First ride of the season – and it didn't go how I expected it to...

I know it's been FOREVER since I have updated my blog.

Here's the short version of a few of the things I was going to write about.

Bunny has been going great! After last season she had a few weeks off and then a couple months of only light riding, arena stuff and short trail rides. In the middle of December we eased back into conditioning. My goal was to do a 75 mile ride at Coyote Ridge. A new ride the first week of April just outside of Moses Lake WA.

I was really excited about this. I really like the 75 mile distance. The terrain around Moses Lake is a lot like around here so it was going to be a great place to do a 75 first thing in the season.

Bunny has just been getting better and better. She was a nice girl when I got her but she is maturing. She is more relaxed, better trained and just a real joy to be around. She still has a kick butt work ethic and riding her is just a joy.

Our conditioning went great. We did our last big ride two weeks before the ride where I rode a 22 mile hill ride. I was thrilled with her conditioning, her attitude, her training everything. I couldn't have felt better about the start of the season. There was just one little thing bugging me in the back of my mind.

That was how our last ride of last season had gone.

There was a lot of little factors that played into OR 100 not going down perfectly but in the back of my mind I was a little bit worried that Bunny might have ulcers. A couple people had talked to me at OR 100 after I pulled and said that ulcers was something they would be suspicious of.

I read up on it a bit. Looked for other signs and kept an eye on her this winter. She was being a bit of a picky eater, but then she never was a hoover machine like Quincy. Quincy ate anything, any time and if he didn't there was a huge problem. Bunny usually eats well, and eats really well on long distance rides but she just isn't quite the vacuum Quincy was. Sometimes it's hard to know what's just her and what's a problem. This winter she was leaving some of her mash for a bit till she would clean it up and I had to work hard to keep her in the body condition I would like to see her at. But there are always changing factors so it's so hard to know what's what.

I had put her on SmartDigest Ultra and aloevera and I felt like she started eating a bit better and she put on just a little bit more weight, had dapples and looked great. But at the same time the grass was starting to come in again, so hard to know what was responsible for what. I planned to talk to her vet when she had her spring tune up this next month.

So I felt pretty good going into this ride. I was going to ride conservative till near the end and then if I had extra horse I would let her speed up. I wanted to try to do everything right and see how it went.

I saw so much progress in Bunny I just can't even tell you how proud I am of her. Dean took his new horse Credence who had never been to ride camp and never been away from Dean's other horses. He was pretty amped up and unsure of things. That didn't seem to phase Bunny at all. She was calm, quite and just did her thing. She waited quietly in a crowded vet line that before she would have not been able to handle, at all. She set a great example for Credence and showed him around on a little ride Friday afternoon. She was calm in camp, ate hay and drank but wasn't crazy about her mash. Usually she licks the pan clean at ride camp.

Same thing in the morning, ate and drank well at night only ate about two bites of beet pulp in the morning.

We had the best start ever. There was only 4 people riding the 75. I let the others take off and left just seconds behind them so Bunny could see them just a few hundred yards ahead of us. She was good! She wanted to go but she listened and was pretty relaxed. We caught everyone a few miles in and rode with them till about 10 miles into the first loop.

There was a nasty bog. It apparently sprang up out of no where. You could see quad tracks and it looked a bit wet but not bad but as soon as the first horse set foot out there it sunk to it's belly. The others of us skirted around to the side only to realize that there was now a ravine, not a small one, between us and the trail. Where we were was steep, rocky and very wet, although not a bog. We could see a ways up there where it looked like you could get across to the trail. So that's what we did. Bunny stayed nice and calm and didn't set one foot wrong. Good deal because I wouldn't have wanted to go through that with a crazy horse that wasn't listening.

Photo by Cassidy Rea, Just before the bog...

As soon as we got cell coverage we called camp to warn others about the bog. After that it was smooth sailing. The others began to pick up speed. They we alternating trotting and cantering on these beautiful soft gravel roads out in the middle of nowhere. The weather was great it was just beautiful. I decided to pull back because when they cantered they were going just a touch faster then I wanted to go. It was still well within what I thought Bunny could do but I wanted to be conservative.

