Sad News

Awful news from Heather and Jeremy in CA (courtesy of Heather's Blog at www.reynoldsracing.us)
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Ft Howes

Wednesday, 16 June 2010

I am so sad from this trip. This was the worst trip that Jeremy and I have ever been on and I hope we never top it as far as the "worst" category. We left for the race with Strut, Tiran, Kutt and Makazin. On the way there we stopped at a pasture that we always use. It is in Paradise Valley Montana. In the morning we came out to catch the horses to load up to drive the last 4 hours to the race and Makazin was missing. Three hours later we found him. He had run through 5 fences and then ran off the edge of a cliff and had broken his neck. We are still completely devastated from this. The other 3 horses were totally fine. We really don't know why he did that, he just must have been scared and running.

We continued to the race. It was raining our entire trip. Jeremy rode the 75 on Tiran. The footing and conditions were really poor from all of the weather and probably worse as it was a really wet winter. Tiran won the ride but then was pulled at the finish with a tight hind end. He was off and that was that.

We decided that we had had enough fun for the year so we left and didn't attempt the 100 that would happen the next day.

On Sunday morning as we packed up I thought that maybe we should have done the 100 as it looked like it was clearing up. I then spoke to some friends that were coming off of the first 25 mile loop. One said that her horse had fallen 3 times already, another had her horse fall and roll over the top of her and might have broken her rib. Later in the day another friend got her horse stuck on its side in a bog for a while. I am glad that we left.

It is a huge drag as we had really been looking forward to FT Howes as it can be really fun.

Makazin is sorely missed.

Heather

Training Ride by schicksa at Garmin Connect - Details

Garmin Report Training Ride 3-28-10

Foxcatcher 50 miles by schicksa at Garmin Connect - Details

Garmin Report Foxcatcher 50 4-17-10

Biltmore 50 by schicksa at Garmin Connect - Details

Garmin Report Biltmore 50 5-1-10

Training, Newport News Park by schicksa at Garmin Connect - Details

Garmin Report Newport News Park 5-22-10

Garmin Report York River State Park 6-6-10

6-6-10 Garmin Report Here

York River State Park 6/6/10

Went to York River State Park yesterday afternoon to work with Jazz. It was HOT HOT HOT! 95 degrees....craziness. Jazz was a bit of a PITA (Pain In The Ass), but she still busted her butt. The flies were awful, she spent most of her time shaking her head or dropping it to rub, then eat grass, but the more she stopped the worse they got! Her feet are long right now, so she was already tripping a lot. The head shaking made it even worse, she took some pretty bad stumbles but was okay. We did just under 16 miles, and it took about 2.5 hours. Would have been a perfect day to sneak Jack, no one else was there!

I love, LOVE this park. You have to pay entry, but it's totally worth it. The trails are beautifully maintained and there's some great views of the river. Nice grass everywhere for breaks. It's great for barefoot horses, and there's even some hill! A rarity for our area. All of the trails are actually out-and-back, so it's very easy to control your mileage. My only complaint is that there's no water out on trail. It would be great if they put a trough out there at one of the central trailheads, we could have really used it! There is a water spicket at the trailer parking area, though, so I definitely used that to wash Jazz off at the end of the day and offer her a drink. No hose, so if you would like to have more than a bucket dump definitely bring your own.

Updates

Hey all, sorry it's been a while.

Not too many updates to report. Legs has gone home to Lisa, and from all reports is doing well. He's scheduled to do the Old Dominion 50 with Lisa's husband, Andy (I have a wedding that I'm in that weekend, so I can't do it). If he does well through that, the plan was still to do Virginia Highlands in August, then National Champs in October.

For now, I'm working with Joy's horses, Bad Boy and Winnie. Haven't gotten very far yet, they're not quite trail ready.

I'm also working with Jazz, owned by Kelly Lane. Kelly recently re-injured her knee, and would like me to get Jazz ready for a 50 in the fall. I took Jazz out to Newport News park last weekend and we did 17.5 miles. She was GREAT! She's known to be a bit of a spookster, but we had very few issues. Just the occassional sidestep. She flew right by bikers, strollers, hikers, boy scouts, ets. She has smooth gaits and a great attitude, and should be a blast to get ready. Planning on taking her to Beaverdam soon to ride with friends, and will get a converter for Kelly's Brenderup trailer so I can haul it (in case she doesn't like mine). Also, Kelly should be moving her to board at Joy's in a month or so, so I can work with all the horses in the same place. Awesome!

Well that's all for now. Will post GPS stuff when I get around to uploading it. Currently working two jobs, so just trying to stay sane for now.