September 17 2011
Olympia, WA (Capitol Forest)
Managed by Heidi Larson
BARE BONES : THE PRE-RIDE STORY It had been a rough week before this ride. My step-sister Rachel had lost her battle to cancer and she was only 29. The 3rd year anniversary of Thad's death was also fast approaching. A number of other people in town also passed on this week. One a daughter of a Blue Mtn Rider, another a friend of my mom's. Riding for me is like finding religion. So I wanted to be able to get out and ride and think about all my loved ones and kind of do the ride in honor of them.
I also had customized two little Breyer Stablemate models with glow-in-the-dark paint as skeletons specifically as awards for this ride. So I really wanted to be there to see who won them. Laurie Logsdon and I had talked prior to the ride and Laurie decided to go, so she was the horse hauler. I was so grateful for her. I knew I could only afford one ride this year, and after the Montana ride didn't work out, my choices for the year that were left were Bare Bones or Foothills. I have done Foothills already and really enjoyed it, but I wanted to see some new trails, and support this new ride. So Bare Bones was the plan. The downside was that it was 300+ miles from Walla Walla, so fuel costs were not cheap. My mom has a new Suburban that she agreed to loan for this trip in order for us to pull our camp trailer for the family. She was not sure until the night before if she would be able to come with us. As it turned out she did join us on the trip, along with her two foster kids/teens. We were quite the entourage with four adults, three teenagers and two little kids (Levi, 5 and Ellie, 2)! The initial plan was to leave town at noon on Friday. Thursday night I was busy trying to get things packed up so there would be less to do on Friday morning. Friday I took the day off work and kept busy with all there was to do to prepare. I was so glad to have my List to check off as I threw things into the trailer. At 11 am I checked in with Laurie and she was sounding a bit overwhelmed. She has property that is being worked on so she had been dealing with a contractor all morning and was trying to throw things together and was a bit behind schedule. No problem, we went shopping for some food items, came home and made lunch and were not rushed in eating it. I think my mom got her kids/teens from school about noon and they got ready also. It seems like it must have been about 2 pm by the time we went out to the barn. I knew I could burn time there getting Sinwaan ready as well. As soon as we got to the barn Cheyenne (one of the foster teens) said she wasn't feeling well and needed to use the restroom. Well that was not an option, so they dropped me off and went back to town. We had also forgotten a battery that my brother would need for a Suburban he is getting for us in Portland. So there I was all alone at the barn. I got busy gathering things together in piles. I found the hay bale Cindy had set out for me and took it over to the other stacks of things. Saddle, bridle, shipping boots, feed tubs, water buckets, extra halter and reins, easy boots, winter blanket, rump rug, etc. The list goes on and on. By the time I was ready I had about 4 piles of stuff set out. I had time while I was waiting for everyone so I got Sinwaan all cleaned up and put on his shipping boots. Then he got to graze for a bit while we waited. I thought for sure Laurie would beat my family back to the barn since last time I talked to her she said she was 3 minutes out. Maybe I misunderstood and she had said 30. Any rate, I saw the camper pull in before the horse trailer. Cheyenne was still looking pale. She asked me where she could go throw up.
