(no subject)
Sep. 22nd, 2007 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI'm home from The Ride. Persons who want to know lots and lots about how that went are encouraged to click the cut.
We actually pulled out at 4 PM which is damn near on time for us. We'd been planning to leave by 3 PM. The truck seemed to be running well (and it should for the thousand dollars of new clutch, new slave cylinder, new pressure plate, etc. that were put in it this week.) and it looked like we'd actually make it there in time for a leisurely camp set-up and vet-in, just like normal people.
Alas, it was not to be. The trailer had a tire blow about a mile or two outside of Claysburg (not a very large burg) on I-99. As we had no spare (there is no spare on the trailer, never has been. Every trip is an adventure that way.), we rolled the good tire up on a block of wood and stuffed a smaller block of wood into the equalizer joint to keep the dead tire off the road. Then we drove slowly to Claysburg and attempted to locate a tire-repair place that was open after 5 PM on a Friday. A good samaritan offered to call a guy who worked at Claar's Garage and have him come back in (he'd gone home already). He left a message but figured he'd also swing by the guy's house and get him in person, which he did. We let the horses eat grass on the median of the highway while we waited. The garage guy (not the owner) showed up and looked through his used 15" tires for something that would hold air (my criterion) and had a bit of tread (his idea). He jacked the trailer up, pulled the dead tire, put the new-used tire on the rim, installed it all on the trailer, knocked out the block of wood we'd jammed in the equalizer joint, and asked us to pay him five dollars. We forced ten dollars more onto him, under protest.
Then we headed on to the ride site. We got there as it was getting dark. The vet decided to vet us in via flashlight and did so. Everybody checked in sound, including Phantom and his near hind foot which had been problematic all week. Yay. We made it to the ride meeting, where they handed out maps, told us that the heat would be a real problem the following day (and gave us adjusted p/r criteria for the heat) and chatted about the assorted trail conditions, water locations, whatever.
We went back to the trailer. I had some lukewarm ham potpie of Angie's. We held the horses out on grass (there was ample grass) until they wouldn't eat anymore because grass has lots of moisture and it's like water in the bank for horses that do not like to drink strange water. (Nick and Casper do not like strange water.) Since it was going to be so hot on the morrow, we figured we would need all the help we could get on the hydration front and grass looked like a good idea.
We went to bed late and didn't sleep well. That's par for any horse-camping function. We got up at like 5 AM and held the horses out on grass some more. We braided manes (for better cooling -- it gets all the hair out of the way) and ate breakfast (in my case, a bowl of Lucky Charms) and tacked up for the 7:30 AM start. The start was originally 8:00 AM but they moved it earlier to try to beat the heat.
The start is done in pairs, at thirty-second intervals. It's by number. Cass and La were in the mid-twenties and I was thirty-five, so they got a head start on me. I caught up with La before we'd done the first mile. Nobody really had any brakes. Cass rode with us off and on during the ride but wanted to lope and ride with her friends. Whatever. I figured she'd done her homework and couldn't kill the pony no matter what she did and neither La nor I wanted to spend thirty miles yelling at her, so we let her do what she wanted. Mostly I rode with La and Phantom.
Phantom looked off on the first stretch of blue gravel road, but he worked out of it and was quite sound the rest of the ride. Nick wouldn't drink anything at EITHER of the two water stops (they hauled water in on trucks because the trail was dry) but I sponged her a lot. She also didn't drink shit the night before -- her bucket was full in the morning. Stupid non-drinking horse. We did make some excellent time down the "good view" pipeline trail. Apparently other people don't trot downhill. We passed lots of people. The last leg of the first loop was a fairly rocky, technical trail that we mostly walked. It didn't have secure room for passing, either. At least we hit it when the horses were starting to remember that they had brains.
The midpoint stop was back in camp. Nick drank a couple of swallows of water, not as much as I'd have liked, and ate two apples. (Note to self: Your horse does not like carrots and/or has never been fed any.) I sponged a lot on the grounds that if you can't get water IN them, you can surely put it ON them. She was down for pulse and respiration in good time and trotted sound at the trot-out. Casper and Phantom passed too. The second loop was the first loop in reverse order, so we thundered up the hill until we hit the bad rocky section and then we slowed down. Having seen it once, the horses did better on the second go-round.
At the first water stop on the second half of the ride, Nick drank half a bucket of water. Good horse! I sponged. La sponged. We carried onward, up the big pipeline hill, which had good views if you consider "It looks like you could fall right off this trail and down a cliff" a good view. Some of us do not. Also, hanging a neon green "danger" ribbon between the trail and the edge of the cliff? Not very funny. We rocked and rolled the rest of the way home, some of it in *very* good time. We cantered the last mile and a half to get in before the cut-off time.
And then we sponged and sponged and sponged. Cassity, whom we had not seen for much of the ride, had overridden Casper by cantering way too much and not trotting enough. She also thought that sponging was uncool and didn't do enough of it. In eighty-degree weather with a pony who does not genetically (stocky build, heavy pony fur) shed heat well, sponging is not an optional behavior. Casper inverted (respiration per minute was more than heart beats per minute). BAD user!! But, y'know, it was her ride and she did with it what she wanted. Not MY problem. I rode conditioning miles with her and we talked rather a lot about how she should approach the ride and the importance of riding like you trained and she was all up to speed on that. If, when the hooves hit the trail, she chose to ignore my fine advice, that is not my problem. I refuse to spend thirty miles yelling at a kid.
