Silver State 3 day Multi-day, November 2003

 

A very special ride, Indeed.

 

The 20^th annual Silver State 3 day 155 mile Pioneer ride went off without a hitch in beautiful downtown Jean, Nevada, over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  It just wouldn’t seem like Thanksgiving without eating the traditional holiday meal at the Nevada Landing Casino dinner buffet.  (Long pause for dramatic effect)  This is not the best dinner in town, but what the heck, sometimes we have to put up with the tough things in order to do these rides.  (Ever eaten a Jenny-O turkey loaf for Thanksgiving?  Now I have!)  I was hoping for a Turduckin for Dinner, but that’s another story.

 

But first- the good news!  The Pony-Tug truck is dead, Long live the new Pony-Tug!   No more breakdowns for me, at least for a little while.  I got to drive my brand new 04 F-350 with the new high output Diesel and that magic 5 speed auto transmission.  This tranny is sweet!  This truck is sweet.  It’s a dually, long bed, 4 door, 4X4 beast that really hauls the camper and trailer.  And it got 12 or so MPG on the diesel I paid $1.56 a gallon for in Nevada.   Driving is good again!

 

The big news for me was that this event was our planned retirement ride for Warpaint the Wonder Appaloosa.  He went into the ride with 3990 miles in 12 seasons, our goal was to get one more ride in to get him to the 4000 mile mark.  He’s 20 now and those old, creaky, tree-stump legs just can’t keep up with the incredible heart and desire this horse has always had.   I drove down in style with my riding buddy Sally Abe and her newish GAG (Grey Arabian Gelding)  Phathom, pronounced “fathom”, as in the depth, which he has a lot of.  This would be his first attempt at a real multiday, so she was pretty excited about the whole event, and had been looking forward to this for a couple of years.  Judy stayed home with the other horses after deciding this isn’t the ride for Sandwash Wabi; and Color, the young Appy colt, (Warpaint’s replacement?) has just done a couple of 25s so far. 

 

We drove down on Wednesday from the Bay Area to Jean, 30 miles West of Las Vegas on I-15, in 11 hours that included two horse stops and LOTS of traffic.  Base camp is right behind the parking lot of the Nevada Landing hotel and casino, out in the middle of nowhere.  It is kind of handy, having the hotel/casino so close.  I won 20 bucks with 5 aces in video poker, and immediately lost it on the stupid Wheel of Fortune machine.  The weather certainly favored Warpaint, he likes it cold, and it was plenty of that.  We went for a warm up ride on Thursday, but Sally and I had to separate, because these two horses were sure the race had started.  Warpaint was yanking on me already, and there are no horses in site yet.  This might be interesting.  Thanksgiving dinner at the buffet wasn’t good, we are going to have to do what Bill and Jane Cloud did here a few years back- they cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner at the ride, in the desert.  It was great!  Next time, for sure.

 

Friday morning came clear and cold, there were about 60 or so horses starting out on the first day at 6:00 am.  Ride manager Clair Toomey made some changes to the day-one trail this year that were very welcomed.  We didn’t have to go out and do that really rocky loop twice like in the past, but got to do a real point-to-point back to camp with an away vet check.  Our goal was to try and ride kind of slow to just get through the ride.  That didn’t work.  Not at all.  Warpaint was absolutely pulling my arms out trying to go faster.  How can this horse still act like this after all this time?  Sally put Phathom behind the spotted butt of the Appy and just hung on for dear life.  After about five minutes of sheer struggle, I just said the heck with it and we picked it up.  We moved out smartly on the cross country desert trail, passing horses left and right, leaving amazed riders in our wake.  Okay, horse, we do it your way, at least for a while.  Boy, its fun to ride him like that!  We really jammed for the first 10 miles or so to the water stop- we got there quick!  The horses drank, so hop back on and boogie.  This next section of trail was modified as well- we didn’t go to Bird Springs and up the long, rocky road, but stayed on the trails in the desert the whole way to the first climb up the hill called Sleeping Woman, I think.   Very nice view!  There was a lot of trot, walk for the rocks and washes, trot, stop again, but it was way better than the old road.   Warpaint was still in Greyhound mode, so we quickly dispatched the hill and headed to the wild climb up Cave Canyon.  This baby is a long, sandy wash that ends up in a radical rocky climb that for a short time rivals the Granite Chief Wilderness in Tevis for sheer technical rocks.   It’s a short climb, but very neat, and not for the faint of heart. The rock steps don’t bother the Appy- he just pauses and then leaps up the rock ledges.  Sally was really thrilled how her horse was hopping up the rocky ledges as well.