Laurie pulled in shortly after that and we got busy loading the trailer. I wasn't sure my stuff would fit but somehow it did, after rearranging some things. Because Cheyenne wasn't feeling well Laurie offered up her back seat (and a pink horse bucket) so she could lay down for the trip, which led to more rearranging things and some of it went into the camp trailer. Finally ready? Yes, leaving town about 3 pm. We stopped at the Touchet gas station for some bathrooms and snacks and then were on our way again at 3:30. After talking over the different options for the route to ride camp, we decided to head west to Portland and then north to Olympia. We were hoping we would avoid any road construction (which Laurie encountered on her trip to Elbe) and mountain passes by taking this route. At a little campsite on the water's edge Laurie pulled off for Cheyenne to use the restroom. I was really worried that Cheyenne would give us all the flu or something but as it turns out we think it was just anxiety. She settled in after that and watched a DVD movie with Lillian and I think fell asleep after that. 5:30 PM - we are passing by Arlington, about half-way to Portland, which is also about a third of the way to the ride. Looks like we won't get to camp until 9:30 and that is a best-case scenario! It will probably be after 10 PM. 5:45 - We had a bad head wind on the way over, so we had to stop for fuel sooner than we anticipated, both of us were down to 1/4 tank by Rufus. At this point I switched cars so Cheyenne could go back to my mom's car and give Laurie a break. I also thought it would be fun to ride with them and talk. It was fun. I found Lily to be most enjoyable and had a lot of conversation with Laurie. Seems like half of it was about death and dogs (sorry Laurie!) but that was my fault. 8:30 PM - We stopped again in Portland at the Wal-Mart there. Laurie and Lily went in to get some groceries and my brother met us there so we could give him the battery and the money for this new Suburban he found for us in Portland. I am really excited about having a new vehicle but also kind of nervous about it since I have never seen it or driven it, what if I don't like it!? Wes told us a really exciting announcement that they are expecting baby #2! We got back on the road after a while and headed north to Olympia. I stayed with Laurie at this point so I could help guide her into the ride camp in the dark, and it was late enough I figured my kids would fall asleep anyway. 11:00 PM - So the directions got us as far as the Evergreen Sportsman's Club, but in the dark it was hard to see where to go from there. We could see some campers to the right but no horse trailers. There was a gravel road to the left that wound around through the trees and what appeared to be more campground land, as we passed a lot of little campers and RVs in the woods. However no sign of ride camp. We turned around and headed back out. I had to call Heidi. I hated to do it so late but we could not find camp! I had called her earlier when I thought we would be there by 10 to find out what to do about vetting in, miles, ride start time, etc. Heidi told me to go straight back past the clubhouse, then when I see a van selling jerky, turn right and go through the hole in the cyclone fence. Follow the road around from there to camp. Another horse trailer had showed up in the meantime so we followed them in and they seemed to know where they were going until we got to the van selling jerky, they went straight and we turned in. Man, I hate getting to ride camp in the dark, can I just say that? Having never been here before I couldn't tell if the land was flat or not. There were some grasses here and there and it made the land look like moguls. So I got out with a flashlight and started hiking around so we could determine if we had a good place to park or not. As it turns out, it was all really flat and nice for parking. We unloaded the horses and led them to water but Sinwaan wasn't interested in it. I tied him to the trailer and went to get Ellie out of the Suburban. She was sleeping but the doors were open with the interior lights on so I wanted to put her to bed in the camper. Well, of course moving her woke her up and then she didn't want me to put her down. We were trying to be quiet for our camp neighbors and if I wasn't holding her she was wailing, so I carried her with me as I got to work on the electric corral. The earth was a bit hard and very rocky, which brought back memories of the Idaho ride I did with Lara. We had gotten to that ride in the dark also! I finally did get Sinwaan's pen set up and got him tucked in with hay and water and he seemed quite happy about that. Matt had been working in the camper to make up the beds and such and discovered that we had no power in the camper. Usually we can run the lights off the battery but for some reason it wasn't working! I was so glad I had gotten batteries for the one lantern so we had it to use.
I still had more running around to do and found out that the 25 was now a 30 mile ride, and the start time was 7:30 instead of 8 am. I was actually happy about all that. The sky was a bit overcast but no rain. I got my snacks and water and powerade all packed into my saddlebags. I also had to pack up my bucket for the out-check. I felt fairly ready when I finally went to bed about 1 AM. I do not think I ever fell asleep though. I laid in bed with Ellie on my arm and listened to everyone breathing. BARE BONES : THE RIDE STORY 5:30 am - I got up and threw Sinwaan some hay. It is starting to sprinkle so I put his blanket on him to keep him dry and warm. I went back to bed for about 45 minutes.
6:15 am - went down to find the ride manager and get registered for the ride. I took my paperwork and out-check bucket with me. I got all done with that and was assigned the number #43. This ride had a low entry fee, which I really appreciated, only $50 for the LD ride + a roll of toilet paper which was to be donated to local horse camps. The hold time was 45 minutes at the out-check. The map showed what appeared to be three sections of 10 mile trail. Heidi did tell me at this point that there would be gunfire at the club today, but not at the start!
