Why I love endurance – there's lots of reasons!

I have to admit that I wasn't really hooked on my first ride. Looking back I think it had more to do with where I was in my life at that time, I just had a lot on my mind and my plate.

I was a young mom, Ryan was just over a year and my first ride was the first time I had left him overnight. I was worried that my husband would struggle and never want to let me do this again. I had a great time but I wasn't really hooked. Then almost a year later I did my second ride and this time I was hooked. I started thinking about conditioning strategies and goals and feeding and oh so many things and I was definitely hooked!

I love the challenge. I love that there are so many challenges in this sport. Do you want to go faster, farther, more miles in one season, try a more difficult ride, the possibilities are endless!!!

I also love that there is so much to learn about conditioning strategies, how a horse works mechanically, how a horse works metabolically, electrolytes etc... The list of what you can learn is endless as well.

I love the people in this sport. I love how they are quick to help, even if it messes up their own ride.

I love the time out in nature with my horse. Endurance has become my little personal escape. I'm a mom with young kids and I watch more young kids 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. Although I love my job and I love being a mom, sometimes I need a break. It feel good to get out and do something for me. Something that pushes me to learn, to be stronger.

Their is something else that endurance has made me realize, that is how many people love me and will give up their times and resources to help me.

You know the saying that it takes a village to raise a child, well it takes a village for me to be able to ride.

Every time I condition someone has to watch my kids. Most of the time that is my wonderful husband but if he's busy or out of town I almost always get a call from my mom or my in-laws asking when I need to ride and if they can watch the kids for me. Same thing with actual rides. My kids either come with and my mom hangs out with them or they stay at my in-laws when their Dad is at work and then stay with him the rest of the time.

I'm too broke to afford my own truck and trailer so a good friend hauls me to rides. I have other friends who haul Bunny to better conditioning spots from time to time just so I can get an added boost in my conditioning program.

My mom and friends crew for me at rides. My mom has gone to almost every ride I have done. She helps me out with all kinds of stuff. She even stayed up till after 2am to be there when I finished my 100 miler and help me take care of my horse.

Lots of people go out of their way to help me be able to pursue my dreams. They do it because they love me and they know how much this sport means to me. At some point during every ride I end up thinking about that and realizing once again, what a lucky girl I am!!!!

A big thank you to all of you who help makes my dreams a reality! 

I love this picture because it was one of those times, we were just having a wonderful time. 

Flying down the trail enjoying each others company! All four feet off the ground.

Riding 100 miles – It's magical!

Okay, so I'm beginning to understand why people climb Everest. Don't get me wrong, I still think they are crazy, but I get it. There is something so satisfying about having a big goal and just going for it.

Somewhere the end of last season I got this crazy notion that I wanted to ride 100 miles and I just couldn't get it out of my head. I planned my whole season as a way of getting to 100 miles. I got myself more fit. I rode each ride thinking about what I wanted to work on to make 100 miles go better. We worked on starting calm and cool, staying loose and free all day, eating well, me being more aware of how I ride and really staying balanced and loose, practicing riding in the dark, really the list goes on and on.

Then about a week out from Oregon 100 this strange feeling hit me. I'd done all I could do, all that was left was to get packed, get over there and ride my ride. It was a strange feeling. I'd been working toward this for so long it was so strange to be so close and really have nothing left to do.

We headed over there on Thursday. Wow, was that nice. If you ride a 100, unless the ride is in your back yard, get there on Thursday. My horse was nice and calm, ate and drank like a champ and had plenty of time to settle in and recover.

Thursday I pre rode part of the trail with Dean. I was so proud of Bunny she stayed nice and calm, even though Rocket was wanting to race a bit. I could really see the progress we've made and that was so nice!

Friday I had plenty of time to take it easy, I really needed that. I've been really busy lately and it was so nice to be there, relax and have time to just chill and talk to people.

I had a nice chat with Carol Giles. She told me the ins and outs of all the loops and where she thought I should take it easy. I'm the kind of person who loves a plan so knowing as much as I can in advance helps me to really feel more relaxed about everything. I get a chance to think it all through, know how I want to ride and then just do it the day of.

I wrote out my plan. I've taken to having a written plan. I write out time estimates for all my loops. I write reminders to myself and then a list of things to do on my hold. That also helps my mom know what to help me with, what to have ready and when to expect me in camp. Thinking through all that just does me a wold of good!

As soon as the vet got there I headed over to vet. All A's and a heart rate of 32! Can't beat that. I was good to go. Ended up riding again with Dean and rode part of the last loop, which I knew I would be doing in the dark.

Then it was time to go to bed and try to sleep. I had a hard time going to sleep. I wasn't really that nervous I was just anxious to get started!

Four thirty came all to early but I was eager to get going. I went through my morning ritual, eat oatmeal, stretch myself and my horse, spend a bit of time in prayer and then saddle up. I rode around, gave the timer my number and then headed away from the start. I waiting five minutes after they opened the trail and then took off.

It was the best start we had ever had. It was just getting light and we just trucked down the trail nice and calm. We saw Lois Fox ahead of us but knew she would be going faster than us so we just hung back and enjoyed the scenery.

I saw some pronghorn antelope, watched the sun come up and was enjoying the smell of sage brush. Then all of a sudden I realized there was water running down my behind and legs. Figured out it had to be my camelbak leaking so I stopped to make sure it was closed all the way. It was so not really sure what else to do and not wanting to give up all my water ( I still had 20 miles to go on that first loop) I just kept going. After a while it quit leaking on me and life was better.

That first 25 miles went great. I passed two gals who were also riding their first 100. I saw the lead 50 coming up behind us just before the trot out at the out vet. Luckily she caught us right there so I just let Bunny eat while she left, which she did very nicely and calmly, and then we hit the trail again. She didn't get anxious or stupid at all. I was so proud of her!

Met a couple 25 miles riders just out from camp. Bunny was interested but stayed very controllable and calm. For her, I can not tell you what progress that is!

Trotted right in, pulsed right down and vetted great. One of the volunteers saw Bunny come in and said “Wow, look at the bone on that horse, that is a 5,000 miles horse”. That made me feel good. I'll be happy if we make it to 3,000 miles in our career but it sure is nice to hear others think highly of your horse.

Getting ready to vet after the first loop.

 

On the hold I discovered that the water bladder in my camelbak had a hole at the very top. I tried duck tape and then didn't fill it so full and hoped for the best.

After our hold we headed back out for 20 miles to the out vet. That was the longest 20 miles of the whole ride. First off my tape job didn't work so I got wet again, which lead to some chafe marks in all sorts of fun places. Then it got hot and the miles just seemed to drag a bit. I remembered Carol Giles telling me to sing if we got bogged down. I just recently joined the Walla Walla Coral Society and am trying to remembered how to be a soprano again so I worked on regaining my range. A little hard to do when you are bouncing along but it perked both of us up!

I got into the out vet not two far behind two other riders. Their horses took a bit to pulse down and were just pulsing down as I came in. I stripped Bunny's tack and she was down! I was so proud of her. She vetted great and we settled in for our hold.

All day that horse ate so well. She would put her nose down and eat everything in site till I pulled up her head to electrolyte her, put the bit back in and go. She did that every time. It was awesome. She also ate great on the trail. It meant she had good gut sounds and I never had to worry about that. So nice!

Like I said, nose in the food, every chance she got!

