Okmulgee Cougar Prowl

[George McGraw <georgem@computrac.com>]

Okmulgee Cougar Prowl
Okmulgee, OK  -- March 7, 1998


Several deer and lots of rain soaked riders were sighted but the Cougars
stayed in their lairs for this year's Prowl. The weatherman did not
cooperate for the Tenth  annual running of Prowl. Those hearty souls who
did ride experienced the "joy" of riding on a cold and rainy day. It's
rides like this that remind us of the high you get from finishing a
tough event.

Ride Manager Louise Burton sent out the 29 starters for the 50-mile ride
at 8 am. The rain started halfway through the first loop and kept up
throughout most of the day. Featherweight Shelley Bridges, riding
Windswift Baruk, was first across the line with a time of 5:03. While
the rain slowed the pace somewhat the overall winning time was a full 20
minutes faster than 1997. Windswift Baruk was awarded Best Condition and
also received the highest Veterinary score. Louise Sheridan was only a
minute behind on Forward Motion, placing second in her first 50 using a
borrowed (seasoned) horse. The top ten was rounded out by: first
Middleweight Kitty Proctor/Ibn Rhesadd Halim 5:47, Kathleen
Prescott/Jazz Barr Star 5:48, first Lightweight Patti Crawford/Sassy
5:52, Margie Burton/Rococco Zoso 5:53, first Heavyweight & first time
TT'er Paul Bryan/Shaikh Al Paso 6:14, Bob Kurtz/Spit 6:48, first Junior
Jesse Burton/Farah Lena 6:49 and Karen Beason/Luke 7:23. There were 21
finishers with the turtle award going to Mike Jaffe, riding his wife's
mule Coyote, in a time of 9:55.

There were thirteen starters and nine finishers of the 25 mile Limited
Distance ride. Ulama Arabesque, ridden by Featherweight Patsy Hoffman
from Canton, TX, was first to reach the 60 criteria in a time of 3:25.
AK Rafadi ridden by James McDonald was awarded BC for the ride.