Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Some of you know some of this saga, as I told some of it after the NAEC 
at Fair Hill in October.  But here's my endurance history, from start to 
finish!

About 2 and a half years ago Fair Hill International asked me if I could 
run the North American Endurance Championship, to be held at Fair Hill 
in October 2005.  I, dummy that I am, said "sure!"  Dummy, because I had 
only vaguely heard about endurance, and that was only because Fair Hill 
ran an endurance ride in October of 2003.  Which I did not attend.  So, 
I read the rules, had help from some great local experienced endurance 
riders, had an awesome trail queen (which was key, because I ALSO didn't 
know the trails at Fair Hill at all), and somehow we managed to put on a 
halfway decent ride (Foxcatcher endurance and LD in April of 2004).  Did 
we have glitches?  Absolutely!  Did I have fun!  Absolutely!  Did my 
husband think I was insane?  ABSOLUTELY!!

In May of 2004 I went to Biltmore to volunteer and to see how the "big 
dogs" run an FEI ride, since my ride in October was going to be FEI.  
That's where I really got hooked.  Not so much hooked because of the 
riders (although that year Stagg finished a billion hours before anyone 
else, in a thunderstorm, and THAT was impressive).  But more hooked 
because of the people who ran the ride and volunteered and worked their 
fingers to the bone for absolutely zero money.  Most, like me, probably 
PAID out of their own pockets to go volunteer there.  And they were 
cheerful, dedicated, and happy to teach a newbie like me.

These amazing wonderful people helped me all summer with the planning 
for our Fair Hill ride in October 2004 (FEI, AERC 100, and AERC 50).  
Anything weather-wise that could have gone wrong, did.  So - we all got 
together after that ride and did some planning and made some changes so 
we could put on an outstanding ride in 2005, for the North American 
Endurance Championship. 

So that's my endurance history.  Not all that impressive, right?  And 
then a couple months ago I was silly enough to get involved in a 
discussion on Ride Camp, when a nice person from New York was saying 
that she wasn't sure she should try endurance - didn't have the right 
horse, right equipment, enough time to condition.  And I responded that 
I was in the same boat - my current mount is a TB/Percheron cross, I 
have a flat as a pancake hunt seat saddle, and not much time after work 
to ride.  Have to ship to trails, etc, etc.  SO - my friends Cate and 
Ben emailed and said - "Silly!  You don't need to ride your own horse.  
Ride ours!  We have this cool TWH (whom I had ridden some over the 
winter on training rides), we have the equipment, we have the means to 
take you with us to a ride.  AND - we're going to the OD in June and the 
horse is already entered and needs a rider."

Sounds simple, right?  But to me this was kind of like me saying "hey, I 
want to climb a mountain" and a friend saying "GREAT!  We're doing 
Everest next month - want to come?"  I've BEEN to OD before as a crew 
and as a volunteer.  Both times I about died of heat exhaustion, both 
times I saw how many horses pulled, and both times I got lost just 
DRIVING to the vet checks, which are all in the middle of nowhere.  How 
was I supposed to ride there?

Somehow Cate convinced me this would be FUN, and that the 25 mile ride 
at OD is actually not as treacherous as some of the trails we ride at 
home.  I rode Zach on one last training ride on Sunday before OD, got my 
arms pulled out of my sockets for the first 5 miles, and then put him in 
front and had a happy wonderful horse.  Ah-ha!  Light bulb moment for 
Alissa.  Horse likes the front, and horse REALLY likes to be close to 
friend Buck.  Who, fortunately, was going to be on the 25 mile ride as 
well, ridden by Ben.

So off we go to OD.  My first ride dinner as a competitor was awesome - 
great burgers and sausage, and a gazillion dish to pass dishes.  I was 
stuffed.  Ride briefing was short and sweet.  Vet in went fairly well - 
Zach was a pistol and tried to run me over, and the vet was a bit 
confused by his gaited horse action on the circles (hey - and you CIRCLE 
for an endurance vet-in?  Never seen that before!).  All too soon it was 
7AM on Friday morning.

Zach was lovely on Friday morning as long as his head was planted on 
Buck's hip.  Otherwise I has a squealing, silly little TWH.  Although 
riding out a TWH antics are MUCH easier than riding out a TB/Perch 
antics!  Controlled start up the asphalt road, then then we were 
climbing up an enormous mountain, with logs for erosion control and more 
rocks than I have ever seen in my life.  We were riding the whole time 
with Bits (mustang) and Kristin.  At one point up Rock Mountain I saw 
and felt what I thought was a rock fly past my head, from Bits' foot.  
Then I looked more closely and realized it was one of Bits' Easy Boots.  
So, our fiery mounts all had to stop while we tracked down the Easy 
Boot.  Lots of horses had to pass us on a narrow trail.  Kristin decided 
that putting boot back on was more trouble than it was worth, so both 
hind boots came off.  And that little mustang went the rest of the ride 
(including making her way back DOWN Rock Mountain) without taking a bad 
step.  Tough little sucker, that one is.

