I finally got around to reading the latest Endurance News
(life has been hectic) and was surprised to see a picture of our truck, trailer
and horses in the snow! On page 18
there is a pic taken by David Richards at last springs
Kenlyn Ride in Colorado. Gee doesn’t look like anybody else
is around, does it?We came early
to do a saddle fitting clinic so our horses got to stand out in the snow all
day before the ride.In fact, we
almost left before the ride.One of
the horses (the one tied to the trailer on the right side) was only 4, this was
his first ride and probably first major time spent tied to the trailer.He was a boarded horse and we brought
him to the ride for his owner’s daughter to ride in her first ride.
He was afraid to approach the side of the trailer to eat or
drink – which took us a couple hours to realize since we were busy with
the clinic.Then my horse, who is
quite experienced, was also not eating and drinking well. She’d had a year off (I’d
hoped to breed her) and in that time we’d bought the Hi-Ties that are on
the other side of the trailer.She
is the most respectful horse of any tie – and wasn’t sure how to
cross the plane of the dangling tie.
So I felt very bad for the horses, standing in the snow all
day and a couple of them not being comfortable enough to eat and drink until we
rearranged some things and told Linda Fisher (ride manager) that we would
probably go home the night before the ride.As usual she bent over backward to make
sure we could make the horses comfortable enough to do the ride, offering runs
at the farm if we needed.But once
we saw the horses eating and drinking well, we decided to stay.
The next morning was gorgeous, the snow melted quickly and
the footing was perfect.We had a
great ride and were doubly glad we stayed.The boarders horse that we had with us got to
do his first 25 with his owner’s daughter on her first ride.Shortly after this, his owner lost her
long fight with cancer and while she did not get to realize her own dream of
doing an endurance ride, she did know that her daughter and her beloved horse
had begun their careers.
I’m already looking forward to this year’s ride –
it’s always our first ride of the season.And we’ll be there doing saddle
fittings again - less formally, so just hunt us down!
