Experience the ENDURANCE of Foundation Breeding
MICHAUX MADNESS: May 25 (Happy Birthday, Sean!!!) 2008 Warm 75 and sunny, no humidity, breezy. PERFECT RIDING WEATHER.
Well, now ... for those of you living in eastern Pennsylvania, you understand perfectly my next sentence. It's been rainy, rainy, rainy, rainy for the past four weeks. And cool (in the upper 40's to low 50's) and did I happen to mention rainy??? I have NOT been working Flamin' Lucy like she should be worked and knowing full well that Michaux is a hard ride on a horse, I almost pulled from the ride the day before. I rode the mountain Friday night and she screamed off that with no troubles at all, so I said to my self, "Self! Just go and if she can't do it, pull her from the ride."
My mind was made up.
Saturday, Kyle calls me and leaves me a message that he's on Dodie-Time (sniffle - I'm so proud of him, getting on Dodie-Time) and that he hoped I was also on Dodie-Time so I wasn't waiting around for him to finish up his chores. Now, I told him I'd be there at 1:00 PM ... and when I got into my truck at 1:15 PM, to leave my barn and drive over to his barn, I heard that message. WHEW. He won't be waiting on me.
He wasn't too far behind me when I arrived so we packed up all his stuff. Before taking off, I ran down the list of "What did you forget this time?" Obviously, I forgot to ask him one thing ... which he remembered when we were almost there (sigh). Riding pants. I told him I'd loan him my spare pair, but he'd probably lose them on the trail because they would fall off his skinny ass. He said he'd ride in his jeans (JEANS??? JEANS??? Dude! Didn't you read my book about the scar damage done by riding endurance in jeans?) I think he ended up borrowing a pair from Steven.
We arrived at base camp in good time, about 3:45 PM and Steven had saved us a spot right next tot he timer. Kyle was riding the 75 mile and those riders had preference for parking. And since I was DRIVING the 75 mile rider, I got preference for parking (see how smart I am???)
I parked and we setup in record time. Kyle and I have the routine down pretty good when it's just me and him. Goes very quickly.
Flame was totally bored with the situation and promptly fell to eating the flake of hay I threw in her corral. She didn't give two hoots about all the horses hollering around her. She introduced herself to Georgia's mare next to her, checked to make sure Rika didn't run away from the other side of her and then she was busy eating.
Jim came by to give me info on his ride in July (The Muckleratz Run). For those of you in my area, this is a new ride about an hour north of Harrisburg. It is now posted on ECTRA's website. Please come and join the ride. We need all the new rides we can get. Show your support and volunteer if you can't ride. Contact Jim jimbob113@hotmail.com and get on the stick!
Anyway (commercial is over) he said there was people up parked where he was that were waiting on me. Really? Must be Leslie and her son Jake. She was crewing for me (first time) and probably got there a lot earlier than I did, since she only lives about 40 minutes away. I asked Jim to let her know where I was when he went back up there.
Jen and Cheryl arrived, drove right past me and I missed it (duh).
Julie was crewing for Kyle ... remember Julie? She crewed for me twice. Guess that was plenty for her (snicker). I apologize, I don't mean to scare off my crew. Hope I don't scare off Leslie ... I kinda snuck two more riders on her (Cheryl and Jen). That might be enough to scare off anyone, (yes, even my dear, dear Judy).
Leslie came down and so did Jen and Cheryl. We got our horses together and went over for vet in. I explained everything to Leslie so she'd know what to expect at the vet checks on Sunday. I explained the cards and what the vets were checking for and what we had to do. I'm sure I overwhelmed her with info.
Then, at the ride briefing, I couldn't find Leslie nor her son Jake and I thought to myself, "Self! You've done scared off another one." (chuckle)
Jen sat with me at supper and we had a great conversation. Ride briefing explained to us that the trails were gonna be different this year due to the rain rain rain we'd had the past four weeks and some of the trails being washed out or closed by DEP. They kept apologizing for the change and let me tell you . SKIP! If you're reading this, I thought the trails were very wonderful! Challenging without being hard. Thank you for an excellent ride.
