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I leave for the ride on Thursday evening after work--well, I left work,
got home and saw fire trucks, amublances, my husbands truck parked at a
funny angle in the drive way, and a van parked on my mother-in-law's dog
wood tree in the front yard!! this is not a good way to start THIS
weekend!! Everyone is fine, ,someone lost control of the van,, ran
through one side of my pasture, and out the other side taking out 1/2 my
fence at teh same time. The horses sensed freedom and just in the nick of
time, Lance--wonderful hubby--showed up to keep them in. whew!!
By then,, my really good friends Kathy adn Daniel show up,, assess the
situation--which is we are NOT going anywhere til the fence is fixed--and
we got it done . Now, on to the ride!!!
The rest of the weekend has to go better right?
On Friday, I am casually registering people. NO problems...where are the
vet cards? Luckily Charles lives very close by. HE goes to get them.
Then, the bottom fell out of the sky. I heard later that at least 4 maybe
5 tornadoes touched down near by. It stormed all night--believe me when I
say ALL NIGHT!! I slept very little in my tent--dry yes, but scared of
being taken off to Dorothy's Oz!!
I woke up sometime early in the AM to the sound of...NOTHING!! YES!
Now, the work starts. I run around camp informing everyone that has not
yet heard---we will register all who need to at the vet check. Vet
check the horses, meeting about the trail, and release from there.
I go there to start the paperwork. OK, things are going great
now!!--NOT!! dang it. My timer--the great and wonderful Nancy Gooch is
not there yet. So Brian Bourne--also great and wonderful--starts the
ride. ONce we got everyone out of camp, and I was just starting to get
majorly into my nervous breakdown--I mean, we can do without lots of
things, but doing without Nancy is a major problem!!!--Nancy drives up
with Jackie Mitchel, her very capable timing sister!! GREAT!! the ride
went great!! No hazzards, no lost people, plenty of hot dogs, danishes,
coffee . Not much work for the farrier!!:-) No horses treated, and an
awesome race off at the finish. Actually lots of awesome race offs!! I
like that, especially since I was the finish line timer!!
SERA netted over 800.00, and since this was our only fundraiser for the
year, it was very welcome!!!
I am extremely thankful to Charles Borden for making this all possible in
the first place. Tina and mom for their work on marking trails--even if
we didn't get to use them:-(!!, all three vets who volunteered ALL their
time and expenses--Jon Warren, head from Tn., Duane Barnett from NC, and
Patricia Harrop from Tn. We could not have made money without those
donated services!!! Nancy Gooch and Jackie Mitchel the two timing sisters
from heaven!! All my wonderful volunteers--Charles's crew and
family, Danny Lane, Alex Rockwell, Daniel Padgett, and of course my best
friend Kathy Bauer!! Yes, there are many, many more .I can't remember them
all, but without the volunteers, there would be very few rides!! Thanks
guys.. I still wish some one had given me something for that damn nervous
breakdown that I swear I had all night Friday night and part of Sat
morning, but I guess I survived it alright anyway. I owe lots of people
lots of debt of gratitude for this!!!
APPY TRAILS
SAMM C. BARTEE
Auburn, Al. SE Region
with
SIR REVEL--1305 miles and........!!!
B JETS WAR EAGLE--endurance wannabe
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