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Friday July 3 2009
Last
Saturday, Ridecamp here was half full of rigs and people and horses and
dogs for the Almosta Bennett Hills endurance ride. I was roaming about
with my camera on the four-wheeler when I saw a killdeer run along the
ground.
I looked to where she was running away from, and moved
in that direction, and mama killdeer went lame, doing the broken wing
display, trying to draw me toward her and away from... her nest with 4
eggs.
Look a little closer at the top photo, in the center: four kildeer eggs. 
It
took me a while to locate them, being well camouflaged in the rocks and
gravel, sticks and grass; and meanwhile, mama killdeer was flopping and
fluttering away, an injured bird in great distress.
To appease her, I backed away from the nest.
Which
happened to be not 10 feet from a big horse trailer that had just
missed it when it drove in and parked - rather an inconvenient
location! But then, how could nesting in the open on the ground
anywhere be convenient? It must work, because that's what they do, and
there sure are a lot of killdeer around here. (A couple years ago, we
discovered a killdeer nest right by our busy finish line - those
killdeer went on to hatch and fledge).
I got a couple of fencing
posts and roped off 2 sides of the nest so horses and rigs would keep
clear. Horses and riders and dogs went about their business all
weekend; mama killdeer went about her business, sitting on her nest.
In
their courtship, the male killdeer will make loud calls and sham
nest-scraping movements. The male builds the nest. (This one was merely
a little scraped out depression, though the placement among the
camouflage decor was great.) The male and female will share nest
duties... but I have yet to see two birds around this nest - you'd
think I'd see two of them at least once. Killdeer eat mostly insects,
and with all the dang flies around here, mama probably doesn't even
have to leave her nest to eat!
When the chicks hatch, they will
be downy, open-eyed, mobile at birth, and will find their own food
while following their parents. They should fledge in 25 days - fly
competently - so hopefully I'll catch the hatch and get to keep an eye
on the babies a while.
I rode Stormy close to her today (the
killdeer will do the distress show for humans and dogs, I've noticed,
but not for horses), a week later, and she's still sitting patiently on
her eggs. She didn't bat a bird's eyelash at us.
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| Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at | | | |
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Wednesday July 1 2009
I see with a lot of pressure from horse
people worldwide, the Adventurists putting on this Mongol Derby (who
are not an equine tour company, and have apparently never put on a
horse event in a first world country, much less a third world country),
have suddenly proclaimed horse welfare "firmly" at the top of their
agenda.
Now, instead of "Essentially once the starter gun goes
off you are on your own", and instead of 2 jeeps "following the race
from a distance" there is now a "fleet of back up jeeps," or a "fleet
of jeeps," or the event is supported by five off-road vehicles running
alongside the riders (um, which five riders?) and 2 standby 4x4
vehicles.
Now instead of having no established route to follow,
and the riders being on their own: "Luck? Judgement? Ask a passing
herder? Ride in concentric circles for a week? Divination... You will
be given a map before the start with the locations of each Urtuu and
the rest is down to you," there is an "established route" to follow, or
a "route marked out by the horse stations."
Now, instead of the
riders "tackling the challenge of semi-wild horses and surviving alone
in the wild steppes of Mongolia", and "It's dangerous, it's unsupported
and you could die," now the "safety and welfare of the horses and
riders on the Mongol Derby is of paramount importance to us as
organisers. With a network of first class professionals, both
veterinary and medical, the Mongol Derby's support network is
exemplary; before, during and after the race." Now, the "welfare of the
horse is guarded and monitored at all times" (I'm a little vague on the
math here... 26 riders and horses - or 600 horses, if you want to count
all of them - spread out over days or weeks and how many kilometers,
with the 5 off-road vehicles following the 5 riders.)
Most
enlightening and comforting, now there is also an "extensive horse
welfare program and emergency back up system" in place. There's a
"fantastic team of equine experts and veterinarians", or "respected
British and Mongolian equine experts," or "a network of Mongolian
vets". (Mongolia must have a lot of vets, no?) An unnamed British
equine vet "with 32 years of experience" will follow the Derby in one
of our "fleet of back up jeeps" and the Mongolian vets will have with
them "high quality veterinary medicines."
Now instead of:
"They're going to give us GPS locations to the wells, where we'll be
able to get water, and they don't guarantee that the wells will have
water" (apparently said by a contestant - but surely this can not be a
real quote!), a recent revision was made "to increase the number of
water sources" (um... new wells dug?) that have been clearly plotted
for horses and riders, or, an "extensive list of confirmed water
sources." Now the provision of water is a prime deciding factor in the
route for the horses. Now, "The route will under no circumstances be
taken through any area without adequate water provision and has been
designed with this primarily in mind."
There still is that
weight thing, though. Horses can safely carry up to 20% of their body
weight. Mules can carry 25% safely. 95 kg, or 209 pounds, (the weight
limit of the riders plus equipment and personal things), is 20% of a
454 kg, or 1000 pound animal. I haven't seen a 14-hand pony yet that
weighs anywhere close to 1000 pounds.