I went back to the camper and got Sinwaan and brought him up to be vetted through. Since I had taken him away from his buddies he was a little amped up and his HR was 60. The vet said "well I guess that is ok since that is the required HR but if you want to, bring him back in a bit. See if he settles down, that might be good." He scored A's on most everything, a B on gut sounds. He had sounds on the left but was pretty quiet on the right. Dr. Vanzwol is who vetted me in but Dick Root was also standing there since I was the only one at the time. When Sinwaan did not cooperate Dr. Vanzwol grabbed his shoulder and performed quite the twitch on him. I have never seen that done before. He calmed right down. I had a hold of the halter instead of the lead for something they were doing and Dick had me just hold the rope and pop him a couple times, he thought my hand on his halter was bothering him and causing him to act up a little too. So I had some lessons from the vets that morning! It was all welcome advice. We went back to the trailer at that point and helped point Laurie in the right direction, she was waiting to decide on what distance to do. She decided on the 30 for both her and Lillian since it was Lillian's first ride. Up to that point it was just misting off and on. I had brought a ton of food this time and had the meals all planned out but with no power and getting in so late we didn't end up having haystacks for dinner. I forgot miracle whip so I didn't end up making myself hotdogs for the out-check for lunch either. When I got up I was so hungry I felt nauseous. I choked down a green banana with peanut butter but couldn't eat the whole thing. I felt more nauseous. When I tacked up and put on the HR monitor it read 45-46. So I wasn't worried about Sinwaan but didn't bother taking him back to the vets for that since I knew just going over to the start would make it go back up again with all the riders/horses milling around. I put on my red jacket to try and keep the rain out, because by the start time it was raining. I was actually doing quite well this morning with getting ready. I decided not to use my rump rug because of the rain - I didn't want it to get soaked and create more of a problem.
I rode Sinwaan around a little and made him do some neck stretches and warmed him up as I waited for the trail to be open. I was going to wait and ride out with Laurie and Lily but they were still trying to get all their stuff together and with the rain coming down I didn't want to wait any longer, I knew the trails would only get worse as time went on. I also knew sometimes Sinwaan and Otto can feed off each other and act up a little so getting on the trail could be good for all of us. Sinwaan was hesitant to move out and away but once we hit the trail he was very forward and eager to see what was around the next bend. The trail was great, single track dirt, and wound all around and through the trees along the border of camp and then out into the mountains. Sinwaan was feeling great with the cool weather and moving out well. I wanted to get as much ground covered as I could before it turned into a muddy slick mess. The sprinkle at the start turned into a downpour and I started to wonder what the hell I was doing out there. The footing became very slick, part of the trail was a red clay and we slid and skated over it in many places.
I passed a couple of people and finally fell in with a lady named Keena. She said she was a veterinarian and her horse was Cinderella ("Rellie"). She told me about her place and how she is starting a small breeding operation for endurance horses (Arabs) and we had a very enjoyable time riding together.
In the beginning Sinwaan got too close to Rellie and her hind end came up and she kicked at Sinwaan and his face went up in the air. I think that was a narrow miss, but a miss just the same and I was more careful to keep him back after that. She said she didn't realize her horse would need a red ribbon in her tail! The first half-hour or so was fantastic because the rain was somewhat blocked by the trees so the footing was still good. After that though the rain really came down and it just drenched us. The trail turned to mud and the horses were sliding all around. My glasses were covered in rain drops, that combined with the steam/fog on them, I could not see so I took them off. Well I am pretty blind without them! I trusted in Keena to keep us on the trail and just rode along like that for a couple of miles. In one or two spots there were signs for "Bees" and "Bee careful." I guess that is one good thing about the rain, we never had to deal with bees! It was really terrifying in some spots because the mountain trail went up and down and up and down and sometimes you were on the edge of a mountain side and with as slick as it was I could just imagine Sinwaan stumbling and sliding right off the edge!! I remember thinking I must be absolutely insane to be out in the downpour riding on those dangerous trails. I have no doubts that the trails were beautiful and fantastic to ride on when they were dry, however we were not so lucky. It was hard to look around and see the views because of all the rain and fog, I also was so focused on watching the trail and helping to guide Sinwaan, I didn't see much of what was around me. It wasn't long before I was completely drenched. Apparently my red jacket is only a wind-breaker, not waterproof! I was still starving, having not had much for dinner and only half a banana for breakfast but I was so cold and wet, I could not get my snacks out of my pack. We spent the first 10 miles like that, doing a LOT of walking because the trail was just too dangerous to go any faster. Puddles and even mini rivers on the trail as we plugged along. I thought it was marked on the ride map as 10 miles, but perhaps it was 8 miles, when we pulled into the vet check trot-by. I will admit, I thought about quitting, I was that miserable, and concerned about more cliffs. But there was no horse trailer in sight, and certainly nothing wrong with my horse, so I decided to quit being such a baby and suck it up and continue on. I came all this way to do this ride, now I had better well tough it out and be an endurance rider!!
