

We arrived at ride camp Friday afternoon and set up. We knew bad weather was coming for Race Day, and already the ground was very soft and wet. Not so good when you're in a 44ft 18,000lb rig. Indeed, rigs were already getting stuck and needing to get moved/pulled out with a tractor. Good on ride management for having it ready and waiting to go!
Vet in went fine, both horses were good with the vets. Aleah's heart rate was 48, Helo's a little higher. Everyone was sound and happy, and eating and drinking A LOT. I think we


Morning of the ride, both 25's and 50's were leaving at the same time, but from opposite ends of camp. Horses were a little wired while tacking up, Helo especially was nervous. But between the two of us we got through, and Aleah confidently led us through to the start time and out on trail where we started slow and then settled in to a nice medium trot. The horses did pretty well for it being their first time off and passing, being passed, etc. Aleah was a little racey, but nothing out of line. Helo seemed to loosen up and get over his nervousness as soon as we started moving. Trail was exactly as I expected it to be.....absolutely beautiful and well-maintained, but marked poorly. Confidence markers where we didn't need them, and no markers around blind turns when we came out of the woods and didn't know where to go. Several people missed turns, it was very frustrating.
Coming in to the first vet check, Aleah was down right away! Helo took a little more time, coming in to camp seemed to make his nervousness return. It took us FOREVER to vet through, the pulse takers were quick but because half of the vets were out on trail at a gate-n-go for the 50's, there weren't enough back in camp and we had to wait forever in line. It really came in handy to have both Sarah and I there, because one of us could hold the horses while the other went and got blankets and buckets for the horses while waiting. By the time we got through, we only had 20 minutes to really rest at our crew spot. Helo was still nervous and a little slow in eating, so we took some extra time getting ready before going out. A personal note here, the out timer at this ri

Second loop was quick,

Since it was a last-minute decision, we went in Renegade training boots and not glue-ons. The course was really muddy in some places; Aleah kept all of her boots on all day but Helo lost 3 of his. The first was a freak accident; he did a little spook while on the pavement and got it caught and flipped. The second and third times were definitely bc of mud, one came off completely and the other flipped sideways. We think we have developed a plan to winch down his toe straps a little tighter to see how it works, but may switch to glue-on for future rides to be safe. Otherwise they worked just fine.
Once we were all finished, we had the tractor pull out the rig from the mudbog and up to higher paved ground. We moved the horses up there and packed up, taking our time so they could rest and we could relax a bit before hitting the road (we were leaving same-day, Carolyn had events on Sunday and the weather truly was terrible). Again, hooray for having a tractor there!
And now for the exciting news....I got a new trailer! It's a 2001 CM in PRISTINE condition, just needs new tires and bearings packed and we're good to go! I still have my old one, but it really turned out to be way too small and I wanted something the horses would like better (and in better shape). Very excited to be able to travel and go to rides wherever I need now (without being embarrassed). :-) Still trying to sell the old trailer as a pony or livestock rig, in case anyone is interested.

That's all for now folks!
No comments:
Post a Comment