EnduranceRider

Fall Season

2011-10-30T09:48:00.002-05:00

Lots of things have been happening around our place this fall! I'm sorry I haven't blogged about it. I've been so busy living it!

Serts' leg is definitely better. I feel good about our decision to skip Big South Fork. He probably would have been ok, but I figure that erring on the side of caution is best in these situations. I certainly would have beat myself up if he hadn't been ok.

Snap has been getting more of an education. I'm getting to know him in so many different situations. We are going slowly on the training. I am not riding him yet, but Daniel and I have put a saddle on him, complete with crupper and breast collar. He didn't seem to care about the saddle until I asked him to move around the round pen alone and the stirrups began to bang his sides. It took about 40 minutes before Snap settled down.

Daniel and I have been to 3 rides since my last blog post. Big South Fork, Yellowhammer and KY Stampede.

BSF was rainy and muddy. It was also the first ride with our new trailer! Oh, yes, I don't think I blogged about that!! We bought (free and clear; no debt for us!) a 1998 Sundowner 4H slant load trailer, partial LQ with 3 ft short wall. Door to the LQ is on the driver's side and a pass-through door to the horse area. We put high ties on the trailer and took all 3 horses to BSF.

It was Snap's first camping experience. He did really well. Ate and drank for 3 days straight. On the last day, I took him to weigh him on the horse scales. He did try to kick at me in frustration when I wouldn't let him return to his buddies at the trailer, but I got after him quick about that. The actual scales weren't much of an issue at all! He weighed about 825 after tanking up for 3 days.

At BSF, I rode Tanna in the 50 mile ride on Thursday. It was a pleasant ride until the last loop. We managed to find a pocket where we rode alone. Tanna is a much better horse alone most of the time. Riding by ourselves made for a pleasant 2 loops. The trails really weren't all that muddy considering all the rain that had been dumped on the area in the prior days. The last loop was long and difficult and a missed turn made for a frustrating experience for me. I had thought I would ride the 50 on Friday as well, but after that tough last loop, the frustrations of missing a turn and seeing the proposed trail for Friday, I decided to call it a win and stopped while we were ahead with our Thursday finish.

The trailer was such a blessing in such wet conditions! We entered and exited the trailer at the back. Daniel had a table and a kitchen area set up in the horse area, as well as a cowboy shower and porta potty. When we went into the actual LQ area, we left our shoes in the horse compartment. With our old slide in camper, we'd be in mud in no time as there was no good way to keep it clean.

A few weeks later, we went to Yellowhammer. Our customary week long trip to Alabama. Again, we took all 3 horses.

This year, the trail boss, Sarah Engsberg was on crutches due to an accident in the summer and couldn't do her normal dawn to dusk riding of the trails, so I took on a little of that responsibility, along with several other riders. Since I was planning to ride the 75 on Thursday and the 25 on Friday, Tamra Schoech kindly allowed me to ride her horse, Rushcreek SUV, affectionately called Sport. I love those Rushcreek horses! I got to ride Sport a total of 40 miles in 3 days. Such a joy. We had some discussions at bridges, but it was his choice to test my resolve. I'm happy to report my resolve outlasted his!

I always enjoy going to Yellowhammer to hang out with all our friends. This year we worked hard, too, but in the end it got done and riders went on trail.

One day during the week, I think it was Tuesday, Snap got his leg caught in his lead rope while on the high line. He was scratching his ear and got hung up. Fortunately, I was right there and was able to cut him down fast. He still had a decent rope burn, but I didn't think it was too bad. He was tied with a cotton rope, not nylon, so at least there was that. Hopefully he has learned his lesson!

The 75 was a success. Tanna and I went out with the other 9 riders. We stayed together for a good ways before horses started splitting up to ride in 1s, 2s, or 3s. The first loop was 18 miles, but there wasn't a real vet check between the 1st and 2nd loops. That was weird for me. The 2nd loop was 16 miles. I decided to stop in camp for about 15 minutes between the loops, even though it counted on my time. The day progressed quite well, but I had to ride alone for the most part after the 1st loop as Tanna was being too much of a pain when I tried to ride with Mary Kathryn Clark and Megan Savory-Davis. He needed to settle down and not waste his energy on silly antics. We finished around 9 PM for a completion!

On Friday, I rode Serts in the 25 mile ride. I was blessed to ride the entire ride with Joe Schoech. We had such a good time playing after working so hard all week. The horses got along well and we were done in no time at all. Four hours for that ride. Not blazing fast, but nothing to sneeze at on those trails. Serts is blessed with awesome heart rates and he was down to criteria at the mid-check and the finish before I had time to pull his tack. He was such a blast to ride. You'd never guess he's 22 years old!

Sabbath, we were ready to head home when we walked around camp and were told the sad news that Stephanie Waddington, a fellow Tennessean rider, had an accident on trail. We hung around until we found the sad outcome of her death. We grieved with our friends for a bit and then headed sadly home. It was a sad day for all, especially since the ride was honoring Tommy Crain that evening. Another dear endurance family member waiting for the resurrection.

Two weeks later, we headed to the KY Stampede ride. We had never been to this ride and this year it was in a new location in elk country, Knott County, KY. This time we only took Snap and Tanna. This gave Snap a good look at what life will normally be like at a ride. He will have to watch while Tanna leaves on the loops and he stays put without the benefit of Serts for company. Snap did really well on that. He was still there at the end of the day, so that's a success! He also didn't try to scratch his ear while on the high tie. :-)

Tanna did finish the 50 mile ride on Sunday, but I was not really pleased with him. He ran out of steam on the last loop particularly because he didn't eat well at all the entire time we were there. We arrived on Friday and he didn't eat well then, much less on ride day. I am going to have to go back to really monitoring his intake and making sure he is eating. He had been doing better after his illness last year, but this fall, his eating has gotten progressively less, so time to go back to micro-managing.

SO! Now you're caught up! Sorry for the long post! I really should have been posting all along, but like I said, I've been busy living it. :)

Now the real question you're probably asking...when will Rinnah do her first ride?? Well, if all goes well, that is planned for Friday, November 4, at Skymont! Yay! I am very excited!

Postponement

2011-09-01T22:09:00.003-05:00

After all the work Rinnah and I have done to get ready for BSF, our plans were de-railed last week after a trip to the vet with Serts. After a week of battling a puffy fetlock joint on Serts' right hind leg, I consulted with Dr. Jess at Tennessee Equine Hospital. After ultrasound and x-rays to rule out anything floating around, we landed on an infection in his leg due to a cut on his leg.

Treatment included cold-hosing, standing wrap and stalling for 5 days, antibiotics for 10 days and obviously at least 5 days with no work.

Since we only had 2 weeks left before BSF at that point, the decision was made to postpone Rinnah's debut into the world of distance competition. She was understanding. Good kid. :)

I feel this was the best decision for Serts. I've given him 2 weeks off, his wound is closing well and no puffy fetlock joint since we began treatment. Of course, I haven't worked him yet. I am giving him a few more days off, but I will test his leg in the next week or so.

If all goes well, Rinnah and I will resume training after BSF, aiming for a ride in November. The good news is that Serts has never taken a lame step and is perky and happy. Fortunately, horses do not lose conditioning as fast as humans and once his leg is fully healed, we will be able to pick back up conditioning where we left off. Another advantage of the x-rays and ultrasound is that Dr. Jess says his joints and bones look excellent. :-)

Natchez Trace Parkway Conditioning Ride

2011-08-08T18:09:00.004-05:00

On Sunday, Rinnah and I went to the Natchez Trace parkway to ride. I haven't been there in about 2 years. I was pleased to visit with Ranger T.J. as he stopped by while we were saddling up. I also saw him swing back by when we were loading up to go home, but he didn't have time to stop and chat that time. I felt pretty happy and safe that he was keeping tabs on us.

We were planning to ride 20 miles. The trail is an out and back trail, no loops, so we were planning to ride 10 miles down the trail and turn around and go back for a total of 20 miles. However, the trail is in some dis-repair. We had many trail blockages to go around or under or over. We were able to get past most of them, but at 8.5 miles out, we came on a blockage that was a bit more extensive. Given some time and muscle, I could probably have moved the fallen timber enough for us to pass by, but I decided not to do that and we just turned around then.

We completed 17.1 miles in 3 hours 48 minutes. That's an overall average of 4.5 mph. That's not quite fast enough for our targeted speed of 5 mph to be able to finish the 30 mile ride, however, the heat and humidity were quite high and the horses were breathing hard to get enough oxygen. We stopped several times to sponge water over them and encourage both horses to drink, especially on the way back. Fortunately, there was a good amount of water in the creeks, due to the recent rains, so the horses were not in any immediate danger of heat-related illness.

If we take the warm-up and cool-down laps out of the equation, we did 16 miles in about 3 hours 24 minutes for a working average of 4.7 mph. Still needs to be a bit faster, but hopefully, it will be cooler at BSF and we still have 3 weeks of conditioning left. Ok, I'm a numbers girl. Who'd've thunk? ;-)

I have not taught Rinnah to sponge from the saddle yet, although I have added the sponge to her saddle paraphernalia. I'm sure that's coming soon. I haven't decided if I want to teach her before BSF or not. For now, I just sponge both horses from my saddle.

Our big break-through on this ride, aside from it being the longest time Rinnah has spent on horseback to-date, was that Rinnah learned to canter!! She was quite hesitant about cantering, but I insisted it was time for her to learn so that we can use the canter on the ride to make up time or just give the horses a nice run, using different muscles.

I didn't give her a lot of instruction and after the first short canter stretch, she told me the canter was very hard to post to! Well, yes, it is! I told her we don't post to the canter. :) I showed her how to grab Serts' mane with one hand and use the other to neck rein, then I told her to stand in her stirrups while cantering until she gets the feel of it. We cantered several times when the trail was ultra-safe. It will take a bit of practice, but she's getting there and by the end of the ride, she'd stopped groaning when I told her we were going to canter. ;-)

Another thing I'm quite happy about is that Rinnah appears to be riding fairly balanced. Serts' girth was not tight, in fact, sometimes downright loose judging from the HRM readings disappearing and Rinnah's saddle did not slip from side to side. We did have to move her water bottle back to the cantle bag behind her because its weight in the easyboot bag on her pommel was pulling her saddle off kilter.

If anybody's interested, here is the GPS track of our ride.

Sorry, no pictures this time. I really need to get a new slimmer camera that's easier to carry on saddle so I don't have to borrow Daniel's.

Percy Warner Park

2011-07-17T15:45:00.005-05:00

Today, I got to ride with Rinnah at Percy Warner Park. Rinnah was up before I was and I "finally" got up at 6:30 AM. We ate breakfast, loaded up the horses and headed to Percy Warner Park off Old Hickory Blvd in Nashville.

When we got there, I saw extra porta potties, a Franklin Police horse trailer and practice jumps in the warm-up arena! I was worried we might be crashing an event, but after awhile, it became evident that we were not.

While we saddled up, several other trailers pulled in. We started our ride at 9:10 AM. We did the customary 10 minute walking warm up before going into a trot. My training program consists of trotting for 1-4 minutes and walking for 1 minute. Repeat until done. 4:1 is my preferred ratio. I'd told Rinnah this before and so she readily volunteered that we go ahead and do that today, even though I told her we could do 2:1 or 3:1 instead.

We proceeded to do 4:1 pretty much the entire ride. We lost a little time drinking, letting the horses eat a bit, but pretty much kept to it. Rinnah did really well, keeping up and not complaining about anything. After a bit, I even had her lead for about 15 minutes.

When we got back to the trailer, Rinnah cleaned Serts' tack as I pulled it off him. Then I pulled Tanna's tack, we hauled water and then sponged our horses off. We practiced trot outs and a mini vet check before leaving the horses to their hay and enjoying peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

Total mileage was 11.67 miles in 2 hours 25 minutes for 4.8 mph. That included warm-up and cool down. The working portion of the ride was 10.4 miles at an average of 5.4 mph. Quite respectable!! Very happy with Rinnah's progress.

Time to fill out ride entry forms!

Double Project Update

2011-06-28T18:34:00.001-05:00

Lots and nothing going on around our place lately.

I have 2 major projects on the table. The first one is to train Snap. I am doing his training as far as I feel comfortable. Whether that means I'll go all the way to "breaking" him to the saddle the first time, I don't know. But we're going to progress as far as we can together.

I've spent several hours in the round pen with him so far in several sessions. We have been working on basic round pen work. Starting, stopping, inside and outside turns, speed and gait control, coming in, following me around the round pen. This has helped a lot in working with him when we're not in the round pen.

Meal time is much better now as I can move him away from me without fear of being kicked. I can open gates and have him wait politely a few feet away instead of rushing through it like his tail is on fire. We are still working on perfecting that, but it's going really well. I can touch him all over from tips of ears to hind leg pasterns. All of this and Snap still likes me. Still wants to see what I'm up to when I'm outside. Sweet boy.

Our next step is some sacking out with rope and an actual saddle blanket. Not my thick woolback pad, but a thinner, heavier navajo-type pad. Snap is already pretty good about weird stuff being on him. Daniel has put big leafy branches across his neck and back. We've put George the cat on his back. I've even had Kelsey (the small dog) up on his back for a bit. Mostly Snap wants to see if it's something to eat!

I've still got a lot of work to do with Snap, but he's coming along nicely.

The second big project is to work with Rinnah, my 8-year-old niece, to get her ready for her first distance ride later this summer! We were aiming for last summer as her first ride, but Tanna's illness derailed that early on. We've had some problems getting together so Rinnah can ride Serts, but she was finally able to get to the farm on Sunday.

We were planning a trail ride out at Percy Warner, but got rained out. Fortunately, there was a long enough break for Rinnah to ride Serts around our property. After she'd played around a bit on the hill and putting flowers in Serts' mane, we went into the round pen where I proceeded to give her a lesson in posting/trotting. This, of course, is key, because we won't be able to finish a 25 mile AERC ride without trotting!

At first, Rinnah was bouncing all over the place, but by the end of the 30 minutes or so we spent in the round pen, she was doing much better. Not perfect, but she was getting better and being able to go for longer periods of time without me hollering at her to put her weight in her heels, straighten her shoulders, look where she's going, don't let her hands drift so far apart and on and on.

We also were able to fix most of Rinnah's issues from the last time she rode. She had trouble with her jeans riding up her leg and rubbing her. So now she's in cotton tights (not riding tights yet, but they work) and I cut up a sheep-skin girth cover as stirrup leather covers for her, making sure they extended down past the top of the stirrup to protect her shin from the stirrup. Her little saddle also is sporting a cashel seat cushion and a cantle bag to hold her water and snacks. It's so cute. Except for the horn (which I'm considering cutting off and covering with black duct tape), it looks like a real endurance saddle! :D Rinnah didn't complain once about anything rubbing! Yay! More miles might reveal more holes, but she couldn't trot for very long last time before complaining about something rubbing, so this is definitely progress!

2011-06-13T21:39:00.002-05:00

Worked Snap in the round pen for about an hour. About 86°, 34% humidity. Did round pen work for about 17 minutes. He was dripping sweat by then. Had some trouble with controlling speed. He went too fast when traveling to the right.

After getting him to focus on me, I massaged him firmly from head to rump and under his belly. Pulled some ticks from his inner thighs. He did really well.

Worked on picking up his hind legs (Picking Up Feet by John Lyons). He would rest the right hind pretty well and we progressed to me being able to pick up the hoof several inches and do 10 small circles and then set it down. The left hind foot almost never rested on the toe. Occasionally Snap would have very little weight on it and by rotating his hock, I could get him to rest it a bit more, but only was able to pick it up twice for a second at a time.

Pleased with his focus on me. Following me, moving his hindquarters over when I asked, not crowding me much. He never once offered to kick, although he did get frustrated with me especially near the end when he couldn’t figure out what I wanted with the left hind leg trying to get him to rest it.

Finished the training session with some leading and then let him go.

Tanna spent about 10 minutes of the session watching from the other side of the round pen. Jealous??

Spring Rides

2011-05-11T18:08:00.000-05:00

Usually I do a ride story for each ride I go on, but this time time has slipped away from me and I don't have a ride story from any of the last 3 rides I was supposed to do. I say that because we only got to go to one of the rides.

Chicken Chase. First time to miss this ride in 8 years. :-( However, we made the choice based on the weather forecast of strong storms on the day I was going to ride. So we opted out. Turned out it was a blessing as one of our kitties had a horrible clot in his back the afternoon we were going to leave. We had to say good-bye to our sweet Miner cat. If we'd gone to CC, we would have missed being with him at his last moments as surely he would have died before we returned.

Broxton Bridge - Spring Edition. This ride we did get to go to!! We spent a week at Broxton Bridge with Joe Schoech, Susan Kasemeyer and DeeDee Huff. We worked on the trails again. Our little dog, Kelsey, went with us and had her first exposure to the world of endurance. She did great. Coming with us to mark trail and learning how to meet lots of people and dogs and horses.

We did not get to take Snap to BB due to a mix-up with his health certificate, but that was a blessing. We left him home with Serts and when we got back, Serts and Snap were very buddy buddy. So now we have a harmonious herd! Yay!!!

Friday at BB, I rode Tanna in the 50. We had a great ride. Spent 6 hours on trail, another extra hour in the vet checks for a total of 7 hours ride time. The weather was rather spotty. Some rain, some humidity, but cooler than it had been.

Of course, I spent money at Running Bear. I picked up a new helmet to replace my old one and finally got a sheepskin saddle cover. The full deluxe model. Hope that will be very nice for my further adventures.

Land Between the Lakes. This was our next scheduled ride. This ride was cancelled due to excessive rain on the trail and in the Wrangler's Camp. We were looking forward to having Dr. Ike Nelson return this ride to the calendar, but understood the reasons for the cancellation.

So the best laid plans might have gone awry, but we're all happy, healthy and together. What more could one ask?

Snap: Leading, Farrier, Bathing

2011-04-08T17:47:00.003-05:00

Snap and I have had several training sessions. I still am getting to know him. He is very sweet and wants to please, but has a tendency to kick out when he gets frustrated.

I have been working with him on leading lessons; teaching him to stay out of my space. Using John Lyons methods. This particular method is described in his Communicating with Cues (Part III) book and involves moving the horse around you in a small circle, stopping, starting, changing directions in a serpentine manner. It's working quite well for us as Snap is leading better and staying out of my space better. When I'm leading him and he gets too excited or in my space, I do a few quick circles to focus him back on me and we continue on.

Snap has also spent several hours on our high-tie next to the trailer, learning to stand calmly. I sometimes feed him on the high-tie, and for a food-motivated horse, that's a big deal. :) I haven't taught him to stand tied directly to the trailer yet. That will come later. For now, I can tie him to the high-tie when I need to. He respects that well.

Tony, my farrier, came out last week to replace Tanna's shoes, put shoes on Serts and meet Snap. Unfortunately, Snap wasn't a model citizen, showing me that I need to work on him holding his feet up for longer periods of time.

And finally, today, Snap got a bath. I don't normally bathe my horses, because, let's face it, they just go roll in the yuckiest spot they can find when you let them go, making them dirtier than they were before the bath.

However, I noticed some small spots of possible rain rot or such and decided a warm day was a good chance to put some medicated shampoo on that and stop it in its tracks.

I fitted Snap with a nice rope halter, refreshed him a minute on his leading lessons and commenced to showing him the hose with water flowing gently out of it. He wasn't impressed. He backed away. I held the lead rope firm, not following him and after a minute, he took a step forward. I immediately moved the hose away, praised him, and moved the hose back. He stood there this time. I splashed his left front foot, which he promptly snatched back as if I'd thrown a fire brand on him. I kept gently splashing. When he moved, I just asked him to move in a circle around me a la our leading lessons. As he got used to the water splashing his hoof, I moved the water up his leg until I was directing the flow onto his shoulder. At this point, I kept the water on his shoulder while he walked around me. When he stopped on his own, I removed the water, praised him, and put the water back. After a couple times repeating this, Snap just stood there and I was able to pet him after the water, making sure the water was getting to his skin. Whenever Snap moved, I just directed the water at his shoulder, asked him to move in a circle and when he stopped, I removed the water, praised him, and kept on.

I was quite impressed with Snap's performance. I did stop short of wetting his hindquarters and under his back legs. I didn't want to be kicked and he'd done so well to this point.

I turned off the water, lathered Snap up, walked him a bit and then repeated the water play to rinse him. This time, I did get his hindquarters wet and he didn't mind much. What a good boy. He got some sugar cubes before I let him go.

And what did Snap do as soon as I removed his halter?? Yes, he rolled in the yuckiest spot handy. Good thing I wasn't in it to get him CLEAN! ;-)

A quick note on having a dark horse. I see Snap at least twice a day up close at feeding/haying times. However, while bathing him, I discovered he'd tangled with a sticker bush or something, having some 2- or 3-day old scratches around his front right leg near his chest. This is something I would have seen right away on Serts or Tanna. It's not bad and it's healing nicely, but just a thing about having a darker horse. He'll shed out though and in a few years, that won't be an issue!

Trailer Loading 101 - or is that 50?

2011-03-15T18:47:00.003-05:00

Today was Snap's first official training session with me. Up till now we've dealt with personality issues. Serts' personality doesn't like Snap's personality, so they've been pretty much separated and the switching horses back and forth has been challenging, but I think we're finally getting that rhythm down.

I've learned a bit about Snap in the 10 days or so we've had him. He's intensely curious. Loves to see and taste anything he can get a hold of. He also hates being alone. No big surprise there, since he grew up with 10 or so other horses always around. However, he really hates it. He was going a bit daft in the head after 2 days of stall confinement due to fencing issues. He did have company some of the time, but not enough.

Back to today. I decided to do some trailer loading work with Snap. He did get on the trailer eventually when we brought him home, obviously, but needed a lot of work.

I put a web halter on him, used a 10 or 12 foot lead rope slung over his back and my 36 inch tapping stick. I did a couple of taps away from the trailer. When I kissed and tapped his hip lightly, he stepped forward. This is the go forward cue that I use to ask my horses to get into the trailer. I stand on the ground and ask the horse to get into the trailer by himself.

Having assured myself that he stepped forward away from the trailer, I presented him with the trailer. After a couple of false starts, Snap put both front feet in the trailer and looked around. I asked him to back out and praised him.

And it was 20 minutes before his feet touched the trailer again. He backed up, he tried to squeeze me into the trailer, he tried standing stock still, he tried kicking me, he tried pawing, all to no avail. That crazy small human still insisted that he was supposed to get into the death trap on wheels.

Finally, Snap loaded himself completely into the trailer, taking me completely by surprise. He went, grabbed a bite of hay from the hay bag at the front, turned around, and promptly hopped out. I grabbed the lead rope as he passed.

BTW, our trailer is a stock trailer with heavy duty gates for slant dividers for a 2 stall trailer and a tack room. So there is plenty for room for Snap to turn around.

It took a few more false starts for Snap to try again, but maybe only a minute or two before he loaded his front feet. This time I was ready for him and stopped him at 2 feet. I asked him to back out. We repeated this 4 or 5 more times, Snap getting better every time.

Then Snap reloaded himself to grab more hay. He did it about 4 times in a row, but I noticed he was getting progressively nervous and rushing out, so I decided no more full loads. I loaded his front feet several more times and decided to call it a successful lesson.

I learned that Snap paws or kicks when he gets frustrated. Not exactly endearing traits, but maybe after we get to know each other better, he won't get frustrated.

All in all, it was successful and I feel sure that, given enough time and patience, I can get Snap in the trailer for his vet visit. Of course, we'll have other lessons, too.

Whippersnapper

2011-03-06T20:02:00.005-06:00

Or...Snap.

Today, Daniel and I went down to Alabama to pick up my new horse, ABA Kamaal's Regalo. He is a coming 3-year-old purebred Arabian gelding. Bred by our friend, Dr. Ike Nelson, Snap is the offspring of Dr. Ike's stallion SFA Kamaal and Rushcreek Auburn.

I have always liked Kamaal and have recently become enamored of Rushcreek horses after being privileged to ride 2 of them and observe others. So to get one horse with both lines was a chance I jumped at. Snap is a calm, food-oriented gelding, but certainly not boring or a dead head. I look forward to working with him in the coming months.

Snap's pedigree

Snap

Snap Meeting Tanna

Kamaal

Soon, very soon

2011-02-08T18:16:00.002-06:00

So, yes, I have been quiet lately. It happens this time of the year! Cold and yucky and time to hunker down with a good book or a computer game or the tv and a cup of hot chocolate.

But spring is just around the corner. Yes, it is. Despite the snow that keeps insisting on falling.

Chicken Chase is just a little over 2 months away. Yay!!! The farrier is due out in a couple weeks to put shoes back on Serts and Tanna. Then it's time to hit the pavement for some conditioning. Chicken Chase has been changed to a 2-day ride this year. Boo. But we will still go and love every minute as we usually do, but it will only be the Friday 50 this year. No LD for Serts.

So, changes to our place. We got ourselves a cutie little dog in December. We picked up Kelsey from the Huntsville, Alabama, shelter after seeing her adorable face on their Facebook page. Kelsey is about 18 months old and a Chihuahua/Italian Greyhound mix. We got her for my MOM. But I fell in love with her and when we took her to my mom in December, I had a hard time letting go of her. Kelsey didn't seem to fit in with my mom's ideas too well, either, lucky for me. So we got my mom a cute little Chi puppy and Kelsey came home with us. Look for Kelsey to come to rides with us!

We have another big change coming in early March. If you know me well, you know this already, but the rest of you will have to wait until the change arrives before I broadcast it, but I'm super excited about it. ;-)

Until then, keep warm and dry, and dream about endurance!!

Broxton Bridge, Nov 2010...The ride

2010-11-25T08:37:00.005-06:00

Start at 7 AM means a 5 AM wake-up alarm. Yes, it does take me 2 hours to wake up and get ready to ride. It was COLD! About 36 degrees. We did have an electric site, though, and I had brought a small space heater, so it was a luxury to have some warmth while dressing. But it was still cold.

When Daniel and I took Tanna to weigh him at the SERA scales, I decided it wasn't worth risking when we noticed the sheen of frost/ice on the mat covering the scales! Just my luck for Tanna to make it to the day of the ride only to slip on the mat and not be able to start!

Back to the trailer for preparations. I dressed in many layers and my trusty winter tights, then saddled Tanna. I really like the Hi Tie we got. I did have to tie Tanna to the trailer until I got the saddle on him as he wouldn't stand still for saddling. But then he was allowed to be on the Hi Tie with more room to move around.

I had not had much time during the week to fuss and worry about ride day. So I was strangely relaxed about the whole thing. At 6:43, Daniel mentioned the time and I hurried to get mounted and headed to the start timers.

Our most excellent timing staff was waiting in the cold for my number. 34. The number was dutifully painted on Tanna's rump, but he was wearing a rump rug that obviously obscured this number and rubbed it off so by the time the rump rug came off later in the ride, you couldn't read it anyway.

I milled around with the other riders until the controlled start began. Joe was leading us out on his red mule. I waited for a bit and finally followed the crowd. During the mile long controlled start, we passed a few people just because I didn't like the way Tanna or the other horse was acting.

After we crossed the main road (601), the trail was clear. I waved and called to Susan and Joe and headed down the trail. We were on our way. Tanna was beside himself with excitement and tried to break into a canter every other stride. I tried to find a pocket to put him in where we weren't with other horses, but it took awhile and I let several horses pass us while looking for that sweet spot. Finally, we got into a place where he was a bit more controllable. There were maybe 4 riders behind me and 31 in front of me.

