Re: RC: tips for the crewless??? (and clueless)

[RDCARRIE@aol.com]

Hi Penny,
I'll be at High Roller too and riding all 3 days.  I never have a crew either 
(except once when my husband came to a ride, but he was kinda afraid of doing 
the wrong thing, so I still did most of it myself.  I need to train him.  <G> 
 Basically, I just try to have everything ready for the hold before the ride 
starts - get my electrolytes mixed and put in the syringe, get my beet pulp 
in the feed tub ready to mix (my horse likes to chow down on wet beet pulp at 
the holds), get whatever I'm going to eat/drink myself put in a spot where I 
won't forget where it's at, etc.  At the ride meeting, they'll tell you how 
long the hold will be (usually 45 min, sometimes 30).  The one thing that can 
mess you up is if there's a long vet line that takes up most of your hold - 
but remember, you don't *have* to leave after the 45 minutes - you can take 
as long as you want/need to let your horse eat, drink, etc.  

If you end up camped a long way from the vet check area, you can bring your 
stuff (food/water for you and your horse, electrolytes, cooler to cover your 
horse if it's chilly, etc.) from your trailer and put it near the vet check 
in the morning before the ride starts - there will be an area where others 
are doing this - just be sure you don't block the trot out area, etc.  

Above all, don't be afraid to ask folks for advice - at my first ride I was 
totally clueless and didn't even know how to procede through the P&R and vet 
check - so I just asked... "Ok, where do I go now?"  People are super nice, 
and when they find out it's your first ride, you'll get lots of 
encouragement!  :)  Each ride seems to have a slightly different procedure 
for how they do things - some keep your vet card in camp when you go back out 
on the second loop, some don't; etc.  All of this will be explained at the 
all-important ride meeting the night before.  You'll also have a chance to 
talk to the head ride vet one-on-one after the meeting if you have any 
questions.

Don't stress...you'll do fine, and will come away hooked on the sport.  Look 
for the tan Ford dually and the big chestnut gelding with blue and white 
biothane - come say hi!  :)  

Dawn and HK Chivas