 

After our hold we had 16 miles back to camp. Those went great except that in my attempt to not get wet again I didn't get enough water. Yes, it didn't spill all over me but it ran out 45 minutes from camp.

The long road into camp, which you ride many times.

 

So I rode in hot and feeling very thirsty. Celina greeted me as I rode in and gave me some cold some sort of sports drink, which was awesome, and then Paige offered me her Camelbak. I asked if I could just borrow the water bladder from hers and she ran to get it. Endurance people are the best. They are so quick to help, even if it screws up their ride. That is part of what I love so much about this sport.

Bunny again vetted great and I felt good knowing we were over half way, 60 miles down, 40 to go!

After our hold we headed out for a 12 miles loop. Carol had warned me that the 12 miles loops were the hardest, more ups and downs than the other loops.

Just out of camp I caught Laura, a great gal who was also riding her first 100 on a little half appy, half arab. They had hit a little motivational lull and where happy to come hang out with the energizer Bunny.

I have to admit it was nice to have company. I had really debated about trying to find someone to ride with. But I worried about finding someone who truly wanted to ride like I did. I also worried that I wouldn't be able to keep Bunny calm at the start if we weren't alone. She tends to see other horses as competition, not companions.

We took it a tiny bit easier on this loop and just had a great time getting to know each other. When we came into camp Bunny pulsed right down again and Laura and I decided to try to ride the rest of the ride together if it worked.

So after another hold, during which I changed my clothes, that felt great I would highly recommend it. We headed back out again, just as the sun was setting. Bunny was happy to lead at a great chipper pace and away we went. It got dark and I discovered that I really needed the headlamp to see well enough to continue going at speed. My headlamp had a nice dim setting that didn't cast weird shadows but helped you see a little bit of what was coming.

I was excited to discover that we were able to maintain about the same speed we had on the previous 12 miles. I was worried we might have to slow down more in the dark. But Bunny just took it like a champ and away we went. I think the practice ahead of time helped us both.

So we got through that loop, Bunny again vetted great and we were on our last hold with 16 miles to go. I have to admit I was getting pretty tired. We were heading back out just after 10pm and that is past my bedtime. That was the point where the company was really nice!!!

Heading out on the last loop both neither of the horses were super energetic. I think they both thought for sure they were done, but no such luck. We let them walk for a while and just took it easy. At one point I walked on foot for a bit and when I got back on Bunny kind of went down on me a bit. I think what happened is that she wasn't paying attention and went to stretch just as I, who also wasn't paying attention, went to mount. I was worried and started having thoughts of getting pulled at the finish for her having a sore back. We walked some more and then I loosened my girth a bit and felt her back over all felt fine and this time she was rock solid when I mounted so I started feeling a little better. I couldn't help think of how rotten it would be to get pulled at the finish after riding 100 miles!

So we started to do some trotting and Bunny was great. She actually wanted to go faster, she was probably wondering why we were doing all this lollygagging in the dark. Laura tried to get her horse to lead but he wasn't sure and Bunny wasn't sure about something, maybe his rump rug. If he got to a certain point in passing her she would shy a bit, which isn't like her. I was looking to the side some trying to figure this out. Then Laura rode beside me for a while. I remember noticing that her headlamp was brighter than mine and cast a weird double shadow right in my line of vision. I didn't think much of it though.

Things were going good, we were trotting along and I was thinking to myself how good I felt for being 90 + miles into this ride. Sure I had some chafe marks, more than normal due to getting soaked twice. My calf muscles were tired but that was about it. I was enjoying myself and riding pretty darn centered for so many hours in the saddle!

Not 10 minutes after congratulating myself on how well I felt, I started to feel not so good. I asked Laura if we could stop for a minute so I could get off and walk on foot for a minute. When I stopped I realized that I was so dizzy I could barely get off my horse without falling on my head. I've never been so dizzy in my life. I got down and just hung out for a minute hoping the horrible feeling would go away. It didn't. Laura gave me something to drink and I ate something but it didn't help. Besides I'd been eating and drinking all a long. What the heck?

Shortly after that the gals who had been riding behind us all day caught up. They asked how we were and asked if I needed someone to come and get me. ABSOLUTLY not! I had ridden by this point about 94-95 miles. There was so way I was pulling. Worst case I had hours to go and would figure out some way to make it back to camp. I had come to far to quit!

The other gals moved on as they didn't have rump rugs and their horses started to shiver as soon as they stopped. I was glad that Laura and I had taken our rump rugs, just in case. A few minutes later I got on and decided I could stay on at a walk but just barely. I kept hoping it would get better and I could trot. But it never did.

So it was like the longest 5 miles in history. A slow walk, concentrating dead ahead and praying my horse didn't set one foot wrong or I'd probably fall off. She was a jewel, although she would have rather trotted off with the others toward camp.

The hardest part for me was feeling like a burden to others. I know if I was in Laura's shoes, I would have no trouble staying with someone who needed help. But I hated being that person who needed help. I pride myself in working hard, being prepared, pulling my own weight and being tough. Being so dizzy I could hardly stay on made me mad. I had to fight tears for a few miles and remind myself it was okay. Needing help is so much harder then being the one offering help.

Finally we made it. I had accepted that I was going to come into camp, not really be able to walk so I would need someone to vet my horse. It was still hard for me but I had reconciled myself to that. Luckily there are always people willing to help.

The good part about sitting in a chair on the sidelines is that I got to watch Bunny vet and see how truly good she looked after all those miles. Now that brought tears to my eyes. I was so proud of her!

I could hear Dr. Jen saying a whole lot of A's and then she turned to me and said “Congratulation on completing your first 100, your horse looks great, you did a great job!”. Maybe someday I'll win a race but I don't know if it can match the feeling I had at that moment. 

Vet card. Pretty darn good for 100 miles!

It's been an awesome season. Bunny and I have completed 385 endurance miles. Gotten to see lots of cool country, learned a lot and made some great memories. I'm already thinking about my goals for next season. I can't wait to see what it brings!

I got some great advice about dealing with vertigo and discovered I'm not alone! Others struggle with it. Someday I'll write a post about the details of what I learned but for now I think this is long enough.

I hope you all set some great goals for yourself and your equine partners next season and I hope you have a wonderful time working to achieve them!

This sport is the best!!!

Photo by Out of Stream Photography

100 miles – ready or not here we come!

It's almost here... After almost an entire year of planning and working toward this it's almost here. In a couple days Bunny and I will go 100 miles or give it our best shot and see how far we get.

I've been reading, re-reading, asking advice, planning, practicing riding in the dark and according to my husband way over thinking this.

I feel like Bunny is ready. She has just gotten stronger and stronger all season.

I'm feeling pretty good myself despite my hamstring not being quit 100%. I've got tape, stretching plans and back up drugs if needed.

I've tried to pack anything I can think of that I think I might need or want.

My basic plan is to take it nice and easy and steady all day. Trying to average between 7-7.5 mph. I'm going to talk to Carol Giles on Friday. She's offered to give me advice on the ride and I'm taking her up on it!

I think all that's left is to say a prayer and enjoy the ride!

Mt. Spokane – A great 55 miles!

Last week I started writing up a blog post to tell you about my goals for the ride, but I ran out of time and didn't get it finished. So here is the short version.

I wanted to practice another nice and easy start. I had heard the ride was going to be tough with lots of elevation changes, so I was planning to average 7mph on the first loop (25 miles) and then take it from there. Finishing this ride meant we would have more than 250 miles for the season, 285 to be exact. I was excited about that. That was one of my goals for this season. Finishing this ride was also important since essentially it was my depletion ride for doing 100 miles at Oregon 100 in three weeks.

