Return to Sunriver

Or Spook for 80 Miles

I was really excited when I found out Lois was having an 80 mile ride at Sunriver this year. I planned early on to do the 80 if we were going to Tevis or the 100 if we were not. 

I made the final decision after Still Memorial that we were going to Tevis. It is not a decision I made lightly, but more about that later. 

I wanted to do another longer distance ride before Tevis. Originally I had the 75 at Grizzly on the table, but due to other circumstances it didn't happen. I didn't feel the need to condition him as hard as I had for OR 100 the year before, he returned to that level without as much conditioning. I worked on longer trots, up and down hills interspersed with some faster work. 10 miles would seem to come and go quickly. 

I have been using Easyboots for conditioning rides. Regular pain old original Easyboots. I had come to the conclusion with Journey that i couldn't screw up her feet any more than they already have been but a multitude of different farriers over the 6 years I have owned her. So I learned to trim on your typical awful thoroughbred feet. After all the farrier issues with Quick I said screw it, I'll just do it myself. That leaves my options limited to boots. I need to learn how to glue on boots, but that will come later. It is a big step from trimming my weekend warrior thoroughbred to a high preformance endurance horse. Like I said, I couldn't do any worse to Journey than had already been done. (And that doesn't just count for last year, and yes that blog post will be coming soon for those of you who do not know what happened) But I can get away with not being perfect with Journey and it not affecting her overall soundness(but she has gotten sounder) whereas if I screw up with Quick the miles we put in will tell. I do have a back up plan and a farrier that I am willing to try if I need shoes put on him. Let's face it, shoes are easy. They only become a problem when the horse loses one. I have looked into farrier school, but it is a couple grand and I would have to take an entire term off of work. Not going to happen. There are a couple Pete Ramey clinics that I am seriously considering going to. And I did pick up a Pete Ramey book Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You. Despite that everyone I have talked to says I am doing a good job with his hooves. The farriers don't like the 'mustang roll' around his hoof but otherwise they say he is nicely balanced. 

Just another thing I have learned because of the chestnut thoroughbred mare. 

So back to booting. I snapped a cable on a brand new boot on Wednesday. When the boots work they are great, when they don't I want to pull my hair out. Luckily Paula had a replacement cable for the old Easyboots. I was able to use it to replace the one that busted. After calling EasyCare and trying not to get super angry. Boots should break on the second use.  I mean if it was an old pre 2005 boot that I had bought for $5 used then, oh well but a brand new boot that I had only used once before is another matter entirely! 

The last time I was at Sunriver was two years ago when I attempted my first 100. We got 68 miles into the ride, out at vet check 2, when Quick came up lame.  Which was caused by the gullet having come loose in the wintec on one side so it put uneven pressure on his back. Despite that I couldn't have been more proud of Quick. Even though we were pulled he still did extremely well. At that point he was still mentally and emotionally very immature. We had only been doing a couple solo rides. Yet we did 25 miles by ourselves! I went out and bought my Ortho-flex shortly thereafter. I love the Ortho-flex, it is by far one of the most comfortable saddles I have ridden in. It reminds me a lot of my Stuebben. Perhaps it is because it has a Frank Baines tree. I have done 375 competition miles in it since I got it. Quick was a bit sore after Still Memorial this year, so I rechecked the saddle fit. The panels do flex enough to allow his shoulder to move but they are more snug than I would like. It is probably the lateral work I have been incorporating into our rides or the downhill trotting that has built up his shoulders. So I moved to my Free n Easy all purpose saddle. It is what I have been riding Diesel in because it is the only saddle that is both wide enough for his Akhal-teke shoulders and flexes to conform to his long Akhal-teke back. And Journey loves it too. The biggest saddle test is whether or not Journey likes it. The only problem about having one saddle is that I can't leave all my stuff on it when I have been doing shows with the bay-bies. A cantle pack and boot bag aren't exactly smiled upon at dressage shows or events. Even schooling ones. 

While the F n E isn't a bad saddle it just isn't my favorite as far as my comfort. It isn't horrible, I was just spoiled by the Othro-flex. My full sheepskin cover pulls the flaps in and rounds them since it was made for the straighter dressage flaps of the Ortho-flex. I decided to go without it since it bothered me on a Journey ride. Those are rather short and only walking, so probably not what I would want to deal with for 80 miles of mostly trotting. I decided to go with just the seat cover I had for it. 

My goal for the ride was one thing- completion. This was my trial run before Tevis to make sure everything was going to work out. I had never done an endurance ride in the F n E let alone a long distance one. I had purchased a Matrix Woolback pad with my birthday money ( I really wanted a GoPro but the pad was more useful since I was looking for a longer one anyway) I had been having a weird dry spot after rides and realized when I put the saddle in the trailer that the panels were not even, I must not have put them back on evenly after adjusting the saddle last. I corrected that before the ride. 

I drove over. It was my first time hauling the pass over highway 58. I have done Santiam pass a number of times, both up and down but never Willimatte pass. 

The first thing Quick did as soon as we got there was roll. It was super dusty, felt like I had been riding in a dusty indoor. So much for giving him a bath. I visited Diana at American Trail Gear to get a leash for Leigh. I also saw the cutest little kitten on a leash. And refrained from shopping too much but picked up some new ties for Quick's mane. Usually I trim it pretty short since it tends to look scraggly long. I couldn't find my razor that I use to trim in and I I didnt have a sharp pair of scissors so it didn't get done. But that left enough mane to braid! 

Quick was hot at the start. Not sure if it was the alfalfa I had bought, it was super leafy or all the Ultimum he had been getting. He was ready to go, lacking a little direction but ready. He was booted on all four, electrical tape with duct tape over the buckles. And splint boots on all four legs. Because He will have splint boots on for Tevis and this ride was to make sure everything worked. 

We went out in the front of the middle of the pack. There were 23 on the 100 and 6 on the 80. We got behind Becky and her group and ate a lot of dust. But it was good to see how Quick would do stuffed behind horses, since that is how it would be at Tevis. We got around them, missed a turn then were behind them again. Got around them again and not ten strides later Quick let out a big spook. I heard someone exclaim behind me, but I had staid on. Righted myself, put my leg on and off we went. 

The sunrise was beautiful, I wish I had had a better camera to take photos, but there are things you just cannot do with a point n shoot in low light while riding. 

We were caught by Pam on her lovely Paint mare. She was going a bit faster than I wanted but Quick would not be told to slow down. Half halts only got his back up and from there he opened up to a really amazing extended trot. We soon caught up to the couple from California, Pam went on and I staid behind with them. I totally forgot their names! It was funny enough we ended up talking about plastic horseshoes since I noticed his horse had on plastics that I didn't recognize. He said they were Sneakers, and he has found that they hold up better than others. They live on the Tevis trail. They said they are lucky where they live in that many of the farriers have endurance experience. Where here most farriers just shoe arena horses and weekend trail horses. There is a big difference in the two. 

Pam had taken a wrong turn and came up behind us, then we all missed a turn. We turned around and found where we were supposed to go. It was up a hill under the powerlines. Pam went first and Quick took charge and dashed up the hill like it was nothing leaving the couple behind us. We followed Pam, who was going a touch slower or maybe it was because we were going up hill that it didn't feel so out of control. I asked her about her mare and she said she was half thoroughbred Paint, no Arab at all. A nice mare. She thought she missed a ribbon, and turned around. But we were on the right section, the fun single track. Quick zoomed around, he really enjoys the single track and so do I. She also gave me some tips on riding Tevis. 

