CFW <ride story>

[DreamWeaver <karen@chaton.gardnerville.nv.us>]

We had a really good time at the Camp Far West ride this weekend. It is in
(near?) Grass Valley, California.  I can't tell anybody who won, got BC, or
even how many horses there were, though I'm sure there were well over 100,
and I think 80 or 90 just in the 50 alone.  Maybe somebody else has that
info.  There were lots of ridecampers there...several of us put the "@"
sign on our horses...so out on the trail we can all go "who are you?"...the
rest of the riders have no clue!! hehe  Some of the ones I remember were
Jennifer and Sunman...Nick & Shatta....Chris, Tammy, Karen, Dorothy Foster,
Ramey...I know there were others.  

Guess what!! After <only-haha> 15 rides, I think the horse has it figured
out!!!!!  From the start everybody would say "he just needs more time, give
him a few rides".....ugh....so then a few rides would go by and I'd still
be wondering...how many more?  Not that he was ever dangerous, he was just
a handful and everything got him all snorty and prancy <sigh>.  So if you
are out there working with a young horse and you don't seem to be making
any progress...just keep working on it and be patient!!  It does seem to
take forever <boy did it ever>...but now I think my guy has turned into a
real endurance horse!! :-)))

We had a beatiful day for the ride. The sun was out, and it was warm enough
to start with just a t-shirt on.  The start is a little hairy...that many
horses going all at once down a gravel dirt road for a couple of miles,
then you cross a bridge and head off onto a trail.  The footing on the
trail was really good...lots of grass so you had to be careful not to have
to decelerate too quickly....especially when you came upon one of the many
mud bogs.  This was the first ride where I decided to ride Rocky with a
vosal.  He tends to want to really round out, which gave me the feeling
early on that if I wasn't careful he wouldn't need much more rein to get
his head down enough to try and pitch me off.  But he never even thought
about it, so we got thru the very start and within  couple of miles we were
going nice and calmly down the trail.  cool!  His highest rate at the start
got up to 149...and the remainder of the ride was 120 or less.  At the
first couple of water stops he stopped and drank while other horses passed
us!! I had to keep checking to make sure I was on the right horse.  He even
got fender-bendered by the horse behind him and didn't even threaten to
kick...just moved out of the way.  We made it back into camp, approximately
23 miles and 2 1/2 hours later <flat, easy trail>...and vetted right away.
Lucked out without a long line this time.  Horse looked good, except vet
gave him a C+ on hydration!!  What!! This horse was drinking all
along....so that was a surprise.  

After lunch I decided to slow down a little bit.  It was getting a lot
warmer, and humid. Something we aren't used to AT ALL.  Rocky felt a little
hot, but his HR was staying at a steady 105, which I figured was more than
adequate for the speed that we were going.  I would stop at a creek and
sponge him down and he'd recover really well so I didn't think we were
going too fast.  Rocky HATES to have water poured on his neck...he just
hates it.  Sponging, on the other hand, is perfectly okay.  In fact, he
likes that.  I did manage to get a whole bottle of water poured on him
once, without all four hooves coming off of the ground...so maybe we are
making some progress.  (he needs 15 more rides to get used to that!)  We
went into the last vet check...which was really just a P&R check with a
trot out.  He came in at 56...I think the criteria was 68.  The last part
was only 6 miles, with a few hills thrown in, nothing too difficult.  We
finished, waited our hour in line (haha--talk about slow!!) <sigh>...to vet
thru and he completed with an A on hydration..the vet said I did a really
good job with him and he looked great.  And I got thru the entire ride
without having to threaten him too!! Oh...and earlier in the ride (after
lunch), I had taken the reins off of his vosal and put on his rope halter
to lead him...and forgot to put them back. So I rode him several miles with
just a rope halter and didn't even know it!! <vbg>  I never thought I would
imagine a day where I could do that...not even on a training ride, let
alone at a real endurance ride!!!  

The night before the ride, a stallion got out and came over to the stallion
that was tied to the trailer next to us (with three halters and four lead
ropes!) <g>.  Boy, what a commotion!! I've never heard horses make such a
ruckus...sounded like WW III going  on out there!!  I think my gelding was
really glad that he had a nice metal corral to keep him safe.  

There was a lot of natural water on this ride, so they did not have any
water troughs anywhere during the ride.  I assume this is because of all
the recent outbreaks of sick horses after at least two other rides this
year.  I made sure to keep Rocky fly sprayed well, and afterwards checked
him over quite well for ticks.  We sure had plenty of exposure with all the
branches we went thru and tall brush and grass.  

Lots of horses lost shoes...this is one ride where you really need to carry
an easy boot.  Must be all those bogs. 

Dinner was good..bbq'd tri-tip.  We all got sweatshirts for completion
awards.  I finished early enough this time to get something other than a
size XXL....some incentive, huh?   

Trilby came over to look at our trailer.  We just got the living quarters
finished (well, all except for the shower). She just ordered a brand new
Sundowner, and is figuring out how she wants the living quarters and if her
new truck should be a dually or not.  (no, I'm not making this up!) <vbg>
Well, she might as well go in style for the next 45,000 miles, right?  

Meanwhile...at home...my other horse had quite a tantrum.  I understand the
neighbors even came out to watch this one!  My husband says "boy can he run
fast". I asked how long did he do that for.  "Oh, only about two hours".
;=0  Next week is Weav's turn...Applegate-Lassen :-).  Hope to see some of
you there. Rocky will also be coming along as Plan B.  

Happy Trails,

Karen
in Gardnerville
& Rocky, 400 miles (+ 7 LD's)
& Weaver, 1505 miles