So we got to the ride and set up camp. That was a bit of a challenge. I've never had such tight camping spaces. They did a great job squeezing people in, but it was tight. It took us a bit to figure out how to make it work. But we got it done and got everybody settled in.

My friend Kandi came along to do her first LD (Limited Distance) 25 miles ride on my sister's horse Belle. Kandi and I pre rode the first 3 miles of the trail. Bunny was good but pretty full of it. I've learned over the years that when it comes to riding, Bunny doesn't see other horses as her buddy, she sees them as competition. We've been training with Belle the last couple months and it's been good for us. We've been leap frogging and doing lots of things to try to help Bunny chill. I think we are making progress but we still have a long ways to go.

Bunny is intense when she is with other horses. I was thinking about it after out last ride. I honestly feel there is a switch inside of her that flips and she feels she must catch and pass every horse. She's such a people pleaser I started to wonder if I could make it clear to her that I really her to relax maybe it would make a difference. It had to be something other than just holding her back and making her mind. So that was in the back of my mind as I prepared for our ride.

In the morning it was hard to keep her calm. It was a small camp, emotions were high and there was no place to get away from it. We did the best we could, stayed away from as much as we could and nicely trotted out of camp 10 minutes after the start. She was good, but not as calm as she would have been had there been a place to get out of the riot.

So we headed out nice and easy. She was pretty good but every time we would see another horse she would try to yank my arms off in her attempts to catch them. I keep toying with the idea of trying another bit on her. Someday maybe I'll fill you in on my journey with that so far. I keep tossing it around in my mind. I would like to be able to get through to her without pulling so hard but then at home she has got the lightest mouth ever and I don't want to ruin that.

Once we got about 10 miles out we headed up on a pretty good climb. There was lovely grass on the side of the road so we started trotting for a quarter of a mile or so and then getting a bite to eat. At first it took a minute or two to get her out of her “must fly down the trail mode” so she would take a bite. But after we had done it a half dozen times or so she was getting pretty good at it. Each time I praised her and patted her and each time she relaxed a bit more.

This was huge progress for her. Before I've had a hard time getting her to eat without just parking her off the trail and getting off and giving her a few minutes to realize we are here to eat, not keep going down the trail. This was the first time we were successfully grazing on the go.

It was a great way to break up our climb too. The few seconds she took to take a bite would help her heart rate drop and then we'd be back at it again.

Oh, did I mention that the first loop you climbed a mountain, went around the back side of it and then back down again? Good stuff. I was so proud of how well my horse did. 

Us at the vet check.

I came into camp right on time for how fast I planned to ride that loop. My horse was down when I got to camp. She ate pretty good, not quite as well as I would have like but pretty good. We had a 1 hour hold and then we headed out on a 15 mile loop.

This loop we did a bit faster, it didn't have quite the elevation changes that the first did. I ended up having a guy ride behind me most of that loop. At one point after a water stop he headed out in front. I tried following him but Bunny got all chargy and stupid and didn't want to listen to me, so I let him go. Later on some climbs I caught him again and he followed me into camp. Bunny has no problem with horses who follow her in a sane manner, she just doesn't want to be the one following. Maybe someday, or maybe not.

When we were coming into camp at the end of the second loop we met like six people and Bunny got a little hyped going into the vet check so it took her a few minutes to pulse down. She vetted great though and we headed to our trailer for a 45 minute hold. This time she dug in and ate everything in site! We headed back out on our last 15 mile loop, the second loop backwards. I felt like I had more horse than the previous loop. We met some people finishing the loop the other way but that was about it. We spent most of the time trucking along by ourselves. She was feeling good!!! I sang and thought a lot about how amazing my life is. I have a wonderful family, great friends, all who help me do this sport I love and even though my current financial situation is not what I wish it was, life is good and I feel like I'm living it to the fullest, oh and I've been blessed by a wonderful horse. Doesn't get a whole lot better than that, of course I was thinking this was going through some beautiful country as well.

Us heading out on our last loop. Still plenty of horse power.

Toward the end of that last loop my leg started to hurt. You see about six weeks ago I strained my left hamstring. I was talking it though with my PT friend. She said her guess is that hurting my foot (the left one) and walking on a crutch and boot and limping for a long time that all the muscles in that leg shortened, with all the miles I've done the hamstring has stretched out a little faster than it was ready to. My friend taped me, which really helped. The hamstring itself didn't so much hurt as feel week and tired, but I think it caused me to ride a bit off which meant my calf on that side got really tight and the last couple miles my shin started to hurt too. Something that hasn't happened in a long time. So I slowed down a bit for me.

We crossed the finish line 20^th place out of 34 starts in 7 hours and 35 minutes. My horse vetted great including good gut sounds! She would have been happy to head right back out again. We now have 285 miles for the season which makes me happy. I love meeting goals, it's just part of my personality.

Now I'm looking forward to my last goal of the season. On September 20, Bunny and I are going to try to go 100 miles at Oregon 100. Currently I'm the most concerned about my leg. My PT friend said she's going to help me figure out how to manage that the best way possible. Also right before this last ride I way over did it with some intense kickboxing, no more of that.

I've thought a lot about it. Would I rather do something like a 75 at Jubilee, which I know we can do with no trouble? The answer is no. I really want to try a 100. I just want to do it. It's hard to explain. I've been working toward it all season and we are going to go for it. If we have to pull for me or for her than we will, but if not you'll us coming into camp sometime after dark with big smiles on our faces!

So I'm going to spend the next few weeks rehabbing my leg and getting all the advice I can to formulate my plan for the ride. If you have advice, feel free to tell me!!!

Till then, I hope you are reaching for your own goals, whatever that may be. And just maybe getting out of your comfort zone a bit.

Bare Bones – Another great 50 in which I could see a lot of progress!

I went into this ride not really sure what to expect, in a lot of ways. I knew the ride was harder than what we had done before but by how much? I knew it was going to be hot and humid and that would affect Bunny but again, how much? I also knew that I was going into it a little compromised myself, two weeks ago I managed to hyper extend my left knee and week later sprained my right ankle, so how were thy going to hold up to 50 miles? I've also been under a lot of stress lately. I run a daycare and had two sisters leave when their mom made the decision to stay home. I've been working to fill those spots but in the meantime my income has been cut in half. I was having a hard time focusing on this ride and not on all the rest of life.

We got to ride camp on Friday and got things set up. The kids came along too so they helped out and started scouting the possibilities for fun, including a nearby blackberry patch. After camp was set up I saddled up and took a ride.

I pre rode the first 3 miles or so of the trail. Bunny was the best she has ever been on a Pre-ride ride this season. She was excellent!!! The trail was so different than what we are used to. We ride in the wide open most of the time, these trails for little, windy single track through the rain forest, or what looks like it. Bunny's not really fond of corners she can't see around, that's pretty much the whole trail but she got over that in a hurry and was chugging down the trail like a pro.

When I got back I let her dry off enough so they could get a number on her and then headed to the vet. She vetted all A's except for a B- on gut sounds. That didn't make me thrilled. I talked to the vet about it a bit and he said not to worry about it as long as she was eating good, which she was.