We came into the River Vet check. For some reason Quick was a bit unsettled there. He didn't pulse down right away, he wouldn't do more than sip the water, he was just interested in moving around and eating grass. It didn't take him long to pulse down, but not his usual drop within minutes of coming in. We weren't going that fast and it wasn't that hot yet. We vetted through. It was only a 15 minute hold so Quick munched on some grass and I refilled my water bottles. The tape had come off of the front of the boots, but they were stuck tight. Off we went. I rode the next loop by myself. Pam was leading the 80 with Celena right behind her. There were 2 on the 100 who were in front of them. We were in a good spot, right where I wanted to be. And it was nice to be by ourselves. Quick spooked at the photographer.

Photo by Cassidy Rae Photography

We were only a couple miles from camp when we turned onto a road and Quick asked to walk. I let him. I heard bells behind us and saw Heather and Bunny coming down the road. Quick heard them too and he took off! I had to laugh. I told him he couldn't out trot a Standardbred. He wasn't listening.

We came into camp and Quick finally tanked up at the water. He hadn't been interesting in drinking more than a mouthful the entire time. It made me feel better when he drank. He pulsed down right away and we vetted through. I had time to visit with Leigh, who gets really upset when he is left alone in the trailer with Mollie. He is rather attached to me. Quick ate and drank. Paula found a small rub under one of Quick's splint boots. I switched him to the smaller ankle boots. I believe the rub was just a bare patch of hair he had before, so not really a rub but still something to keep my eye on nevertheless.

Off we went again. We were doing the same loop that we started out on back to the River Vet Check. I had to slow down, the footing had gotten really deep with all of the horses going over it. We made time and ran into a couple mountain bikers. Quick was starting to do his mid day drag when Heather and Bunny caught us. We finished our first 100 with Heather and Bunny last year at OR 100. I had hoped to ride with Heather at least a little bit during this ride! We passed some more mountain bikes. Bunny was leading the way. She is such a nice mare, and it was cool to watch her just effortlessly extend her trot. We talked about how our seasons had been going and how there was going to be a race for the Standardbred breed award this year. It was so nice to get to ride with Heather again!!

At the River Check Paula had hitched a ride with the gal who was camped next to us. Her riders were going slower than I was, but they had made it just in time! Quick still didn't like the out check so when he didn't pulse down right away I wasn't worried. We pulled tack and he started munching away. His pulse dropped and we vetted through. I still don't know what is was about that check that bothered him. He didn't do it at any other check. I lengthened my stirrups one hole as my knees had been taking the brunt of the abuse. I remember reading somewhere that if your knees hurt your stirrups are too short. I tend to ride with shorter stirrups in the Fn E because I have been using it for jumping, and it is an all purpose saddle. It isn't designed specifically for longer stirrups like the dressage Ortho-Flex. There was a lot of downhill on that first loop.

Celena and Pam took off for their next loop. There is nothing like watching a thoroughbred pick up a canter and take flight. Poor Quick was in the middle of a tinkle and stopped to watch them go, he wanted to go with them. Took him a minute or so to resume his business. Heather and Bunny took off ahead of us. This was the part of the ride I wanted to ride alone. I wanted to be able to push Quick to keep a steady pace after we hit the 50 mile mark. We left with 30 miles to go on the blue loop. It would take us out to the second vet check where I got pulled two years ago then back into camp. Quick kept a nice steady pace. He drank at the water tanks, thank God! I remember when you make the turn off of where the blue and yellow were together that it felt odd. I kept asking myself if I was going the right direction, but the hoof prints in the sand were going the right way. And the blue and white ribbons were on the right. One of the things Heather had said when while we were riding together was about a new to endurance horse that would go from side to side on the trail and not straight. I replied Quick still does that, but it was more spooking from side to side. As we turned towards the outcheck Quick started spooking at everything. Every time he jumped from side to side it jarred my knees. We walked. Then when I would ask for a trot the spooking would start. So we continued in this fashion, walk trot-spook walk again... The road seemed to get longer and longer. I knew we were close to the out check. I didn't feel my knees could take pushing him into a canter and riding through the spooks that way. He still jumps from side to side they just are not as violent as try can be when he is just trotting. Finally I had had enough I picked up contact (I usually ride with pretty loose reins) and pushed him into a trot. It didn't make him stop spooking and I just gave up and walked in. 

He pulsed down and vetted through. I asked if anyone had any pain killers and sure enough I got some ibruprofen. Heather and Bunny were there.They left about the time the two groups of 100s came in behind me. I was surprised that the couple on the 80 weren't in front of them. Apparently they had taken a wrong turn and came in just as I was leaving.  Quick and I were off. We had 16 miles left to camp. I started off at a trot, having lengthened my stirrups again. My knees felt better. But I felt less secure. I debated dropping my vest somewhere because I had a scratch under my arm that was stinging. Instead I pulled out some vet wrap and wrapped it around my arm as we were walking. 

The spooking started again and I shortened my stirrups back a hole to where they were before. And tried trotting again. Spook spook spook. That was it. I pushed him into a canter. It was getting to te point of ridiculousness. We cantered up the small rise. I didn't want to be cantering at this point. There was no reason to aside from it is the easiest gait to ride the Spookaloosa in... The spooking culminated in a huge real spook at a rock. He jumped to the side of the trail, his neck arched and snorting at it. Wouldn't go near it, still snorting, but back on the trail. Snort snort leg on, back up snort more leg. Finally he touched it then walked over it. He gave the next rock the hairy eyeball as well. It was one of those moments that you just shake your head at. Of all things Quick can spook at it is the least threatening. Rocks trees sticks..... Not tents, mountain bikers you know the actually scary stuff.

I scratched his withers and basically told him that I was here for him and the sooner we get to camp the sooner he is done. Quick is a really emotional horse. He gets upset easily if he gets reprimanded or there is too much pressure put on him.  I remember the first time I stuck one of his dirty spooks, I didn't do anything but sit there and he was shaking he was so upset. We have gotten past that for the most part. He now will spook mostly forward but you still have to be on your guard. 

The spooks winded down and we continued on. Quick started to want to eat everything in sight, so I would let him stop eat and move on. I was in no hurry but tried to keep going at a reasonable pace. I wanted him to eat, at this stage of the ride it was important for him to eat. 

Karen and te rider with her caught me before the water set and I followed them to it. There seemed to not be enough water on this loop, it was in the heat of the day and much of the trail was blue one direction and yellow the other. The 100s would be riding the yellow loop next and the 50s had already ridden it. Quick tanked up, I did a quick sponge on his neck to cool him ad have him his electrolytes. The group of three riders were not far behind and I asked if Karen and the other rider would mind if I went on. They said it was okay so we left. 

I set my goal to be into camp between 5:30 and 6. We didn't hurry but kept up a steady pace. My knees would only bother me the first couple strides of trot after a walk break. As we neared the end I could tell the group of three riders were catching up to us. I would see them coming down the hill and then would loose them as we went up. 

Now this whole time Quick felt great. I wasn't pushing him just going. However my heart rate monitor which had been so trusty at Still Memorial was making me second guess myself. He would either be trotting along at 97 or well over 200. Like 240. So I was pretty sure it was double counting. So I turned it off and just rode by feel. I think I have come to rely on the hr monitor too much, it is great for when I am conditioning to see his recovery times or how hard he is working based on the effort we are doing. But I wasn't happy with it at this ride. 

We stopped and ate a bunch again and the group of 3 riders caught is and brought us into camp. 

I went back and forth about showing for BC. Quick never has shown well and I figured between Celena and Pam, one of them would win. We came in at about 5:40, so right where I wanted to be. The deciding factor for not showing for BC was my knees. The thought of having to run again in an hour was just not on my list. 

80 mile EasyBoots! 

