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Friday morning I loaded up both horses and headed off to the ride. We got a
good spot, right near the front of the trail heads. We set up camp and
saved spots for three other rigs. We vetted the horses in, then drove into
Carson City to eat dinner. Carol Randall rode my horse Rocky in the 50 and
she did a great job with him. Thanks Carol!!
Three a.m. on Saturday didn't come soon enough!!! I couldn't wait for the
alarm to go off <g>, I was so excited about riding 100 miles. I think I
*may* have slept three hours the night before. I got up and fed, and
started to get myself ready. I only had to come back to the trailer twice.
:-0 Once to get my sunglasses and again to get my helmet (dah). We had a 5
a.m. start and I had already decided to let everybody go and get out of site
before leaving camp. By the time I had my act together <g> everybody was
long gone!! So I started out up the hill slowly. We walked to start with
and on the parts that weren't real steep we jogged slowly. I eventually
caught up with Jennifer Heim and rode with her for awhile. I rode ahead a
little bit and got behind the Ribley's for awhile. We went thru the first
trot by and everybody's horses looked good. Jen and I continued on ahead
and our horses seemed to do well together. I was really working to keep
Weaver slowed down, but because there didn't seem to be anybody in front of
us <vbg> (read ahead!), he wasn't as anxious as normal to really move out.
We continued on for some time and were enjoying the trail when all of a
sudden people started riding up from behind us and just cruising right on by
- apparently the first 20 or so front runners had taken a wrong turn and had
gone almost an hour out of their way!!! I was on a team with three other
people and boy was I surprised to see Shirley Deslart (one of the members of
our team) behind me!! We kept getting passed by all of these people - ones
that are usually in the top ten. They were making good time, and I still
kept my horse slowed down as they all went by. He wanted to keep up
sooooooo bad - but I knew better! We stopped in the creeks to let the
horses drink and to sponge them down. Weaver was already trying to eat the
whole way. We made it into the first vet check - 32 miles. That has sure
gone by quickly. I felt really good at this point and was happy to see my
husband waiting for me near the in-timer. We had a vet check and a hold
here so I wanted to get that done asap so Weav could eat and rest. I walked
him straight into the P&R person and he had a 48 pulse - they said he had
the lowest pulse of any of the 100 miler horses at that point. When we went
to the vet from there he was at 40. Gosh, I wish I had sponged him off, he
probably would have really dropped! He ate well and was drinking all the
way, I already knew that we were going to finish!
I left this vet check in good spirits. We continued on thru the town of
Dayton - over the bridge and thru the signal in the middle of town. We
picked up the trail just past the cemetary and were on our way. I met up
with a girl named Chris and we rode together for awhile. She didn't think
her mare was quite right and she kept slowing back down behind us. Weaver
began a habit of getting ahead, then stopping to chow down on the grass till
the other horse would catch up. I didn't mind since I was not concerned
with placing, only to finish. Chris asked me if 'that was where Liana
lives' when we passed a sign that said "Liana's Ranch". I laughed and said
"no, that's a brothel" (some smart-ass trail marker did that!) haha Jen
later caught up with us and we rode the rest of the way together off and on
back into camp - the 49 mile point. I was already HALF WAY!!! Again, I
went right over to P&R and vet, so that my horse would have the entire break
to eat and since there was no vet line I figured better to do it now than
have him stuck in line later. We went straight thru the vet with straight
A's on everything :). Pretty good for being halfway, I thought. We were
almost last at this point. I was drinking plenty and eating Gu and fruit.
I mixed up some of my Thermo-T at this point - this stuff is GREAT - it kept
me going thru the entire ride without getting tired. On our way down the
hill into camp we passed some of the 100 miler horses who, quite frankly,
didn't want to go! I thought 'uh-oh, that's going to be us in an hour after
our hold'. Well, guess what, I was totally wrong about my horse! We left
after our vet check and hold and he wanted to GO-GO-GO!! The next closest
group ahead of me had left 25 minutes ahead, and in no time we caught up to
them. Weaver had never felt so good, he never looked back and he never
thought twice about going - I was quite surprised with how much energy and
enthusiasm he had. I caught up with the next group who just happend to be
two of the other members of my team - Claire Toomey and her friend Marcia.
I had a great time riding with them and really enjoyed myself :). Our
horses all seemed to do well together and we continued on for many many
miles together. It was nice to have such great company. We passed some
other riders here and there. One exciting momment occured when we were
riding along and apparently two riders ahead of us had disrupted a rattle
snake - and it was quite p.o.'d and coiled up ready to strike. It was
rattling and hissing and quite menacing looking, it had to have been
standing at least a foot high (though by the next morning the snake and
turned out to be six foot tall!) <vbg>. We gave him a nice wide berth!!
