2001 XP, Day 8, Week #2

[imgoneriding@worldnet.att.net]

Today was the nicest day we've had weather wise.  Last night Dave stayed up 
to watch the lightning show, and some counties in Nebraska had tornado 
warnings.  During the night we had winds high enough to rock our trailer, 
it was really something.  Then morning came and the sky was dark and a 
strong breeze still blew, but we all got up anyway and got on our horses 
and rode 50 miles.  It cleared up by the time we started and stayed 
beautiful all day.

Today's trail was similar, yet a little different from the other days.  A 
lot more corn, and more fields are now being irrigated with sprinklers and 
sprayed with chemicals.  We had more trail type trail today, or else dirt 
road.  It's all pretty rural so most of the farms and houses look similar. 
They are all a mile apart on each corner.  The dirt roads here are 
maintained really well so people drive on them like they do on 
freeways.  Some of the trails we went over today were sandy, and we've had 
some elevation gain and loss, probably a thousand feet but not enough to 
make us feel like we did anything.

There are less and less riders, and less horses as each day progresses.  38 
today. Some people have left or are not riding, and others are down to just 
one horse.  I've been pretty lucky with whatever things I've had with my 
horses.  I may take tomorrow off, not that I want to but because I think 
that if I do it'll be better for the horses.  I rode Weaver today and plan 
on riding him day after tomorrow, and since he's working so well on this 
plan so far I don't want to mess it up. Rocky looks pretty good though I 
think giving him tomorrow off will be good for whatever was sore on his 
left front, that way he'll get 4 days in a row off before going back to 
work on Tuesday.  I just put him on a longe line and he'd definitely pass a 
vet check but I have to be realistic and know I'll likely get more days out 
of him by not riding him if he's questionable.  Too many other people have 
and now they have no horses to ride.

I kept getting off and walking a lot today, it was cooler with a strong 
breeze and it felt good to get off.  I'm actually not sore anywhere, riding 
50 miles on mostly flat is pretty easy.  It's the lack of sleep that we are 
all feeling.  We have been joking about taking turns leading each others 
horses while the other person naps.  That may be the way to go.  I did 
spend a lot of time trotting with my eyes shut today, I really think that I 
may be able to sleep and trot....just need more practice!   I finished with 
a whole 45 minutes to spare so it was a fairly long day.  John Parke, 
Trilby and Elaine Kerrigan were the only ones behind me (I think).

I rode most of the day with Jas from Colorado and her Akhele Teke 
gelding.  She was supposed to ride her stallion but he had some heat in one 
leg so she gave him the day off.  Her gelding went yesterday too so was 
pretty tired.  After lunch we rode with a lady who is riding a Morgan 
stallion.  There are sure a lot of stallions.  Weaver has decided that he 
likes Jas's stallion afterall.  One day he was scared to death of it, and 
then we rode together again a couple of days later and he decided that they 
should be buds.  Weav seems to know which stallions he has to be careful of 
and gives them a wide berth.

It's hard keeping my eyes open but I have to wait to get tomorrow's map so 
we can find the waypoint on the map to see where tomorrow's basecamp will 
be.  Tonight we are camped on the Platte River, in a nice grassy area.  We 
are about 1/4 (at least) mile from camp because this was the closest best 
place without having to have our horses tied on the side of a busy 
road.  The dogs can play in the water, and the horses have plenty of tall 
green grass to graze on. We've been busy picking ticks off of ourselves and 
the dogs.  How do people that live here manage ticks?  I haven't found any 
on the horses yet.  Maybe all the sponging has been knocking them off.  Or 
maybe all the flies are eating them? :P

I rode down into the gravesite area for the Plum Creek Massacre today and 
took some photos. I have a book on gravesites on the Oregon Trail that 
tells a little bit more about it.  It's fascinating to look over the area 
and realize what history has occurred here.

The horses new thing when they itch is to turn their heads so they can 
scratch themselves with their tie ropes.  It sounds really weird and boy 
they are good at it.  I know they are just dying to roll, and I'm trying to 
clean them up as much as possible.  On the way here I did a partial clip on 
Weaver, his neck and stomach and that was a bad idea.  The flies think that 
his stomach is a buffet and won't leave him alone.  My horses are both big 
babies about all the biting flies and bugs because we just don't have them 
like this home in Nevada.

Tomorrow Steve Shaw and Elana Vale are doing a 50 mile ride and 
tie.  Yesterday they did 25 miles.  The weather should be perfect.

Still haven't lost an easyboot, boy am I glad to be using them.  Weaver's 
feet had gotten really soft in St. Joseph from all the wet and have really 
grown.  He was just done the week before but now his feet are already over 
growing and expanding his shoes, so he will probably get reshod 
tomorrow.  At least the shoes are in good shape and can be reset.

On the way into camp tonight we stopped and picked Rocky up from the 
babysitters <G>.  Each day one of the crews takes our extra horses and then 
Dave crews lunch and water for the riders.  That way our horses get to go 
to the next camp and not be stuck in a trailer all day long.  This has been 
working really well. Dave is crewing for about three or four riders every 
day, it's hard because he doesn't get to camp until almost 6 at night and 
then still has to set everything up and then be ready to go again and in 
the meantime keep at least 70 gallons of water in the back of the truck for 
the water stops.  Both of the horses have been being good, or so their 
sitters tell us (they could be lying you know <g>).

The people here are all so friendly. They drive up next to you and turn 
their engines off and want to talk.  Others come out into their yards and 
talk to us.

Glad it's cool enough to be able to sleep tonight.  Between picking ticks 
off, for entertainment.  Wonder how many trains we'll hear, boy when I'm 
done with this ride will I be able to sleep again without the sound of a 
100 trains going by at night?  My allergy pills don't work worth a darn 
here, and I think I may go thru all the kleenex tonight 
sneezing.  Everybody is doing it too, must be that tall grass.

I think that Rocky has dropped some weight.  He's still good but I kinda 
figured he'd drop the quickest.  We'll see when Barney gets back and I can 
weigh him again.  Weaver may be gaining weight <g>, that horse likes 
Nebraska knowing he can go down the trail constantly eating green grass, 
and they have his favorite weed here too.  Today when he finished Michelle 
said he looked better than he did at lunch, I really feel that he's 
improving each day that I ride him so I'm really pleased so far.  Now we 
just have to get Rocky back on track and see how the next few weeks go.

I need more hours in a day.  I guess I could try riding faster, because 
then I'd end up with no horses to ride and plenty of time and no reason to 
do anything <bg>.  I'm happy to take all day if that is what it takes, so 
we'll keep going slow.

More later, my battery is almost gone.

Happy XP Trails,

Karen
& Weaver
& Rocky.....8th day down, 32 to go!