 

Once at the top of the wild canyon, the horses get a downhill breather with a walk down a rocky wash, then a downhill trot through the washes and along beautiful single track, wild horse trails to the vet check.  We were there at 8:45 or so.  Cripes!  We were moving.  Phathom was down to 60 now, (those Arabs!) Warpaint took his usual 3-5 minutes.  It was cold, cold, cold out there in the wind!   We blanketed them up while they ate, which they did with great gusto.  Claire provided sandwiches for the riders- good tuna!  I was really glad when the hour hold was up, since standing around in the cold was none to warm.  Now it was time for a new loop of a few mostly sandwash miles that eventually dumped us back on the trail near the bottom of the first climb.  Warpaint had finally started to relax a little when we left lunch, when he was on new trail he had not seen before, but once we turned for home, the rampage begins again.   We backtracked the 12 miles or so all the way back to the base camp in another hurry, arriving at 1:00.   That was faster than we had planned, but both horses looked great and recovered right away for Barney.   Day one complete, so far so good, and Warpaint has 4040 miles.   I was proud of the beast, but didn’t think about much else except for getting ready for day two.  Jackie Bumgardner rode her young, ex-stud horse Scud, and had a great ride, finishing at 3:00.  This was his first Multi day as well.  Crockett Dumas made an appearance in Southern Nevada and won the ride and took BC on his wife’s horse.   We got pens for finisher awards, and Sally was the first name drawn in the daily raffle and won a nice prize.  I won nothing.  Not a lot of Bay area riders:  Heather and Jeremy Reynolds both finished Day one, Mike Tracy on Arron Moon made it again, and Scott Sansom finished pretty high up there. 

 

Day two is the exact same trail all the way to the vet check, it was still plenty cold when we started out at 6 am.   Warpaint was once again in his big rush, but was a litter easier to control this morning.  He seemed to be going slower, but it turned out to only be a few more minutes to the water. The horses drank a lot at the water stop; Sally was especially pleased, sine this is what she had hoped her horse would do.  We rode off with a string of horses behind us- I had to just stop and let them go so Warpaint would relax.  Once they were a little more out of sight, he calmed back down for the cross country trip and back up Cave Canyon once again.  Up the craggy canyon and back down for another hour hold at the vet check.  It was still cold, but at least the sun was out.  After lunch today we headed out and made a turn to the left, heading for Las Vegas.  The next section is a fabulous single track trail for a mile or two that bicycles can use, so you have to be on your toes.  Got to watch those Joshua trees, though.  I got poked in the knee a time or two.  That ends too quickly, then its time for the ugly section- lots of rocks and walking up and down hills.  We pretty much walked for an hour or so, then headed out of the rocks and down to the water stop on the Blue Diamond highway.  Big, big, drinking by the boys, and we get treated to more of those superb bike trails that wind up and down a beautiful valley all the way top the highway under crossing.  This crossing is a concrete culvert that isn’t very high.  Warpaint is 15 hands or so, he has to duck his head to get through.   It is kind of amazing that the horses will do this, but I don’t think there were any horses in the ride that had any real problems there.   Claire said unless your name was John Parke on Remington, you better get off and lead.  Yeah, right.  If I rode up to that culvert mounted, my belt buckle would hit the top.  It’s that low.   If you had a 17 hand horse it would have been pretty iffy.

 

Once through the tunnel, we got treated to what I thought was the best part of the ride.  More new trails, but now it is just one long, long, perfect single track trail through the Red Rock area that you can trot and trot and trot.  No rocks, no deep sand, just a couple of washes to cross.  Claire- don’t EVER change this trail, it is perfect.  The great trail leads to a short stint down the same old rocky wash for a mile or so, then you pop out and viola, you are at the finish in Blue Diamond.  We walked in at 2:00 today, an hour slower than yesterday.  Both horses were perfect at the finish.  Hooray!  The last time I was at this ride 2 years ago it was raining, storming, cold, windy, just yucky weather all around.  We were soaked to the skin, we put the horses in the trailers it was so nasty.  Today it was sunny and cool.   Jackie came in an hour later on Scud, very pleased with his performance so far.  The ride provided a nice turkey stew dinner that hit the spot.  Crockett won again and got BC again.  That’s some horse.   We got buckets or tee shirts for finisher awards, Sally was the first name drawn in the daily raffle AGAIN and won a nice prize AGAIN.  I won nothing.   I love the ride meeting for the last day- Claire just says “Go back the way you came.  Any questions?”  

 

Day three starts again at 6, Warpaint is off to the races.  I’m holding him back big time as we hit the desert, I really don’t want to go this fast, so we just stop a while and let people go on ahead.  He’s just so hard to ride slow.   The sun is rising and hits the incredible red cliffs of the valley- it is absolutely beautiful to see.  One big bummer- a horse and rider slips on a little hunk of slick rock and go down pretty hard.  They are okay, but the rider leads the horse back to camp.  She is pretty upset, but the horse was walking out okay, I don’t think it is seriously hurt.  We trot back up the long, superb trail in the cold, crisp,  morning air, trying not to catch riders in front of us.  Back under the tunnel we go and up the super valley again, and then back to the water stop already.  From the water stop it is a short trot to that long, nasty section again, but we just walk the whole thing.  Everyone else is doing the same back here, so we don’t see a lot of horses.  Warpaint knows where he is and is in a hurry once again to get to the vet check.  We fly down the neat single track, but I yank him to a stop and let the other horses with us go on into the check ahead of us.  We lead in and the horses are down right away.  The ride workers recognize the spotted wonder and all ask me “Why in the heck are you retiring that horse? He sure looks good.”   One nice lady came over and asked me about him, she about hit the ground when I told her he was 20.  She thought he was an eight year old Stud!  After vetting Warpaint, I realized this was his last vet check.  