I went back to my area and there are some things that occurred this weekend that I am not going to go into in this story that kinda torqued me. I had to sit for a little bit and remember my Ki training, and remember that if it's not going to affect me a year from now, then I certainly don't need to worry about it now. After about 45 minutes, I got my brain on right and enjoyed the rest of my evening.
I heard several people talking (no, I wasn't eaves-dropping, I was over-hearing) and they were all complaining about the new trails. Too many rocks, couldn't move out, etc. Then Renee came down with Dean and Cheryl and she was telling me how rocky it was and that they were doing an awful lot of walking. That got me to thinking. Let me say, at this point in the story, that the trails were marvelous to me. I loves every mile of them and you'll see why as you keep reading.
Mike came over and I got the full story on his gelding's injury. Mike is riding OP horses right now (Other People's) until his boy is totally healed. He sustained a puncture injury. Something, needle thin, stabbed him at the coronary band down into the coffin bone. After some surgery and some dremel work to open the hoof up, he's been saved for more competitions, but he needs to grow some foot back. Mike has a very positive attitude about it and said the vet's only gave him a 20% chance of recovery at the time of surgery, but now they're singing a different tune. Hmmmm - sound familiar? Vets told me to put Numbers down, and look at her now, two years later working the conditioning rides like she's never been away.
Okay. The most interesting part of the evening was the scrabble game. Me, Julie and Kyle-non-grata. I played Kyle's tiles because he was in a worrisome mood trying to be sure he had everything done for the morning. His ride was leaving at 5:15 AM (75 milers) and he wanted everything done and ready to go.
So, Not only did Julie beat me, she started the game with a 7 letter word for the very first word on the board (total 66 points) but Kyle beat me, too - by 6 points. Now how sad is that? And Kyle wasn't even there to play.
Bed time. All my stuff is in good shape and ready to go. Cheryl and Jen brought there stuff down to crew out of my camp area (since we're right next to the timer) and I fell asleep.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I hear Flame talkin' to Rika and I know that Kyle must be up and moving. Since the 30 mile ride doesn't leave until 8:30 AM, I didn't have to get upa nd I was toasty warm under my homemade quilts, so I didn't budge. Close my eyes and fell right back to sleep.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I heard some talking and looked at my watch
OH MY GOD
It's 5:30 AM - I'm gonna be later, I'm gonna miss the ride, why didn't my alrm go off???
Duh.
I don't go out until 8:30 AM.
I felt a little silly with myself.
But, I got up anyway because I had to pee and I heard Flame talking to someone and figured she'd like some breakfast.
I wandered around for awhile until Leslie shoed up and Jen came down. We walked over to get some coffee, but there wasn't any. Cheryl came down and said, "Where's the tea?"
(shrug)
We didn't see any.
Jake takes a walk over and comes back to tell us the breakfast goodies are setup at Skips trailer, not under the pavilion tent.
Okay. SUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!
We get our poison and go back over to my camp to sit and jibber jabber for awhile. Everyone seems pretty relaxed, even Leslie. Hmmmm. Guess Judy didn't give her enough warnings about me. But as a side note, this was Leslie's first experience crewing and she did a phenomenal job. Judy trained her well over the email. She was right there anticipating my needs, handled Flame like a professional horse wrangler, and didn't seem to get disturbed by my competitive nature.
THANK YOU LESLIE!
Time to get ready.
Wonderful Leslie groomed Flame, with the only brush I could find (I did find the rest of them later, someone put them away in a different spot). We get Flame all tacked up and I walk up to see Jen. She's puttering around her camp.
When she sees me all dressed up in my black helmet, she asks if she should be getting ready.
"Yes!" I smile.
Then I could see her nervousness. Her hands were shaky, she was talking am ile a minute and she forgot to hook her breast plate to the girth.
(chuckle)
She gets Luke all ready and I see Cheryl is down at my camp.
"Coming, Cheryl!!!"
Cheryl looks cool as a cucumber and Cosmo looks a little on the bored side.
We get on, and Flamin' Lucy is about to kill me. If she rears one more time I'm gonna cold clock her.
I get off, hand her to Leslie and ask Leslie to hand walk her until the trail opens in 15 minutes.
I ask Jen and Cheryl is it's okay if we wait until everyone is our before we start. They're agreeable. I tried this at the Mary Lutz, thinking that it would help Flame if she wasn't wound up by the confusion.
