Well last year I kinda did that, in reverse.
Since I had been off all summer with a hurt back from a fall, we hadn't done any
rides since April .The AERC National Championship 100 ride was coming up, and I
wanted to be sure my back would hold up. So we went to Indian Territory and
entered the 25 mile LD, which was only 12 days before the NC ride.
They started the 50's and the LD's at the same
time, as it was an elevator Ride. We just rode along in and out of groups with
several riders up to the 17 mile mark,when it turned out they were all 50's, and
just doing a trot by, and I was into the first vet check all by ourselves. Talk
about a weird feeling. It turned out we were in first place, although we didn't
know that until we met a spotter on the second/last loop. .
We just cruised the last 8 miles and still finished
in first place. I was embarrassed, as Piper was a Top 10 OD 100 horse and
finished Tevis in the top 35 the year before. In our defense, our
"winning" time was 3:22. So obviously, we were not going blazing fast. We
were just riding our own ride at our own pace, and would have done exactly that
speed no matter what other horses were doing at that ride.
We did not stand for BC, even though Piper looked
great, as I felt that should be more for people starting out newer
horses.
It turned out to be a great tune-up for the NC 100,
and we did fine there.
Paul N. Sidio
KMA Chazz Piper (Who loves LD's!! We should do more
of these and be done by lunch!!, Forget this riding all day and far into the
night stuff)