Heather and Bunny were headed out on their last loop on the 100. They were in second place. I got Quick settled in, poulticed and went to rest my knees. I staid up to see Heather come in after 10pm. Then went to bed.

Someone had a fit about 6 am the next morning. I woke up with a start to banging on the corral outside. Quick was running around bucking and throwing his head. I went out and gave him his breakfast. He just pulled on his fly mask and looked at me. So we went for a walk. 

He was still not pleased with the small walk when I put him back. He pulled on his fly mask again and gave me the look. I told him to eat and give me another half hour. 

He was still throwing his head around an running in his corral while I tried to close my eyes for a few more minutes. The horse at the trailer parked next to is had gone for a walk, that is what started it! Obviously there was a lot of horse left! 

A 50 to Boot

Or the continuing adventures of the Spookaloosa

Angry Spookaloosa after Roz left on the Friday 25 

Sometimes on the trail your mind is filled with thoughts and sometimes it is silent, you are focused on your horse and how he is doing. I was doing a lot of listening, feeling and just enjoying the time in the saddle on the trail with Quick. If I had any doubts about this little Appy, they are gone now. He is one tough Spookaloosa. 

Lest we forget that he is a Spookaloosa.

These past few months have been rough for me, a lot has gone on and much of that maybe me taking things too hard on myself. Quick was doing great the beginning of the year. He had Ground Control shoes put on him and we were doing once a week good conditioning rides. Unfortunately at the next shoeing the farrier and I had a misunderstanding. The previous farrier had left his toes long, while everything else looked good his toes were running away. I don't understand that farriers trimming technique, and I have seen other farriers use it too. They take off wall from the top, but not like I have seen others do it and not the I way I trim either. So I asked the farrier to bring Quicks toes back and get him more under himself. Well he did. And I am not certain Quick didn't have a hot nail either, but he was lame and wasn't getting sounder. So I pulled the shoes. He was sound with boots on. I let him sit until he was 100% sound barefoot. 

I'm not sure who was going crazier, him or me from not riding.

So after a couple weeks he was 100% sound barefoot on rocks we went back to work. We put in a couple good rides, and lost a boot up on Lowell Butte. We hadn't had much trouble with boots before, we did most of the conditioning for OR 100 in boots while I was farrier shopping. 

That was about the time the lip abscess happened. I went to get Quick out of the field and his lip was swollen on the one side. He wouldn't let me touch it or see what was going on. Which is unlike Quick. He plays with his lips and his tongue all the time. So we went to the vets. He had to have it opened up and allow the puss to drain out.

So all bets on going to Grizzly Mountain were out.

Quick recovered from his lip abscess and I had decided to try the first farrier again. Unfortunately I had trimmed his feet only a few days before because I hadn't made that decision yet. The thought of doing Still Memorial in boots was terrifying....

Well another close nail later and having to have Quicks front shoes pulled again. He had no sensitivity to the nails and no reaction to the hoof testers. So a close nail is our best guess. So now two shoeings I have ended up pulling the fronts. Kind of hurts the bank account. 

So it looked like I would be booting for Still Memorial anyway, at least up front. 

I was terrified that I would loose a boot on that log rocky downhill by Still Hill. 

Terrified. 

I ordered a set of EasyBoot originals from a local feed store. Their provider was back ordered on 0s so I ended up ordering them straight from EasyCare.  Brand spanking new boots. 

Quick and I had one test flight in those new boots. I had wanted to do the tough rocky trail at Mt Pisgah but things didn't work out so I rode up Bear Mt instead. Everything was good. All I could do was pray to the Boot Gods for luck that they would stay on. We had done a lot of conditioning rides in our old boots, but they wouldn't last for 50 miles. The treads are pretty worn down on them.

So off we went.

On Friday Paula did the 25 on Roz and I got ot meet DeWayne's new Appy stallion Nim. Meanwhile Quick was super angry that he couldn't go out with Roz. He even untied his lead rope that was on the corral a couple times. He is so funny. I took Bart for a short ride, it ended up being short because the trail we were on was close to the trail the 25 milers were coming back on. Poor little guy wanted to go with them back to camp! You can't blame him, we were out alone and there were horses flying down the trail towards camp. He listened to me and we turned around.

Bart!

I took Quick out for a short ride that evening to stretch his legs and give the boots another go. Outcheck box was packed, saddle fitted with two boot bags and whatever I thought I would need. A multi-tool in case a boot came loose, hoof pick, tape, VetWrap.... I could only find 3 syringes for electrolytes. Two with me one in the outcheck box. I decided I would try to top 10 the ride since there was only 27 entries. I figured I would go for about the same finishing time as I had the previous year where we placed 6th at 6 hrs and 18 minutes.

5 o'clock came pretty early, I fed Quick then got myself ready. I wrapped his hooves with athletic tape then vetwrap over the top. Something for the teeth of the EasyBoots to grab. The VetWrap because I have had Journey's boots spin (she probably should be a smaller size but when I originally fitted her she had a lot of flare) and the teeth cut into her coronet band. :( So with her she always gets her hooves vetwrapped with boots. I have never had that happen with Quick, but I would rather play it safe than sorry. I wrapped electrical tape around the clip on the boots 3 times, then put a piece of blue duct tape over the top. Oh yeah, and I had spray painted the boots blue so I would know they were mine if I happened to loose one. Saddled up and we were ready to go.

Roz was hollering to Quick the entire time, Quick was hollering back, hollow, inverted and not listening to me in the slightest. I attempted a warm up, but didn't get much out of it. Once we were not trying to warm up, Quick settled a bit. I picked a woman on a bay horse as one that would be going for a top 5. After a while you kind of get a feeling of which riders are going for it, there are the ones I know, and there are a bunch of people I do not know.

Trail was open!

Barrak Blakeley was leading the way with his father Wasch right behind, the woman on the bay and then myself. I had a fire breathing pinto behind me. All I can say is that the Blakeleys are amazing, both Wasch and Barrak got off at one point and were running with their horses. And faster than they had been trotting. Mind blown, I hate running. We were headed up the hill right before the drop towards Still Hill and my best guess is Wasch's horse lost a boot, he was booted behind. Wasch pulled up and told us to go around. Barrak stopped as well, the woman on the bay said she didn't want to lead and I didn't even need to ask before Quick jumped to the front.

With Quick on point we went down and around, the pinto was still with us and I wasn't sure where the others were. We set a good pace, not smoking fast by any means but good. After we went through the gate for the flats towards Cyrus out check I asked the guy with the fire breathing pinto to go in front. He hadn't wanted to pass before, but Quick needed a short break from being out in front. He set off at a flying trot and the little Spotty pony was right behind.

Quick has his crazy hair on!

Once we were on the dirt road leading to Cyrus a gal on a big chestnut with a german martingale passed us at a hand gallop. Quick was after her. I kept my eye on my heart rate monitor and instead of fighting him, let him go. We caught up, the gal went for it and was going faster as we neared the hill right before you drop into the vet check. I pulled an angry Quick up, he was going to get them, and walked him in. Had his bit dropped and girth slightly loosened as we came in to the vet check.

The big chestnut had tack off and was being sponged down. I let Quick drink and sponged him and when my heart rate monitor said he dropped into the 60s I asked for a pulse.

Quick was down. We were the first ones down.

We vetted through. Quick was interested in lawnmowering. Wasch Blakeley was putting back shoes on his horse. The pinto took a while to come down as did the big chestnut. I had felt that my stirrups were uneven and sure enough, one was longer than the other. I made sure to fix that.

And off we went again after our 30 minute hold was done.