Yeah, right .....
Everyone's out, we wait five minutes and I get on. Off we go. The Three Musketeers - or three NPF Trail Trash Team members ... I'm not sure if Cheryl wants to be included in that team (chuckle) but I know Jen is proud, she even asked me for a T-Shirt (which I have for her).
Holy Shit. (excuse me, but that doesn't even cover my fear factor)
Flame is bucking all the way up the long hill. Most other horses are slowing down (because it's a long long road going up and up and up) but not her. I'm trying to keep her at 6-7 mph and she's BUCKING, and twisting sideways, and rearing and her feet are going 20 different directions and I KNOW in my heart she's gonna kill me.
Finally, I can't hold her anymore.
It's
just physically impossible for me to keep checking her. I say,
"Sorry." to Jen and Cheryl and I let her go. What no-one knows until
now, when they read this story, is that my hands were bleeding and they were
so slick on those biothane reins I couldn't keep checking her because they
were sliding right through my fingers, making the lacerations even worse. I swear
to you, I have never (ever) ridden this horse when she was a maniac like
this. I just had to let her go. (Take note of this awesome gait!
One foot on the ground, three in the air. I never MOVED in that saddle
when she was racking out like this.)
She leveled out and man, oh man ... I had tears in my eyes. I figure she was doing about 14-15 mph. We blew by every rider and she never once even looked at them as we went by. She was in a flat out rack and was serious about getting to the front of the pack. She passed by horses that were cantering and never left that mile eating rack. My god, what a horse. Her power thrilled me and I have goose bumps remembering it as I write it in this story.
She was totally focused three miles down that trail where the lead horse was running. Up and up we traveled, down and down we traveled. I waved to everyone I knew as we blew by, if I was able to recognize them through the from of tears covering my eyes. I think a a couple people waved to me as I went by but I'm not sure through the blur. If you waved at me and I didn't wave back, please do not be insulted. I couldn't see you.
At about mile #4, I saw her front shoe go flipping past my leg. F--K. I tried to slow her up but she was having none of that. She was motoring and for all she cared, I could just get off if I didn't like it. That was her total attitude.
Mile after mile she ripped up that trail. I was wondering when her foot was gonna get ripped up. There was lots of rocks and ankle twisters on this trail and she was beating through it like it was a dirt road. I couldn't believe how agile she was through that stuff. Remarkable.
About mile #10, I caught up to the #2 rider. I promise you, she did tell me her name and I can't remember. She let me put Flame on her gelding's ass so I could slow Flame down. Her gelding was wonderful, didn't care or anything. After about a mile with her, Flame's brain came back on.
"Oh," Flame thought, "This is what pacing yourself is all about."
She settled right into gait with this lovely gelding and they worked wonderfully together. I also had a wonderful conversation with this girl (and if you read this story, please email me and tell me your name! I promise not to put it in the story, I just want to say "Thank you" for letting me pace along with you and your gelding.)
We came out of the woods onto the pipeline and there were fist sized gravel on parts of the trail. When we hit that stuff, Flame was gimping a little so I knew we'd probably have to pull. I couldn't see, but I was sure she had torn up her foot on all those rocks we just blasted over the past 15 miles. Oh, well. She had a good run for the money, and that was enough for me. And the last several miles were in good company (horse and rider) so I was having a thrilling day even if I did have to stop.
When we came out onto the dirt road leading back into camp, the girl I was riding with remarked that Flame was missing two shoes.
What?
I got off and sure enough, both shoes on the left side were gone. And when she lost that back shoe, it ripped a huge chink off the side of her foot.
I am really mad now, (not at Flame, at my farrier) Flame just got these shoes on this past Monday. I have been trying and trying to tell my new farrier that these endurance horses have to be shod differently from a pleasure horse. I need heavier nails, driven higher in the hoof and clinched down HARD. And side clips. I gotta have side clips.
(sigh)
There's a farrier at the ride, but I don't know. She may be foot sore now.
The girl told me to trot her, I did and Flame wasn't off. Remarkable. A little ouchie on the little gravels on the dirt road, but for the most part, free flowing in her gait. I got back on and we cruised on up into the hold in third placing. Ride time, 2 hours 21 minutes for 17 hard miles.