My training schedule, and thus my ride plan, was to work for 4 minutes and then walk until Tanna's HR dropped below 100 bpm. I knew this wouldn't work as well for the first part of the ride until his adrenaline rush broke.

Tanna gets to a point, usually within an hour of the start, where he'll take a deep breath and go to work sensibly instead of running like a moron on adrenaline. When he reaches that point, Tanna's HR will be normal. But until then, I decided to have him work for 4 minutes and walk for 1 minute since I couldn't rely on the HR.

The 4 minute sessions were halting for awhile as I would ask him to go, he'd attempt to canter, I would pull him back to a trot, sometimes even a stop and then repeat. The 1 minute "breaks" were a battle to keep him somewhere between a dead stop and 10 mph. He thought if he couldn't go fast, he'd just stop until I saw the light. At least I didn't have to worry about the footing beyond trying to stay out of the churned up sand on the inside of the many turns.

We reached the spotter the first time where where there was water. This was about 7 miles into the ride. There was a spotter and a ham radio operator relaying our numbers back to base camp. Here we were to do a small loop back to the spotter before continuing on. Several riders were coming off the small loop, so there were about 6 horses there at once. I called out my number and asked Tanna if he wanted water. He didn't, but he did stretch out to pee. After another minute or two of standing, we headed out on our loop.

Tanna is very good about heading down the proper trail. He knows that to catch the horses we were just with, he has to do the trail right. I taught him that years ago during out and back loops. After passing many riders going the opposite direction, I continued to encourage Tanna and when we got to the turn around spot, I would let him go full out to catch and pass riders. Maybe not the brightest move, but it sure taught him that if he kept going the right way and fast, he'd catch the other horses. Makes rides where you can see other horses going different directions much easier!

Around the loop, back to the spotter, out to the road, turn right and head on into the second half of the 20 mile loop. At this point, I thought Tanna should have broken his adrenaline rush by now. But he hadn't. His HR was still erratic, high and his behavior was irritating. He kept trying to bolt every other second. Finally, I hopped off and walked with him for about a half mile to get him to calm down. When I got back on, he was a bit more controllable, but his HR was still much higher than I liked. I decided to keep to the 4 minutes work, 1 minute walk for the rest of the loop.

We were moving right along, but with Tanna's high HR and erratic gait, I began to worry that he'd pulled something and was lame. I hopped off and watched him walk and poked and prodded him to see if I could find a pain source. He was jumping around so much it was hard to tell. I was about 5 miles from the end of the loop, so I hopped back on and headed on.

When I got close to camp, I hopped off and walked the last bit in. We'd done the loop in 2 hours 36 minutes. Definitely a fast trail!

Tanna's HR was still in the 80s when I got to Laurie, the in and out timer. I saw Joe and shared with him my concern that Tanna was lame and hiding it in adrenaline. He asked if he could help with anything, but I distractedly said no, thanks, I just need to get him to the vets. Maybe he'd calm down and we'd be able to tell if he was lame. Pulled for lameness at a groomed ride with no elevation? Definitely an anomaly.

I headed to our trailer to pull Tanna's tack. I didn't have to, they had said first check we could leave our saddles on, but I decided if Tanna was lame, it could be in the back, so I wanted the vet to see everything. Daniel appeared and helped me strip everything off and we threw Serts' cooler over Tanna. It's a bit bigger than Tanna's and covers more of the back of his legs like the hamstrings.

We were able to snag Dr. Otis for the vet check. Since this was Tanna's comeback ride, I wanted Dr. Otis or Dr. Ken to check him as they know me and him and I wanted anything out of the ordinary to be brought to my attention immediately. As Daniel trotted Tanna out, I shared my concerns that Tanna might hiding a lameness with adrenaline. Dr. Otis said he didn't see anything, so a big sigh of relief.

Back at the trailer, I put Tanna on his hi tie, but he just stood there, not eating the yummy hay or drinking the water. I gave him some grain, but he just nibbled at that, too. Finally I put him in the pen with Serts, which was a good move. Tanna drank a good amount of water. Usually, he doesn't drink until we're out on the second loop. He also ate some hay with Serts. Not a ton, but some.

Convinced Tanna was ok, I slipped into the camper to change my clothes as the day was warming up fast. I asked Daniel to change the heart rate monitor battery to make sure that wasn't a reason for high heart rates.

I went out on my second loop late. I generally don't get out on my out times anyway, but I was a good 15 minutes late. Tanna was eating when I should have started putting the saddle on, but I decided to let him eat instead. We'd done the 20 mile loop at a faster pace than I'd planned, so I figured we had the time.

This next loop was 15 miles. Blue ribbons. Back across 601 basically doing the 20 mile loop backwards. With a few twists and less mileage, of course. Tanna was still trotting strong, but now he was much more controllable and his HR was reasonable. So he even got to canter some this loop.

We were alone, which is right where I wanted to be. I pulled out my iPod and my single ear piece and we went on down the trail. I was able to do the 4 minutes work and then walk until his HR dropped below 100.

Not too far into the loop, I caught up with a couple of riders. I hung back, letting them get further ahead of me until it was convenient to pass them where they wouldn't just come up on me during one of our walking sessions. I don't like to play leap frog.

We did that 15 mile loop in 2 hours 5 minutes. And that included the 15 minutes or so I was late going out. So about an hour 50 minutes of actual work time.

I took Tanna back to the trailer to strip his tack and then to the vet check where we got Dr. Ken. Daniel again appeared and trotted him out for me. Everything looked good! Back to the trailer again for the hold. This time I immediately put Tanna in the pen with Serts, but closed the dividing panel so I could feed Tanna grain and such and Serts wouldn't eat it. Tanna ate well this check and I had a bit more time to just relax. I quickly braided his mane to keep it off his neck as it had warmed up nicely. A trick I learned in April when we needed to keep his mane off his neck catheters.

Our 3rd and last loop was the black/white loop that I had marked on Monday. I went out a little late again. I just haven't mastered the art of getting out on my out time!

We started out on our own again, but about 4 or 5 miles out, we came out onto a field where the trail wound up and down and around it for 4 miles or so. I could see 9 other horses on the field, all at different spots in the trail. Two riders were not too far ahead of me. Within 10 minutes, we passed those riders and set our sights on the next 2. We neared those at the water. I let them go on while Tanna drank and I sponged him a little. Then we ran them down and passed them.

Tanna was strong and responsive with good heart rates. I was still working him for 4 minutes and walking for his HR to drop.

Coming out of the field, 2 more riders were ahead of me just before the spotters. I passed them, called my number to the spotters and kept trucking on. Tanna was having such fun passing the other riders. Strong and energetic and willing. Hard to believe we'd gone 45 miles at this point!

We were chasing 2 more riders, but we were at the end of our 4 minute work and I had to pull Tanna up and have him walk. It took a bit to get him to calm down and let his HR drop, but finally we were able to go on again. We caught those 2 riders as well as 2 more eating grass. I knew we were not far from camp and didn't bother to stop. We motored past at a trot, then Tanna broke into a canter.

Two of those riders we passed eating grass were hot on our heels, so I let Tanna canter. I still insisted on him walking every 4 minutes and that added to the "drama" of the riders about to catch up with us. We flew around the lake headed toward the old Civil War-era houses when I saw Daniel out to try to get a picture of me like I had asked. Usually, I'll stop and chat with him, but with the other riders hot on my heels (I could see them across the small lake), I yelled a greeting and said I'd see him back at camp and kept on.

We curved around on the road and then we were on the airstrip to the left of the pink flags. Tanna was cantering at a good solid pace with a good HR. Near the end of the airstrip, I glanced back and the riders were far enough behind me to walk some without putting too much pressure on. We walked and then trotted across the bridge and angled to the left toward the finish line instead of to the right like the other loops.

I kept Tanna to a trot until we rounded the last bend and then I asked for the canter. He immediately complied and we cantered in that last glorious quarter mile. Head up, ears perked, strong canter, balanced. A moment to treasure forever as we crossed the finish line. Tanna was still my endurance horse!!!

Daniel got some good shots as we crossed the finish line. What a rush. I was thrilled. Laurie was there waiting to write on my card. Finish time 3:42. We'd done that last loop in an hour 51 minutes. 7 hours 2 minutes ride time.

I walked Tanna to the trailer and sprayed him down with the hose. It was faster and easier than sponging. I tossed his cooler over him and Daniel and I took him for his completion exam. Dr. Ken did us the honor of the final exam and declared Tanna fit to continue. Very fit to continue. He definitely could have done another 25 or 50 miles right then.

Instead, I took him back to his pen and Serts. Then I began to clean things up and tidy up to be able to head back home.

While in the trailer, I watched Tanna roll in his cooler. Ugh. But coolers wash. After Tanna was done rolling, Serts decided to roll in the same place. He rolled completely over and got his leg stuck under the panels. Startled, I threw the back door of the trailer open and lept out, talking to Serts to calm him. Unfortunately, Serts decided it was time to get up and attempted just that. I wanted to help, but just backed up and watched as there is nothing really to do when a horse is struggling in a fence. If he'd laid calmly, I might have been able to help him, but not that struggle. I was dimly aware that Tanna was behind me to the right and out of danger.

After what seemed a very long time (really only a few seconds), Serts was free of the fence, but holding his left hind leg up. I calmed him and reached to pet him. He put some weight on the leg and I became aware of other people around. Tamra appeared out of nowhere suggesting for me to take Serts to the vets right away. I agreed and went looking for a halter and lead rope. I left Tanna in the pen while Tamra came with me to the vet.

Dr. DeeDee was there and available to look at him. Serts was bearing weight and looked not bad. He had 3 scrapes on his shin and some swelling already. He became a jerk and wouldn't stand still and tried to head butt me. We laughed at him. Tamra suggested wrapping the leg and Dr. DeeDee said to give Serts some banamine before trailering him the next day. Tamra gave me some poultice to put on the leg before wrapping it. I had some standing wraps and quilts from Tanna's stint in the hospital and had packed them at the last minute.

The next morning, I re-wrapped Serts' leg. It looked really good with no swelling. I gave him banamine before we loaded him for the trip home. Tanna got his back legs wrapped to avoid stocking up.

What a great experience. The trail work was a lot of work, but very satisfying. I always enjoy spending time with Joe, whether riding with him, crewing for him or marking trail. Tanna is back and an endurance horse again! Serts' leg is good and healing well.

God has been merciful to me.

Tanna and me at the finish line. The pie plate on the left is one of the markers for the finish line. Photo by Daniel Johnson.

Broxton Bridge, Nov 2010...Before the ride

2010-11-22T18:53:00.003-06:00

At Yellowhammer, I learned that Broxton Bridge was going to be put on in November, the week before Thanksgiving. I missed the ride run there in May due to Tanna being sick. I determined to shoot for the ride in November as Tanna's comeback ride.

Tanna and I set out on a training program incorporating LSD, hill work and speed work, about 30 miles a week of work for 6 weeks, leaving a week for rest before the ride.

In the days leading up to the ride, I began to try to figure if I should take Serts along. Broxton Bridge was a Friday/Saturday ride, which meant I could only do one day (I don't compete on Sabbaths). Serts might just be a bit of a bother. So I shot a quick email to my buddy, Joe Schoech, who happened to be the ride manager and asked if I should bring Serts for trail marking. Joe replied within a day indicating that I should bring Serts, so that settled that.

Discussing the email with Daniel, Daniel asked if we could leave Sunday. We weren't scheduled to leave until Tuesday because my farrier was coming mid-morning Monday and there wouldn't be time to drive the 450+ miles to arrive on Monday. Short notice, but I texted my farrier and asked if he perchance had an appointment. Tony texted me quickly giving me an appointment on Thursday. I learned during that appointment that the guy who had been scheduled for it canceled about 30 minutes before I asked for an appointment!

I began to panic, thinking I wouldn't be able to get packed in time. I'd been a bit lazy about packing since I'd have Sunday and Monday to pack. But by 7 PM, Saturday night, I was ready. God really wanted us to go Sunday!

Early Sunday morning, we finished the last bits of packing, loaded the horses and headed out for Ehrhardt, SC. Daniel was driving the 3500 pulling the trailer and I followed in the Toyota. Taking the Toyota was another last minute decision. The trip was thankfully uneventful. I switched blankets back and forth to keep the horses comfortable during the trip when we stopped.

We pulled into camp about an hour before dark, giving us enough time to pick out a spot with water and electricity and set up camp. Well, Daniel set up camp while I held onto the horses and chatted with Joe, who had arrived some hours before us.

As we talked, I began to see the reason I'd brought Serts. There were some challenges with the trails. In that they were not finalized yet. Having been around some ride managers during the days before a ride, I could appreciate the stress involved with having people to mark trail and nothing to tell them to do. Riders coming in 4 days to ride a trail that was not ready for them, much less marked. Eeeeeek.

After we got settled, the 3 of us began to look over maps and the trail possibilities. We had 2 trails that Joe was pretty sure of. So the plan for Monday was for me to take Serts and go mark one of those loops while Daniel and Joe consulted with the property manager on what other trails we could use to make up the remaining loops. The decision which loop for me to mark was made simple when we realized we only had the proper color flagging for one of those loops. Well, easy one there.

Monday dawned early and started with camp "chores." Feed the horses, walk the horses, clean the pens, breakfast, hot shower. What? Hot shower? Yes, indeed. The bath house boasted 3 large shower stalls (at least on the ladies side). Each stall had a changing area, sink, toilet and hot shower. Very nice. The only thing I didn't like was no electrical outlets to blow dry my hair to keep me from freezing in the early morning chill. But hard to complain about hot showers, right?

After breakfast, Joe drove Daniel and me around the property, showing us the trails and some tricky spots we would have to mark. We took the Toyota and had no trouble driving the trails. All the trails were wide enough to drive a truck or tractor down. We spent some time discussing the hurdles and how to overcome them.

Back at camp, I saddled Serts, gathered my marking supplies and headed out to mark a 15 mile loop. It took me a good hour to get into a groove and figure out what I was doing. I was tying ribbons to clothespins on the fly and finally fell into a rhythm to tie the ribbons while looking for the next place to put a ribbon and Serts trotted. Gotta love Serts. He's a great horse. :)

A few miles out, I came to a spot that I couldn't figure out what was going on. I knew where I needed to go, but not how to get there as there was a don't-go-there barrier. I stared around trying to figure what the deal was and finally just went around the barrier and continued marking. There were a good many spots that I couldn't mark as the trail wound back and forth beside and in fields. I only had clothespins and ribbon with me. No pie plates, flags or stakes. So I took a waypoint on my trusty Garmin Forerunner 305 to point out to Joe and Daniel later and continued with what I could do.

About 3.5 hours into my excursion, Joe and Daniel drove up on Joe's trusty red mule. I showed Joe where the barrier had been that I couldn't figure out and requested they bring me my rain jacket as the sky was threatening rain. I was also out of clothespins. When they got my items, they headed off to figure out the trail I'd missed while I continued on. It took them a bit of looking to figure out what was going on, but they did figure it out.

Finally, after 5 hours of riding, I returned to camp. Luckily, the rain had held off. Serts was good and tired and Tanna was thrilled to see him. After taking care of the horses and getting some supper, Daniel, Joe and I reconvened at Joe's trailer to go over the day's events and see what progress had been made. More chatter and map data and decisions. I would go out again on Tuesday with Serts and mark the fun ride trail, which had been decided on, while Daniel and Joe continued to tour the trails, piecing together more loops. Things were going slowly, but were progressing.

Tuesday morning, I saddled up and headed out again, in the rain. This time, I knew what I was doing and had no trouble settling into a groove. The fun ride trail went along with the 15 mile loop I'd marked the day before (cutting out some miles, of course), so it was a matter of double-checking my markings from the day before and adding green/white ribbons.

Serts was barefoot and got a little pokey as the day went on. I never did settle on a good reason for that. He might have been bored as he'd seen the same trail the day before and he bores easily. He might have been a tad footsore as he has flat soles. He might have just been tired as he hadn't been worked a lot since Chicken Chase. Whatever the reason, I decided he was done with trail marking unless there was just no other way.

Marking the fun ride trail went well and I was back in camp in a timely manner. Daniel and Joe were still trying to piece together the remaining loops. They had a 20 mile loop, pretty much, but were still working on the remaining 15 and 10 mile loops. Since Serts was done and there were no trails to mark anyway (the ribbons for the 20 mile loop still hadn't arrived), I asked Joe what to do. He told me to go watch a movie, but I offered to go get supplies instead, so I cleaned up and headed to the tiny town of Ehrhardt for my next adventure.

I was asked to go to the hardware store to get flags to put along the fields where there were no trees and to find some ribbon for the 15 and 10 mile trails that were still being worked out. I was told the store was next to the post office. Well, I had difficulty locating the store and drove around for a bit until I finally located it. I went in and the owner was very helpful and I cleaned him out of red ribbon and blue ribbon and picked out some pink flags, blue flags and orange flags. Blue was the only color that matched our ribbons, but you take what you can get.

When I got up to the register, I realized with growing alarm that this gentleman would not be able to take my debit card and I had no cash and my checkbook (even if he'd've taken it) was back at the camp. Sure enough, when the total was rung up, he said he needed cash, but there was a bank up the street.

So I headed off on foot to the bank to use the atm. In bewilderment, I walked around the bank, but no atm. I went inside and no atm. I stood in line and the poor girl looked abashed and said, no, they had no atm, but the gas station down the street did.

Back to the hardware store, muttering under my breath the entire time. I told the owner I was still looking for money, but I'd be back. I drove to the convenience store, which thankfully did have an atm and the atm actually worked and actually gave me enough cash for the purchase. After paying for the purchases, I dropped into the grocery store for some applesauce for Tanna and then drove the 7 or so miles back to camp, forgetting to get ice in all the excitement.

At camp, I fussed around a little until Daniel and Joe showed up. We sat at Joe's trailer, wrapping blue ribbons around clothes pins and then red ribbons around clothespins. All the while talking about the trails. The men had finally figured out the trails to put the blue and red ribbons on. Yay!

That night, I went to bed early. I was quite tired and was asleep by 8:30 PM. Daniel stayed up poring over maps and trails and going over and over the last 3 trails that still needed to be marked. I probably would have done the same, but I didn't have a computer and looking over somebody else's shoulder for that type of thing is not a good idea for my type A personality. Better for all involved for me to sleep!

First thing, Wednesday morning, Daniel explained to me that he'd rearranged the trails. He'd discovered 2-way traffic for way too long that would have been confusing at best and really hard to mark and keep straight. I told him to make sure Joe knew about it before we went out to mark trail. So Daniel and Joe had a conversation. Joe had found the same problem and they were right on the same page for getting it straightened out.

After breakfast, Daniel and I headed out on an ATV provided by the Broxton Bridge facilities to mark the red and blue trails. Joe took his mule and headed to the black/white and green/white trails that I'd marked on Monday and Tuesday to place flags and pie plates to make the trail very plain.

It took Daniel and me a little bit to settle into a routine that worked for both of us. We had hoped to be done marking both trails by noon to begin marking the 20 mile black/gold loop in the afternoon, but the day wore on and on and I began to realize that wasn't going to happen. I had a fit when we were marking the blue trail and realized that some of our red ribbons were down. The facilities crew were out cutting limbs back from the trail and had cut down some of our ribbons! I was not happy and had visions of having to remark the entire 10 miles of red trail. Fortunately, that wasn't the case and we only had to replace a few ribbons.

Later in the day Wednesday, Susan Kasemyer showed up to park beside Joe. Yay! Also a few trailers were trickling in. And Tamra Schoech, Joe's wife, arrived well after dark.

After taking stock of the clothespins we had left, I decided we needed some more. Susan had about 150 in her trailer she gave us, but we still needed more, so Daniel and I headed south to Hampton to buy more clothespins and eat at Taco Bell. Back at camp, the 4 of us tied black/gold ribbon (which had finally arrived via FedEx!) to clothespins to be hung Thursday. Talk about coming down to the wire! We had one day left.

Thursday morning, Daniel and I left as early as we could get away to mark the black/gold loop. It took us all day to mark that trail. We put up roll after roll of orange ribbon strung between trees or stakes to indicate to riders not to go past them. We put up countless red plates that were also meant to indicate not to go past those. We wrote on white pie plates and stapled them to stakes and trees. And, of course, we put up ribbon after ribbon after ribbon.

Joe and Susan drove the red and blue trails, checking the markings, adding clarification where they thought necessary and analyzing some of the trickier intersections. Then they followed along the black/gold trail. At one point, they came on a point where they were stumped. They came around a turn and the black/gold ribbons just stopped. They thought they had missed trail somewhere, but no, Daniel and I had skipped marking that because a tractor had been out scraping the trails and we didn't want to follow him. We came back to mark that spot just as Joe and Susan were trying to figure what had happened!

Finally, we finished putting the ribbons up! The trails were marked! Except for one last piece, which Joe and Daniel would have to do after dark. They would have to go back out and put up barrier ribbons where they couldn't put them up because of vehicles still going through the trails.

We headed back to the now full camp where I hurried to register to get my vet card and vet Tanna in for the Friday 50 before dark. I took Tanna to Dr. Ken for the vet in and explained Tanna's history with the colitis and EPM in April/May and asked him to look carefully for any signs of stress that could indicate a problem. Dr. Ken asked some questions about the history and his training and his last long ride and then pronounced us good to start. I thanked him and headed back to camp to gather my vet check stuff as much as I could before it got too dark. Then I zipped off to shower before the pizza supper.

Ride meeting was at 7 PM and I listened to Joe talk about the ride coming up and fidgeted waiting to "help" with the trail section. I think Joe just wanted somebody else up there to take the stares. Tamra helped out when Joe was showing all the signs for the riders to ignore. Then I held up the ribbons while he talked about the trails they marked.

50 milers had 3 trails. Black/gold - 20 miles. Blue - 15 miles. Black/white - 15 miles. There would be 2 50-minute holds. Not sure of the pulse, but I usually just make sure Tanna is at 60 bpm or below, so I didn't really care. Pulse is generally 64 or 60 at the checks. Start at 7 AM.

25 milers had 2 trails. Black/white - 15 miles. Red - 10 miles. One 50 minute hold. Start at 8 AM.

The Fun Run was the Green/white trail - 10 miles. Start at 10 AM.

After the meeting, I fielded some inevitable questions (after all I was standing up there with Joe talking about trails, so I must know stuff). Then I reminded Joe he still had to go out on trail to put up barrier ribbons. I saw Daniel and Joe off on their excursions and then finished prepping for my ride the next day, walked the horses and went to bed.

Come back in another day or two for the actual ride part of my adventure.

Conditioning!!

2010-10-25T18:36:00.000-05:00

Tanna got sick in April and was given a clean bill of health and clearance to ride and condition in early July.

Because of the heat in the summer, I opted to just let Tanna run around the pasture and be a horse without pushing him. If he was in pristine condition, I would have been reluctant to condition much anyway, forget that he had almost died in April.

Yellowhammer was supposed to be a blissful time of riding the trails at a leisurely pace and helping out. Well, that didn't work out so well, horse-wise. But I did have a good time chatting with all my friends and just before we left, I learned of a ride that we could possibly do. Flat trails, far enough out to get 6 weeks of training in, hopefully cool weather.

So I leaped at the chance to begin conditioning Tanna with an eye for doing a 50. If ever there was a ride to try for a come-back ride, this would be it.

My initial training plan included 3 days of conditioning and 1 day of training in the pasture. We're now into our 4th week of training and we've settled into a good schedule of 2 days of conditioning and 1 day of training.

Sunday - Long Slow Distance (LSD): This is 15 to 18 miles of mostly trotting and walking. Aiming for an average speed of no less than 5 mph, aiming for closer to 6 mph. Terrain varies depending on if I'm game for trailering out or if I just ride out from the house.

Tuesday - Training day. This is returning to the basics and takes place right on our property. A little round pen work. Stretching. Some bareback work. Some massage for him. Some riding up and down our hill in the back at a walk around obstacles.

Wednesday - Speed work. This is the fun day, but also some training involved. 7 - 10 miles mostly at a fast trot or canter, with safety the ultimate goal. This means he has to pay attention and not run off with me. Which he is prone to do as we're headed home. Terrain is flat.

The other days he just runs in the pasture with Serts and gets a ton of food to keep his weight up.

LSD and Speed workouts always begin with a 10 minute walking warm-up. After that, the real work begins. He trots or canters for 4 minutes. Then he walks until his heart rate returns to 100 beats per minute. Then we go again. We repeat this for the duration of the workout. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, there are no walking breaks as his HR often doesn't even rise above 100 bpm for several cycles.

When riding at home, we do an out and back ride and when we turn around to go home, Tanna's HR and adrenaline increase and it takes a bit of doing to get him to calm down enough to let his HR drop. But that's all part of it. I want him to learn to relax and then we can go again.

After 3 1/2 weeks of steady conditioning, he looks very good. Fit and happy. I'm really hopeful that we can successfully complete this comeback ride next month.

Yellowhammer 2010

2010-10-04T18:34:00.003-05:00

Wow, what a long, strange trip it's been!!

I was so looking forward to Yellowhammer. We were going to get there on Sunday and spend all week hanging out with friends and the horses. I was going to mark trail or otherwise be on a horse for most of the week.

So, Sunday, September 26, we spent a few hours in the morning getting those "last minute" things done. Loaded up the horses and headed down the road. Daniel was driving the rig with the horses and I trailed behind in the Toyota (which is very nice to have during a week long vacation for running around).

20 miles north of the TN/AL state line on I-65 South, we stopped at a gas station to get some provisions and noticed something dripping from under the hood. Uh, oh. We made the decision to head back home and take the truck to the shop first thing Monday morning.

It turned out to be a power steering fluid issue that was fixed by 1:30 PM. Still time to get on the road!!

So we started out again Monday afternoon. This time we got a good ways into Alabama. At another stop, Daniel noticed one of the main belts was being chewed up pretty good on the Chevy. A pulley looked out of kilter. We have been stuck in Birmingham on the side of the road with horses before. Not a fun situation. We made the difficult decision to return home, knowing if the belt broke, we could get to the side of the road easily. I blanketed the horses against the chilly night air and we drove north.

At this point, we knew the truck would not be fixed in time to go to Yellowhammer with the horses. However, the Toyota was doing just fine, so we decided to go tent camping. After years of camper camping, this wasn't exactly a pleasant thought, but Daniel had a commitment to take pictures and we would so miss all our friends.

Tuesday morning, Daniel headed out to find a tent and a Uhaul trailer to throw all our stuff in. I sulked at home since I couldn't take my horses.

When Daniel got home, we transferred all the necessary camping stuff from the camper to the UHaul. Fortunately, my recent foray into decluttering paid off and it was quite easy to see what we needed and what we didn't, since there wasn't much in the camper that wasn't needed and used!

I spent some time playing with Tanna and Serts, feeding them apples and carrots. They were so cute and so fun.

Tuesday afternoon, we set off again. Yellowhammer or bust, I guess! About an hour from home, we realized we left Sib's medicine at home! Sib is our seizure cat that requires medicine twice a day to control her seizures. As such, she comes on all our adventures. In the shuffle back and forth the last 2 days, the meds had been left at home.

We found a local vet and were able to get the meds we needed, but it ate up an hour of our time. Better than returning home yet again.

We finally arrived at Yellowhammer around sun set Tuesday evening. Deep breath. I was still very disappointed that the horses weren't along. It took me a day or so more to get mostly over that. ;-)

Wednesday was a very lazy day with no horses to take care of and no work to do. I was so happy to see my friends, though. Some I hadn't seen in a year or at least several months. I went for a long drive and found some Logic puzzle books to occupy my time in vet checks when there was nothing going on. My dad taught me to do logic puzzles when I was a teenager and I haven't done any in a long time, but settled into doing some.