We were out with a little bay mare with a german martingale I believe. We were not blazing saddles, by any means. The bay who I picked out in the beginning caught us at a canter with the pinto not far behind. We were out into the flats and cooking. I electrolyted Quick at the trough after the second road crossing. Once we got towards the single track heading back into camp Quick asked if he could pass the gal on the big bay. So we did. He danced down the trail. Super handy, around corners and the whoop-de-doos.

I hopped off of him as we came into camp, he pulsed down and we vetted through. I put him in his corral to eat and let Leigh and Mollie out of the trailer to potty. Leigh had probably done about the same amount of mileage going back and forth from window to window in the trailer looking for me. He still has abandonment issues. If we left the truck door open he would jump in, he wasn't getting left behind again. (that is at least what I figured happened to him when I found him) I put them away since I needed to check boots on Quick and get myself ready to go out again.

Boots hadn't turned or moved at all! I reapplied the electrical tape and duct tape. We were good to go for another 25 miles! The cool thing about the boots and Ground Control horseshoes is that Quick had both traction over the rocks and didn't really feel the sharp points. He just flew over them.

We went out with the little bay mare following us. The draw from camp and Roz whinning at us was strong. I put my leg on and we went. Right as we passed the photographer Quick reaffirmed his title as Spookaloosa. Huge spook, I put my leg on and he jumped whatever it was that he was spooking at and off we went. He was giving everything the hairy eyeball. The best option when this happens is to keep him in a canter. He is not able to screech to a halt and spin or spook when he is cantering, he just jumps to the other side of the trail and switches leads. He spooked a few more times as we continued along. The gal on the little bay commented about how well I stuck those spooks!

Photo of my ride photo. I am waiting to get a digital copy. 

I don't always stick them all. It was just a couple months ago when Quick dumped me not long after we started a conditioning ride. I have some things going for me; youth, natural stickability- but I don't just hope that I can stick his spooks. I work hard to be able to stick them. There is lots of work two point work to strengthen my lower leg, lots of riding without stirrups and sitting trot. Denny Emmerson is always writing about how "Good Riders Don't Bounce" or to be a good rider you need 3 things: A good Seat, A good Seat, and a good seat. My drive and determination did not start with wanting to be able to stick Quick's spooks, no it started by wanting to be a better rider for my Thoroughbred Journey. It has been only recently that she cannot bounce me (Journey has had a lot of pain issues and injuries that I am continually trying to work through and help correct and make her comfortable. It has been finding the right people to work on her that has made all the difference.) That is the result of conditioning Quick for the 100 last year, all the work starting babies and quieting my seat and riding other people's horses. I have started to see the results of all the work I have put in. I am far from perfect, but my goal is to help the horses I ride. And to do so I need to be a better rider, horsewoman and to learn more.

Looking out at Still Hill. 

Back to the ride: A lot of rock had come up on the trail. We passed some of the trail riders on the red loop and walked a good bit of the way just because there was so much rock!! As we entered the flats after Still Hill Quick was telling me he was tired. He tends to have a mid day drag. I looked at my heart rate monitor, it was reading 80. Well he couldn't be that tired, so I asked for a good trot and off we went. His heart rate didn't go past 110 while we were trotting. The little bay mare was still with us and we traded leading a couple times. The other gal with the taller bay was not far behind us. I think she caught us as we were coming into Cyrus for the final time. Quick pulsed down well again and we vetted through. Paula was out a the vet check and asked how Quick was doing. I think I felt he was more tired than he was. There were two people that I was concerned about as far as catching us. The taller bay gelding and the person who had just come into the vet check, someone who has more than fifteen times the mileage that Quick and I have combined.

I had only one dose of electrolytes with me and I dropped one of my boot bags. Since I hadn't had any issues with them and not to mention I had been checking them religiously. Off we went on the last leg.

The little bay was right behind us. I asked her to lead out since Quick decided he was in no hurry to leave the vet check. The tall bay caught us rather quickly, taking off at a canter. I got the impression the gal was trying to loose us, but Quick was game. I kept checking his heart rate. He was good.

I contemplated on and off whether or not I should make a run at the lead, finally I made the decision to, but if the gal was going to go all out racing, I wasn't going to do that. There was no reason to. The little bay mare trailed us. We made it through the flats and back into the single track. I used my last electrolyte at the trough after you cross the road. The gal with the bay slowed at a couple of the downhill places suddenly. I had to pull Quick up short. I asked him to go at a wide spot in the trail, she saw and her horse beat us to where the trail narrowed again. She slowed at a couple more of the downhill spots, not as much as the first time. As we were coming down into ride camp she slowed at another area, and really I thought to myself just go already! The was a wide spot so I sent Quick around. She called out that she wasn't going to race and not to hurt my horse.Quick had picked up a canter so I pulled him back to a trot down the hill. Not far from the end of the trail Quick petered out. She cantered past us and into ride camp in front of us. Oh well, she had the gamier horse. Quick gave it a good shot but like I said, I wasn't going to push him I would ask, and what he gave me was what I would take.

Everyone was waiting for us. We dumped saddles and began cooling the horses down. Hannah Summers helped me with Quick, reminding me to get the water off, because it holds heat. Quick's heart rate came down pretty quickly. But the goal was to have a good CRI, so the lower his heart rate the better. He was a little stiff but not quite off at our trot out. I figured it was probably because some stupid person didn't check her stirrups before she got on at 6:30 in the morning. He did about 13 miles with an off balance rider. He also interfered behind, which means he will have to wear boots from now on, splint boots.

Quick is an inherently lazy horse, it takes 2 people to really get him moving while free schooling for fitness. Otherwise he tries to stop and change direction on you or you just can't get him moving enough to get him breathing hard. Even though we have worked on our trot outs, he still drags. I should have moved him around more for our 1 hr check, which I was late to because I heard 45 instead of 35 after.... I was sure I wasn't going to win BC anyway. I figured it would be the gal with the little bay mare she hadn't done any racing and had been pulsing down as well as Quick had been.

I settled Quick in his corral and took off his boots and poulticed his legs. I left him alone so he could nap and munch on the food I had set out for him. Every time I would go check on him he would ask for more food, having eaten it all. So heck if he was going to eat I was going to feed him! Quick can be a very bad eater, and if it is a sign that he has learned to start eating after 50 miles then, maybe he will chow down for the longer rides I hope to do. Roz also begged for food every time I gave Quick more. Little Hobbit horses!

You have more food for me?

I must say I was surprised that Wasch or Lois didn't catch us. Barrak's horse came up sore and like a good sponsor and parent Wasch took him back to the outcheck. Lois wasn't far behind us at the last outcheck, and Mocha is a fast 100 mile horse. It was a ride that everything seemed to fall in our favor. The Blakeleys were not setting a smoking pace, they have fast horses! They top tened Tevis last year and Barrak won the Haggin Cup. We were able to set the pace for a lot of the ride, and it was not smoking fast. Quick is easily capable of doing a 6 hour 50, I have no doubts about that. Honestly, I wouldn't be doing 6 hour 50s if I hadn't gone to ANCER last year. I wouldn't have pushed for more. Maybe I would be going to try and top ten this year, but for ANCER if I was spending all of the $$ to go down to California I wanted to be competitive. So that is why I started asking for more from Quick.

I want to do longer distances with Quick. 50s are fun and all, but I need a different challenge. We did our first 100 last year and I plan to do another this year. I want to get a decade team award with him too. I don't care how many miles we end up getting together, it wont be a huge amount because lets face it, I am not independently wealthy. Everyone says he is a nice horse. Yes he is nice, he is really darn nice now. Yet only a few years ago he was labeled dangerous, was great at lawn darting riders, and some considered him almost ruined. He may never get over his amazing athletic ability to make lawn darts out of riders, but he is not ruined, and has turned into one heck of an endurance horse. Sometimes I wish he was easier, that I didn't have to keep my heels down, legs underneath of me and ride defensively for however many miles we are riding that day. But then again, easy is boring.

