Showing posts with label endurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label endurance. Show all posts

June 1, 2016

Biltmore 100 Ride Photos

Funny story.

During the ride, I passed by the ride photographer, Becky Pearman, twice: once on each of the first and second loops. It is important to support the ride photographers because they don't get paid to be there and only make money if you buy the pictures, so I make it a point to always purchase a picture from the ride.

At some point during the day, I wandered over to her trailer during a hold. I knew there would be two different shots and I wanted to get them both only I could only find one of them and it was terrible. I searched like a mad woman and lamented to both Dusty and Liz that I could only find one and I looked like I weighed about 400 pounds in it.

Taken by Becky Pearman and purchased for use. I have 3 shirts, a vest, a coat and a water pack on. I look like a hippo. Gem on the other hand looks marvelous. This is the picture used for my tattoo. 

I let it go and kept riding until the next morning when I once again searched the board for my second picture and began to wonder if I had made up the second sighting and it never existed. During the awards breakfast I asked Dusty to please purchase the one picture she had and he obliged.

A day or two later, Liz messaged me with the online link to Becky's page and at first I only saw the above picture still. I was convinced I made up the second photo shoot altogether until Liz messaged me later saying that the rest of the pictures were up.

Low and behold my magical second picture was on there, easing my thoughts of insanity, and it was gorgeous!! I stared at it for a long time and decided that I would purchase it online.

I didn't get around to it though and it was a good thing because my wonderful friend Sheree showed up at my work later that week with a large, framed 8 x 10 that she had Becky add "Biltmore 100 miles" to it. I love it. Apparently she had snatched up the picture as soon as it was printed so that I wouldn't see it. She had been laughing at my addled brain trying to find it and going half crazy thinking I made up the entire thing.

I love my friends.

My scanner at work is making things blurry for some reason, but here is the second picture:

Look at Gem go!!! She is relaxed, happy, and just look at that extension!!! A perfect heel first landing on the front right, parallel front and hind diagonal legs, her hind is nearly touching the front!!! I can't stop looking at her!! Thankfully, I shed a bunch of clothes for this loop and I don't look like a hippo anymore. Plus I am smiling. 

The second picture lives at my work and I have gotten a ton of compliments on Gem. She deserves it too. If I can ever figure out a way to make a banner for this blog that doesn't take up an entire page, I will add this to it.

May 11, 2016

Biltmore 100: May 7, 2016

I have a new motto in life. I began saying it in jest about two weeks out from Biltmore when Gem was acting crazy, but I will continue to use it more seriously for the rest of my life. It has deep meaning to me and has helped to ground me in many ways over the last month.

"It's nothing a hundred miles won't cure"

Sleep was hard to come by Friday night and I finally gave up on the idea just shy of 3 am and crawled out of the warmth of the sleeping bag, kissed Wyatt on the cheek and headed out into the dark, cold morning. I had 3 hours to kill before ride start, but the knots of nervous anticipation in my stomach wouldn't let me settle on any one task. I was thankful when the clock finally read 5 am and I roused Dusty from his own cocoon of sleep to help watch over Gem and make sure she didn't roll and break all her tack to pieces while Liz, super crew extraordinaire, went to check us in.

I'm pretty sure the words "I hate ride start" spewed out of my mouth a dozen or more times as the group of us hand walked Gem down to the starting line. Liz probably wanted to slap my helmeted head at that point, but waited until the 5th loop to do so instead. Regardless, the trail was eventually proclaimed open and I mounted up to head off in a small pocket behind the front runners who were already out of sight.

 LOOP 1: 14.5 miles, orange.

The only picture I took the entire first loop. This was taken on foot the day before as I walked Einstein
The start heads down a trail I would see pieces of a lot that day. The "river road" is a gravel trail that follows the French Broad River and orange took us upstream past camp a ways before making a sharp left turn into the woods.

Gem was in beast mode and just wanted to go. She was kept to a dull roar as we half trotted and half pranced down the lane passing horses along the way. I was tense and nervous and introduced myself to those I passed warning them all that it was my first 100. We passed a nice couple of ladies who were also doing their first 100 and I tried to tuck Gem in behind them, but she was having none of it and we blew past and into the woods.

It was at the perfect time too. Gem was just starting to lose patience with my death grip on the reins and had begun to flip her head back in forth in a very clear pissed off mare gesture. The trail went up, up and up some more into the woods.

Thankfully, right around that time we came across a lovely woman going for her third attempt and Gem decided that they were worthy of her company. As we climbed the hill, the two previous ladies fell in behind us and by the top we had caught up to a larger group in front of us as well.

The trail climbed, dipped back down and traversed ridge lines staying predominantly in the woods along gravel strewn trails and down access roads. At some point I realized that I was actually having fun. Gem was moving along steadily and with flare and hadn't spooked once. I looked at my Garmin and it read 5 miles. A record. It usually takes 10 miles for me to have fun.

At some point, and the loop is pretty fuzzy due to nerves, the ladies behind me moved on ahead never to be seen again. I hope they got their completion. I stuck with the group we were with as we powered along through the woods at a good clip.

Sooner than I had planned by about a half an hour, we popped up along the back side of crewing and headed in. I jumped off Gem once crewing was in sight, loosened her girth and dropped the bit. I also remembered to text Liz and let her know.

The first hold was a bit frazzled as Liz and I learned our ways around each other and Gem. Liz grabbed my in time slip so I could head straight to dropping tack and sponging. We came in at 7:59 am, so the loop took us 1 hour 59 minutes from the time the trail was called open.

**Slight aside: Dusty was being helpful and recharged my Garmin halfway through the ride. Unfortunately something went hay wire when he did this and the loops won't upload. We will figure it out, but until then all times will be taken off the ride card and speed based on the in and out times.**

It was a cool morning, but Gem had covered the 14.5 miles at an overall 7.5 mph and was sweaty. Three minutes after arriving, we headed to the vet where Gem had a CRI of 40/40 and received all As. The vet asked me if I even rode her on that loop. She looked like I had just pulled her out of her pen for the day.

We headed back to my trailer for the 50 minute hold and Dusty and Liz got to work on feeding, electrolyting and babying Gem while I sat down and ate some donuts. I was very nauseous coming off the loop and had barely touched the water in my camelbak. Dusty topped it off again and I changed out of my fleece riding pants and into my tights for the remainder of the day.



Gem eating during the first hold. It was cold enough that I wanted her cooler on her the entire time. 

LOOP 2: 20 miles, black access to green

Gem had settled down pretty well during the first loop, so I made the decision to drop the bit. Liz was smart enough to shove it in the camelbak so I would have it just in case. I headed out alone down the gravel drive behind crewing and hit the river road once again only this time the trail took us downstream.

