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My 14 year old daughter, Danielle and I  had a wonderful ride at the Turkey
Trot in southern San Diego County the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We did
the 25 mile, limited distance ride. Dani and Lyric came in first junior and
16th out of 40 riders. Jazzi and I came in 17th.  This is a challenging
ride, but we had so much fun as our horses were in good condition and ready
for the trail.  Dani loved it and was so excited at the finish, "Mom, that
was so much fun," she yelled out as she danced her way back to our camp
site.
The horses did very well with the exception of my horse, Jazzi falling
twice.  First time we were jamming up a steep single tack on the side of
Mother Miguel Mountain.  She was fighting with me to go faster and she
stepped into a 2 foot erosion gully.  Some how I stayed in the saddle and
she righted herself.  I thought I was going off the face of the mountain.  I
guess we were saved by the Crash Gods.
The second fall was about 1.5 miles from the finish and she just crumpled to
the ground and fell on her face. Some how I again was saved by the Crash
Gods and stayed  in the saddle.  Jazzi had some face pain for a minute or
two than trotted off sound and I mounted back up and finished the ride.  She
vetted out clean with all A's on her vet card - no lameness, no swelling.
Later I found  a huge rock in her back foot which I believe caused the
second fall.
Now Lyric on the other hand was all business until the last part of the ride
were she was spooking to get a rise out of Danielle.  It was comical as she
would be trotting along ahead of me and I could see her looking for
something, moving her head from side to side.  Them bam, she'd hit the
brakes and jump to the side and cock an ear at Dani who was yelling at her
to cut it out.  Lyric did not take a bad step the whole day and Dani took
excellent care of her.  They are something to see flying down the trail as
one.
The ride maps were GPS'd and on the National Geographic Topo program.  It
was a pleasure to use them. They were oversized (for use by us visually
impaired?) but with some thoughtful folding were easy to use.  I hope next
year they will add some GPS way points for major turns to help riders from
getting off the trail and lost. I thought the trail for the 25 was marked
well, but some of the 50's complained that the upper loop was not well
marked.  The footing was a mixture of dirt roads, single track, rock, sand,
several water crossings and a bit of pavement. The trail was challenging
with steep hills and fun single track.  Your horse needed to be in good
condition to compete.  From my limited experience I thought the ride was
well managed.
I have to say the food at the Turkey Trot is the best I have ever had at a
ride.  And this year management had entertaining servers who could make
carne asada tacos behind their backs and send the salsa flying into the
taco.
The weather was beautiful, cool in the morning and evenings and warm in the
mid day. The two previous years we were cold with rain one year. The views
from the trail were magnificent!  The Pacific Ocean to the west, Cuyamaca
Mountain to the east, the bluffs of Point Loma and the buildings of downtown
San Diego to the north, Mexico to the south.
This year we came early and had Thanksgiving at the park with my late
husbands family.  It proved to be a wonderful choose for all of us, no
memories to pain our hearts.  The camp ground OK, not the best lay out for
equestrian camping, but satisfactory with hookups (I did not have to turn on
the generator), lots of water, stalls, hot showers and even a dump station.
Rumor has it the park will be expanding soon and I hope they work on the
equestrian component.
This was a good ride for both Danielle and I.  Dani and Lyric are ready to
move up to 50's and Jazzi and I have some more homework to do.  I am
grateful for the happy memories we made and look forward to next year's
ride.
Nancy Reed
Lazy J Ranch
 in loving memory of Jerry Gradisher, 1961-2006
Elfin Forest (Hey it's raining again.  Were did that came from???)



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