May 24 2008
Oreana, ID
Managed by Steph & John Teeter
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MAPS HAVE BEEN POSTED! Owyhee Fandango Map
The 25s actually did the Orange loop (17 mi) first on Day 1 and then the Pink Short (9 mi) loop.
Here is another image thanks to endurance.net FRIDAY, PRE-FANDANGO Well today's the day we load up and head out. I took the dogs to Jeneé's for the weekend *THANK YOU!* and then headed for the barn to get Sinwaan ready. He had been aggressive towards Calvin earlier in the week and had chased him through a fence, so that combined with his earlier aggression towards the Morgans had led Dale and Kittee to ask me to find him a new place to live. I was able to contact a prior barn owner, Darold, who agreed to have me back, so that was squared away before we left and the timing worked out pretty well since I didn't have to pay board while we were out of town, and Sinwaan had already been acclimated back to hay. Thankfully the weather was nice and I was able to give him a quick bath and wash out his tail. I was about half done braiding his mane when Lara showed up. She helped me and we took all my horsey things out to her truck. I did not realize I had accumulated so much stuff! Between my two saddles and the trunk from Kim it took two wheelbarrow loads to get it all. Then we walked Sinwaan down and loaded him. Dale got in just then so we said our goodbyes. We drove back to the house and finished up the little details, like putting the cold food in the cooler and buying some ice. We realized neither of us had remembered to print out directions to the ride. So Lara drove to her house to print some out. We finally headed out of town about 1 pm. Not too bad - our goal was noon so we weren't too far off. Mom predicted we would arrive at 9 pm. I scoffed at such a notion, it was after all only a 5 hour drive according to Google Maps!
It was not long into the drive when we reached "Cabbage Hill" climb. The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia; Lara called us on the cellphone to ask how fast you are allowed to drive in 2nd gear because she had shifted down and was afraid she had burned up her gears, and her truck was smelling bad. So we all pulled off the road at the next exit and Matt got in her truck to drive to be sure all was well. From that point on I drove the Explorer ("Eddie") with the camp trailer. My mom sat up front and we had Levi in the center behind us in his car seat. He was such a good little traveler, either napping or babbling and pointing at things like trucks or trains, complete with sound effects. Well I was comfortable driving Eddie and at times would be between 65-70 mph when in the passing lane. Apparently Lara tried to call us but we didn't have coverage. I guess I lost her for a little while. The camper is so wide you can't see anything behind you when you are pulling it! Well we needed to fill up after that hill so I pulled off for gas. Matt did not see me pull off and went right past the exit. I saw them cross the overpass and realized we had trouble. We tried to call them and did not get through. So we filled up and figured we would catch up with them eventually. When I was driving back up the on-ramp I noticed a state trooper pull on behind me. Nothing like a cop on your tail to make you comfortable...grin... well we found Matt and Lara at the top of the on-ramp and as I pulled in behind them the trooper passed us and made a little "wooouuuupp" with his siren and sped past us. I wasn't sure what that was about until Matt explained to me that the same trooper had stopped when they pulled over to be sure everything was ok with them and once he saw that we were reunited he went on his way. Onward once again... we saw many people pulled over, and this time kept it to 65 mph or less for the sake of the horses and sticking together better. We only had one printout of the directions but my mom had noted pertinent information down 'just in case.' When we crossed over into the Mountain Time Zone and I thought uh-oh, there goes a whole hour I thought we had. At one point in Idaho coming off of I-84 we almost got lost, but thankfully mom was paying attention and saw the road we needed as we were following Matt down a wrong turn so we had to chase him down on a double lane road and get alongside to relay the information. So much for cell phones. We turned around when we were able to and went back down the road and discovered