It wasn't long until my companion for the second half of the first loop came up behind us. We crossed through a field of lush grass and over a new horse bridge to head into the woods. The black trail is a mix of woods and gravel roads as it leads you to a concrete bridge giving access to the west range of the estate. It was just the two of us for the first 3 miles as we made our way to the water troughs and spotters at the bridge.

Once we reached the water trough, Gem dove her entire head up to her eyes into the trough. I have never seen her do this before. She tanked up deeply. Gem is the most polite horse at communal troughs and food stations. She never pushes anyone away and I have never seen her make an angry face at another horse. She just takes her turn, drinks until she is full and then moves away.

There was a big pile up at the bridge crossing and at this point we all stuck together. I got to be introduced to some pretty "famous" riders in our region and was in the company of some really spectacular riders. The 10 of us kept together as we left the black trail and picked up green on the other side of the bridge.

I had been dodging a rising sense of nausea since the hold. I believed it to be due to a slight dehydration and forced myself to drink frequently from the camelbak. By the time we crossed the bridge, the bladder was half empty and my stomach was settled.

At the back of a long line of horses

Two horses up was Steve Rojeck, famous for competing over 200 one hundred mile races and being the nicest person on the planet. 
Green is a lovely trail winding through the woods, along fields of lush grasses and past old farm buildings. We went past cows grazing, sheep playing with their new lambs and saw herds of deer galloping among the trees. The footing remained mostly gravel with some sections of dirt floor in the woods.

Unfortunately, we were going fast. Faster than I had planned and faster than I was comfortable maintaining for the long haul. Try as I might I could not contain the fire breathing monster that was Gem on this early part of the loop. She was determined to keep up with the front runners and we had already cantered nearly the entire first loop and had just cantered 5 more miles of this one. She was blowing right through my side pull and was not tuned in to me at all.

When we reached a water trough roughly 5-7 miles in, I pulled over, got off and shoved the bit in her mouth while allowing the others to move out away from us. We would do the rest alone and in a more sedate mind frame.

Cows
How lovely to live in that house?

Lots of gravel roads and room to move out
Gem was extremely unhappy with this plan. She listened to the bit, but was furious and stressed. She continued to move out at 9 mph as before as she tried her best to catch everyone else. I was no longer having any fun.

My brain raced at all the ways we were going to get pulled. We were going too fast. Way too fast. Finally, around mile 10 we caught up to four of the original group at a water trough. The leader was a wonderful high mileage rider with a ton of experience and one of the nicest people I have encountered on the trails. I made a decision. I could either continue to fight Gem for 10 more miles and hit camp with a stressed out and unhappy mare or I could just let her go. We might get pulled for gong too fast, but at least we wouldn't get pulled for metabolics in a horse with blown ulcers and a mental breakdown.

When we all left the water trough, I tucked in behind and let go. I started having fun again.


Back in with the group of 4 ahead of us
Gem was happy to be in the back for quite a ways and then something just snapped. She wanted to lead. The ladies were more than happy to give their horses a mental break from the job and I was happy to see something other than a horse butt in front of me.


Eventually green ended back on black and we made our way across the bridge again. Gem was not brave enough to lead across the bridge and from that point back to camp she remained behind the others.

Angry that she wasn't in the lead anymore, but not wanting to go in front either. Its hard being half insane. 

This bridge can give horses a lot of trouble in crossing, but Gem marched across it trying to continue to trot when all I wanted was a walk. 
Back on black, we took a slightly longer route back than we did going out and this took us past the Biltmore Estate.

The Biltmore Estate. I would pass it four more times during the ride, but those were all at night.

From there it was a short jaunt to camp. Way back at 14 miles, I had texted Liz that we were coming in much faster than the predicted 4 hours. In fact, we hit camp at 2 hours 48 minutes for a 20 mile loop. Liz hadn't gotten the text, having taken advantage of a long reprieve to nap, so when I hit crewing she wasn't there yet. I texted her that Gem was in and hot. As luck would have it, my two friends riding in the 30 LD and sharing my crew spot were in for their hold and Sheree was quick to help sponge and scrape Gem. Liz came running into crew and helped finish the job.

Gem vetted in after 3 minutes in crewing with a CRI of 56/48 and mostly all As. The vet said she didn't run after me with enough spark so gave her a B for impulsion and attitude. I was fine with that and took her over to camp. Liz and Dusty went to it with Gem as I downed half a stick of real, hard pepperoni and a block of cheese to get salt and protein in me. I followed this with an entire can of Mt. Dew.

Hold #2

LOOP 3: 17.4 miles, blue


Once again it was time to tack up and head out. Gem was feeling just as fresh as ever. I believe we left the hold 2-3 minutes late and this short amount of time left us completely alone for the loop.

Blue starts off behind crewing but before it reaches the river road, turns to the right by the horse barns and heads up into the woods. Blue has some wicked elevation gains to it and was the hardest for the two of us.

This trail led to and from crewing for the first three loops. We got to know it really well. 

My favorite type of trail. Twisting and turning through the woods.
Gem was in no mood to fly at this point and I let her walk it out. We crept along at an astonishing 2.5 mph pace while I began to recall not peeing during the hold and regretting that immensely. By 2 miles in, Gem was still acting like she was about to die and couldn't possibly put one foot in front of the other any longer. It was around 1245 or 1 pm at this point and the day was heating up quickly.

Then we hit the hill from hell. This gravel hill never ended. It just kept going up and up and up. I would see a bend and what appeared to be the top, but once we reached it all I could see was more hill to climb.

Starting to go up

Still going up
About a quarter of the way up, I felt a cold wet sensation in my nether regions. I had a split second panic attack that I had in fact, at age 34, peed my pants. It took a few moments to realize that my butt was also soaking wet and it was coming from the camelbak. Phew.

I stopped Gem and pulled it off to take a look. It had been refilled at the hold and I assumed the cap wasn't on right as it can be tricky. Nope. Everything looked good except there was freezing cold water everywhere. A few more minutes of climbing later and I couldn't take the freezing water any more so I dismounted to empty the bladder completely. Since I was on the ground, I took the time to pee as well and then hand walked Gem the rest of the 1 1/2 miles up the damn hill.

Gem was very much not happy at this point
It was a real low point of the day. As we trudged along at a snails pace, I texted Dusty to let him know my issues. Gem was acting half dead and I was certain that my decision to let her run fast the first two loops was coming back to bite me. I swore to her that I would RO at the hold if she was still punky and if we ever made it.

At the top of the hill, I got back on and prepared for a slow, arduous walk along the remaining 14 miles of that loop with a big old pull at the end. Gem, however, wasn't ready to cash in the chips just yet and surprised me by jumping into a lovely 6 mph trot that ate away the miles.

