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This year all the grass in camp had gone to seed, so there were foxtails
*everywhere*. I think everybody spent the first day picking foxtails out of
their socks and clothing! By the second day, most of them had been picked
up <g>, or trampled so it wasn't so bad. Though I'm still picking them out
of the puppy! The ridecamp at this ride is huge, in the Spenceville Reserve
near Nevada City, California. There are plenty of big trees for shade and a
creek that runs alongside one end of the camp.
The trail on this ride is also very nice. It's not very challenging, but it
is a lot of fun to ride. There are very few rocky sections, plenty of water
and some good trail. Lots of gradual rolling hills, nice views and some
excellent footing. The loops all go in and out of base camp. We ride past
a shooting range on the first loop.
The morning of the ride, everything went well. Dorthy and I tacked up and
warmed our horses up, went to the ride meeting and then warmed the horses up
some more. We were able to actually walk them thru camp in the middle of
all the commotion and both horses did really well! We gave our numbers and
then walked the horses back into camp to warm up some more. By the time the
ride started we weren't at the start so our horses didn't get excited when
the front runners blasted off. They do go fast at this one!! We then
calmly walked over and started out the ride at a nice trot. The horses did
lope in between trotting, which was okay because the terrain was suitable
for it, and we didn't let them go fast.
On the first loop, Rocky slipped on a rock in the creek and it tore off some
old proud flesh on an old wound and started to bleed. Oh no!! We checked
it out and it didn't seem to bother him, so we continued on. He felt great!
I was really pleased with how he was doing. He was drinking well, even
stopping to pee while other horses passed!, his heart rate stayed at 120 or
below on that loop, and as we walked into camp he was already at 60 before
sponging or pulling tack! I thought we were having a really great ride.
Then we went thru the vet check. Well, almost....Rocky got pulled because
of the cut on his leg. Darn!! He was perfectly sound and it didn't bother
him one bit but the vet must have thought it could get worse so told us we
weren't going on <sigh>.
Lucky for Dorothy!! She now had another crew person <g>. So did Pat. I
also helped give out completion awards for a couple of hours - a job that my
husband Dave and Otis do very well :). As soon as Pat came in, I abandoned
ship to help her crew. She came in 9th place!! After I finished helping
her I went over to Dorothy's trailer and set up for her to come in.
Dorothy's sister Barbara drove out to the out vet check to help Dorothy
there. I figured that since my horse didn't get to use all that nice cool
sponging water, somebody else might as well! So I brought buckets of water
and sponges over for Elly, and a haybag and got everything ready for them to
come in.
A big King snake took up residence at the horse water trough in camp. Guess
he scared the e-b-g-b's out of a few people <g>. We never did see him but I
kept an eye out just the same!!
At the finish line at least two riders took head dives. I wasn't there for
the first one. Two riders were racing for the finish line. One of the
horses saw the line and stopped right there. The rider didn't. She was
okay, but went flying off right over the top of the horse. The second
riders horse crossed the creek and came upon the other side, either slipping
or else it reared - hard to tell from where we were - she landed sideways
and right on her head. You could hear her helmet smash - not a good sound
at all. She was a little shaken up, I went to check her out (I'm an EMT).
I haven't been to a ride yet this year where somebody wasn't hurt - and
can't tell you how many times helmets have saved riders heads. Just an
observation...
Completion awards for everybody were sweatshirts. You would be amazed at
the # of people crossing the finish line who ask what they look like. What
difference does it make what it looks like <vbg>; it's your's - here TAKE
IT!!! It's too darn hot to put one on and model it, though I'm sure Otis
would have done that if anybody had asked him to :). hehe
The BBQ dinner was excellent. Tri-tip with all the fixings - beans, salad,
bread. As soon as we ate, we packed up and headed home. I've been keeping
Rocky's cut clean and medicated. It doesn't bother him, and doesn't look
like much of anything all cleaned up. I hope this new stuff I am using on
it will keep any more proud flesh from forming. I would hate for something
like this to happen again. I suppose I should be happy that I didn't get
pulled for something really serious, right? As somebody told me, we all
have good days and bad days in this sport. Some things are supposed to
happen, and some things aren't supposed to happen, but they do. So DEAL
with it, right? No whining allowed!!! :-0
Happy Trails,
Karen
& Rocky 100 miles...still
& Weaver 700 miles :-)
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