I was kind of thrown for a loop when I realized that both of the holds would be out of camp. I had to scramble to figure out what to pack out food wise for me. I'm on this restricted diet to try and help me control the migraine headaches I've had for the last couple years. It's working really well but has meant that all the ride foods I used to eat, I can't eat, primarily because I can't eat nuts, chocolate or most berries. Add to that being allergic to milk and that rules out most easy to pack foods. I was saved by the fact that I had my little lunch cooler from Sunriver last year and I was able to pack some fruit, hard boiled eggs and protein smoothie to supplement my home made protein blondies. I also had to scramble to figure out how to get enough water out there for me since they didn't have people water. Once I got all that figured out I was good to go.

Ride morning Bunny was nice and calm. I did her stretches saddled up, rode over to give them our number and then did our warming up out and away from everyone. I waited 5 minutes after the start, saw another couple head out and gave them a few minutes and then hit the trail. We walked the first bit and then picked up a nice easy trot. She was good as gold!!! I was so thrilled.

We caught the couple a few miles down the trail and passed them without indecent. I was so proud of her and marveling at how calm and nice she was, that is until a fire breathing dragon caught up to us, not it wasn't Aarene. Some gal had forgotten her vet card, started late and was in a hurry to make up time. She came galloping up behind me and Bunny was not thrilled. We found a spot to pull over and the crazy horse almost rammed into us so the rider followed me for another mile or so till I found a spot to get way out of the way to let her by.

Now my nice calm horse was gone, she was rattled, wanting to chase the other horse but still listening pretty good. It took me a few miles to settle her back down and wouldn't you know it, just about that time three riders who had gotten lost come loping up on our tail. Great, now she wanted to chase them. Then about the time we settle down we hit a spot where there is someone taking numbers, the three riders stop to complain and make me sit behind them.

I let them go for a few minutes and then resume my ride. Got my mare settled down and away we went. We were averaging 7mph which was exactly what I had wanted to do. We were trotting the good stuff and walking the rocky and the really steep parts. We met several other horses and passed them very sensibly. We had one old guy on a gaited horse follow us for a while and Bunny didn't mind that at all.

We got to our first vet check, I let her drink, sponged her neck, walked her over to the pulser and she was down! I took her to the vet and she was all A's. I was thrilled.

We had a 30 minute hold, she ate well, I ate well, we both got more electrolytes and then headed up the trail for what I knew would be the toughest 20 miles of the ride. There were some fairly steep climbs. We walked those or I got off and walked on foot. I tried to tail some, she would got ahead for a bit but then spin back around to face me again. We need to work on that a bit more.

Then we hit the rougher downhill. There were some rocky switch backs. We walked anything steep or rocky and all the good sections, even fairly short ones, we trotted. We made good time and other than two other horses we would see at water stops occasionally we were on our own, the way we like it.

We got into the vet check, let her drink, sponged her off and walked her over the pulser. She was down!!! By this time in the day several Arabians were having trouble pulsing down so I was proud of her. I think the neck shave helped.

We headed to the vet check and she had a less than stellar trot out. She got a B- on gait because she took a few off steps. Otherwise she was mostly A's with an A- for gut sounds, not too concerning considering the tough 20 miles we just did.

I was a little bit concerned about her B- on gait but not overly so. I figured it was most likely the fact that we had just finished coming off of a long section of rough, twisty downhill (which by the way she had picked her way down like a pro, a couple of years ago we could have barely come down that section alive let alone in good time). I figured with a rest that she would be good and we would continue to ride conservatively for our remaining 10 miles home. We had plenty of time left so if she felt off at all we could take it SUPER easy.

This time we had a 45 minute hold. She ate off an on a bit but didn't really dig in till almost the end of our hold. We stayed a few extra minutes to let her eat a bit more, not like we were racing, and then we headed back down the trail.

She felt 100% so we went back to our 7mph average, trotting the good stuff, walking the rough stuff.

Things were good till we caught up to a group of three riders. I passed them and they decided to follow, in a way that made Bunny crazy. They would hold back for a while and then lope up behind us. Bunny just wanted to go faster and faster so I pulled over and let them pass. Then I made her stay at a water stop for a few minutes to give them some lead time.

She was less than thrilled. She wanted to race those horses so bad. I've never had her be so competitive so far into a ride, I think she's getting more fit. I finally got off and walked her on foot for a few minutes. She tried to charge over the top of me so I gave her a few little “we aren't going to play this game” whacks on the nose with her reins. She got the picture and I was able to get back on and she was much better.

Less then a mile from camp we had to cross a muddy spot that we had already been through a few times. Mud isn't her favorite things. She starts looking left as she's going through it, walks right and bumps into a big rock scraping her back leg. At least we were almost home.

We came into camp. Crossed the finish line, pulled her tack and took her to the vet. She had a B for gut sounds, her gait was back to an A and she had a few A- on hydration stuff. Considering how tough the ride was I was okay with that.

Our total ride time was 7 hours and 10 minutes and it was a wonderful 7 hours and 10 minutes. Great country, wonderful time by myself just focusing on the ride and taking care of my horse and myself. Going into this ride I'd also been a single parent for 10 days since my husband was doing his teen camp thing. It was so nice to be out in the woods by myself for a while, no stress!

I was proud of Bunny, particularly how sure footed she was and how well she did on a technical trail. I'm not kidding when I say that a few years ago she would have really struggled with that trail, to say the least. She's come a long ways. Her fitness is coming right along as well. She was really strong through that entire ride!

I'm looking forward to riding her at Mt. Spokane at the end of the month. If all that goes well I think we are going to go for a 100 mile ride in September. Which one I'm not sure, it depends on which ride my ride picks.

I'll post pictures if I can get one from the ride photographer.

Until next time, ride safe!

Bare Bones – A new ride for us, with new challenges

So the truth is I don't have as much of a definite plan for this ride as I usually do. Mostly because this will be my first time doing this ride and secondly because I'm not sure how my mare will handle humidity and there is suppose to be quite a bit of that.

First off, I did some asking around about this ride. I've heard that it's steep, hot and humid. Most of the ride is in the woods so that will help and the rest, well we'll see...

I figure this ride will be a good time to practice taking it nice and easy 7mph, or slower if needed, from the very beginning. It will be good practice for our 100 miler we hope to do later this year. We will also work on taking good care of ourselves through the whole thing.

I decided to clip Bunny's neck and chest. I figured she could use all the help she can get keeping cool. I've trace clipped before she sheds out but this is the first time I've clipped a summer coat. I took Bunny for a little ride after I did my clip job and was impressed at how much better evaporation worked on the clipped section versus the un clipped section.

I'm going to electrolyte a LOT. Bunny tends to need a lot of electrolytes anyway so in the heat and humidity I know she will definitely need a lot. I'm planning to not only give her more overall but to electrolyte more often as well.

For myself I'm excited to have my Nuun electrolyte tablets that I can put in my camel pack so that I can keep myself hydrated and electrolyted as well.

Another thing I do, just to feed my curiosity and to get an idea of how hard the ride is, is look up the ride results for the last couple years. The winning times for the last two years have been six and a half to seven hours. If I knew nothing else about those rides I would know that it's harder than most.

So that's it for now. Wish us luck, send up a prayer for our safety and I'll give you an update when I get back!

In case you wonder what I've been up to – Summer camp, trying new electrolytes (for me) and much more.

It's been a busy last couple of weeks.

