Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Checking the horses upon arising Friday morning we discovered Macproof was a bit droopy.  As he was CeCi’s mount for the 100 we started scrambling on what to do.  Should we drop him back to the 50, should we scratch him entirely???   We had an extra horse with us, Tarzan, who was being delivered to his new owner (and part of our crew) Kate Burnett.  We asked, and a very generous Kate agreed to let him go in the 50 under Elizabeth Martin/Houston.  CeCi changed to DJB Juniper in the 75, Enrique took DJB Fantasia in the 50, and Carol Bracewell took DJB Boomer in the 50, leaving Deborah Sterling on DJB Cherrys Juliet and me on Mercy as the only ones on our original horses.  Of course this called for saddle readjustments and all sorts of stuff.

 

After confusing the heck out of ride management, Cheryl Newman, who was wonderful by the way… we got all of the entries done and started vet checking the horses.  The veterinarians expressed concern about the horses attempting it barefooted, but we assured them we did have boots if needed.

 

Cheryl had sent out an e mail warning us all about some new bluestone gravel that had recently been put on about a mile of road.  I really wanted to drive up to that area and take a look at it and the edge of the road to see how it could be handled by our barefooted horses, but I just didn’t have enough time.  The ride meeting started at 5:30 and with weigh ins and such, we just barely made it there.   Since we were riding the longer distances, CeCi and I were a bit concerned about this gravel road, and CeCi momentarily considered putting on front shoes, however, judgment prevailed and we both fitted our easy boots and Easyboot gloves & placed them on the saddle in case we needed them.  All 6 horses started barefooted.

 

see Part 3 B