Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

These photos are from last year: 
http://www.xprides.com/2005Cuyama/2005Cuyama/2005Cuyama.html

As soon as I can I'll download this years photos, but for now I am 
busy at work and planning on Square Nail this coming weekend so it'll 
have to wait.

I took two horses to Cuyama, neither of which were Chief (he did ROM 
the weekend before, and hopefully will be going to Square Nail) .  I 
sponsored a junior all 3 days - Patrick -- he rode with me at Death 
Valley too. This was his horses first full multiday ride and they 
both did a great job together.  At one water spot on a ride, another 
riders horse got out of control and backed up into my horse who got 
out of the way, and then the other horse proceeded to totally squish 
poor Patrick between that horses rear end and his own horse, which 
caused Patrick to fall to the ground totally out of of breath (which 
caused Sammy, P's horse to run away, but he came right back when I 
called, doncha just LOVE these great junior horses???), and then when 
Patrick got up he simply said "I needed an adjustment".  Great kid, 
tough.  After completing all 3 days of Cuyama he now has enough miles 
to ride unsponsored if he wishes. I think he'll finish this year out 
as a junior rider though, so maybe I'll get the opportunity to ride 
with him some more.  He is a lot of fun to ride with.

The weather was overall fairly decent, getting better each day.  It 
is always a joy to come into a vetcheck and have Lavone serving up 
lunches -- sandwiches or BBQ'd hot dogs along with candybars, snacks, 
etc.  These are my favorite rides, though this ride due to the high 
popularity (making for a lot of riders) makes it one of my least 
favorites.  I still had an incredible time and a great ride on both 
of my horses -- neither of which was Chief, btw!   I've got all my 
guys going barefoot now and they are using Epics or Bares during the 
rides, which is working out incredibly well for them, I'm really 
surprised and impressed over how well it's been working.  Even Dave 
Rabe has converted to barefoot and rode the same horse all 3 days 
using Epics over bare feet!  :)

Congratulations to Jim Mitchell and his horse Smoke, who is now a 
Decade Team horse.  There were several others there riding the same 
horses that they have been for many years which is always great to see.

I will try to get the results posted on the xprides.com website in 
the next few days.  Check the site later for photos and results.

I also got used a HAF pad on both horses and it worked really well, I 
really like this pad a lot!  I'm going to try it on the 3rd horse 
this coming weekend.  Love that it comes off of the horses no matter 
how sweaty and wet they are just as lightweight as when I put it 
on.  I'm not sure how much of it was the pad, or the horses being 
barefoot, but their working heart rates were much lower than normal, 
which says a lot since they are coming from a climate that is still 
experiencing quite a bit of winter.  I thought it was just a fluke 
with Chief, but now I have two more horses that I'm seeing this 
with.  It is so cool to be riding so long and still being able to 
find ways to make things better for our horses.  :)

Happy trails,

Karen
in NV (who left Monday and beat the storm...barely)





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