Foxcatcher 50, Elkton MD

Hey Everyone! Long time, no write. Got a lot of updates for you.....

Last week Legs spent the week with his surrogate Mommy, Judie Ricci at Meadowsprings Training Center in Sumerduck, VA. She was working with him on his trailer loading issues. To get him on to go up, we used the method of loading a buddy first, then it took about 10 minutes to convince him to get on. Worked nicely, and I got him up no problems. I only wish I could have stayed the whole weekend, but I had to go back for some work training and only got to crash overnight. If you are ever looking for some horse help or just need a mini-vacation and some riding tips, go see Mama Judie!

Judie worked with him all week and made some progress. He is still really stubborn, but we have some systems in place now to get around his tricks. The one that really works is to give him an opportunity to load, and if he refuses go lunge him for a few minutes, then try again. The idea is to tell him that trailer = food+rest, no trailer = work. He still has his stubborn moments, but at least we're getting somewhere.

Picked him up on Friday, 4/16 to drive to Foxcatcher. He loaded fine, Judie had an awesome little snack packed for us (strawberries and cheese for me, dog cookies for Jack) and away we went! About halfway up, I felt the truck shaking and noticed a calamity going on in the trailer. I immediately pulled over at the next rest area and found that I had left one of the lighter mats on the floor of the trailer, and he slipped on it. He was ok, but had banged his head and his leg and had a few scratches. But he was calm, not scared, so we continued on (me kicking myself and white-knuckling the whole way). We made it to base camp around 2PM, unloaded beautifully and started to set up camp. Lisa (Legs' owner) had come and brought enough corral for him to have his own pen next to the other two horses she brought (Nino and Amana), so we didn't have to worry about tying him or anything. We went for a little warm-up ride, vetted in, and went through the usual rigamarol that comes with the pre-ride stuff.

Weather that night was pretty crappy. We got rain, rain, rain, and wind. Thankfully, my little truck tent did great! I have a quality air mattress now, and it was definitely worth the investment! My only complaint was that the people next to me (also in a tent) would not SHUT UP and let me sleep. Hello people, tents are not sound proof. Jack was also very happy to have a soft warm bed to snuggle in.

Woke up at 5AM on race day, got dressed, and fed Legs at 5:30. I'm not sure if its me or what, but every ride I've been too thus far that has offered complimentary coffee has not been able to get it up and ready in time. Just FYI, those large percolators take AT LEAST 45 minutes to get the coffee ready. IN case you ever have to use one. Legs was very good thus far, a little excited but easy to manage. We met up with Theresa, who was riding Lisa's other horse Nino and who we were supposed to stick with all day. The race started, and we waited til almost everyone had left before calmly walking out onto the trail.

The plan for the day was to go fairly easy, since we are doing Biltmore in just a few weeks. I wanted to finish with plenty of horse left so that I can let him go fast at the next race. Theresa started picking up the pace and we were going a little faster than I wanted, but i stuck with her thinking we would slow down later. The first loop was 25 miles (yes, it sucked) with a 10 minute hold about halfway through. We got lost at a very poorly marked turn around mile 10, and did an extra mile or so getting back on trail. We also met up with Lisa, who was supposed to be running up front for the win (oh no!). So we all turned around, again taking off since we were frustrated, and kept on trucking until we reached the hold. Legs drank a little and once he realized we were resting for a minute, ate some nice green grass. We took an extra few minutes, posed for a picture with all three horses in the group, and off we went again. Lisa had decided to back off for the day, but it looked like Theresa had decided she was going to try and top ten. Since I wanted to keep Legs safe for Biltmore, I backed him off (telling Lisa my plan) and parked him behind a few other horses going the pace I wanted to go. He wasn't happy about it, but after a few miles he settled in stopped fighting me so hard. I ended up meeting up with Jennifer Smith (a friend of mine from Gloucester), a new rider she had picked up, and Becky Supinger who is up from Judie's area. Together we all went a much more reasonable pace of around 10-12mph with the "just finish today" attitude. MUCH more like it for me!