Bunny let the others go with no problem! Another huge triumph. We would catch two of the riders from time to time and then let them go again when their speed didn't match ours. Through the rough stuff Bunny walked faster then them so overall we were going about the same pace just in a little different way.

Along the trail I let Bunny eat several times. She was happy to graze and not only did she drink well at the troughs she drank out of a pond and a big mud puddle. This is the horse that at first would not touch natural water with a ten foot pole.

Along the way there were farming families that lived along these graveled roads that would come out in their yards to watch and cheer us on. It was kind of fun. You felt like a celebrity or something.

We finished the first 28 miles in 3 hours and 54 minutes. On the conservative end of what I had planned for the loop. Bunny pulsed right down and vetted all A's except for B's on gut sounds. The vet just said to make sure she ate well. Sometimes after a long loop like gut sounds can be not quite as good as they would be otherwise so I wasn't to worried.

Bunny ate the entire hold but was a bit picky about it. She didn't want mash, would only eat hay and an apple my mom gave her. I didn't worry to much though because she was eating.

The next loop it was just Bunny and I and we had a great time. Just jogging along enjoying life. She drank well, ate along the trail I couldn't have asked for a better time. We took a few extra minutes to fix our reins. Bunny stepped on her reins while I was peeing on the side of the trail. The snap broke so I just attached the reins to the bit. No big deal but took a few minutes. Then we were back on the trail again.

We did that loop, 13 miles, in 1hour and 47 minutes. Again being conservative, not pushing things at all. She pulsed right down and vetted A's except for a B on skin tinting and a B on gut sounds. Just for reference, at Sunriver 100 this summer where she was a rock star she had A, A- on gut sounds she even had A gut sounds at the finish. The vet was impressed!

This time at the hold Bunny ate for about five minutes, only nibbling at alfalfa leaves and then just quite eating. I walked her around and occasionally she would take a nibble or two but that was it. I stripped her tack and decided to just hang out for a bit and see if I could get her to dig in. She wouldn't I couldn't really even get her to take two bites in a row. She looked great! Bright eye, alert, spring in her step but no interest in food except for the occasional nibble.

By this time everyone was clearing out from the out vet check. One vet was still there and we chatted. I told her about OR 100 and how I felt Bunny just wasn't right. Usually 40 miles in she would be diving into food and I would have to pull her away. She asked a bunch of questions and then said she really wondered if she had ulcers.

I hung around for about an hour and same thing, occasional nibble but nothing more. I had two main thoughts. First of all I didn't want to ride her another loop and then see her look miserable like she did at OR 100. Secondly I didn't want to ask her to go any farther if I thought she didn't feel good. I want her to enjoy this. She has a great work ethic and I know she would go if I asked but that's not what I want.

So with a bit of a heavy heart, I pulled her. The heavy heart was mostly because I had this gut feeling something, most likely ulcers, was going on with her.

Back at camp I had blood work run on her just to make sure her electrolytes weren't all out of whack or something else. Her electrolyte levels were right on. Her CK (muscle enzyme levels were a bit high but just barely) and her total bilirubin was a little high to. I chatted with the vet who saw her at the outcheck and with another vet. Both felt that in light of the behavioral things going on they would highly suspect ulcers.

Bummer. But the good news is it's treatable. I had several people come and talk to me. They told me stories of treating their horses for ulcers and what great results they had and how many miles they went on to do. I had folks tell me how proud they were that I pulled my horse an kept her best interest as the priority. Some folks came and gave me a hug. Our endurance community is the best!

So it looks like it's time for some omeprazole and I'll keep you posted on her progress. In the future I will also be using Ulcergard preventatively leading up to a ride.

Another good suggestion I got was to try not feeding her at all in the morning. Several people, including one of the vets said that worked a lot better for their horses and helped them eat better. I think I will give that a shot too.

Here's hoping and praying we can get her back to 100% so that the two of us can enjoy some more great rides together! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Hope to see you on the trail again soon!

Make your miles count - don't let yourself get lazy

I have been giving lessons to my friend Kandi and her wonderful horse Syd. Not that I am the worlds best teacher but I work for cheap.