mom was right. Phew! This led to driving and driving and driving some more down a 2-lane road through the middle of desolation. There were a few farms here and there but mostly just sagebrush and mountains and a rugged beauty. We passed "The Blue Canoe" restaurant and I thought surely that was a good sign since they were catering at the ride this weekend. Then I spotted some ribbons on a trail. An even better sign! Can't be far now! And yet onward and onward and onward we drove. I had to pee really bad at this point and it really seemed to take forever. I don't remember how Eddie got in the lead again but I do remember seeing a RIDE sign with an arrow pointing to the right and I took the turn but it was a loop close to the road and large enough to turn around with a trailer. I saw a road sign just a little farther down which had the name of the road we were looking for, so I took the loop to get a better look at the sign and to be sure I hadn't turned too soon. Well once the two of us got good and tangled up with our trucks and trailers on the road and the loop we finally realized the first turn was the right one. So we backed up and got realigned and headed down the gravel road. Surely it can't be far now, I thought, dreaming only of a bathroom. Well need I say...onward and onward and further we drove? Speed limits were posted at 35 in the smooth gravel sections and in the rougher spots with corners it was 15 or 25 mph. It didn't matter, the sun was setting and it was dusty so I went about 1/2 the posted speed most of the way. We passed a couple of houses with acreage for sale, one even had a landing strip. When I was really starting to get discouraged about how long this road was (where the heck was ride camp!?) we saw some cute foals on the left at an AHA Discovery Farm. The sign read "Endurance Horses for sale" and I knew we had to be close. Sure enough, just around another corner was ride camp. It looked smaller than I expected. There was a signpost with markers for AERC (could park anywhere) and FEI (had to park in a designated area). Since we weren't FEI, I went the opposite direction and we landed a nice spot for both of us to park, in an "L" formation with the plan to set up the corral in the center. It felt so good to get out of the car. And the horses were so glad to be out of the trailer! I glanced at the clock and it was 9 pm. Mom's prediction was right. We knew we didn't have much light left so Lara and I went to find registration. It was not far away and the lady working the computer was very nice and helpful. As I glanced around the building I saw a couple of computers and the next room appeared to have a number of people in it, socializing. I asked if this was a rider's clubhouse of sorts and the lady told me with a smile "No, this is Steph and John's house...they just happen to be really into computers." Well I was happy to see I had gotten my lucky #21 ride number and they assigned Lara #22. That was settled, now to find a vet.
We saw Michael Peterson, DVM and he agreed to follow us back to our camp to vet our horses through. Sinwaan did well considering he just barely had stepped off the trailer and scored mostly A's with only one B for gut sounds.
Imaginn did well also and scored all A's with one B for gut sounds, which was expected. Matt took this fantasic low-light motion shot of Lara and Ima doing their trot-out for the vet. After we got our horses vetted through we decided to set up the corral before we ran out of daylight. The sun was setting fast and I only got about half the posts in before darkness fell upon us. Unfortunately we picked a pretty rocky area and had trouble getting many of the posts to go in as far as they needed to in order to be safe. Lara worked for about 30 min on one single post. Because of this, our corral started to take on a funny shape. We also tried to be careful about putting the fence too close to our neighbors trailer, or Lara's. Finally we got the stakes in the ground and then it was time to put up the tape. Ruth had told me, "Oh it's really straightforward and simple, you should have no problem." Well I don't know if it is because it was dark, or I was tired and frazzled from driving all day or what but I had to read the directions about 10 times before it started making sense to me. FINALLY got the tape up and plugged into the charger and it appeared to be on and working. So we put the horses in and waited to see what would happen.
