Re: Equine Endurance Thrills

[Jennifer Heim <JHEIM@gunder.com>]

As I have just come back from a wicked long business trip, I can tell
you just RIDING is a major thrill!  After two solid months of rain, mud
and gully-washes, just seeing blue sky from the back of a spring-fevered
horse is a THRILL AND A HALF!!

Seriously, what I enjoy most about endurance is just being out with my
horse in some country we haven't seen before.  Like loping thru the
redwoods at Fireworks in Santa Cruz.  Or climbing and climbing at Castle
Rock to be rewarding with awe-inspiring views of the beach and shale
cliffs.  Or working our way around cactus and Joshua trees in a desert.
Or at Death Valley this year, coming over the hill and seeing the Trona
Pinnacles (Jackie B, you're right, it does look like a moonscape) and
having your breath literally taken away.  The time we rode Mustang
Classic with the Hale Bopp Comet promising us a great ride (portents of
doom, my dimpled butt).  Or at Washoe Valley, where after miles of
rocks, I still found enjoyment in an eye-catching rock formation.  Or
even a local ride, where I can be at the top of a hill and say to Sunny,
"look over there, big guy, that's where you were raised at Virl Norton's
- and over there was our first endurance ride, and there's our training
grounds down the valley and here we are on our first competitive trail
event."  Or my favorite, when Sun and I did the old Western States 50 as
his second ride ever and he was ripping down the California Loop in the
pitch black like it was his ol' stomping grounds; and peeking over "the
edge" to see the moonlight reflecting off the American River.

Mile chevrons, placing, point standings, maybe some day, but right now
I'm just enjoying Good Old Mother Earth with a horse that enjoys it as
much as me.

Thanks for reminding me why I do this (as I pay my trailer repair bill
from it getting tossed by a funnel cloud)
Jen & the Sunman

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