For starter the whole family got to spend a week at Leoni Meadows, a christian summer camp in northern California. I used to work there, a long time ago, and still love to help out for a week. The camp director is a long time friend of ours. I spent the week teaching riding lessons to staff and a Wrangler In Training, helping them work on their program and helping out with whatever needed to be done, including riding drag on several family camp trail rides. It was great to get to spend a week working outside with horses and then getting to hang out with my kids in the evenings and go to their great campfire programs.

My kids had a blast. They got to run around with their dad and enjoy all sorts of family camp activities including: riding a train, canoeing, crafts, the nature center, swimming in the pond and pony rides. 

 My kids enjoying life at "The Only Meadows" as they call it!

I always come home with a renewed appreciation for my own horses. I have pretty high standards, for myself and my horses. Sometimes it's easy to just keep an eye on what you are working toward and forget how far you have come. After riding camp horses for a week I came home and took Bunny for a ride and was reminded what a fantastic horse she is. Yes, we'll still keep working on things and striving toward an even higher level of excellence but we've both come a long way and she is pretty darn fantastic. I need to make sure to just enjoy that sometimes.

Secondly I realized that a lot of what I have learned about horses in the last several years is directly a result of endurance. I've learned a lot about how a horses body works and how to take care of them, and know when something is wrong etc... A lot of useful information that I've been able to pass along to the cowboy camp staff. I love that about our sport, there is a real emphasis on education!

Oh and while I was at camp I tried out a different kind of electrolytes for myself and really liked them. I followed a post a while back on AERC's facebook group. Somebody asked about recommendations for electrolytes for riders. Lately I've mostly been consuming large amounts of gatoraid at holds. It works but I don't like that fact that it's loaded with sugar and artificial favoring and color. I'm not a total fanatic about stuff like that but I try, as much as possible to stick to natural things. On some rides I also feel like I would do better drinking electrolytes more consistently throughout the day not just at holds, especially when it's warm or on a ride that has really long loops. So after perusing the comments left by various riders I decided to try some tablets that you add to your water. They are made by a company called NUUN and they are all natural. You can put them in your camelpak and it doesn't muck stuff up, because it's not all sugary. Oh, and they have more electrolytes in them ounce for ounce than gatoriad. They come in different flavors as well. I used them all week, since I spent most of my days out in the sun. I really liked them and I'm going to use them on my next ride.

So back at home again I got back in the groove including conditioning. I've realized this season that I've ended up conditioning almost 100% alone. I didn't plan it that way, it just happened. Friends moved, some have horses in recovery, etc... and as a result Bunny and I have done our miles solo. For the most part that is great. We have a plan we do it and no one else slows us down. A couple months back, however, I rode with a group and realized that the down side to that is that Bunny's riding in a group skills have suffered. She wanted to be competitive with anyone and everyone. Thank goodness a friend of mine has started riding my sister's mare Belle and so we've been doing some rides together. It's been good on a lot of fronts. My friend is wanting to get into endurance so it's fun seeing her progress, and the horses as well. I'm also excited to have another horse to practice Bunny's group manors with. I think it will help our starts be easier as well.

I did a 20 mile depletion ride this weekend. When I finished it was 95 degrees outside! I make it a point not to avoid the heat, until it gets over 100 degrees. I figure if I'm ever going to do a ride in the heat I need to condition in it. Since I've gotten Bunny her recovery time in the heat has gotten a lot better. I like to track it, see her progress and know what's normal for her. We had a great ride this weekend. We didn't go super fast, we averaged 8 mph. Normally I would have liked to go a bit faster but with the heat I felt that was fast enough. We did do some great hill work as well. When we got home her heart rate fell to 60 almost immediately but then stayed there till she cooled off. Of course I wrote it all down in my conditioning note book for future reference and reviewed other rides in the heat just to see the progress.

I've been gearing up to ride Seneca Stampede, hoping to do 50 miles both days. Just about an hour after I finished my depletion ride I got a call from my friend, who is kind enough to haul my horse for me, saying he wasn't going to be able to make Seneca but would go to Bare Bones instead.

I have to admit I'm a bit bummed. I was looking forward to Seneca and the possibility of riding both days. I had found out a lot of great info about the ride and felt really ready to tackle it. But on the other hand it looks like I'm going to be able to do Bare Bones instead so I won't be missing out totally. I've been very blessed with friends who will haul my horse for me, since I'm to broke to own a truck and trailer. So now I have a couple weeks to do some research on Bare Bones and develop my ride plan. If it's hot I'm contemplating shaving part of my horse.

So I'll do some thinking and get back to you. In the meantime, tomorrow is my last day on Prednisone so that is a real reason to celebrate in my book. Life is good, I feel good, my horse is doing great and I'm blessed with friends and family who enable me to pursue my hobby.

I hope your summer is going half so well.

A good 50 mile ride at Sunriver – just not quite the ride I thought we would have

One of the things I love about endurance is it's complexities. It appeals to the problems solver in me. There all these details and they all make a difference, some little, some big and you do you best to manage them all in ever changing conditions. Things like how fast you condition, how far you condition, how often you condition, rest time, how you feed, how you electrolyte, how you train yourself and your horse, how you start your ride, really the list is very, very long.

The good news for green beans is that as long as you are willing to ride conservatively you leave yourself some room for trial and error. The more you decide to start to push the envelope a little the more right on you have to be with all your little details.

I didn't get a chance to post my full plan for Sunriver so I'll give you a quick rundown. I had decided to let her go a bit more than I have previously this season. I was planning to average between 8mph and 8.5mph for the entire ride, so finishing just around 6 hours, plus or minus a few minutes. I've done this before at Old Salem last year and felt we could have even gone a bit faster so it this wasn't some far out there plan. Plus Bunny is more fit now than then.

I knew the first 18 miles was mostly a gradual, steady, decent down to the river. She's made great strides in her ability to carry herself like a champ down hill so I decided that we'd do between 8 – 9 mph on that stretch, depending on how she felt.

The 12 miles back up to camp we wouldn't exceed an average of 8 mph. We'd move out when it was flat and back off on the speed on all the uphill, to conserve energy.

Then on the last 20 miles I'd see how much horse I had left. I'd shoot for 8mph and if she still had a lot of gas left in the tank there were some great stretches of road I was going to let her make some time on.

It's nice knowing the ride a bit and being able to plan better, have I mentioned I like to plan?

So we got to camp, vetted in with all A's. She was calm in camp, eating and drinking great. I took her out for a ride and she was the best she's been this season. We pre rode the first couple miles of the start and she was a champ. The footing was great, I decided my plan was good, we'd see how it went.

In the morning I had a hard time. The prednisone, I'm on to help me recover from the Crohn's flair up has a nasty side affect. It makes you anxious and irritable. Not much fun. That morning as I was getting ready I was having a hard time not feeling really stressed. I knew it was the meds but I also knew it would make a difference. I did a lot of praying, yoga and just tried to relax. By the time I mounted up I was doing pretty good but still more anxious than usual.

I rode over gave them my number at the start and then rode out of camp in the opposite direction. I didn't want to be anywhere near the start. Bunny was anxious but not bad at all. A few minutes after the start time, I rode back to camp and headed out, about seven minutes after the start.

It was a great start. The only problem was that since there was 58 people riding the 50 I knew there was going to be lost of people going slower than us, so lots of people to pass. The problem with that is it brings out “Race Bunny”. You can feel her whole body get more tense and she wants to charge down the trail seeking out people to hunt down and pass.