Well a whole lot of nothing is what happened. Sinwaan and Ima got along fantastically well, even sharing their hay piles. What a relief. We set out two hay piles for them to munch on and two buckets of water and considered it good. Mom had cooked up some beans for haystacks so we ate that for dinner. It tasted great. Time for bed, with an early start tomorrow! FANDANGO - RIDE DAY, HERE AT LAST! The thing I noticed about this part of Idaho is the sun seems to set late and come up just as late. Our ride time was at 8 am so Lara and I decided to get up at 5 am so we would have plenty of time to get ourselves and the horses ready without feeling rushed like last time we tried to ride together (Lakeview Ranch Ride, '07) I did not sleep well all night, I never can the night before the ride and it doesn't help to have a toddler sleeping with me. Levi decided to sing and talk for at least an hour after 'lights out' and was quite active. It was pretty cute until he decided that hitting my face was fun. Enough of that! I guess we both finally fell asleep at some point but I woke up early, before the sun came up. I had heard the horses scrambling and that is what woke me. I looked out the kitchen window of the camper and saw them both still in the corral, seemingly fine. It was nearing 5 am so I decided to get up, although it felt strange to be up at that hour. Lara was up too, also having heard the scramble. We aren't sure what caused it but no harm done. It was still quite dark out and no one else was stirring. I thought that a little erie since I expected the longer distance people to be up. I was already dressed for riding but had to throw on a sweatshirt because it was pretty chilly. I walked down to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. The facilities at this location are not fancy but they are very convenient and comfortable. The Teeters have two containers that they have put together to make a building which houses the three toilet stalls and a double sink on one end, with a porch outside. This is next to the house and overlooks a small grassy lawn that you can graze your horse on. It is also next to the vetting area. It took me a short while to figure out that there was a whole 'nother Ride Camp on the other side of the house behind the vetting area. Because we had gotten in so late, we missed the riders meeting and I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions. Like, how long is the hold? Are the 25s still leaving at 8 am, as advertised? Which day of riding had more climbs? etc.
Lara was ready to cook her breakfast and asked me if I wanted any tea. I said no to the tea but mentioned I would like some hot water so I could have my usual oatmeal and hot chocolate. She heated her water in a little pan with a lid and when I tried to pour it, I ended up spilling part of it on the ground. So I ate my oatmeal and then took my cocoa as I walked down to the Teeters to see if anyone was up yet and if I could get some answers. In the meantime, Lara cooked herself a breakfast of eggs and vegetarian sausage and cheese mixed together. It appeared that there were people up and about in the house so I knocked on the door and eventually both came to the door and invited me in and I got to meet them and discovered that we had a 40 min hold, and yes we start at 8, and there isn't much of a difference on hills for either day of riding but today's ride had more sand. I thanked them and they wished me well as I headed back to the trailer(s).
We tied the horses to the trailer with buckets of water and hay in their hay bags and got to work grooming them as the sun came up over the hills. The first thing I did was finish braiding Sinwaan's mane. It didn't look like he had laid down so I didn't have a whole lot of grooming to do to make him presentable. I was trying to decide which saddle to use on this ride. If I used the Wintec, I knew we could make it. I knew the breast-collar fit and there wouldn't any extra adjustments to make. If I used the Abetta, I would have to switch over stirrups, and adjust the breast-collar, and add the tush cushion. It made me a little nervous to ride that far in a saddle I had only put about 10 miles on. So I played it safe and easy and went with the Wintec.
At some point I realized we still didn't have our numbers proudly displayed on our horses' rumps so I went down to the vet check area to ask around about it. Whomever I talked to pointed the grease sticks out to me and said that everyone gets to mark their own horse. So since the choices were blue or pink, I took blue. Even though we planned for a leisurely amount of time to get ready, it went by quickly and before I knew it, it was time to warm up. Checking over last minute details such as water bottles filled and loaded, granola bars in the pack, easy-boot, and all the misc. things I carry around I also took a look at the HR monitor. Happy day, it was working. Sinwaan was relaxed and sunning himself with a HR of 36 - if I am remembering correctly. I was happy with that. Lara and I mounted up and started riding the lane to the Teeter's house/vet check area and back.
We initially thought this was the lane the 50s would be leaving from, but they all went by on the other road out of camp so we were free to use it. Here is a shot Matt took of one of the 50s - the horse appears to be completely off the ground here.
As we rode back and forth we found little things that needed to be attended to, (such as Sinwaan's girth being too loose) and were able to take care of those things also without feeling rushed. There was a lady in front of the Teeter's house who took a number of photos of us but I am not sure who she was. Finally it seemed to be about the right time, so we said our goodbyes to the family and headed for the out gate. A woman said if she had our number we were free to go, so off we went and our adventure began! It felt great to be relaxed, yet excited, and leaving on time.