I sent Leslie over to see if the farrier could throw me some shoes on this poor mare. She came back and said he promised to take me right away. We went and pulsed in, vetted out and ran over to the farrier. They held my card at the vet check because Flame was a little gimpy. I explained she'd lost two shoes and I'd be back after she was re-shod.
That farrier was fast! Had two shoes on her in record time. I sent her with Leslie over to trot out again and she passed with flying colors. I can't believe that! Through all those rocks, her feet should have been chewed up.
Okay, we're golden.
Here's Jen and Cheryl! I guess I'll wait for them and we can go back out together. Flame had a 70 minute hold - she gorged her self on her own food, the food that Cosmo didn't want to eat, the food that Luke didn't want to eat, someone's flake of hay that was left on the side of the trail and grass. She was a pig! I was very pleased.
They're ready to go, Leslie already had her tacked up for me, so off we go.
Believe it or not, she's on a loose rein now, but I'm still having to slow her down to keep with Jen and Cheryl. Remarkable. So lively for a horse that has not had proper conditioning. I was discussing this with Cheryl and I'm a little fearful to GET her conditioned....she may ditch me on the side of the road and leave me to walk the ride alone.
Luke was phenomenal. He picked a pace and kept it steady like he'd been doing endurance riding his whole life. Jen had a smile on her face the entire second loop and I was wondering how many bugs she had to pick out of her teeth.
Cosmo did excellently, too. Cheryl was a little disappointed in him that he was losing stem up the hills. She was worried that she was too heavy for him. Although I don't ever give advice, I did make a comment that he is very young and only working a couple rides and she should keep riding him and see how it plays out by the end of the season. To me, he didn't look like he was struggling with her at all. We don't have a lot of mountain work to condition on and the Michaux is long pulls up hill.
Jen and I did finally end up losing Cheryl. They were only a mile or two behind us when we finished BECAUSE!!! When we got into the "knee bustin' trail", Luke was like a snake whipping in and out of the trees like an old barrel horse. Man - you should have seen him flipping through those trees, it was truly remarkable to watch.
Damn! Flame isn't so bendy and she drove my right knee into a tree so deeply, the tree has a permanent Dodie-Impression left on it, then she scraped my left knee across a tree so hard I'm still picking the bark out of the skin. Then she hit me into another tree on the right knee and I screamed like a little girl.
(sigh)
It's true. I did a Connie impression. I couldn't help it. The pain shot tears into my eyes.
I asked Jen to slow down until we got out of that because my long/tall walker was just not bending like her quick little arab.
(I want my mommy)
We cruised down the pipeline and then into some more woods. I was a little thankful for the woods because that straight down stuff was really hurting the right knee (of course, I banged up the good knee, couldn't just mess up the bad knee). Jen kept worrying about it and I told her that even if it did hurt, I wouldn't tell her about it because then she wouldn't ride with me anymore (I'm no weenie).
When we came out of the woods to the last piece of pipeline, I had to get off. My knee was screaming for morphine and I just couldn't push in the stirrups any longer.
I told Jen she could go on ahead, we were less than two miles from base camp. She refused to abandon me (chuckle). But she could have, I was fine. I knew my way home! She placed 19th and could have been 13th - I know because 6 riders passed us as I was power walking back to the base camp.
Apparently, Cheryl came out of the pipeline and saw us ahead of her as I got off Flame. She hollered, "Yoo-Hoo." but we didn't hear her. I didn't hear her because I'm deaf (as you all know, selective hearing and all) and I'm not sure why Jen didn't hear her.
I walked about a mile
and a quarter ... that would be at Flame-speed ... when the pain in my knee finally let up.
I found a big tree stump and
hopped back up on Flame so we rode into camp looking like nothing happened. My, oh my.
Ride time, 2 hrs 47 minutes for 13 hard miles. We actually did a lot of walking on this second loop, I was surprised we came in that fast. Total actual riding time for Flame was 5 hrs 13 minutes for 30 miles, so we were averaging 6 miles an hour. Total ride time will be officially posted in the next day or two but should be 6hrs 17min - we had a 70 minute hold, Jen and Cheryl had a 30 minute hold.