 

Out from lunch and now we get to trot up the nice washes we had come down the two days before.  We are trotting up a long, pretty deep sand wash, I turn around and ask Sally what Phathom’s pulse is.  “110” she replies.  Good grief!  She’s smiling a lot these days.  We arrive at the top of the wild Cave Canyon, this time we get to go down it.  We both get off and lead the horses down, it’s actually harder to go down than up.  I’d step down a ledge, leaving the horse at the top, and then I’d ask him to hop down.  Sally asked “Are you SURE we are supposed to go down this?”  Uh huh.  We made it down with no problems, but it is definitely an “E” ticket ride down that canyon.   Jackie told a funny story- she was leading Scud down the rocky mess when she hears a horse come up behind her in the rocks.  You can sure hear them- it is horseshoe on rocks.  She was carefully picking her way down the ledges and could not turn around.  The horse was right on Scud’s tail.  “You can’t pass here!” she called back.  “Hey, can you hold back a little?”  Still no response.  She finally turns around- there is a horse right behind her trying to pass, but no rider!  Uh oh!  Scud got to go down the canyon with a buddy on his tail.  Jackie stopped and held the horse for a while when she got out of the rocks, and the rider did come down and retrieve her horse. 

 

We headed down the wash and then worked our way down Sleeping Woman.  It was right there that I started thinking about Warpaint.  He was just motoring along through the rocks and crud of the desert, going forward like the freight train he is.  This might be the last rocky downhill I get to ride him down in a ride.  I stopped thinking about it.  We rode through the cross country trails, trotting and stopping, all the way back to the water stop.  I watched Warpaint stick his head in the trash can full of water and drink about 60 swallows.  This would be his last water stop.  I started getting a little misty-eyed.  Oh, get a hold of yourself.   We mounted back up and headed down the wash for the last 10 miles back to the finish.  There were two riders ahead of us that we kept catching up to, then they would ride away faster, which made Warpaint want to blast after them.  I’m holding this horse back after 140 miles.  What a heart he has.  There go the eyes again.   Stop it!  We rode a “restrained” 8 miles behind these two horses, until Warpaint could take it no more.  We made a turn onto a little road, I let him go, he took off at a dead run and flashed by the horses at mach-one horse speed.  Phathom was right behind.  Here he is, running like a racehorse with 2 miles to go.  We trotted quickly up to the casino and walked the last half mile in, past the camper and towards the finish.  Phathom was walking a little ahead of us, he walks faster than Warpaint.  The finish was 50 yards away.  I release the appy, he starts trotting.  Phathom senses the Appy, and starts trotting.  I let Warpaint go, and whoosh, these two horses are doing a Kentucky Derby dash to the finish line!  We did a short, full out running race across the line, I think it was a tie, but Claire laughed and said Sally won by a nose.  Warpaint was going so fast I almost had to jump the pile of crew bags piled up before I could stop him.  That was fun!  Our ride time was 2 minutes slower than the previous day.  We were all smiles as we went back to get our final check.  Barney took his look and said, “yep, very good.  Congratulations.” 

 

That’s when it really got to me.   Sally was jumping up and down, thrilled beyond belief about her young horse, and how incredible he had done.  He’s just getting started in the sport, and has such a great future and many years ahead of him.   And here’s Warpaint, walking back to the truck to eat, having just finished his last endurance ride, three rides in fact.  He’s been going in the sport and has finished rides every year since 1991, the fewest, three, and the most, thirteen and finishes with 4140 miles.  He’s such a trooper, even after all those injuries that cost him so many years of his career.  I just kept looking in his eyes- they still hold that same fire he has always had since he was six.   I untacked him and let him roll, he flopped around in glorious delight, just like he always does.  He nickered when I gave him his mash.  I couldn’t take it- I had to go in the camper to cry. 

 

Is retiring him the right thing to do?  Yes.  As hard as it is for me, it’s the right thing to do for him.  Sure- he could probably continue to stay out there and squeak out some more miles, but given his desire to go so fast, and the fact that he has a reduced range of motion in all of those joints, we want him to be comfortable.   I think the most important reason to stop now is I just don’t want anything to happen to him.  He has done his work, and he certainly has shown what kind of horse he truly is.   We will most certainly keep riding him-  he’ll make a great conditioning partner for the younger horses, if they can keep up with him.   There will most certainly be other horses, but he’s pretty much one of a kind, and we have really enjoyed his rule as the Wonder Appaloosa of Endurance.

 

Thanks Warpaint-

 

Nick Warhol

Hayward, Ca.