The Death Valley Encounter- 95

The endurance season got under way with the first ride of the year down in Death Valley. Jackie and Jim Bumgardner hold a 4 day 200 mile multi-day ride that covers every part of the valley. Judy and I went on down for our third attempt, and my first time riding. I took Shatta the young boy, and Judy used a rent-a-racer horse owned by Donna Synder Smith, since Warpaint is still a little weird in his right real stifle. She rode a seven year old mustang named Hawk, who was actually a real nice boy. His one trait that kept us laughing was when he would go and eat all the nasty, sharp, prickly, yucky desert shrubs. This stuff used to be his lunch when he was a wild horse! Judy’s assignment for Hawk was to ride day one real slow and finish, and then to go fast and try and finish in the top ten on day three. My original goal was to do days one, two, and four. I wanted to see if Shatta would improve in the multi-day format, since he was such a rat in Las Vegas. As you may recall, Shatta refused to eat anything during the trip to LV, before, during, and after the rides. He ran out of gas on day two since he had no food. What a dope. I hoped this trip would straighten him out.

We got to the start at Paniment Springs without incident after spending the first night in Ridgecrest. It had snowed hard a couple of days after Christmas, and the desert was covered in snow. Wow! Shatta had never seen snow before, and was very concerned the first time he had to step in it. Imagine if you were going to walk across a bed of hot coals! He was quite funny, but adapted to it quickly. (good thing!) Judy and I started the first day on Thursday morning, and rode together for a few miles. We got to a big long downhill, so I hopped off and ran along with the beast. I came across a friend of Judy’s named Lindi Grant who had taken a bad fall after her brand new horse had tripped and gone down. Three time world champion Becky Hart had stopped to help, and stayed with Lindi while help went for a trailer. Lindi turned out to have a slight concussion, and her helmet (which she cracked open) probably saved her. Both she and her horse were fine, just very shaken up. (I can relate!) I rode on, trotting down the perfect sandwash (wet desert is fantastic!) and hooked up with Judith Ogus, who was riding her champion stallion Al Marah Tamarind. We rode together for a couple of hours, riding through the snow on the trails that was about a foot deep in places. What a kick! Just like the Budweiser Clydesdales on TV! Shatta continually trotted away from Tam, which I though was very cool. We got to the 25 mile check and passed the vet with ease. I got Shatta back to the trailer, and thought "this is it. You better eat!" He stood there a second, sighed, and took a few bites. I offered him wheat hay, which he started eating. I decided we would stay there as long as he was eating. My hour hold came and went, and I stayed another 90 minutes letting him eat. Judy had come in by then, so we rode off together. I was very pleased, since my horse was eating. We rode the last 25 miles to the finish, again with about a quarter of those miles through deep snow. We finished, and Shatta was a strong as ever. He pulled me to the hay bag at the trailer, and continued to eat and eat. Hooray! Judy and Hawk finished , and he looked as fresh as he did when they started. Shatta had already polished off his mash, and was scarfing the hay. Double hooray! It was cold up there, and the horses water buckets froze over again. Thank goodness for that camper.

The second day started out cold! Judy was not riding, so off I went back over the previous day’s trail. The snow was too deep to ride the normal route to the north end of Death Valley. We were going nice and slow again, since the early morning cold had the roads frozen, and the horses were slipping all over the place. My adventure started at about mile 13 or so. We had just finished trotting down an 8 mile sandwash, and stopped to walk over some nasty rocks on a road. Shatta decided he wanted to roll, so down he went, saddle and me still on his back. I stepped off and watched him roll over on my saddle. He quickly got up, while I tried to figure out what was going on. He seemed normal enough- good gut sounds, well hydrated, low pulse, lots of energy. He was pulling me as I led him, so I tried to get back on. Until I saw one of my stirrups. I use the neat wide-padded endurance stirrups from Performance products. He had smashed one of them flat as a crushed beer can when he rolled. I could not get my foot into it! Oh man. I started walking, and sent a rider for the trailer. Judy and our crew Pat came and got me in the truck. We had the vet check the horse- he said he looked fine. I pulled him just in case, and besides, it was late, and I had already taken him a few miles in the trailer.