We vetted out. We ate dinner (two hotdogs, half a bag of chips, and a pepsi. Also an ibuprofin as my back was killing me.) and we waited for the awards ceremony. At the awards ceremony, they allowed as how a fifth of the riders who had started did not finish. (This is a lot for the ride.) They also mentioned that these were some of the lowest vet scores ever (because of the heat) and that it was a tough day for everybody. Then, they handed out the awards. This is a competitive trail ride, not a race, so the person who comes in first may not get first place if his or her horse doesn't do well at the final vet check. The scoring for stuff like girth sores and clipping and whatever really affect who gets what placing, so you really don't know who won anything until the awards. Cassity, who had overridden her pony via rider error, scored fifth out of the five 4-H ponies who finished. There were other ponies who didn't finish, but of the ones who did, Cassity was in last place. Her pony had clean heels (yay!) but girth sores (user error) and was pretty fatigued (user error). Katie (Erin's daughter) won first place for 4-H ponies. La got 3rd for Adult Hwt. I got first for Adult Hwt (ribbon) and I also took High Point Adult (plaque) with a score of 94 (out of 100).
There are no pictures. I didn't even get my camera out of the bag. Theron had a camera and I think he got some. The ride manager also said that there would be pictures on the ride website in the next couple of weeks, one of which will probably show a very grubby me with helmet-head hair.
We actually pulled out at 4 PM which is damn near on time for us. We'd been planning to leave by 3 PM. The truck seemed to be running well (and it should for the thousand dollars of new clutch, new slave cylinder, new pressure plate, etc. that were put in it this week.) and it looked like we'd actually make it there in time for a leisurely camp set-up and vet-in, just like normal people.
Alas, it was not to be. The trailer had a tire blow about a mile or two outside of Claysburg (not a very large burg) on I-99. As we had no spare (there is no spare on the trailer, never has been. Every trip is an adventure that way.), we rolled the good tire up on a block of wood and stuffed a smaller block of wood into the equalizer joint to keep the dead tire off the road. Then we drove slowly to Claysburg and attempted to locate a tire-repair place that was open after 5 PM on a Friday. A good samaritan offered to call a guy who worked at Claar's Garage and have him come back in (he'd gone home already). He left a message but figured he'd also swing by the guy's house and get him in person, which he did. We let the horses eat grass on the median of the highway while we waited. The garage guy (not the owner) showed up and looked through his used 15" tires for something that would hold air (my criterion) and had a bit of tread (his idea). He jacked the trailer up, pulled the dead tire, put the new-used tire on the rim, installed it all on the trailer, knocked out the block of wood we'd jammed in the equalizer joint, and asked us to pay him five dollars. We forced ten dollars more onto him, under protest.
Then we headed on to the ride site. We got there as it was getting dark. The vet decided to vet us in via flashlight and did so. Everybody checked in sound, including Phantom and his near hind foot which had been problematic all week. Yay. We made it to the ride meeting, where they handed out maps, told us that the heat would be a real problem the following day (and gave us adjusted p/r criteria for the heat) and chatted about the assorted trail conditions, water locations, whatever.
We went back to the trailer. I had some lukewarm ham potpie of Angie's. We held the horses out on grass (there was ample grass) until they wouldn't eat anymore because grass has lots of moisture and it's like water in the bank for horses that do not like to drink strange water. (Nick and Casper do not like strange water.) Since it was going to be so hot on the morrow, we figured we would need all the help we could get on the hydration front and grass looked like a good idea.
We went to bed late and didn't sleep well. That's par for any horse-camping function. We got up at like 5 AM and held the horses out on grass some more. We braided manes (for better cooling -- it gets all the hair out of the way) and ate breakfast (in my case, a bowl of Lucky Charms) and tacked up for the 7:30 AM start. The start was originally 8:00 AM but they moved it earlier to try to beat the heat.
The start is done in pairs, at thirty-second intervals. It's by number. Cass and La were in the mid-twenties and I was thirty-five, so they got a head start on me. I caught up with La before we'd done the first mile. Nobody really had any brakes. Cass rode with us off and on during the ride but wanted to lope and ride with her friends. Whatever. I figured she'd done her homework and couldn't kill the pony no matter what she did and neither La nor I wanted to spend thirty miles yelling at her, so we let her do what she wanted. Mostly I rode with La and Phantom.
Phantom looked off on the first stretch of blue gravel road, but he worked out of it and was quite sound the rest of the ride. Nick wouldn't drink anything at EITHER of the two water stops (they hauled water in on trucks because the trail was dry) but I sponged her a lot. She also didn't drink shit the night before -- her bucket was full in the morning. Stupid non-drinking horse. We did make some excellent time down the "good view" pipeline trail. Apparently other people don't trot downhill. We passed lots of people. The last leg of the first loop was a fairly rocky, technical trail that we mostly walked. It didn't have secure room for passing, either. At least we hit it when the horses were starting to remember that they had brains.