Karen C in her blog entry today
raised some valid points, besides wondering what really happens to the
horses after they are raced. Namely, who is supplying batteries for the
GPS units? My GPS only goes 11 hours without a charge (or plug in,
which you won't have at the Urtuus in Mongolia). What about the
emergency beacons? They will need fresh batteries too. Keeping the
GPS's and emergency beacons functional every day would seem rather
important since they are paramount to horse and rider safety, and
riders will be limited on the weight they can carry. Will the Mongol
Derby organisation provide enough batteries for all 26 riders every day
at each Urtuu?
All of this new info is from the June 30th press release and the newly released Mongol Derby Horse Welfare and Race Logistics Information from the Adventurists.
It all looks great. After all, IT'S ALL WRITTEN ON PAPER, SO IT'S TRUE.
Right?
(Although, which written word is true: those before the press release,
or those in the press release?). Now we can all stop worrying and start
kvetching about something else.
(An aside, TOTALLY unrelated to
this event. I do not believe everything my government and governmental
officials have put in writing, or told me, the last decade. Some of it
has indeed proved to be false. And now, back to the Mongol Derby.)
Now,
aside from the weight factor, I commend the Adventurists organization
for seriously addressing valid concerns from serious horse people
around the world, and from CLEARLY disassociating themselves from
endurance riding or racing. ("The Mongol Derby is not an endurance race
for the horses...")
However, I remain skeptical of all of their written declarations.
Since
only the riders and Adventurists organization will be there in Mongolia
during the Mongol Derby, the world won't really know if all or any of
these written declarations will come to pass, will they?
So, how
about this: if the Adventurists are dead set (no pun intended) on their
wild and crazy Mongolian Adventure, and they are dead serious (no pun
intended) on horse safety being at the forefront of this entire
adventure, why don't they also bring along a few independent expert
horsemen to independently audit the event?
How about a horse
expert (who really does ride horses, a lot) from the Adventurists
organization (surely there is one), a rider from the Long Riders'
Guild, and a third horse riding expert that both agree upon? They can
ride in the fleet of jeeps following the riders. That way there can be
no question that the WRITTEN WORD is actually what goes down. Riders
will still have their uninhibited wild and crazy adventure, horses will
indeed be taken care of, the horse world will be put at ease, and Tom
Morgan will be absolutely vindicated
How about it, Tom??
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| Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at | | | |
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Monday June 29 2009
So said the back of Janis' shirt (all except the Toe stuff) when we rode off on a 25 mile loop today.
I
just couldn't stand it, after missing two 50-mile rides in our back
yard (the Almosta Bennett Hills ride), and Janis saying she was going
out on a long ride today, soI just had to go riding with her. This morning I got a bigger sized Croc shoe from Steph and stuffed my right foot in.  Yowza. That's when I got the notion that maybe I didn't just rip the toenail off my foot when I got stepped on, but maybe I broke the dang toe too.
Whoooeeeee
it hurt and I didn't think there was any way I'd be able to put my foot
in the stirrup (hitting the side of the stirrup, putting weight in the
stirrup, etc). But it was SUCH a nice day, and Janis was already on her
horse Cole heading my way at a canter, the Owyhee mountains in the
background framing them, Cole's mane flying in the breeze and Janis
grinning, and that clinched it. I was riding.
I hobbled out to
catch Jose, limped about getting him ready, and whimpered as I stood on
my bad foot to mount. I awkwardly hauled myself up into the saddle
(sorry, Jose!), placed my poor toe in the big shoe into the stirrup...
and off we went!
It hurt, sometimes a lot, but, who cared! A
cooling breeze refreshed us as we trotted north on Steph's ridge; and
the view into Hart Creek along the Rim Trail as we headed south on the
next ridge made up for the rising temperature. We turned back north and
descended the sharp ridge 
down into Hart Creek, where the horses gulped cool water, and then I
almost guided Jose over a rattlesnake at the old Homestead! He saw it
before I did and jumped out of the way.
Normally when I ride
this loop I'm going the other direction, so this was almost like a new
trail today. And I don't know if Jose has ever been this direction -
things looked different and interesting to him too, and he had one big
spook when we came around a corner and saw a dead log on his left.
Sure, we've seen that dozens of times from the right side, but not the
left!
I found a long snake skin on the ground (going into a
little burrow - did the snake just slide out of his skin when he
slithered inside?), and, a GPS! Actually Jose must have spotted it
because he stopped right there to get some grass, so I could hop off
him and pick it up. So now Jose has his own GPS.
We followed
Hart Creek (soon it became dry - the water was diverted) to the Potato
Field (full of flowering potato plants this year), and when we turned
for home we had another nice breeze at our back.
By now the
drinking water in our saddle bags was hot, the day was starting to
cook, so it was good to be getting back home when we did. The boys
stood in Pickett Creek - which was 10* cooler than anywhere else - for
a while and took a deep drink right at the barn.
When I
dismounted, I had to lower myself gently to the ground - not land on my
right foot - but in general, my toe wasn't too much different after
riding. It still hurt. And what a great ride! Heck, I even think I
might have been able to do a 50 on Sunday.
Huh - that's the last
time I'm letting a little smashed toe stop me from riding in an
endurance ride. I can rest my toes when I die!
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| Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at | | | |
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Monday June 29 2009
Take note of this upcoming 'Mongol Derby' in August - billed as 'The Longest Horse Race in the World'.