Our group was a bunch of rookies - all new to the OD, limited endurance 
experience.  We boogied when we could.  We walked probably more than we 
should have.  We probably didn't stop to let horses eat as much as we 
should have.  We marveled at the enormous, beautiful houses we passed 
(where do those people WORK??).  We waved to friendly folks in the 
little town we passed through.  The nice bulldozer guys pointed us in 
the right direction.  We were having a grand old time.  And about the 
time we got to the river, which we had to cross to get to our hold at 
the halfway point, Bits and Zack both stopped pulling our arms out.  
Awesome!

Crossing the Shenandoah River is amazing.  Look to the left and to the 
right - amazing views of mountains in both directions.  I was a little 
worried about Zach.  Actually, a little worried about me, as Zach has a 
tendency to just stop, drop, and roll in the middle of a creek.  He's 
done it to me before.  And I didn't want to ride in wet boots the whole 
way home.  But all worries were for naught.  Zach was awesome.  Poor Ben 
did have to get off in the middle of the river, though - Buck managed to 
step through his reins.  Smart old horse stopped as soon as he did it.

Cate, our crew person, was whooping and hollering at us as we crossed 
the river - she was so excited for us!  And she got some great photos, 
as well.  We got to the hold a little later than we wanted.  Pulsed down 
and vetted in.  Zach was a little quiet in his gut - needed to eat 
more.  Think I could get the little train stopped on the way home to eat 
anything?  No way.  That little boy wanted to go HOME.

30 minute hold - enough time to use the porta-pot, grab a drink and a 
granola bar, stuff Zach full of food and water, re-tack, and we were 
back on our way.  Re-traced our steps - back across the river, back 
through the little town (wave to nice people), back past nice bulldozer 
guys, back past all the new houses (wonder how much that one costs?).  
All too soon back to Rock Mountain (I am sure it has a real name, but 
Rock Mountain describes it well).  Actually, the trail UP is lovely 
footing this direction - all well maintained stone dust trails.  So the 
trail was lovely, just LONG LONG LONG.  Then we crossed Skyline Drive 
and looked at the watch - we had about an hour to make it down Rock 
Mountain (the down on this direction was the yukky part) and then a mile 
down the paved road to Ride Camp and home.  We stopped for our sparkling 
cider and for Henry to write our arrival times on our cards at about 
12:30 - we still had 30 minutes to pulse in.  Might take that long to 
get these big old TWH's cooled down!  Zach was actually good in about 10 
minutes, but we waited for our buddy Buck (who is much bigger).  Pulsed 
in at 12:45.  Our nice friend Art vetted us out.  Still a quiet gut - 
needs to eat and drink some more.  No problem - he'd have til Sunday to 
hang out at camp and eat and drink to his hearts content.  But - we 
finished!  And Cate reported today that Zach looks awesome. 

A congrats from Art.  Later, a big hug from friend Dr. Nick.  Julie 
Bullock said "it's about time you rode one of these rides!"  And nice 
Tom Timmons, who was the head vet for NAEC, was dumbfounded when he 
learned this was my first ride.  "You managed an NAEC and you've NEVER 
ridden a ride?"

So - here's what I learned:
1)  Riding a little freight train really works the abs.  Hmmm.  Maybe I 
should schedule with Cate to ride him three times a week...
2)  One must ride MUCH FASTER on the trail than I had ever imagined to 
finish within time.  I thought we were hustling whenever we could, and 
we pulsed down with 15 minutes to spare.  Lesson for Alissa - practice 
trotting (or gaiting) down hills - it's not as scary as I first 
thought.  So - who's smarter?  The horse who Alissa thought was a 
freight train, or Alissa who thought we were going WAY TOO FAST and 
ended up finishing ride with 15 minutes to spare?  Who knows - we'll 
have to test it out again!
3)  The OD has a LOT more gravel and paved roads than I would have ever 
thought, on the 12 miles out and back from camp.  Light bulb - perhaps 
this is why they've been scouting out new trails?
4)  Assigned camping spots are an EXCELLENT idea if you have a good 
Parking Nazi.  Might have to implement that one...
5)  Always, when people asked me about endurance, I told them that I 
loved managing rides because I loved the people.  So when friends asked 
me if I ever rode an endurance ride, my response was, with a look of 
horror on my face:  "Are you kidding?  Those people are CRAZY!!!"  I 
have learned, from first hand experience, that all of you are, indeed, 
crazy.  But, still I love you.

The bug has bitten.  Darn you all.  I am looking for the next place to 
ride.  Seeing if Cate is going to another ride where Zach needs a 
rider.  And seeing if perhaps my big old TB/Perch cross can handle doing 
a 12 mile CTR clinic.  I'm not getting too crazy yet - I have to take 
the big boy back home in August, and will pick up a new, yet to be 
determined, horse.  So my endurance adventures on a horse of my own will 
depend on whatever I bring home with me in August.  But, assuming the 
new horse has half a brain, look for us to be out and riding some 
endurance in Spring of 2007.  Oh, boy.  I can't believe I just said 
that!!  Darn you Ride Campers for talking me in to this insanity!



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