For a few months, 2 friends & I had been planning to ride the LD at the KC ride. For one friend it would be her first endurance experience. The other was riding her mare on the mare's 1st ride. We met at the corner gas station & caravaned to the ride. Meadowbrook Ranch in Magalia has a gorgeous campground with plenty of large spots for trailers. The horses had shade, & for anyone wanting they could take their horse to the lake for a swim. The property belongs to the family of a man who was an avid endurance rider. In the early 90s he was a Tevis finisher. He also did endurance driving & held competitions at the ranch so there are about 10 miles of trails wide enough for carts/chariots. What a lovely camp sight.
Saturday morning's ride start had a few hiccups. With Faye in the rear of our 3 person group, she wasn't happy at all. Faye's used to leading, where she feels safer & more comfortable confronting things head on. She was skittish, knowing something from behind was going to get her. She wanted to stop & look back over her shoulder & once she even caused her hindend to fall in a ditch. The mare in the lead kept spooking so it was Faye to front. Ears up & moving forward at a nice trot in her safe zone, Faye was ready to get on down the trail. Until I heard a lot of yelling, whoa, whoa, & the thundering of hooves almost on top of us. The very large gelding in our group was trying to run away with his rider. Needless to say, little Faye was pretty scared. We had to stop & wait while the rider composed herself. Unfortunately that meant riders catching up & passing us. That only set the other 2 horses in our group off into bucks, rears, & another runaway attempt. Poor Faye didn't know which way to go to stay out of everyone's way. At one point she was in a ditch, trying to go in the opposite direction. A little bit too much excitement going on!
Finally we were trotting smoothly down the gravel road with Faye in the lead, the very large gelding in 2nd, & the other mare bring up the rear. My reins were flopping & Faye's legs were flying. She really is so much fun because I don't have to worry about her running away or bucking. Unlike the very big gelding who once again came thundering almost over the top of us. He really was too much horse for his frightened rider. So once again we had to stop & wait for composure. Mile after mile of gravel road took its toll & the gelding's rider needed to walk the downhill, which was a lot. She wasn't up to trotting downhill & preferred to trot uphill. Well that wasn't exactly in my game plan. I had planned to let Faye trot the downhill & save herself on the uphill. Plus I was riding to my heart monitor. And really, Faye is a downhill trotting machine.
As I watched my watch, I was getting concerned about our time. We'd lost some time finding trail where ribbons were missing or not visible in the brush. Note to ride managers everywhere, white ribbons are almost invisible against the trees. Fortunately I know not to go very far without seeing a ribbon so we were never off trail more than 50 yards or so each time. We lost time everytime the very big gelding acted up. That's a LOT of horse when he's thundering from behind. Poor Faye would try to move off the road to make sure she didn't end up under him. The horses did settle into their training places as Faye led the way, ears pricked, & little legs trotting for all they were worth.
At last we came to our 13 mile vet check. Woohoooooo... I needed the frozen diet pepsi I'd sent out with my crewbag. It was awesome that the missing port-a-potty (another story) had been found & it arrived just in time so I didn't have to find a bush. I wondered at the loose dogs running through the check & even mentally cursed at the idiots who let their dogs loose. Oops, the ride photographer caught my picture as I led Faye in & 2 of those dogs were GOATS! Neither Faye nor I had noticed they were goats. LOL
A little back-story on Faye's Fri night vet-in is that the vet commented that she looked to be built for comfort & not for speed. What he was really saying was that she wasn't an endurance horse. At our vet check during the ride I think he was a little surprised when he vetted Faye. Her CRI was 44/42 & everything else was A's on her card. Now the vet told me that I obviously wasn't working my horse hard enough & that she could easily have gone faster into the check. Made me smile. I mentioned to him that she had gotten a girth gall 2 weeks earlier & that she'd started with a hairless spot the size of my pinkie fingernail. He said she didn't appear to be bothered (by his hand or stethoscope in her armpit) so not to worry. Well...I'm glad I did worry. Because our check was only 30 minutes, we weren't required to remove tack. So honestly neither the vet nor I looked under Faye's girth & armpit. But as I got ready to go back out on the trail, I made sure I reapplied Desitin to the area as prevention. What I found was a new, worse gall that was starting to swell. ACK! There wasn't a second thought for me that we were done for the day. Faye was doing so well & is so stoic that she'd have kept going because I asked. Nope, not going to be unfair to her or ungrateful to her for giving me a good 13 miles. Trailer us back to camp please.
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