Tamra Schoech is the manager for Yellowhammer and usually has an early ride meeting the first day. This was no exception and the meeting started around 5 PM. I listened the usual stuff about trails, vet criteria, etc.

Then Dr. Otis announced the cake. :-) Dr. Otis and Becky got married at Yellowhammer in 2006 and they always celebrate their anniversary at Yellowhammer. Becky had done a very cute horse paddock on the top of the cake. I got to have one of the horse cupcakes. Very cute and very yummy! :)

Thursday morning, I hung around looking for something to do and chatting with other volunteers while Daniel went out to take pictures. I took a few pictures around the vet area, but mostly just hung around.

When Joe Schoech came into the vet check off his first loop of the 75 mile ride, I jumped up to help him out and crew for him. Joe is a good friend and we've spent many a mile riding together, including my 100 mile ride and my 75 mile ride. I'd never really crewed before, so I just kinda tried to jump in and do what I could. I spent a good amount of the check hand feeding Kit (the horse) so he could watch what was going on. As the day progressed, Kit ate on his own without me having to put it in his line of sight.

Joe and Kit finally finished the 75 mile ride at 10:45 PM or thereabouts. Kit passed his completion exam and looked great! He looked really awesome the next morning, too. Job well done! :-)

Friday, Joe decided to ride Bogey on the 50 mile ride, but unfortunately, it was not their day and Joe pulled at the first vet check to be safe.

So I was at loose ends the rest of the day. I mostly sat in the timer tent and talked or did my logic puzzles. I did manage to jump up and take a few pulses. I'd never done pulses before, but Tanna's sickness earlier this year taught me how to use a stethoscope pretty confidently.

During the afternoon, Daniel packed up the tent and our stuff and we headed out after supper back to Nashville. It was definitely a fun few days after we finally got there! I was happy to see my friends and all the horses.

Thanks to Tamra for putting this on again this year. It's always a fun time with lots of food for the volunteers. I think I gained 10 pounds. ;-) And Samm Bartee's dill dip. Yum yum yum!!! Making myself hungry here!

Can't wait for the next ride!

Hot Summer

2010-08-13T18:21:00.001-05:00

It has been steamy here lately. I have been very hesitant to ride Tanna as I am afraid of the heat. Reading an article in the Endurance News that talks about horses dying from heat stroke surely doesn't encourage me to get out there and ride!

However, I'm so happy to interact with him every day. He's very perky and such a sweetheart. I do look forward to riding him when the heat/humidity lets up a bit.

Poor Serts sweats just standing in the pasture, so I don't ride him either. The boys are definitely getting a break right now. I hose Serts off a couple times a week and while he startles when I start doing it, he seems to enjoy it after getting used to it. Silly Tanna edges over and tries to play in the spray as well.

I have no plans to compete the rest of the year. I plan to ride some this fall and bring Tanna back (hopefully) for our signature ride, Chicken Chase, next spring. We are, of course, planning our normal fall trip to Yellowhammer to help out and we'll take both horses for me to hack around on while Daniel takes pictures.

Happy 4th!

2010-07-04T10:00:00.002-05:00

Today is a happy day for me. Friday, I took Tanna to the vet for a follow up for his EPM. It was 30 days since his last Marquis treatment. After the exam, Dr. Matt said if this was a prepurchase exam, he wouldn't see any reason not to buy the horse. Yay! Dr. Jess (his main treatment vet during the colitis episode) was also on hand to give her opinion, which was very favorable, as well. Tanna was cleared for riding! Yay!

So Friday afternoon, we took a 45 minute mostly walking ride. Tanna felt great! He wanted to trot and even canter, but I kept the trotting short and refused to let him canter yet under saddle. I want to give him some conditioning time first.

On another note, I decided to return the untrained 8 year old and sent him back to his former owner. Fortunately, she was able to take him back and we dropped him off there last Wednesday.

Today will be fun as I have my nieces (5 and 7) coming this morning to ride Serts and I get to ride Tanna, too! Tanna is sporting casts on his front feet instead of easy boots as his shoes were pulled last month due to not knowing if he'd be rideable any time soon. He'll get shoes back on later this month when Tony comes out again.

Have a happy, safe 4th!

Upheaval @ the farm

2010-05-16T15:13:00.003-05:00

Well, I haven't posted in awhile. We did make it to Chicken Chase and Serts and Tanna both completed their rides.

A week later, I found Tanna in the pasture with bloody legs, shaking and obviously not doing well at all. Called the vet and they told me to get him there right away.

He had colitis of unknown original. We never did figure out exactly what caused it. All the tests came back negative.

After he sorta stablized from that, we realized he had a neurological issue with his hind end especially and after more tests and waiting, he was diagnosed with EPM.

He got through the colitis and after not eating for 12 days, he finally began eating.

He began having violent outbursts where he threw himself around and injured himself. Luckily, just cuts and bruises but the outbursts were really scary to watch!

Then he came up with a high fever for no apparent reason and he had to be put into a padded, air-conditioned stall to get it under control.

Now, Tanna is home, again, in a small stall with either Serts or Cody in the paddock right next to him to keep him company. He still has 2 1/2 weeks of EPM treatment to go, but thankfully, the violent outbursts seem to have stopped.

So Tanna's endurance season ended a week after it began.

I might do some LDs on Serts later in the season. I also have Cody to get started and Tanna will need lots of rehab this year.

New Comer to the Pasture

2010-03-20T19:30:00.001-05:00

Spring is starting to come! Warmer temps, more rain. And Chicken Chase is just a few short weeks away!

I've been riding some. Not as much as I'd like, but some. Mostly I ride Serts and pony Tanna so they both get some exercise.

Just under 3 weeks ago, we got a new addition to the herd.

Cody is an 8 year old Arabian gelding. A little bit of Morgan blood in him. He is super sweet, smart and willing to learn. He's been a companion horse for years, so needs to learn or relearn most everything, including how to pick up his feet.

Tanna and Cody get along great and play together. Serts and Cody finally have an uneasy truce. Serts did not like the new comer and would run him and bite him, but that has stopped after about a week of isolating Serts from the other 2.

Until Chicken Chase, I'm pretty much going to be focused on Tanna and Serts, but plan to start working more often with Cody. He's not been ridden much, if any, so I will have to introduce him to that as well.

All's Quiet Around Here

2010-01-06T18:00:00.001-06:00

Yes, I've been very quiet on my blog. Not much to report. After our lameness pull at Spook Run, I gave Tanna a couple weeks off, then decided to extend that for a good winter layoff. Both horses have been getting fat and sassy. Our first ride of 2010 isn't planned until Chicken Chase in April, so we have plenty of time to be lazy before getting back to work.

My plans for spring training include more tests with the hoof casting tape. I also plan to work with my niece, Rinnah, in preparation for her first LD ride in the fall.

But for now, we're hunkered down in sub-freezing temps here in TN, waiting for warmer weather.

Hoof Cast

2009-11-11T16:45:00.001-06:00

While we were at Yellowhammer, Daniel learned a new temporary hoof protection strategy from Guy Buck, an endurance farrier here in the Southeast.

When I saw the pictures and heard about this, I was excited and decided to play with that this winter while my horses are barefoot. I usually play with Easyboots (which are misnamed in my opinion), but this seemed a much better use of my time and money.

So, what is it? Fiberglass casting tape. If you can wrap your horse's hoof with vet wrap, you can wrap with casting tape. There's actually a product out there marketed to horse owners, but there's no need for a special product. Just use the same casting tape your doctor uses to stabilize that broken arm (or thumb or leg or...).

So where do you get such a thing? eBay, of course, where else? You want 2 inch fiberglass casting tape. If you don't care about the color, you get a better price. I paid $2.65 per roll from eBay. One roll is good for one hoof.

So you need to gather your supplies.

Your horse, with reasonably clean feet (just knock the dirt off). Doesn't need to be dry. You're going to wet the tape anyway.
1 roll of casting tape per hoof to wrap
a pair of disposable gloves
a bucket of water
a large sponge
dog helper is optional (Cammy was visiting while her mom and dad were off on a trip)

Put your gloves on and open the casting tape package.

Take the roll of tape and dunk it in the water. Squeeze it while in the water several times.

Pick up your horse's foot and proceed to wrap. Stay off the heel bulbs and stay below the hair line. Try to keep the thickness even along the bottom of the hoof. I prefer to leave some of the sole exposed rather than close it off completely.

You can use the entire roll but for a smaller hoof, you don't have to use the whole roll.

When you're done wrapping, smooth it all down and set the foot on the sponge on the ground. Doing this will have the sponge push the cast into the foot and form to the horse's foot. Right away make sure the casting tape is off the hair line. If it crept up there, just push it down with your fingers before it hardens. After about a minute, you can remove the sponge.

This is a picture of the first hoof I did after the cast set up. I left the sponge on a little too long. Some of the sponge stuck to the bottom. It's a cheap sponge, so no worries.

Repeat for each foot.

For our first test, I just wrapped Serts' front hooves. His shoes had just been pulled by my farrier.

I left him to run in the pasture. I checked him every day and didn't see an issue. It was super muddy for the first few days and I thought we'd lose the casts, but that was not a problem. The pink casts actually ended up the color of hoof wall. I couldn't tell until I was right by him if he still had his casts! We finally removed the casts after a week to inspect his soles.

These are his hooves with casts just before we removed the casts.

Removing the casts was a challenge. Daniel actually used a small, dull hand saw, but we'll look for something better. A true cast saw would be a bit expensive for this!

Serts' soles looked great. A little dead sole that hadn't had abrasion to remove it, but that's not a problem. The hoof wall on the front had a minor imprint of the casting material, but again, not an issue at all. Serts' feet looked wonderful.

There was very little wear on the casts. Granted, Serts was in a pasture and not ridden, but he did wear them for a week straight.

The next test will be to do some training rides to see how he moves in them and determine the traction on grass and pavement.

Just to be clear, I'm not looking at this as a replacement for metal shoes. I'm looking at this for a spare tire when riding and for temporary riding protection during winter when I like to let the horses run barefoot.

I certainly do like the advantages that would come from this solution. Cheaper than Easyboots, a custom fit every time, lighter than easyboots, and easier to carry on saddle. (And next time I break my arm, I can have somebody cast it until I get to the hospital!)

I still have several tests, but it's certainly an interesting prospect.

Off to Spook Run!

2009-10-21T07:44:00.003-05:00

We are heading to Spook Run to enter Tanna in the 50 mile ride on Friday.

I haven't forgotten my little experiment, but I haven't had time to start it yet! I'm likely going to have the horses' shoes pulled on the 1st, so should have more time to play with it then. Sorry for the tease, but I promise I WILL get to it!

Yellowhammer 2009

2009-10-19T20:42:00.002-05:00

I will tell you up front that I had the best time at Yellowhammer this year. Everything just seemed to flow and I can't imagine having a better time.

Sunday, September 27

I'd been working on and off all the week before to get the camper and trailer ready to go to Yellowhammer. Tony, my farrier, came out at 9 AM to shoe the horses. He is going to fire-fighting school during the week, so had to schedule my appointment on Sunday to get us in. We had planned to put new shoes on the horses, but the shoes looked so good, he just did a reset. I figure Tanna is too busy doing airs above ground to actually touch his shoes to the ground and wear them! Daniel and I took turns holding the horse being shod and chatting with Tony. The other one was busy prepping for our trip.

Tony left around 11:30 AM and Daniel and I continued to fly around getting ready to go. We finally left home at 1 PM. I was driving our small Tacoma and Daniel was driving our Chevy 3500 dually pulling the horse trailer. The Tacoma is a welcome addition at Yellowhammer as we can just park our Chevy with the slide in camper and use the Tacoma for running around. We have friends that borrow the small truck as well, so it gets plenty of use during the week and certainly justifies the expense and slight inconvenience of driving separately.

We stopped at the local store to put gas in the trucks, get ice and bread and fuss around. Finally, we got on the way.

The time passed pleasantly as I listened to my audio book and followed my beloved husband and horses down the highway. The rain that had plagued us for 2 weeks had stopped and the weather was perfect. I stopped several times for breaks, but Daniel kept moving right along. I would pull off for a rest stop and then catch up since we only drive 65 mph max with the rig. Worked quite well as I generally am the one pushing for breaks.

We arrived at camp just as it was getting dark. I quickly unloaded Serts and Tanna, hoping to avoid Serts peeing in the trailer, but alas, he already had. Tamra Schoech (ride manager) and Susan Kasemeyer (all-around helper and regional AERC director) came over to help Daniel with the corral panels and invite us to eat with them. When we got the horses and cat settled, we did join them for dinner, bringing our yummy Subway subs over and greeting Sarah Engsberg (TEVIS 2009 WINNER!!!!).

The rest of the evening was spent in pleasant conversation with the small group and hearing all about the Tevis adventure. What a very cool story. Sarah really needs to write that up!

Monday, September 28

We woke up early and had a yummy breakfast before heading over to Susan's trailer (the gathering spot) to find out what the plan for the day was.

I got a couple of trail marking routes assigned by Sarah and headed back to the trailer to saddle up Serts.

Susan K. also headed out to mark trail on her horse, Rushcreek Quantum.

Tanna was not happy that I left him behind, but Serts was ready to go. Unfortunately, he wasn't too understanding when I wanted him to stand still! After a few chats about it, we got into a rhythm. We would trot until I decided it was time to put out a ribbon. Stand still for a few seconds for me to clip the ribbons (different colored flagging tape tied to a clothes pin) to a branch and off we'd go again. While trotting, I would grab my next clothes pin and let the ribbon unravel in the breeze while watching for the next perfect spot to mark.

Sarah has a great system for the trails. Each intersection is assigned a letter...a waypoint. So my instructions for marking the section I had been sent on was simply to change which ribbon colors I was putting out between each waypoint. Every time I came to a waypoint, I consulted my instruction sheet to determine which ribbons to put up to the next waypoint. Each intersection also included additional pie plates to show which loop for which distance on which day went which direction. Those are enough to get you around the trail without any ribbons. But the ribbons went up, too.

Serts and I had a great time and ended up back in camp after a couple hours. I tied Serts to the outside of the corral and gave him some hay and water. Then I ate something, swapped out my ribbons for the next route I was to mark and went off again.

Serts wasn't convinced that we should be going out again, but he didn't need too much urging before we were into our rhythm again, marking trail. This time, we ended up on a ridge and I was able to get a signal on my blackberry to be able to check my email and send a couple. Serts was unhappy about standing still so long, so was happy to be moving again. Funny how this lazy horse has blossomed into a good distance horse.

We headed back to camp where I untacked Serts and took him and Tanna for a walk about camp. Then it was time to set up the shower in the back of the trailer. So nice to have a shower!

The evening was again spent with friends, eating supper and chatting until time for bed.

Tuesday, September 29

I slept a little longer this day and ended up without much time for breakfast. I did get to have a yummy muffin fresh from Susan's oven (what luxury!) and gulped down some milk.

I decided Serts had enough riding since I wanted to ride him in the Friday LD, so Tamra was gracious enough to allow me to ride her horse, Rising, for some more trail marking.

Tamra saddled up Rising in her saddle and Daniel helped me get my kids' safety stirrups set up. The stirrups were from the saddle used by our nieces as they have a 2" neck and home-made cages. Even though the stirrups weren't deep enough for me, I decided it was better than risking my foot going through non-caged stirrups.

Susan Reid arrived Monday night with her mare, Malak. It was great to see them again. Malak used to be owned by the barn owner where I boarded my horses for a couple years. She looked great and I was happy to visit with Susan again.

Susan and Malak were also ready to go trail marking. Rather than go separately, we decided it would be more fun to go together. So we loaded the horses up with parachute ribbons and headed out.

It took us a long while to get into a good groove. As is often the case with the parachute ribbons, it took some trial and error before we could move comfortably down the trail without losing half the ribbons on the ground.

Rising was super good about the ribbons. He never batted an eye at them fluttering all around him. He is a very good horse. He wasn't so sure about standing still while Malak left us, though! It became a good opportunity to work though some separation anxiety in a controlled situation.

A side note about trail marking. Each loop or segment is colored in a different color ribbon. The convention at the rides I've been to and personally marked is to put the ribbons on the right side of the trail. When a turn is approaching, we mark the turn by putting 3 ribbons on the side of the trail the turn is. So if you're make a left-hand turn, the 3 ribbons will be on your left just before the turn. We like to put what we call a "confidence" ribbon just after the turn, visible from the turn (on the right) to give the rider confidence that they are following the correct trail.

When Susan and I came to a turn, she would go ahead and go around the corner to put the confidence ribbon and then wait while I worked with Rising to put up the 3 turn ribbons. He was quite insistent that we should stay with the mare, but I won. It took longer than having Malak stand close, but it was good brain work. Rising was never dangerous, just dancy and didn't like to stand long enough for me to put one ribbon up, much less three. But we managed just fine.

We had been out for about 10 miles when I realized that Rising felt "off" at the trot. Something wasn't right. I asked Susan to watch him trot ahead of her and she agreed that he was a bit lame. I hopped off and felt his legs and checked for rocks in his shoes. I couldn't find anything obvious and I hadn't felt him trip at all. I mounted and we walked the next 2.5 miles into camp, finishing our trail marking. Rising was sound at the walk, so I didn't feel too bad riding him. But I did feel bad I was bringing him back unsound. :( Rising didn't seem to think it was a good reason to walk as he kept asking to trot! Of course, I didn't give in and made him walk the entire way back.

Back at camp, Tamra unsaddled him and trotted him out for me. I didn't see anything going, but definitely could see it when she trotted him back to me. She put him in his pen and iced his left front, where there was now some heat and swelling. Poor Rising. :( I apologized, but Tamra was gracious and didn't blame me for his lameness. Rising was sound by the time they left for home after the ride, but it did put him out of being ridden in any of the competitions later that week.

One note about the trail marking. While out marking, we came across a couple of trail riders. The lady was riding a beautiful pinto Arab (1/8 pinto) gelding. He was about 7 and had been gelded only 6 months before. Even though Malak was right there, he had perfect manners and didn't show any stud-like behavior. He had a nice conformation and I was drooling a lot. He was short and stout and big boned without being too muscly. The lady said I could have him for $6000. Too bad I didn't have it!! I think he would make a wonderful endurance mount! Sigh.

Back to our story!

While Susan and I had been out trail-marking, more rigs had pulled in. Camp was getting fuller by the minute. I got Serts and Tanna out and took them for a walk to stretch their legs and let them look about.

Then Daniel and I went to "town" to get ice and make some phone calls.

The volunteer dinner that night was provided by Holly and Jim Gage. Daniel and I are vegetarians, so we took along our own entree (freeze-dried vegetable lasagna). But the Gages had some wonderful Gouda cheese grits and seasoned green beans as well as bread and cookies that were much appreciated. Yum!!

I was good-naturedly teased when I left around 8 PM to go prepare for bed. I still had to walk the horses and feed them and tend the cat, so it's not like I actually went to sleep at 8!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I had already been out marking trail for 2 days. So I determined that Wednesday I would not mark trail and begin preparations for the 75 mile ride on Thursday. However, when I went out to see what was going on, Sarah asked me to finish marking some sections of trail as she had to go out to mark a far section. Serts was resting up for his LD and Rising was still a bit off, so I was out a horse until Susan Kasemeyer (who'd also been out marking trail during the week) offered up her horse Rushcreek Quantum, affectionately known as Tummy, for me to use.

I immediately accepted as I quite enjoyed riding Rising and jumped at the opportunity to ride another Rushcreek gelding.

This time, I used my own saddle, so I was able to have my own stirrups. My saddle didn't exactly fit Tummy to a T, but it would do the job for an hour and a half session marking trail.

The first thing Tummy did when I got on him was to move off. He's not supposed to move when mounted so I told him to stand still. He was just testing me because when I had to dismount and remount on trail later, he stood rock still until I asked him to move off.

That was the only thing he tried the entire ride. He did very well for me and didn't shy or spook. A good solid horse. I had a great time with him.

I'd be pleased to have Rising or Tummy in my pasture (and I have told their owners that, but neither took me up on it!). These two are definitely making me consider a Rushcreek horse for my next endurance mount.

Back at camp, I turned my attention to pre-ride things. I registered and received my ride card for the 75 as well as the Friday 25 so I wouldn't have to try getting to the registration table during my ride on Thursday. Tanna vetted in well as usual.

Daniel and Joe went off clearing trail using the mule.

After vetting in, I began gathering my vet check items. All vet checks would be in camp, but since Tanna and Serts get agitated when I take one of them away, I wanted to minimize that by having a vet check area away from my trailer. I consulted my list as I placed item after item in our cart to take to our chosen area. Finally, everything was ready and waiting.

I found Michael Beesley and offered up Tanna for his muscle study. Michael came to the trailer and looked Tanna over and asked some questions about his training.

The ride meeting was early the first day, starting at 5 PM. I enjoy having time after the ride meeting to finish getting ready for the ride or just relax and hang out.

The 75 mile ride would have 4 loops. The loop distances were 20 miles, 22 miles, 16 miles and 16 miles. The last 2 loops were exactly the same as some riders would be out after dark and it's nice to already have been through that trail once.

The 75 and 55 mile riders would all start at 6 AM with a controlled start. 75 mile rides have a maximum allowed time (including breaks and holds) of 18 hours. So I had to be done by midnight. My plan was a slow and steady pace which would bring me in around 10 or 10:30 PM.

Hold times were 50 minutes and pulse criteria was 64 bpm before the hold time would start. There were 11 starters in the 75. Enough for all the finishing riders to get full AERC points, which wasn't important to me personally (I don't ride enough to be in the points standings), but I was happy for my friends that did want the points.

The head vet was Dr. Otis Schmitt

supported by Dr. Ken Marcella

and Dr. Alice (sorry, her last name escapes me!).

Dr. Ike Nelson had helped vet in the riders on Wednesday afternoon since Dr. Ken and Dr. Alice were not able to get there in time for vet-in.

After the ride meeting, it was time for dinner. Daniel and I brought along macaroni and cheese and a vegetable and supplemented that with Becky Schmitt's yummy cornbread and some other goodies from the volunteer table.

It was at dinner that my plan for the 75 began to change. Joe Schoech had arrived earlier in the day, but I hadn't had a chance to talk to him all day because we were both super busy. But we had briefly talked about riding together on the 75 as we had done on the 100 last year.

Joe began the conversation by saying he wanted to be done by dark. The second I heard that, I figured we would not be riding together. Sunset was around 6:30. That's only 12.5 hours, including 3 holds, to do a 75? I've done 55s slower than that!! Um, yeah, ok, whatever!! We would have to average 7.5 mph on every loop to do that. I have done some 7.5 mph loops, but for this slow poke, that seemed way too aggressive. And that doesn't count time in the vet check before the hold started.

We discussed these very concerns and Joe conceded that by dark might be a bit aggressive and we could dial it back a little. So we agreed to start the ride together and see how things went. If I got uncomfortable with the speed, I'd back off and he could decide whether to slow down with me or go on.

With that settled, I headed off to do the evening chores and to bed for the big day coming up.

Thursday, October 1 - RIDE DAY

I always get up 2 hours before start time, so this morning I was up by 4 AM. I slipped out to give the horse breakfast and some alfalfa hay, then back to the camper. Breakfast was an egg patty, a fake chicken patty and a hashbrown patty.

Then outside to tack up. Things were going fine until I put the bridle on and realized the chin strap was dangling. The clamp to hold one side on had been open for awhile, but now it was missing completely. Daniel helped me out by trying some different solutions until he managed to find the missing clamp and reattach it. This time closing it so it wouldn't fall off! Whew. This is why I get up 2 hours before the start!!

Once tacked up, I took Tanna to find Dr. Ken to pull his blood for the blood analyzer. Then mounted up and ready for a warm-up. There were around 25 riders in the two distances (75 and 55 milers were starting together). I saw Joe and a few minutes before the start, fell into step beside him until the controlled start.

It was still quite dark when we started, so the controlled start lasted more than a mile to the first paved road. Tanna was mostly controllable as nobody was going anywhere very fast. It was a very nice extended warm-up! :-D There was some trotting, but no run-aways that I heard about, so quite successful. At the road, I bid farewell to Sarah who had started us off and let Tanna settle into a good trot.

Tanna and I have a love-hate relationship the first loop of a ride. I love him, really I do, but most first loops I'm ready to kill him or sell him. He fights to go much faster than I believe we should and this makes for two very mad individuals. However, I was determined to break the cycle of anger and decided that I would still be in control (big brain/little brain!), but I wouldn't get mad at Tanna's antics or insistence to go faster. Getting mad never helped anyway and just made me unhappy.

So we start off from the controlled start and I allowed Tanna to move out with Joe and Kit coming along behind. We come on some riders, of course, and we hang back and wait. When the trail spit us onto another gravel road, I let Tanna canter around the rider in front of us to enter the next section of trail with nobody in his path.

Tanna was amazingly under control and not flipping out. He was focused and business like. Adrenaline was coursing through both of us, but I didn't feel like I was on a run-away. It was a heady, incredible feeling. I noticed Joe did not pass the rider behind, but I let Tanna stretch out into a good trot and knew that Kit and Joe would come along as they had time.

Suddenly, I see an Easyboot Glove in the middle of the trail. I was a bit in front of the other riders, but knew I only had seconds on them. I wasn't racing, but didn't want to slow down either or slow the other riders. I was going to go on by, but at the last second, I asked Tanna to stop. He did, quite quickly, and I dropped to the ground, grabbed the boot and swung back into the saddle and was off at a trot again before the riders caught up with me. What fun!!!

We continued on and I noticed we were 4 riders now. Joe was followed by Don and Nicki Meuten, whom I had never had the pleasure of meeting before. Joe offered to take the boot, but I refused, holding it in my right hand and controlling Tanna with my left.

After a little bit of riding, Tanna stumbled a bit and the reins flew out of my hand and over his head! They were hanging straight down, almost to the ground. Oh, my! I leaned down and grabbed the reins and hollered back over my shoulder "I'm going to STOP now!" I pulled on the reins (both sides going to his left side). Tanna slowed and stopped. I flung the reins back over his head (still one-handed as I had that boot in my right) and we took off again!

What a rush. I has having the best time! This was by far the best first loop I'd had in a very long time. Maybe ever. Tanna seemed very happy, too. We were a well matched team! THIS, THIS is what I do endurance for!

At a drinking spot, I passed the easyboot to Don, electrolyted Tanna, and then we all took off again. We left the easyboot at the next checkpoint we saw.

At many of the waypoints, there were ham radio operators reporting our numbers back to base camp. It's a handy system to be able to keep track of riders and know where to go look if one doesn't show up in a timely manner.

After awhile, we split off from Don and Nicki as they were riding the 55 and had a shorter loop than we did. We continued on for another 4 miles and caught up with Terry Price and Jim Gage just before coming into camp for the vet check.

We took just 2 hours and 25 minutes to do that loop. Tanna's HR had been fine through the entire loop and we entered the pulse box just 5 minutes after reaching the in-timers, which was a little bit of a walk. I didn't have to pull tack for this first vet check, so that helped with my time, but I was quite happy with his recovery.

Kit also recovered quickly and both horses were settled back at their vet check area in short order. We had the horses a bit apart due to layout of the vet check area.

I put a feed bag on Tanna to see if I could convince him to eat that way. He did eat some. Probably more than he would have otherwise, but it wasn't a rousing success. I finally removed the bag and Tamra brought us a flake of very yummy Timothy hay. He picked at that and the alfalfa and took a long drink. Drinking in the vet check is actually a big deal. Usually he waits until we're back on trail on the second loop to drink. All in all, I was pleased with his eating during the first check.