As we were cruising along the lovely dirt footing, thankful to be rid of the gravel for a spell, it dawned on me that we were almost 40 miles in and Gem had not spooked a single time. She hadn't even taken notice of the sticks, logs, cows, sheep and deer we had passed on the trail. This was the most pleasant ride I had ever had on her. Apparently Gem just needs a 34 mile canter warm up before all rides.

We continued on solo, making good time now that she was no longer feeling sorry for herself and I no longer had a constant trickle of ice water down my butt crack. She laid down some lovely 8 and 9 mph miles as we climbed the hills and dodged along the ravines until blue eventually dumped us back onto the river road way upstream of where orange cut off. As we made the 90 degree left hand turn to on the river road, a couple of ladies doing the 55 came along behind us. I told them that they were welcome to pass us at any point, but they were happy to have someone else in the lead and Gem was not in the mood to be passed at this point.

Going under the interstate
We finished the remaining 10 or so miles in the lead at a wonderful 8 mph pace. Gem was bold, brave and having the time of her life. It offset the ridiculously slow initial miles nicely and we ended up coming into crew just shy of 3 hours after we had left.

I had texted Liz early on that I was majorly overheating. I had dressed completely inappropriately in three shirts and a vest and that coupled with my lack of water for 3 hours had led me to be extremely overheated. My face was bright red and I was light headed. She brought ice cold tea for me and agreed to trot Gem out for the vet.

Three minutes after arriving, Liz took Gem over to the vet where she had a CRI of 48/42 after 52 miles. It was really interesting to get to watch her trot out. I had never had anyone do that for me before and while Liz jogged Gem down the lane and back I had a chance to talk to the vet who was my favorite of the entire ride. I told him about my concerns with the early fast pace and why I had decided to let her go. He agreed with me 100% and told me that you have to ride the horse you have that day. Holding them back that much is just as bad as running them into the ground. He thought I was riding very smart and that made me ridiculously happy. He gave her As down the line and we headed off to the hold where I shoved my face with watermelon and mandarin oranges to get sugar and water in me. I was sleepy tired at this point, but felt great otherwise. I had no pain anywhere and had no thoughts of quitting.

Liz fond two holes in the bladder of my camelbak which had caused the leak and graciously offered to let me use hers for the rest of the ride. She really was super crew.

LOOP 4: 17.7 miles, red

At 4:09 pm Gemmie and I headed out on the notoriously hard red loop. Ride management had warned everyone at the briefing that they put this loop when they do to make the 100 even harder. It is the most technical of all the loops.

Red starts off like the rest of the loops behind crewing but makes a right instead of a left immediately and avoids the long gravel stretch. I immediately fell in love with the loop and told Gem that it was just like our conditioning trails back home: single track and winding through the woods.

Favorite trail type

She started off characteristically sluggish and I let her walk it out until she was ready to trot around mile 1.5 or 2. She was then ready to give me her wonderful extended trot again even solo and was still being bold and brave. Unfortunately, the footing was awful. While the gravel was absent there were large hoof eating rocks and roots everywhere that created slow going for the overly cautious likes of me.

Wonderful trail at a great time of the day

We picked our way along the trail moving out when possible and the endurance motto of "never hurry, never tarry" ran through my mind a million times. Riding smart is the key to success in this sport and having banked a lot of time early in the ride, there was no need to rush it now and risk a lameness over gnarly trail.

We came to a very steep downhill section and I got off to hand walk Gem down it and give her a break. Liz had stuffed carrots in the pack and I spent the time hand feeding Gemmie as we walked down the hill in the late afternoon heat.

Hand walking the mare. The bit remained in for the rest of the ride after her refusal to listen in the second loop
Heading down the open trail making time when possible
Hills, hills, lots of hills

























Gem was starving by this point too. She had eaten her hay and grain well throughout, but she was ravenous. Any blade of grass was cause for an immediate slamming of the brakes and a quick snatch. She couldn't get enough grass in her and I texted Liz to bring her nicker doodles to crew to shove in her face. She texted back a surprised "are you here already?" to which I replied no way, but wanted to give her a heads up.

Red dumps out on the same river road and just as I was turning back on the gravel road, two ladies on beautiful greys came up behind us and over took us. They were also doing the 100, the first for the junior rider but one of many for her sponsor. They were from Canada and were in the FEI division. Gem paced extremely well with their two horses and was happy to have company once again so we tucked in behind them.

We were going slower than I wanted to at this point, below 6 mph, and had I been alone I would have pushed her a bit more to get moving. As it was, the ladies ahead were taking it slowly and would walk all the up and down hills in the woods while making up time by moving out on the flats. Gem wasn't too thrilled with the walking and would have preferred to trot the entire time, but her stomach won out and she used this time to smartly stop and devour all the ferns and wood grasses while the ladies walked and then trot to catch up.

At one point I did mention that I would be passing soon to move out faster and they responded by moving out as well so we could all stay together for the loop.



I was much better at texting updates to Liz and Dusty by this point in the ride. I gave a half way warning and then a 2 miles out warning which seemed to work really well. I also texted Dusty half way out one simple word: BACON. I had been really good at keeping my hydration up thus far, but felt like I needed more salt in me. The salt and protein from my favorite food would fit the bill nicely back in camp.

Once back in camp, we moved through the process of sponging and stripping tack quickly and Liz once again trotted Gem for me while I talked to the vet and watched. Gem's CRI was 48/48 and she once again had all As except for a B on skin tenting which I didn't care much about given the fact that she dunked her entire head into every single trough we came across. This red loop was pretty barren of water. No natural water on the trail and they only had two troughs out on the entire 17 mile loop with the last one being at mile 10.

This hold was only 40 minutes and it went by fast. Liz had gotten my message that Gem was craving grass and had spent the time completely moving my pen to make it very big and very full of fresh grass. It was amazing to see and Gem appreciated it greatly. It would be the last time I would see Dusty since it would be past bedtime when I came in next. Liz added glow sticks to my breast collar and let me borrow her head lamp as well which she taped to my helmet. I had worn mine at the start since it was dark, but hadn't taped it on. I have no clue when it happened, but when I came into the first hold it was gone.

I regretted sitting down, but the bacon was delicious and I dragged myself out of the chair and made the walk back down to the trail head. I didn't know if I would ride with anyone on this next loop and I was more than a little terrified of riding in the dark, but there wasn't much else to do. Gem looked just as fresh as she had that morning and had all As and amazing CRIs. In fact, at some point in the day, I believe after the second loop when we went near warp speed, Liz started calling Gem a FREAK. Everyone was highly impressed with my mare. I couldn't quit due to a little fear.