We did a lot of passing in that first hour and most of it as soon as I saw a horse I would look for a good place to go ahead and pass. Bunny thought it was great. She was listening pretty well, she needed reminders every time a horse came into view but things were going good.

At the second water trough I dismounted to electrolyte her and discovered that a tree had swiped my electrolytes. I got a new camelpak for my birthday and it has a great outside pocket that I'd put an electrolyte syringe and a baggie of grain. It looked super secure and I figured it would be easier to get out later. Well I didn't think about the fact that with riding a taller horse I whack a bunch of limbs. I wasn't very happy about it but we were almost to the river and I'd packed electrolytes for the hold and the trip back to camp so figured we'd still be okay. Now I know I have to put the syringes in the inside pockets.

 All in all I love my new camelpack! It's bright pink, lighter than my other one and holds more water. 

Thanks for the birthday money Dad!

I got the river right on time and watched her heart rate fall as she drank. I let her drink, walked her to the pulser and she was down. She vetted great, ate great, everything was great so I decided to stick with my plan.

Heading out of the river we made time when the going was good and slowed down, sometimes to a walk on the hills. I felt really good about out ride. We passed a few more people including this group of three that leapfroged me for a while. I hate that. I would pass them and keep going the same speed. They would lope up and pass me and then slow down. Then I would pass them again. Finally I decided I was going to look for a good stretch, pass them and speed up for a bit. I only did maybe ¼ of a mile at a faster pace and then I didn't see them again.

When I came into camp, right on time, I was in 10^th place with no one right on my tail. I was pretty happy. Again her pulse dropped as she drank but then three 100 mile horses left and she got excited and then it took her a few minutes to pulse down.

My giddy feelings quickly vanished, however, when I saw the vet. The vet said she looked great except that she didn't have much in the way of gut sounds. The vet told me if she ate great on the hold she should be fine but if not keep a close eye on her.

We headed back to the trailer and I breathed a sigh of relief as she dove into her mash. Unfortunately, that didn't last long, though and then she was standing around not eating anything. It was a 45 minute hold, I expected her to rest for a bit and then eat some more. She didn't. I got out some grain, some different hay and even walked her around to see if she would graze on the grass but couldn't get her take a bite. She didn't quite look as perky has her normal self either.

Now I was beginning to worry a bit. I decided to take her back to the vet and see what she thought. She checked her gut sounds, said they had picked up a bit but where still pretty quite. She did a full re-check on her and said the rest of her looked great. Her heart rate was 40 and everything else was really good. I told the vet I was trying to decide weather to stay longer on my hold or to just go out and slow down a bit. She said she thought either would be good, if I went out to try to get her to snack along the trail.

That's what I decided to do and we set off on our last loop after taking a little longer on our hold. She was a little doggy at first and the footing was really deep and terrible so we just took it easy. Then we got passed and she decided she didn't like that. We picked up the pace a bit but were still only moving out at a moderate pace. A few more miles down the trail we had someone lope past us at a high rate of speed and Bunny decided to not be passed. It took me a few strides to stop her and then I decided we were going to hang out on the side of the road and chill and graze for a bit. We weren't going to do race crazy. She grazed well and that made me feel good, but a few miles down the trail she was slowing down again and just didn't feel quite right. This also corresponded with more awful, deep footing so we took it easy. I tried to get her to eat some a while later but then she wouldn't touch a bite, not grain, not grass, sigh. I just didn't know what to think so we just continued to take it easy. Mostly walking, sometime me on foot and occasionally a little trot if the road was good.

Over the coarse of the next 6 miles or so, she peed three times and pooped twice and then started eating a bit and perked up again. Throughout all of this she always drank well so that was good.

All my lolly gagging gave me lots of time to think. I thought through a lot of things, I knew that our loosing the electrolyte didn't help but I didn't think that was all of it. I just didn't know what to make of all of it.

The last 5 miles of the loop my horse was perky so we picked it up a bit, still conservatively, and trucked on back to camp. I think our total ride time was 7 hours 12 minutes.

When we got in I took her to the trailer, pulled her tack and then took her back to the vet. Her vet card had a ton of B's on it. Very out of character for her. Her gut sounds were better but she was dehydrated. The vet didn't have anyone else waiting so I chatted with her for a while. I told I was baffled. I told her about our ride and what I expected and how I wasn't really sure what to make of all of it. I'd come to the conclusion that she didn't get get enough electrolytes. Probably not just from loosing the syringe but she probably needed more than I had planned for. The vet agreed with that. We talked about how much rest she'd had after her 80 and decided that sounded reasonable. The vet said maybe she just didn't have as much in her that day. The vet said she wasn't worried at all about Bunny, she was fine, just a little dehydrated.

Our ride card, in case you want to see all the details. I hope it's a long time before we see that many B's again.

After that she was eating everything in site so that made me feel good but I just kept pondering, trying to fit all the pieces together and make sense of all of them.

Later that night I was talking to a ride and tie lady, sitting around the campfire and waiting for the 100 mile riders to finish. This lady has a quarter horse who gets all worked up and because of that has a problem with tying up. She said she was talking to the head vet who was telling her it didn't matter if her horse was fit, you just couldn't beat the stress. Then it slowly began to dawn on me....

Although Bunny was controllable and pretty level headed that first 30 miles she had been in race mode. In her mind she was playing a game of track them down and pass them as fast as we can. I'd let her do it and in some cases encouraged it because it fit with my plan. She was happy to be moving out and was pretty good about listening but she was definitely in find them and pass them mode. At Old Salem she'd been much more relaxed. It had been easier to accomplish because there was less people.

If we had seen a horse at Old Salem she'd perk up and say, “Can I pass the?” If the answer was no, she'd begrudgingly let them go and return to her relaxed self. When we saw a horse at Sunriver she didn't ask she said “Let's go get them”. If the trail was good my answer was yes, if it wasn't we only waited long enough till the trail was good and then passed. The difference was subtle in a way but huge in another, she never really relaxed and I never made her let a horse go till probably 25 miles in. What it meant was that she never really relaxed the whole first 30 miles. I didn't think about it because she wasn't spending that whole 30 mile arguing with me.

I was monitoring her heart rate, her speed, everything else but her attitude and in the end it made a big difference. Her tearing through the first 30 miles in seek and destroy mode was much harder on her body than if she would have been going the same speed but nice and relaxed.

How to fix that, probably lots more practice. Getting her relaxed on the way to the river would have been hard but now I can think a few things that would have helped. When I had a minute without someone on my tail I should have stopped for just a minute, just to let her rest mentally. I should have found a good horse to stay behind for a bit or let them go for a bit, of course at a time where I was pretty sure someone else wasn't going to pass me. Making Bunny at least question weather or not we were going to pass the horse would have helped her to relax.

Bunny is a good horse but I'm determined to turn her into a great horse. Right now this race brain is our biggest enemy. We are going to keep working on it though and by golly we are going to kick it! We'll get to the point where she'll ask if she can chase them down and if the answer is now be able to relax and keep going without a bit fit.

So in the end here's my thoughts. It's okay to push the envelope, do it thoughtfully but be ready to slow down if things don't pan out. If everything would have lined up, if I would have had enough electrolytes, if I wasn't on prednisone and if I had gotten my horse relaxed I think there's a good chance the ride would have gone a lot differently. But in the end I learned a lot, we had a great ride, still finished and my horse still looks like a million bucks.

To finish is to win. Sometimes we finish in a blaze of glory, sometimes we just finish. I think sometimes we probably learn more from those just finishes than from the rides where everything goes as expected.