I also ate, remembering 100 last year and the problems I had at the end.

Our out time was 9:20 and off we went again on a 22 mile out and back loop. The horses were alert and energetic. Tanna was not pulling on me. We were by ourselves at this point; the field having spread out as it normally does.

Joe and I chatted. This time Joe was riding in front. After about 4 miles, we began to see other riders coming back on the same trail. All the riders were doing this loop. The LDs would turn around at an earlier spot. I love being able to see all the riders on an out and back. It doesn't bother Tanna at all and he doesn't usually get morose or think he has to go back with them. He's done enough out and backs to realize he has to go to the end before he can turn around.

We saw several more riders before we caught up with Jim and Terry. We rode with them the rest of the loop, chatting about current AERC issues and various other topics. Terry and Jim were both riding mares. Terry's mare was particularly a non-stop mare. She just motored right along.

We got back into the vet check after 4 hours. Our average had definitely taken a hit on this loop! We moved along at a decent speed, but there were more walking breaks on this loops and we lolly-gagged around water, trying to get the horses to drink more.

This time, when I got back to my vet area, I pulled the saddle as the sun was high and the day was a bit warmer. It still only took me 8 minutes to present for a pulse.

But when I pulled the saddle, I was disappointed to find Tanna's back was sore at the loins. Michael came by and checked him for me and said that he thought it wasn't awful. I definitely thought it was awful!

We pulsed in and then had a short wait for a vet. I fed Kit and Tanna hay out of a Yellowhammer bag.

We got to see Dr. Ken for the vet check. Tanna was also a little girthy and had a small lump under one elbow. Other parameters looked ok. Dr. Ken held our card and asked to see Tanna before I tacked up to go back out. I had two loops to go. 32 miles. With a sore back. I was sure we would be pulled. Wasn't sure it'd be a good idea to go back out.

I found out that Kit had the same issues as well as a loose shoe.

Well, this isn't Guy fixing Kit's shoe. But it's a good picture!

During the check, I forced myself to think rationally and not panic. What should I do? Michael worked on him a bit and advised collecting Tanna more and staying off his loins to alleviate the back pain.

I also looked at my Specialized saddle and removed some shims from the back to take the pressure off the loins and at the least move the pressure. I changed out my girth to a different length with a longer woolback cover. Finally, I sat down and forced some food and water down while Tanna ate and drank and rested.

With 10 minutes left in my hold, I presented back to Dr. Ken. He said the back was better and I could go on out if I wanted to.

So with a prayer in my heart and a pat for Tanna, I mounted up.

Joe and Kit were going back out, too. With some changes to their tack as well. We were worried and spent a good deal of the next 30 minutes quiet. I focused on riding balanced and collecting Tanna.

We caught up with Jim and Terry again and rode the rest of the loop with them. Unfortunately, with still 4 or 5 miles left in the loop, Kit pulled a shoe! We held up while Joe slipped an easy boot on. At that point, Jim or I always rode behind Joe to watch the boot to make sure it stayed on.

We arrived back in camp just after 4 PM, passing a few riders completing their 55. We still had miles to go, so trotted on past them into camp. Tanna had done well on that loop, I thought.

Jim and Terry and their mares.

When I pulled tack, Tanna's back was still a little sore. Tanna pulsed in ok and I purposefully went back to Dr. Ken. He said the back wasn't any worse than it had been at the end of the last check! Which is pretty good considering we'd just done 16 miles. His girth was still bothering him enough to make his HR a little high when a stethescope was pressed into it. Jugular HR was fine. We were told we could go out again. Kit also vetted through.

I decided not to change anything in Tanna's tack. Things seemed to be working ok. Nothing was getting worse. So I settled to rest and eat and wait. One more 16 mile loop; some of it in the dark.

I was saddled and ready at our out time, but hung back, waiting for Joe. He had decided to leave the easyboot on Kit, rather than tack another shoe on. Pulling that shoe had done some damage to the hoof, so we'd just keep an eye on the boot.

We checked at the out timer and learned that Terry and Jim had gone out again. Joe went in front so I could watch the easy boot and away we went on our final loop. We did catch up with Terry and Jim and took turns leading.

About half-way through the loop, we stopped at one of the checkpoints for about 10 minutes as the sun set and darkness descended. There was soaked alfalfa hay and water and the horses tanked up. Finally, we had to pull their noses out of the hay and go on. We only had about 8 miles left, but it would be in the dark.

The four of us continued on, our speed slowing some as we were cautious. We were close to our goal. No point in chancing a twisted ankle on rocks. We were all wearing headlamps and being cautious.

A few miles from camp, we realized Kit had lost his boot. Fortunately, Joe had another one along and put that one on.

Tanna led for awhile. We were nearing camp and we all knew it. When we reached the 1/2 mile to Finish markers, we re-arranged ourselves in the order we wanted to finish. Tanna and I would top ten AND turtle this ride if we passed the vet check. Does it get any better?

We were very happy to see Nancy! We all dismounted (some more gracefully than others, which caused a bit of hilarity) and walked back into the vet check area.

I quickly stripped Tanna's tack and presented for a completion. Dr. Otis checked Tanna over and declared him Fit to Continue and Completed! Yay!!!! So proud of my boy! And while it wasn't a 100, I had taken better care of myself. No sickness, so I could enjoy our victory.

The other horses, all 3 completed as well, so we were all thrilled.

Daniel had vetted Serts in for me while I was out on the last loop, so I had some work to do to get ready for the LD. First, I walked both horses for a bit, then settled them with their supper.

Then I cleaned up my vet area of Tanna-specific stuff. Then back to the trailer to prep Serts' tack and prep my stuff. At some point, Daniel brought me some vegetarian lasagna from Tamra. Yum, yum. I scarffed it down between chores.

Just before I went to bed, Dr. Ken came to take Tanna's blood for his follow-up analysis. Then I went to bed. Plenty of time to sleep before the next ride!

Friday, October 2: RIDE DAY

This morning, I got to sleep until 5:30. Wow! What a treat! I actually got up a little earlier than my alarms. So I took both horses for a walk around camp before settling into my normal pre-ride routine.

I saddled Serts without a problem and mounted, ready for the ride. Since we didn't finish the 75 until 8 PM, I had missed the ride meeting. But I knew the important stuff from asking ride management. Start time (7:30), pulse criteria (64 at the check; 60 at the end), hold time (50 minutes), and loops (Pink - 16 miles & Red/White - 9 miles).

I settled Serts in the middle of the pack during the controlled start and waited. When we were released, I let Serts move out. As long as he didn't canter, I left him alone.

A couple miles out, we went through a yellow jacket nest. We were in at the back of a line of 6 horses or so. The ones at the front started hollering bees and the horses were not happy. I felt a sharp sting just above my ankle brace on my left leg. But Serts just motored right through. I don't think he got stung.

I let Serts move out, but kept an eye on his HR and backed him off if he became too high. We were riding by ourselves today. We occasionally were with another group, but that didn't last too long at any one time. The weather was over-cast and even a little drizzly. But that's perfect weather for Serts.

When we reached the vet check, I hopped off and walked to our vet area. We presented for pulse quickly and Serts pulsed in at 52. His HR recoveries amaze me!

Serts and I ate during the check. Serts wasn't so sure about all this. He wanted to go back to the trailer and Tanna and was not entirely happy with me that I was not allowing him to do so. The check seemed quite long to me, but it was fine. When it was time to saddle again, I caught sight of Daniel and called him over to help me. Serts is taller than Tanna, so I welcome a little help getting the saddle on straight.

When I went out on the last loop, Serts pinned his ears and was generally in a bad mood. I let him work it out and we headed back on trail. He perked up as we left camp. His motivation to keep up the speed was much less as he didn't have horses directly in front of him. I encouraged him to keep up the pace. Our pace was slower than the first loop, but still a good solid trot and some cantering.

The middle of the loop had us coming in the back of camp, continuing past the vet check and back out the front of camp. Serts was completely unhappy with me. His ears went back and his mood blackened considerably. I did not let him pause, but kept him moving. It took a bit longer before his mood brightened again. Clearly, I was out of my mind to by-pass camp that way!

Near the end of the loop, I ended up riding in proximity with some other riders. That helped Serts' mood. We followed them into the finish. I hopped off again and took Serts' bridle off.

Then I pulled his tack and quickly worked to get his HR down by putting water on his belly mostly. He pulsed in at 56 in 14th place! Yay! His vet out was good, too, except for his ears back when I trotted him away from Tanna and the trailer. I was happy to get Dr. Otis for the vet out and he gave me some encouraging words about Tanna and his 75 the day before.

The rest of the day went by like a blur.

I settled Serts with Tanna, then showered and hung out around camp, just enjoying being there with nothing to do!

Angie Fura arrived and I snuggled with her new puppy, Reese, and introduced the puppy around while Angie got settled.

Serts remained quite ill-tempered. When I took the horses for a walk later in the day, he even snapped at Tanna, which is unusual. I could not understand his attitude. I definitely didn't like it. He seemed fine physically. His HR was elevated (60) at one point, but I pulled off his cooler and the HR dropped, so I think he was just warm. He did eventually get into a better mood.

That evening, we attended awards and the ride meeting. It was packed. I got a bit claustrophobic, so moved my chair off by myself to enjoy the meeting. The 75 mile awards were first and I received a very cool flexible bucket and lead rope for top 10, a turtle donated by Mrs. Barnett for turtle and a nice green t-shirt for our completion. For Serts' completion in the 25, I chose a waist pack with reflective tape.

We had such a great week! I didn't want it to end. Even though Tanna had some back issues (he was much better by Friday AM, btw), the 75 was wonderful. I had the best connection with Tanna. We were in sync and I haven't had a better first loop! Marking trail earlier in the week, with 2 Rushcreek horses, no less, hanging out with friends every night. Just the best time. God blessed me with a relaxing week. I could do that again. :)

Small update

2009-10-03T22:00:00.003-05:00

Went to Yellowhammer last week and had a blast. Will work on my ride story in the next week.

While there, got a great idea to play with. So new experiments coming up over the next few weeks. As soon as the supplies I ordered get here. I'll give you a hint. It's hoof protection, but not boots!

BSF 2009

2009-09-21T21:40:00.000-05:00

Days leading up to our vacation were stressful and expensive. We took our truck in for an inspection and to look at why the brakes and steering were not working quite right. Friday afternoon, we picked up the truck, expecting it to be fixed, but Daniel still wasn't happy with it. We were scheduled to leave on Tuesday. Monday was Labor Day and nobody would be open. So Daniel worked on the truck Sunday and finally pronounced it ready.

So we spent a great deal of the afternoon packing the camper and trailer.

Tuesday, September 8

We finally loaded up the horses and got going around 11:30 AM. After a few leisurely stops, we arrived at the BSF camp ground around 4 PM.

Daniel unloaded the panels and we spent a long time trying to arrange the panels in a suitable configuration so that both horses would be in the shade. We were not satisfied. We finally ended up with a nice arrangement. Serts' pen would have some shade in the afternoon. We could move the dividing panel to open up into one larger pen for both horses, so we decided that would work.

We were both quite hungry, so I fired up the camp stove to boil some water. We keep freeze-dried entrees and vegetables in the camper. I chose Vegetable Lasagna, Green Beans and Corn for our dinner. After the water boiled, I poured 1 or 2 cups into each pouch and zipped them back up. I also prepared some Blueberry Cheesecake for dessert.

Ten minutes later, I served up the meal.

It was very yummy! The entire meal (including dessert) cost $20. A little pricey, but so good. Without the dessert, it was only $13 and we could have done without that. The dessert was more like cheesecake pudding in texture, but the taste was quite good.

After visiting awhile with friends, we turned in for the night.

Wednesday, September 9

We woke up leisurely and Daniel headed out to see what he could find going on. I got up a little slower, fussed over the horses and the cat and then hopped on Serts bareback and ponied Tanna for them to stretch their legs.

I ended up near the ride management area and had a great time chatting with friends and meeting Tamra Schoech's new gelding, Rushcreek Rising.

Finally, decided it was time for breakfast, so back to the camper for some pancakes for us and beet pulp for the horses.

After breakfast, Daniel went back wandering and I pulled my running shoes on and headed out for a jog. I so enjoy getting on the trails. I use my iPod and Cardio Coach to motivate me. I tend to get lost in the solitude and was quite startled by a rider out for a look at the trails on horseback. She called several times to me, but I was in my own world and only saw her when I glanced back. I apologized profusely, glad the horse hadn't been startled. I turned the volume down a little and turned back to camp.

Back at camp, Daniel showed up to help me set the shower up. We have a zodiac propane water heater. Daniel rigged up a tarp as a shower curtain. It stays in the trailer all the time, but folds out to make a nice shower stall. A bucket full of water to run through the pump and I was ready for a nice relaxing shower.

Then I walked the horses some more and headed to the ride management area to hang out with those that were there. I had a great time listening to the stories, sharing some of my own and watching folks arrive. I finally decided I had to get ready for the next day, so went to get my registration packet and vet Tanna in.

I spent the next couple hours packing my away vet check bag with hay, apples, carrots, water bottles, grain, granola bars, syringes, hand-held HRM, brushes, gall salve and all the other things on my check list.

Daniel and I had another very nice meal made from our freeze-dried stash and headed back for the ride meeting.

The vet cards at BSF are very nice. All the vet information is on one side and a map is on the back side. Very handy for a rider to have the map right there.

There were around 60 riders for the Thursday ride. Split pretty evenly between the 50 mile and the 30 mile rides. 50 mile ride had 3 loops with 2 50 minute holds. Pulse criteria was 64. Start time at 7 AM.

Back to the camper for last minute details, feed the horses, walk the horses, give Sib (the cat) her pill, and head to bed. 5 AM came early.

Thursday, September 10

At 5 AM, 3 alarms signaled time to get up. I was already awake as I am usually on ride morning. I hopped up and begin my check list. Feed the horses, make breakfast, get dressed, saddle. I dressed carefully in my favorite competition riding tights and the t-shirt I had received for volunteering at Race the Trace in May. Roger Barrett was the ride manager and he died in August from cancer. I wore the shirt to honor and remember him and I thought of him often through the day.

I lunged Tanna in a couple circles to each direction to make sure everything looked good and up I went. Tanna felt the excitement, but was controllable as I walked him to the starters to give them my number (lucky 13!) and then a warm-up waiting for the ride to start.

And then we were off. I headed out at a brisk trot, until I came on a rider trying to mount up. I stopped Tanna and waited for him to get on before continuing into the woods at a good trot.

The first loop was around 16.5 miles long out to the first vet check. Tanna pulled and fidgeted and fussed and complained to go faster. This is quite normal for him. He is convinced that he can run the entire ride. But BSF has lots of elevation change and Tanna is not a mountain horse. We just don't have mountains to train on. So we spent the 2 1/2 hours fighting.

Daniel met me at a couple places on trail and got some nice pictures.

Into the first vet check, pulled off the saddle and set it on the convenient guard rail just perfect for a saddle rack.

Then to the vet. Tanna vetted through ok and then stared at the feed, carrots, hay and apples as if he'd never eaten such things before. He has a very bad habit of not eating at the first vet check and this ride was no exception, much to my irritation. He did nibble some.

Out for our next loop. I took it easy and snapped some pictures along the way.

The scenery was nice and the trails were great. Tanna was a little doggy, but we made it through the loop. We didn't see other horses much. A couple other riders down by the river, but I was not in a mood to ride with others. Not much for Tanna to eat on this loop.

We came into the check and paused waiting for 2 or 3 horses to go out on their last loop back to camp. Tanna vetted right through with a B on gut sounds. Normal for him. Especially since he hadn't eaten much since breakfast.

Tanna did eat this check. He sampled everything he had in front of him, including the neighbor's leftovers. There were few riders left in the check. Most had headed back to camp already. I kept checking Tanna's HR, but it was hanging in the 60s which is not normal for him. Usually he will drop into the 40s after vetting in. I listened to his guts and wasn't happy with those either.

30 minutes after vetting in, Dr. Ken rechecked him. By this time, Tanna's HR had dropped some and he had a decent CRI of 52/52. The CRI is the Cardiac Recovery Index and consists of checking the horse's HR, trotting him 250 feet and then rechecking the HR a minute after the first HR check. If the second number is higher than the first number, the horse could be showing some distress. Tanna's gut sounds had gone down from first vetting in, so that was a concern.

After a discussion with Dr. Ken, I decided to head back to camp on the last loop and carry some hay with me to hand-feed along the way. If I felt Tanna wasn't recovering properly, I would use my Spot Messenger to notify Daniel to come get me. Tamra was a complete lifesaver and provided some yummy alfalfa hay for the loop.

So out we went on our last loop. Hurrying to make time where we could and me hand-feeding Tanna from the saddle. After a few miles, Tanna perked up more and we were in business. He had always been willing to trot when I asked, but now he was trotting on his own. I was watching his HR and was satisfied he was doing ok.

We crossed the river and faced a climb up. Tanna power-walked the hill, our average speed only dropped a little from the effort and he was more than willing to go. I had considered getting off and hiking the hill, but Tanna convinced me he was doing great and we made much better time than if I'd been off.

We caught up with Dixie and Cowboy and rode with them some. When we reached the top and were on the flat, I was mostly letting Tanna do what he wanted. He would canter or power trot. Finally, I had to pull off and have a quick break and Dixie went on. Then Tanna and I continued on to the finish and Nancy. How I love seeing Nancy at the end of my rides! :-)

Back into camp, I pulled Tanna's tack and threw a cooler over him and took him to the vet. He looked good. I took him to Dr. Ken for his completion exam and Dr. Ken said he looked better than he had at the check. Not that he had been really bad before, but his HR and guts were better this time. So yay! Another finish of a tough trail.

I was scheduled to ride Serts in the LD on Friday, but I wasn't sure I was ready or Serts was ready for the ride. I was afraid Serts wouldn't be able to do the tough trail Tanna and I had just done that day. But others who knew the trails better convinced me that the Friday trail was easier and I should go for it. So, thanks to Tamra and Susan Kasemeyer, I finally decided to go ahead and go. However, dinner was already underway, so I couldn't vet in that night.

We had dinner and hung out for the awards and ride meeting. I chose a pretty purple shirt for our completion award. It would be my shirt during the next day's ride. I listened to the instructions for the 30 miler and then headed back to camp to ready my vet check bag for the next day's away vet check.

I finally got to bed after 10:30 PM.

Friday, September 11

I got up at 5:30 AM and took the horses for a walk to limber them up a bit. Then back to the trailer for their breakfast and mine.

As I filled out the date on Serts' vet card, I reflected a bit on September 11, 2001.

Just before 7 AM, I took Serts up to the start area where the 50s were gathering to start their ride. I did not expect the spinning idiot I ended up with. Serts was beside himself with excitement.

After the 50s took off, I asked Dr. Ken to vet Serts in for the 30. Serts would not stand still. He side stepped and jerked his head and was a major pain. I apologized several times. Note to self: vet Serts in the day before the ride at all costs, even if you don't think you're going to ride. Sub-note to self: let Serts watch as many starts as possible. At least he had great impulsion at the trot out.

After the vet in, I hurried back to the trailer to saddle up. I still wasn't sure what the day would hold, but I knew I had a lot of horse to face it with!

Daniel usually helps me mount Tanna at the start of a competition because Tanna has been known to be silly and buck like crazy when I get on. Having somebody at his head helps with that. But this morning he wanted to take off to go a-wandering before I was ready to mount, so I cheerfully told him to go on as Serts is much easier to deal with.

I led Serts out of the pen and tied him to the outside of it. Then I went in and opened the divider so Tanna would have the entire pen while we were gone. Despite the dancing Serts and the snorting Tanna, I mounted quickly and headed for the start to give my number (L14) to the waiting timers.

Serts was a bundle of energy, but he has a completely different feel than Tanna. I always feel like I'm on a powder keg with Tanna. About to explode. But Serts just dances and doesn't really feel scary. More fun than scary.

After giving my number to the timers, I continued to warm Serts up and spotted Tamra and Rising. We chatted for a minute. Rising was quite calm and steady. Like an old hand. Very impressive. I teased Tamra a bit about waking him up. She took it good naturedly and said she quite liked it, thank you!

Since this was only Serts' second LD ride, we hung out near the back of the main pack until trail was open, then I let him trot easily past the vets doing the second day trot out (looking for soundness issues).

And we were off! I found my self tucked behind Tykee and her granddaughter Lily. Lily was riding Mazon, a 25-year-old Arabian gelding with lots of experience. Quite a fun pair to ride with.

We passed a couple of small groups, including Tamra whose horse had quite miraculously awakened. ;)

After awhile, I decided the pace was too fast for Serts and let Tykee and Lily pull away from us. Of course, Serts thought that was awful and snorted and side-passed and did all sorts of fun moves. Still didn't scare me. I laughed at him as his HR kept dropping even with all his antics.

We let a couple more riders pass us and I settled him into a good 8 mph trot. He startled when another group of 3 came up behind us so I quickly pulled him off to the side to let them pass. I was happy to see Tamra and happier still when she pulled off with us and declared she'd hang with us for awhile.

What fun! I've ridden with her husband Joe (National Championship 100 anyone??), but hadn't had the pleasure of riding with Tamra.

We discussed our plan and found we had about the same goal in mind. 5.5 - 6 mph average for the loop.

We rode along and I admired Rising. We came up on another rider at a creek crossing and she fell in behind us.

We fell into a fun pattern of walking and trotting. Sometimes Serts in the lead, sometimes Rising. Our average speed was dropping with each walking stint and our average speed neared our desired 6 mph.

I was a bit concerned about Serts' HR. It was running between 150 and 170 at a trot. Much higher than Tanna's HR. But as I observed his attitude and energy, I began to relax and just enjoy the ride. The walking stints allowed his HR to drop, so as long as he was recovering, I was ok with his HR. I did mention it a lot, though! LOL. However, the trail was gradually climbing for a good portion of the loop and is deceptive about taking energy out of the horses.

Not far from the vet check, I could see Daniel in the distance and dropped back so Tamra could have her picture taken. Daniel was not the official photographer, but I really wanted a good picture of me and Serts on trail as our first LD had been rainy and icky and no trail pictures out of that ride!

After Tamra passed Daniel, I sent Serts on.

He was focused on Rising and didn't see Daniel until we were quite close to him. Serts spooked a little, but I was prepared for it and it wasn't too bad.

On into the vet check we went. I dismounted when I saw the check and walked him in. By the time we found our vet check area, Serts' HR was already down to 54. We quickly stripped the saddle and went into the pulse box.

Serts vetted in quite mannerly (whew!) and quite well with only an A- and the rest all As. Back to our area and Serts went after his hay and grain and apples while barely noticing the other horses around. I was having a blast and chattered like a magpie to Joe and Tamra and Dr. Ike and Rebekah during the check. I ate a granola bar, drank some water and bounced around. I didn't even realize I never sat down that entire check.

Soon it was time to saddle up again and I spent some time cleaning off Serts' neoprene girth, removing the sand. I borrowed a nearby mounting block (thanks Nelia!) and was mounted and ready before my out time. Anybody who knows me at a ride knows that's a feat! Tamra and Rising had pulsed in before us so they headed out on trail. I hung back to give Rising the thought that he was going out all alone and Rising took off like a champ. Wow, what a great horse! Joe tightened my girth for me and then off I went to catch Rising and Tamra.

Serts felt and looked great. No hesitation, no worries. What a fun day we were having. Great weather, great trail, great horse, great company. What more could one ask for???

We caught up with Tamra and Rising and we moseyed on down the trail. We came on Becky Siler-Pearman, the official photographer and she got an awesome shot of Serts and me.

Then the trail dipped and we followed it down, down to the creek crossing. Serts drank and drank and I sponged him off. Then off we went on a flat trail in the valley for awhile. We passed another rider who was having an issue with her horse. We promised to let management know to come get her and after making sure there was nothing else we could do for her, moved on.

Then the climb started. We rode for a bit and then both Tamra and I hopped off and walked for a good while. When we finally thought the trail was leveling out, we mounted up again. Only to find the trail continued to climb! I figured I'd walked enough, so stayed mounted.

Finally the trail did level out and we were headed for camp! The horses were strong and confident, doing well, working well together. Serts' HR was no longer a concern and we just had a great time.

A couple miles from camp, I dropped my sponge in a creek and had to hop off in shin-deep water to grab it. I had just bought a new biothane sponge leash and wasn't about to let it disappear! I took the opportunity to get some of the sand off Serts' belly and then mounted up again.

When I caught up with Tamra and Rising just up the hill a bit, Serts started acting ugly. Just putting his ears back and giving Rising dirty looks. I couldn't figure what his problem was. We'd gone along well all day. Sometimes Serts in front, sometimes Rising. I let Serts pull up along Rising and the second we were level, Serts' ears popped forward. I asked him to back off and when Rising nosed ahead, Serts' ears went back. Goofy horse! I scolded him lightly and backed him off so he had to stay behind Rising.

Before we knew it, we were coming out on the road and the in-timers were not far away! We were done! Serts looked great!

I dropped Serts' saddle on the ground and took him immediately to pulse in for his finish time. He did great in his vet out. All As again! He'd done it! Our second LD together! What a great feeling. I had such a great time with Serts! So proud of that horse!

The rest of the day was spent showering, packing things up for the drive home and attending the awards, dinner and ride meeting. I filled out my Yellowhammer entry form for a 75 for Tanna and a 25 for Serts the following day. I handed it to Tamra with my deposit.

Can hardly wait!

Seems like the curse of BSF is over!! At least for this year. I was so happy to be able to ride both horses and have two completions.

The ride management does a great job at BSF. I hope to be back next year to ride again. :)

More pictures on my Flickr account.

BSF, maybe

2009-09-07T13:37:00.003-05:00

Serts' leg is all healed up!

After some expensive and nail-biting drama with the hauling truck, we are finally packing for BSF!

Tanna is scheduled for a 50 on Thursday and Serts for a 30 on Friday!

I have a hard time getting to ride this ride, so we'll have wait and see if I actually get to ride.

When you trip, you fall

2009-08-23T20:43:00.002-05:00

Today, I took Serts out from the house for a conditioning ride. I was hoping to take Tanna out with us on a lead rope, but his left hind shoe is quite loose and one of my easyboots busted the cable when I tried to put those on.

So Serts and I headed out alone. We were on our way back, headed for a 15+ mile ride when Serts tripped and went down on his left side. When we both righted ourselves, I was pleased to find my left leg was still intact. But Serts had pulled his left front shoe off (which made him trip in the first place) and scraped up the stifle on his left hind pretty good.

Serts wasn't lame at all. I used some Kleenex to clean the blood off and noticed one cut was still bleeding. It bled slowly for several minutes before finally stopping. I hand-walked Serts for awhile, then mounted and we headed back home at a walk. I finally got ahold of Daniel and he hitched up the truck and met us about 2.5 miles from home.

Serts is still not lame and seems ok. Not stiff, just with that wound. I am treating it with blue wound spray. Hopefully it will clear up nicely without issue in time for Big South Fork.

Jealousy

2009-08-17T21:06:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, I took Tanna to the trails at Natchez Trace Parkway and we did about 21 miles in long slow distance (LSD). Tanna did great as usual.

Today, it was Serts' turn for a ride out from the house. Tanna likes to play games when I go out to catch him for a ride, but this time he only made a lazy half circle and then came to me. I touched his nose with the halter, patted his neck, and turned to get Serts. Curious, Tanna followed me and watched while I saddled Serts. I debated bringing Tanna along with us, but decided it would be better for me to concentrate on Serts, so left Tanna staring after us as we headed down the road.