LOOP 5: 15.5 miles, white river

I mounted back up at 8:12 pm and it was already getting pretty dark. I couldn't see anyone else getting ready to head out and so, with a major knot in my stomach, I asked Gem to walk out down the backside of crewing. White started the same way as all the other loops, but went straight out onto the river road and downstream.

I was on the main river road, trotting along nicely at 8 mph (yup, she was still happily chugging along at an effortless 8 mph this late in the game) when I caught back up to the two greys once again. They had left a few minutes before us and I had never been so relieved to see another rider in my life. I asked them if I could ride with them, explaining that I had never ridden in the dark before and that I was beyond terrified of the prospect. They were happy to have me along and off we went.

I can't tell you many details about this loop. It got dark. And then it got even darker. Thankfully, ride management kept us to the main river road which glowed eerily white in the darkening night. It was gravel and straight and flat and we made haste while we could.

I recall a guy catching up to us on his white horse at some point along this stretch and he was equally as happy for the company. He had been turtle all day long and hadn't ridden with anyone. The four of us made our way and eventually passed the Biltmore house before heading into the heavy woods.

If it had been dark on the open road, it was pitch black inside the woods. I hung on, told Gem she was my eye sight because I couldn't see anything and was thankful for the glowing white horses in front of me.

The loop seemed to never end and we stayed in the woods for what felt like an eternity. All I could remember as we neared crew once again was the yawning depth of the dark woods and the fact that this night was a new moon. The sky was not providing any light for us.

Liz met me with Gem's cooler, feed, treats and hay. The hold was only 30 minutes and we would be spending it in the crew area that was nearly deserted. Gem vetted in with a CRI of 54/48 and had all As across the board. The vet remained impressed with her.

Vetting in the dark.
Jesse, the guy who joined us, had the same out time as I did, 11:55 pm, but we couldn't see the other two anywhere. Liz tried to get me to eat, but I had lost my appetite at that point. I managed some oranges while trying not to think about having to go back out into the increasingly dark night.

When the out time came near, we wandered over to the out timer. One lady was present, but said she couldn't release us and needed to find the lady who could. She had 1 minute. When the other lady was located and we were allowed off, Liz helped hold Gem and somehow managed to whack me upside the head with the metal end of my reins. Since my brain was already firing on only a few neurons, it didn't make much of a difference but did provide entertainment for those standing around watching, Thank god for helmets.

LOOP 6: 14.1 miles, white river

Jesse was right beside me in crewing and we left very near to each other to repeat the same loop we had just done. Neither of us knew where the two ladies went and we kept looking through crewing as we walked back to the river road.

Dessia quickly caught up to us a few minutes later. Unfortunately, her junior rider had been pulled for a sore back and cramp at the hold and it was now the three of us.

My mind was calmer this time around having not died the first loop in the dark and I was able to concentrate on the glow stick markers and the surroundings a bit more. We were travelling at 2 mph and had 6 hours to complete the 14 miles. At this rate we would be OT and my addled brain, which had stopped functioning around mile 74, started to race and I got grumpy for the first time all day.

I remarked to my riding companions that we needed to move. They responded that we had plenty of time and that it was too dangerous to move out in the pitch black woods. I replied that we only had 6 hours and that our current pace would put us solidly over time.

Poor Jesse and Dessia were doing their best to calm me down. They had both completed this ride before and remembered the white river loop accurately. The first half was in the woods and was hilly, but the second half was all on open gravel road where you could easily make time. I didn't remember it that way. I remembered deep, dark woods.

I eventually shut up realizing that I had no choice. While Gem had still yet to spook on this ride and was actually braver in the dark than she ever was in the light, I was not. The thought of leaving my companions to head out faster alone was not appealing and so I took a deep breath, trusted my new friends and went with it.

The woods were even darker this time through and we made a few piloting errors trying to find the way between the glow sticks. Dessia's horse was sore on the down hills and so she was dismounting and hand walking down all slopes. I got off a few times, but felt it better to stay on Gem than add the stress of getting on and off multiple times. At one point we all realized at the exact same time that there were no glow sticks anymore and hadn't been for a while. We turned around and quickly found the turn we had missed and the fallen glow stick that was ground into the dirt and near impossible to see.

Once we hit the open road, we moved out again. Gem was happy to be trotting once again and even asked to canter, but I wasn't having any of that. She knew exactly where she was and where this trail led and wanted to be back in camp NOW. She even charged ahead and led for a long while making quick work of the gravel road heading home.

Three miles from the finish I began to get some serious vertigo. The world began to spin as I sat in the dark, not being able to see anything but the glow of the white horse in front of me. The other two did not use glow sticks on their horses and while I did, they didn't help in any way. I began to drink more water hoping that would help. If we were trotting or cantering, I was fine, but walking or standing still to try to figure out where we were was bad.

And then there it was. The finish line. None of us wanted to race in. We knew we were towards the end by attrition of all the others being pulled and there was no need to get anyone hurt at mile 99. Once the white tent and bright lights of the finish came into view all my vertigo left. We had done it. We had gone 100 miles and Gem was still pulling my arms out and crossing the finish at a 9 mph trot.

Liz met me at the finish as planned. The finish is 1.2 miles away from vetting and you have 20 minutes to cover that distance. The original plan had been to hand walk Gem in, but after talking with my new friends they said that was a bad idea. It was better to continue riding at a trot/walk cycle to keep them fresh and loose than get off and allow them to tighten up. I took their advice and we trotted the last mile in.

With a mixture of pure joy and longing for my bed, I watched as Liz trotted Gem out for me one last time. After 100 miles and 23 hours of work (18+ hours for actual ride time, can't recall the exact time) Gem vetted in with a CRI of 48/48 and all As across the board with perfect gut sounds in all quadrants. The vet was amazed. Liz called her a freak and I fought back tears of joy.

I'm so proud of her vet card! 

Last vetting
Gem walked the final steps back to her pen and was set up with water, hay, grain and her red light weight blanket for the night. After she was settled I crawled into the tent and fought the nagging feeling that I was still trotting away down the trail until sleep overcame me.

All photos taken and collage made by Liz




February 29, 2016

Conditioning Plan: Check In

Since I published my conditioning plan, I thought it might be beneficial to see what actually happens in real life since we all know that plans rarely go off without a hitch. Let's see what I have been able to do:


Week 6: Wed ride 12 miles. Weekend ride 10 miles at a moderate to fast pace (hoping to use the Hunter Pace).  SUCCESS!

This actually happened. Wednesday I went riding for 12 miles at Croft with the BO and we set a pretty nice pace. Gem was mostly forward and happy.