Racing1000 km across 'wild Mongolian terrain' - 25 international 'riders' onhundreds of native horses (i.e. the little Mongolian ponies), willchange mounts every 40 km "so the horses will be fresh" (read: notinjured or dead), over no marked course, with no confirmed water stops- "They're going to give us GPS locations to the wells, where we'll beable to get water, and they don't guarantee that the wells will havewater," says one of the participants.
And, there's the bigquestion about veterinary control. "Hopefully we won't get any horseinjuries because the nature of the Mongol Derby means it is the riderunder stress not the horse," says the website. (Horses, with presumablyno conditioning programs, carrying heavy riders with various or nodegrees of endurance or racing experience, racing 40 km, not stressed?)
"12-14 hand" ponies  (weight limit for riders is 187 pounds - !) will be "semi-wild" andunshod. "if your horse sustains even a minor injury you will need toget off and walk it to the next Urtuu. (No word on how, if the horsebreaks a leg, or crashes metabolically, one would be able to do this.)You will receive training on how to spot injuries and assess theirseverity before the race in Mongolia."
The website says therewill be 'veterinary backup to come to its rescue', but the overallwelfare of the horses has yet to adequately documented. Noveterinarians have been named to oversee the horse’s medical needs. Andhow would one do this for 1000 km, when the participants may take up to3 weeks to finish, where there is no marked course? "They're providingus with these yellow brick trackers, so we can activate the emergencybeacon if our horse is injured and we can't walk it in," a rider said.
Whenasked if V.E.T. Net, a Mercy Corps program which trains Mongolians,would address this critical issue, the charity spokes people did notrespond.
And speaking of charities, to further twist things thewrong way, the world-wide charity Mercy Corps has accepted £25,000 inexchange for helping the English travel company to organize this event.
“MercyCorps are delighted to be a part of the first ever Mongol Derby,” saidJennifer Adams, Mercy Corps Event Development Coordinator in Scotland.No word from Jennifer on how, or if, any of that £25,000 'donation'will be spread to the Mongolian nomads who sell or lend (or, perhaps,are told to do so? Makes you wonder) their horses to this 'race', orhow, or if they will be reimbursed if their horses are injured or die.
"Bleedingkidneys, broken limbs, open sores, moon stroke and a list of dangerslonger than your arm stand between you and victory,” warns the officialrace website, to entice adventurers and adrenaline junkies.
Hey,I'm all for fun and adventure, and adrenaline junkets; and personally Idon't care if people want to put their lives in danger, that's theirbusiness. But if it's all about the pain and danger to, and stress on,the humans, why not have them walk, or run, or drive? Why endangerhundreds of horses that nomadic Mongolians depend upon for their way oflife? Why should even one horse be made to risk its life for this bitof 'fun' by foreigners?
If you want to ride endurance, come ridein the Tevis Cup or some of our 5-day rides, or the Tom Quilty or the5-day Shahzada in Australia. If you want to horse tour around Mongolia,take an organized tour with someone who has been there before (TheAdventurists, putting in this 'race', have not. Ever.) You can even gowith endurance riders, Christoph Shork and Dian Woodward of Global Endurance Training,who lead organized tours over there in conjunction with BoojumExpeditions, a REAL expedition and adventure travel company. You canride 8 hours a day and learn something about the Mongolian people andculture, not exploit them.
This Mongol Derby is not a sportingevent. This is not endurance riding. This travesty of a 'race' is adisgrace to the horse world and an insult to responsible riders andcompetitors and horse organizations around the world. If you areparticipating in it, I would really like to know your reasons. Pleasefeel free to comment or email me if you are one.
There will be more to come in my blogs as things develop with this. For now, you can read an Article by the Long Rider's Guild, "Racing into Trouble". You can also read much more on the Mongolia page on The Long Rider's Guild.
And if you care, you can sign a petition to stop this HERE on the Voices for Horses page.
If you'd like more on this "Official Charity" Mercy Corp who is accepting money for helping with this, click here and form your own opinions.
More to come.
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| Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at | | | |
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Thursday June 25 2009
"Your horse is LAME LAME LAME, 3-LEGGED LAME, DEAD LAME!" in the right hind, for 3 days, on bute, Steph told me right after I got back from the Strawberry Fields ride. She couldn't find any heat or swelling, and didn't know if it might be an abscess... or a break somewhere up high. Kind of puts your heart in your throat when you hear your horse can't put his leg down and is literally hopping on3 legs - for 3 days.
When I got home, Stormy was finally able to put some slight weight on the foot, and I found a very tiny warm and sensitive spot, top of his hoof on the coronet band - maybe he was going to pop a gravel out of there. It does make them dead lame for a couple of days. I couldn't find anything else poking and prodding up his leg and stifle to indicate anything broken.
I then walked over to the neighbor's to throw their horses some hay. I wasn't planning on interacting with any horses, but a couple of mares came up behind me. One had some terrible ear itches and came up to have them scratched - and barrelled right into me. And stood on my foot. Which was in a sandal.
I shrieked and flailed at her but she wouldn't get off, and when she finally moved away, she pivoted first, grinding my foot into the ground.
I live in sandals, but I never wear them when I work around horses. I always make sure to take the time to put shoes on. Except today.
Now I am LAME LAME LAME, 3-LEGGED LAME, DEAD LAME in the right hind. Mashed the top of my foot, turned it blue;nothing broken I think, but I ripped a toenail off. It's a bloody mangled mess. Looks like I put it in a blender.