We only got confused about which way to go twice all day long, and at the start was one of those times. We came across a sign that had all the loop colors listed with an arrow on each color. Well the Orange loop that we were on had a right arrow. So we went to the right only to quickly find a dead end into a camp site. Whoops! We turned around and I decided that the right arrow must mean "straight ahead" since the lane going straight appeared to lead back to our Ride Camp and I had seen the 50s come through that way earlier. Thankfully, this was the right decision and it put us on our way. Matt took this photo of us on the way out. The Orange loop was listed as being 17 miles long. I was glad to have the long loop first. It is easier mentally to leave your vet hold with a shorter distance ahead of you once you have already put some hours in the saddle. This loop took us up Bates Creek Road a short distance, then up Lost Juniper Ranch's driveway, across their little bridge, and from there up into the hills. We had a man on a chestnut ahead of us who was setting a pretty good fast pace. The horses felt good, they were eager to go and Sinwaan took the lead with his power trot and some cantering. We wound around on the trails, climbing up up up and enjoying the awesome views. In some parts the trail was narrow on the hillside but we didn't seem to notice. At the first water stop we met the man on the chestnut ahead of us, his name was Tim. He left us and we were approached by another rider, a man with a cowboy hat, riding a mule. His name was Morgan. We played leapfrog with Tim for a couple miles until we finally walked the horses and he got ahead of us again. Later we were joined by Morgan and rode together for a little while. Eventually I think we caught up with Tim again. We came to a twisty trail in high brush that led to a gravel road. Some 50 milers were cantering towards us on the same trail, but passed by with no problems. Then we saw the sign "Photographer, Space Out" so I hollered to Lara to get ready. Imaginn was tailing the mule and I held Sinwaan back a little because the front runners were kicking up a fair amount of dust and I wanted a nice ride photo. [Steve Bradley Photography] Well that only led to Sinwaan pinning his ears and then I let him go and he cantered to catch up to Ima and the mule. We went off road again shortly and rode through some beautiful desert land, I wish I knew more about geology and plants so I could describe to you everything we saw. Beautiful, delicate little desert flowers adorned the hillsides. The views were breathtaking. The water crossings were shallow and uncomplicated. The footing was excellent and we set a nice working trot for most of the first half. Towards the end of the Orange loop, we came to a water tank and when the horses were done drinking we sponged them off. Sinwaan was SO itchy that it looked as though he wanted to climb right into the water tank, or lay down and roll, so I had to watch him. This water stop really helped the horses as they then perked up when we headed up the trail again. We spotted some little lizards scampering off the trail, and a jackrabbit darted across the path in front of me. Tim and Morgan rode off ahead of us at about the half way point when we slowed to walk the horses for awhile. They were both doing really well, but Lara had some trouble with her HR Monitor giving false readings a couple of times. The Orange loop seemed to go on forever but it was such a great ride, perfect weather (60s?) and always a new view to marvel at. Sinwaan and Ima were well matched and took turns leading, although at times Ima would stop and kick out, so we just watched out for her back end. Other times she had to stop and pee to mark as she was in raging heat today. Even with all the little starts and stops and antics we made good time and pulled into the vet check at 10:50 am - that's 2 hr 50 min for a 17 mile ride. Wow! That's averaging a little faster than 5 1/2 mph even with the big climbs. We had dismounted to walk them in at the last turn coming in. As we approached they shouted at us for our numbers. 21! 22! As we walked past the table we were handed a little slip of white paper with our number and time in. We led the horses into the pulse down area and offered them water and sponged them off. I was watching my HR monitor and when Sinwaan got down to 60 I called for pulse. A woman came over and said that if I was down I could go on to the vet area. This was something a little different than I had seen before, if you have your own HR monitor, they don't take your horse's pulse before the vet check. I thought that was interesting, and likely another thing we would have learned about had we made it to the meeting on time. So I walked him over to the vetting area and Michael Peterson checked him over. Sinwaan scored all A's except for the one B on gut sounds again. He got an overall impression of A-. His PR time was 10:51:42 and pulse was 52. Lara reports that Ima scored all A's and she was really happy to see her score for gut sounds had come up from last night.