We trotted through, Keena and I, and I believe one other rider, and continued on. I was so relieved to find that the trails from there had more gravel in them so the horses had better traction and we were able to pick it up and do a lot more trotting (safely) to make up some time. It continued raining. Rain rain rain rain. I wondered what was wrong with me to be so excited to ride in the rain. Yes, a new experience, but certainly not one I need ever again :) The trails continued to be mostly single-track dirt, certainly great for the barefoot horse and had I of known I would have pulled Sinwaan's shoes to give him better traction. There we went up and down and up and down, lots of climbing and more sliding on this ride! Not much of it was flat at all. I could feel that I was not riding well. I was doing my best to post and alternate diagonals but with all the slipping and sliding and cold and wetness I could tell I was coming down when I shouldn't many times. Sinwaan was a trooper!
There were tons of wooden bridges on this ride. Some with side rails and some without. Sinwaan did not like them at first. The first one we came to he refused about three times and the trail was too narrow for Keena to get around so I dismounted to lead him across. After that I let Keena do most of the leading because her mare was great with the bridges and he would follow her over. The rain did make the wood slick so often they would slip as they were crossing, and sometimes Sinwaan would try to go off the edge as we came to the other side. Twice I thought he was going to fall off the trail but we were ok. And maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought , it was so hard to tell without being able to see very well. It was hard to know if I would be more or less frightened by being able to see! After another 10+ miles we found ourselves back in the vet check area, this time for our pulse down and hold. Sinwaan pulsed down within a couple minutes. It took Rellie longer. I tried to keep Sinwaan close to her because by this time they were in love and she would start calling for him whenever he walked away. They told us that instead of the 45 minute hold that they had planned on, it had been changed to 15 minutes. I had barely enough time to find my bucket and feed Sinwaan some hay and grain before they came over to tell me I could leave again. I told them I would wait for Keena's out time since they did so well together, I wanted to stay with her, and I enjoyed her company. It also gave me a little time to eat something. I had packed some trail mix and dried fruit and orange cheese crackers. I ate the dried apricots and crackers. Also tried to down some liquid since my two bottles were still pretty full. A man in the check was asking about water so I offered him my spare bottle. It is nice to have extras for people in need.
Only 10 more miles. Certainly we could do that now that we survived 20! The rain let up as we were in the check. I must say those last 10 miles were the best of all. I could see where I was going, there wasn't much 'scary' trail on the edge of a cliff and we also rode part of the time with two 50-mile ladies, one of whom was Mona but I didn't get the name of the other lady. There were still a lot of puddles and bridges and trail that was clay so it was really slippery. We did some walking but trotted whenever it was safe to do so. Mona and her friend have ridden the area before so they knew what was coming up and could advise when to walk/trot. They led and set a very nice pace. I was able to get out my camera a little more on this loop since it was not raining and we were walking in spots. There was one spot that opened up and the view was spectacular. There was a city in the distance that looked like it was floating. I wish I had gotten a photo of it.
When we got within a couple miles of ride camp we could hear a lot of gunfire. As I found out later, the place we were camped was double-booked with a muzzleloaders club and there were people all dressed up in historical clothing firing off their guns all day long (they were the campers in the trees when we first pulled in). At one point in the trail we went right past a group of them and they held their fire as we passed which was nice. Sinwaan wasn't crazy about all the gunshots but he really did great for me despite that.
My mom was waiting for me at the finish! That was a nice surprise. Here is a photo she took while she was waiting for me to get back.
When we got close to where we could see the people who check you in we dismounted and walked that last little bit. Keena wanted to give her mare more time to pulse down after the trouble she had at the vet check. I could not believe the amount of water, rock, mud, etc in my shoes. Squishy and lumpy as I walked. We called out our numbers and walked the rest of the way in to the pulsars. Sinwaan FINALLY had a really good long drink at the trough. He had mostly just dunked half his head in the water at all the other spots. I think he had a small drink at 20 miles but overall had not had much water all day.
I was watching his pulse and it would come down to 61 and I would take him to the pulser and Keena would go out of sight and he would spin around to look for her (she's right there!!) and his HR would go back up so it took longer than I would have liked for him to pulse down. It was still within 10 minutes or so. I noticed right away he was shivering. Even though the rain had stopped he was still a bit wet and there was a wind now that didn't help anything. A volunteer gave me a blanket to throw over him while we were there at the pulsers. I gave it back when we went back to the trailer.