Our goal has been simple; to help Syd learn how to carry herself better and to help Kandi learn how to use her aids. Simple, right? Well as you all know, becoming a great rider takes lots of work and producing a really great horse takes lots of work. But the reward is so worth it!

As I've been helping Kandi a lot of our focus has been on being very “strict” with Syd about what we want. Syd now knows what we are asking for so if we ask for a circle, an oval will not do. If we ask for bend on the corner, collapsing in on the shoulder is not what we will accept. We don't scold her or rant and rave, we merely do it again and let her know that's really what we want and we are willing to work till she does it. Syd is willing and good natured mare so it doesn't take that much. But from time to time she sees if she can get away with less.

This got me thinking. The other night I was out conditioning Bunny in the dark. We were going back and forth on a ½ mile long strip of gravel rode that's out between fields, so no cars. Working in the dark gives you lots of time to think. About two miles into our little workout it dawned on me Bunny was not traveling as good as she is capable of. She was a bit heavy on the forhand and not as light on her feet as I would have liked. She was kind of in freight train mode. In my mind I could hear what I would tell Kandi if Syd was traveling that way. So I followed my own advice. I picked her up, helped her engage her butt and get it under her and pretty soon we were going along much better!

Which brings me to my point. If you are like me, endurance can have a tendency to make you lazy. No not in the, not getting your butt off the couch sort of lazy but in the we focus so much on our miles, we let other things slip through the cracks sort of lazy. We ride so many miles it's easy to start seeing them as just that, miles we need to do to keep our horses in shape. But they should be so much more then that.

(At this point I feel the need to add that I am not going to hard core condition my horse all winter. She gets a brake but I do ride. Mostly because I need that to stay sane. A lot of it is arena work, trail riding and light conditioning rides but nothing like when we really go back to work after the first of the year. )

Each time we ride we should work to better ourselves and our horses and no, that kind of work is not limited to the arena. Our horses don't need to be fancy, they don't need to be flawlessly groomed but the better trained they are, the better and more efficiently they travel, well the benefits are pretty obvious.

So I challenge you this winter, as you maybe do lessons, or take a bit of a break. Set some training goals for yourself and your horse that aren't just about miles. Then work to make those happen. Be deliberate about each time your ride your horse, focus on all aspects of your ride, not just the obvious athletic ones.

I'll go first. Here are a few of my goals for the winter.

Continue helping Bunny to improve her way of going. She has come so far in this, I can't even tell you. My friend Ruth is probably the only one who can fully appreciate this since she saw us when I first started riding Bunny. Even though Bunny has come a long way, she still has the tendency from time to time to become heavy on the forhand. I will keep working on that. I think we'll do some more cavaletti work as well.

Help Bunny to be able to relax. This girl is wound pretty tight. Not in the crazy way but in the overachiever sort of way. Guess what, so am I. I am trying to become very aware of this in both of us and learn to do our work relaxed, not loosing our focus and energy, just loosing the tension that often comes along with it. We've both come along ways with this but we still could use improvement.  

Continue to work on Bunny's canter. I can get a canter, usually going up hill. We are starting to work on reliable canter departs in the arena. I want to continue that work. She falls apart after a few strides, partly because she gets heave on the forhand. What do you know. Crazy how the same issues keep popping up all over the place.

Work on my own fitness and flexibility. One thing that I love about endurance is that it gives me motivation to want to improve my own fitness. I've also discovered that flexibility is huge. When I started having problems with my hamstring last season, the problem, not being flexible and that muscle getting strained because of it. I worked last winter on really trying to gain flexibility in my hamstrings and you know what, I didn't have one tiny bit of trouble this season. This winter I'm working on my hip flexibility. Hip flexibility is huge for being able to ride correctly. Oh and my riding like a drunken sailor at OR 100, caused primarily by tight hip flexor muscles (in that case made worse by a fall).

Every time I ride I am going to do my best to pay attention, to stay present and to work on any issues that arise, with me or my horse.