So I'll continue to keep thinking about everything, working on myself and my horse and trying to have a really great rest of the season. I hope you all do too!!!

p.s. I'm hoping to have a ride photo later. The photographer doesn't have them up yet.

Back in the saddle again – It's been a bit of a rough time

So my rough time has nothing to do with my horse, that's where all of us riders breath a sigh of relief. We all want our horses to be running at 100% and mine is. Unfortunately I can't say the same for myself. I have thought about weather or not to even mention it on my blog but... I know that reading about others overcoming their hard time has helped me so I decided to share.

I was diagnosed with crohns disease just after I graduated from college. It's one of those auto immune disorders where for some unknown reason your body periodically decides to make life rough, in this case on your digestive system. The good new is that in the 14 years I've had it I've figured out how to manage it and it's pretty much been a non issue, that is till Memorial Day weekend.

While in Montana, visiting my grandpa, I had a flair up that landed me in the ER. Long story short, once they figured out what it was, got me started on prednisone and a limited diet for a while I started to get better. The doctor says this sometimes happens. I've had a good track record and it will probably be another 10 – 15 years before I have another flair up like this, maybe not at all.

It was really hard for me, physically and emotionally. I like to go kind of full bore. Partly because I have a lot on my plate, work, my kids, my horse etc... and partly because that's just kind of who I am. I like to be busy, I like to be working toward something. When I get hit by something hard that keeps me out of the action for a while I struggle. I don't feel like myself and it drives me crazy.

A week after my flair up I was able to take Bunny out for a little ride. That felt good but I didn't really feel up for more and that was frustrating. Timing worked out great because Bunny had some time off after her 80 mile ride so it wasn't like we needed to be working hard and I couldn't.

A few days after that first ride I was feeling better and took her out for a fast 5 miles of conditioning work. We flew, she felt great, I felt great and most of all I felt hope, I was getting back to my old self. I was going to be okay and that felt good.

Then a couple weekends ago (June 7) we did our depletion ride for Sunriver. We did 20 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was a wonderful ride. We both had a great time just trucking along. It was exactly what I was hoping to do. I'm planning to ride Sunriver at approximately an 8mph speed so I wanted to do my depletion ride at a 9mph speed. I set out on my ride, however, determined not to beat myself up if we didn't end up doing that speed. Life would be okay.

I love having goals and things to work toward and that's part of what I love about endurance. I love the feeling of getting fit myself. Of seeing my horses progress, of setting goals, working toward them and meeting them. Endurance suites me and my personal drive very well.

I'm also striving to come to terms with my being human. Frankly I don't like it. I don't want to have to take it easy, I don't want to struggle. I don't want to face things that are out of my control. Unfortunately, I don't have much choice except what kind of attitude I'll have about it.

I'm working on cutting myself some slack. It's okay to be down for a while and enjoy watching old movies with my kids. It's okay if I'm not super woman, boy would I like to be though.

So, I'm feeling better every day and looking forward to Sunriver and the rest of the season. But most importantly, no matter what happens I want to be able to enjoy life to it's fullest. Not just the high points but to find good things in the low times as well.

In church a few weeks ago the pastor preached a great sermon about brightening the corner where we are. That's how I want to live life in all I do. If life throws me lemons, make lemonade, be kind to myself and try to brighten someone elses day while I'm at it.

I'm also learning to appreciate my body and what it can do for me. Yes, maybe my stomach is a little stretched out after carrying my rather large son, maybe I'm not totally invincible but for the most part I have great health and a strong body and I'm very thankful for that.

So wherever you are at in your ride season I hope you are enjoying it! Maybe I'll see you on the trail.

Today in the mail I got my 250 mile patch 

(AERC endurance miles so only rides that are 50 miles or longer)!

We did it – We went 80 + miles and LOVED it!

Since sometime in the middle of last season I've had this itch to try longer distances and see how Bunny and I liked them. It's kind of hard to explain it was just something I really wanted to do.

So when we got to the Mt. Adams ride I registered us for the 80 mile ride and vetted in. When I vetted Bunny in the vet noted that her back muscles were tight. She wasn't reactive, like they were painful, just tight. He gave me a B on that and said it was just a little bit of a red flag.

I hate red flags. I mulled it over and couldn't think of anything. I'm pretty confident in her saddle fit, she's been going great and her back has been great. So I gave her a massage, did belly lifts, took her for a ride and just to be on the ultra safe side decided to skip the heart rate monitor (on the off chance that the electrode would mess with her back at all). After all that her back muscles were much softer and I wasn't too worried about it.

She was good on our ride on Friday evening. Full of it but a lot better than she had been before Home on the Range. I was also a lot more confident and relaxed.

I also went to a great little presentation put on by Dennis and Sue Summers. It was all about moving up to the longer distances. I told the group my plan for my first 80. In a nutshell, never average over 8mph, take it really easy on anything steep (up or down) and slow down even more if I thought she needed it. Dennis said that sounded right. He said go where the getting was good (no faster than my 8mph pace) and bubble wrap her on anything steep or rough.

I knew my biggest hurdle was going to be a mellow start. I decided that even though there was only 17 of us starting at 5:30am, I was still going to give everyone a five minute lead.

In the morning I did just that. I didn't even go over to the start or let her see it. I watched my watch, for what seemed like ages and reminded myself that five minutes was a very, very small sacrifice to pay for a nice mellow start. When I was tempted to march over there and charge down the trail I just had to remind myself of the 12 miles of epic fit throwing we did at Home on the Range and I just kept waiting.

At five minutes I walked over to the start, and we walked out for the first ¼ mile and then picked up a nice easy trot and we were off.

Our first loop was 36 miles long. Although we had a mellow start I still had a horse who was full of it but willing to listen. Every little bit she would say, “How about we go 10mph?” Then I would reply, “No, we're sticking to 8mph”. We had about a million little conversations on that first loop but no big fighting or fit throwing. So nice!

I also discovered that when my horse is full of it she's easier to pace when I'm singing. Every time I would stop singing her speed would try to creep up even more. So if you ever hear someone coming up behind you singing, you'll know it's me.

We stopped at about 20 miles and I let her graze for ten minutes while I ate a protein bar. I knew that both or us needed to take good care of ourselves if we were going to finish feeling good.

We got into our first vet check right on time for what I had planned and in great shape.

A couple of friends had warned me that all horses hit a lull on the longer distances, at least at first. They said often it happens on the second to the last loop and to just let them lolly gag for a bit and then they would hit their second wind.

Turns out we hit a bit of a lull on our second loop. Bunny started out well but then a while into she started to lag a bit. That loop we hit a big climb and I decided it was a good time to just get off and lead her. If we were going to go slow up the whole thing I might as well hike and it would be a good stretch for me as well. It really was quite a hill, the big hill in the burn for those of you who where there. We got our picture taken just after that section and then a hit a gravel road and she got her second wind. I was a little worried that if she was hitting a lull before 50 miles we were in trouble but she was going great, I knew she was fit, we hadn't overdone anything and worse case I figured if we had to do the last 25 miles super slow, we would. 

 Here we are coming out of the burn area. Another wonderful photo by Jessica Wynne

Coming in from that loop, about ¼ a mile from camp, I missed a turn and headed back out. I thought that was maybe what I did but went a little farther just to make sure (about 2.5 miles) and then had to turn around and back track. That was a little discouraging. I was kicking myself that I had just added an extra 5 miles to my first long ride. But it was done and I wasn't going to let it ruin my day.