After a good solid ride with Serts (during which we were rained on), I returned to the house and proceeded to pull tack and sponge Serts down. Tanna followed close on Serts' heels from the moment we got back in the gate and stood very close during the ending procedures.

Feels good to have Tanna be so companionable the day after a 20 mile ride. Sometimes I wonder if he really does enjoy training. Seems he does. :)

We are getting prepped for the Big South Fork Endurance Ride the week after Labor Day. Last week, I sent in my entry for the boys. Tanna is scheduled for a 50 mile ride and Serts for a 30 mile ride.

Now if I can just figure out why my stirrup leathers are pinching and FIX the problem!

Clearing trail

2009-07-29T19:36:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week, I rode Tanna and went up our usual hill and discovered that the house they've been threatening to build for years is finally being started. How dare they mess up my training hill. ;)

So tonight, with a storm looming, I hopped on Serts with my handy dandy brush clippers and headed up into our back 3 wooded acres. The horses have trails all through there, but they're not extremely conducive to riding. I spent an hour clipping small branches, vines and thorns from horseback until I finally ended up with a somewhat acceptable 0.15 mile trail up the back hill. I barely beat the rain back into the house.

Still need to spend some more time out there clipping more trails. And I need to get Daniel to get some larger limbs out of the way, but now I can do some riding back there.

Riding Lessons

2009-07-20T18:58:00.001-05:00

A week ago Sunday, Daniel and I had Rinnah and Lillie come stay with us Saturday night so the girls could have a horseback riding lesson on Sunday morning.

After breakfast, I started Rinnah's lesson first while Lillie hung out with Uncle Daniel and our new kitten, George.

Rinnah learned about a rope halter and how to tell which hole to put Serts' nose through. Then she learned to tie the knot to hold the halter on. I took it out and had her tie it three times before we moved on. She snapped the lead rope to the halter and led Serts to the trailer while I kept Tanna at bay.

Rinnah climbed up on the fender of the trailer and learned to tie a horseman's quick release knot. It took several tries, but she did it! The rope was tied to the trailer for a week until I trailered out for a training ride and then I had to remove it. I was proud of her. :)

Next, Rinnah and I brushed Serts. Rinnah brushed one side and I brushed the other. That tall mounting block I got last year to help me after I began to ride again came in quite handy!

I put the bareback pad on Serts and showed Rinnah how to buckle up the girth. English girths are quite good for that!

Rinnah then put the breast collar on. She struggled quite a bit with the snaps, but I encouraged her to keep at it and she did do it all herself.

Then it was time for the bridle and Rinnah snapped the bridle to the rope halter and the reins to the bridle.

After all that, Rinnah mounted up with a little assistance from me. She grabbed mane and I just gave her a leg up like they do for jockeys and up she went!

I led Serts into the round pen and Rinnah learned to start and stop Serts. She was doing so well, I went ahead and taught her how to neck rein Serts. Finally, we went outside the round pen. Serts decided it was time to go to the house and wouldn't heed Rinnah's cues to turn around, so I taught Rinnah how to straight rein as well.

What a fun, full lesson! It was about an hour and a half in length!

Next it was Lillie's turn. She hopped right on and I led Serts into the round pen again. She was sitting so well, I decided Lillie could learn to stop and start Serts, too. She learned that quite well! And only days before her 5th birthday!

Then Lillie wanted to go for a little ride down the road, so I hopped on behind her and we headed down the road. We found my friend, Cindy and another friend of hers out for a ride, so we hooked up together and rode for about an hour. Lillie learned to slow Serts from a trot to a walk and how to neck rein. She seemed to have a lot of fun since she kept declaring how much fun it was! We finished her lesson by her leading Serts up to the house while I rode! So I got a pony ride, too! :-)

They both did so well and I'm so proud of them! I can't wait to have them out for another ride!

Skito Bareback Pad Review

2009-07-13T05:55:00.003-05:00

I received my bareback pad a while ago and have used it several times now.

It looks to be well-constructed, with crupper and breast collar rings and a nice grip seat. I ordered the high profile pad in petra brown, which is a soft upholestry fabric. Serts doesn't have high withers, but I figured I might as well get the high profile as who knows who I'll put this on in the future.

The first thing I did was remove the inserts. I wanted to try out the pad without those first.

I decided I didn't need to use a crupper with Serts, but I did use the breastcollar, because it keeps the pad from slipping too far back on a hill and if something untoward happened, it should keep the pad from slipping completely underneath Serts.

I rode in shorts and was very pleased with the softness of the fabric against my legs. The grippy seat on the pad is a nice touch.

The inserts were still out of the pad, so after the 75 minute ride in 95 degree heat, Serts' sweat did manage to seep through to my legs. But without the pad, I'd have been sliding around in sweat after 5 minutes, so I was plenty pleased! The wet part was immediately under my thighs and probably some of that came from me. Also, there was no sliding in slippery sweat as it wasn't that bad.

Later on, I put the inserts back in and went for more rides. The inserts really do make a difference. It was very nice. I could still feel Serts, but I didn't have to feel his backbone. I gave lessons to my nieces in this pad and they didn't have a single complaint, where without the pad, they were complaining Serts' back bone was hurting them. One of my nieces rode in shorts and she didn't have a single complaint.

(That's Lillie riding. This was a few days before her 5th birthday. Isn't she cute???)

The not so good. Everything has down sides, right?

The handle on the pad is pretty useless on Serts. There is just nothing to grip against. It is a handy carrying handle, though! One can grab mane or the breast collar strap if it's need, so no big deal.

That's the only downside I can think of!

I've washed the pad a few times in my front loader washing machine and it cleans up well. Of course, I take out the inserts to wash it. Now to watch it and see how well it holds up to repeated washings.

Verdict so far is that I really like this pad and am very happy with it.

A few more pictures can be found on my Flickr account.

Which Bareback Pad

2009-06-04T21:08:00.004-05:00

I rode Serts bareback last week during an hour long interval training session. While bareback is a lot of fun, Serts sweats a lot during the summer. And I was swimming in sweat quite soon. Also, with his distance training, he has dropped some weight and is a little less comfortable to ride than when he was fat and sassy.

So I went on a quest to find a bareback pad. There are a couple things I look for in a bareback pad. Must be able to use a regular girth (english or western). NO stirrups. I think they're dangerous on a bareback pad and refuse to have them. No strap that goes over the top of the pad to rub my legs.

I did some research on my own, then asked the good folks on Ridecamp for some suggestions.

Here is what I looked at.

Cashel Bareback Pad: Around $100. This is just a big piece of foam you sit on. Heat build up concerns me greatly. (This is not the soft saddle. I had one of those and while it was super comfy for walking, the flaps bunched if we trotted any.)

Best Friend Comfort Plus Bareback pad: Around $75. Looks comfy, but I wonder about the spot where the girth comes into the pad. Also found some indication that this pad bunches up and doesn't lay nicely on the horse.

Stacy Westfall Gel Ultrasuede Bareback Pad. Around $140. Pricey, but looks very interesting and comfortable, but no mention of rings to attach a breast collar.

Little Joe Bareback Saddle ($230): Looks interesting, but I didn't like the look straps over the top of the pad. The same complaint I have about the $30 pad I have in my tack room. Maybe it wouldn't bother most people, but I want to ride in shorts and I'm delicate. ;-D

Natural Ride ($150): I like that this has a bit of stabilization, but it didn't really appeal to me.

Skito bareback pad ($250): Really like this one. Uses the same foam pads their other pads use, hopefully creating a spine channel. Uses an English/dressage girth and has crupper/breast collar rings. Can get a high profile version. Pads can be removed for a closer feel. Easily washed in the washing machine as the pads can be removed for cleaning.

There were some others I looked at briefly, but kept coming back to the Skito.

I'm in the process of getting one from Naomi Preston of www.TTeamforendurance.com. I did a special order to get the right color, fabric and high profile version, so it might take a couple or three weeks to get to me.

The price was a bit higher than I initially wanted to pay, but this pad should last for years.

I hope to be able to use this for some short training rides over the summer and to use with my nieces when they come to ride. Allowing the benefits of bareback without the slippery sweat issues!

Time to train again

2009-05-25T21:23:00.001-05:00

Tanna has been out of training for about 4 weeks now. I gave him some time off after Chicken Chase and then just before Race the Trace, he came up lame. Somehow he tangled his front right pastern with something that gave him a deep wire/rope cut on the back of his pastern. He was lame for 4 - 5 days.

Tonight, I've finally deemed him fit enough to return to work. We've got our eye on heading to the GERA Fundraiser ride in Georgia in June.

Serts has been on rest since he helped me mark and unmark trail for the Race the Trace ride in early May. He did about 38 miles in 2 days, so I gave him some rest time. But it's time for him to get back to work, too. As soon as my farrier comes out tomorrow to reshoe him. :)

Chicken Chase 2009

2009-04-28T23:58:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite times: Time to go to the Chicken Chase Endurance Ride! This would be our 7th year to attend this 3-day ride near Henryville, IN, the birthplace of Colonel Sanders.

This year, Serts joined us for the trip as I had hopes of riding him in his first 25 mile ride. Tanna was entered in the 55 mile ride on Friday.

Wednesday morning, we finished the packing, loaded up the horses and headed north. After 4.5 hours (including 30 minutes worth of stops), we arrived at Bill Wilson's farm on the edge of Clark State Forest.

We parked in our usual spot along the fence-line. This was our first time to bring Serts to this ride and Daniel and I discussed at length how to arrange the panels to get the best layout for the horses. We finally settled on a layout that worked for us at Yellowhammer and Daniel proceeded to assemble the pen.

The weather was uncomfortably cool (low 40s), so Daniel and I brought Sib, our cat, into the slide-in camper with us for the evening. We fashioned a crate out of a cabinet and the divider from her wire crate. It worked quite well and at least kept her out of the trailer for the night.

The next day, Daniel and I enjoyed a leisurely morning with pancakes and oatmeal for breakfast. Then I saddled up Serts and went for a ride. Serts wasn't due to have his ride until Sunday and I wanted to give him a little exercise and allow him to see the trails. I headed out along the ridge for a couple miles and then allowed him a canter (he loves to canter) along the way back towards camp. I passed camp and headed to ride the last 1/2 mile of the trail that Serts would be doing so he could see where he was. His HR was good and I kept it largely to under 135 for the ride.

As I approached the entrance to the trail, I came on Amy Whelan and her daughter Annie out for a ride. Annie is in training for her first Competitive Trail ride and later this year, hopefully, an LD ride! As they were headed back to camp, I invited them to come along with me for the little jaunt along the trail. They accepted and I had a wonderful time chatting with Amy and Annie.

The weather was warming up somewhat, although it was still cloudy and a little cool. After returning to camp, I settled Serts in his pen next to Tanna (who had not stopped moving the entire hour we were gone, I was told). I put my ankle brace on and headed out for a run.

This was my first run outdoors run since I broke my ankle last July. I had a Cardio Coach workout on my iPod, so I headed down the road to hit the trail for a good heart-pumping run. Now, let me abuse you of any notions of how fast I am. I am quite slow. I was slow before I broke my ankle. And now, I was watching snails pass me. But I did get my heart rate up there, per Coach Sean's directions, and I had a wonderful time, so I'm still going to call it a run, even though most anybody else could have walked past me without any problem. :)

I so enjoyed being back out running on the trails. I had run some on my treadmill at home, but I truly love the trails, especially the day before an endurance ride. Something so soothing about being out on my own two feet in God's nature. It also teaches me to appreciate my horses more as I run the trails they traverse!

Back at the trailer, I set up our shower to wash the sweat and grime away. Daniel set up our trailer very nicely with a tarp to make a large shower area and our Zodiac propane water heat. Ah, the comforts of camping. :)

Then it was time to head to registration. I hung out with Amy and Susan Vuturo as they checked people in. I also bought a year's worth of Girl Scout cookies. :) It's another tradition to buy them from Amy and take them home and put them in my freezer. Periodically through the year, I'll pull a box out and we'll enjoy some cookies.

I finally decided it was time to get Tanna and take him to the pre-ride vet check. But Tanna had other ideas. I made it back to our trailer in time to see Tanna lowering himself to the ground with a sigh for a sunning and a rest. Serts quickly followed suit. Well, well. I didn't want to disturb them (aren't they spoiled??) so I headed back to hang out at the registration desk for another 30 minutes or so.

While watching people register for the next day, I was introduced to Sabine. This lovely lady was planning to do her first 50 mile ride the next day. She had many limited distance (25 - 35 mile) rides, but this would be her first longer ride. I was happy to tell her she could ride with me if she would like to as her friends had decided to ride the 25 mile ride the next day.

When I returned, Tanna was standing, so I haltered him and we went to the vet for a look-over.

Tanna bounced through his trot-out with his usual enthusiasm and we were cleared to ride the 55 mile endurance ride the next day.

I spent the next hour or so getting my vet check bag ready for the away vet checks the next day. We would ride a 20 mile loop to the vet check, then do a 20 mile loop back to the same vet check before heading the last 15 miles for camp and the finish. So I needed to pack enough stuff for 2 vet checks. Bottled water, bags of feed, granola bars, feed pan, hay, apples, carrots, hoof pick, fly spray, Forerunner 305 travel charger, wool blanket to use as a cooler, syringe, Lyte Now, jars of probiotic/applesauce mixture, hand-held heart rate monitor. Check, check, check, check. Finally the bag was ready.

Back to the garage for the ride meeting to go over all the things we needed to know for the next day. The horses must meet a 60 bpm pulse before the hold time started. Hold times would be 40 minutes long after pulsing down. Tack on or off, rider's choice (I tend to prefer tack off).

Friday morning, Daniel and I saddled up in the chill and I headed to the start to warm Tanna up. I saw Sabine and Leon, her horse, warming up as well and we continued to warm up together while chatting merrily.

When the ride started, we walked calmly down the road to the trail. The horses seemed to get along ok and were walking beautifully. We began trotting after reaching the trail. I kept Tanna to a moderate trot. He prefers to go all out, but I don't. :-) Before the first turn, we were overtaken by a group and we allowed them to pass. Over the hills and through the woods we went, Sabine and I chatting. I kept Tanna down to a dull roar, determined to keep the pace slow and controlled.

We reached the first vet check in decent time. I located my vet check stuff brought out by the ride management and pulled Tanna's saddle off. My hand held HRM didn't want to tell me his HR, so I just took him straight to the vet in. He was down and vetted in ok, although his muscle tone was down a bit.

Back to our stuff for the rest of the hold. I plugged my Forerunner 305 into the travel charger and fed Tanna. I stood holding his feed pan so he would eat. He ate pretty well (for him) for the first vet check.

Before long, it was time to head back on trail. This next loop would be tough and slow going with lots of hills and switchbacks. We met several riders as part of the loop was an out and back. We saw a few riders that had missed some trail and had to be sent back out to complete the trail. They still passed us. ;) We took over 4 hours to do that 20 mile loop. It was long and warm and a very tough loop.

Back into the vet check again. Tanna was doing ok, but not as well as I like to see. I began to think I had neglected his conditioning somewhat while getting Serts ready. Still nothing really said don't keep going, so after the hold we saddled up again and headed out. I packed all my things together for the return trip in Amy's truck and Sabine and I headed back to camp for the last 15 miles of the journey.

Sabine's horse, Leon, has a very nice long trot that he can do pretty effortlessly. Tanna, on the other hand, was fighting to keep up at a trot and I didn't want him to canter overly much as I was worried about his muscle tone. So it was a struggle for the last loop until Tanna and I took the lead. Leon seemed to do well at shortening his stride to stay behind us. I encouraged Sabine to head out on her own if she wanted, but she stayed with us. I enjoyed her company and we had a good time chatting all day long.

Finally, we made it to the top of the last hill and came out on a gravel road on the ridge. Only 2 miles to camp! Whoohooo! I still insisted on a slow trot. I didn't want the horses to blow themselves out and have a hard time pulsing down at the finish. Tanna danced and snorted and blew, but stayed at an 8 mph trot. I laughed as Leon spooked at something and told Sabine she should be happy he had the energy left for such antics. Tanna's energy was not in doubt as he pranced like an idiot.

I got my finish time and headed back to the trailer to pull Tanna's tack. (Serts was quite enthusiastic to see us!) I found his hamstrings pretty tight, especially his left one that seemed to be knotted some. I massaged it for a few minutes before heading up to pulse and vet in. Tanna's back was sore at the loins, also the left. I was not too happy about that. I could be riding off due to my leg injury. Or the saddle might need to be tweaked some.

I took Tanna into the pulse box and got his finish pulse. Sabine and Leon were at the other end of the box, so I kept Tanna nearby so as not to undully excite him. I continued to massage Tanna's hamstring to keep him from knotting up. We'd done the miles and I wanted that completion!

When Leon pulsed in, I headed to the vet. Dr. Maureen vetted us out. Tanna wasn't lame from his hamstring, just a bit short-strided. I was happy to get the completion, but irritated about the muscle tightness. Leon and Sabine also completed! Yay! Their first endurance ride! What a tough one they chose. Leon looked wonderful! :)

When I got Tanna back to the trailer, I found a large rock wedged in his front left hoof. Hmmm, wonder if that had anything to do with it? I walked Tanna and gave him periodic massages until the ride meeting/awards, keeping him covered with his cooler to keep him from getting chilled. The weather was warm, but it was late in the day, cooling off and a breeze was prone to come up.

After a nice shower, awards and dinner, I was ready for some sleep!

Sabbath was a nice day, but warm. I woke up as the riders were preparing for their rides. I walked Tanna around, allowing him to graze and look around. I was pleased that his hamstrings were no longer tight and knotted. :) His back was still tender, but better than the evening before. After all the riders left, I headed back to the trailer and crawled in bed for another hour or two of sleep.

Sabbath was leisurely, spent walking the horses and enjoying the warm weather while dreading the weather of Sunday. Rain and thunderstorms were on tap.

Serts vetted in for his LD ok. He wasn't as well behaved as Tanna, but certainly not bad. He'll get used to it. :) He trotted out nicely. We've been practicing that alot. He has a slow start, so I have to ask him to trot while I'm still walking and then I start jogging. It's interesting as with Tanna I have to jump into a jog/run right away or he'll leave me behind! Serts trots nicely, but he takes a couple steps to get up to speed.

The ride meeting for the Sunday LD revealed we would go out on the longer 15 mile blue loop first and do the shorter 10 mile pink loop last. I was very happy. I figured if I got Serts through the 15 mile loop and he happened to be a little tired, I could still baby him through a 10 mile loop. But I wouldn't want to baby him through a 15 mile loop. Pulse was 60 again with a single 40 minute hold time.

All through the night, I listened for the rain. It finally came and I tacked up in the dark and wet. Lovely. But it was better for Serts. He still had a lot of winter hair and the 75+ degree sunny weather that Tanna had on Friday would have been more difficult for him. I put Serts' rump rug on him and covered the saddle with his rain sheet to keep the saddle dry for as long as possible and keep Serts from getting chilled.

When I mounted up and headed for the start, Serts was interested in the activity, but not unduly concerned. Tanna was not happy that we were leaving him, but Serts didn't pay him much attention.

At the start, I just walked out with the rest of the group. There were only 13 riders and I wanted to see how Serts would handle being with all the other horses. The front runners left us pretty quickly, but Patty De Mott tucked in behind us for awhile. She was riding a new, young horse and while this was Serts' first ride, he is not extremely young at 20 years old!

We went along in companionable silence, occasionally making a comment here and there. After a few miles, Patty decided we were going too slow and her horse was doing well, so she headed on down the trail. Another group of riders passed us.

At this point, Serts became concerned. Surely something was wrong here! When you ride out on a trail ride, you all stay together! He wasn't too bad, but he was a bit upset.

Headed down a hill, I decided to pull off trail and take a short...break. Another group of 3 riders were just behind us. I exchanged pleasantries with them and proceeded with my business after they got out of sight. Well, Serts just fell apart. That was so not right. To allow so many horses to get so far ahead of us. What was I thinking?? He spun around me in a wide arc as I attempted to position him to mount. I finally managed to lunge into the saddle and we headed down the hill after the other riders.

We stayed a decent distance behind for awhile, but caught up to the last group of 3 riders as they were about to ascend the hill to the Pekin Saddle club. I insisted on a walk up the hill and the riders pulled away again.

At some point Serts' HRM was reading very high. Almost 200 bpm. I though the girth had loosened, so I stopped to see if I could fix that. It took about 5 minutes for me to remount because Serts would not stand still. We went side-passing down the trail. He does a very nice side pass. Silly horse.

We managed to stay behind the other riders until we were about a mile from camp. I hung back a minute, but it became clear they weren't moving right away, so I eased on past them. They fell into line behind me. Apparently the mare that had been leading decided she didn't want to lead right then, but was perfectly happy following Serts. Ok by us.

Serts' HRM was still reading quite high. I had long since abandoned relying on it and was riding to speed (slow speed) and terrain rather than HR. At the pavement, I hopped off and walked in. By the time I got to my vet check stuff set out, Serts was at 53. Ok. Straight to the vet. I had thought I would pull the saddle, but with the rain, it was just easier not to, especially since he was down.

Serts vetted in well and trotted out nicely. 40 minutes and we'd be on trail again.

Daniel graciously followed me back to our vet check area and offered to hold Serts for me. We tossed the rain sheet over him to keep the saddle a little drier and to keep Serts warm and dry. I opened up the hay and dumped some food in his dish and headed off to find a warm, dry sweatshirt as well as a porta potty.

At the trailer, Tanna looked cold and pathetic, so I quickly switched out his rain jacket for his warm winter coat and gave him some dry hay. Then I found a dry sweat shirt for me and drank some protein drink. I grabbed a small bag of cheetos and headed back to the vet check area.

Serts had eaten all his food and was grazing. I thanked Daniel and asked him to yell at me (from the dryness of the porch) when I had 5 minutes left in my hold. I continued to let Serts graze until the end of the hold. I removed the rain sheet, tightened up the girth and mounted up. The 3 riders that had come in with me were not out yet, so we headed out on our own.

Serts was sedate and trotted along at a sane speed. He kept listening behind him for the other riders, but they never caught up with us. I urged him to keep moving, keeping him interested by throwing in a canter every now and again. The pink loop repeated much of the blue loop, so Serts had already seen the trail. The loop was uneventful. When I reached the pavement again, I hopped off to walk the last bit.

Again, Serts' pulse was down below 60 by the time I got him to the vet check area. So I pulled his tack and threw his rain sheet over him.

He vetted in in fine style, looking like he could go do it all again.

But with the rain, I was thankful we didn't have to!! :-) After we finished with the vet, Amy told me our ride time was 4 hours 34 minutes (not bad for an old man) and we were tenth place! :-) So he top tenned his first LD out. :-) I was very happy to hear that!

I headed back to the trailer, leaving all my stuff up by the house.

I stopped at the water hose and sprayed the mud off Serts' legs and belly. That stuff is hard to remove after it dries!! Serts and Tanna could see each other at this point and kept calling to each other. I turned Serts into the pen (it was configured so it could be larger for one horse or split into 2 smaller pens. I left them together in the larger pen. Tanna hadn't eaten all his breakfast, so Serts attacked it. Tanna of course decided he wanted some then, so the pair of them were eating out of Tanna's large flat pan.

Happy to see them together and eating, I got our wheeled cart and headed back to get all my stuff. No point in getting clean and dry and then having to deal with dirty/wet saddle stuff! Daniel helped me load the stuff into the cart and came back to the trailer with me. We packed up the trailer and camper except for the horse pen and then I cleaned up.

We visited with Bill, Amy and Drs. Mike and Maureen for a good hour or more while allowing the horses to rest up. Finally, we headed back into the rain. I walked the horses around, grazing and trotting them a little, while Daniel hung the corral panels on the side of the trailer and secured them. Then we loaded up the horses and headed for home.

Tanna's back was no longer tender by Monday afternoon and Serts showed no issues from his LD. Another successful weekend. Although I now have some work to see if Tanna's saddle needs to be tweaked or my riding corrected or maybe it was just a combination of things that led to his soreness.

Chicken Chase is always so much fun. Even in the rain! :-) I am proud of the horses and so happy to be riding Serts. Now I have an LD horse and an endurance horse!

Training Progress

2009-04-07T20:27:00.000-05:00

Sunday, I had a good training ride on Serts. We went 19 miles in 3 hours 40 minutes. Slow, but steady. Serts did great. I kept his HR under 135 for the most part. He did really well. His post-ride trot out was energetic and his CRI was good. When I turned him loose in the paddock and took Tanna out, Serts took several fast turns around the paddock, protesting me taking Tanna. Very nice to see him have lots of energy left. So next week, we will head for Chicken Chase and Serts will be entered in the 25 mile distance on Sunday, April 19.

Tanna and I did a quick 2 hour ride, also. He is ready and will be entered in the 55 mile distance on Friday, April 17.

Both horses get new shoes tomorrow and camper packing will commence this coming Sunday. What fun!

How to saddle with a Horse HRM

2009-04-06T21:03:00.002-05:00

Ok, so earlier, I showed how to convert a human chest heart rate transmitter into one to use with a horse under saddle. But how to actually get that to work?

The supplies you need before you get started:

Converted HRM Transmitter
Flat electrode with long black coiled wire
Flat electrode with shorter white straight wire
Electrode Gel (you should have gotten a small tube when you bought the transmitter adapter kit) or a water bottle
Girth
Saddle
Horse with a heart rate
Optional: Thick felt rectangle
Optional: small bungee cable

I use 2 different types of girth. This post will focus on using a neoprene girth. Smooth neoprene is hands down my favorite girth material. Unfortunately, Tanna does not like it, so I have to use a fleece-covered mohair girth for him. What a prima donna! ;-) So Serts will be my model for this post.

Ok, let's get started on the steps.

Attach the converted transmitter to the saddle. I attach it to the D rings on the front of the saddle.

Put a dollup of gel on the electrode attached to the white wire. (You can wet the hair down really well with water if you don't have gel.) Place the electrode on the horse's back on the right hand side. You want the electrode far enough back from the shoulder that the electrode will not drop into the hollow behind the shoulder when the horse is moving. Position the electrode down from the spine along the back muscles. You want the bars of the saddle to firmly press the electrode against the horse's skin during work. Don't worry, these electrodes are wide and flat and my horses have never had any discomfort from having one there. Just make sure it's on the muscle, not the spine.

Put your saddle pad on, making sure the wire from the electrode comes out under the pad at the withers. I use Toklat woolback pads. The electrodes have velcro on the back of them, so once I position the electrode and place the saddle pad on the horse, the electrode sticks to the pad. So after placing the pad on, I peek underneath to be sure the electrode is still where I put it. If so, I can put the saddle on.

Snap the wire from the electrode to the pig-tail of the converted transmitter.

Loosely girth up your horse, leaving plenty of room between the girth and the horse so you can work easily.

I use a neoprene girth and I don't like to crank down the girth tight (Serts doesn't like it either!). But the girth electrode does need snug contact with the skin in order to work properly. So I use a large felt rectangle. It's actually a girth buckle guard I bought from Running Bear.com. Since the electrode has a velcro backing, I can place the electrode on the felt and it will stick there.

Put a dollop of gel on the electrode (or again, wet down the skin where the electrode will be). Place the felt piece on the girth on the horse's left side. When the girth is done up, you want the electrode to end up along the side of the horse where you'd take his HR with a stethescope.

Tighten the girth up just enough to hold the electrode against the horse's body, but don't tighten it yet.

Take the coiled wire and wrap it around the girth buckle, leaving a little slack between the electrode and the buckle of the girth. Then further up, take a turn around another d-ring, maybe even the one the HRM is snapped to. I like to do this to have some stability so there won't be tugging on the electrode side or the snap side.