Apparently I need a little Spookaloosa in my life.

The moral of the story is, you can do 50 miles in EasyBoots, AND be competitive. 

Viva Quick!!

A Thing for Spots

Horses come and go on my Facebook news feed daily. Horses at rescues, horses at auctions, thoroughbreds off the track.... the list goes on and on.

Well the other Friday I woke up and was having a bit of a tough week. Just a bad week all over, Quick was lame, other horses were acting up and even though I was having AMAZING rides on Journey (which I promise to detail later) I still was rather bummed. I thought about taking a trip to Sisters just to get away.

Then I spied him. A cute little Appy/Mustang cross that was at Mustangs to the Rescue. Before I knew it I was messaging Kate Beardsley about him. And made arrangements to go see him on Sunday.

Mustangs to the Rescue's photo of Bart

There was something about him. It was a perfect excuse to get away. I told Paula I was going and asked if she wanted to come. And so on Sunday we went to Sisters. It has been so dry that there was no snow on the pass. It was a nice break from my allergies to be over there for a little bit!

And I met Bart!

Kate took these photos of us.

So once I win the lottery you know which horse will be coming home with me right? Haha, until then he is up for adoption at Mustangs to the Rescue. He is a slight build similar to Quick and a little under weight at the moment. He hadn't been ridden in who knows how long but was very good. He is green. At 6 years old he would make a perfect endurance prospect. I did make Kate the offer of putting some free training on him during the summer if he is still there. Or if there was another horse that needed it. Of course she pointed me in the direction of a nice Thoroughbred mare that needed a home and some work!
One of those at a time however. I have enough on my plate with the princess Journey.

Take me there

What is this place you speak of where the green grass grows? Where the water flows?

Take me there. Take me there. 

What is this place you speak of where the hate is no more?

 What is this place you speak of where they understand my needs?

Take me there. Take me there. 

What is this place you speak of where they listen to my voice? 

What is this place you speak of where hunger is no more?

Take me there. Take me there. 

I have seen it in your soul, you will take me from this place to the one you speak of. Your eyes see my pain, and you know my plight. 

I have seen it in your eyes. 

You will take me there. You will take me there. 

Here is where the green grass grows and the water flows. 

Here is where they hate me no more, where they understand my needs. 

Here is where they hear my voice, where I hunger no more. 

Here is where I run through the hills.

You have taken me there. You have taken me there. 

I have seen your soul, I have seen it through your eyes. You will bring others here. I have seen it in your eyes. 

You will take them here. You will take them here. 

To where the green grass grows and the water flows. To where they hate no more, where they know our needs. 

To where we hunger no more. To where they listen to our voice. 

You will take them here. You will take them here. 

Two Left Feet

One of the most frustrating things for me is lateral work. Any sort of lateral work. On a horse like Foo, who has a good deal of western training under her girth, it is easy. I just have to figure out what buttons to press, keep her shoulders or hips in alignment and ta-da!
With everyone else... I still have trouble.
Trish was working on me with it when I was riding under her regularly, able to ride the schoolmasters she had that were already proficient at it- Jackson, Noelle, Gaelyn, H.... I still could only get it sometimes.
I have put other things on my priority list before really learning, grasping, owning lateral work; like my seat, fitness, getting the horse to relax and use themselves, starting babies....
It is a huge gaping hole in my knowledge.
If I could critique the Olney Lesson Program, the only thing I can say is that lateral work needed to be addressed. I was never really asked to do anything, haunch- forehand turns, leg yeild, shoulder fore (super baby stuff) until I was at an IHSA show. IN COLLEGE. Perhaps it was because I never got to the place where you get/ lease your own horse and start taking more specialized lessons instead of group lessons. Remember, my first horse was Journey. I got her when I was in college.

Here is the video I have, if you want to watch it. 

The clinic with Jessica Wisdom was the kick in the pants I needed. It wasn't we are going to play around with some lateral work, it was you will do this now, both you and the horse are both capable of it. So do it.

So guess what? This is going to be the focus of my winter. Everyone, everyone, yes Journey too, will be doing this.

I know it isn't something I generally have time to teach to the babies I start. When you are only working 2 maybe 3 days a week, sometimes other things get seem to take priority. I did work on this with Akilha, but I had her straight for 90 days. Out of all the horses I have started I put the most consecutive work into her. Diesel has spent more time chilling in the pasture or out on trails than actual arena time. Well I mean, he almost died before he turned 3. An all nighter colic on an underweight, unhealthy, wormy, not even 3 year old....(a story for a later date) So he has been babied. He is 5 now. I have focused more on Quick and the others that I get paid to work. Time to start focusing on him.

So, this is my early New Years resolution- OWN LATERAL WORK.

See Spots Run

This is the third year I have been to Foothills. The first was with Quick and we did the 10 mile trail ride. The second was with Diesel, where we also did the trail ride. This was the first year I was going to do the full ride itself, not just trail riding.

Back in 2012 on a 10 mile ride

Photo by Michelle Woods

On the drive up to Molalla we were discussing what I was going to do for this ride. Looking at the times for the past two years they averaged at about 7 hours for the top 5 and the top 10 were from 6 and a half to 8+ hours. So it was decided I should shoot
for a 7 hour 50.

At the vet in I was looking at Quick's shoes thinking to myself, man they look awful. How did they get so overgrown so quickly? They hadn't looked so bad earlier in the week. I wasn't sure if it was the new shoer, or that he had done a 100 in them, either way I wasn't thrilled.

Paula had brought Roz her endurance mare to do a mother/daughter 25 mile ride with Kathleen who would be riding Molly Farkas' spotted boy Skipper. Skipper was camped next to the Crow's Nest, Molly's trailer and Roz and Quick were next to each other.

It was nice not to have to get up at the crack of dawn to feed ponies and get ready to go. The ground was slick so there was really no chance to warm him up before we got going. I walked around a little bit, then stood next to a gentleman with a nice chestnut gelding. I never caught the man's name,but his horse was Dusty. We followed Mary on the quad out and down the road. I was next to the gentleman with Dusty and ended up following him out once Mary let us go. The controlled start down the road gave us a nice opportunity to get a little warm up before we took off. I had seen a horse slip and fall at the trot out for vetting in, so I wasn't too keen on trying to warm up there.

Dusty turned out to be a bit of a better downhill horse than Quick, he would really open his stride up. They lead for a bit and he let us go ahead on a fun single track up hill when he walked (I think he was tailing) Dusty up the hill. They caught us again and we lead for a bit, then Dusty decided we went too slow downhill and they passed us. We were going about the same speed and going nicely. The gentleman was telling me that he was planning on taking Dusty to Tevis next year.

We crossed the road and were headed downhill when Aura and Fairy caught us. Fairy was flying down the hill with a big trot to rival a standardbred. Quick decided that he was going to follow her. We left the gentleman and Dusty. We had ridden with Aura and Fairy a couple of times at Mt. Pisgah so the two horses knew each other. It is because of riding with them that Quick has learned how to open his stride up going downhill. Before I had to really collect him up or otherwise he would roll down the hill. The two of them were racing each other, Fairy would beat us on the downhill but Quick would catch her on the uphill. They were opposites, Quick was better at the uphill and Fairy at the downhill. And apparently neither of them are great at walking. Once we had crossed the road after catching some of th e LD riders, both ponies wanted to walk. Actually they both wanted the other to lead, one would lead for a bit and then let the other pass, then walk.