When we vetted she had a B on gum tinting. I told the vet about our extra 5 miles at the end sans water and he said that would definitely explain it and that we should be able to make up for it on our hold.

When we headed back out on our third loop I really wasn't sure what to expect but was thrilled to discover I had a strong, happy horse. She was rock solid through the entire loop!

We made good time where the getting was good and in three different stretches of rough country boonie crashing I got off and led her again. We both just had a fantastic time. Life was great and we enjoyed every mile, and didn't add any extra.

Came in to the vet check and confirmed that we had recovered from our previous minor dehydration and all was back to A's with the exception of a B+ on gut sounds.

When we headed back out we were down to our last 10 miles. I figured we would just go whatever speed we needed too and at that point even if we walked the entire thing we were going to make it in before dark.

I could tell she was a little tired so we did a combination of trotting and walking. The loop was beautiful and I was feeling on top of the world. We came into camp at 7:30pm with a nice little springy trot I couldn't have been more happy. I was trying not to celebrate too much till the vet had the final say but I knew that we had done it!

She vetted great! All A's with the exception of the B+ on gut sounds. She still had a nice willing trot out. I couldn't have been more proud of her or myself really.

It was just a fantastic ride all the way around. I felt like I had managed myself and my horse well. I was so proud of the fact that all day long, in the mountains Bunny didn't take one wrong or off step. I had micromanaged her speed and exertion level all day and it payed off.

I was proud of myself that after 11 ½ hours in the saddle I was still doing well and riding pretty darn good! Don't get me wrong, the tendon on the outside of my right foot was getting a bit tired and letting me know it, but all in all I was doing well. I'd stayed hydrated, drank an insane amount of Gatorade and my mom had helped me stay eating well all day. Oh and the foot I hurt last October didn't give me one bit of trouble.

I could write a lot more about how great the day was but really you would have had to been there to believe it.

I can tell you one thing, this won't be our last long distance ride!

We are going for it – 80 miles here we come!

After HOTR Bunny got a few weeks off and then we eased back into work. Then three weeks after the ride we did a great hill conditioning ride. It's a great loop that climbs for 6 miles and then you come back down for 5 miles. And I'm not kidding that it climbs. There may be two spots that are flat for 100 yards but that's it. I figured this would be a great conditioning ride and let me know how she was doing. After all we'll see a hill or two at Mt. Adams.

She was awesome! We steadily climbed at a pace of almost 9mph. Her heart rate stayed in the 130 – 140 except for the very top of the steepest hill. She was eager to go and we had a great time.

The rest of that week we did two snappy rides around here, each one she was faster with a lower heart rate.

Then two weeks out from Mt. Adams we did a 28 mile depletion ride. We made great time and had a great ride. We did this one particular stretch of road several times, over the course of our ride. It's a mile long stretch that I try to make great time on and clock myself. The last time over it she was flying (15 mph trot) and her heart rate was 120. A month ago on that same stretch her heart rate was 140 doing about 12mph. I love seeing solid proof of progress. It makes me smile.

So she's fit and working great, we are going to go for it. We are going to try an 80 mile ride at Mt. Adams. I'd thought about waiting till later in the season, I tend to be cautious in case you haven't figured that out yet, but it just didn't work out, if I waited I'd have to wait longer than I want.

My only concern about Mt. Adams is that it's a mountain ride and will be a harder 80 miles than say the ride we had to pull from at Jubilee last fall. But her fitness this season is coming right along, that's a nice ride and it looks like the weather will be good. All factors in our favor.

So I think it's time. Time to see how we both feel about the longer distances. I plan to start in the back, nice and sane, and keep a nice steady pace throughout the day (7-8 mph) take it easy in the rough places. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we'll keep you posted!

Electrolytes that I prepared for our ride (did that this morning).

In case you are curious. I electrolyte every hour (approximately) a light dose if we are on the trail and a bigger one in camp, when she's eating more and I have time to rinse out her mouth better. I have 7 trail syringes and 5 hold syringes (yes, I forgot one of my hold ones in the picture).

Here's my secret recipe (amount changes due to work and weather predictions).

Trail: 1/3 oz of Pureform Electrolyte Concentrate

Hold: ¾ oz of Pureform Electrolyte Concentrate

Mixed in a special mixture of honey yogert, ground flax seed and Aloe Vera.

One last piece to the Home On The Range ride story, blood work

During the winter I had decided that sometime this ride season I wanted to have blood work done after a ride. Why, because I'm curious. I was pretty sure that I was doing a good job with my electrolytes and managing a horse during a ride but this gives you a better pictures.

I'm sure we've all read articles about how they use blood work to help them solve lots of mysteries in the research world. For instance they are finding that the horses pulled from Tevis for metabolic reasons are typically low in Chloride. So I decided to set aside some hat money to have blood work done and see what I could learn.

I talked with another endurance rider who has blood work done on his endurance horses from time to time. He said he thought it was worth wile and pointed me in the direction of Dr. Mike Foss.

So when I vetted Bunny in on Friday I talked to Dr. Foss. He told me he I would get the clearest picture of what was going on if I brought for a blood draw right after I finished, the sooner the better. So I did, I crossed the finish line and took her over to get her blood drawn.

Dr. Foss called me on Tuesday with the results. He said her electrolyte levels were all great. I'd done a good job with that. He told me he was sure I already knew this but just in case... he wanted to make sure that I understood that I'd have to change my electrolyte plan if the conditions of the ride were different. I assured him I understood that. Unfortunately there is no one size fits all plan for anything in endurance. In some ways I kind of like that, the problem solver in me gets a lot of work in this sport.

Next Dr. Foss told me that Bunny's blood work did show that she had been ridden pretty hard. There was starting to be evidence of some muscle cell breakdown and her bilirubin was slightly elevated. We talked about her 12 miles of fit throwing and about how strategies to keep her calmer at the start were going to be very important for her. Lastly, she was a starting to get a little bit dehydrated by the end of the ride (her skin tinting was an A but blood work is my accurate). Dr. Foss did make sure to clarify that she was fine, she didn't tie up, there wasn't anything wrong with her just to know that she was ridden hard.

I have to admit I had a lot of mixed feeling when I got off the phone. First off I was glad that I was on with her electrolytes. The first summer I did endurance with her I didn't electrolyte her enough and at the end of one ride she had an electrolyte imbalance that resulted in a rolling heartbeat for a few hours. A great vet at the ride talked me through it and we decided it was an electrolyte imbalance and with his encouragement I rode her again the next day (it was a two day ride) and electrolyted her a lot more and she did great.

The part about her being ridden hard didn't surprise me either. Thanks to the heart rate monitor I knew that her 12 miles of fit throwing was all most all anaerobic (she was working beyond the point that her body could adequately supply oxygen to her muscles) and that takes it toll. I also could feel at the end of the ride that she was a little tired and I haven't felt that before. So I guess it's good to know that my intuition about my horse was right, she was tired.

But I have to admit that there was part of me that wanted the blood work to come back basically declaring us endurance excellence. Like in in Marry Poppins when the children want to measure her to see how she measures up and the tape measure says “Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way”. But the reality is that we aren't perfect and most sane people don't expect us to be.

The good news is we are learning and having fun. We continue to learn and hopefully we'll get a little better each time.

Besides, being perfect might get boring :)