Then we were passed by several motorcycles, they covered us in dust. (like
we weren't dusty enough?). This is the loop where we got to ride over the
SOB's. They aren't so bad, though on one of the hills I had gotten off to
lead Weaver down and before I could get back on he started to go without me
and was quite literally dragging my full weight alongside with him. I
figured he'd be showing some signs of being tired by then, but he only
wanted to go more.
We made it back into camp all in a group - we were 75 miles. Already 3/4 of
the way done. Yeah!!! I still felt great. This time we only had a 40
minute hold which went by fairly fast. I had time to grab a jacket and my
flashlight and we were off. We began up the same hill again, and this time
we went all the way to the top - approx. 2500 foot of *up*. I left with
Claire and Marcia again and two other riders. We were bummed to come to the
water troughs halfway up the hill and find them empty. All of our horses
put their heads in the troughs, desperately searching for some H20. As we
continued further on up the hill, my horse felt really strong and wanted to
go, so I went on ahead of the other four riders and never saw them again.
Once I got up over the hill and far enough away from them Weaver seemed to
want to move out a little more - he stopped to drink several times (there
was lots of water on the trail) and was eating almost continually. It was
getting to be dusk and was cooling down and was windy up at the top of the
mountain. I still felt great, I wasn't tired or sore. In fact, about 85
miles into it I got off and ran downhill with him. As the sun was setting,
I watched a very LARGE object move across the trail up ahead of us. What
was THAT!! Hmmmmm. It turned out that there was a herd of cattle out there.
I'm just glad I came upon them before dark or it might have scared me half
to death!! I made it down off of the mountain and crossed the highway, then
got onto the last part of the trail that would bring us into camp. It was
now completely dark (read: no moon). I went merrily trotting along down the
trail and all of a sudden I came upon at least four other horses and riders
who appeared to be lost. Hmmmm. No way could you get lost on THIS trail I
thought. I thought maybe somebody got hurt or something. It turns out that
the farmer across the road was heavily watering his alfalfa crop and the
water had totally flooded our trail!!! It just completely disappeared under
water. There was no getting around because the sage was so thick, and the
horses weren't too happy about going thru the wet muddy mess which had been
a trail. It was a windy trail, and not a single glo-stick anywhere to find
our way by. So I volunteered 'my horse knows this trail he'll bring us back
to camp', and so they said 'well get in front'. So I did and picked up the
pace. They soon were yelling 'slow down'. I guess I didn't know I was
going so fast <g>. The trail kept disappearing and we had a hard time
maneuvering around the sagebrush and getting back onto the trail. Once we
got thru that part it was clear sailing, and we cruised the rest of the way
into camp. :). We had one more 15 minute hold and then had to go out for
(get this!) one more FOUR MILE loop in the sand around Washoe Lake. I went
over to P&R and vet right away and that 15 minutes went by real fast. I
still wasn't tired and my horse was showing no signs of tiring. I put a
rump roll on him, since it was windy and would be cold down by the beach.
We left on the last loop, and I went out right behind two other riders. I
wanted to pass them, but it was not easy to do so and they kept shining
their flashlights all around and blinding me so I just kept behind them
until we got past the deep sand at the beach, then I got around them and
trotted on up ahead. Weaver felt great, here he was about to finish his
first 100 miler and he was trotting with as much energy and bounce in his
gait as when we started!! I came into the finish line and my husband was
there to great me - Weaver was quite aware that he was finished and began
whinnying - it was too cool. I was sad that it was over. I was having way
too much fun for this to be over!!
We vetted thru and were done by about 10:30. My ride time was 14:27 and we
were 20th place out of 39 completors. 52 horses started. All four members
of my team finished. I was probably the only iffy one on the team <vbg>,
being the only one who had not done a 100 miler before. Shirley ended up
winning and getting reserve BC :). Weav went 100 miles in a sports
saddle and his back has never looked better! I'm not sore at all, I can't
believe how good I feel.
I thought it was a great ride. There were lots of hills, and rocks, but it
wasn't so bad - it was challenging but it wouldn't have been worth doing if
it were easy, right? <g> A 100 MILER IS TWICE AS MUCH FUN AS A 50 (right
Julie?). If anybody out there is contemplating your first 100 - don't let
anybody scare you off by telling you how hard it is. Give it a try. :-)
We used easy boots on this ride. I took them off yesterday (Sunday) and his
heels are absolutely perfect. I had a lot of people ask me about heel
straps rubbing. Nope!!! Just use vetwrap and the entire foot will look as
good as new. Rocky did the 50 with boots too. I'm really glad we used them
as there were a lot of rocks.
Happy Trails,
Karen
& Dream Weaver 700 miles
& Rocky 100 miles :)
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