Day three was the nicest weather wise, since it starts at Furnace Creek, below sea level. From 6800 feet and 20 degrees on Friday, to 70 degrees and riding in a tee shirt on Saturday! What a place. The ride started out on a nice little trail ride through some cool hills at Furnace Creek, then went along the highway for about 7 miles. You then make a turn on a dirt road, and that’s it for the rest of the ride. 35 miles down one road. One road- no turns, no markings, nothing to look at, just trot and trot and trot and trot and trot and......... That was the longest road I have ever encountered. The vet check at 30 miles was a welcome site. Judy was doing real well with Hawk, and eventually finished in 7th place, about 50 minutes behind the winner. Shatta was still eating well at the vet check after 3 days- way to go! We left the check about 90 minutes after Judy, and back down that darn road we went. Trot Trot Trot! Unfortunately, we came to a historic marker made of stone that Shatta spooked at a little, and turned around to go look at it. He walked over, sniffed it, touched it with his nose, and satisfied, we continued. But he was suddenly off at the trot. He twisted himself a bit, and got an owie in hs right front leg somewhere. I hopped off, and we began the big walk to the finish. We hoofed it about 12 miles, walking along with a wonderful rider named Hugh Vanderford. His horse had lost a shoe, so we just walked and walked and walked and walked and....... We finished, but poor Shatta was sore. We got a completion, but the vet had us wrap Shatta’s leg with a sweat and give him an anti-inflammatory. I was happy none the less, because we were not going to start the fourth day anyway. It seems Shatta figured out he needs to eat at these rides. His performance made me quite happy, and I saw some flashes of incredible horse during the rides. We would just blast across the desert, at whatever pace I wanted, his pulse always low. I really liked it when he would trot along side horses who were cantering! He has a big trot, and I love it!

Day four was nice for us, since we got to sleep late, have a nice breakfast in Furnace Creek, and spend a easy day driving back to Ridgecrest. We went to the awards dinner at a local restaurant and had a great meal. We spent the last night in Ridgecrest, then drove home the next day. These multi-day rides are a lot of work, and end up being an adventure, but what a way to spend a week with your horse. Shatta’s leg is fine- he gets a few well deserved weeks off. Besides- we are going skiing at Whistler in late January!

Don’t forget to attend the AERC Endurance convention in Reno on March 1/2. I am giving an presentation on the internet and Endurance.

I am also very happy to report my old gentleman horse Rowan is doing very well lately! Clair Dugan and I have gone on a few 3 plus hour rides lately, and the old (almost 22!) geezer is more sound than he has been in a long time. The adequan shots seem to be helping a great deal. I hope to bring the old boy out on some easy club rides this year. It is more fun to ride him than I can describe in words. His stride is half that of Shatta’s, he still wobbles a bit, his back is starting to drop a little, but he still loves getting out there and going. Sigh. I sure wish I could clone him.

Next rides: Shine and Shine rides in Feb and March if it does not rain. American river, and maybe the Washoe Valley ride in April and May.

West region rides in 1996

Feb 24 shine & shine only 25/50 san jose

Mar 16 mustang classic 25/50 grant ranch san jose

Mar 23 shine & shine only 25/50 san jose

Apr 6 derby ditch 50 virginia city, nv

Apr 20 American river 25/50/75 folsum ca

Apr 20 Shine & shine only 25/50 san jose

Apr 27 big bad balley 50/75 redding

May 4 washoe valley 50/100 carson city, nv

May 11 scotts flat 25/50 sacramento

May 18 big creek 70 Santa cruz

May 18 castle rock 50 Santa cruz

May 26 Camp far west 25/50 sacramento

May 26 sagebrush scramble 25/50 Nevada

Jun 1 diablo vista 25/50/100 danville

Jun 2-6 applegate lassen multi day nevada

June 8 mendocino 50/100 Ft Brag

Jun 8 NASTR 25/50 nevada

Jun 15 chalk rock 25/50 eureka

Jun 15 Oakland hills 25/50 Bort meadow

Jun 17-21 XP multi-day ride nevada

Jun 22 wine country 25/50 napa

Jun 29 indian digins 25/50 Omo ranch (Jackson Ca)

Jul 6 Race of champions utah

Jul 20 fireworks 25/50 santa cruz