Well the last month has been pretty crazy with everything happening! I've been continuing to work with Sarah Seasholl's horses, Helo and Aleah, and everything has been going fantastic as usual! We even went up to Star Tannery, VA for 3 days and did some hill/mountain training with them to prepare for OD. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Ann Crandell and Becky Boyce for letting us come up! The horses did awesome on the training rides, they were much more fit and prepared than we expected. Good/Bad News was we did have several boot malfunctions in the very muddy technical areas. We lost one and broke another. This is bad because, obviously, we lost a boot and that sucks. And we had to keep stopping, which is not the end of the world just irritating. But good, because it definitely gave us the go-ahead to use glue-ons for the Old Dominion race.
3 weeks back, I was invited to come to Cooper H Black (Sand Hills) and do the South East fundraiser. Mary Howell helped me find a horse to ride, and I ended up getting connected with Cheryl Van Deusen and taking her gelding, Regal (Ebs Regal Marjjan), on the 55. It was HOT and MUGGY and nasty. There were some bad storms the night before, which wouldn't have been a big deal except 3 out of 4 of my tent poles snapped while I was setting up in the dark. Ugh. Didn't get much sleep that night, which was problematic later. I now have a new truck tent, will be setting it up this weekend to make sure it fits and we're good to go. Note to self: don't get that brand again! Will have to see if there's a protectant I can order to put on the tent poles.
Me and Regal on Loop 2, Photo courtesy of Becky PearmanTwo weeks later, Sarah and I headed up to Orkney Springs for Old Dominion with Aleah and Helo. After the horses did so well in training, we had signed up for the 55. We took the "scenic" route up, which was a little nerve-wracking since we've been having truck trouble but we made it just fine (though Helo was a little car sick). Ann and Becky saved us a great parking spot in the shade right next to the vets, and we got there in the morning and had tons of time to setup, vet in, etc.
Base Camp, in the crease of two mountains
Everyone hanging out at the campsite
If you haven't done OD, let me tell you....it is no ride for beginners
. There were four loops, 17, 19, 12, and 6 miles. First loop was really nice; plenty of spots to move out and there was one pretty good climb with beautiful views. We were travelling with Amy Frederic, a junior who normally trains with Becky and Ann and who I crewed for at No Frills. Amy rode Maggie, a 19-year old mare and endurance veteran. Amy had some digestive problems the night before and gave us a scare, so we were going easy so we didn't push her too hard. We also had Amy Smoot from the Gloucester area, on her gelding Remington. We finished loop 1 much faster than we were anticipating and everybody looked great! Amy Frederic's parents were crewing for us and did a FANTASTIC job. Thank you again!
Loop two was nasty. Unfortunately, there was some confusion with the timers and Amy (Smoot) left just before us thinking we had already gone. There is no other word for it. 19 miles, and I think we walked 15 of them. That's probably exagerating, but not too much. We went up, and up, and up, and UP the mountain, then up some more along the ridgeline at the top. The horses had to go over very technical terrains and slippery boulders. Once we were FINALLY at the top, there were two close water stops (a trough and then a little pond) and we got to head straight back down into the vet check. Trail was technical again until we hit the road but all was okay. Remington lost a shoe at some point on the down hill and was done for the day; those rocks chew up feet FAST. The other horses came into the vet check just fine, though tired. This one was a rough one because we were allowed no crew gear, only what was provided. The volunteers did the best they could but there were A LOT of horses and it was tough to keep up. Plus, we got a nice pop-up thunderstorm right in the middle which was great to cool off, but got everything soaked. Blegh.
From here it was easy-peasy to the finish....or so we thought. At some point in the first 3 miles of the next loop Aleah managed to knock herself with...herself and came up a little off. Which was crazy, since it was nice open trail with no obstacles. Her tendon started swelling too right above her fetlock. So we walked/hiked it the rest of the way in and called it a day (yup, pulled at mile 49 of 55). Helo and Maggie (with Sarah and Amy) continued on, though Maggie had some gut sound trouble at the hold. They got her picking up and did the last 6 miles very slow, finishing with plenty of time to spare and even in time to go get dinner! All in all, a semi-good day.
After seeing the treatment vet (AERC new rules from 2010 ALL Horses who are pulled MUST check out with the treatment vet), I took Aleah back to the trailer and wrapped her leg in ice, then wrapped both. I also put some poultice on but covered it so that it would stay moist. The best way to do this is to put wet paper bags like from the grocery store over the poultice, then plastic, then polo wraps. I didn't have paper, but I had plastic and polo wraps so we managed the best we could. Sources vary but most say that you need to keep the poultice wet, or it starts to do some damage while it dries pulling things apart. In any case, the injury seems pretty minor and I was confident that she absolutely would have finished if she hadn't come up off.
Both Helo and Aleah were tired, but bright eyed and taking great care of themselves. Maggie was still having a little digestive trouble, but seemed to be okay. Ate and drank and then napped (standing). And napped and napped and napped. Definitely will have to keep a watch on her to make sure everything is okay for the next ride she does.
Our friend Ann Crandell won the 100 on her horse Sunny and one of the Best Condition awards for the day (OD has 2)! We got to see her finish and it was so exciting! Great job to Becky and Justin (and Amy's parents) crewing for us all.
The glue on boots worked GREAT. We didn't lose them or have any issues at all! Helo's were really chewed up but still on at the end and important part of the foot protected. We think it was a combo of rocks and the way he moves. Good test run!
So now we have a lot of time off. Aleah and Helo will have a few weeks to rest up and heal before we start up with them again. Sarah Seasholls is looking into getting a new saddle, and my friend Kelly is picking up a new gelding so I think I will be helping her work with him when he first gets back. Next ride I'm pushing for (if Sarah is okay with it) is Virginia Highlands in August. One of my favorites, it's beautiful and challenging, but not as much so as Old Dominion. Don and Nicki Meuten manage it and have done a great job the last two years it's been running! We shall see....
All photos of Old Dominion are courtesy of Sarah Aitken Seasholls. Good thing ONE of us takes a camera around. ;-)
