RE: Fort Howe

["Steph Teeter" <steph@endurance.net>]

Fort Howes was wonderful - once again. This has to be one of the most
beautiful rides  - in the Custer National Forest - grasslands and meadows,
pine forests, sandstone rock formations. Good footing, with some pretty good
climbs. Some rock, some gopher holes, but mostly good going. Hot! Temps up
into the 90's, and a fair amount of humidity (though the folks from the
midwest laughed when I mentioned humidity). Great management - Bill and Jan
Stevens did a terrific job.

I don't know the results of the 25 and 50 - except that Myna Crydermans
horse won the open and IAHA 50, Nora Smith's horse won BC, but I don't have
the horses' names. Maybe Jan can  post these results when she recovers.. I
think there were 40+ entries in the 50, and about the same number in the 25.

The 50 had an IAHA division, the 100 had an FEI division and everything went
very smooth. There were seven vets for the ride, no lines, plenty of room. A
few extra 'hassles' for the FEI division, but once the ride got started, I
don't think anybody even noticed. Harriet Aiken - technical delegate, Robin
Oscar - steward, Sandra McCartie (sp?)- ground jury, and Ray Randall DVM -
vet,  where the FEI officials, Bob Beecher was also there as an FEI vet, and
they all did a great job - good explanations of the FEI rules/regs and
procedures. I was pretty exhausted after finishing the 100 - the heat and
hills took too much out of both me and my horse. We rode alone all day -
after the 25 mile vet check - and that makes it a little harder to keep the
energy and focus up. At 85 miles Rhett was pretty pooped so we walked most
of the last 15 mile loop. Finished after dark, got a little lost following
the glowsticks back into camp, but we made it. Rhett was strong and much
happier once it got cool, but I was still feeling pretty pathetic, and had
blisters from all the walking. whimper. We vetted through fine, my crew
gathered up all our stuff and headed back to the trailer. Got Rhett settled
in, took a shower and crawled into bed, just dozed off when there was a
knock on the door. Seems that I forgot to weigh out (an FEI rule) and the
Ground Jury politely requests that I do so if I want to get my FEI
completion. Groan. I pulled a sweatshirt on over my pajamas, slapped on my
cowboy hat, put on my neice's flip-flops and dragged my tack back over to
the vetting area. Managed to climb onto the scales, and then dragged back to
the trailer. I crawled back into bed and John mumbled "I suspect that you're
the first FEI rider to weigh out in pajamas " :)  ...so much for dress code.

I had a terrific crew - my 20 yr old horse-crazy neiced from Massachussetts,
my 15 yr old son and his 16 and 18 yr old buddies (who would much rather be
skateboarding, but did a fine job all day) and Jennifer Nice who was
covering the ride for the Endurance World magazine. John joined the group
after he finished the 50. It was a low stress ride - just out for a good
completion - and we all had fun.

Here are the results for the 100. (sorry I don't have the other distances -
I jotted these down during the awards on Sunday):

(Unnofficial)

18 starters, 13 finishers. I think 13 did the FEI ride.

1. Michelle Campbell - Dyneck - 11:31  - BC - (FEI)
2. Jan Worthington - Short Stack - 12:15 (FEI)
3. Christi Janzen - Triple A Bozty - 14:44 (FEI)
4. Fred Clusty - RC Gable - 14:44 (FEI)
5. Steph Teeter - Jaziret Bey Musc - 14:59 (FEI)
6. Bob Steller - Markoss +/ - 15:43 (FEI)
7. Trish Dowling - ZF Porsche - 16:23 (FEI)
8. Myna Cryderman - SP Starcast - 16:23 (FEI)
9. Christen Vincent - Night Skye - 16:23
10. Mark Dailey - Big Sky Tezmonth - 20:08
11. Frank Solano - HKA - 20:08
12. Kate Burgest (Jr) - Ray Zi Onch - 20:08
13. Phyllis Arnold - Prince - 20:08

Nice ride - thanks Bill and Jan!

Steph

-----Original Message-----
From: guest@endurance.net [mailto:guest@endurance.net]
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 9:18 AM
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: RC: Fort Howe


Lauren db8ranch@wavecom.net
Wasn't able to make the Fort Howe ride in Montana this past weekend. How did
it go? This is usually a wonderful ride.
Anyone have any details?

Thanks.

Lauren


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