That weekend was the FENCE pace and with the added mileage I was able to get in 10 miles. She put down some lovely 8 mph trots and a few canters along with a lot of hill work.

Week 5: Weeknight get in an hour of speed work at the barn including hill sets.  Weekend ride 10 miles as a moderate to fast pace.  PARTIAL SUCCESS!

I wasn't able to ride during the week at all. It poured down rain with flash flooding Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday morning had 40+ mph winds. Thursday I had an evening work meeting and I had hoped to squeak in a ride after work Friday, but my surgeries got pushed back and I didn't finish until 5:15pm. Like every other rider out there, I can't wait for daylight savings time.

This weekend I did get in a 12 mile ride and while it wasn't anywhere near a fast pace and was only moderate for half of it, Gem did get a work out in and finished it strong.

All in all I think things are coming along pretty well. I plan to introduce the new feed next weekend and the weather looks promising to make it out to the barn hopefully one day this week. I'm still fighting darkness, but it is staying light out a little longer so I may be able to squeak in 30-45 minutes if I can get out of work a little early.

Next weekend's 20 miler is up in the air as far as location. There is a Pace scheduled at my absolute favorite place, but Dusty is running an ultra marathon that day. We could get a sitter, but the cost of the sitter plus the gas and entry fee adds up to nearly $200 and that is money that needs to go toward the endurance ride in April. Dusty tells me to still go because my whole goal was to go to every ride and earn that supporter award, but I am just not sure we have the money for it right now. Adulting at its finest.

Either way I will get my 20 miles in. If I do the pace, it will be to do it once through and then hit other trails to get the full 20 in. If I don't, I want to go to King's Mountain and do the entire 20 mile loop that I have never seen. Either way, it will be a great day on horseback.

February 13, 2015

Lessons Learned at Pow Wow

I did a lot of things differently for this 50 from the Barefoot Shine and Wine. Some of them went super fantastic and others went horribly wrong. 

Hydration
My biggest concern for Gem was her hydration. At Barefoot I watched in dismay as each vet check reported worsening parameters. Her pulse and CRI stayed great throughout so nobody seemed overly concerned and we completed just fine, but still it was sub optimal and I wanted to be proactive about it. So what did I do differently? A lot really and it showed in her solid a's for every hydration parameter at every hold, even following a tough 25 mile first loop with no water available (besides the deep flooded creeks which I wasn't stopping at to allow drinking) until 14 miles in. 

  • During the drive I stopped to offer her a wet mash. I hadn't thought to do this before and she has historically never drank during trailering. The drive was just about 6 hours and I didn't want her going that long without drinking. I poured grain into her bucket and topped it off with water to just over the grain line. No time for it to really even soak, so she had to drink to get the grain. It worked and she emptied the entire bucket.
  • Different electrolytes in paste form in a syringe so I knew she was getting it even if she didn't eat well at the hold
  • Wet mashes at each hold. She gobbled it down at the first hold, ate half at the second and barely touched it at the end. She did finish the bucket over night. 
  • Stopped at every single opportunity on trail and let her drink until she stopped, but didn't let her play with the water. Drink or move on.  (I've always done this, but it is worth noting as it is part of my strategy)
  • Also gave her a feeding pan of soaked alfalfa which I keep filled and wet with about 3 inches of water at the bottom from the moment we got in camp. She emptied that thing several times and even drank the flavored water at the bottom. I only had access to a compressed bale and it was super dusty, but after soaking it I think it worked to my advantage. She loved the stuff and the smashed particles from the compression collected in the water at the bottom making it very, very tasty water.
  • Carrots. Lots and lots of very wet baby carrots. Loads of natural electrolytes, water and she loves them. I hand fed her a third of a bag at each hold.
Nutrition
  • Gem was offered her typical grain from our barn, It isn't the best and is locally milled. Too much molasses for my likings, but I don't have a choice here unless I want to pay for stall board and buy my own grain. Until a problem arises to make it a necessity, I can't really justify the added expense each month. Once the grass starts to grow again, she won't be getting any grain at all. Anyway...so each hold she got her usually grain. 
  • I offered her a bucket of wet mash at each hold.
  • She also got a bucket of the dry grain. I've been told that the saliva from chewing is needed to prevent ulcers, so I wanted to give her the choice to crunch away which she did the second loop and at the finish.
  • Carrots. See above.
  • Soaked alfalfa from a compressed bale. I will be buying compressed alfalfa for all my rides if I can find it. She loved it and it worked really well. She only ever gets alfalfa during a ride, but I start giving her GrandVite the week leading up to the ride. I've always mixed the powder in with some broken up alfalfa cubes and a little water to make it stick. It is a nice treat and she loves. It also lets her get used to alfalfa in small quantities.
  • Coastal hay. She barely touched it at all this time. It didn't look that great to be honest. We took it from the hay loft at the barn and its the first thing I've been disappointed with at this barn. 
Pace
  • My biggest goal was a completion (yay!!), but my second one was to ride my own ride. I've always been so timid out there that I get caught up with others and lose this part. I tried this at the beginning by starting after the first wave, but that didn't work. Once we fell I was alone in my own bubble for many miles it is was perfect. Granted we were on sandy open roads so she didn't have all the bare wood (sticks, logs, trees) to spook at as is her norm, but still I was able to rate her pretty well after those first 10 miles and felt really, really good about it.
  • We covered it with an average 6.8 mph pace per my garmin which was only a bit off from reality. I think we did a little over 7 mph in real life which is exactly where I want to be right now. I let her open it up and we spent a lot of our moving time hovering around 9-10 mph, but took breaks to walk, eat and drink so it lowered to around 7. While the winner finished in 4 hours 29 minutes, I think this pace is perfect for us right now and maybe for forever. 
Horse Attire
  • She started and finished in her advantage saddle with a mohair cinch, Thinline Endurance pad, and typical halter bridle. No rubs, no sore spots, and a perfectly even sweat pattern.
  • The Thinline does something weird. Maybe it is stiff to start our heats up and molds to her back I dont' know, but each ride it starts off looking fine then slips by around mile 2-3. Once I get off and fix it, it doesn't move again. Something I need to remind myself of.
  • Barefoot. This is interesting. She has gone over tons of rocky trails and did the last 50 bare on loads of rocks. Not a single chip. This was 39 miles of sandy roads and she did great as always hoof wise. However, when I looked closely at them the following day she had really worn them down. They are nearly squared off at her break over point and look odd for her. If more sand is in our future I may need to do some serious thinking. I don't think her bare tootsies would hold up well for a barefoot 100 in the sand. I think they would wear down too much. Will have to think on this one...
Rider Attire
  • Gloves. Wow did I love my new gloves. I've actually never ridden with gloves before and I was worried, but when it was only 16 degrees in the morning I was ready to risk it. Not only were my hands warm and toasty, but I had an excellent grip on those reins. Even with holding her back just like at Barefoot, I didn't have a single sore spot on my fingers and no blistering. I won't ever ride without them again or at least not for the first loop.
  • Camelbak. This keeps working out super well. I drank all 2L between the first two loops and stay very well hydrated without the need for a bottle or pack. I even used the back pack portion to shove my store covers in at the trot by. 
  • Running shoes. I continue to prefer these over typical riding boots/shoes and really wish I could have run some for Gem's sake. I will get into why I didn't in a bit. I probably should have worn my winter waterproof boots to being with and that would have save me a lot of problems down the line, but I didn't think of it. 
  • Stirrup Covers. I know. Nothing new on race day, but I didn't think adding comfy fleecy covers to the leathers would be an issue. Boy was I wrong. Either I did something wrong putting them on or I need to get used to them, but something was definitely off with my legs until I removed them. I felt trapped and my ankles were in a wonky position that made them scream in agony by mile 4. By then end my perennials were shot and I could barely walk. A week out and my left leg still isn't working normally. I used them to avoid getting rubs (which I ever had anyway)and ended up with a nasty friction burn to my right leg just below my knee.
All in all I am super happy with the ride and how Gem performed. My performance was not so great. I think it had a lot to do with how frozen I was to begin the ride, My feet were block of ice for 14 miles and I am pretty sure I held them in a weird place for that entire time. Couple that with new covers and a shorter stirrup (nothing new on race day, nothing new on race day) and I was just off. 