With our hold time of 40 min, that meant we could leave at 11:31 am for the second loop. We walked the horses back to the trailer and tied them with their hay and water accessible while we went to the camper for lunch. Matt heated up some hot-dogs while I chowed down on mom's potato salad and fresh cut strawberries. Levi shared with me and it tasted great, although I think I ate too much, too fast. I only ate one veggie hot-dog after that on 1/2 a bun. Yum. I think I also took two ibuprofen at this point because I had a little back pain but overall I felt pretty good for the distance completed. I refilled my water bottles and chatted with mom and Matt about the ride and how awesome it was out there. Lara and I took the horses back down to ride out a little after our out time, but I am not sure how late we were. Maybe 10 minutes. As we were leaving the trailer a woman said to us "Got your rain coats?" and I said "What? Why?" and she said "Look" as she pointed to the sky, "It'll be raining in five minutes." Sure enough there were dark clouds moving in fast. I went back to hunt around for one of my ponchos but didn't see it so I decided to forget it and take my chances. A little rain might feel good anyway. Matt walked down with us and got some photos as we left.
This loop was Pink Short and a 9 mile ride. Piece of cake, I thought. The short Pink loop took us back up the same way the Orange loop had started and we covered some familiar trail the first couple of miles as we headed up and up and up the hill.
A group of three riders passed us coming the other direction, and as we pulled off the trail for them they snapped our photo. I discovered later that the photographer was Merri Melde of The Equestrian Vagabond blog. Some parts were steep and Lara felt her saddle slipping back. She had not used a breast-collar today and had to dismount to adjust her saddle. When we got to the top the trail took us straight along the flat top of the mountain where we could see 360 degrees. The large mountains ahead of us were capped in snow, and as we passed by we could look down and see our camp and trailers. It was simply amazing. There was also a view to the left and we could see the longer distance riders on the crest of the hill far away. We kept the horses to a steady trot the whole stretch, with one brief walk after Imaginn had to stop and mark some more. They did well. Not long after we made a right turn to head back the direction of camp, the trail seemed to end. There were ribbons to the left for the longer distances, but no pink ribbon. Lara rode a little closer to the edge and to her horror saw our pink ribbons on the trail that went straight down the mountain. Well I knew we had to come down off the top of that hill sometime, but didn't expect it to be so steep. We sent Sinwaan down first since he is slow and careful and steady. The sand was quite deep. Lara is scared of heights and not doing too well but I heard her tell her horse "Now I know you don't want to fall off this any more than I do, so be careful" and down we went. After the initial heart-in-throat response it really wasn't too bad. I hollered back "Look! You're doing it! No problem..." It wasn't entirely straight down, there were some switch backs and more beautiful little flowers in many colors. We could see two pairs of riders ahead of us at the bottom, and watched as they turned right and headed back towards camp on a gravel road. At the bottom of this steep part there was a creek crossing, with large smooth rocks on our side of the water. It reminded us both of Harris Park. We guided the horses through slowly, not wanting to lose a shoe. The water itself was a narrow crossing, maybe knee deep on Sinwaan if that. He stopped and dropped his head to inspect things and then went right through with no problems.
We picked up the trot again on the gravel road and headed the direction of camp. The miles just sped by and we passed two riders. We did some cantering and the horses were feeling great, it was like they got their second wind. The trail dodged off the gravel and wound through some sagebrush at the river bank. Sinwaan trotted right over the top of a snake, which writhed away quickly. {Shudder!} I thought I could see camp but we didn't think it could possibly be that close already. Maybe it was just some abandoned buildings. A little farther and YES it was camp! Then I thought I spotted Matt standing high on a dirt mound. Or was it a post? No, it WAS Matt!! Awesome!