 

Photo by Jala Neufeld

We caught a group of LD riders, one was an appy with a big black spot on his rump and passed them on the way into camp. I wasn't worried about bringing Quick in hot. He had generally been pulsing down quickly and we hadn't gone as fast as we did at Fireworks/ANCER when he took 20 minutes to pulse down. Quick was down and we vetted through. Paula and Kathleen were there with Roz and Skipper. I saw Fairy hadn't pulsed down yet as we went back to camp.

It was only a 30 minute hold, I got some electrolytes in Quick. He was chowing down on his food, he has finally learned to eat. Before he wouldn't eat for the first couple loops. I changed clothes because I was too hot in my rain jacket. It had rained a little on part of the last loop but the sky was clearing up. I was going to let Aura go ahead of me if they had pulsed down at the same time as Quick, but since it took Fairy a little longer than Quick, I went out ahead when my hold was over. Paula and Kathleen were leaving not far behind me. I expected Aura and Fairy to catch me at some point.

Quick just ate up the trails. He was on cruise control. We flew through the first 5 miles of the green loop and then I heard Roz whinny, Quick called back and some choice words were said by both parties. Roz and Skipper were in the woods on the orange loop, I was on common trail with the orange and green loops. There was no way I was going to stop. I needed Quick to focus and we were going a LOT faster than they were. Heck, we left at the same time and I know I did about 5 miles before meeting the common trail. (the orange loop was 15 miles and the green was 20) I put my leg on Quick and we kept going. He didn't even think about wanting to go back and be with Roz. As we continued on, I kept expecting the trail to split, and thought I had missed a turn at one point when there was just and orange white ribbon. So I turned around and trotted to the previous ribbon, which had orange and green. So I figured I was on the right trail, turned around again and continued on the way I had been going. After Fireworks and getting lost twice, I have become very watchful of those darn ribbons. At least Oregon rides mark their trails really well, put big signs out for turns or big arrows like Sharke had for OR 100.

On the way up the road to the out and back on that loop there was a black horse that had been injured, I saw the horse way back and expected Quick to have seen it too. But then he hadn't seen Gabriela and her horse until we were right on them at OR 100, so I shouldn't have been surprised. He is a gelding, not a mare. When the rider walked around the horse he saw them, that is for sure. We ended up facing the other direction. At least I had been prepared for that one, no eating of dirt involved. Although it would have been gravel which is a lot harder than sagebrush.... We went on, there was a car coming down the road who was going to see if he could go for help for the injured horse. Away from the water trough at the out and back I thought Quick's shoes sounded loose. I couldn't tell which one it was, but it was a back shoe. I checked them at the water through, they were all there. On we went.

Hey look no rain!!

The sights were beautiful, we passed a gal with a pony who looked like an icy on the downhill. Then we went on to 'Rags Mile Hill' was the sign. No joke, you went down a little bit and the trail was muddy in places. Up the hill we went, it wasn't steep but gradual. And never-ending. Finally at eh top we went a ways, Quick sniffed at a puddle and then stopped at the white barrels to drink. The trail coming back down was a muddy single track. It was quite beautiful. I tried to take some pictures, but they didn't turn out. The little video did.

Once we got back onto the gravel road I knew something was up. Quick had lost a right hind shoe and the left one was loose too. I was walking him in cursing myself for leaving ALL the boots at home. Quick thought I was walking WAY TOO SLOW and was dragging me down the trail. He had a job to do and he was going to catch those LD horses in front of us and we were headed towards camp. We were passed by two LD riders, I asked them if they had a boot and they didn't. Luckily Karen Leiman came up and I asked her the same question. She was extremely generous to loan me her EasyBoot, a roll of vet wrap, hoof pick and electric tape. The boot was a size 1 and Quick had been wearing 0s. She told me not to lose it and I told her if I did, I would buy her a brand new one to replace it. The LD riders had left right in front of us and Quick was pissed. He was going to go beat them and I was being stupid and dancing around trying to get his back hoof. I had every intention of wrapping the entire roll of vet wrap around his hoof. I didn't see any other way of making a bigger boot fit especially going at speed on muddy and rocky trail. I was afraid to tie him, since he is the master of untying himself, and if he got away it would be a long horseless walk into camp. So we danced. He settled a bit when the gal with the pony came up. But then when I had most of the roll of vet wrap on his hoof he jerked it away and planted it square on my foot and danced some more. I finally got after him, I had enough with the dancing, yes I knew he had a job to do, but if I could get the boot on we could be off. And I thought with another horse there, he would have settled enough so I could get it on. I think it surprised him enough that I was able to finish vet wrapping, shove the boot on and adjust the cables without much incident. I put the tape on like Karen had told me over the clamp and crossed my fingers that it would stay.

I don't think my butt was in the saddle before Quick took off. I don't remember if I had thanked the girl for waiting for me, but if I didn't THANK YOU!!!!! I still had the hoof pick and tape in my hand and had to stuff them in my bag on a moving horse.

Quick made up our lost time, flying along. He was hunting the two LD horses. We found them when we reached the open trail through a clear cut. It looked like a pretty new trail and Quick, multiple times thought he was going to make a new one cross country straight at them. I had to really steer him and stop him to keep him on trail. Usually on single track he is quite handy and takes corners on one hoof. Nope, he was hunting. We caught and passed them. The trail next to the barbwire fence was muddy and deep in spots. I kept checking the boot. At one point I saw someone I didn't recognize behind us, I thought it was a 50 miler. I asked Quick for a little more and off we went. I still have no idea who that was.

Karen's boot is on his right hind!!

Photos by Jala Neufeld

The boot staid on and camp was a welcome relief. I asked if anyone had a boot or if there was a farrier. DeWayne was pulsing us and thought we were done, I told him I still had 10 miles to go and needed a farrier, we weren't done yet! I wanted to be the winning Appy, but if we were going to win, we needed to get through that last loop. I wasn't sure how much time I had lost on with walking and the boot. I doubted Fairy would have made good time up that hill, we certainly didn't and Quick is an uphill horse.

Molly Farkas commanding the in gate

Photo by Jala Neufeld

Luckily there was a farrier there. I pulled the boot and ended up cutting the vet wrap off with the farrier's hoof knife, cutting my finger in the process. It was sharp!! Quick munched on the hay that someone else had left and the green grass while he got his new shoe put on. The farrier said he believed that the other hind had as good of chance at staying on as the rest. He tightened the clinches and off we went to vet through.

On a side note, I am buying a boot bag and putting a boot in it just for rides, with vet wrap and a hoof pick!! I put Karen's boot in Paula's boot bag and put it on my saddle. I had about 10 minutes to get myself some water, I hadn't remembered to refill my water bottles and had lost one so I had only a half of a bottle to drink on that green loop. I gave Quick more electrolytes and changed into a t shirt. Paula and Kathleen had come in by this point.

Off we went on the last loop. I think I saw Aura and Fairy in the vet line when I left, but I wasn't paying attention. The footing on the blue loop wasn't the best. It was common trail with the pink loop for about 5 miles. I think it was closer to 4 since the second half seemed longer. About halfway through I kept hearing voices, before we crossed the road and after. Quick told me there was someone behind us too. I did hear a car, but I we wasn't about to let someone pass us this close to the end. Even though I doubted with the mud they could make time, but you never know. There were a bunch of people in this ride that had WAY more experience than I do. I did push Quick. We could have easily puttered around for that loop and still done well. There were some places with big rock where we had to walk. I was so happy when we crossed back over the road I knew we were almost done. And I could stop checking for three shoes. I knew the new one would stay put, but it was the other 3 I was worried about. Especially that back one. Quick hadn't wanted to drink at any of the tanks, but really slurpped a big puddle at eh bottom of the hill before you come up towards camp. When we hit the single track back into camp he knew where we were and wasn't about to slow down. Even though I thought we should walk in since some of that trail was kind of muddy. He had other ideas.