Leslie and Jake were most excellent at getting Flame cooled down. She was hot (being black and out of shape) and it was warm out in the sun. Our CRI wasn't great, but Dr. Nick said she was fine. We completed and that's all I really cared about. And Flame was still a lot of horse at the end of that ride. I could have probably taken her out for another 10 miles without any complaints from her.
Holy Crap! What a freakin' maniac she is. I'm struggling to figure out how I deserved her!!!! This mare is going to kick some Ayrab-butt once I get serious and get her trained to pace herself. She boogied like no-one's business.
Now, Kyle finished his 75 miles and Rika was great. If he wants to give me a ride story, I'll post it here. Hopefully, Jen and Cheryl will send me their versions and I can post their side of the story here (grin). That way, you'll get the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me NPF TRAIL TRASH!
We had a lot of fun! It was a great ride.
PS: (small update to the story) I had five riders that are well known in our area come up to me after the ride and tell me that Flame is a 50 mile horse and I should put her right on 50's. That's kinda scary to me, I always run them a year on LD's first. I know that I am not going to be able to do CTR's with her because she's too screamin' fast. I'm thinking that I may just stick with the LD's this year and let her race them at her speed, see if she holds up to it, and if she does - then next year I'll pump her up to 50's. Maybe *THAT* will slow her ass down. (yeah, right).
But anyway, I want to say to those of you that like to ride with me. I'm going to say right up front that I may have to leave you, and it doesn't mean I don't love you...it means my hands hurt. There is a motto in endurance riding that says, "Ride your own ride." and I sure did learn that at Michaux. Once I let Flame go, the bucking and rearing instantly stopped, she because responsive to my guides and voice again, and she was happy. I should not have tried holding her back so hard in the beginning, and I could have damaged more than my hands - I could have caused another horse/rider team to get injured while she was doing her shenanigans, or she could have pulled a leg or back muscle while fighting me. *AND* I learned that I need more miles with her so she learns that just because I'm saying slow down doesn't mean I'm saying no-go. She is only 6 years old and she is only green to this sport and I really haven't done my part of the partnership in riding her long slow rides for conditioning.
JEN'S STORY: (Luke and Me)
We had a nice drive home yesterday
from the Michaux Ride. It was uneventful except for a one hour detour off
Route 78 on a quest for cheap diesel fuel. We ended up just getting it back
by Route 78 ($4.99/gal) cuz all the stations just sold kerosene and no
diesel....whazzup with that? I guess lots o' people use kero heaters and
lamps..?!?????!!!!!???
Anyhoo what an awesome day it was for a ride! Michaux was awesome! The
trails were much different than either the Mary Lutz Ride or The Foxcatcher
but so much fun, so challenging and they really seemed to be Luke's cup of
tea. After Flame blew our doors off (LMAO) we stopped for a drink. Luke just
smelled the water but really liked being sponged. So, we sponged and sponged
then hopped out of the river and wham back to trotting. I'd say we pretty
much trotted most of the first leg of the ride. It was the same trot-steady,
grooving and on a loose rein. We passed people here and there and whenever
he saw a horse he went for it! When we came to the gigantic hill he chugged
along like a little train. Finding Cheryl and Cosmo was a big boost for his
spirits! He seemed happier and we worked really well together. I was in my
glory at the hold though...the vet said "he's the best horse I've seen so
far today" and "whatever you are doing your doing the right thing-keep it
up-you are taking really good care of him!". After the hold Luke seemed a
little sluggish but after he hit that water and finally drank I was beaming!
Did you know that was the first time he really took a good deep drink on a
ride? After the drink in that cold, cold stream at that base of that hill he
was a new horse and I actually had to slow him down at times. Then he drank
again and again. I feel badly about your knees and elbow. I hope that you
are OK today. I know the day after an injury it sometimes feels worse. Today
Luke looked like he didn't even run yesterday. He wasn't even tucked up. I
had a great time and thank you for letting me ride with you.
Jen and Luke
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Instructor/Manager: Dodie Sable
Located in New Smithville PA at Fenstermacher Road, 3 miles north of Kutztown University
Call us at 610.756.3836 or email us at dodie@newpromisefarms.com