So what do you need work on, how about your horse? A piece of advice... get all the help you can, both for you and your horse.

So how about it, are you ready to step up your game and make your miles count for more?

The end of the season - it wasn't the season I had hoped for but that's okay!

To tell you the truth, I am struggling not to be kind of bummed out about how this season turned out. I keep reminding myself of all the good things.

For one thing I saw a tone of progress in my lovely mare, in every way. Fitness wise she reached a whole new level. The last few conditioning rides I had preparing for the Hallowed Weenies ride she was focused, she was carrying herself like a pro and she was the fastest she had ever been and she was loving every minute of it, and so was I!

Even more then the fitness side, however, I am thrilled at the progress I've seen on the mental front. She didn't loose it once this season. Yes, she had times she was full of it but she was manageable. We were able to start someplace other then the very back, we were able to ride with complete strangers, almost from the very beginning and have her relax. First ride of the year we rode with Patty and it took Bunny quite a bit to relax. At Oregon 100 I rode with Hannah and her mare and Bunny started to relax almost at once. Now don't get me wrong, she is still all business. That horse hates messing around, but she was relaxed in her all business mode. And let me tell you that is a thing of beauty.

At the first vet check at Sunriver she needed a little reminder about how to behave like a lady. At the first vet check at OR 100 the pulser wasn't sure what she was doing. I was squatted down on the ground in front of Bunny, she had her head down and did not move a muscle for the several minute it took the pulser to figure things out. I was so proud of her, there were horses coming and going and almost running her over and there she stood, like a champ.

This season I just saw a whole new level of maturity from her and it makes me so excited for the future.

The reason I'm bummed is because due to one thing after another I didn't get to ride anywhere near the kind of miles I would have liked to. First ride of the season, Dean (who hauls Bunny for me) had an old retired horse pass away just as he was packing up to leave for the ride. Just one of those things.

Because of my job, running a daycare and preschool out of my home, I can't just change plans at the blink of an eye, I have to give people several weeks notice before I take a day off. So when something comes up and I can't do a ride, that makes it hard.

We did April Daze, which was great. I was able to warm Bunny up right in the middle of everyone and she was calm and focused, I can't even tell you how big that was.

Mt. Adams I was so excited to do 75 miles. I did that last year and loved it. I knew she was a lot more fit this year and I couldn't wait to do it again. But alas I got pneumonia and riding 55 miles took all I had.

Sunriver we rode the 100. That is one of those days that I will always remember. It was just great, start to finish. I was so proud of myself, so proud of my horse and we just had a great time, all day and even came in second place. That was definitely the highlight of the season for us!

Next I was really looking forward to Santiam. I was going to get to ride my 75, but then fire season put and end to that and the ride was canceled. Bummer but I found out in enough time that I made plans to do Prator Mt. Instead, only 50 miles but it would be a great tune up for Oregon 100.

But Bunny had to go and be crazy chasing Syd around and bang herself all up. I just didn't feel quite 100% about her so I made the tough choice to sit it out.

Even though we didn't complete at Oregon 100 I don't feel bad about that ride. My horse was awesome for the 75 miles that we went. I could tell she was in even better shape then she had been at Sunriver. She was so good and it was exciting to see her progress.

I also learned from the situation and will be able to manager her better on 100 mile rides from here on out. I will do a better job of stopping to think about all aspects of the ride and how shes doing and if everything isn't 100% the way I know she can be, take steps early to hopefully get us back on track again.

So then I was really hoping to get to do one last ride. Bunny is fit and she is “on”. She is focused and ready to do business!

We were going to have a great Batman theme for Halloween and have one great last ride which would clear us 250 miles (we only have 205) and hopefully give me enough points to stay in the top 25 for PNER awards.

End of the season body condition shot, and of course you have to appreciate my bat clip :)

But alas it wasn't meant to be. Dean's horse got scratches and he couldn't get them cleared up in enough time and I couldn't find Bunny another ride.

So there you have it.

The good news is, none of this means bad things for the future. Bunny is 100% and I can't wait to see the horse she will be next season, because I have a feeling it's even better than this season so watch out!

