Wild West 3 day ride, May 2010

Hi everyone- sorry for the long gap in stories, but 2009 was a truly rotten year. In fact, it was probably the only rotten year I can ever remember having, but I guess that’s a good thing. It started out bad when my Donnie came up lame in the rear in late 2008. We believe he fell down while running in his pasture. He had this stupid come and go lameness in his right rear that just could not be diagnosed. (I took him to the vets, who said “If this is a pre-purchase exam, I’ll buy him”!) They need to see a lame horse to diagnose it, and I just could not oblige them. So- I did what I had to and gave him the year off. Then Judy got laid off, then I got laid off (but I was only out of work for a week or so), then to top it off Judy took a dive off the top of a hay stack and shattered her wrist, broke ribs, dislocated fingers, just a train wreck. (She’s all better now). I rode two rides in 2009 on her horses, which is the fewest since 1991 or so. So depressing! But as we know, life is good, and things always get better. Judy got a great job, her surgery was a success, and my Donnie is back. I started riding him in November, and found him, how shall we say, a tad energetic? We slogged through conditioning during the stupid wet winter of 09/10, and tried out our luck for a comeback at the Washoe ride in early May. Connie Creech and those Nevada guys are just the best. Washoe is a tough ride, and I have not been on those SOB’s since riding Zayante, but my Donnie is talking Zayante lessons and pulled me through looking great, and most importantly, sound! So far so good. It was very nice to be back at a ride with my horse.

Judy and I signed up for 3 days at the Wild West pioneer ride up at Skillman horse camp, near Nevada City, up at about 4500 feet in the low part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Sierra is famous for the classic saying- “Don’t like the weather? Just wait a minute, it’ll change!” We packed up on Thursday, May 27^th, and had to sit in our living room, in beautiful Northern California, waiting for the pouring rain to stop before loading the horses. Come on – this is summer! This El-Nino stuff is for the birds. We drove out with the wipers on, and drove up in the rain to the horse camp, where it was of course snowing. Let me repeat that- it was snowing, and about 34 degrees. We put the heavy blankets on the horses and huddled in front of the heater in the camper. We braved the ride meeting in the snow, where our good friends Robert and Melissa Ribley told us about the “fun” we were going to have tomorrow. Robert, being the smart guy he is, had changed the day one trail to keep us from having to brave the five foot snow drifts up in the high country where the pink loop usually goes. Oh great, this sounds promising. It was. We started out in the morning cold, in the rain, and on very, very wet trails. As Robert had advised us- dust would not be a factor today. It was cold, wet, and sloppy. We were taking it very easy, as it was hard to see the rocks under the snow. It was not too bad, as we had on our rain gear, and at least it wasn’t windy. Just wet, and very slippery. We were walking along in the soggy forest when about 15 pounds of snow fell from a tree right on top of Donnie and me. He leaped very well- we were pretty surprised, and the snow went right down my shirt. Nice!

The first loop today was a better one to do in this weather- it started out on slippery, goopy, sloppy, wet and snowy single track trails that we pretty much walked, but the bulk of the 30 miles were on fire roads that at least were not too steep. It was raining; Judy said she wished it would snow, since that’s a little easier to deal with. So- what happens? It starts snowing again. Thanks Sweetie. It was walk, trot, walk, trot, walk between the puddles and mud bogs through the whole loop. Endurance riding puddle lesson number 1: always walk through the middle, even though the horse wants to go on the edges. A couple of people missed this one and tried the edges; they and their horse took a swim in the muddy, cold water in the road. We wound our way through the wet forest, dripping wet, passing many chained off driveways, until we came to the monster PGE hill that I had Donnie tail me up. What a hike. It took us about 5 hours to do the loop and make it back to base camp, where it was, well, still very wet. Go into camper, change clothes, get nice and warm and dry, then- go back out into the wet. The second loop was supposed to go up into the high country, but unfortunately it was impassible. Robert changed the loop so that when we started to get to the deep snow, we headed back down the mountain towards the camp and on to an out and back road that was in good shape and easy to trot. On the way there in the forest we had to cross through a little soft area, and my poor horse sank up to his hocks in the bog. Oh heart attack! He slogged his way out, and Judy wisely took Color around through the trees. About 10 miles of trotting brought us back to camp and the finish and another change of clothes. The next time someone asks you why you have 20 blankets in your trailer, just refer them to this day. (Half of them are hanging in the back of the trailer, totally soaked!) 50 brave souls started, and 48 finished this true test of endurance riding. Light rain and snow greeted people at the ride meeting; those guys who had just arrived were listening to the horror stories from today’s riders and looking up at the sky. It’s always worse when you get through! Robert just kept saying that the weather was going to keep getting better. The rain on the camper Friday night was not reassuring. If it’s snowing in the morning, do we start? I don’t know……….