Snap the snap to the other pig-tail.

Snug up the girth to where you want it.

Take the bungee and thread it through the loops of the felt rectangle, criss-cross it and hook to the girth buckle. This keeps the felt piece from sliding down or falling off altogether if the girth loosens up during the ride.

Turn on your Garmin Forerunner. Your horse's HR should show up. :)

Convert Human Chest Heart Rate Monitor For a Horse

2009-04-04T20:59:00.003-05:00

So how do I get a Garmin chest heart rate monitor to work on my horse?? (Btw, this works with any chest HRM, but of course I use Garmin's so I can have an integrated HRM and GPS solution!)

Well, hold on to your saddle, because I'm about to show you.

First off, gather your supplies:

Garmin Chest HRM Transmitter
V-MAX Strip Transmitter Adapter Kit which can be purchased from The Distance Depot
2 small pieces of closed-cell foam or similar material
Waterproof first-aid tape
Scissors (optional)
2 small carbingers

Peel a sticky electrode off the plastic backing and position it near the end of the underside (ridged) of the HRM. Make sure the electrode is fully on the ridged part.

Do this to the other side, too.

Take one of the short pig-tail wires and tie it around the hole in the transmitter on one side.

Snap one side of the pig-tail wire to the stick snap electrode. Do this to the other side, too.

Slide a piece of foam between the wire and the transmitter on each side. This will keep the wire from getting pushed down right there and possibly popping the snap off or separating the sticky part from the transmitter. You want to be sure there is a very good connection there at all times or the HRM won't work properly.

Take the waterproof first aid tape and carefully wrap one side. Be sure to cover the entire ridged part of the transmitter and enough to the outer edge to protect the sticky electrode from water or drying out from air. But don't completely cover the hole at the edge of the transmitter. And make sure the end of the pig-tail wire is sticking out. Tear the tape or use the scissors.

Now do the other side.

Take the transmitter sleeve pouch and unvelcro it. Lay the transmitter face down in the pouch and velcro it closed with the velcro on the back side of the transmitter. Putting the transmitter face down allows you to change the battery quickly without taking the pouch completely off.

Flip the transmitter over so the velcro side of the pouch is facing down.

Take one of the carbingers with the open side facing up. Slide the carbinger through the hole in the transmitter.

Then slide the carbinger through the clip of the transmitter pouch.

Rotate the carbinger so the opening faces down.

Attach the carbinger on the other side.

The carbingers keep the transmitter pouch in place and allows me to quickly move the transmitter from one saddle to another.

The longer lead wires snap into the pig-tails to provide a complete transition from a human HRM to a horse one.

Training with Serts

2009-03-29T21:07:00.004-05:00

Today I took Serts out for a training ride. I have been riding him without a HRM, but decided it was time to do that. My plan was to do an 18 mile training to gauge his readiness for an LD at Chicken Chase. Additional goals were to keep his HR under 135 (except for short stints uphill) and to keep the average speed between 5 and 6 mph.

Daniel suggested I stay close to home so that if Serts got too sour or I got too frustrated, we could stop early and not be several miles from home. I figured that was good advice. Besides, the hills are right next to the house and I wanted to be sure to get some hill work during the ride.

So we headed off down the street for a ride. Serts was doing pretty well. I gave him short breaks often and allowed him to eat some grass along the way. I am working with him on eating. He wants to stop from a trot to grab a nice bite of grass, but I don't like that, so I am working on training him to only eat when I allow it. So even when we walk, I don't allow him to eat at will like I do with Tanna. Not that Serts didn't get plenty of grass on the ride, just only when I dictated since he's so piggish about it.

We were right on schedule, ranging out a couple miles from the house and then doubling back to climb a hill and repeating. I was pleased and Serts seemed to be doing well.

But then the HRM started to read too high. At first, the readings weren't too bad. About 150. I thought maybe Serts was getting tired, so I dropped back to a walk for a minute or two, then asked for a trot again. The HR reading degraded to the point it was 230 even while walking. I hopped off several times to adjust the girth electrode, but couldn't get the reading to be consistent again.

Since Serts is hard for me to read about whether he's really tired vs just bored, I decided to nix the rest of the ride and headed back home.

Serts' long hair had balled up and clumped around the girth electrode, so I wonder if that had something to do with it. It's also possible the HRM battery needs to be changed again.

We ended up with 10.7 miles instead of 18. Serts didn't seem stressed at all. His HR was 46 when I pulled the saddle (after the 10 minute cool down) and he trotted out readily for his post-workout trot out. I put a wool blanket on under his wind-breaker (it was rather chilly out with a stiff breeze) and turned him in the paddock with Tanna and some hay.

After he dried, I brushed him well and got rid of the clumps of shedding hair. All seemed good.

Still haven't made the final go-no-go decision for doing the LD at Chicken Chase. I'd still like to get an 18 mile ride on him before making that decision. Time is fast disappearing for that opportunity!

Spring Training

2009-03-18T21:56:00.002-05:00

Spring training is going well. I've been able to get some decent mileage in on Serts and Tanna. Sunday didn't go so well as I was ponying Serts off Tanna. Serts got bored or tired or both and we had a "fun" time getting back home in a decent amount of time.

So on Tuesday, I saddled up Serts and we went out all by ourselves. We did interval work of trotting a mile, then walking for 5 minutes. We did this 5 times. With warm-up and cool-down we got in 7.5 miles. Good enough. Serts was in good spirits. He tends to get bored quite fast. I need to get him out to a trail instead of riding from the house, but it's going to be a couple weeks. I was hoping to take him this coming Sunday, but I have to work Saturday night and will likely not be up to trailering out on Sunday. He will have to just grit his teeth and get through it. I'm still hoping his first LD (limited distance, 25 mile ride) might be at Chicken Chase next month.

My horses are getting older! Serts is now 20 years old and Tanna is 15! Seems hard to believe 8 years have passed since I got them. Tanna is definitely a mature, fun, riding buddy. His personality is very much the same, but he's no longer the flighty creature I brought home! He's still spirited, but much more reliable. Serts has gone through all sorts of changes since I got him, but he, too, is a good horse at a good place. If I can keep his interest, hopefully, he will make a good LD horse.

Last week, Daniel and I took the horses to the vet for their yearly shots, etc. Both horses are in good health. Tanna required dental work this year, but Serts is still good to go.

Neither horse is anemic this year! Yay! Ever since we discovered they were anemic in 2007, they have been getting Mega Dose vitamins along with salt in their meals and they've been good every time we've checked them since. Now the blood work is part of their yearly check-up. It's not expensive and the peace of mind is worth it.

Spring is coming!!

2009-03-12T06:26:00.002-05:00

Hard to tell right this minute as it's 35 degrees and rainy outside. But earlier this week, the weather was upwards of 70 degrees and very nice for training rides.

After the National Championships last October, I took a long time off from riding to recharge. A couple weeks ago, I began riding more often and training with a purpose.

Our next endurance ride is scheduled for mid-April. Chicken Chase is a tradition. We often start the ride season with this 3 day ride near Henryville, Indiana.

This year, we are taking both horses with us for the duration. So both horses are getting training time. Serts is doing well with his shorter rides and Tanna seemed to have benefited from the time off as he is taking his conditioning rides in stride and asking for more.

I can't wait until the weather turns nice again.

First Training Ride of 2009

2009-02-06T16:30:00.001-06:00

Yes, after weeks of slacking, I finally decided the 55+ degree sunny weather was perfect for a training ride on Sunday, February 1.

Tanna wasn't so sure, as he was sunning himself!

But I insisted and after awhile, we were saddled, helmeted and ready to ride! (He really wasn't too bad. He seemed eager for training to begin again.)

We headed down the road for a nice training ride at a relaxing pace.

After 2 hours and 12 miles, we returned. Our communication was slightly off, but it was so nice to have a quiet ride with my buddy.

Serts was also quite happy to have Tanna return!

This weekend promises more beautiful weather and I'm planning to get some horse time in on Sunday.

Not an update

2009-01-07T20:37:00.002-06:00

Not much has been going on since the National Championships. Serena and I both recovered well from our surgeries.

Tanna has been running barefoot in the pasture for a couple months. He gets another 5 weeks or so before the shoes go back on.

Serts is shod and happy. I haven't ridden him much. Just a couple rides. So he's fat and sassy.

My ankle is still stiff and I limp some occasionally until my leg gets warmed up. But I do walk on the treadmill and even am doing some basic step aerobics with my ankle brace on. There are little victories almost every week. I'm not running yet, but I hope to be running before too many more weeks. Just depends on when it doesn't hurt!

Surgeries

2008-10-31T06:45:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago, Daniel noticed a mass on Serena's tummy. I took her into get checked and we decided to have it removed. We scheduled her surgery for the day before mine so I'd be here to keep an eye on her for a couple days after her surgery.

Serena's surgery went well. She was naturally sleepy and groggy when I picked her up Wednesday afternoon and until yesterday morning. She's been pretty good, but she pulled out one of her staples yesterday so Daniel went to get her one of those cone collars.

I put red coat spray on the area to keep it from drying out too much. The vet sent a piece of the tumor off to see if it's cancer. They were only going to do that if they were concerned, so we'll see how that goes.

My surgery was yesterday. My appointed time to get there was 9 AM. We got there at 8:45. It was an hour before they took me back to the hospital ward type room. There were several beds separated by curtains. They wouldn't let Daniel go back with me initially. Not sure why because when I was undressed and in that silly gown, they let him come back for an hour.

When I had to use the restroom, they sent him back to the waiting room. Finally, after another hour, the anesthetist came and gave me something to relax me. I was out in 5 minutes. And that wasn't even the stuff that was supposed to make me sleep. Either that or I just don't remember.

When I woke up, I was in another little cube room. I have a bandage and an ace bandage over that. I'm to leave that on until Sabbath afternoon/evening. Then I can remove the bandage and take a quick shower and put band aids on instead.

I woke up pretty quickly. They got Daniel, let me get dressed, gave me my after surgery orders and wheeled me out to the truck.

I am to take my pain pills as needed (as long as it's been 6 hours since my last dose). Non-weight bearing until tomorrow. I have a follow-up visit on the 10th and I'm to wear my big boot until then.

The doc took out the long screw he was intending to. There were two other screws that were bothering me, so he pulled those out and another one for good measure. I've attached my pre and post op x-rays so you can see, if you're interested. I still have the plate and 8 pins.

I thought I'd sleep more yesterday, but I didn't. I did sleep well last night. :-)

NC Completion Award

2008-10-27T20:06:00.001-05:00

My National Championship completion award was a very nice zippered fleece jacket with the NC 2008 logo on it. I really liked it, but wanted to add an additional touch. So I took my jacket to Sew What?, a local sewing shop and asked them to add a couple lines.

I got the jacket today and I think it turned out great! A bargain at $13.

National Championships 2008

2008-10-21T18:55:00.002-05:00

Ride Recap

I saddled up Thursday morning in the rain. Daniel was very helpful from the very beginning, helping to get the saddle straight and the girth tight enough (but not too tight). I mounted up and Tanna was a good boy. No hunching or threatening to buck. A very good start to the day.

We walked to the front of the property where other riders were starting to gather. I gave my number (101) to Nancy Gooch, the legendary Southeast timer. I picked Joe and Kit out of the horses pretty quickly as Joe was on the ground walking and had his headlamp set to red. I followed suit and turned my headlamp on red as well. I kept Tanna walking to keep his mind engaged and his muscles warming up. His rump rug was securely over his hindquarters, keeping them warm and dry.

After Joe mounted, the two of us walked around together and Joe found Laura and her mare, Mo. Our little group was complete. Now to wait for the controlled start.

When Nancy called out the trail was open, the 44 horses slowly began making their way to the end of Bill Wilson's property and down the short stretch of pavement to the trails. Joe, Laura and I tucked in near the back and followed.

Once the horses were safely on trail and off pavement, the speed increased as the horses began to trot. I kept Tanna down to a dull roar. The darkness certainly helped his brain as he couldn't see all the other horses, just the ones right in front of him. I still had a good fight on my hands to keep him off those horses. I settled into the front position of our little group.

My little 14 year old grade Arab had no idea what I would ask of him in the next 24 hours. Not only would I ask him to go 100 miles, almost twice as far as we'd ever been before, but I would ask him to carry me up and down all the hills. Normally, I dismount and give him breaks on the steeper hills, but with my ankle only 3.5 months from being broken and the pins and plates still in place, that would not be happening on this ride.

After about 2 miles, we popped out on more pavement and I insisted on a walk. The best I got was a slow trot. He could have walked faster. Goofy boy. I did not want him or the other two horses slipping on the wet pavement. Shortly after reaching the pavement, a rider blazed past at a faster than safe (imo) speed. Right in the middle of our little group without a single word to any of us. Lovely trail manners (read the sarcasm).

When we reached good trail again, we again moved out at about a 9 or 10 mph trot. Soon we dropped off the ridge and down in the valleys for hills and climbs and single track trail. Somehow we all three separated here. Laura moved on out ahead, I hung out in the middle and Joe came along behind. Playing to the horses's strengths. Tanna was very strong and very insistent that he could go much faster than I was allowing.

After we popped back on the ridge, I paused to electrolyte Tanna. Sometime last season, I thought it would be fun to teach Tanna to electrolyte from the saddle. I only dose about 10 cc of LyteNow at a time. LyteNow is a thick paste and such a small amount is easy to syringe from the saddle and keep it in his mouth. I did it for fun before, but at this ride, I was so thankful that I didn't have to get off or bother Joe to get off and electrolyte my horse for me. I always follow up the electrolytes with a homemade concoction of Neigh-lox and Fastrack in an applesauce base. This last thing Tanna thinks is a treat and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy when I give it to him.

Back on the move, I kept Tanna to an 8 - 9 mph trot. Very hard with an open trail and an eager horse. But I know this horse and I knew he could not go as fast as he thought he could and still finish. We dropped down off the ridge again to follow the trails out to the new horsecamp. We fought a lot. My leg was bothering me quite a bit as Tanna fought and pitched a fit down a hill. Down hill is the worst for my injured leg. I was unhappy and in pain and spinning Tanna down the trail in an effort to get his brain back. At this point, Joe and Kit appeared behind us.

Somehow it was better with company. Joe was having issues getting Kit to settle down, too. At least I wasn't the only one!! We had both hoped the boys would settle down together, but no luck. They seemed to egg each other on and try to out-do each other.

We came in for the first vet check in last place just after 10 AM. Exactly where we wanted to be. My motto is "get out back early and stay there all day."

I walked Tanna over to our vet check area and carefully dismounted using the mounting block. Daniel immediately began unsaddling Tanna. It was cold and we were wet from the rain. Seems the rain had let up by this point, but I was still wet and cold. As soon as the saddle was off, I put a wool blanket over Tanna. I hobbled after Daniel to the pulse line and the vets. Tanna vetted in fine. The grass was slick and Tanna slid at the far end of the trot out. I caught my breath, but he was ok. He vetted in ok and back to our area for the 40 minute hold time.

I sat down, removed my shoe and brace and propped up my leg with an ice bag while Daniel settled Tanna with hay and feed. After about 15 minutes he ran back to the trailer and returned with a wind breaker for Tanna and another wool blanket for me. While on trail, I wasn't that cold, but stopping, boy, was I freezing!! I dutifully ate the meal I had planned for this check. An egg, a yogurt and a cheese stick. Protein, fat and carbs.

Before I knew it, Tamra, Joe's wife, crew and keeper of the time, called out the 10 minute warning and we moved to prepare to go back on trail. I replaced my brace and my shoe while Daniel began resaddling. I stopped by the porta potty, mounted up and headed out after Joe on our second loop for 16.5 miles. Laura had left out earlier since she had made it into the check earlier than us.

This was our pattern in the vet checks. Tamra was very good about keeping an eye on the time all day long. Anytime I called out "time check" she would respond how long we had left in the hold. Very handy when trying to determine if Daniel had time to run here or there to do this or that.

This time, the horses were moving along nicely. Still asking to move faster, but behaving themselves for the most part. We were on a ridge for about 2 miles and after a walking warm-up down a short stretch of pavement, we allowed the pace to be quick at 10 - 11 mph. Soon enough, we'd drop off the ridge and slow up. Both Joe and I commented on how well the horses were working together. We made good time, even after dropping down the ridge. We caught up with Laura and her mare and the three of us continued on together into the away vet check a bit after 1 PM.

When we came into that check, the sun was out and it was pleasant although not what I would call warm. There was lots to look at though, and Tanna's heart rate was not down to 64 bpm by the time we got the saddle off. Tamra graciously helped check his HR while Daniel held Tanna and I sponged his neck and cleaned his legs to get him to relax. Doug Sandlin and Roger Barrett (crewing for Ed who was out on trail) were helping Joe get Kit down to criteria. Finally down and to the vet. Tanna vetted in well and we returned to our crewing area. Kit also was vetted in and back.

Unfortunately, Laura pulled her mare at this check. Just wasn't their trail or their day.

A third of our ride over already! I ate the Subway sandwich Daniel had retrieved for me from the lunch table and a couple of cookies baked by Nina Barnett (yummy!). Tamra and I discussed the upcoming loop. It was a tough loop. 15.5 miles and lots of hills. It would be a slow loop. Tamra stressed not getting complacent, but to move out when we could to make time. I told her and Daniel to expect us in 3 hours. We would do our best to keep to that time frame.

Off we went on our tough loop. We were truly the turtles, moving at a slow, steady pace. I know management was concerned that we would be too slow, but we had a good plan and were so far working to the plan. Our goal was slow and steady all day and all night until the job was done.

The 3rd loop was pleasant. Some of the tough hills I was expecting were not in the actual loop! I was happy to discover a whole section of switchbacks were by-passed. Whew! And some of the tough hills on the Shaw Lake loop were broken up by the Wildlife loop in the middle. I had never ridden the wildlife loop and quite enjoyed it. Mike Caudill met us on that loop with some water and then met us again on the way out of the Shaw Lake loop. Thanks, Mike!!

Headed back to the vet check, we passed by the way to the switchbacks that were not in the loop. Those switchbacks led to the other horse camp which is often used as an away vet check for Chicken Chase (the spring ride run from Bill's place). Tanna wanted to head to that horse camp for our next away check. He was unhappy with me and convinced I was steering him wrong to send him past and back toward Wilcox Lake and the actual vet check. It took at least 1/2 mile to convince him before he settled down and moved out properly.

We came in from the 3rd loop at 4:30. We'd done that loop in 2 1/2 hours. Yay!! Our toughest loop down in good time, half the ride over and our horses in good shape. Our plan was working.

After vetting in, we evaluated where we were and our time. Our next loop was 13.5 miles back to base camp. We would arrive there after dark. I knew that this loop was not glow-sticked, but I wasn't worried. Joe and I both had headlamps and I knew the trail very well. I told Joe to tell management not to bother with trying to get out to glow-stick any part of this loop. We'd get there ok.

Tanna was beginning to eat well at this check. I ate some potato salad and drank some protein drink. I had no idea at this check what I had planned to eat.

Dr. Otis and Becky hung out with us, waiting for our hold to be over. I was surprised to see Ron Chapman still in the check, too. I hoped he hadn't been pulled. He hadn't. His out time was 18 minutes before ours.

When we left the check, everybody else left, too. Back to camp we went. This loop wasn't very exciting or memorable. While headed down a long stretch of pavement, we commented on the many long skid marks we saw and kept our horses to a slow trot or a walk to make sure we didn't add any skid marks. Back on dirt trail, we trotted and even did a bit of cantering where we could. On the hills, Joe dismounted to walk and I passed him a backpack I wore that held alfalfa hay. Joe would hand-feed the horses while stopped for a breather. Those hills are tough stuff!! I silently thanked my Tanna for carrying me up them. I definitely had the easiest job on the hills. Just sit there and be a cheering section for the other three (Joe, Kit and Tanna).

We made it back to camp by 7:45 in the dark. I had no trouble finding the trail and keeping us on the right track. No anxiety from riding in the dark. I had a very nice headlamp that Daniel picked out and then attached firmly to my helmet.

Tanna vetted in fine and began eating everything he could reach. The only thing he wasn't allowed to eat was Kit's mash. Until Tamra gave him that, too. ;-) Kit preferred Tanna's. Joe and I had both been worried that the horses would quit at this point. They had done almost 65 miles and were back in camp. Tanna showed no sign of quitting. I didn't hear Joe mention anything about Kit quitting either.

I was freezing at this check and added a sweatshirt, a skull cap under my helmet and some SSG Wind Stopper Riding Gloves I'd purchased from a vendor on-site. I know, don't use stuff at a ride that you haven't used in training. But my hands were numb. My regular gloves are SSG, so I figured I'd be ok and I was. I was SO grateful for those gloves!!!! I ate next to nothing at this check. About 5 minutes before time to tack up, Tamra mentioned there was hot soup around somewhere for me. I said I'd wait till next check to eat it.

Out on trail again. This 5th loop I'd been looking forward to all day. It was a 15.5 mile out and back loop along the ridge. No hills to speak of and time to move out some, even in the dark. My plan (and thus our plan as Joe was strangely agreeable to my plans all day long) was to keep to an 8 mph trot and go steady the whole loop. I hoped to come off that loop with a 7 mph average, allowing for some time to stop for grass/water, etc.

We fell into a steady rhythm with the horses. Kit has a bigger trot than Tanna, so often would move up along-side and then pass slightly. Still along side, but ahead. Tanna would begin to fight to speed up, but I would back him off. Kit and Joe would slow, also, Joe sometimes moving Kit back directly behind Tanna to slow him down.

At some point, we caught up with Ron and he fell into line behind us. We had a comfortable silence as we all concentrated on our horses and our own thoughts.

During one of the times that Kit pulled ahead, I pulled Tanna back to a reasonable trot and Kit and Joe just motored on ahead. Tanna got mad and I was unwilling to break my plan to stay with Kit and Joe, so just slowed to a walk. I let Ron go around me, then picked up the steady 8 mph trot again, with my fussing, mad horse. After all, the last one in the dark is the one that gets eaten, right? I was pleased that he still had the umph to fuss and fight at 70+ miles, though. ;-)

After several minutes, I caught back up with Joe and Ron walking. Joe commented, "I suddenly looked around and no one was there!" He'd been in his own little world and hadn't realized he'd left us. Hehe. We tucked back into line, Tanna, Kit and Barukah and continued on to the turn-around spot. Here we paused for various issues and I headed back toward camp at a walk to give the guys a chance to take care of business.

I was worried about getting grass for Tanna on this loop. Often on trail, I will scout out good places for Tanna to grab a bite and send him to those spots. But in the dark, with my headlamp, I couldn't tell what was good grass and what wasn't!! I kept getting it wrong and was getting frustrated.

As the loop progressed, I became aware that Tanna need to pee. He just wouldn't do it. When we reached the water buckets out on trail, we all paused and let the horses drink. Also, praise God, there was a good bit of grass for the horses to munch on. I hoped Tanna would pee there, but he decided to be shy. I sent the guys on ahead and carefully dismounted. Tanna will generally pee when I do and this time was no exception. It took a bit of doing to get Tanna situated on a downhill and to stay still while I carefully mounted. I had to reposition him several times before he figured out I could not get on until he stayed put.

I caught back up with the guys and we headed back into camp at 10 till 11. This loop had taken a little longer than I'd planned, but we were still doing well. We were at 80 miles. Only the 2 10 mile loops left to go and plenty of time to get those done before the cut off at 7 AM.

After following Tanna through the vet line, I sat down back at our vet area. I pulled off my shoe and brace as normal and propped my leg up. I became aware that I didn't feel well at all. I was suddenly very nauseas, light-headed and my stomach and abdomen (both) began cramping. I felt horrible. I was also freezing. I had no idea what to do to make it better. Die, maybe?

As soon as Tamra became aware of what was going on, she heaped blankets over my head and passed me saltines and ginger ale. Our out time was 11:36, but I would not make that, if I made it at all. Tamra assured me that was ok. We could go out 30 minutes late and still have plenty of time to finish.

Finish? Ride a horse? I could hardly walk (and not just from the leg pain) and just wanted to sleep. I alternately dozed and continued to force saltines and ginger ale down my throat. Finally, I realized I had to try it. I couldn't Rider Option out of this yet. I had to go out and try to do one more loop. If I couldn't ride, I could come back and go to sleep. But I had to try. Had to. So I gave the word and the horses were resaddled. Joe had waited through with me rather than go out with Ron on time. Tanna had taken full advantage of the extra time to eat. Daniel, Tamra and at least one more person helped me get on Tanna who patiently waited for me to get on. We left out just after midnight.

Joe opted to walk Kit until we reached the short stretch of pavement. I couldn't believe the pain that shot through my body as it protested being bounced around on the saddle. I struggled to sit upright and properly and not impede Tanna. I knew that after my muscles warmed up, they would be more pliable and wouldn't hurt as much. Joe mounted and we walked to the trail. We walked a little further and I asked Tanna to pick up a slow trot. I gritted my teeth as the pain intensified, but after a mile or two, my muscles did warm up and the pain returned to a "normal" level with just my leg hurting the most. Amazingly enough, the nausea and light-headedness disappeared while on horseback. I felt pretty good, although very sleepy. We walked and trotted and caught up with Ron. When he pulled off trail to take care of something, Joe and I just kept moving. I didn't want to prolong this ride any longer than necessary and Tanna was doing well. Joe kept backing off and I didn't quite understand what was going on. I sang some on this loop. Quietly to my horse. Sorry, Joe. ;-) Maybe that's what kept him backing off!

We moved out when we could, but kept a relaxed pace. I kept looking for grass for the horses to eat. When I did find some, Kit would often only take a bite or refuse altogether. That was worrisome, but we kept moving on. We passed Nancy waiting at the finish line. Once more around and we would be done!!

We came into the vet check around 1:45 AM. There was only a 30 minute hold for this check and the saddles did not have to be off for the vets to look at the horses. I dismounted at the in-timers and stumbled off toward a porta potty while Daniel took Tanna directly to the pulse in and vets. Amy Whelan graciously ignored my protests and made sure I made it to the porta potty without falling down, then to my vet check area. I collapsed in my chair, sick again. Amazing how I wasn't sick on the horse, but completely helpless on the ground. Tamra again heaped blankets over me and gave me ginger ale and saltines.

We left out of the vet check only about 5 minutes late this time. The last loop is a bit of a blur. I had the adjustment period of letting my muscles warm up again and again the nausea abated while on horseback. Thank God for that. Otherwise, I don't think I could have made it. Finally, not too long before the finish, it occurred to me that Joe kept dropping back to use his headlamp so Kit could see better. Duh!!! I assured him the light did not bother me and to just leave it on when he was near me. Took me a good long time to catch on to that one.

I was SO happy to see the finish line!!! Nancy was there! What a lovely sight! Daniel and Tamra were also there with hay for the horses and to take our vet cards. I asked Tanna to canter the last few steps across the finish line as is our custom. We walked back into camp, although Eric Reuter was out there with Nancy and graciously offered to drive me back to camp. I declined and chose to ride my trusty steed back into camp.

Back at camp for one last trot out. I determinedly followed Tanna to the vet and was pleased to see Dr. Ken Marcella. He has been there for many of our accomplishments and it was fitting that he be the one to do Tanna's final check of the ride. Even before he did the official check, Dr. Ken commented that Joe and I both had 100 mile horses! Sure enough, a final check and a final trot out resulted in good grades and a completion!! We had done it!!!

Forty-five minutes after crossing the finish line, Tanna was safely in his corral with his winter coat on, munching on hay and his breakfast and sleeping. I tried to get my blackberry to send out a blog post, but gave up when the service would not come in. I snuggled under many blankets in my sweats and went to sleep.