So I'm trying to put my disappointment aside and be thankful for all the great things I have like a spectacular horse, great friends to ride with, a friend to haul my horse to rides since I am still to broke to own a truck or trailer. A wonderful husband, mother and in-laws who all know how much this means to me and they make sure I get the time to ride. I am truly blessed.

So here's to next year! I know I want to try to ride two 100 mile rides, other than that, not sure. I'm pondering.

Oregon 100 - where we pulled at 75 miles but that was okay!

One of my main goals this season was to ride two 100 mile rides. I almost hesitated to have that as a goal because I can only go to so many rides and I want to complete all my rides. The more miles you choose to go, the more you need to have everything figured out and the more chance you have of getting pulled, even if you do everything right. But I really like the longer distances, so plan I did.

Of course fires, pneumonia and my horse deciding to skin herself up goofing around in the field didn't help my season any. Seems despite how hard I try, I don't have control over everything. Such is life.

Bunny and I had a fantastic 100 mile ride at Sunriver. The day just could not have gone better! Since then I had turned my sights to Oregon 100. First Santiam got canceled, then Bunny skinned herself up and we chose not to do Prater Mountain. But Bunny felt great! We had gotten in some great conditioning miles. Every ride we did she was, faster, more attentive and seemed more fit. I felt great about the whole thing.

My mom wasn't able to come this time so my good friend Ruth Sheriden had even said she would come and crew for me. This was going to be great.

We go there Thursday and got camp set up. It was a new ride camp and so things were running behind. I couldn't find out any real info about our loops, holds ect... till fairly late on Friday. I tried to roll with the punches but I like to plan.

Finally I did get my info and plotted out my plan. I was planning to average between 7.5 and 8.5 mph of course being willing to slow down if I thought we should. My goal was to finish.

I rode Bunny both Thursday and Friday and got a great feel for how all the loops took off. Bunny felt awesome! I did manage to fall off on Friday. There were lots of other people out riding Friday and in the desert you can see for a long ways. We had stopped and talked to several people, Bunny thinks this is a definite waist of time, and were headed back to camp. She was watching more horses headed toward her and horses to the side and then noticed a large rock beside her. She spooked a bit and I wasn't paying attention either and fell off. How dumb. I felt fine at the time, however and didn't think much of it other than that it was dumb and embarrassing.

The morning of she was ready to go but good. I took her to the back of camp and rode her around till just after most of the pack left. Then we hit the road. Several miles in we caught Hannah Summers. I didn't want to ride any faster than she was going and have always wanted to get to know her a bit so I asked if I could join her. We had a great time. Bunny was good about riding along with another horse. I am thrilled about the progress she has made in that area.

Our first loop was 35 miles with a trot by vet check at 18 miles. Just before the trot by vet check Hannah's mare went down. She was looking at the vet check just ahead the trail went down and became deep sand all at once. The mare looked ahead and didn't expect to stick her toe into deep sand. Luckily both were okay and got up and went on.

We took a few minutes at the vet check to use the facilities and let our horses eat. Then we headed off for our 17 miles back to camp. On the way back we were joined by another gal and passed by the three front runners on the 50. Bunny handled it all well!

As we got into camp I realized that we were coming in at the same time as a bunch of 25 milers. There was only one vet in camp at the time so the line was LONG. Bunny drank, stood like a champ for a pulser who wasn't sure what she was doing and then stood in line eating hay. Ruth ran and grabbed me a protein drink for the wait, good help is so nice to have. Bunny vetted great and during the rest of the hold she ate non stop.

I headed out with Hannah for our second loop, only 11 miles this time. I was realizing that for some reason I wasn't riding great. My shins were sore (something that hasn't happened to me in ages), the outside of my left ankle was sore and in general I just felt like I was beating myself up a bit. My horse felt great, she wasn't the culprit. I tried to ride better but I just didn't feel right.

Later it hit me. My fall on Friday. Even though I didn't feel it then I must have messed things up enough that I wasn't riding my best. When I saw the ride pictures I wasn't surprised. I was listing to the left like a drunken sailor. No wonder that ankle hurt!

