EHSC Long Story

["Kathy Myers" <kathy@nvolve.com>]

Hi All!

I'm back from the latest email glitch here.  Sorry Steph.  ;)

I'm also just back from the Eastern High Sierra Classic... a
ride I've wanted to do for years.  Beautiful country.  A very
special place.  Thanks Jackie for a great ride!

My ride started on Thursday since getting there from the SF Bay
Area without a rig is sorta complicated.  With support from several
friends and a hired rig we made it.  Packing, loading, unloading,
reloading, etc. without your own rig is a pain.  I almost made up
a flow chart just to keep track of myself and my horse. ;-)  I met
Val Christenson in Livermore on Thursday morning for a ride
to her ranch.  We made the switch from my hired ride in a shady
parking lot just off the freeway.  We didn't know they were doing
construction there.  We were a bit conserned, but I thought Blue
would be fine.  Fortunately loud noises and big equipment don't
bother the little Blue horse.  He just looks around and takes
in the sights.

We left Val's beautiful ranch at 7 Friday morning... after the
1 1/2 hours of early morning chores.  I said I'd help, but I'm
afraid Val ended up doing most of them herself anyways.  We did
trailer over Tioga.  We didn't see anyone else trailering over
Tioga.  Val is very good in mountian terrain and she didn't have
any trouble.  That combined with the fact that her truck was
ready for the trip and we did only had it loaded to about half
it's rated capacity probably helped.  Hot?  Did someone say it
was HOT?  105 in the central valley.  123 in Ridgecrest.  131
in Death Valley.  Good thing we were going to Bridgeport!  No
air conditioning since we were trailering over the mountains.
The horses were good, ate and drank when we stopped for gas and
ice cream.  The food of Endurance!

We arrived at 3pm, set up camp, vetted in well, and I started
hauling water and filling haynets for Blue.  A good eater /
drinker is wonderful... but if anyone wondered why I was hauling
water every hour on the hour, it was because Blue was drinking it
all... not because I was kindly watering everyone elses horse!  :)
Rider meeting went well.  Nothing like Jackie explaining the ride.
I was definately amazed to hear Karen Chaton was there.  Want to
feel wimpy?  Try doing an endurance ride when you are perfectly
healthy.  Way to go Karen!!!  Since winter had trashed the trails,
Jackie kindly moved the start time to 6am.  Mostly we cheered that
one enthusiastically.

Val and I decided to start behind the pack since we didn't want to
get caught up in the IAHA hype.  So a mile out there we are removing
jackets and re-adjusting saddles without another horse in sight.
Rule #1... don't wear a jacket even if it's 45 degrees before the
sun comes up.  That sun will come up and the temp jumps 80 degrees.
The good thing about buying a "Fire Mountain" horse and then doing
one of Jackie's rides is the horse already knows the trails.  This
helps during the narrow hard to follow indentation of sand that runs
through the sage brush.  We were ripping along (for us) at a nice
bold trot when Blue headed straight into one of those bush-trees...
kinda a cross between manzanita and sage.  I felt him head left and
went with him.  Only at the last minute he dodged right and I ended
up face first in the bush!  :)  I tried really hard to dislocate my
shoulder, but he's only 14.3 and that's just not far enough to fall.
Val made a noise or two and then thought we should catch Blue right
away, but I said he wouldn't go any where.  Sure enough he trotted
a bit down the trail and then turned around looking to see where I
went.  What a great horse.  I remounted with a sore shoulder, a
couple scratches and not enough bruises for sympathy.  ;-)

By this time we are only 3 miles out and there's not another horse
in sight.  Oh well, Trilby took the day off so someone needed to fill
her shoes.  The view of the mountains and Twin Lakes was breath taking.
This is why I wanted to do the ride!  After our first hold we headed
back out and up the ridge.  By 8am ride people were asking if we had
gotten lost.  Nope.  We were riding slow enough to count every ribbon.
The single track through the trees was terrific and we only wandered
around in circles when the orange ribbons blended in with some old
burned trees.  There were several creeks and grass.  We spent 5 minutes
in the shade grazing since it was already hot.  Back into lunch we
hit our first gate.  No one there to help.  Hate to say it, but Karen
would still be standing at the gates with her cracked ribs if no one
opened and closed them.  I got off since I have the little horse.  My
shoulder did not want to close that gate!  First you almost have to
be a rocket scientist to figure out how to get the lever in the right
place and then muscle it closed.  I just didn't have the strength to
get the last loop over the top.  Oh well, it was closed.  No cows going
through that one.  Going into lunch the horses felt great so we finally
hoofed along.  Made it through knee knocker gate.  Blue is nice and
narrow too.  ;-)  There were 3 stream crossings going in.  One was
deep and strong enough that we headed up stream to go straight across.
Haley lead into the first one and Blue lead into the next.  Not bad
for a couple beginners.  We were met with smiles and more inquiries
of whether or not we'd gotten lost.  Nope, just going slowly.

Heading out of lunch and back through that gate we climbed up along
Eagle creek.  by the time we got there everyone knew where the trail
was so we didn't get pointed in the wrong direction.  Our horses
were not exactly moving out at this point.  Neither one wanted to
trot up the ridge.  Blue lead, but slowly.  I watched the time and
figured we could just pull if and when we ever found the next vet
check.  Oh well, it was beautiful and I just loved being there.

Then... a miracle occured!

God had told Linda Glazer to take a loop out of order.  There she
came, up behind us with her lovely Tevis mare!  She kindly agreed
we could hook up with her.  Her mare led out up that trail at a trot.
This put enthusiasm back into our two youngsters and off we went.
Hey, I thought you guys were pooped!  :)  Linda babysat us through
the next 15 miles.  What a lovely person.  She waited patiently when
we litterally got bogged down.  She waited patiently and encouraged
Val when Haley didn't want to cross Buckeye Creek running almost belly
deep.  She lead when the trail went straight through the herd of cows.
She waited patiently when Val kindly switched her t-shirt for my tank
top to save my shoulders from even worse burns.  Rule #2.  Wear
a t-shirt.  No matter how much sunscreen you have on.  Unless you
are Jackie and have a tan to withstand the altitude.  Sunscreen,
even 3 layers deep, wears off around the tank-top and I have the
burns to prove it.

That loop lead along Buckeye creek up into an alpine valley with
wild flowers and snow capped mountains to take your breath away.
Stunning country.

Blue was tired coming into the last check so I waited a few extra
minutes.  Haley came right down.  Linda's mare vetted right through
so they headed out before we did.  Not too shabby for doing the
EHSC 70.  By the time we followed, Blue was down to 53 so I felt
a lot better.  He knew he was heading home!  I wrestled the gate
open and closed one more time, crossed the streams and made it in.

Blue vetted through fine... HURRAY!... and went back to his job of
eating and drinking everything within reach.  Congratulations to
Karen and Millisa for completing the Triple Crown... same horse,
same rider.  Many thanks to Val, Kathy Ruiz, Gabrielle, Jackie and
Linda for their help and support so we could complete this ride.
See you on the trails!

:) - kat myers
in San Mateo, Ca with Magnum the TB ex-racer
and Mr Maajistic... aka "Fire Mountain Blue".