February 12, 2015

Camp Osborn Pow Wow 50 2/6/15: Ride Day :)

ACT 1 Scene 1

The setting: A quaint Boy Scout camp in a southern Georgia pine forest in early Spring. The morning dawns freezing cold with clear skies and the promise of warm sunshine as the day progresses. A mass of steaming horses is milling about a trail head awaiting the start of a race.

"Hold your horses (heheheh) Gem! We aren't going until everyone else clears out of camp. I can't feel my feet and would like not to die today" mumbles a nervous and excited rider named Sara. She is dressed in a million layers of fluffy clothing and dons bright red new gloves on her frozen hands. Between her gloved fingers rests a metal bit that she is trying to warm up before shoving into her horse's mouth.

"TRAILS OPEN!!" echoes across camp. Both Sara and Gem watch as the horde rushes off down the flat, sandy driveway.

Stupid human! Why am I still attached to the trailer? Doesn't she know everyone else has started.?We are already losing and we haven't even begun yet. Why does she even try to take charge in these matters? She is always screwing it up!" Gem gets very anxious as the other stream out of camp.
 
Waiting for a break in the crowd to head on out
"Ok big girl. Its our turn. Now, I want to trot very slowly out of the camp. Do you hear me? We have 50 miles to cover today and plenty of time to catch up later. They say this first set of trails in camp is really wet, full of holes and slippery. I don't want either of us getting hurt"

Sara mounts on up and immediately wishes she had her winter boots on as her feet are solid blocks of ice and are useless.

"You may trot. Slowly."

Wahhooo!! We are finally off! The others aren't that far ahead. If I gallop full out I can still catch them all!

"I said slowly"

Shut up and let me go!

"Goddamint Gemmie! I said slowly! Now I mean it. Fine, you can walk then instead and if you keep this up I will turn you around and make you walk all the way back to camp. Stupid Mare!!!!"

Hey wait! Others are coming up behind. Fine, I'll slow enough to let them catch up, then I will just fall behind them. Human always lets me do whatever once I get behind someone else.

"Everything going ok?" asks a nice married couple as they catch up and overtake the pair that are weaving down the lane in an intense argument over exactly what pace is acceptable leaving camp.

"Yeah, just trying to get her not to race. Mind if we fall in behind you for a bit?"

"Nope, come on! This is my gelding's first LD and my husband is doing a 50 on his seasoned gelding. Should be fun!"

 He he he...

The new group of three makes it down the lane safely and more importantly Sara stays in the saddle. They hit the woods and the real riding begins.

ACT 1 Scene 2

Setting: A twisting single track trail through the pine forest. The trail is soft and covered in pine needles with large holes throughout from the recent rain and onslaught of hooves that have gone before. Three horse and rider teams make their way along getting caught up in slow moving traffic and passing some while maintaining a steady pace down the trail.

"Gem, please slow down and get off that gelding's butt. I can't see the trail and there are holes everywhere."

There she goes again. Blah, blah, blah. Always so tense. Can't she just relax and enjoy the race?

Sara glances at her Garmin. "Argh! 12 mph is way too fast for us. We need to slow down and get away from this couple or we won't finish this thing. I'll look to join one of the slower moving groups as we pass by. I really wish I could feel my feet. I'm flopping around up here like a sack of potatoes and this can't be good for Gem. When is the sun going to warm up?"

The miles start to fly by and there is no signs of slowing in the near future. Up ahead is the first of three creek crossings.

"Water up ahead Gem. Take it easy. It's going to be cold and deep"

Don't worry I got this! Whoa!! This is deep...its coming up to my belly. Suck it in. Brrr! You should have warned me.

"Good girl Gem. Man, my feet just got soaked. Really should have worn my winter boots instead of running shoes. Oh well. My feet were already numb so this shouldn't change things much. What mile are we at?"

A while later....

"Next creek crossing is coming up Gemmie. Pay attention. This one is the deepest."

You are such a worrier, human. I've got this....oh wait a second. This isn't just deep. I can't reach the bottom! What am I going to do? I can't reach! I can't reach! I would have worn my wet suit if I knew I was going swimming today. Next time can we just go to the beach instead?

As the trio swim through the deepest creek, the wife brings her feet up and back to keep them dry. Unfortunately, this spooks her green horse and he starts to buck.

"AHHH!!!" shouts the wife as she holds on for dear life, but ends up splashing head first in the cold creek.

"Oh no! Are you ok?" Sara looks towards the bank and is relieved to see the gelding stop on shore and wait for his fallen, soggy rider to rejoin him.

"Well, if we are stopping, now is a good time to hop off and adjust my saddle. This new Thinline pad has the habit of loosening up in the early part of the ride and slipping. I hope fixing it now will solve the problem for the day or I may go back to the Reinsman at camp."

All three remount and head back out again covering the ground at a fast pace. Sara continues to worry.

Another two miles down and the trail opens up to a two lane track with the same wet, hole covered ground.

"AHHH!! Shit!! Gem are you ok?!?!!? Oh no, oh no, oh no...... Guys! We just fell in a hole at a fast trot. I'm stopping to make sure her legs are ok." Sara flies off her mare in a desperate panic. She looks over her front legs and doesn't see any marks or immediate swelling.