Photographic evidence that I was riding crooked! 

Photo by Laura Spears

The trail was great! Last year there was quite a bit of deep footing but this year the footing was awesome. The day was fairly cool, it was smooth sailing.

When we came in Bunny pulsed right down, drank and we vetted a bit quicker but still had to wait in line. My one thought was that I needed to do something about my shins and ankle. So as soon as I got Bunny vetted I turned her over to Ruth and set out to see what I could do to make my ride more comfortable.

I rubbed in some anti inflammatory gel into my shins, due to having Crohns disease I am not supposed to use Ibuprofen. I tried to think through the issue with my ankle. Where it hurt, where those tendons ran and then tape it like Kandi would. I know she could have done a better job than me but with what she's taught me I managed a tape job that did it's duty and kept my ankle from hurting.

All to soon our 30 minute hold was up and I was headed to put the bit back in and hit the trail. Only then did I realize that Bunny hadn't eaten as much as I would have liked. She ate, but not with her normal 100 mile vigor. I was so wrapped up in thinking about the miles ahead and the hold being up that I didn't think much more and headed out.

I joined Hannah again and we set out for a 15 mile loop. I felt a bit better and the horses felt great, things were good. Till we hit water. Bunny didn't drink like she normally does. Normally when she hits water she is all business. She barges in and starts drinking loud enough to be heard half a mile away. If you come to a trough and see you are going to have to wait you better act soon and not let her get to close or it will take an act of God to keep her from drinking. Again, she drank it wasn't like she wasn't drinking at all but the normal attitude wasn't there. That made me worried.

The loop went great and we had a 45 minute hold to look forward to. When we got the camp Bunny drank great my worry lifted a bit. She vetted good except for B- on gut sounds. I was sure that was due to her not eating great at the last hold. I talked with the vet about that and my concerns about her not drinking as much as I would like. He said all her hydration stuff was A's and that if she ate good this hold he wouldn't worry about it.

But here's the question, what exactly is eating good? So on that hold she ate the entire time, but the attitude wasn't there. Bunny usually has an attitude about food on a 100 mile ride. You sometimes literally have to drag her away from it. She was eating, the whole time. I know I watched her like a hawk but the attitude wasn't there.

I debated staying longer but she had eaten the entire time. I debated weather to keep riding with Hannah or to ride by myself. I had a feeling Hannah was going to start speeding up and Bunny and I were probably going to keep going the same speed and slow down a bit at the end.

I decided to leave on time. To start the loop with Hannah and part ways if I felt that was best.

Sure enough a little bit into that ride, Hannah was speeding up. Her mare is a great horse, she has more miles then Bunny and more 100's including tevis. She is a great horse. Bunny felt good at the faster speed but I felt like if she had her way she would slow down just a touch. So when we came to a trough I told Hannah that I was a little worried about my horse and was going to slow down a bit. Bunny and I stayed a few minutes and she ate a bunch of grass and then we headed off.

On our own she was great, ears perked forward, drank like a champ. I stopped to let her eat on the trail and even slowed her down a bit at times. She felt great and my worries were easing up. As we finished that 14 miles I felt good about everything. We had taken extra time to eat, she was drinking great, had great energy and we were 75 miles in. Life was good.

I wasn't worried about riding the last 25 miles alone. Bunny is a champ alone!

We came in and she vetted great, her gut sounds were back to A's on one side and B's on the other, perfectly fine for 75 miles in. So I headed to camp to let her eat and get ready to ride in the dark.

Ruth turned her loose in her pen and she just stood there. She didn't even make a move to eat anything and her eye and the whole look about her changed. Then she tried to lay down like she wanted to roll. I stripped her tack and then she didn't try again. I just didn't like the way she looked so I asked Ruth to take her for a walk. Ruth got back and said she had drank again, good deal so we turned her loose again. This time she stood there looking all hunched. She had her front and back feet close together, like that old picture of the Indian on the dead tired pony. All her spark was gone and it scared me. I marched her right back to the vet.