Photo by Jala Neufeld

I know I had a big grin on my face as we came through the gait and back into camp. I got off and hugged Molly. Paula was there and tack came off and Quick got sponged down. I asked DeWayne to pulse him, since he had been excited about an appy winning it earlier. Quick was down. We did our 10 minute CRI which wasn't great but wasn't bad. We finished at 3:43, pulsed down within 3 minutes. So 7 hours and 13 minutes for 50 miles. Second place came in at 7 hours and 52 minutes, which was Aura and Fairy.

Here Quick is convinced that he has another loop

 to go out on so he should eat while he can. 

Photo by Jala Neufeld

Quick went back to his corral and chowed down on his bucket and alfalfa. I sat down and tried to drink and eat something. And Leigh, my little blonde dog, was happy to see me, then he was mad at me for leaving him. Apparently he ran away from Paula earlier. This is only his 5^th ride, he doesn't quite have it down yet. He went and pouted up on the bed once he was sure I was staying put.

Photo by Jala Neufeld

Quick is not good at trotting out, just as he is not good at lounging. He is actually a pretty lazy horse oddly enough. So you kind of have to get after him to make him move, otherwise he drags. So our hour CRI wasn't great at all, but two things happened at the vet put his stethoscope up to Quick's side. Roz called and a peacock walked right by the fence. I saw Quick's head go up, but I didn't realize what he was looking at, I thought it was Roz. So we lost points on the CRI, plus the fact that with all the gear I weighed 172 lbs. Aura and Fairy ended up winning the BC! CONGRATULATIONS!!

We had the advantage that this is the type of stuff we train on, this was the type of terrain that I was cantering and galloping on getting him fit for the 100. While the Still Memorial Ride and Fireworks were tough, they don't come close to the elevation change of this ride. You were going up or down and if it seemed flat, it really wasn't. It still hasn't sunk in that Quick and I won the ride, and won it by almost 40 minutes! This is the horse I have said multiple times that he isn't a front runner, that he wouldn't do well being out alone by himself. I guess I was wrong! I remember a Tamarack Hill Farm post about “build a beast”, that is the only phrase that has stuck with me, I don't remember the rest of the post. I do know it was talking about a cross country horse, one that is bold and attacks fences. Probably something about building confidence with little steps, then suddenly you have your horse jumping big jumps and not blinking an eye. It is the same with Quick, the horse that lacked confidence, the one that couldn't go out in front without having a meltdown, the one that was dumping people right and left.... that horse just led 30 miles without any trouble and won his first 50!

Viva Quick!!!

Don't mind me, I'm riding a Spookaloosa

Or Our First 100

Each ride I go to brings on different challenges, new learning experiences and not to mention, a horse that is growing and changing with each endurance ride. Quick is not an easy horse, there is far more to riding him than just going down the trail. I have to be constantly aware of his mental state, when to push and allow him and when to just say screw it and walk it out. Sometimes Quick has three gaits, walk-spook-canter. Canter by far is the easiest to sit any spook he has to throw out. He has yet to master the art of spooking and cantering as professionally as he has at the other two gaits. When Quick is focused we can go down the trail nicely, by ourselves without much issue. These moments are starting to happen more and more often. When we reach the spook mode, there are a couple options; walk or canter. Walk gets us nowhere fast, and the spooks can still catch me off guard. Canter however, tires him out faster and there are still spooks, but they usually result in a lead change and jumping to the other side of the trail. And there is a fair amount of warning, since the brakes are not as efficient at slamming on and coming to a screeching halt with some amazing burst of movement sideways.

Quick still lacks a lot of confidence, and the confidence he has, he draws from me. I noticed this about two weeks before the ride, we had gone to visit Kat and Digger and go riding with them and Paula on Roz. Kat and I switched horses briefly. Quick's eyes nearly popped out of his head and were on me the entire time. He was completely upset that I had gotten on Digger and was no longer riding him. This is the horse I had just been working on a nice sitting trot, engaged, back up, soft light contact going down the trail. As well as a nice canter up a technical hill trail where shifting my weight was all I needed to dance us around trees. Seeing his reaction to Kat getting on him reminded me of just how much growing this horse still has to do. I have been his sole rider since February of last year, and the one who had been putting many miles (spooks included) on him before that.

Quick was already pretty fit coming off of ANCER/Fireworks 50 in July. I had hoped to take him to Bare Bones, but it wasn't in the stars for us, other things got in the way. Paula told me how many miles I needed to put on him each week leading up to this ride, I did approximately 143 miles in the weeks leading up to OR 100, then let him rest for two weeks. I conditioned him harder than I knew I would be riding. OR 100 is a pretty flat ride, especially to the 7,000 ft of elevation change that Fireworks boasted. I pushed Quick hard during our training rides, mentally and physically. We went faster than I planned to ride the 100, instead of short fast work with lots of walking in between, I switched it to long fast rides with minimal walking. This was both for him and myself, I put my stirrups up to allow me to get out of the saddle, getting my knees ready. At the 75 last year, it was my knees that did me in.

On the left, an example of a slightly worn shoe. 

And on the right, what was left of one of Quick's shoes.

I was stressing leading up to this ride, we wore through out steel shoes and our usual farrier was having back surgery so he couldn't put new shoes on. I started conditioning Quick in a set of EasyBoots that I had, luckily his hooves and Diesel's are about the same size. I put a lot of miles on those, nearly wearing them out as well. Since I have been trimming Journey's hooves myself, I have become super picky about what I see from different farriers. So finding a new farrier to put shoes on right before this ride was awful. I found a young man who does a really nice job, quite the perfectionist when it comes to his work. There isn't much I could complain about his work.

Quick gave me quite a scare, he got shoes on on Tuesday and when I took him for a ride on Saturday, he was lame. It was intermittent, but there. So Sunday, he got lunged in the arena. No sign of lameness, whatsoever. I think he must have stepped on a rock, that is the only answer I have. He has been sound since and was before.

All of my stress left when we got there. Well I did get horribly nauseous with a bad headache when we got into Bend. It was really all I could do to set up Quick's corral and everything before I crawled into bed with a damp towel over my eyes.

Quick was focused as well. By this time, he knows what coming into Ride Camp means. He trotted out sound and vetted in well. Once I got over my headache, I was also focused.

After we vetted in, we went for a short ride. Quick wanted to go back to camp, but listened well. We trotted and canter a short ways down the trail, all I was checking was his mindset. Then we walked back into camp on a loose rein. We walked around camp a bit, there were a lot of Appy fans there. Apparently Quick has good Appy bloodlines, everyone seemed to really like them. (if you are curious he is on AllBreedPedigree under Viva Sozar)

Quick wanted to go shopping!

During the ride meeting I presented Diana from American Trail Gear with a thank you gift. American Trail Gear graciously donated a breastcollar/bridle set to raffle off to raise money for our trip to ANCER. I raised $500 towards my trip, which was the only reason I was able to go. The money paid for the gas to get there, the ride entry and helped with his Health Certificate and Coggins needed to get into California.

It is always right when I fall asleep that my alarm goes off. 4:30 am to feed Quick and get myself something to eat. Quick was eating well. We got everything together and headed over to the start. Quick was really up, I tried to warm him up, but soon gave that up because his head was so high in the air. We milled about quietly waiting for the start. 9 started the 100, 1 on the 75 who then elevated to the 100.

Spookaloosa out by himself!

