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Twenty Mule Team was probably doomed before it even began for Kat that 
Friday before we left home.  We wanted to be on the road by noon and 
neither of us even got to the barn until after one PM.  Then there we 
things we needed to attend to with our other horses before we could 
concentrate on getting packed up and on the road.  Kat plowing into the 
back of my pick up with hers didn't help matters any either (rather 
humorous accident, but that will have to be told over a bottle of 
scotch).  We finally got on the freeway to head out of LA just as rush 
hour began, about quarter to 4.  Once off the main interstate we got 
stuck behind a big rig and had to crawl our way into Ridgecrest.  We 
pulled into the fairgrounds literally within minutes of the start of 
the ride meeting, so I went to the meeting while Kat unloaded Twiggy 
from the trailer.  After the meeting we vetted Twig in and got 
everything arranged for the next day.  Kat's plan was to try and ride a 
10 MPH ride in the hopes of finishing before the moon went down.  Since 
there wasn't a full moon for this ride everyone who did this last year 
learned that it really gets DARK out there - Kat included.  So she 
really wanted to be done by 10:30 when the sliver of moon we had would 
disappear.  Well, that was the plan.

Had a wonderful night's sleep and got up about 4:45AM.  I discovered 
the night before that old age is finally beginning to hit as I managed 
to leave home, for the first time, without soap, brush, toothbrush or 
toothpaste.  So, when I jumped up in the morning to run to the bathroom 
to 'take care of business' I managed to beg some toothpaste for my 
finger and a comb for my hair.  We got Twig saddled and Kat fed and off 
they went.  As soon as the start began I unhooked the truck from the 
trailer and took off for Vet 1.  I saw a fellow in an RV pull out 
before me and he soon pulled over to let me by.  Little did I know that 
with that kind gesture I was now the first person out there.  I 
remembered the road to Vet 1 from last year, and just kept going along 
expecting to see rigs already there.  The RV was behind me for awhile, 
but he turned back when the road started getting rough.  I mean tire 
popping, axle breaking rough.  But I kept going.  I kept telling myself 
that I didn't remember the road being quite that rough, but maybe they 
had some bad rains out there.  And I kept going.  For 4 miles I kept 
going.  I kept going even when I saw little pink ribbons (benignly 
thinking it was nice of them to put trail markers up for us).  It was 
now 7 AM and I still hadn't come to Vet 1.  I stopped and looked at the 
directions and they said it was about 15 miles to Vet 1 from the 
fairgrounds.  Well, I'd gone 17 miles.  Oops.  Needless to say I turned 
around and went back.  Pulled into Vet 1 about 7:20 and got out to a 
fellow wagging his finger at me saying he'd a kept following me if the 
road had let him (he was in the RV).  A couple other guys kind of 
laughed at me, but I have to admit I drove right by the vet check.  The 
only things out there were the 2 water troughs and I could not see them 
when I drove by.  Shoot, the hay and porta potty hadn't been delivered 
yet and I was late!  Truth be told I was having fun out there and if it 
weren't for Kat I'd have continued on down that road.  We weren't 
expecting anyone until 8, and right about 7:30 Jeremy Reynolds came 
into view.  Hot on his tail were the two girls, Joyce and (darn, the 
name starts with a J - Jennifer ... Janet ... whatever.  The other J).  
Low and behold about 10 minutes after Jeremy came Kat.  I was not 
expecting that.  I had everything ready.  I just wasn't prepared to see 
her so soon.  Twig looked great.  She drank and ate and went through 
the trot out without any trouble.  In 15 minutes Kat was back on board 
and on her way.

Off to Vet 2 - you can't get lost going to Vet 2.  You can, however, be 
going down the highway too fast to make the turn off and have to turn 
around and come back (I do this every year).  I was the second person 
there this time.  I helped unload the crew bags after I got Kat's stop 
set to go.  Hay, water and the porta potty finally arrived.  We gabbed 
a little and next thing you know there's Jeremy with the two J's just a 
couple minutes behind.  Kat had slipped to 17 minutes behind Jeremy, 
but she was still a good 30 minutes in front of the next person.  Twig 
looked great.  She ate and drank.  After 20 minutes we took her to the 
vet out and she passed with flying colors.  She ate and drank well for 
the rest of the hour.  We cleaned her up, re-saddled and off Kat went.  
So, off to Vet 3.

