Re:Fireworks

[Linda Cowles <lindac@gilroy.com>]

> ...Did someone get injured at
> the river crossing?  I heard that there were 2 30 milers that
> had a
> terrible mishap at the river.  That possibly even the horse
> was is serious
> trouble.  Any truth to that?

Hi folks,

I was right in the middle of this accident (literally), and know
both riders well.

The accident involved two 30 milers on 1st time endurance
horses. One horse and rider seemed fine and continued to ride
into the 1 hour vet, where she pulled her horse for a minor
lameness, and the other rider was taken back to camp with a
minor head laceration. Bleeding, but otherwise okay. Immediately
after the accident, her horse was very off on one leg, but the
horse ended up (at last report) being fine.

I was going to take Gavilan to this ride, but he came down with
a mysterious cold - or (ARGH!!!) allergy.

Sooooo, who did I ride? The Notorious ex track horse, Miss
Cammie, aka Camshaft aka Runaway Red. She's a 16.2 appy that
looks like a TB/QH, and who had a bad reputation of going
through or over anything and anyone to finish first!!! A race
maniac. The story I got was that she was very fast, often in the
money, but that "she is unsafe in racing conditions".

I've had her for 6 years, and under non race conditions she's a
kids horse - safe for anyone... so... I figured I'd try her and
pull her if she got weird on me. Maryben likes to tweak me for
riding the LD rides, but this mare wasn't specifically
conditioned for endurance - was in "take friends out for a trail
ride" condition - and riding her in this ride was a last minute
decision. She has taken me on a few wild rides (Whoa big
girl!!!) before and... well...

The decision to take her was the right one. She acted a bit like
a track horse at first, had trouble settling down at the first
vet, offered to bolt a few times, but was otherwise fantastic.
We trotted steadily, averaged a 6 mph pace even with the fiasco
at the river crossing and running for help, and going back to
find a lost easy boot, and waiting for her pulse to drop and
stay down at the first vet (she was too interested in what was
going on). She got good vet scores and had fun, so now I have
two endurance horses! Very cool!

Liz continued the Santa Cruz Horseman's tradition of having an
excellent ride!!!  The vetting was consistently great, the
paramedics were ***everywehere***  (I only had to ride a mile to
find two fireman) - and the volunteers and P&R folks were
wonderful! The food? Lots of it and delicious. The weather was
perfect, feed and carrots at the vets. The ocean, the river, the
cool woods.... <sigh>... Next year? You bet!

I had a very good time... can you tell? I knew I would, which is
why I pulled that big red horse out of pasture to attend.

Appy trails!   Linda, Cam and Gav

   Gavilan - Hashknife 25 & Tahoe Rim 50
   Camshaft - Fireworks 30