Yes this was the Tevis Cup week end, but ours got
cut a little short. Takes many months to get ready, and sometimes a
year. Not sure if you have seen the horses going over Cougar rock or not
but looks quite dangerous, actually I tell everybody it is just the camera angle
and it is a piece of cake, as I have two pictures and one go around (trail
around Cougar rock). I had advised my young 18 year old rider
that if you do Tevis you must have at least one picture of yourself and steed
going over Cougar rock, so even if you get pulled you still have your
picture.
Well, Rambo slipped and started to go over
backwards, Tosha was able to kind of step off the horse as he went
over. Rambo landed on his side, not sure if he went over completely
backwards or not. Anyway, Rambo is not a horse that sticks around after an
incident. Tosha had enough wits about her to capture him rather
quickly. Rambo was bleeding a little on the left front and right rear, and
had the scrapes with skin missing that you would expect from having fallen down
a granite boulder. Tosha did a quick basement, no immediate medical
attention was necessary, she started walking the rest of the way to Red Star,
which I think is about 6 miles, I may be wrong and have not check. Tosha
has both ankles in support braces due to the soreness and inflammation
she gets on 100 mile rides, so the walking is not the best.
Crew is waiting at Robinson, takes hours before we
hear anything. We have our ears glued to the radio chatter and
listen for her number, which we never hear. I learned from a friend,
Robert Palmerai, that Tosha and Rambo had fallen off of Cougar rock and
that Rambo was pretty banged up.
We had arrived at Robinson at 8am, at about 1PM
they had closed down Red Star and everybody was making the trek back to
Robinson, and still no official word from Red Star as to there whereabouts
or condition. Tosha's mother is part of the crew, and new
to these kind of events, so I will let your imagination run
wild................I kept walking out the trial leading into Robinson, asking
everybody if they knew what had happened. Most of the comments I
got were that they had gone around Cougar rock. One
comment received when I asked if they had heard of someone falling over on
Cougar rock was, " Which one!".
The head vet for Red Star, Melissa Ribley, stopped
and talked to me as she was during out and told me what was happening with
Rambo. She said that Rambo was one of the toughest horses she had ever
seen and that they had treated him for lacerations and scrapes. She said
that he did pass the vet exam and that Tosha could of continued on but after a
short conversation they decided that Rambo, who had lost that sparkle in his
eye, should probably be tailored. Dr. Ribley spent most of the time
telling me what a fine young responsible lady she thought my rider was and that
she commented on her adult and mature behavior and how well she took care of her
horse.
Rambo was the very last horse and vehicle out of
Red Star. They had lots of pulls at Red Star this year, I think more then
any other years, I think it was into the 20's, and usually it is just a
few. They have to take all of the metabolic out before minor
injuries.
So at about 3PM our horse and rider is pulled from
the depths of the Sierra Nevada's, the Tevis god appeased, and have left us
with a healthy horse and rider and another year to get ready.
Once back in Foresthill we talked to one of the
photographers who was at Cougar rock. He said that there were lots of
video cameras there this year and that someone has to have this on
video. If anybody knows about rider #67 on a big bay horse going over
Cougar rock, please contact me....