The Aftermath

My sleep was not restful. Apparently, I moaned and groaned and sighed and generally was not a good sleeping mate. I drove my poor sleep-deprived husband out of bed at the crack of dawn. I tossed and turned and hurt and was nauseas and light-headed and the cramping was relentless.

At 9:30 AM, Daniel came and got me up. He said to come have a massage before the awards banquet. The massage was very lovely and helped my back and shoulder muscles tremendously. At the awards banquet, I picked at my food and ate very little. Nothing tasted good or sounded good, although I'm sure the food was wonderful.

I was very happy to receive my completion award. A nice fleece zippered jacket with the AERC NC logo on it.

After the awards, I returned to crash in bed. My rest continued to be fitful. Daniel managed to sleep some during the day. I got up and walked Tanna around some and went back to bed.

Finally around dark, Daniel insisted I see some medical professionals that happened to be on site. They recommended IV treatment and I gave in. I was embarrassed and not the best patient, but still grateful for the help. I received a liter of fluids and reportedly my color improved as did my attitude, although I still felt sore and crampy and not very good. After receiving the fluids, we returned to our camper. Earlier in the day, Daniel had gone out and gotten Subway sandwiches and I managed to eat half a 6-inch of mine. I also managed to drink some Propel water.

I went back to sleep and this time I slept quite well. I woke up around 3 AM and felt not too bad although still sore and a little crampy. So I walked Tanna around to let him stretch his legs and grab some grass. Then I ate the rest of my 6-inch sub, drank some more and went back to bed.

The next morning, I felt pretty good. So we packed up to head home. Daniel wanted to hang out some more, so I headed out driving the big truck with the horse trailer, leaving the smaller Tacoma for Daniel to drive home when he got ready.

When I got home, Serts (horse) and Serena (dog) were ecstatic to see us. I had to curb Serena's excitement as she was whining loudly. After she calmed down, I gave her a lot of affection. She was so happy to see us. I let Tanna out and watched him run around. Serena joyfully ran with him and stood watch while he rolled. Serts, on the other hand, decided it was better to hang out with me!! That was a switch and I gave him lots of pats and some handfuls of yummy hay before finally driving up to the house and then Serts went to join Tanna in some enthusiastic races and bucking fits.

Rider treatment is not discussed a lot. I did not want to be treated, but did it for my husband. I did not feel 100% better right away, but I was able to eat and drink on my own after the treatment and began to recover on my own. On Friday I was so sore I could hardly walk. By Sunday, I was moving much more freely. It seems dehydration has a lot to do with soreness, for me, at least. The cramping did get further apart, but did not go completely away until Sunday.

I figure my treatment was a lot like a horse might go through. Before treatment, I knew I should eat, but did not want to. Did not feel like it. In fact, I felt like I'd return the food and water if I did get it down. I just wanted to sleep. The cramps were painful. I looked like death warmed over. In fact, on Friday, whenever I did venture out, I jokingly told friends I was colicking. Not so far from the truth, really. During treatment, I began to feel a bit better, but the cramps and muscle soreness was still there. Everybody who saw me said I looked a lot better. But I didn't "feel" a lot better. I wonder if our horses also look much better after treatment, but don't feel as good as they look? All the next day, the cramps continued, even as I was eating and drinking and finally felt much better. I guess part of my point is, even after a horse is treated and begins to look and even act better, there still might be lingering effects that make the horse uncomfortable and a little extra love and consideration is definitely in order.

On analyzing what went wrong with me and why I got so sick, three things settled out that seem most likely for the problems. First (and maybe foremost), I was concentrating so much on taking care of my injured ankle, I neglected to take as good care of the rest of me. Second, I set myself up for dehydration because I didn't want to stop on trail to pee. This goes back to my ankle and the fact that it's hard on me to mount and dismount without the high mounting block we have. I drank about 140 ounces throughout the day and night. While that seems like a lot, I'm used to drinking about that during the course of a 3 loop 50. And the third factor was that I stopped eating after 50 miles. I should have eaten at the 64.5 mile vet check. When soup was mentioned, I should have taken the extra time to eat the soup instead of brushing it off in favor of leaving at our out time.

Tanna definitely looked and felt better than I did. I would much rather me be sick and him be well than the other way around! All day Thursday and Friday, he had a bright, kind look in his eye, perky ears and seemed much less sore than I was. Of course, he took much better care of himself than I did! I am so proud of my horse!

Many Thanks

There are so many people that contributed to our first 100 mile completion. I will try to remember everybody, but if I forget somebody, please, please accept my apologies.

These are in no particular order, except the first one is paramount.

God blessed so much. First our accident back in July that broke my left ankle and left thumb. I thought our chances were gone right there. But God blessed and healed and I was able to be on a horse again by September, albeit at a walk. God continued to bless and things went right to allow us to make our attempt. God continued to be there through it all. I was so worried and focused on the ride that about 10 days before the ride, I had to just pray and give it to God. I was holding it back and it was mine. But all things are God's and if it wasn't God's will for me to do this ride or to not complete, then so be it. Not my will, but His. Such peace when I let that go. And God rewarded with success. Praise God.

Daniel, my husband. I could not have contemplated doing this without him. He has been supportive (enabling?) of my entire endurance career (addiction?) and he was all on board to assist me in the 100. It meant he would have to put down the camera and crew for me, but he willingly did it. We spent so much money to get the tack just right, the shoeing just right and to get us there (not to mention the hefty entry fee). He had to put up with my non-stop chatter about the ride and the plans and the repeated instructions on how to do the trot-outs. I'm sure he was relieved that we drove different vehicles to the ride. He got some peace for a few hours! LOL. But seriously, I could not have and would not have tried this without him. He is a wonderful husband and crew and I thank him very much.

Angie Fura. She is a great endurance buddy. She was very supportive and encouraging. Telling me that I could do this. Helping me plan my ride strategy and my meals and encouraging me through my recovery. She gave me the idea to keep Tanna fit by putting him in the round pen twice a week, even when I was non-weight-bearing. So I hopped on my trusty riding lawn mower and proceeded to round pen my horse. She also did so many little encouraging emails and phone calls that I can't even count. And Tanna was proudly wearing a small balance "charm" that Angie made for his bridle. Thanks, Angie!

Amy Whelan. Lots of email support and encouraging me from the moment she knew that the 100 was on Thursday and that I was interested in trying it. Also, the small matter of managing the ride and all the hosts of details. And keeping me upright during that last vet check while Tanna was being vetted!

Roger Barrett. Definitely one of my mentors and a great endurance pal. One of the most encouraging things he said to me 2 weeks before the ride. I was expressing concern about riding balanced to avoid hurting my horse over the course of 100 miles. He glanced at me and said, you don't weigh enough to hurt your horse by being off-balance! That really put to rest one of my fears. I did concentrate on my form during the ride, but no longer worried about it. (Not to mention a nice ego boost. ;-))

Eva de Paulis. Another one of my endurance pals and mentors. I can't count the emails and conversations we've had about horses in general and her unwavering faith that I could do this was very inspiring.

Debra and Ted LaComette. Thanks for the peanut m&ms. Thanks for being there and giving me support. When I got sick in the vet check, Ted miraculously appeared and the fact that Debra had to deal with similar issues on her 100s made me think, I can do it, too! So thanks for support you might not have known you gave.

All my other Middle TN endurance pals. I'm sure you all thought I was crazy. Maybe I was, but thanks for the support and all the training rides through the years. (Good grief, sounds like I'm dying or retiring or something!!!)

Tamra Schoech. Tamra was such a great help! She was a good crew mentor for Daniel and I know neither of us knew what to do when I got sick. But Tamra was right there, knowing what to do and what to say. I don't think it even entered her mind that I would quit, although it certainly did mine. I'm glad I didn't have to. She and Daniel were always right there as soon as Joe and I came off trail. Ready to help and take care of horse and rider.

Joe Schoech. Thanks so much for the phone call just after my accident. Thanks for the offer to go first in the dark and the encouragement that I'd have company if I made it to Nationals. You have no idea how much that meant to me and how motivating that was at a time when I thought I'd blown my chance to ride the 100. I always enjoy our endurance adventures together. Thank you for being there for this one. I'm so happy to have been a part of Kit's first 100, as well. Tanna and Kit get along well (when they're not scheming together!) and I know Tanna was very happy to always have Kit for company and I was happy to have your company.

Ride management, vets and the countless volunteers. None of it could happen without all of you. I know many of you from other rides and was thrilled to have so many people I know and respect at the ride pulling for me and rooting for me.

And last, but not least, my Tanna. What a good horse he is! He's my buddy and my constant companion in my endurance adventures. He never said no. Never quit on me. Always ready to go out again and eager to see what's down the trail. He unquestioningly and uncomplainingly carried me up and down hills all day and most of the night. And came out looking great. I'm in awe of his heart and athleticism and can't wait to ride again. Of course, he gets a very well-deserved rest for the next month. But I'm grateful to him for being my pal.

One final note: To the ones who bet against me and my horse, I'm happy you lost! :-P

we did it!!!

2008-10-17T11:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Tanna and I completed our first 100 mile endurance ride. Well, this morning, really, around 4AM.

The vet said he looked good. Me, not as good, but fortunately, I don't have a vet card!

Tanna was wonderful all day. I did spend time fighting him the first loops to keep him from blowing himself out. It worked as he looks great.

Time for more sleep!

half way!!

2008-10-16T16:09:00.000-05:00

Tanna and I are half way done! We're in our 60 minute hold after the tough 3rd loop. Joe Schoech and Kit are riding with us and doing well. This is Kit's 1st 100, too.

Out of this check at 5:36 on a 13.5 mile loop back to Bill's house (base camp).

Laura Hayes and her mare Mo rode with us some but were pulled at the last vet check, unfortunately.

Leg doing ok. Icing it at the checks and taking my pills on schedule.

2008-10-16T12:44:00.000-05:00

2pm--April and Tanna head out on the 3rd and most difficult loop. Horse and rider are both in fine form

The Day has Arrived

2008-10-16T04:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon flew by. Tanna vetted in well with a 36 pulse. He weighed in at 820.

The dinner was very yummy and the ride meeting held no surprises as I already knew the trail and the loops.

Roger Barrett and Eva de Paulis arrived yesterday. They are buddies from TN and will be riding the 50 later. For today, they will be helping crew for Ed Kidd.

Time to get saddled! I'll try to post throughout the day as I get the opportunity.

The Day Before

2008-10-15T14:30:00.001-05:00

Today has been exciting.

This morning I woke up early and had some quiet time before the day started. Quietly talking to God and listening to my horse munch away on his breakfast.

I ate my quick breakfast while chatting with Paul Sidio, getting his story of pain. He hurt his back earlier this year and is still dealing with that injury.

While still eating and chatting, Cindy Young brought over Guy Buck. I leaped out of my chair to greet him. Tanna was his first shoeing appointment.

I sat in a chair while Guy put new shoes on Tanna, chatting as one does when the farrier is putting shoes on.

Back at the trailer, I put my leg through my physical therapy exercises and then back to the vendors to buy syringes and a few other essentials.

Daniel went to get Tanna for me and I sat on the grass while waiting for the horse scales to be set up. Tanna weighed 810 pounds. Very good weight for him.

My riding buddy, Joe, had arrived late last night. Daniel and I helped eat some birthday cake and celebrate Joe's 60th birthday (today) and Susan K's birthday (tomorrow) with Tamra, Dr. Otis, and Becky.

Then up to the big tent for registration. I received a nice tote full of samples and brochures, as well as a map of the trails and a t-shirt.

I got Tanna out of his pen and walked him for a bit. I had his blood pulled for analysis of our electrolye regime. Throughout the ride, I'll have his blood pulled at other checks. I won't have access to the data until the ride is over, but will be an interesting thing to study later.

Finally, I'm back at the trailer, resting and icing my leg.

Vet in is in 30 minutes. We only have a 60 minute window to vet in.

Dinner is at 6 (EDT) and the ride meeting at 7.

Counting down

2008-10-14T19:04:00.000-05:00

Today was a busier day than yesterday. I did not rest as much today. I did try to be nice to my leg.

I spent a good deal of time (and money) at the vendors. I picked up a pair of new cool weather riding gloves as well as a new riding helmet for my nieces to wear. A backup pair of regular riding gloves, two chin straps and a pocket crop rounded out my shopping. Not too bad.

After lunch, I took a lovely, warm shower in the back of our trailer. We have a Zodi propane shower that heats the water as it's pumped through it. A hanging shower curtain provided privacy and I stood in a large 20-gallon tub to catch the water and keep my feet off the trailer floor. What a nice luxury at rides.

I also spent a leisurely couple of hours sitting in a chair in the grass, letting Tanna roam at the end of a 30 foot longe line. I opted to do that rather than ride today.

One of my riding buddies, Laura Hayes, showed up early evening and set up her camp just behind ours.

My other riding buddy, Joe Schoech, had truck trouble and won't arrive until later tonight.

Tomorrow will be a busy day with registration, vet in, dinner and the ride meeting.

Lazy Monday

2008-10-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

Today was a nice lazy day. Nothing really to do but enjoy the day and watch other rigs arrive.

Late in the morning, I saddled Tanna and did a small 2 mile loop. The idea was to check to be sure I had all our tack and to give Tanna a loosening up ride. We mostly walked with a small amount of trotting to check my leg strength.

The weather is still nice. Forecast calls for a cool front to move in Wednesday night to make the high in the 60s for Thursday.

I'm a little nervous, but mostly just happy to be here. I'm resting my leg a lot and doing my physical therapy exercises twice a day.

I spent some time after supper packing my away vet check bag and my camp vet check rubbermaid box. There will be 2 checks away at the same location.

Now time to relax more and try o get some sleep tonight.

Arrived at NC camp

2008-10-12T19:59:00.002-05:00

Daniel, Tanna and I arrived safely at camp this afternoon. Tanna quickly settled into his L-shaped pen, eating grass, hay and drinking out of his 20-gallon tub.

After a yummy supper of Morningstar Farms Griller burgers, we took a stroll around camp. Up at the vet check area, we discovered floodlights lashed to several trees. It will be bright in the vet check at night!

The moon was almost full and very bright. After a practice trot-out, we returned to our trailer to settle in for the night.

Yellowhammer 2008

2008-10-08T05:57:00.000-05:00

Sunday, September 28, was spent packing and organizing for our first trip since the accident that broke my ankle and my thumb. Daniel finished adding slanted dividers to the trailer so we could take Serts, our 19-year-old Arabian, with us this time, too. We packed as much as possible to be ready to leave for Yellowhammer in the Talladega National Forest in Alabama.

Serts loaded

The rig

Monday morning, we headed south. Daniel drove the big truck with the horse trailer and I drove the smaller truck to be used as a run-around truck while at ride camp. Serena, our 8 year old heeler mix, rode in the front seat next to me. Sib, our Siamese cat that requires medication for seizures, rode in the back seat in her little carrier.

On the east side of Birmingham, we stopped for gas. There was only one gas station at the exit with gas. The pumps were running regular gas only and the card readers were broken. By the time we finished with gas, an hour had passed. Other than that, the trip was uneventful.

After we got camp set up, I saddled up Tanna for a jaunt around the trails. I headed out on a 5 mile loop. I wanted to do 10 miles, but figured if I was done at 5, I could just come on back into camp. We were both doing fine, so I turned around about 500 feet out of camp and did the loop backwards. Tanna started jumping around and wanting to go faster. He beat my leg pretty good, but I managed to be ok. It fell dark about 20 minutes out of camp. I had a trusty new headlamp that Daniel had picked out and attached to my helmet with cable ties. I turned it on about 30 minutes before dark and was pleased when I stayed calm and was able to see well. Tanna didn't seem to care about the light after the first few notices of it.

On Tuesday, I saddled up again and went for an 18 mile loop.

Back at camp, I tied Tanna to the trailer with some hay and sat down for 40 minutes. Then we headed out for our second loop of 7 miles. I had some pain, but was able to keep going and get through the 25 mile training ride. Tanna ate some at the break, but ate for a good long time after we got back.

The new sheepskin girth covers I had worked beautifully on Tanna, keeping the girth galls completely gone.

While Tanna rested, I hopped on Serts bareback to take him for a short ride to stretch his legs. We ended up going on trail for about 3 miles and I found a place to get a signal on my blackberry to check my email. Serts was not his usual calm self as I was constantly after him to stand still. Where had my calm horse gone?

Wednesday, I saddled up Serts this time for trail marking. Before I left, I took Tanna around for a walk.

I paired up with Sandy Thompson and we headed out for a fun couple hours of marking trail and chatter. I always enjoy hanging out with Sandy. She had lots of good advice for me for my upcoming 100 mile ride.

Serts did great. It took him a few minutes to get into the groove of stopping every little bit and standing still enough to put colored ribbons on the tree. With my trusty GPS helping, Sandy and I trotted 1/10 of a mile between ribbons. The horses seemed to be having a blast as well.

Back at camp, we hung out for about 25 minutes and then Sandy and I headed back on trail to double-check ribbons on a section of trail somebody else had marked. We rearranged some ribbons to make things clearer, but mostly just had a lot of fun. We found a small trail that headed up the ridge, so we rode up there to get a cell phone signal. Sandy made a few calls while I checked my text messages. With Sandy's mare present, Serts was much more willing just to hang out and wait. Then we headed back to camp.

Later that evening, Jean (Daniel's sister) and her two girls, Rinnah (6) and Lillie (4) arrived to camp for a couple nights and see how things went at an endurance ride. This was the girls' first prolonged exposure to horses. They have come to my house for "pony rides" around the property, but that's about it.

Since it was late, we had a quick dinner of fake hot dogs, had family worship and then retired for the evening.

Thursday morning, Daniel and I got up and went to watch the start of the 55 miler ride at 6:30 and the 30 miler at 7:30. After the starts, Daniel took the small truck and went to take trail pictures while I hung around camp. Jean made breakfast while I did my physical therapy exercises and chatted with Rinnah and Lillie.

I offered my services to Nancy Gooch for timing and to Tamra Schoech (Ride Manager) for anything that needed done, but nothing seemed pressing, so I put Tanna's hackamore on Serts and Jean hopped on him bareback.

After she got comfortable with him, I helped Rinnah mount behind her.

I took Lillie's hand and Tanna's lead rope and our small group went for a walk through camp and across the road to the tower. At the tower, it was Lillie's turn to ride with her mom.

Back at camp, I heard that an LD rider hadn't passed check-points in the time-frame that expected. While Joe Schoech (Ride Manager's husband) and Tim Clark went out in vehicles to look, I saddled Tanna and went to do the loop backwards to see if I could find the rider.

I found her about 2 miles away from camp. Moseying along enjoying the day. Her horse hadn't been drinking well and she was worried about him. Fortunately, we were close to a water trough. Tanna tanked up and the other horse soon followed suit. Good Tanna! When did he become such a good role model? :-)

Safely back at camp.

I hopped on Serts bareback and took Lillie for a ride out the back of camp. Lillie repeatedly asked to trot and seemed to be having a great time.

While preparing to take Rinnah on a ride, Jean and I decided it might be fun for all of us to go for a ride. Tanna isn't what one would term a child's horse, but in the company of Serts and at a walk, we decided it would be safe for Lillie to ride with me. One issue. I only had one child's helmet. So I went looking and found a generous rider that loaned me a small helmet out of her trailer.

So I saddled Serts with the 16" Abetta saddle for Jean and Rinnah to ride. Then I saddled Tanna with my 15" Specialized saddle for Lillie and me to ride. Since Rinnah is a bit bigger than Lillie, it made sense for her to ride in the larger saddle with her mom. Besides, I needed to see above the child's helmet so I could see where we were going!

We decided to ride a 4 mile loop that the LD riders had taken. It was the last half of a figure 8 loop and was marked with green ribbons (among many other colors). I took the opportunity to explain ribbons and pie plates to the girls. I encouraged them to look for green ribbons and let me know when they saw them. At every intersection, we stopped and I asked the girls to decide which way to go based on the pie plates and ribbons. They both did wonderfully! I was so proud of them. At one point Rinnah said to turn left at a 4-way cross roads. So we moved that direction. But there were X pie plates and NO pie plates. So she looked closer and chose the right direction the next time. Important skills to build!! :-)

On the way back to camp, Tanna began to get super excited. He knew where he was and that the finish line was ahead. He wanted to move out, but with Lillie, that was not an option. So he danced and snorted and threw his head. I talked quietly to Lillie and had her keep her head back against my shoulder so he wouldn't smack her in the head. Lillie was very good and did what I told her. She admitted she was scared, but she didn't cry or complain or whine. My kind of kid! :-) I never felt out of control of Tanna. Never felt scared that we were in danger. I was so proud of Lillie for being so calm and good and not contributing to the situation. She did mention that he was "bouncy" especially when he jigged.

When we reached camp, Tanna calmed down some. Lillie mentioned that her legs hurt. No wonder. This was the longest ride she'd ever been on. Her first ride on an endurance trail. And on a jigging horse. When we saw Daniel, I asked him to take Lillie so her legs could get a rest. As we walked toward our trailer (Jean, Rinnah and me still on the horses), I noticed Lillie's downcast expression. When I asked what was wrong, she asked "why did I have to get off??" I laughed and had Daniel put her back. Definitely going to have to take Lillie riding more often!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in the vet check. Here they are with Dr. Ken Marcella, the treatment vet.

And Rinnah with Dr. Otis, the head vet.

Lillie had a long day and needed a bit of a snooze!

Friday morning, Jean, the girls and I spent more time in the vet check, watching vets vet out horses and they also got to watch Sarah shoe a horse. Sarah was very patient and great about explaining what she was doing to an inquisitive Rinnah.

Just about noon, Jean decided it was time to head back home.

I wandered around lost for awhile until Nancy gave me the job of in-timer for the second loop of the 50s while she went to the finish line for the front runners. Daniel dropped a camera in my lap and told me I might as well take pictures, too.

Friday night at the ride meeting, Otis Schmidt and his wife of 2 years, Becky, provided cake for everybody to celebrate their anniversary. In 2006, Dr. Otis and Becky snuck off on Wednesday before the ride to get married! So Yellowhammer is now their anniversary trip! Daniel and I also celebrate our anniversary every year at Yellowhammer as we got married on October 1st, 2000. Becky gave Daniel and me each 2 pieces of cake. One for their anniversary and one for ours. :-)

Even though I didn't compete at Yellowhammer, I spent a lot of time on horseback. Tanna and I went 43 miles together over 3 days. I rode Serts for another 11 miles (not counting the bareback trips). My leg held up quite well through-out the week.

I always enjoy Yellowhammer. I like the trails and I totally enjoy helping out the ride management there. Tamra and Sarah do such a great job putting on a 3-day ride. The weather was perfect!

Next stop? National Championships!! October 16, 2008, Bill Wilson's farm. 100 miles in 1 day!

Lots of progress

2008-09-22T05:56:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I decided to try a longer ride on Tanna. My goal was 15 miles or 3 hours, whichever was less. I also had the goal to trot for 15 minutes in a single stretch.

So I saddled Tanna up with his Specialized saddle. This time I also used his regular woolback saddle pad since we were going to be out for a longer time frame than the week day rides. I also used his normal mohair string girth.

I put on my ankle brace from the doctor and my thick soled hiking boot on my left leg/foot. I wore my regular riding shoe on my right foot.

Off we went up and over the hill nearby. I asked for a trot on the up-hill. After 4 miles of going up and down the hills, I headed out on the flat to practice trotting. I was happy to find that I could trot for 20 minute sessions! So I trotted for 20 minutes or so and then walked for 5, with my leg out of the stirrup just resting.

By the time we got back home, we had been out for 3 hours and 15.75 miles! I was very pleased with our progress. Also, for almost 30 minutes, we were stopped talking to various neighbors, so that made me happy that we were still able to keep to the pace I had set.

After I got home and got Tanna taken care of, I iced my leg for awhile and babied it for the rest of the day.

Tanna was great during the ride. He got a good workout, too. I was disappointed to see a girth gall when I pulled his saddle, though. Not bad, but enough to show a problem. So I ordered a Toklat woolback girth cover. Hopefully, that will prevent this in the future.

Physical Therapy

2008-09-17T06:22:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I went to my surgeon for a follow-up visit. I wanted a smaller brace that would fit in my shoe and thus my stirrup. The one I bought at Amazon was not going to cut it.

As usual, the visit began with new x-rays.

Then we sat in the room waiting for Dr. McCall.

When he arrived, he said my thumb bone has completely healed. Yahoo!! My leg, however, is still in pieces. That's pretty normal at this stage.

He could see that my ROM wasn't very good. I have been walking and putting weight on the leg, but neglecting my ROM exercises. So he decided it was time to send me to Physical Therapy. He gave me a referral to a place in Cool Springs.

Dr. McCall remembered that I was planning to do the National Championships and scheduled my next surgery for after that.

My first physical therapy appointment this morning went well. The PT said I wasn't doing too badly. She took some measurements of my good leg and thumb and then checked how my bad limbs were doing. Something to work toward. Then she went through several exercises to show me how to stretch out the muscles and tendons. She wants to see me a couple times a week and wants me to do the exercises 1 or 2 times a day.

After I got home from work, I saddled Tanna up for a ride. I was able to trot some a decent amount. I did a couple of 5+ minute stretches of trotting at a medium speed! Did a total of 4.3 miles in an hour. Not quite endurance speed yet, but getting there. We did some hill work (such as we can do) and I felt he got a workout, too.

First Trot

2008-09-15T19:56:00.001-05:00

Today, after work, I saddled up Tanna for a walk over the neighborhood small hill. I was using a new brace I'd picked up from Amazon.com and a thick soled hiking boot. With this set-up, I was able to use my own stirrup. I was even able to trot some. I kept Tanna to a smooth 7 mph trot and was able to post and be fairly balanced.

We were out for an hour and I was pleased with the ride. I didn't trot the whole time, obviously, but I'm slowly getting better every day.

A "real" ride

2008-09-08T19:35:00.000-05:00

This is the stirrup we have to be able to fit my large leg brace. After adjusting the length, the black and blue velcro strips were replaced with strong zip ties.

With Tanna being much more fit than I am at this point, it's a good idea to let him get some energy out before asking him to walk with the cripple.

I'm doing well enough to walk a bit without the crutch. It gets better every day.

He likes to buck first thing when I get on. Naughty horse. I won. He did not buck.

Despite many, many, many hours and miles of riding with a crupper, Tanna still needs reminding that it's there and it's ok.

Finally, he settled down and got to business.

When we were both comfortable, we headed out of the round pen for the first time.

Daniel came along with me on the lawn mower in case there was a problem while I was out and to take pictures.

Tanna was constantly asking to eat grass along the way. You'd think he was starving.

Along the way, passing a neighbor's farm.

I got brave enough to ask for a little canter. Cantering wasn't too bad on my leg. But the few steps of trotting when transitioning back to a walk were pretty painful, so I didn't ask for a canter again. But it sure was fun while it lasted!

It was a beautiful day for a ride.

I liked having these pictures. I don't often have pictures from riding along the road at home. :) I was in some pain at this point on the way back home, but it was bearable.

First ride

2008-09-04T18:13:00.001-05:00

Sunday afternoon, I decided I was strong enough to try riding. I have an old pair of Side Step western safety stirrups that are on the saddle Daniel usually uses. So we pulled off the western fender and stirrup for the left and put that on my saddle for the trial ride to see how that would go.

So I got all dressed in my riding tights and favorite Yellowhammer completion t-shirt (from 2006).

