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What a great story, Karen!

Barbara

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dream Weaver" <nvrider@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 10:23 AM
Subject: [RC] [RC] 20MT and Little Big Man 


> I had wanted to do the 100 really bad.  A couple of weeks before the 
> ride one of my horses got a snotty nose, so I had been really 
> watching Chief close and was worrying that he could be possibly 
> coming down with something.  On Friday I longed him in the sand arena 
> and he had more mucous in his nose than usual.  Combine that with the 
> weather conditions and the fact that he was body clipped and I had to 
> make the choice best suited for the horse, no matter how badly I had 
> really wanted to ride in the 100.  I had a lot of people in the 65 
> call me a weenie, but I figured that I was in good company :^).
>
> As it turned out, it worked out that way for a reason.  When Matt 
> caught up to me early in the ride Saturday and said that he needed a 
> sponsor I thought he was talking about him.  Then I looked back and 
> saw Colton.  That kid rides like a tick on a dog!  Matt told me that 
> his horse had fallen in a hole and was injured and he didn't think 
> he'd make it thru the first 15 mile check.  He told me how much 
> riding that Colton had done with Little Diego.  He called the vet 
> check on his cell phone to let everybody know and we made it into the 
> vetcheck where he did pull his horse.  They gave Colton the option of 
> continuing on, or not and he wanted to keep going.  His horse was a 
> bit buddied up with dad's horse and it took some effort on Colton's 
> part to keep the horse following mine instead.  Eventually Little 
> Diego became friends with Chief.  The thing that always amazes me 
> about our horses is how well they can adapt to different 
> situations.  Chief has never been the type of horse to get attached 
> to other horses, he doesn't like horses getting into his space, and 
> he especially does not like horses getting too close from 
> behind.  Well, on this day he was absolutely wonderful with the two 
> little guys (horse and rider) and didn't even make an ugly face when 
> Little Diego would rub on his side, or get up next to him from 
> behind.  In fact, on the numerous occasions when we'd have dozens 
> (literally) of m/c's, quads, dune buggies, you name it -- flying past 
> us we put the little guy right next to us right off of Chief's butt 
> and everyone stayed safe and calm.  A couple of times I did put Chief 
> out into the roadway and stopped the fast groups.
>
> All of the riders on the trail were really great with offering words 
> of encouragement.  Thanks!!  We made it into the 35 mile vetcheck, 
> and Colton decided he still wanted to continue on.  I put Matt's cell 
> phone # into mine, so anytime on the trail for the rest of the day we 
> had a low spot or an issue to deal with, I just simply called him and 
> talked to him or let him talk to his son.  Colton did a remarkable 
> job, he had low points and high points just like any endurance rider, 
> and he still chose to keep on going.  He was ready to go from the 
> last vetcheck before I was!
>
> When it got dark, Colton was never scared.  He kept talking about how 
> pretty the lights were, looking down on the city of Ridgecrest, and 
> the stars above.  It was a nice evening for a ride and we had plenty 
> of time that we didn't need to rush in so walked most of the last 7 
> or 8 miles in.  Chief was excellent about stopping or slowing in 
> front of any dips or ditches to let me know so that I could tell 
> Colton what was coming up.  I don't know if he even needed that, 
> Little Diego was taking care of him just fine.
>
> Had I the option, I would have headed back out after an hour break 
> and done the 35 mile loop and made Chief's reaching 5k miles by 
> riding 100 miles in a day.  I'm grateful for what I did get to do, 
> and am looking forward to many more wonderful rides on him :).  Maybe 
> even with Colton, though I have a feeling he'd really rather ride 
> with his dad!
>
> Karen
> in NV
>
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