We could not believe how fast the loop sped by and that we were done already. I always get emotional at the end of a ride, it is such a feeling of accomplishment but at the same time I am sad it is over. We dismounted and walked the horses in to the In timer at the same point as last time at 1:00 pm. This time they did want to take a pulse before we headed to the vet. I watched my HR monitor and called for pulse when he hit 60. Unfortunately then he moved around and the pulser got a reading of 67. So she had me hold up my wristband and we compared the two scores until he came down to 60 again and she called out the time 1:02 pm.
Imaginn had pulsed down just before us and Lara walked over to the desk to talk to the volunteers working the desk. She came back and said something about Top Ten and I couldn't believe it! What!? So I walked over and asked, so does that make me 9th or 11th? They said I was 9th. There was a little mixup though somehow because later when I got my vet card back from Michael Peterson I noticed it was Imaginn's card. Whoops! I still am not sure how that happened. So Sinwaan and I were actually 10th and Lara and Imaginn were 9th. So they had to transfer Sinwaan's scores over to his card. Since we came in the Top Ten we had to present for Best Condition. We also had to take off all our tack and get weighed with it to be sure we were in the correct weight division.
First I had Sinwaan vetted through. We had to do that 10 minutes after our arrival time. So at 1:10 we presented and Michael Peterson scored Sinwaan A's on most things, he did get an A- on Skin Tenting and a B on gut sounds. Overall impression was again an A-. His heart rate was 52 and recovery index also 52. They told me I would have to bring him back in an hour to again present for Best Condition. Just then it started raining. Big cold raindrops pouring down. I could not believe our lucky timing. At that point I was glad we were done riding and not out in the rain. Lara was also attempting to present to the vet, Robert Washington DVM, and Imaginn was acting up because her new best friend Sinwaan was on the other side of the fence nibbling some hay. When she got unruly and tried to run through the vet he told Lara that she was not eligible for BC because he could not get any stats on her. So Lara yelled for me to bring Sinwaan over. When I did she settled right down and stood quietly for the rest of her card to be filled out but because the vet could not get an additional score she still was not allowed to show for BC. I untacked and took my saddle over to the scale. I weighed in with tack at 166 lbs. Not too bad I guess. I asked around when the awards would be and was told after dinner. I also asked if I would be able to get a dinner ticket tonight since last night we were too late to get one and at this ride you get your free dinner the night before you ride. They told me to ask Steph but it should be fine. So we walked the horses back up to the trailer and put their blankets on them to try and keep them dry and turned them out in their paddock with some hay. I hurried around and put things away out of the weather. The rain was still coming down and I was soaked and starting to get cold. I tried to keep an eye on the time since we had to be back down there at 2 pm for our last BC check. I was not expecting anything but it was fun to get the experience. Well about 15 min 'til I pulled Sinwaan out and tried to groom him a little. He had rolled and had mud all up the side of his face. He enjoyed the brushing and me scratching his itchy face. He was still wet but looked decent. Lara was going to try and show for BC afterall, not realizing that without that other score she would not be able to. Imaginn looked good too. We went down together and it was not raining anymore. My mom walked over with us to watch the process. The vet doing all the BC judging was Robert Washington and he went over Siwnaan thoroughly. He scored 320 on part A, 165 on part B and 76 on part C with a total of 561 points. I still don't really understand all of this. After that we went back up to the trailer and made the horses comfortable in their paddock. I got a clean change of clothes and Matt and Levi walked down with me to the showers. There are curtains hanging for privacy but no real doors where the showers are so I was glad to have Matt to look out for me. He sat on the bench and talked to me while I washed the rain and sweat off. The water was not very hot but it sure felt nice to be able to get a shower after the ride. Clean and refreshed, we walked back to the camp trailer and I realized I was starving again. So I ate more potato salad and strawberries and Lara came in the camper and looked through all the photos Matt had taken and we all rested for a couple hours. Matt was able to take a nap and I played with Levi and occupied him. We sat outside on lawn chairs for a bit because the weather was so nice again Later on Mom and Lara and Levi and I took a walk around camp. We