Saturday morning came with sunshine! Thank goodness. It was cool, but not a cloud in the sky. That’s more like it. We rode off down the main fire road for a few miles, heading for the new downhill. Well, new to me, anyway. I had not been down this thing before, and it was a real downhill. Single track, twisty, tight, down the front of a mountain, through the forest, and parts of it about 60 degrees down. Yikes! I led him down it, and was glad I did. It deposited us at the river crossing, which led us to the next climb. (We got a hundred feet of level ground. A mile down, 100 feet level, a mile up). It seemed like more than a mile of continuous climbing to the top and across highway 20. We then trotted for a few miles on some nice trails along the highway that led us to the vet check at 20 miles. Wait a minute- these trails were in good shape. There were puddles, but the trails were actually in really good condition. A quick vet check later and we headed out for a 12 mile loop that had a lot of up and down on mostly roads. It was actually almost all up and down, but still, no mud and slop. Back to the vet check for an hour hold and lunch in the perfect sunshine. Both horses looked great, so on we headed towards the finish. The Pioneer trail heads along highway 20 for a few miles; it is great trotting, but keep an eye open for mountain bikes. We crossed the highway and dropped down to the flume trail, or better known as one of the “knee knocker” trails. This trail is so neat, but don’t turn right, cause it’s a long way down there. And watch those knees! You will smack a tree if not careful. This special fun only lasts so long, and then it’s up Hallelujah hill. It’s named that since it’s what you say when you finally reach the top. Up the long, beautiful, single track trail at a walk, and then a nice trot on an arrow straight, level trail with a long, steep drop to the left. Donnie starts snorting and looking left, with his feet getting quite active. Huh? What is wrong with you? His neck is arched, he’s tense, and keeps looking left. Snort Snort! What is it? I finally stop and look down the hill, and there is a bear! My horse, the bear early warning system. Judy and I watched it for a bit and wondered how it could find enough out there to eat. We snorted and pranced down the trail for a couple of minutes, with Donnie glancing behind him the whole way. To the finish of day two! At the vet out I told Melissa that I was riding on a different planet than yesterday. It was not possible for the forest to dry out that quickly. Friday morning I started out with two layers of fleece, a rain jacket, gloves, and I was cold, wet, and freezing. I finished day two in a tee shirt. Donnie looked superb, and Melissa commented on how good he looked after two days. His injury sure seems healed. 70 ish starters, and 60 finished I believe. Unfortunately for Judy, even though Color vetted out fine at 60/60, his pulse stayed that way for over an hour. That’s too long, so she played the safe card and elected to not ride the third day. She got two good days from him, and he’s not really that fit at this point. Dinner, beers, a ride meeting, walk the horses, and sleep with no camper heater and a light blanket. Not much can be better.

Day three began with even better weather, so I started out in a long sleeve tee-shirt. (48 hours before I was in Alaska. It boggles the mind!) Today there was a ride and tie and a human foot race thrown in for good measure. I tacked up and headed over to the start with Judy and Color along for moral support. (Pasture buddies, you know) I followed another horse out of camp, and Color started his “my buddy is missing” bellowing routine. Donnie was fine riding along with another horse, until I passed the rider I was with. He decided he wanted to catch the horse in front of him. Wow- this was something I had not seen in him before. He was calling to anyone who would listen, (very much like Zayante) and we hurried down the trail until we caught a couple of horses. I rode with a nice lady named Teri down the several miles of mountain roads with perfect footing until we dropped onto some cool downhill trails that did not last long enough. I ran into old riding buddy Sharron Kirkpatrick, and riding along with her was hubby Abe. It’s great to see him out there! I went on ahead as we looped back on the roads to the water stop, and then onto some single track trails that were pretty slick in spots. I left by myself, heading down the twisties that eventually led us to the Trestle trail that is always one of the best on the ride. It is totally shaded, but as a result today it was still pretty slippery in places. Even at a walk it was kind of dicey, and just as I was thinking this was dicey, down slipped Donnie. Man, that’s an awful feeling. He hopped back up with me still on him, and we walked for a minute while my pulse got back down from 200. He seemed fine, so I tried to take it easy, but some horses came along so we joined up with them for the last few miles into camp for lunch. He vetted fine, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. After lunch I headed back out with a couple of riders which suited Donnie just fine. I ended up riding the entire second thirty mile loop with Carol Wooster from Eureka. She was riding a new mare that got along with Donnie just great; they were happy going along at the same nice pace. It’s that same long loop that we did on day 1 in the slop that stays on roads but keeps going on, and on, and on. Trot, trot, and trot some more. What fun! The weather was beautiful, although it was getting a little warm as the afternoon wore on. We just kept on going, and going, and going until the big PGE hill again. I had Donnie tail me up again, and my pulse was way higher than 60 at the top. There was a vet check just after the summit, and there were a few horses talking a while to recover after that climb. Donnie was down right away; it took Carol’s mare a few more minutes, but she came down and we both vetted through just fine. I looked at my watch- it was 4pm! The day had slipped by, and we had a 30 minute hold and about 8 miles to go. Lucky it was mostly nice trottable roads to the finish. We got there at about 5:30; the last horses made it in at 2 minutes before 7pm, the cutoff time. It was a long day. 60 starters, 55 finishers I think. Donnie looked superb at the end, and in fact got runner up for 3 day 50 mile overall best condition. This after his 18 month layoff. Yeah, I’ll take that.

Robert and Melissa really do an amazing job at this ride. It’s a lot of work for them and their staff of helpers, but with any luck the ride will get to continue. This is real endurance riding. We got trail conditions that ranged from terrible to some of the best trails on the planet; the weather ranged everywhere from 34 degrees, snow, and rain to 70 degree balmy and beautiful California sunshine. I survived a couple of potential scares, but lucky for me they were insignificant. The rides are challenging, and no one is going to complain that these rides are short. You get a full 50 miles a day of some very amazing terrain. And if you ride all three days on the same horse you get a nice monogrammed sweatshirt. I’ll be hanging my new one in the closet right next to my Wild West sweatshirt with Zayante’s name on it. My fantasy was always to find another Zayante, and my boy is working on becoming just that. (Except he does not spook as much!) It’s obviously not required for me to say how happy I am Donnie is back, but I will anyway. Next stop- the new Magic ride in Mendocino (if you have never see it there you probably won’t believe how pretty it is) and then set the shoe schedule for Tevis.

Nick Warhol

Hayward, Ca

When you are on a great horse, you have the best seat you will ever have.

-Sir Winston Churchill