That is true empathy with my horse, don't you think?
And Stormy did blow a gravel out his coronet band.
A New Zealand friend was at the Tom Quilty endurance ride last year, withhis old mentor. They were walking around their horses barefoot (!)."That way I know where my feet are."
I know where my feet are -one is soaking in an antiseptic bath and getting wrapped in a bandagefrom being stepped on, and I won't be able to ride in the 2-day ride we are having here this weekend, dang it!
Two days later, it feels better and I'm not limping so badly (though it doesn't look much better)... maybe I can ride a horse...
Steve B suggested I get an old pair of shoes and cut a hole out where my toegoes, so that it doesn't rub. That's a possibility. What's a little pain? It's not like I broke my leg. It's not like I even broke a toe. It is very tempting.
But then, the thought of just bumping my toe makes me a bit nauseous, and what's the probability of NOT bumping my toe once in 50 or 100 miles of riding?
Well,perhaps there will be some other great opportunities that arise as Ihobble around and watch the other riders having fun. At the least, my lame horse and I can hang around and hobble and heal together.
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| Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at | | | |
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Monday June 22 2009
Well,
I can't say I was TOO disappointed about not riding 50 miles today, as
Sue and I hunkered down in her trailer early in the morning, watching
the rain stream down the windows, and watching the horses stick their
heads down and their butts to the gusting rain. Nor was I complaining
as I poured myself a third cup of Starbucks coffee, perked in Sue's
Moka Expresso Maker on her stove in her horse trailer, as she put on
layers of clothes underneath her raincoat, preparing to go out.
I
did have a little twinge of jealousy, however, as the 16 die-hard
50-milers and the 4 25-milers headed out on the trail, shafts of sun
very briefly poking through the clouds and mist as riders whooped and
yee-hawed their way northward up the canyon, back into the mist. I went
back to the trailer and had another cup of coffee.
The lunch vet check was out of camp, at the Corrals way up Bjorkman road. 
I went there with Linda Howard, who had ridden the first two days (on
her horse that almost drowned in a bog here a couple of years ago), and
who was crewing today for her nephew. She had me drive so she could
finish her breakfast, and it was all fine until we got to the corrals -
where the road turned to a sea of mud in a meadow. Oh dear! I gunned it
and whipped the steering wheel wildly back and forth (a learned
desperate habit from the sands of Dubai!) so we wouldn't get stuck, and
made it to some dry ground and parked. "YOU get to drive back!" I said
to Linda.
Although she didn't ride today, you could also call
Linda a hard core endurance rider. Last year she was in a cast from her
neck to her waist, after breaking her neck - on Mother's Day. Of course
she's back riding now. Linda has over 8600 miles, and over 21 seasons
of riding, she has only 4 pulls! And one of those was a Rider Option -
the Almost-Bog-Drowning!
Linda loves multi-day rides, her
ultimate goal being to finish with a healthy horse that's ready to go
again the next day; and with her record, you could say she excels at
them. Her main horse, AM Gypsy Realm, has over 3300 miles in 7 seasons,
and 67 starts, with only 2 pulls (one of them the Rider Option for the
Almost-Bog-Drowning!) That's my kind of endurance riding too:
multi-days, horses that go many seasons, many thousands of miles.
I
expected to see Sue arrive first at the vet check on Al, but several
others arrived before she did. Marty said he'd seen a horse's tracks
that missed the turn down off the snowfield. He'd followed them a ways,
but then lost them. When more than half a dozen people had arrived at
the vet check, I figured the lost rider must have been Sue! Sure
enough, when she finally arrived, she said yes, those were Al's tracks
- Sue hadn't seen the turn down the mountain, and she got onto another
trail where she did see some ribbons, and ended up following that all
the way down before realizing she was on the wrong trail. Then she and
Al had to climb back up onto the ridge to look for the right trail
down! So Al had some hard extra mileage today that he'd be able to tell
Khan all about this evening.
While the sun was just beginning to
come out in the meadow, Marty said that up on the ridge, it had been a
cold hurricane a'blowin', sleet pounding sideways, the wind trying to
rip off the visor from his helmet.
It was a tricky trail today:
a hard climb, sketchy footing and wicked weather - and everybody was
smiling when they came down, having a good time. Tom Noll said it was
great - the clouds would briefly part and give him a glimpse down one
of the canyons - before pounding sleet and snow on them again. Tom's
horse Frank - his 3rd day on the trail - didn't care about any ol' good
scenery, he just wanted to go fast, as usual. Tom and Frank have been
having this speed argument for 9 years and 4000 miles now. They still
haven't worked it out. Frank was loving the personalized Feed Service
at the vet check by Linda Howard, who fetched him his favorite food of
the afternoon and held it in a feed bucket right up to his nose, so he
wouldn't have to walk anywhere or bend his head down.
After
Linda's nephew headed back out on the trail, Linda turned her jeep
around without getting stuck, and we drove back to camp, where Khan was
sweating under two blankets in the sunshine. I spent the rest of the
afternoon, while waiting for Sue and Al to come in, between rain storms
that swept through camp, taking off and putting back on Khan's
blanket(s), and hanging out our blankets and Frank's blankets to dry,
then running and grabbing them and putting them back inside from the
rain.
