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Sometimes it's hard to have a riding partner that likes to go a different
(read: slower) pace than you and it's really hard when that person has some
pull over you (read: is your mom).
But I fixed that problem this weekend at the Bankhead ride - if you go fast
enough one or all of the following happen and prevent the whole "let's slow
down" situation a)she's too busy trying to keep Embers from running away
with that she can't complain about the pace b) she is too concerned about
passing me (Tony, early in the ride, is liable to *explode* if Embers passes
him)and causing fatal injuries to her first born to complain c) the gravel
flying from Tony's hooves prevents her from opening her mouth to talk much
<g> and d) the wind noise is too great for me to hear her anyway :-))
I have to backtrack a little to explain why the pace at this ride was sooooo
fast (we completed in 4h 45min and were still 14 and 15 out of 19!!).
We arrived early on Friday as I was to help Samm and Charles (new ride mgr)
with registration etc if they needed it. This ride has been happening in one
form or another for...what, over 20 years, right, Joe? Anyway, like any
long-running ride I suppose it's had its ups and downs over the years and
we were all really hoping to make this a great ride (read: hoping to show
off the pretty new trails).
The forecast was calling for some storms to move in later in the evening but
then move on out by morning - no problem, right - I mean this is the SE
where rain is a *requirement* for a ride....Anyway, Charles and I had
already discussed the possiblity of moving the ride to the Forest Service
gravel roads if we got a gulley washer as these trails are relatively new
and they don't just get muddy they get downright boggy and awful with heavy
rain. Charles had pie plates, ribbons, and help on standby to do just that
as neither of us wanted to put riders on a bad trail OR leave the trail a
mess and leave the FS with a bad taste for endurance riders.
About 5:30p.m. the rain started - you know the kind of rain that makes you
slow down to about 15 mph when you're driving? Well that's what it did
almost non-stop till 4 the next morning complete with some sound effects and
lightening. (Turns out we were lucky in just getting rain at the camp - this
storm produced several tornadoes all over North AL). Thank goodness for
tarps and waterproof turn-out rugs and tents that don't leak (we couldn't
believe it either <g>)!!! It's just amazing how home-y you can make the
inside of a trailer when you have to.
By the time it had rained a few hours and I knew the trail would be
re-routed we decided not to ride - didn't want to risk road founder,
bruising, etc....I didn't even set my alarm to get up - figured we would
just go out and ride ourselves (Bankhead is home turf for us) and then go
home. Dunno what happened but at 4:30 when I woke up and the rain had
stopped I began thinking "we could just start and see how it goes" "maybe
the side of the road is soft" etc....By 5:00 I woke my mom up and said
change of plans....I also contributed to the delinquency of fellow "we're
not going to ride on the road'ers" by loaning out one of my
easyboots....Hey, if you're gonna go down might as well take some with you
:-)) They finished 8th and 9th - *that'll* teach me to loan out my stuff <vbg>
So....here we were at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday with a few riders registered,
some not registered, none vetted in, no ride meeting as were all squirreled
away wherever we could be that was dry Friday nite, and a trail that needed
to be quickly re-routed. Talk about a prime situation for chaos!!! However
Charles is a cool cucumber - by the time he was walking around camp telling
folks we would be up on the roads and vet in would start in about half an
hour the trail re-routing was being handled and Samm was working on getting
ready for a wild morning of getting us all our vet cards and sending us out
(so we could come right back cause that's what we do, right, Samm?? <g>).
Riding on the road is nobody's idea of a real good trail, especially mine -
however, the morning turned out clear and beautiful, camp and the check area
drained well so there was virtually no mud, and the edges of the road were
reasonably soft - at least until about noon when everything resorted back to
almost concrete. No one complained about having to ride 25 or 50 miles on
the road - we were all just glad to not have sprouted scales and gills overnite.
The pace was blistering as you can well imagine (the race was won in 3H
1min!) - Since Embers has not had a tremendous amt of riding since last fall
as I have been riding Tony and Rosemary (mom) has been busy we decided to
start out together and if she wanted to slow down she would.
At Long Leaf last year she would get me to stop by saying she needed water
<g> - I figured on this ride if we went fast enough we would be back at camp
before she got thirsty - and it worked!! :-)) We did the each of the first 2
16 mile loops in 1h 20 minutes each - which is cruising for me and screaming
fast for my mom :-)
An aside about rest and the endurance horse - I am now in awe of what rest
can do for the endurance horse and how well they maintain conditioning once
they have a good base. Case in point is Embers - he is 10 years old, has 800
miles on him (most quite slow) - was ridden/competed consistently last year
but has been ridden on what I would call conditioning rides only about 3
times this spring - was ridden a time or two in January yet he came thru
this ride like he was in major conditioning - looked and felt great, breezed
thru the vet checks, dropped very little weight, etc - that's amazing to me.
The same cannot be said of my mom, however :-)
Anyway, back to the ride....the third loop was a repeat of Loop #2 - you
haven't been bored till you've done the same gravel road loop back to
back!!! we were bored, the horses were bored and they keep trying to tell us
camp was back that way :-)) Pace was slightly slower (just under 2H) on this
loop due to boredom and worries about them getting footsore from the
surface. However, by slowing down the wind noise diminished enough for me
hear my mom's faint pleas of "I'm tired now" and "If I had done the LD I
would be done" etc...so I made us pick up a canter again :-). However, this
time I made sure *I* was first to cross the line :-))
The equithotics really came thru on this ride - course many other horses
completed just fine in steel shoes but I sure felt better as were pounding
out the miles knowing I had the eq. on. Several folks put easyboots over
shoes which seemed to work well also.
We and the horses came thru fine - the day was just beautiful. We had some
great volunteers doing everything at this ride - including *the vets* who
donated their time as this was a benefit ride for SERA. And, no one
complained about the impromptu vet-in before the ride ("trot your horse down
the road - okay, looks fine <g>) and the sort of willy-nilly registration
("where's my vet card" "can I ride before I've paid since my checkbook is
back at camp" "who's doing registration", "which way does the first loop go"
etc...). So..the morning was a little hairy but the rest of the day was great!!
This was the first time where I've really had any involvement in (unless you
count running into a tree in Auburn, AL while down there helping clear
trail....<g>) and I must say I enjoyed knowing that I helped in a small way
on this ride and will definitely help again!
(All my worries of someone getting lost on the loop my mom and I marked were
not even necessary since the monsoon caused us to re-route....<g>)
Hope everyone who stayed away due to the weather shows up next year - we
sure did have to eat a bunch of extra hot dogs so they wouldn't be left over
;-))
Tina, Rosemary (mom), Tony & Embers, Andy (dog)
hickst@nichols.com
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