Kahneeta Ride - long

[Todd & Toni Jones <tjones@coinet.com>]

Hi all!

I never seem to read about a ride
story from our Central Oregon area
although we always get a lot of
riders here and many I know are on
ridecamp. So I figure it's time I
send one in. It won't be as funny as
Howard's and Dance Line, or Angie
and Kaboot, or as impressive as
those from the Cosequin or Tevis or
the Outlaw Trail... but it's mine so
here we go.

I guess I'd still have to call
myself a newbie to this sport. A
little background. I've wanted to do
Tevis since 1972 so I've always
known about the 100 miles in one day
thing. I hope to realize this goal
in the next 2 or 3 years. After lots
of effort to actually get involved
with the sport I finally started
doing Limited Distance in 1996. I
did that for 2 years before all my
reading (ridecamp, books, articles,
etc.) made me realize that it takes
2 to 3 years of long, slow distance
to get a horse properly ready for
this sport to be doing 50s and 100's
competitively. The horse I had then
was 15 and after figuring that 3
years gave me an 18 year old horse,
(never good at math!) I decided to
start over with a younger horse. I
went looking for a Shagya mare and
came home with a Shagya stallion
instead. This is another long story,
so we won't go there. I got him just
as he turned 4 in 1997. The above
reading caused me to decide to skip
all L.D. competitions and just
concentrate on slow trail
riding/training/arena work for his 4
year old year of 1998 and this year
we went straight to 50's for
completion only. I try to head out
last and it takes us all day. We
entered and completed 3, the last of
which was this last weekend, the
Kahneeta Ride.

It was suppose to be held on the
Warm Springs Indian Reservation,
hence the name, "Kahneeta", however,
it is my understanding that after
all the paperwork was approved and
everything was a go, the Forest
Service on the Reservation called up
ride management and said, "Nope, you
can't have it." So, rather than
cancel, the ride was moved to our
National Grasslands and was held
utilizing the Prineville Ride Trail,
going in reverse direction and
adding on 2 other 12.5 mile loops
for variety for the 50's 75's and
100's. It turned out for the good
anyway, as the Warm Springs Fire
messed up the trails to be used
there anyway!

As I live 30 minutes away I just
drove in the day of the ride. Two
friends, Debbie riding Shah, and
Kathy riding Buster were already
there (it's sure dark at 6 a.m.) and
we all went down to vet in together.
My stallion is really getting the
hang of this, it seems, and quietly
vetted in with A's and we went back
to saddle up with my friends. The
50's took off at 7:30 and so we
waited until they disappeared over
the hill and then we climbed on and
took off. When I ride alone my
practice is to wait 10 minutes and
go out with O'Biwon in control.
Let's just say that thanks to a late
starter not a part of our group that
rocketed past us within the first
200 feet made the "in control" stuff
not to be for the first mile for
Kathy and I. Debbie, of course, has
an extremely well-behaved non spooky
horse that takes everything in
stride and she nonchalantly cantered
behind. Once we hit familiar trail
they settled down to their normal
selves and we were  "in control" at
last! We trotted most of the first 7
miles, stopping at every water tank,
but the horses really weren't
interested this early. We gave them
extra time before going up what is
known as "Still's hill" or to me
it's always been "horrible hill" for
going down it. Going up was no
problem. It's probably a 1/4 mile
long and is very steep and the
footing is loose sandy pebbly stuff.
It's going down that I have
nightmares over! We collected and
discarded various riders through the
first 14 miles into Skull Hollow
where the out check was for a 15
minute hold. Our friend/pulse
taker/crew member/was suppose to
ride but was sick/person was here
waiting for us. Suzy spoiled us and
we may never let her ride again! Did
you drink? Did you eat? Here's this,
here's that! Eat, eat, eat! My
stallion and Debbie's horse pulsed
right in, although Buster is pretty
excited about this and all and he
usually takes 2 to 3 minutes longer.
He's 5 and this was his first 50. We
spent a little longer at the check
letting the horses eat and we were
off for the 11 miles back to camp.
This part of the trail is very easy,
a little bit of rollar coastering at
the first 4 miles and then flat,
flat, flat and dirt the remaining 7
miles back to camp. We got back into
camp for our 45 minute hold,
although after taking one look at
the vet check area we waited almost
another 15 minutes before even
venturing in to start the hold.
There were 50's, 75's and 100's in
there all milling about with lots of
voices raised trying to get the out
times, etc., they finally got it all
figured out and we all vetted
through and back for some lunch and
cooler clothes. The weather was
beautiful and sunny, mid-60's all
day. It was great!