A couple of thunderstorms skirted camp to the west - where
the riders were coming in - and I watched (cowered) from the safety of
the trailer. Drinking more Starbucks.
Sue finished somewhere
around fourth, and after she vetted in, then showed for Best Condition,
we packed up, loaded up the horses, and headed to her house outside of
Park City. A number of today's riders lingered and camped overnight at
Strawberry Fields, enjoying a potluck dinner and the cool clear starry
evening in the mountains.
In Park City, Sue and I turned Al and
Khan out with their 5 buddies. They all sniffed noses, ran around their
paddock in circles, then Al and Khan went to the bestest softest dirt,
and rolled and rolled, till they came up as black horses.
And so
it turned out that neither Sue nor I had to worry at all about the new
horse I was getting on for the first time at Strawberry Fields Forever
- I now have a new pink-nosed equine pal. It was a great weekend, for
humans and horses.
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| Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at | | | |
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Photo by Vicki Gaebe of www.parkcityphotography.com
Sunday June 21 2009
If
you want to know what the weather is going to do for the day, don't
listen to the forecast (yesterday was supposed to be rainy, today was
supposed to be the best day). Just look south out the door of your
horse trailer when you get up to see what's headed your way.
Headed
our way this morning was rain. Gray everywhere, dark clouds, and rain.
It was already wet from rain during some of the night.
If you
want to know what to wear, check out what Dave Rabe is wearing. Tank
top with his shorts, and raincoat? If so, I only needed 2 layers.
That's what I put on under the raincoat Sue loaned me. She offered me a
bright yellow, stiff, body length raincoat, which would have kept me
dry, too warm, and unable to bend my arms. So I opted for a 99 cent
plastic job stored in her tack room door for emergencies. I left my
camera behind though... didn't want to take a chance on getting it wet.
I
don't think any of us 50-some riders in the 50 and 25 milers were
bothered by the rain, especially since we'd gotten such a wonderful
freebie good day yesterday. Khan was more relaxed starting out - no
shaking while we saddled up, and only a mimimal of jigging. He felt
very strong underneath me, and was very willing to move on down the
trail. That's what you love to feel on a multi-day ride - your horse
feeling stronger the next day.
The
trails were more slippery this morning due to the overnight rain, but
Khan was being very careful as we trotted along, watching where he was
putting his feet, and never placing them wrong. Until, that is, we got
passed. Three riders caught up with us and cantered by us on the
camping road. Khan would have handled that, but then 5 riders ripped
past us at a gallop, and that was it. The racehorse brain switched on,
and the careful foot placement, and the collected trot and bowed neck
went out the endurance window.
Then I had my hands full the next
7 or 8 miles, trying to keep my horse under control and not lose his
marbles, and trip over a log in the trail, or slip on a muddy turn. He
wasn't too bad, but I had to really pay attention. When we emerged from
the tricky trail through forest into the Strawberry valley again, Khan
was so worried about the line of horses he could see ahead of us, he
didn't pay attention to the churned up footing coming to the Crick.
Both his front feet got stuck in deep mud, and we almost went down.
(Wouldn't you know one of the video guys was there filming - they were
there to film for a hopeful reality show pilot on endurance.)
Vicki
Gaebe of Park City Photography was also in the meadow, and, what
exquisite timing she had - the sun came out just then ever so briefly,
and I had Khan moving ever so nicely for this fleeting moment in the
meadow. (That's Vicki's picture of me up top.)
Not only was it a
bit nerve wracking with an inattentive horse going over technical
ground, but after a while you start to worry about the horse, who's
using up way too much energy, getting worked up for nothing. Khan was
SO focused on going forward and going fast, that he wouldn't slow down
to take a drink or a bite of grass. It wasn't bad at this point in the
ride, but you don't want the horse spending his whole ride(s) doing
that, or he'll do himself harm metabolically down the road.
Sue
and I stopped at the edge of the meadow, and while her horse Al calmly
ate, ripping up grass left and right, I hopped off Khan and kept him
from walking in circles and tried to get him to concentrate on grass.
He'd eat it if I plucked it for him, but he really wasn't interested in
taking the time to do it himself - too many horses to catch! Sue and I
hung out there a good five or ten minutes, waiting till all horses were
out of sight, and Khan finally calmed down a little.
Then with
only one horse in sight ahead of us, we started back down the trail,
tucking in behind Sue and Al. Now I was back on a smooth calm,
collected, attentive white horse, sailing the few miles to the vet
check. It really helped Khan to bury his head in the food at the vet
check during our 15-minute hold.
From there we trotted up the
Beaver Staircase by Co-op Creek again, to Beaver Junction where we had
hung up the Day 2 pie plate yesterday. This time we turned down a side
drainage, along another Beaver Staircase - levels of beaver ponds and
dams all the way down the creek. You really understand the term 'busy
as a beaver' when you see all the work they do, chewing down aspens,
gnawing them into dam-building-sized logs if they don't fall in the
correct place, dragging them down to the creek, shaping sticks, and
building some pretty spectacular dams and domes. One dam we passed on
one of the creeks was 50 yards long.
I got off to walk down this
creek because as usual my knee was killing me, and since it was muddy
and rocky. Once I walk on foot for 5 minutes, my knee works itself out.
