Is he ready?

["April Lee" <adlee@bigfoot.com>]

Hey, gang, looking for some opinions!

 

Ok...here's the situation.  I started conditioning Apache for the 25 mile LD ride at LongStreet's Charge in May.  May 22, actually.  I conditioned for 2 months and I was fairly confident that Apache would be ready for the 25 miles in May.

 

Then, at the beginning of April, things got hectic in my life.  I rode maybe once a week for short rides.   This past Saturday, I took Apache down to the Chickamauga Battlefield and took their larger loop with Apache.  I was told that the loop was about 15 miles.  We did it in 2 hours and 15 min.  And we weren't rushing.  Apache cooled out well even though it was muggy and warmish out.  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we trained on mountains (ok, little mountains, but they're steep!) and the loop was fairly flat.

 

I haven't ridden him since because of finals (AGHHHHHH.) and won't be able to ride again until Saturday (hopefully another 15 mile loop or so).

 

Now comes the question.  Would my horse still be ready to do 25 miles on May 22?  (The ride is at Pigeon Mtn...Mtn, with steep slopes)  How much should I ride him between now and then if I plan on riding him?  I wasn't too concerned about it because with the FL scare with my work, I wasn't thinking that I'd even be in town to go to the ride.  That seems to have fallen through right now (AFTER I bought the truck and trailer to haul him down there...blessing or curse????) so I may be around for the ride.

 

I haven't even gotten the ride entry yet...haven't asked Angie for the forms and I'm not sure I can afford to enter (that truck payment is EXPENSIVE), but IF I wanted to.....

 

Any opinions out there for me?  I know it's ultimately our decision, but I'd really like the input.  :)

 

Thanks,

--- April & Apache (The "A" team)

    Chattanooga, TN