We left from the hold in our usual
relaxed manner. Read, 5 or so
minutes over time and went out for
the first 12.5 mile loop. As usual
we let the terrain dictate what our
pace was. With rocks we walk, with
dirt we trot or canter unless we
knew water was coming up then we
walked again. The other 2 horses
were doing their first 50 and the
drinking thing wasn't as easy for
them as it was for my boy, O'Biwon.
If he is thirsty, he'll drink
whereever it is, whatever it looks
like. He eats up everything in
sight, too. I've been told that as a
rule, stallions take very good care
of themselves, this description fits
him. We had a small detour on this
loop as there was an intersection
that wasn't marked very well and
after about 15 minutes we got it
figured out and were on our way
again. We vetted in right away for
our 30 minute  hold. O'Biwon, so
far, is always down when we come in
regardless of the excitement in the
check. Even if he's acting excited,
his pulse is still down. This is
very nice for me!

We took our time at the 30 minute
check with the horses eating well
and then we left late again to
finish up with our last 12.5 mile
loop. This loop was by far the most
scenic in terms of the view,
although it didn't always follow a
trail, but followed fence lines and
headed off across fields, it seemed
almost randomly. There were lots of
rocks and we walked a lot on this
one. Kathy's horse, Buster, FINALLY
started to show signs of being a bit
tired on this loop. Before the ride
I was a little concerned about him
as he is quite nervous and I was
worried he'd overdo it. As it turns
out, there was and is plenty of
horse there and I will no longer
worry about him. O'Biwon did his
usual thing of hanging back about
200 feet to eat as we go along and
then we were out of the rocks and
back on the common trail and trotted
the remaining 3 miles in to the
check. We vetted in with all A's and
felt great!

A great finishing ride to complete
the year in our region! There was a
lot of good natured competition
going on between 3 rival teams from
our region that was a lot of fun.
The Bad Girls, the Fish Creek team
and another team I believe was DC
Riders. But I could be wrong and I
will probably hear about it. Rather
than correct me, if you are in on
this good natured rivalry, please
just post to ridecamp and set it
straight as to who won, etc.! Some
one had put out signs for the Fish
team all along the route that was
fun! We wondered what it was all
about until it was explained.

We did the ride in about 8 hours
total ride time. We easily could
have shaved off 45 minutes what with
our socializing and taking our time
at the checks, etc. I personally,
had a great time. It's been fun
riding a stallion that doesn't act
like one out on the trail or in the
checks. He does nicker in answer to
other horses in camp, but I've
noticed that it's getting less and
less with the 3 rides we've done.
I've had mares noiser than him! He
seems to be excited the first time
he experiences something new, and
after a time or two he just sort of
acts like "been there, done that"...
and it's no longer worth being
excited over. I know that other
horses/breeds are like this also,
but this is typical Shagya behaviour
within the breed. Over the winter we
are working on dressage for some
hopeful competitions in that next
year, and, of course, Lord willing,
will be back out on the local
endurance trails again next year.
The plan is to do another year of
the long, slow stuff, only more of
it, and maybe increase the mileage
on one or 2 rides later in the year.
I think he will handle it fine! It's
me that I'm worried about!

If you stayed with me this long,
thanks for reading!

Toni Jones and Shagya O'Biwon (150
AERC miles) It's a start!
Prineville Ride, May 2000 - 25/50/75

Bandit Springs Ride, July 2000 -
30/50/100



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