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

I decided I didn't want to wear the cast liner for my brace, so I put my regular shoe on, wrapped my leg in an ace bandage for compression support and strapped the brace on without the liner.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

The first thing I did was go catch my horse. Daniel had him confined to the small paddock so I wouldn't have to chase him down much. He didn't put up a fight.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Sugar cubes really help!! But he only gets one after he's haltered.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

I did a lot of the prep myself, but Daniel did help with the saddle and the girth. We also discovered that a clip had broken on Tanna's breast collar. Must have happened during the accident.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Serts wasn't the happiest that he had to wait in the paddock.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Isn't Tanna handsome? Who says weeds don't make a good back drop?

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

I used the lawn mower to lead Tanna, fully saddled, down to the round pen.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

But when we got there, I parked the mower and led him into the pen on my own two feet (plus one crutch).

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

I asked Tanna to trot without me for about 12 minutes to warm him up and get him used to the jiggle of the saddle again.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

From this side, you can see the side step stirrup.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Then it was time to get on using the 19" mounting block.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

I only kept him to a walk for 10 minutes.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

After 10 minutes, I safely dismounted with the very graceful stomach descent.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

My left stirrup was a little too long. Next time I'll try with my 2" biothane stirrup leather instead of the western fender to see if I can shorten it up.

It was very nice being on my horse again. He did great, too! He did get a little fussy, but nothing dangerous. My leg was pretty swollen by the time I was done. I need to tighten the compression next time to help with that.

More Progress!

2008-08-29T11:41:00.000-05:00

I have been working on walking. At first I just put a small amount of weight on my leg. I had to use a scale the first few days to measure how much weight I was putting on the leg. I was going too light and needed to put more weight on the leg. But I progressed slowly and this week I discovered I could actually hobble around the house without my crutches for a short period of time! I was so surprised and happy. Yesterday, I even walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes at 1.5 mph.

Tanna had been off for a week because of wet weather (yay!! we needed rain). I didn't want him slipping in the round pen. But today, the pen was ok for working him. Daniel helped get him ready for me before going to work and then I headed down to the pen on the mower as usual. I parked the mower in the middle of the round pen and got off. I secured my crutch in my right hand, the longe whip in the left (braced) hand and sent my horse to work.

Off the mower, it was a lot easier to communicate with him. He responded well to my body language for turning, stopping, and coming in for a treat. No cantering today, though, and no really fast trotting. Just an easy time around the pen.

You can see how much of a track he's worn around the perimeter of the round pen.

After his workout, I asked him to walk to cool down. Then I moved our brand new mounting block near the fence and asked him to step between it and the fence. I stopped him and got up on the block like I was going to get on him. We bought a 19" tall step and it is going to be SO helpful when I start riding again. It will be super easy to get on. Tanna likes to turn to face me when I attempt to mount from a stationary object, that's why I had him next to the fence so he couldn't turn to face me.

Here's the mower and the mounting block.

Next step?? Riding!!

Progress Report

2008-08-20T11:22:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I returned to the Middle Tennessee Bone & Joint Clinic for my 6 week follow-up visit.

First up was to remove my cast and boot and go in for x-rays.

Dr. McCall then came and let me know the results. Everything looks good and I'm ready to move to the next phase of my healing.

I was provided with a thumb brace and encouraged to remove it to work the thumb to restore flexibility. So far I can barely touch the side of my second finger with the tip of my thumb. Progress!

I am also now able to put weight on my ankle. 50# of pressure to start and I can increase that as long as there is no pain. Obviously, I am still to wear the brace while walking.

I also got the good news that I can attempt the 100 mile ride in October. I am to return to see Dr. McCall about 3 weeks before the 100 to validate progress and possibly get a brace that will fit in my shoe.

Riding is still a bit off, but I will continue working Tanna in the round pen until I am able to ride again.

Cast Air Conditioner

2008-08-15T09:49:00.000-05:00

This is a do-it-yourself air conditioner for a cast that my husband thought up to help dry my cast.

It consists of a small wet/dry canister vacuum, an upholstery attachment, a hefty bag and of course, duct tape.

I insert my hand into the bag, placing my thumb in the hole provided and hold the vacuum attachment with my fingers.

Here it is in use. I closed up the hefty bag and turned on the vacuum. Air gets sucked through the cast. Feels really cool and gets rid of any loose skin or cast material. Also helps dry the cast after a shower.

Cast Change

2008-08-12T13:29:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I'd become increasingly uncomfortable in my thumb cast. So today I went back to the Middle TN Bone and Joint Clinic for a cast change.

Removing the cast revealed some angry red blotches from skin irritation. The blotches were painful and itchy.

I spent several minutes at the sink washing my hand and wrist and removing dead skin, being careful of the wounds. One of the pin holes had closed over nicely. The other had a pretty good scab over it still and I left it alone pretty much except for some gentle washing.

While washing my hand at the sink, I chatted with the techs moving through the area. Andy and Joy are the two that I see most often so I was asking about my options. I was really hoping to get a brace instead of a cast, but Dr. McCall was not in the office to approve such a move.

Andy offered to give me a cast that I could get wet so I readily agreed to that. One of the major issues with a cast in the humid southern summer is that sweat builds up and dries inside the cast, driving the wearer completely insane. With the new cast, I can at least run water through the cast to clean off the arm and thumb.

So Andy wrapped my cast using Delta-Dry cast padding as the base layer instead of cotton.

Here's the cast after the first cast layer has been applied. They do all but the last layer in white because it's cheaper than the colored cast material.

I chose purple as the outer color this time for a change from the blue.

I'm much more comfortable in this cast.

AERC National Championship Site

2008-08-11T17:04:00.001-05:00

Check out the front page of the AERC National Championship web site for 2008! Anybody you recognize?

The photo was taken by Daniel Johnson: http://www.PicturesDanielTook.com

Round Pen Conditioning

2008-08-11T10:01:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, we did another training session in the round pen. Communication is still challenging, but we're getting the job done.

Starting the mower.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Heading across the pasture toward the round pen. Tanna follows the mower without hesitation.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

After we get in the round pen, I close the gate and remove Tanna's lead rope. The I move to the middle of the pen. Tanna continues to follow until asked to move around the perimeter.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Many times during the workout, Tanna asks for direction on what he's supposed to be doing.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

I try to be as clear as possible.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Here Tanna's personality shines clearly. Goofy horse.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

When we get done with the workout, I ask for a walk for another 5 minutes.

I remove his halter.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

And open the gate for him to leave.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Serena

2008-08-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

We got Serena back in 2002 when we moved to our present location. She was about a year old and had lived her entire life in a no-kill shelter. We saw an ad on PetFinder for her sister and her. We were actually more interested in her sister. They were from the same litter, but the sister was smaller.

But the sister was a barker. Very noisy. Wouldn't shut up at all as soon as we got there she started up and wouldn't shut up. The other dogs (there were lots of dogs with the run of a house and a fenced yard...nobody lived in the house...the caretakers lived down the street) would cycle. Some would be barking and then they'd take breaks. But not the sister. I couldn't abide the thought of a dog that barked like that.

But Serena didn't talk at all. Just was quite and watchful. She might have barked a time or two, but not that you could tell.

We chose her. Brought her home and crate trained her. She lived in the house with us for a few months and then we moved her outside.

She loves the horses. Likes to chase 'em. We put a bark collar on her because the only time she barks is when she's trying to rile the horses. I don't mind her running with the horses as long as she doesn't get them scared. My Tanna actually plays with her when she's nice.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Serena used to come run along-side when I rode Tanna down the street, but one day she got chewed up by a bunch of sharp metal by the road and she doesn't come with me anymore. She stays on the property really well. Loves the horses and the cats and doesn't see a reason to leave.

Serena loves to follow me around whenever I'm out in the pasture. She's a good farm dog.

Keeping Tanna in Shape

2008-08-04T14:06:00.003-05:00

I cannot walk or ride yet, but Tanna needs some exercise to keep him in shape for going to the 100 mile ride in October. Since Tanna is a wild child, I won't ask any of my friends to ride him. I could never bear it if he flipped out and they got hurt. Tanna does quite well for me because he trusts me and we have been together for over 7 years.

So Daniel put up our round pen, tied Tanna to the trailer and stood back to watch and take pictures as I put Tanna through a workout.

I carefully scooted down the porch steps and got on our riding lawn mower parked at the bottom. I drove to the trailer and untied Tanna. I thought he would object to being led by lawn mower, but he did beautifully.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

I led him into the RP.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

After closing the RP gate, I picked up my lunge whip leaning against the panels, unhooked Tanna and drove into the middle of the pen. I turned off the mower and fed Tanna a sugar cube.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Next, it was time to work.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Periodically, I asked Tanna to change direction. It was quite a challenge communicating without freedom of movement. He wanted to understand, but he didn't sometimes.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

What would a workout be without a couple of Garmin Forerunners along for the fun? Tanna had my 305 strapped to his halter to record his distance. I had my 405 on my wrist, keeping track of how long he went in each direction and how long the workout was in total.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Here is a nice wide angle shot of the round pen.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Tanna definitely had an attitude, but he was so good.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

After we were done, I slipped off Tanna's halter and let him out into the pasture. He had gone 3 miles in the RP. We will repeat this process 2-3 times a week until I can ride again. It should be enough to keep him in shape until I can get back on. Thanks to Angie for the idea and the encouragement. :)

First 100 Mile Entry Mailed

2008-08-04T09:47:00.000-05:00

Today, I filled out and mailed my entry to the 100 Mile National Championship Ride. The ride will be October 16, 2008, in Henryville, Indiana. This will be my and Tanna's first 100 mile ride.

Even though I'm still not walking, I am optimistic that we will be able to go!

Video of pins being removed from thumb

2008-08-02T21:38:00.000-05:00

Doctor Visit - Fri, Aug 1

2008-08-01T17:40:00.000-05:00

Late Wednesday afternoon, my left thumb (the broken one) began to give me problems. It was quite painful. The pain kept me from sleeping well.

Thursday morning, Daniel took me to the clinic to see what could be done. My surgeon, Dr. McCall, was in surgery all day, so I was unable to see him. The clinic staff removed my splint and found a sore beginning to develop under my pins.

Another surgeon gave me a prescript for antibiotics, they rewrapped my thumb, and sent me home.

I felt ok for awhile (nice pain meds), but even with the meds, the pain was intense and disturbing. When I woke up this morning, I was in more pain. My thumb was painful. It was painful to move my fingers or even touch my other fingers. I immediately took a pain pill, which dulled the pain some. We called and got an appointment with my surgeon and went in to see him.

They removed my splint. Ouch.

And took new x-rays of my thumb.

Then I went to an exam room where Dr. McCall examined the x-rays, my thumb, and my leg. He pronounced that the pins were going to come out. That would relieve the pain. It has been almost 4 weeks since the accident, so the pins have done their job.

Back to the cast rooms, where Tiffany removed my pins. The process of removing the pins was painful, but Tiffany did a good job of steadily doing her job and getting the pins out. I didn't watch.

And another tech gave me a shiny new blue cast.

The pain lessened steadily after the pins were removed. Now the pain is well-controlled with pain meds.

I have an appointment in a little over 2 weeks for a follow-up. I'm still non-weight-bearing on my ankle, but I am doing leg strengthening exercises at least 3 times a week, so I hope to be ready when I'm able to start walking again.

Update

2008-07-30T19:19:00.001-05:00

This week has gone by fast. On Sabbath, the 26th, we went to church as usual. Church members are getting used to me in a wheelchair. My nieces (Lillian, 4, and Rinnah, almost 6) go to church there, too, and are quick to tell the story for me. After church, we went to have lunch with Jean, Daniel's sister, and Lawren (her husband) at Lawren's dad's house. Whew! Of course, my little nieces were there, too. We had a nice time.

Sunday, Daniel and I met up with Angie and David for dinner. I hadn't seen either of them since the accident and I was so happy to be around them.

Angie encouraged me to keep Tanna in shape on the off-chance that I'll be able to ride the National Championship in October. So this Sunday, Daniel will bring our round pen home from the neighbors and we'll figure out the best way to run Tanna a couple times a week. Stay tuned for more info on that! ;-)

I've been doing lower body floorwork three times a week to keep my right leg strong and keep my left thigh and glute strong and capable. I enjoy the workouts. I still can't do upper body work because of my thumb, so I stick to lower body work.

When I'm just sitting around watching tv, I take my leg out of the boot and slowly work on my ankle range of motion. It's slow and painful going, but I'm seeing some progress.

Since getting the boot, I've been able to take baths because I am able to put my entire leg in the tub. It's been very nice!! Before, I took showers sitting on a tub seat with my leg stuck out of the shower curtain! We cover my left arm split with a livestock arm-length glove.

Yesterday, I was able to crawl down the front porch steps and feed the horses some carrots while sitting on the lower step. That was great fun. :-)

Most of the time, I'm sitting in front of my computer or sleeping or resting. Allowing my body to recover and repair itself.

Back to the clinic

2008-07-24T11:16:00.000-05:00

Today I returned to the clinic. My cast was bothering me. Every time my cast moved a smidge, it felt like the pins in my thumb were being tugged on. Not a nice feeling. So we went to the clinic and the experienced tech removed my cast and put a splint back on.

Since the hard splint is only on the thumb side of my hand, it is not disturbed when I move my arm around or hobble on my walker. Much better. When the pins are removed, a cast will be put on.

When I got home, I hung out on the porch and was able to feed the horses sugar cubes. :)

Doctor Visit

2008-07-23T13:30:00.003-05:00

Today was my first follow-up visit with Dr. Scott McCall of Middle Tennessee Bone and Joint Clinic. The other times I went, I just saw the cast techs.

When we got there, one of the techs removed my splints. I felt a little anxious without my protective gear on.

Then they took me in for x-rays.

This is my ankle.

And my thumb.

The next task was to remove the 5 stitches and 25 staples from my leg. The stitches were hard to dig out. The tech had to get a more experienced tech to remove the last stitch. That was a bit painful.

The pins were left in my thumb for another 2 weeks.

Finally, I was fixed up with a new cast (not just a splint) for my thumb and a removable boot for my ankle.

My next appointment is in two weeks. In the meantime, I'm to remove the boot and work on my range of motion for my ankle. That will be interesting, I'm sure. I'm still completely non-weight-bearing. In two weeks, the pins will be removed from my thumb and the cast replaced for another 2 weeks. I will be non-weight-bearing on my ankle for another 4 - 6 weeks.

I have a nice set on Flickr of pictures of my recovery.http://www.flickr.com/photos/endurancerider/sets/72157606332118452/

Pasture Play

2008-07-22T11:35:00.003-05:00

After Tony left, Daniel closed the gate and let Serts and Tanna out in the front pasture. As is their custom, the horses took several laps around the front pasture before settling down. Daniel captured the following pictures during their play.

Tanna in front; Serts behind.

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Tanna

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Serts in front; Tanna behind

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Serts in front; Tanna behind

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Tanna

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Originally uploaded by jdj150.

Farrier visit

2008-07-22T10:22:00.000-05:00

This morning my farrier, Tony, came out and reshod Tanna. I also had him put front shoes on Serts as he seemed to be a little footsore barefoot. I'm hoping Serts'll be happier and a bit more energetic now.

Tanna taking his turn.

Serts

Shopping

2008-07-20T12:46:00.002-05:00

Shopping
Originally uploaded by endurancerider.

Today Daniel and I went to Wal-mart to get a few things for the week. I got to use one of the electric carts. It was pretty fun. The cart handled really well with just one hand. We put my pillow under my foot just to give a bit of cushioning.

Visiting with Tanna

2008-07-18T11:26:00.000-05:00

I got to go out and visit with Tanna today. I was able to move around him and look closer at his left rear leg. He does very well with the walker. Almost like it's not even there.

Progress Report

2008-07-17T10:40:00.000-05:00

My leg splint is doing just fine. It bothers me some still, but it's bearable. I'm looking forward to getting x-rays next week and hopefully a removable brace for my leg.

The pain is much better these days. I have reduced my pain pills to one every 8 hours instead of every 6 hours.

Today I got to go outside and hang out with Tanna for a little bit while Daniel cleaned one of his leg cuts which started to grow proud flesh. I took some sugar cubes and bribed him to come to me. :) He didn't spook at the walker. I made sure to not do anything too hurried or crazy around him, but still, he did just fine. I was so happy to be outside to see him up close.

Leg after the cleaning

Day 9

2008-07-15T16:20:00.001-05:00

Another trip to the doctor. My leg splint was bothering me. My foot kept slipping further into it which put pressure on the top of my foot. So today, I got all new splint sections and new wraps. Feels much better now.

This is the incision after 9 days. There is another smaller incision on the inside of my ankle.

After the doctor, we swung by work and did some paperwork for a medical absence as well as talk to some of my work buddies and my boss.

Finally, we got home and I was able to pet the horses from the truck. We had some carrots to bribe them to stay close. It was the first interaction with Tanna (or Serts) since the accident. I was so happy to be close to them. Tanna looks really good for what he went through. Praise God!!

Here's what I'll be doing for the next weeks to come: Hanging out with my buddy, Miner.

Friday

2008-07-11T15:36:00.000-05:00

I went to the bone clinic today and they re-wrapped my splints. My leg looks pretty gross. I got really faint when I saw one side of my ankle. The nurse told me not to look at the other then!

Daniel went and got Tanna from Angie's house. I'm so happy to have him home. Aside from a smidge of stiffness, he looks really good. Serts was also glad to get his buddy back.

X-Ray pre-surgery

2008-07-11T12:30:00.000-05:00

Broken Bones

2008-07-10T11:55:00.001-05:00

Over the long weekend, I managed to have a horse accident. I was night riding (prepping for a 100) and my horse tripped over a cable meant to keep cars off the wide trail. I missed a turn and we didn't see the cable. He fell right over it. Fortunately, I was thrown clear, but broke bones. He had some trouble getting back up, but managed to get by with scrapes and cut. I broke my left thumb and my left ankle. I'm definitely not going to be running, walking, riding or anything like that for weeks and weeks. I have a pin in my thumb and no telling how many in my ankle (along with a plate).

I'm hobbling around the house with the help of a walker that has a platform for my left forearm to take the weight since my hand/thumb can't. I have a wheelchair for when I finally can leave the house. Working on getting the pain stabilized. I'm sleeping a lot, which is probably a good thing.

God is good, though. It could have been a lot worse, but time and following dr's orders will take care of this. Just will have to miss out on some fun along the way.

Tanna is ok. He had some swelling and lots of abrasions, but he's healing a lot faster than I am. He's at a friend's house until Daniel (who is sick) feels well enough to go get him. It'll have to be soon as my friend is off on vacation next week. I'm anxious to get him home.

This definitely going to put a damper on my riding plans for the fall. Just how much remains to be seen.

My First 10K Run

2008-07-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

July 4th Music City 5k/10k, Nashville, Tennessee

I arrived early, around 7:20 AM and found a parking spot not too far away from the Country Music Hall of Fame. Free parallel parking. Not too bad. I made my way to the check-in to pick up my number, t-shirt and bag of promotional materials. I went back to the truck and swapped the bag for my mp3 player and HRM, then made my way back to the activity. While stretching and generally keeping my muscles ready for action, I listened to the announcements and 5 minutes before 8, we were pointed at the starting line. As I walked with my fellow competitors to the start line, I noticed many of them had timing chips. Hmmm. I did not have one. I returned to the check-in where they pointed me to the race chip tent. They found mine quickly and I made it back to the start line in time to do some more warm-up moves and start my mp3 player to randomize my music, my Cardio Coach mp3s and some Bible chapters.

My HR was ludicrous. The adrenaline was keeping my HR high (around 130) even though we hadn't started yet. I'll have to figure out how Tanna can keep his close to resting even before the start! (Tanna's HR does spike when the race begins, however!)

I walked with the crowd under the banner and over the mats that would read our timing chips to mark our start times. When we were past that, I broke into a slow jog, a pace I would not exceed (often) for the next 6+ miles.

It was thrilling to be in the race. All the 10k and 5k runners started together. The 10k would simply do the 5k lap again. It was awesome to watch the line of runners snaking their way through the streets of Nashville.

I had my Garmin Forerunner 405 and my Garmin Forerunner 305 with me. The former was my main unit and I had that on my left wrist. The 305 was along for the ride as a back-up data collector on my right wrist. (I didn't want to risk missing any data from my first 10k!).

At first I tried using the Auto Scroll on the 405 to shift between screens, but that wasn't working so well, even though that is my preferred set-up when riding my horses and sometimes in my own running training. I settled the 405 on one screen that showed me current speed (based on data from my foot pod on my left shoe), average speed (based on time out and distance traveled according to the GPS) and the all-important heart rate. I did not want to know how far I had gone or how long I'd been out. I didn't want to dwell on that. Again, different from the set-up I have for the horses.

I had a few simple goals for this 10k. The first was just FINISH! Before this competition, the longest I'd been jogging (walking when needed) for a single activity was 5.4 miles. My second goal was to finish in under 90 minutes. Slow, yes, but speed was not a goal here, other than just to get done in 90 minutes. My 3rd goal was to keep my HR over my aerobic base (152), but under my anaerobic threshold (169).

A little ways after crossing a bridge was the first water stop. I took a small cup of water, drank it slowly while walking and then tossed it in a trash can and picked up my jog again. At every intersection, there was a cop stopping traffic and everywhere we were supposed to turn, there was a smiling volunteer with an orange flag pointing the way.

At the second water booth, there was no trash can convenient a little ways up from the booth for me to ditch my paper cup. So I crushed it in my hand and held it while I jogged. Surprisingly, I liked having the cup to worry in my hand. I switched hands periodically and it kept my hands and arms loose and the blood flowing nicely.

While I power-walked up a hill, a cop car came slowly driving up beside me and passed me. Through his speaker he announced "10k runner on your right, 10k on your right." Startled I thought I had done the course wrong. At this point a runner came racing past me, passing me like I was standing still. I was being lapped by the front-runners! Ah, ok. I settled back into my jog at the top of the hill and headed down the other side. Another front-runner came zooming past with an encouraging word for those he passed.

A few more of the 10k runners lapped me as I approached the start/finish line. A girl with a megaphone was directing traffic. 5k finish to the far left. 10k finish in the middle and 10k continue on to the far right. I stayed to the right, happy to see other runners doing the same.

As I came even with the finish line, a helpful onlooker stepped almost in my path and said, no, you should be over there, pointing to the 5k finish lane. I smiled and said thank you, but I have another lap to do.

I took a cup of water from the volunteers on my right and continued on to do the course again. I kept that cup to worry in my hands and kept one through the rest of the run, changing out which cup I had when I got water.

While going through the finish line, I did manage to get a look at the official time. The clock read 39 minutes. Since I started near the back, it took me a couple minutes before my chip time started. So I was at 37 minutes and change for the first half. I beat my last (and first) 5k time by 5 minutes!

I was doing great and needed to just keep on steady. Everything felt great. Nothing was hurting or rubbing and my HR was stabilized right around my anaerobic threshold. My breathing was controlled and I felt perfectly fine to keep going. Stopping never entered my head.

This time there were far fewer runners than the last time I'd seen this part of the course! I was happy to see other runners though. When I'm back of the pack at an endurance ride, it's not unusual to do loops without seeing another competitor until getting back to base camp or the vet check.

The loop went by without much incident. With about 1.5 miles to go, I caught my shoulders starting to droop a bit. I shook my arms out and regained my form. I took stock of my body. HR was good, breathing was good, legs felt great. My feet hurt a very small bit through the ball of my foot. But not too bad and nothing to get excited over.

As I neared the finish, I managed to pass a couple of runners. Big deal when I'm so far back in the pack, but it's a nice ego boost. ;-) I ditched my last worry cup and prepared for the finish.

I did this at my 5k and I do this on almost every endurance ride. At the end of race, the speed picks up and it's time to find out what's left in the tank.

As I rounded the last corner and the finish line came in sight again, I picked up my speed as the handful of people at the finish began to cheer me on (as they did for all the back of the pack runners). The megaphone girl said something about finishing strong. I ran even harder and crossed the finish line in an all-out sprint. My Forerunner says it was 14.5 mph at the end there. Hehe. What a rush!

I stuck around for awhile, stretching, walking around, letting my HR drop. I found an apple and munched on it while waiting for the awards. I was curious about the front runners that had lapped me. :) Sure enough, the first guy that had lapped me was second place. I don't remember ever seeing the first place guy. First play guy did the 10k in 24 minutes and change. The first place woman did the 10k in 39 minutes and change. At least she didn't lap me! ;-)

I did enjoy myself and was able to complete (goal 1!) in 1:17 minutes (goal 2!). My HR goal might need a little work. I spent a total of 28 minutes above my anaerobic threshold. Not all at once, but probably more than I would have liked to see.

I am looking forward to doing another 10k in about 8 weeks over Labor Day weekend.

Joy of Riding

2008-07-03T19:00:00.001-05:00

Last week, I had a visitor. Alecia has been a friend of mine since high school. Back then, we were inseparable and spent most of our time riding horses bareback. She would ride her horse, Serts, and I would ride whichever horse I was able to beg, borrow or steal.

Well, since high school, things have changed. We've grown up. I moved to Nashville and she moved to Alaska and got married. Serts came to live with me and my horse Tanna (and my husband and my dog and my cats!).

Whenever Alecia makes it back to the Lower 48, she tries to come visit Serts and me. (Really Serts ;-)). Last week was one such visit. I bridled Serts and off she and her son David went on a short bareback ride around the pasture. Andrew, her oldest son, wasn't interested in riding.

After David had his fill, I hesitantly hopped on Tanna bareback and we went for a walk down the street for a little ways. We talked over things past and present as good friends are wont to do. When we returned to the house, we simply sat on the horses and chatted some more as Daniel brought us water bottles. We used to do that for hours way back when. Just sit on the horses and talk. I mentioned I don't do that so much anymore. Almost every ride has a purpose, a plan, a training or conditioning goal. "No more fun?" she asked. "No," I answered, "simply a different kind of fun."

Well, today I decided to reclaim some of the old-time fun. I didn't have my best human friend to go riding with, but I had her horse and my horse. So I grabbed Serts' bridle and my helmet (I didn't have a helmet back then, but I'm not that anxious to repeat days gone by!).

I hopped on Serts and headed around the tree line to find Tanna who joyously ran to greet us when he spotted us. We raced around at a canter, making figure eights and going wherever the wind took us. I stayed in our small pasture, not wanting to curb Tanna's exploits by haltering him and not wanting to leave him behind. After a few laps around the front pasture, we raced up to the back acres and up the wooded hill. I went rather slowly up the hill, until Tanna raced past to show the way. Serts and I shot after him, me dunking branches with every step. At the top, we stopped and companionably sat for awhile, letting breath and heart rate slow.

Finally, I headed Serts back down the hill and Tanna took off at a run, leading the way down the hill. Serts and I followed as fast as we could without a branch knocking me off! When we reached the open grass, we raced around and then back up the hill. Faster this time as I knew the way a bit more. Again at the top we stopped. This time, Tanna edged closer and I stroked his head while sitting far back on Serts' hindquarters, my knees drawn up and my feet resting on his back in front of me. What a great feeling and what two great horses!

As we walked back down the hill to end our joyous ride and let Serts go to eat grass, I thought, "Alecia, this one's for you."

Easyboots

2008-06-06T06:26:00.001-05:00

I took Serts out for another short ride with the Easyboots yesterday. I put some old comfort pads in the bottom of the boot. They were Tanna's, so cut a little too small, but Serts seemed much more willing to move out and to canter this time, so I think I might end up getting comfort pads for him. However, I do think the boots are just too long, so I've ordered size 2 comfort straps to see if those will help the boot fit better.