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.