple of the other riders had really raced
for a fair distance before the finish, so I'm kind of glad I wasn't there.
I don't really care to race, but I knew my horse was still feeling good and that
there probably wouldn't be many opportunities at my ride speed to be able to
race for first, so I probably would have gotten into the mix. In the end,
I was really glad - my horse was so perky at the final checks that she got BC -
another thing that will probably never happen to me again!
It was really a fun
ride (with the usual new ride details to smooth out) and it sounds like they
will try to do it again next year and possibly as a 2 day. I'll plan for
it!
Marlene
Marlene Moss
www.KineticEquineAnalysis.com (saddle
fit for the horse in motion)
Saddle fitting info and special fees at
the Kenlyn Clinic and Endurance Ride in CO!
www.mossrockranch.com (sale horses and
more)
719-351-5037 (cell)
719-748-9073 (home)
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