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United States Equestrian Federation
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Southwest Idaho Trail & Distance Riders
2008 Owyhee Fandango - Idaho
Images by Merri Melde
Pre-Fandango: Wednesday
Wednesday May 21 2008The sum of today: wind and more wind!
Candace Kahn, who blew in yesterday evening with her horse from Medford, Oregon, said that was some of the strongest winds she'd driven in. It continued today - 20 mph with gusts to 37 - and tomorrow it will be even stronger. Great clouds of dust are whipped up from bare fields, and there's a fire burning 8-10 miles from here (going the other way).
Starting Friday, the winds will die down, but now, there's a solid chance of showers through Monday - some front stalled out in the Pacific. Normally it doesn't rain here in Oreana unless it says 100%, as we're in a rain shadow of the Owyhee mountains. But, you never know. As long as it doesn't say "thunderstorms," I'm good.
Today John and Susan Favro industriously went after more weeds around the house. It's really looking very park-like around here. Some of the near trails were raked by some ambitious rakers. Warning: don't take raked trails for granted, and don't let yourself get spoiled by this!
Dennis and Joyce Sousa pulled in from Hydesville California; Henry Griffin arrived sans his trailer, but with a pickup-load full of gear. He got a tail wind from Nevada. Bev Gray pulled in late evening from Utah with a trailer full of horses... one is for Belgian rider Leonard Liessens (due here tomorrow morning, with Caroll Gatelier) in the 75-mile ride, and one just might be for me on the 50.
Today I picked up a car-load of wine cases (we may not have a great number of riders, due to the exorbitant gas prices, but we will have fun), and I flagged our Tevis Trail. It's our one little steep hill-climb going out from the ranch about 15 feet long, then a narrow trail with a slightly steep dropoff that runs for another 50 feet.
Almost all the trails have been flagged... just a few more miles to go.