mosied through the FEI end of camp and saw Morgan and his mule. We also ran into Tamara walking her Barb (You can see her blog, the Barb Wire in my links). It was neat to meet her in person and we had a nice little chat before continuing around the camp perimeter. At 7 pm the dinner bell rang and everyone went down to the house for the meeting. This meeting covered a lot of the additional FEI stuff and Steph pointed out and introduced all the International guests. It was interesting. Lara and I were able to get our meal tickets so when Steph said "well I guess you guys can line up if you are hungry" it was very amusing because everyone ran up and formed a big bottleneck line. Steph laughed and said she had never seen that before, everyone must be starved! And people were trying to act like they weren't rushing, it looked like people were taking long strides in slow motion. We had the idea that the meeting was about over so we were already on our way up to get Steph's signature on our AHA OIEP forms when we were consumed by the crowd. Steph signed the forms as we were all packed in tight on the porch. It worked out pretty well though, we were able to get our food within 20 min of standing in line. The meal entree option was Pork, Roast Beef or a vegetarian quiche. I got the beef for Matt, Lara chose the quiche. There was also raw veggies, I picked up some radishes for myself and carrots for the horses, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and an apple cobbler for dessert. When we got back to the trailer mom had made spaghetti for the rest of us so I ate a heaping plate of that with a small jar of canned green beans from my grandma's garden in Montana. YUM! After eating in the camper we headed back over to the meeting area for the awards. Steph announced the 25 mile riders results first, starting at the bottom. I think there were 16 finishers. I believe it was Tami Blomley who won the "Turtle Award" and it was a turtle that Steph have brought back from Dubai! What an awesome award! As a Top Ten finisher, we received a special bonus prize - a change purse from Malaysia. There were a variety of colors and patterns and we each got to pick our own. Lara and I picked the same one without realizing it! The t-shirts were very nice polo shirts in a powder blue with the ride logo. I discovered that Tim placed first and Morgan on the mule was second. Impressive! Halfway through the 50 mi results a storm moved in again so we took (sleeping) Levi and the chairs back to the camper. I walked back over to hear the end of them and missed most of the drawings. Then they gave out 11th place prizes. Well the 50 miler 11th placer chose the Renegade boots and then Steph said the 11th place 25 miler had gone home so the prize went to 10th place...me! That was lucky I was there to claim it! I won an hour session with Namoi Preston and the TTouch method for Sinwaan. That evening we decided not to ride on Sunday for a second day. We were so pleased to have placed in the Top Ten we wanted to end on a good note. We also were close to running out of hay, I guess we hadn't packed as much as we thought. Also a lack of money was another determining factor in entering the second day. I was a little sore but overall felt really good and I think I could have done another day. We also knew that there was a long drive home and it would be nice to have a day of recovery after that before going back to work. So we called it a night and went to bed about 9 pm. I must have fallen asleep because I remember Matt said my name and I felt as though I was falling and I was grabbing for anything and then I woke up. There were flashes of light all around and Matt asked me if I had seen that lightning. He said he had counted to 30 and not heard any thunder so it must be more than 30 miles away. He wanted to know what we should do if the storm moved closer. I went out to the bathroom to check it out. The horses were dozing and not worried in the least about the wind and pending storm. There was indeed lightning. I walked down to the bathroom and back, and camp seemed pretty quiet. I told Matt that if he noticed the storm getting worse to let me know and we could move the horses from the corral. We did not want them to spook and run through it and get loose. I went back to sleep, I was pretty exhausted. SUNDAY, POST-FANDANGO Got up early again because I heard the 'dinner bell' and knew it was a warning for the riders to start soon and I wanted to try for some photos. I was able to get a couple but they weren't fantastic. What I didn't realize right away yesterday was that only the 25s and 50s were riding on Saturday. The 75 and 100 distances were today. And today's 25s we learned did not have a start time until NOON. At first I thought that would be nice to be able to sleep in, but who am I kidding? I am looking forward to the results in all divisions to see how everyone did. It has been really fun to see results and photos posted so quickly during a ride weekend.