The midpoint stop was back in camp. Nick drank a couple of swallows of water, not as much as I'd have liked, and ate two apples. (Note to self: Your horse does not like carrots and/or has never been fed any.) I sponged a lot on the grounds that if you can't get water IN them, you can surely put it ON them. She was down for pulse and respiration in good time and trotted sound at the trot-out. Casper and Phantom passed too. The second loop was the first loop in reverse order, so we thundered up the hill until we hit the bad rocky section and then we slowed down. Having seen it once, the horses did better on the second go-round.
At the first water stop on the second half of the ride, Nick drank half a bucket of water. Good horse! I sponged. La sponged. We carried onward, up the big pipeline hill, which had good views if you consider "It looks like you could fall right off this trail and down a cliff" a good view. Some of us do not. Also, hanging a neon green "danger" ribbon between the trail and the edge of the cliff? Not very funny. We rocked and rolled the rest of the way home, some of it in *very* good time. We cantered the last mile and a half to get in before the cut-off time.
And then we sponged and sponged and sponged. Cassity, whom we had not seen for much of the ride, had overridden Casper by cantering way too much and not trotting enough. She also thought that sponging was uncool and didn't do enough of it. In eighty-degree weather with a pony who does not genetically (stocky build, heavy pony fur) shed heat well, sponging is not an optional behavior. Casper inverted (respiration per minute was more than heart beats per minute). BAD user!! But, y'know, it was her ride and she did with it what she wanted. Not MY problem. I rode conditioning miles with her and we talked rather a lot about how she should approach the ride and the importance of riding like you trained and she was all up to speed on that. If, when the hooves hit the trail, she chose to ignore my fine advice, that is not my problem. I refuse to spend thirty miles yelling at a kid.
We vetted out. We ate dinner (two hotdogs, half a bag of chips, and a pepsi. Also an ibuprofin as my back was killing me.) and we waited for the awards ceremony. At the awards ceremony, they allowed as how a fifth of the riders who had started did not finish. (This is a lot for the ride.) They also mentioned that these were some of the lowest vet scores ever (because of the heat) and that it was a tough day for everybody. Then, they handed out the awards. This is a competitive trail ride, not a race, so the person who comes in first may not get first place if his or her horse doesn't do well at the final vet check. The scoring for stuff like girth sores and clipping and whatever really affect who gets what placing, so you really don't know who won anything until the awards. Cassity, who had overridden her pony via rider error, scored fifth out of the five 4-H ponies who finished. There were other ponies who didn't finish, but of the ones who did, Cassity was in last place. Her pony had clean heels (yay!) but girth sores (user error) and was pretty fatigued (user error). Katie (Erin's daughter) won first place for 4-H ponies. La got 3rd for Adult Hwt. I got first for Adult Hwt (ribbon) and I also took High Point Adult (plaque) with a score of 94 (out of 100).
There are no pictures. I didn't even get my camera out of the bag. Theron had a camera and I think he got some. The ride manager also said that there would be pictures on the ride website in the next couple of weeks, one of which will probably show a very grubby me with helmet-head hair.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-23 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-24 01:10 am (UTC)Also, the divisions are as follows:
Junior Pony
Senior Pony
Junior Horse
Senior Horse
(The junior and senior refer to the age of the rider)
Adult Lightweight
Adult Heavyweight
(The weights are "rider" and not "horse")
Other people we know and how they did:
Tasha and Aurora: hit a stone or something early in the ride, Aurora was lame before midpoint. It could have happened to anyone.
TJ and (Tasha's) Chance: Pulled at midpoint. TJ has not ridden past midpoint for years, claims halfway is enough for him.
Trac(e)y and (Tasha's) Country: Rider Option when TJ was pulled. I wouldn't have wanted to fight Country for another fifteen miles either.
Karen and (Tasha's) Song: They got a placing in Adult Hwt, might have been fourth. Below La, anyway -- Song had trouble with the heat and wasn't drinking well for Karen, partly because all her peeps were gone by Midpoint.
Mary and Geronimo: Geronimo tripped about two minutes into the ride, Mary came off and knocked her head hard enough to crack her helmet. She went to the ER to get checked out but was (as far as I heard) OK.
Christine and Pocahontas: Finished, got 8 pts time penalty for waiting an hour with Mary and Geronimo until the ambulance got there. She would have placed second hwt without the time penalty. We think she was robbed, but as she says, there will be other years.
Gillian and Lakota got 2nd lwt adult. I don't know who got first lwt, but I
don't think it was a Bedford County person.
Two of the three Claycomb boys finished. They did sensible and thoughtful rides on their stock-bred (so don't cool as well) horses. The oldest boy didn't finish because Casper kicked the snot out of Lady and injured her badly enough that she was lame.
Someone's horse stepped wrong into a culvert and sliced a lower leg open. They hauled him back from the second water stop on the second loop and the vet stitched it up, expects the horse to recover.
congratulations
Date: 2007-09-30 03:03 am (UTC)That was way more work than I'd be able to do.