At the bottom we turned onto another logging road, and began a steady
climb again for a few miles, past the Corrals that would be used for
tomorrow's vet check, and into the fabled Norwegian Woods.
I
couldn't wait to see this, as Sue had been talking about the Norwegian
Woods for weeks. How can one aspen forest be so different from any
other aspen forest? Well, this one was, somehow, charming and alluring.
A perfect aspen forest with a carpet of thick green, knee-high plants
just on the verge of busting out in purple flowers. In one place the
aspens stood perfectly placed and manicured guarding a big meadow; in
another spot our trail dodged close to and around single aspens, like
the old Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi where they flew through the
Moon Forest.
Normally, aspens and wild rose (with thorns) hang out together and make for an annoying, not-so-friendly forest (see Golden Aspens),
but these Norwegian Woods were free of roses and thorns and thickets
and just made you want to get off your horse and stay a while. Even
with the gray day and the rain it was enchanting, and it was the one
time I really wished I'd risked bringing my camera today!
After
the Norwegian Woods came the other feature of the ride I'd been hearing
a lot about: Slick Snot Slope. A fitting name for a Man From Snowy
River stomach-dropping hill if you went straight over it ... only this
hill was coated with mud. We took the side slope ... also coated with
mud and very slick. Fortunately our horses were quite coordinated, and
I just didn't think about what it might be like if Khan slipped and
went down. If I'd really thought about what I was doing, I might have
gotten a little nervous. I sure didn't feel like any fearless Snowy
River rider. My eyes were quite wide for the slide down Slick Snot
Slope and I think I held my breath.
Our horses slid down on
their haunches, big giant sliding steps that eventually got us to the
bottom in one piece. Some riders got off at the top to lead their
horses down - that would have been REALLY scary! Some of the riders
slipped and fell, hoping their horse wouldn't fall slip and fall on
them!
We had just a few more miles of trail into camp - a VERY
slick muddy trail. Khan was very carefully placing his feet and
adjusting for the surface with every step. What a good horse! It took a
lot of concentration from both of us.
As if mud wasn't enough to
worry about, I got WHACKED by a tree branch that almost tore me off my
horse. Branches had been smacking me all day - Khan was a tall horse,
but this was the first time i got it in the eye. Fortunately, I have
not gotten around yet to that laser eye surgery, so I still have to
wear glasses, which saved me here from putting my eye out. A good
reason to keep putting off that surgery (or never getting it) and keep
wearing my eye protection.
By the time we got to camp for our
hour lunch hold, we were pretty wet, our raincoats - Sue's long oiled
'duster' and my 99 center - having let some of the rain through. Of
course, for me that might have been because one whole sleeve had ripped
apart. We fixed that right up with duct tape.
Heading
out on Loop 2, I forgot that my fleece-padded saddle had briefly been
out in the rain, so when I mounted, it was like sitting on a wet
sponge. Oh, yuck!
Loop 2 was about 20 miles. We went back out
the same way through the forest, cutting across the meadow sooner. Here
we came upon a group of 6 riders, and before Khan started getting too
wound up again, we decided to move on ahead of them.
After
crossing the meadow, and debating several minutes about which way our
trail went - yesterday's turn-off to the vet check was still marked,
and no pie plate indicating we shouldn't take that one, and no
ribbons indicating we should go straight - we decided the Willow Creek
trail again was the correct way. Howard had said, "Bring your map!" We
did, but we still weren't quite sure for a mile or two.
We
trotted steadily along the creek, slowing for bogs, letting the horses
stop for a drink when they wanted it, and stopping occasionally to let
the horses eat grass. So much grass out there - and the cows were
moving in on Tuesday to start mowing it all down. We passed over one
very big bog that we'd done earlier in the day, and I'd had plenty of
time to get quite nervous about it. Khan had been very good about
picking the best way through them, so here I just threw him the reins
and held my breath and hoped for the best. He got us through again,
just fine, and we stopped for a while to graze on the other side.
We
were now following the same trail as loop 1, which meant another jaunt
through the Norwegian woods! Here we caught up with Melissa Margetts
and her Paso Fino gelding Cabo from Colorado. You don't see too many
Paso Finos in endurance, and in fact, Cabo is the first one to complete
Tevis. Melissa and Cabo started their endurance careers together in
2006. Many people said they'd never make it through the tough 100 miles
of Tevis, but they've also completed 2 other hundreds, including the
Big Horn in Wyoming.
Melissa
had taken a wrong turn - the one Sue and I had debated over - and
though her horse argued and argued with her, telling her she was going
the wrong way, she didn't listen, and consequently had added about 10
miles to their day. Cabo was quite cranky with her the rest of the day.
Those two are entered in the Tevis again this year.
Then it was
back to Slick Snot Slope... even more muddier and slippery after the
passage of roughly 300 horse feet throughout the day. I just didn't
think about it again, and held my breath again, and left the passage
all up to Khan. He skidded for yards at some places, sat on his
haunches at others, and we slid safely to the bottom of the hill. Then
we followed the now REALLY slick trail the few miles back to camp (me
successfully ducking at the Eye-Poker branch this time), and soon we
were back in camp again for the finish. Perfect timing, because the
other sleeve of my raincoat had now ripped out. (Get out the duct tape
again!)
Our horses looked great at the finish, and trotted out
sound. We unsaddled them, and fixed them up with dry blankets and lots
of food.