3 riders were out ahead of us, I tried to keep Quick slow, but as I have learned fighting him at the beginning is somewhat pointless, it just wastes energy. After a little bit, I let him go. I never saw the 3 riders in front of me. Becky and Marie were not far behind me, and that is how we staid through the first loop. Quick was going nicely, trotting and cantering most of the loop. We spooked into the outcheck where we just had a trot by. Cassie remarked on his goofiness. Yup, just a Spookaloosa!

Off we went again.

I never really thought I would be riding my first 100 mile ride on Quick and not worried at all about going out by ourselves. Last year, the thought was mildly terrifying only because I knew Quick couldn't handle it. This year we had done majority of our conditioning by ourselves, mentally and physically Quick was in a far different place than he was last year.

Riding into Ride Camp was another show of the Spookaloosa.

“Hey its a gray horse, is that Lois?”

Horse spooks 6 ft sideways to the other side of the road repeatedly.

“Nope, that is Quick.”

We cantered into camp, impressing a couple people that I staid on during those spooks. Quick pulsed down nicely and vetted through. We rested and were ready to go back out again.

Photos by Rebecca Vitus

The next loop was 20 miles. It was the longest 20 miles of the whole day. I was surprised I had seen a chestnut horse in front of me a couple times. We were more than half way done with that loop when I caught up with them. I saw them long before Quick did. When he finally saw them, we couldn't have been 30 feet from them. His head was up high, expecting that the horse was a mirage.

It was Garbiella Blakely and her horse was a bit stiff and off. I was walking with her for a little bit, when Lois caught up with us.

Desert as far as the eye can see.

I followed Lois off. Her and Mocha kept up a good pace, slightly faster than Quick and I were going. But he never asked to walk. If we had been at the beginning of the loop I wouldn't have tried to keep up. Mocha is a much taller and way more experienced horse than Quick, (he has 8 100 mile completions) and not to mention Lois has a million more miles than I do. But since I figured that the out check wasn't too far away, I let Quick tag along.

Quick took 5 minutes to pulse down at the out check. We vetted through and waited it out. A couple of the riders behind us came in and Lois was off before I was. Off Quick and I went.

It was 16 miles back to Ride Camp, another long 16 miles. It was during the heat of the day and Quick was on a walk a bit and then trot a bit agenda. It wasn't long before Becky and Marie caught up to us. I had been letting Quick save some energy. Quick wanted to follow them. I could tell they really didn't want me tagging along, but even picking up a canter didn't loose us. It made the miles pass quickly. We went up a hill their horses walked and Quick wanted past. So away we went. We stopped at the next water, and when they caught up asked if it was alright to go on ahead. They said it was and we made our way back into camp.

Of course, as we were coming up the last 100 yards into camp, Quick started spooking at every rock, weird shape on the ground etc. So we were cantering in and spooking from side to side. I got some more comments on good riding that Spookaloosa.

When you give up and walk the Spookaloosa into camp... 

Photo by Rebecca Vitus

At this point there were 3 loops left, two 12 mile loops and the final 16 mile loop.

I purposefully waiting until Becky and Marie had gone on ahead, they have way more miles and experience than I do and I was done with the leap frog bit we had been doing. We walked out of camp, and were soon caught by Heather and her nice Standardbred mare Bunny. Bunny is a nice mare, I really liked her build and attitude, very work-man like. We rode together, both of us on our first 100 mile ride. This loop was pretty uneventful. Heather and I got to know each other more and agreed to ride the last two loops together if at all possible. We talked a lot about dressage and training horses, as well as what we have been doing as far as endurance.

Sun setting coming into camp.

We came back in around 6:30 or so, we would be heading out in the dark for the final two loops. I have ridden horses in the dark before, but never like this. Never at more than a walk on a place I knew. As we set out, Bunny and Heather lead the way. There were lots of ups and downs on this loop, as in hills. The light had faded from the sky, leaving the pink hues until tomorrow to show themselves. The stars began to come out.

Since neither Heather nor I had much experience night riding, it was something to figure out. Just what was working for us. Since it was a late rising moon, and a waning one at that, there was no moonlight to guide our way. We were almost to the canyon trail back into camp, we had just left a barb wire fence to the left of us, and I came up so we were riding side by side. (didn't quite trust him in the dark with the fence to the side)

Did I mention I was riding a Spookaloosa?

Passenger ejection! Flying unscheduled dismount!

And I met the closest sagebrush. Of course I hung on to the reins, but seeing this was my first ejection from the saddle in, oh what, over a year?? (that can't be right) Quick was shocked back into reality. He pulled away.

It scared me half to death, mostly because we had just been discussing lost horses, and those who had not met a kind fate. I scrambled to my feet and grabbed Quick's reins, and hopped back on.

I think it really surprised Heather, she got to see the Spookaloosa in action. Quick got to be a dressage horse again, instead of having a loose rein. Upon our arival back in camp, my flying dismount was undoubtedly caused by not wearing my eventing vest on that loop. (so they say)

Quick's head is in there somewhere. 

Rest and return to the trail. Neither horse really wanted to trot at the beginning of the last 16 mile loop. It was getting cold out, they had already done 84 miles and gravitational pull of Ride Camp was taking hold. We walked a lot of it, a good walk but still walking. I tried to get Quick out in front, but every time I did, Bunny would start shying to the side. We decided that it was Quick's rump rug catching the light that was causing it. I could tell when we made the turn for home. Quick picked up pace, and we started doing more trotting. Even with Quick out in front. Glow sticks lighting the way.

We were about 5-6 miles out from camp when Heather started getting dizzy. She got off and I encouraged her to eat something and gave her my other water bottle to drink. She was feeling a little better, and walking on foot a bit when the last two riders caught up with us. They offered to stay, and then thought better of it since they didn't have rump rugs on their horses. Quick wanted to go with them. Part of me did too, to just get it over with. But honestly I couldn't leave Heather there. She was tired, not feeling well and desperately wanted this completion. And her and Bunny had drug Quick around the last two loops. I staid with her, holding Quick back. Once she was up for it she got back on her mare and we walked back into camp. I kept her talking as we walked, watching for familiar landmarks in the dark. I offered my crew to help vet her horse through to get her completion. Her Mom was her crew, and I figured she would need some help taking care of both Bunny and Heather.

It was a long walk back into camp, you could see it for miles, slowly getting closer and closer. It was around 2 am when we walked into camp. Heather collapsed into a chair and Kat vetted her horse through.

I was chastised on my lack of trotting out skills, something that we need to work on for sure. But we made it. Up until the last bit of walking I felt great, knees didn't bother me or anything. But as usual, in the cold my knees froze up on the last bit coming into camp.

Despite that, I felt both Quick and I would be ready to tackle another loop if need be. Quick had great vet scores all day.

Quick's vet card. You can't beat ending your first 100 miles with all As!!

There is nothing I regret or would have done differently on this ride. Nothing. That is pretty big, usually I go through all that I could have done better. It was my second attempt at a 100 mile ride, I had a fit horse, I was a fit rider and we completed. And we helped Heather complete as well. I was probably the rider out there with the least amount of endurance miles, 325 before this ride. I lack the depth of experience many of the other riders have, to know how far and fast I can push my horse. And yet I know Quick really well, his strengths and weaknesses, my own strengths and weaknesses, I can read how physically and mentally Quick is doing and act upon it. I am not out there to ride the spots off of him, bringing him back healthy is more important to me than any placing. I am out there watching, observing, and learning as I am riding. To not pay attention to those riders with more experience than I have is stupid, a waste of a great opportunity.

I just woke him up from a nap, Monday after the ride.

Viva Quick