Got to Vet 3 without any problems.  Sat and talked with people whose 
names I can never remember (but that's OK because they can never 
remember mine).  Before you know it, in comes Jeremy and the J-girls 
hot on his heels.  I helped Jeremy with his crew bag again and held his 
horse for him.  I didn't like the looks of one of the J-girl's horses.  
Walking funny.  Sure enough she got pulled.  About 15 minutes after 
Jeremy left Kat came into view.  Twig looked good.  She drank, but she 
was picking at her food.  What she really wanted was to roll.  We were 
next to a pile of sand and she was trying desperately to go down and 
roll.  We bandied the idea of pulling her tack and letting her roll, 
thinking she would eat then, but we really didn't have a good way to 
wash all the sand off and didn't want to risk putting the saddle back 
on a sandy back.  Twig vetted through just fine, so Kat just got on 
when her 15 minutes was up and left.  It was only something like 8 
miles back to the fairgrounds for the second hour hold and we'd let 
Twiggy roll there.

We were parked next to Jeremy and Heather, so when I got back to the 
fairgrounds I was a little shocked to see Jeremy already there.  He was 
having a little trouble getting his horse to eat, so I tried enticing 
him with 'strangers' hay.  That didn't work.  We tried a couple other 
things that didn't work and finally gave him a dose of appetite 
stimulant (glycogen loader - karo syrup works too, in case you're  
wondering).  In 15 minutes he was scarfing down his food and passed the 
vet check with flying colors.  Jeremy was out the gate at the end of 
his hour hold just as Kat came in - still in third place.  Twig looked 
good.  She pulsed down in a couple minutes, we got our time, and went 
back to the truck.  We took her tack off and cleaned her up, but she 
really didn't want to eat and she only drank a little.  She was pooped. 
 We gave her some glycogen and watched her.  Next thing you know the P 
and R lady was coming over telling us we needed to get our time.  Well, 
she gave us our time, but she forgot to write it down.  It was time for 
us to vet Twig through.  Twig was tired, but we were hopeful the 
glycogen would get her eating.  Just as we were about to enter the vet 
area Twig pooped and it was really dry with a hint of blood on a few of 
the balls.  Kat and I looked at each other and Kat said Twig wasn't 
going on.  We took Twig over to the vets and told them Twig was done 
because of what we saw in her poop.  She was vetted through and passed 
the check.  The vets said to take her back and let her rest and eat and 
decide later if the pull was for real.  Kat got one of the vets to go 
over to the poop and the vet said it was nothing to be worried about - 
probably just something she ate irritating her colon, and there wasn't 
enough blood there to be bothered about.  Kat stayed and talked to the 
vet while I took Twig back to the truck.  Just as I tied her up she let 
me know she wanted to roll.  Kat came back then and we decided to take 
her to the arena where it was soft.  Hard as a rock, so we went back to 
the soft vet area.  Twig dropped like a stone and promptly fell asleep! 
 That got a good laugh from everyone and Kat reemphasized that Twig 
would not be going back out.  After a few minutes we got her up and 
took her back to the truck.  Twig laid down again and just slept.  She 
was in and out of her snooze for a hour (sternal the whole time) when 
she finally rolled over prone.  She was flat on her side for a couple 
of minutes when the vet came back over.  It was decided to get Twig up 
to get her eating, so much to Twig's dismay we made her stand up.  She 
wouldn't eat.  Kat made the decision to have fluids administered as a 
precaution.  While the vet went to get treatment Twig started eating 
and she didn't stop until we put her in the trailer the next morning.  
Even though Twig was eating, Kat had the saline administered.  After 17 
liters Twig peed, but a full 21 liters were given.  Twig drank another 
20 gallons of water during the night and peed and pooped up a storm.  
Twiggy never showed any signs of distress.  She was just very tired.  
She's been home a week and she's still eating up a storm.

Jeremy finished first with a ride time of 9 hours and 21 minutes (I 
like to think I had a hand in that :-)

Maybe next year.  Oh, and I'm driving around in some POS Dodge Journey 
while the bumper on my truck gets fixed (thanks, Kat)

Tori 
     


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