Legs behaved pretty fantastic from this point on. Just cruised along at his speed and rated very well. He was a little pushy on the ground at the vet checks, wanting me to rub all over him. This got annoying because his heart rates weren't great, but he still pulsed down very quickly and negative split ALL of his CRI's all day. This behavior also got a lot better as the day went on. Overall, his vet scores were very good. I had a couple of acrobatic moments, one when he jumped a gully I wasn't expecting and lost my stirrup while he charged up the next hill. I was very proud of myself for staying on fairly easily and rating him until I got my stirrup back! We also had an almost-down moment when another horse that was with us spooked and dumped his rider. Legs got a little iffy there, but I got him back immediately and we even helped try to catch the loose horse (the rider was fine, just a little shaken up).

We finished the day in 37th place (of around 85 starters) right behind Becky Supinger. Legs looked and felt great, and the whole plan worked out almost perfectly. I feel very confident I'll have a strong healthy horse for Biltmore and will probably try to top ten on the 50 there.


My only grumpy point was that we had to leave on Saturday night instead of staying til Sunday, because Lisa and crew were also leaving thus taking the corral and my additional trailer help. I hate to go home the same day as a ride (especially with a trailer that doesn't have a lot of cushy shock absorption) because I like to give the horse plenty of rest. But we packed up, and after a fight got him on (took Theresa lunging him to get the point across), and headed home. Yes, I remembered to take the bad mat out this time, and drove very slowly and cautiously. We stopped for gas once, and he seemed pretty relaxed, enjoying a rub of his head and butt and eating his hay and grain snack. Thinking back, I should have given him water at this point, but I didn't even think about it.

We got to the farm around 11PM and he unloaded very well, although was very excited. Joy had a stall prepared with water and a snack, and he immediately started an excited pattern of roll, eat, drink. He was rolling a lot, which kind of scared me, so Joy came up to look at him with me. I took his blanket off, and we ended up letting him out of his stall, and he seemed to settle down fine. Just so happy to be home and itchy from the blanket! I got an update on Sunday that he was just fine, eating his favorite clover and playing with his friends. Very little stiffness too!

I should mention, the ride was very muddy due to all the rain, with steep rolling hills and more rock than I remembered. Lots and lots of pulls, mostly lameness. Perfect training for the next ride, which is very similar. Legs only had front shoes, he was completely barefoot in the hind. He did great all day, no tenderness! Friggin feet of cement...he will get hind shoes for Biltmore, the farrier comes this week. My plan is to go up this weekend and give him his shots and bring some more weight supplements (I forgot them at Judie's), and maybe do a little walk to loosen him up and practice with the trailer. Also might give him a nice relaxing bath, he is due. No need to do any conditioning for Biltmore, he is ready to go!

I had my Garmin for this ride, but I forgot to start it in a couple places so it's way off. I might post them later so you can see the speed differences, but don't trust the mileage or trail marking! Also will work on getting pictures; the ride photographer got a few of us but I look pretty fat in most of them (still working on losing those extra 10lbs) and she's charging $25 a piece for them, so we'll see if I can't steal a digital image somehow.

On a happy note, my friend Debbie finished in 7th place with Oreo and also had a great day! Her friend Roberta finished her first 50 too, right in the same group with me and Becky. Jennifer Smith also finished with us. My friend Jennifer Supinger (Becky's daughter) unfortunately got lost on the first loop and decided to option out since she was out for a super-long time and did lots of extra miles. If you ever decide to do this ride, keep your head up for trail markings and bring the map! They are notorious for not marking the trail well....Also helps if you can bring crew. They run the vet check so that you have to return to the timers and get your "out time" after vetting through, which is a pain because unless you have crew it can cost you an extra 5 minutes you could have spent resting/feeding your horse. I hate it when they do it like that.

Tiring but very good weekend!