The Bradleys cooked another human meal of marinated
turkey and 'funeral potatoes' (pardon the pun, but they are to die
for), which was served during a downpour. Some people crowded under
awnings or tents to eat, but I was wearing the Big Banana Raincoat,
which kept me dry, though it was still hard to bend my arms to put food
in my mouth.
Howard had a brief meeting for tomorrow's ride; he
decided to stick with his original plan of taking riders up to 10,000',
through some snow, for a scenic ride. It was going to be "very
technical," and more rain was predicted. "And guys, BE CAREFUL," said
vet Kathy Bacchus. "We can NOT get to you up there if anything happens.
Go slow, and take care of each other out there." This is real
endurance, for the hard core riders.
That clinched the decision
for me not to ride Khan tomorrow. He'd done enough these two days -
being only his second and third endurance rides - and, while Khan was
generally very careful, I just didn't want to take any chances on
hurting Sue's horse. I'd help Sue and Al get ready in the morning and
send them on their way.
And then sit and drink Starbucks all morning. : )
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| Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at | | | |
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Saturday June 20 2009
You
never quite know, when you climb on a horse for the first time 5
minutes before the start of a 50-mile endurance ride, what you will be
in for. Is he going to run off with me or dump me? I REALLY don't want
to get hurt. Will we get along, or will we be fighting all day - is it
going to be fun or miserable? And what about the horse? I REALLY don't
want to tie up or colic or hurt someone else's horse.
By the
same token, someone who loans you one of their horses to ride that you
get on 5 minutes before you leave the starting line, never knows how
you and their horse are going to get along, or what they are going to
have left at the finish.
And so it was, that just before the
start of Day 1's 55-mile ride I climbed on Sue's horse Amazing Khan for
the first time, to take him through only his second endurance ride. "He
gets a bit excited," Sue said, "but nothing bad." We were letting most
everybody go ahead of us because we were going to hang out a pie plate
showing the way on Day 2, after all the riders had passed today's turn
off. That was probably good for me, so my horse wouldn't have a pile of
horses and riders to deal with around the start and down the trail.
Khan,
a kind white gelding with pink-rimmed eyes and mouth, (Sue said, "I
hate pink horses!" They sunburn so easily, especially at these high
altitudes) was quite calm as we saddled up, though he was shaking a
bit. When I hit the saddle, he started jigging as we made our way to
the start, behind Sue and her horse Al. It was a nervous jig... but,
hallelujah, that's all he did. He never pulled hard or threw his head
up or down or bucked. Only a few times on the first loop did he pull
and hang on the bit, but I got him off of it with little effort.
Not
a half mile out of camp, I yelled out loud as we trotted over a great
horned owl feather. "Wait!" I'd just heard that a GHO feather is as
good as a St Christopher medal. Of course, the person who told me that
might have been making that up, but it sounded good to me. "You better
get off and get it!" Sue said. Khan was in a good forward mode, but,
yes, I better stop him, turn him around and get off to get the feather.
(Good practice anyway for the horse, stopping, getting off and on.)
Khan and I had 155 miles of travel together ahead of us, and you never
know when you'll need the patronage of the Patron Saint of Travelers.
(Later I found out that St Christopher also protects travelers against
lightning!!!!!)
It
was quite the technical trail we traveled on through the fir and aspen
forest on the west side above the Strawberry valley. Twisting, turning,
up and down, over tree trunks and branches, around rocks, by boggy
beaver ponds that are ever-oozing outward, sometimes muddy, sometimes
rocky. You needed an athlete for this ride, not a torpid stumblebum.
Fortunately Khan was very balanced, and not intimidated by anything -
nothing better than a competent, confident, forward moving horse! What
a treat - we were a perfect match!
A few miles out, we met a
rider coming back. Linda Fisher said she'd broken a rib or two: "I
can't ride 50 miles like this!" Riding must have felt better than
walking, though, because she was still on her horse as she headed back
to camp.
We crossed the little Strawberry River (more like a
'crick') and crossed to the other side of the valley. The trail we
followed led through a hillside covered with sagebrush,  mules ears, and strawberry plants which, in the fall, must be an oral paradise for humans and animals alike!
We
caught up with Mark Wood and Dave Rabe as we entered an aspen forest.
Here were a couple of Real Endurance Riders. Mark has 15,000 AERC
miles, and Dave has 45,000 miles - ! Dave is always pleasant and always
has a good time - rain, snow, sleet, hail, hurricane or sunshine - and
he's always wearing shorts. Never wears tights. Wouldn't be caught dead
in them. Only once or twice has he been spotted wearing jeans on
horseback, and that was for an Easy Boot ad. 
I've
known Dave a long time and have never seen him in anything but shorts
and tank top (maybe a long-sleeved shirt under the tank top, if it's
really cold, or a raincoat if it's snowing or raining), so it's normal
to me, but several people here who didn't know Dave were awed by it.
(It IS awesome, when you're wearing 4 layers and Dave's in shorts and a
tank top and he's not frozen.) All I know is that if I DID see him in
anything other than shorts, I'd be suspicious or worried.
Many
parts of the Strawberry Fields trails we went through were muddy, soft
and squishy. Here I followed Sue across a squishy field, and just
behind us, crossing in the same spot, Dave and his horse went down in a
bog. And here is where I remembered that I have TWO fears in endurance
riding: LIGHTNING, and BOGS.