Keena was concerned about him shivering so she loaned me some more blankets for him. We put an old electric blanket on him, then her cooler, then his winter blanket to help him warm up. Once he stopped shivering then she was concerned about him sweating so we took off the electric blanket. Keena was such a huge help to me. She was actually our camp neighbor so she was parked right next to Laurie's trailer. I let Sinwaan eat to help generate some heat and he dove right into his hay, and I hand walked him every couple of minutes to keep his muscles from stiffening up.
After about half an hour we took the horses back down for the final vet check. Keena and Rellie went first and they did great, she scored really well.
I waited until the vet was ready to take off the blankets from Sinwaan and we had Dr. Vanzwol again. She looks familiar to me but I don't know her first name. She had us do the trot out first and then started going over him. He was scoring "A's" on everything, I was so excited.
Then she got to his back. I had been talking to Keena at the time but Sinwaan stepped over so I looked up in time to see the vet frown. She asked me "did you see that? That is not good." I said "no, I wasn't looking, is it his back?" She said yes, that she didn't even apply that much pressure. She did it again so I could see. He was really in pain because just touching his back made him flinch. She told me she was really sorry and that she didn't think she could give us a completion since his back was so bad. She scored him a C- on his back, which I don't understand. I would think he should get a D. To me, C is a passing grade! Anyrate I felt awful in that moment, I wanted to cry. I have never had a pull at the finish before, other than one ride being over-time Sinwaan has had a 100% completion rate. I felt really terrible that he was in so much pain. She said that with his back being that sore he was not 'fit to continue' therefore she would have to keep my vet card. Her advice was to wait for him to be dry and then ice his back. So we put the blankets back on him and took him back to the trailer. Keena said that she did not think ice was the best move for him in this weather and I agreed. She thought getting him dry and warm was the first step, make sure he was eating and drinking and then give him some bute to help with the pain. So that is what we did. Eventually we were able to take off another blanket but then it started raining again. No way he was going to get dry in this weather. Without being dry it was hard to be warm. Keena had plans to drive home tonight since her place was not that far. While I was in the shower she talked with Laurie about taking the horses up to her place so they could be more comfortable. When I came back they talked it over with me and it sounded good. Keena said she had a 9-stall barn and it was only about an hour away from the ride. So instead of taking a nap like I had hoped for, I packed everything up and then helped load the trailer and away they all went. They pulled out before 7 pm.
I went to the ride meeting because I wanted to see who would win the horses I created. The 50 mile winner had left already but the 30 mi winner (also BC) was there and seemed pretty happy about the prize. I warned them that you have to hold it up to a bright light before it will glow. Even though I didn't get a completion, they gave me a feed tub anyway. It's lime green. When the award meeting was over Matt and my mom finally got back with all the kids. They had gone to visit Matt's uncle and family for the afternoon. (Apparently they felt like they all had shell shock from hearing the gunshots all day). We decided to pack the rest of camp up and head home tonight. We stopped at a Denny's and ate a good warm meal and then got on the road after 10 pm. I had gotten a call from Laurie that she was having trouble with understanding how her adventure should only be taking an hour, I think she drove a good two hours to make it to the barn. When she finally did make it to Keena's place she was impressed with the accommodations. The horses had excellent care (Keena hand walked Sinwaan for me and gave him more bute in the morning, he also had a foaling stall for the night). Laurie and Lily got to stay there with her in her home. We finally made it home about 4 AM.
BARE BONES : THE POST-RIDE STORY
Sunday I woke up with a bad sore throat. I could hardly talk. I was really worried I would be sick from the weather the day before. But as the day progressed I got to feeling better. Laurie checked in after noon and said she was waiting for the ferry. She already had dealt with a blow out on her trailer that morning. AAGH! Her adventure was far from being over. They rolled into the barn that night around 9. I was glad to see them! Sinwaan looked great. I felt his back and he was not flinchy. I was relieved to see that. He happily drank and drank and drank his water and then dove into his hay pile. Now I need to figure out what is going on with his back. Was it only the wet, cold, slippery trails and my poor riding that cause his pain? How much of it has to do with saddle fit? How much of it has to do with him using new muscles lately in learning to give more to the bit and not carry his head all up in the air all the time? Things to figure out over the winter I suppose. Cassandra tells me I need to do more dressage, and I know she is right. It would not be possible for me to do these rides without the support and help of all my friends and family. They mean so much to me. Thank you Matt, mom, and Laurie for making it possible for me to do my one ride this year! Even though it didn't quite work out as I had hoped, I still got to do it, and that is what matters. Another story for the books! Another adventure. All's well that ends well.
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