I took my youngster, Rocky. He's starting to 'get it' and actually stands
still for P&R's now. ;^) I did have one problem with him. The neighbors
next to us had their horses on the same side as mine...and so all night
long Rocky kept bumping into the metal corral panels..he was moving them so
they could be closer. I finally got irritated enough with him that I tied
him to the trailer and guess what...not a peep. Now I could listen to the
barking and howling dogs without interference!!! So I only slept about 40
minutes...that's still 40 minutes more than I used to!
The ride itself was extremely enjoyable..the trail had excellent footing
and it was a fairly easy ride with mostly level terrain and the hills were
gradual. The winning time was around four hours and some change...won by
Dave Rabe (on Port)...and bringing up the rear was John Collier (with a few
minutes to spare!). As far as who got BC..dunno...we left. The dinner
started at 5 and we left at 8 and they weren't that far yet <sigh>...I had
to get home to feed. Maybe somebody else can post the results?
The first loop was 30 miles. There were two water stops along the way, but
nothing for the horses to eat. Rocky has just been learning to eat earlier
on in a ride so this wasn't really good for a training experience for him.
He still had a B on gut sound at the lunch stop. The second loop was
twenty miles and again there were two spots for water for the horses, and
no food. I was really worried about not having any food on the trail the
entire time because at the lunch stop Rocky only ate a few handfuls of hay
and some carrots. He did eat a couple more carrots out on the trail but
normally I don't ride that far without them some food. As it turned out
everything was okay...lucky for me this horse is a great drinker so he
finished the ride with all A's and one B (gut sounds)...and then went to
work eating :-))). This was the first ride where I was able to administer
electrolytes to him with a syringe (and he got them all). I had given up
fighting with him at rides and started working with him at home....so now
we are finally getting somewhere.
We were surprised to see so many tired looking horses. We saw two horses go
down after the ride. They turned out to be okay, just extremely tired or
maybe upset tummies (?)...I think that some may not have been drinking
early enough into the ride, or because it was an easy ride maybe people
went too fast. It was a fairly warm day and a lot of the horses are
getting pretty furry this time of year.
I rode with Sharon and her horse Wes most of the ride. We had a really
good time...on the first loop her horse took a spill and skinned up his
knees. It was a good thing she had a helmet on, or she could have really
been hurt. Wes was able to finish the ride and was fine other than he has
a little hair missing.
We were trotting along at one point, everything was going nice and smooth.
Then suddenly....we went around this big tree and on the other side of it
was an old freezer (monster) and when Rocky saw that thing he jumped on top
of the horse next to him for protection. <sorry> I guess he wasn't the only
horse to do that...what a surprise though.
The completion award was a plastic picture frame. They had a ride
photographer so you could buy your picture to go with it if you wanted.
Happy Trails,
Karen
in Gardnerville
& Rocky...200 miles
& Weaver...who hates to be left home alone ;-0