"Is she ok?"

"Yeah...she seems fine, but I'm going to hand walk her for a bit to be safe. Go on ahead and enjoy your ride. Get back to camp and get warm and dry!!"

The other two head off and Sara stays on the ground to walk Gem for a bit. She carefully watches her legs to make sure everything is still attached and moving fine.

"See Gem...I told you to slow down and pay attention to your feet. You could have gotten us both killed back there!!! I'm glad you are ok though. It looks like we are all alone now too which is great. Lets get going and take it a little slower, shall we?"

ACT 1 Scene 3
Setting: A woman and her mare all alone on a single track trail twisting through the woods nearing the 14 mile mark. The mare is moving fine. The rider is now beginning to feel her thawed out feet and is wishing they were numb again as the pain begins to set in from misused feet in awkward positions in the stirrups.

I'm doing all the work down here trotting the hooves right off my legs and she is complaining about pain up there. I don't care that your ankles are screaming in pain. I don't care that you decided to put new equipment on the saddle right before the ride plus shorten your right stirrup a hole. You know nothing new on race day. You're an idiot.

"I'm an idiot. Why on earth did I put new stirrup covers on and shorten my stirrup?? Nothing new on race day. Nothing new on race day. When is this loop over? I hurt. I need a break. Seriously, when will this end?!"

Georgia swamp
Trot...trot...ow...trot...trot....trot...ow...ow...ow.....
"Oh look! Here is the photographer. Look smart Gemmie. Smile!!"
Cheese!!
Gem went through creeks over her belly, but balked at this bridge. Silly mare
Trot....ow...ow...ow..trot...ow...ow...
Following the perfectly marked trail. You had to work to get lost here. 
"Ok..its been 14.2 miles. Here is camp. Gem....you aren't going to like this, but this is just a trot by. No hold. We have another 11.5 to go before we stop for a while. Please, just trot past the vet and I will let you rest for 10 minutes at the water trough."

Phew! We are at camp. I can't wait for my mash and hay and a nap and water and carrots...wait...why are you asking me to trot...no the trailers back that way! What are you doing up there?!? Have you lost your mind?!

"We fell in a hole about 5 mile back. I hand walked her about a half mile or so. She feels fine, but how does she look?"

"Good to go!" Yells back the head vet with a big thumbs up

ACT 1 Scene 4

Setting: A woman and her horse are arguing travelling sideways down the sandy driveway. One wants to keep going knowing there are 11 miles left on the loop. The other wants to go back and take a nap.

"Gemmie...I swear this is the right way. I didn't mess up. Just a while farther and then we can both take a break and I can fix my stirrup. I'm very glad I ripped those covers off my leathers at the trot by. My legs feel more free. These miles are much easier. Just flat, straight sandy roads. Nothing to worry about...."

Nothing to worry about, eh? What is that then??? 

"Oh My God Mare...its a trash can. These are houses we are going past. It must be trash collection day because each house has them out. Wow. If this continues this is going to be a very loooong 11 miles"

Cut to a wide angle view. Its a sand road with houses bordering each side. Its trash collection day and each driveway has a black trash can outside. Our fearless duo are making their way along the road doing their best to not get eaten by the black monsters.

"Oh Gem. Seriously? We are going to pass these about 8 times today, so just get used to them already. On the positive side, we are still all alone and you are doing 9-10 mph miles solo. That's pretty much unheard of for you. Way to go!!"

Ok..maybe they aren't going to eat me, but they sure look like they could. Ohhh...whats that up ahead? A big pile of...umm...what is this stuff?? It looks like hay and smells like hay but it tastes funny. At least the water in this tank is nice and cool

"That's peanut hay Gem. Don't you like it? You better tank up cuz it doesn't look like there is much in the way of grass around here. Just miles and miles of flat sand road"

Trot....trot...canter.....canter....canter...trot...trot....

"Look!! It is camp!! I told you we would make it back"

ACT 1 Scene 5

Setting: A quaint Boy Scout camp in a southern Georgia pine forest. Horses are coming and going in various stages of being tacked up, cooling out, eating and drinking. Our team is nearing the vetting area. With a quarter mile to go to camp, Sara hops down nearly collapsing as her ankles totally give out on her. She proceeded to half walk half limp Gem in to vetting. 

"Tack off Gem, then we can vet in and take a nap. No matter how this goes, I'm so very proud of you. 25 miles is an extremely long loop an the farthest we have gone in competition without a hold. You are the best!"

They head to the pulse booth and are very glad to see that there is no line.

"Pulse is 56!"

"Hmmm...thats unusually high for you Gem. Normally you are in then 40s coming off trail. I really hope your hydration parameters are fine and you aren't hurting from that fall. Let's head over to vetting and find out."

The head vet is one Sara has not met yet. She is very nice and attentive which relieves Sara since she is very worried about those front legs.

"How's it going out there? First loop, right? Hydration - All As. Gut sounds - B. Go trot."

"Please pay close attention to her fronts. We fell in a hole about mile 9. She has felt fine all along, but I just want to make sure." 

Trot...trot...trot...trot....stop..turn around....trot...trot...trot...trot

"Everything looks great! Enjoy the rest"

1st loop per Garmin. The bottom right was all the camp trails and the upper left was after the trot by. 
ACT 2 Scene 1

Setting: A familiar sandy driveway heading away from the security and comforts of camp. A horse and rider are slowly making their way down the road heading out to conquer more miles of trails. They are alone, but won't be for long.

"Same dirt roads my friend. Igor the trash cans Ignore the sewer drains. We've seen them before. keep trotting. Good girl. I feel so much more balanced now that my stirrup is shorter again, but man my ankles are trashed. I'm so sorry Gem that I am riding like crap today. I'll start yoga, I swear!"
39 total miles of this. 
Uhhuh...I've heard that one before. And I'll start going down the trail without spooking at anything or trying to dump you, Will see which happens first....

They make their way along alone and enjoying the solitude of the trail as the sun warms up the frosty day.

"You know Gem, I really needed this time. I miss my friend terribly and her memory is getting me through this. She would never give up or quit. She'd sing a silly song or say something goofy right about now. So let's sing."

Sara breaks out into a favorite song of her younger days and settles intone lovely rhythm as they cover the miles at a nice 8 mph trot. Eventually the solitude is broken...

"Hey there! My friend got pulled and my mare prefers company. Mind if we join you?"

"Umm...no. We are keeping a 7-8 mph pace, so if that works of you come on along. The trail is nice and wide so we can ride side by side easily. Gem has never kicked, but you never do know. Is your horse gaited?"

"Yup. She is a Paso."

