Oroville... very wet, windy, trails very slick. I really slowed
down although I know the trails well, having done the ride before. We
finished the ride 17th, I think, about 3 hours after the winner. I
wouldn't have ridden it any differently, however, even though I finished 6th
place the last time I did it.
They have excellent management and tons of volunteers who were out in the
rain and wind with smiles on their faces and happily checking numbers and
directing us across roads and pointing us in the right direction. I do
believe there were a couple of accidents, however. Someone else may have
more info on that, as were didn't get back to camp until almost 5pm;
My only gripe is that the head vet had made the stops longer; the first
30min., the lunch a 1 hour hold, with tack off. I gather there were
problems last year with a few horses in trouble, but it was unseasonably HOT
last year. So, this year, the stops were lengthened. Here we are, at
an out vet check, trying to keep our horses warm, our saddles placed on the
ground in puddles, no place to put them off the ground or to keep our pads dry
or clean. It was raining hard now. As soon as we vetted in, put the
tack back on and throw whatever blankets, tarps whatever we had in our
bags. I had a hard time getting my saddle thrown up onto my horse as the
darned thing was so wet, I bet it weighed 15lbs. more than it would have if dry.
It was pretty miserable, although my horse ate the whole time. When
it was time to go, and i took off his blanket and waited for the out timer to
check my (wet) vet card, he started shivering. We all just wanted to head
on home and get out of the rain/wind. There was one more vet check on top
of the Oroville dam; very windy, horses trotting out with their heads
turned against the rain. A wonderful volunteer had brought furniture
moving blankets so we had something to throw on the horses. By this time,
it was biteingly cold and wet. This was a 20 min. stop. Finally on
to the finish and the trail was changed to get us on the road and off the actual
trail because it was so slick and scary. About 4 miles from the finish, my
horse's left front shoe was almost off. My friend that I was riding with
helped me straighten it enough to get an easyboot over it and we trotted slowly
to the finish. Got vetted in, horses blanketed, out of our sopping clothes
(gore-tex didn't keep me dry) loaded up, grabbed some dinner to-gp(it was
great!) and headed home. My horse was very happy to be home in
his warm barn. I am glad I went, but I think it was pretty tough going
for the horses as it was very slippery for them in many
places. Renie
