Biltmore

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

Just back from Biltmore.  The weekend looked very threatening with all
the rain, went to sleep Friday night to the sound of thunder, lightning,
and rain that sounded as if someone was washing my trailer with a jet
sprayer.  But, amazingly enough, the trail was in fair shape at dawn and
dried some as the day went on.  Other than a few muddy spots, it was
great. The humidity was uncharacteristically low and the weather great.

170 horses pre-registered, but due to the forecast and probably because
the camp is prone to flooding *only* 150 or so showed up.  There were 40
starters in the 100 and 110 or so in the 50.

LOTS of big dogs in the east were there.  It was (I think) a
demonstration ride for the Pan-Am games and the long list was there...it
was also an IAHA Championship ride.

I had a great go round with Kaboot.  We finished at 10:40 an hour and 20
min. faster than last year.  The winner was Debi Gordon and BC went to
Steve Rojek on Hawk who she had barely beat for first. 

There was one bad accident.  Chris Rule, is a fairly new competitor who
is a farrier from Tennessee. He's kind of gone to the front right off the
bat, and in the last year he's earned a bit of a reputation for
accidents, after breaking his nose at the start of one ride and his
collarbone at another.  I was kidding him Friday night asking him what he
was going to break *this time*.  He laughed and said he planned to finish
this one.  Unfortunately he was wrong.  I didn't get the details...don't
know if his horse fell or if he did, but it involved one of the muddy
hills towards the start.  Whatever happened, he fractured some vertebrae
and had "blood on the brain" or something like that.  He was still in
intensive care this morning.  Chris is also diabetic which is
complicating the matter.  I hope you'll all pray that he'll get better. 
Somehow a back injury for a farrier seems especially devastating. 

This is a great ride.  It's pretty incredible sitting up on top of a HUGE
bald hill with a view of the Biltmore house in the distance, the
Appalachians all around and the river below.  I love riding the last loop
after dark along the river, they turn on the lights all over the winery
which sits on a hill overlooking the river and you can hear the river
lapping the shore as you trot along on very firm quiet sand.  There is a
fancy restaraunt we ride past after dark and this time of year they're
usually holding a prom there.  The music is loud as we trot by just
outside their lights and we can hear it for miles.  We had a first time
100 with us who kept commenting on it and we told her that was a sign of
fatigue, we didn't hear a thing. :-)

I like the post-ride trot out in the lighted arena.  Gives everyone a
chance to see your horse and it feels good when they think he looks good.
 One more plus for this ride is NOBODY hangs more glowsticks than Ann
Ayala.  That takes all the stress out of the night riding and makes it a
really cool experience.

Angie and Kaboot (now with FOUR 100's under his girth)


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