Ever since a couple of years ago, when Gretchen and I almost lost one of her horses in a bog,
soft muddy ground has made me nervous. Not a pleasant experience,
watching a horse almost drown in mud. (And on Day 3, Linda Howard told
me about the time her horse almost drowned in a bog a few years ago -
IN THIS RIDE! I'm glad I heard about it afterwards : )
Dave
immediately leaped off and was able to quickly get his horse out (he
didn't go down far), but I had the Willies for the rest of the ride any
time we went over squishy places... which was too often for my comfort
level.
We got to the pulse down and trot-by stop in the next
valley (which would be the lunch vet check after a big loop), and we
waited there till all the riders on the 50 had come through. Khan kept
his head buried in food the whole time.
Loop 2 took us up Co-op
Creek, climbing and climbing in the forest, along a staircase of beaver
ponds and dams, to the aptly named Beaver Junction (where we hung the
pie plate and changed ribbons for tomorrow), up onto logging roads,
still slowly climbing, up to 10,000'. The aspen forest was spectacular
- gold, yellow, lime green leaves against the clear blue sky.  Bright sunshine, cool breeze - it was perfect!
Our
horses were trotting along easily, Khan enjoying being in front, me
enjoying being in front on a strong forward horse that didn't spook at
anything. Sue was fascinated with all the carvings on the aspens. Aspen
trees in the Hoover Wilderness of the high Sierras in California have
carvings from the late 1800s from Basque sheepherders; these carvings
were mostly from the 1970's to now, though there were a couple from the
1950's. Mostly it was just names, but there were some pretty outrageous
carvings, some artistic, some a bit naughty! There was one Russell
Whitehorse who left his carved name everywhere, one of them with a
carved horse head. I got off and put my white horse by the carved white
horse on the white aspen tree, left by Russell Whitehorse, and took a
picture.
We caught up with Dave and Mark again, and with Carla
Richardson from Colorado. We all leapfrogged for several miles through
the forest. 
Rounding a corner high on a logging road, I was unprepared for the
stunning sight of Strawberry Reservoir about 2500' below us.  We had a great view of mountain ranges in the distance, the closest being the Wasatch range,  and we heard a fox call from underneath cliffs by a dried up pond.
Our
logging road then turned down, gradually downward for miles, out onto a
winding trail through the sagebrush in the valley that led us to the
vet check. 
We
were there for an hour, and Khan did not lift his head ONCE from all
the horse food: grass (which we'd been snatching from all along the
trail), hay, alfalfa, grain, carrots, apples. That's what you like to
see in an endurance horse - a good eater! I had to peel him away from
the grain buckets as we headed out on our final loop back to camp and
the finish.
We crossed over the boggy area again without mishap
- Sue flagging a different way around it for tomorrow's trail -
following Bjorkman road up and up again along a creek. Parts of the
trail were quite muddy from yesterday's rain, but Khan and Al had no
trouble with it.
Then suddenly - we were descending the last
half mile into camp. It was 5:00, but the day had flown swiftly by,
under my horse's fleet and sure feet. A great day for just about
everybody. 56 of 58 finished the 55 miler, and 28 of 29 finished the 25
miler. The endurance riding Bradley family cooked dinner for everybody
- salad and lasagna, just the thing to hit the spot after a day of
frolicking on horseback with my new pal Khan in the Utah mountains.
Just an excellent day all around.
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| Posted by The Equestrian Vagabond at | | | |
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Friday June 19 2009
It
started with an email from Sue Hedgecock to Steph: "Would any of you
like to whip down here, relax and ride at Strawberry?? What would it
take??"
A 3-day ride in Utah?? All it took for me was an offer of a horse to ride.
"Do
you like a tall horse or a short horse; can you tolerate a sensitive
horse, or do you want to be more laid back? What do you want to ride?
25's? 50's? All the days?"
My requirements were 1) a horse that
preferably does not buck, because I only stay on them about half the
time, 2) a horse that is not crazy, because I prefer to have fun (my
motto is, "Lazy is better than Crazy!"), and 3) ride 50's every day!
Sue's only requirement was, "Bring your Starbucks!"
With
enough gear to make it look like I was moving to Utah, I caught a ride
from Idaho with the rather famous northwest endurance horse Frank, and
his driver Tom Noll, to the ridecamp at 8200' up the Strawberry River
valley in the Uintah mountains - the highest mountain range in Utah.
Put on by Howard Kent for the 7th year, the Strawberry Fields Forever Endurance Ride webpage says "The terrain is challenging, but not difficult, with trails winding through aspens 
and meadows filled with wildflowers and spectacular mountain scenery.
The area is blessed with some of the most pristine, gorgeous riding
terrain imaginable." (I also noticed the "You can expect the occasional
thunder shower so come prepared" - yikes!). On the trails, if I could
peel my eyes away from the scenery, I'd be on the lookout for deer,
elk, moose, beaver, and bears that lived in the Uintah range. Doesn't
it all make your endurance muscles quiver with anticipation!
By
the time we pulled into ridecamp Friday afternoon, the sun was out -
first time in days, as the area had been hammered by
rain/hail/thunderstorms.
We were set up for a gorgeous weekend of mountain endurance riding in Utah.
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