After that I talked to Lara about walking the horses down to the grass so they could graze a little. I also wanted to try and find Naomi so I could cash in my gift certificate that I had won last night. We led them down to the grass outside the bathrooms and they happily munched away. I saw Steph and asked her about Naomi. Just then Naomi came walking by. Lara recognized her from her presentation that she gave yesterday before the ride meeting and we were able to introduce ourselves and ask about her availability. She said she would do it right away, she just had to grab a coat. So she walked back to the trailers with us. First she got to know Sinwaan by putting her hands in his mouth and feeling him all over for sore spots. She picked up right away on the fact he travels with his head way up in the air, she said his neck was a little stiff. She also noticed that he was a little tender over his shoulders and asked to see my saddle to determine their fit. I brought out the Wintec first since that is what we rode in yesterday. She had me take off the saddle pad and girth and we put it on him and she thought it really fit quite well. I told her I had been using a riser with it and she felt the riser was contributing to the problem of his sore shoulders. She told me to ride without the riser and I should notice an improvement (after he gets at least a week off). Then I also asked her to check the fit of the Abetta. She felt that one was a little tight on him in one spot on each side, but fit well everywhere else. Hmmm. So I am not sure what to do now. Apparently I could have just bought a fleece saddle cover and probably solved my problems with the Wintec but now I have about $200 invested in this Abetta and new pad so I guess I will alternate between them. Naomi explained the TTEAM method and did it all over Sinwaan, on his sides and neck and girth area and shoulders. She also did some stretches with his legs and feet, and showed me how to relax him by folding his ears and massaging them. She also did a tail pull and described the best way to do that is to slowly release after the horse leans away for a good stretch.
I learned quite a bit and she was very helpful in many areas. I walked her back to her trailer and she gave us each a copy of her business card, newsletter and flyer on how to spend 10 minutes a day with the TTEAM method to make your horse happier. It was really a neat prize and very worthwhile. Thank you Naomi! (I also checked out her website TTEAM For Endurance later and learned that she was the owner of Mustang Lady, of which Breyer made a model of when I was an avid collector) After that was over the sun was up and I was getting warm, time to shed some layers. The rest of the family was now up, with mom commenting "you guys sure get up early! It's only 7:30 at home right now..." We packed up our belongings, took down the portable corral and put it away and emptied the water from the cooler. Everything was organized and packed. I had to use the bathroom so I left mom in charge of holding Sinwaan so he could graze and stretch before the long trip home. Once everyone was ready we loaded up the horses, figured the best way to leave camp, and headed out. We were careful not to speed on the gravel road. A sheriff had come by yesterday and we learned at the ride meeting that neighbors were calling the cops about people driving too fast up Bates Creek Road. Steph also told us that last year one of the neighbors had put large rocks in the road to deter people from speeding. If people do not respect the other residents, she would not be able to continue to host these rides.
The drive back to the pavement went by quickly this time, and then the drive back to I-84 also went by fast. Before I knew it we had been on the road for 2 hours. However, mom and I quickly dubbed this as "the drive that never ends." It again took us 8 hours to reach our destination.
We stopped a couple times for gas (at one stop a man commented on how I had a nice looking Appaloosa), and twice to watch a long train go by (that is Matt's hobby and Levi LOVES the trains) I again drove Eddie and Matt drove Kate (Lara's truck). When we got to Milton-Freewater Matt joined us in Eddie and Lara went to the barn because she planned on being there a long time.
When we got back to our house I parked Eddie and then took the Camaro out to the barn to meet Lara and help Sinwaan settle into his new home. He is now boarded at Orion Ranch in Walla Walla. Thanks Darold for having us. At first Sinwaan was a little nervous but we both think it really helped him to have bonded with Ima over the weekend and now she is just across the aisle from him. He calmed down considerably in the time that I was there and I left feeling confident that he would do just fine. Lara and I are looking forward to riding together in June without having to trailer anywhere :)
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