Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Pardon the lousy pun.

Many thanks to Amy Whelan, who managed Chicken Chase, and the gentleman who was uniformly referred to as "poor Bill (Wilson)" this weekend, who hosted the ride at his farm in southern Indiana.

We packed 3 horses in a 3 horse trailer based on the weather.com forecast from Tuesday evening, which showed temperate weather, sunshine and very little chance for rain.

It started raining steadily on Thursday at around lunch time and just kept raining.

The Chicken Chase course is just lovely in decent weather.  The redbuds and dogwoods were blooming.  The trail is challenging, with lots of ups and downs and switchbacks, but a very doable and beautiful course.

The rain did not improve things, and Amy had an unprecedented number of horses and riders and rigs, who no doubt read the same weather forecast I did.  :-P

Friday's 55 was slippery and slimy, and the steady rain resumed at about noon, after just misting and general mugginess during the morning.  I pulled my big guy at 38 miles; he was just fit enough for the course in good conditions, and asking for another 17 miles was just too much.

Lois McAfee won the ride and got BC on Friday.  The completion rate (43 starts, I think 38 completed) was not great, but the riders were cheerful (ha, mostly) if mud-spattered.

Arriving rigs got pulled in with the tractor in many cases.  Bill's pasture was already beginning to look, let's just say, not so great.  

The rain stopped at about dark on Friday evening, so we all hoped for better conditions on Saturday.  Friday's slippery, slimy mud turned into sucky, deep mud for the second day.  Quite a few pulls from tight hind ends and assorted owies associated with the footing, but the day was beautiful.  Sunny, breezy, and if it weren't for the mud, it would have been a perfect ride day.

I was riding hubby's veteran horse, dragged out of semi-retirement for another go at endurance.  He was full of piss and vinegar for the first 25 miles, but asked to return to LDs, CTR and less demanding activities by petering out on the second loop.  I opted out after 40 miles in order to avoid what Mary Coleman would call a "sit and hit situation", and enjoyed the glamour of an 0 for 2 weekend.

Still, had a lovely time.  Got to ride with my husband again for the first time in many months.  Saw old friends, met new ones, and enjoyed the camaraderie that only a bunch of insane endurance riders camping and riding in conditions that were just plain rotten could share.

Jan Worthington had the honor of owning the first three horses to complete on Saturday, and a young man on one of her horses (sorry, didn't catch the name) was BC.

We managed to get ourselves out of our camping spot early Sunday a.m. (after raking our paddocks and spreading hay to hopefully reseed Bill's pasture) to return home to work and life and all things mundane, but look forward to hearing about how the ride went on Sunday, when the trails must have benefited from a full 24 hours of dry weather!

Again, many thanks to all who made the ride possible.

Note to self:  Always pack the rain sheets.

--Patti Stedman (NY)