Hmmm..what is that horse doing with its legs? Seems like odd movement. That is definitely not a trot. Can my legs do that?

"Trot Gem. Just like the last 30 miles. Just trot. Why are you moving funny? Are you tired of trotting? It is an awfully long straight stretch. Lets canter a bit to stretch you out."

The miles start to tick away...

Seriously....what is that horse doing? I don't like it. It is odd.

"Honestly horse. Trot. These stupid short strides are going to cause you to cramp. Um...can you either stay beside us or behind? Every time you get directly in front of us the mare slows down and acts weird. The trail is wide enough for us to go side by side. No need to be directly in front."

"Sure."

"No..I mean it. Stop going in front. Gem isn't acting right when you do that. If you wan tI can get her moving a bit and put some space between us."

"No. I'd rather ride with you This trail is soo boring. Not like last year when we stayed in camp more. I've never ridden out this way before. Too much roads for. And look now there is pavement. I hate pavement. So boring. So so boring"

Argh! This is not going well. 14.5 miles of this and my head will explode, thinks Sara as the miles wear on with negativity abounding from her new partner, I need to get back to my solitude and keep this ride fun. Speeding up didn't work. I'll let Gem walk. Oh good...she is walking too. Is it rude to tell her to go away? Ho would I even do that? I really hope she doesn't try to ride the last loop with me too. Hopefully we can part ways back at camp.

The miles tick on by...

ACT 2 Scene 2
Setting: 3 miles from camp and the pair of riders are moving down along the paved end of the loop which they covered at the end of loop 1 and will repeat in loop 3. Sara's nerves are a bit wracked from the negative company she has kept the last 2 hours and she is getting to her emotional breaking point. 

"Excuse me. I don't ride fast on pavement, but there is plenty of grassy shoulder to ride on. I'm going to cross over and let Gem ride over there. You stay here so that we can each move out as we want."
She agrees and then two minutes later she comes over and cuts them off again.

Some of the paved portion of the trail. Maybe 3-4 total miles of pavement each loop. 
Ok...this is not going well. I don't like this weirdly moving horse, I don't like these mail boxes, and I really don't like these storm drains. I'm hungry too. That peanut hay was nasty. When's camp?

"Ahhh!! Ok..calm down. Almost done. Let's move out and away Gem. Move I said. Move!" Sara loses her temper a smidgen and smacks the saddle's pommel with the excess reins to get her mare moving. Her companion glares at her and finally backs off giving them room to move out alone. 

Eventually they make it back to camp where Sara hops off a quarter mile out to hand walk in again. 

ACT 2 Scene 3
Setting: Back in camp at the crewing area our faithful team is dropping tack and headed over to the pulse box. They have 39 miles down and are hoping to get a good rest in. 

"Pulse 44! You get the lowest of the day so far."

"That's my Gem. She is always super low coming off trail. Good girl. I bet the last pulse was due to the extremely long first loop. Let's get vetted in and see how that goes."

She gets the same vet as before.

"You are moving right along, although a bit slow. This is your 2nd hold, right? Hydration - all A's. Gut sounds - B. Trot out!"

"Yeah, 2nd hold. Let's trot my mare"

Trot...trot...trot....stop...turn around...trot...trot...trot...

"All's good. Enjoy the hold!"

"Ok Gem, I will get you all tucked away and then I'm having a PB&J sandwich. I've been craving it for an hour and I can't wait!!!

Sara tucks Gem in to her pen with dry grain, wet mash, carrots, soaked alfalfa and a pile of dry coastal. She turns to the truck to make the sandwich she has been dreaming about for 9 miles.

"Bread...check! Jelly...check! Peanut butter....um...peanut butter? Shit. I left that at home. Nothing else sounds remotely enjoyable or even barely edible right now. I must have PB&J. Well..I do have a tin of honey roasted peanuts....let's see. Squeeze a ton of jelly on bread....add a handful of nuts...squish together...take a bite....Wow!! Thats really, really gross. But it beats nothing, so I'm eating it anyway."

2nd loop. All road riding, mostly sand but some pavement
ACT 3 Scene 1

Setting: Our tireless duo are heading back out along that same sandy driveway for the final time. They have to repeat the 11.2 miles from the second half of the first loop. They have 4.5 hours to do it in and Sara's spirits are soaring. The sun is shining, her mare is looking amazing and she knows they can at least finish. Completing is another beast, but she knows her mare can go the miles.

"Last time, I promise. Same trails we have been on. We are out alone again.Gem we can do this!"
The view we had for 39 miles
"Hey there!! You guys are looking good. Mind if I join you for a bit? This is my mare's first 50 and we just want to complete."

Sara looks over and sees a happy looking woman riding a lovely grey arab mare. 

"Sure thing. We are going about 7-8 mph and stopping to eat and drink when able. If you don;t mind, can we just ride side by side? The trail is wide enough."

"Sure thing"

The miles tick by and they maintain a steady pace with some as fast as 12 mph, but with very frequent stops to eat along the way. This woman spies all the best grasses that Sara didn't even see the first time around. 

The two women talk and laugh along the way and Sara is enjoying every minute of it.

"Crap, my Garmin just died only 2 miles from camp. I really need to upgrade to a better model."

"Do you want to race to the finish line? Its along the sandy road about a half mile from camp so that it is safe to. I know we aren't going to place or even turtle, but since we have been going sid by side we can race to get placings."

"Oh no thanks. Gem has worked hard enough. You go on ahead if you wish and finish before us. I really don't care about placings at all. I'm just thrilled to go the 50 miles in one piece and not fall off or hurt my horse" responds an elated Sara as they get nearer and nearer the finish line. 

Finally, they cross!

ACT 3 Scene 2

Setting: Back at camp of the final time. A tired and sore Sara leads a mare who looks like she went 50 miles, but could still go a few more over to the pulse box. 

"Pulse 44! Wow, you definitely get the award for lowest pulse."

"Thats my girl!!"

Sara heads over to vetting and gets a different vet. She has met him before at her first SE ride and really likes him. 

"So how did it go?"

"Really well. She fell early on, but has;t been a problem. It just takes her 10 miles to settle in. This is her second 50."

He palpates her back, checks her mouth and listens to her guts.

"You riding tomorrow?"

"Nope. Going to head home in the morning."

"You don't have a second horse? You should have a second horse. You'd do well and have a lot of fun."

"Thanks, but unless board drops down to free and they add a few more hours to my day, it won't be happening for a long time. For now it's just Gem and I and she isn't allowed to break."

"All A's across the board. You did fantastic with her today. Go trot."

Trot...trot...trot...stop...turn around...trot...trot...trot...

"Sound as can be! Congrats!!!"


3rd loop. All roads again.