The vet looked her over, all A's except for the B's on the one side for gut sounds. She did a CRI and it was 48/48. She told me unless I had expressed concern she would have said the horse looked fantastic, good job and keep up the good work. But that what I told her was concerning. At 75 miles it should be next to impossible to keep her from eating. She said to give her some time, try to entice her to eat different things and see what happened.

Several people offered different feed options and Ruth went to get some soaked oats. Back in her pen I tried to feed her goodies by hand and she wouldn't even lip them, then she started to paw, that's totally not like her. Right then I knew, even if she turned around and looked great, I didn't feel comfortable asking her to finish 25 more miles. We were done and if we were done I wanted the vet to do whatever she thought best to help her feel better.

So right back to the vet I went. I told her I was pulling and she suggested a half dose of Banemine and a walk and then see how she was doing. At that point Bunny was standing very guarded and the vet hoped the Banemine would help her relax. She suspected that maybe she had a painful pocket of gas.

Within a few minutes Bunny perked up, pooped and started to eat and I felt so relieved. She started to look like her old self again.

I was bummed about pulling but I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do. Bunny gives me her all and we have a great time. But if it's not fun for her then it's not fair to ask her to do it, even if she could have. I care to much about her.

That evening there were many more checks with the vet just to make sure she was doing good and pulling out of it. She was and by that night she was back to her attitude and pulling me around to find food if I stopped to chat with someone.

So after I knew she was okay then my mind switched modes to what could I have done differently... Here are some of my conclusions. Who knows if they would have made a difference or not but they are good things to think about and keep in mind in the future.

Taking more time at holds. It didn't really dawn on me that I should have maybe taken more time to let her eat. That second vet check would have been a good time to think about staying longer. Even though she was eating she didn't eat with her normal vigor,and she didn't have much time to eat due to the lines for the vet. The crazy thing is I totally would have done that, I just didn't think about it. I had to many other things on my mind.

New feed. I wasn't dumb enough to switch feed right before a ride but I did use a feed I don't use all the time. Normally I make mashes with Ultium and beet pulp. A few weeks before the ride I went to the feed store and they were out of Ultium. I got Renew Gold instead. I've fed it before but usually feed Ultium because it's more affordable. Renew Gold is a little higher fat and I figured that would be a good thing and it was a bit before the ride and she had eaten it before. But we hadn't used it at a ride before. Who knows if it played a part but it makes me wonder.

Ride straight! This isn't always possible. I can usually feel if I'm off, but this time I couldn't, I just felt the after affects. If Kandi had been there she might have been able to do something about it on a hold or I could have asked others for feedback on what I looked like and tried to figure it out. But whatever I messed up when I fell off screwed up how I rode and I couldn't figure it out. I know it beat me up and I am sure it wasn't great on my horse either.

You can't finish them all. No matter how hard you try and how many things you do right 100 miles is a long ways. If something is a little off that day with you or your horse it might be enough to end your day early. As much as it pains me to pull, it's okay. There will be another ride. I learned some things and had 75 great miles. To bad I don't get AERC points or miles for those but such is life. Oh and I'm already pondering what 100 miles rides to try next year.

Bunny and I are hoping to do the Owyhee Hallowed Weenies ride at the end of the month. If things work out we'll do one last 50 mile ride there and at least get 250 miles for the season.

Here's looking forward to one last ride this season!

Deciding not to ride - making the right call and trying not to feel sorry for myself

My season is going to hell in a handbasket!!!!

Not really, but that's kind of how I'm feeling right now. I normally don't whine or complain, I can't stand it. But I'm going to take a minute now, so feel free to skip the next paragraph if you like.

The last couple months have been a bit rough. We had our pump controller on our well go out. Fixing it cost more than our cars are worth and we had to empty our savings to pay for it. Thank God for savings. Then both of our dogs ended up with fatty tumors that needed to be removed, at least they weren't cancer. More things broke, insurance premiums were due and one of my daycare kids gave two weeks notice so there goes a quarter of my income.

I have to remind myself that everything that really matters is great! I know God and know that these other things aren't the end of the world. I have a fantastic husband and great kids, who are all healthy. The fires are not near my home. I also have a fantastic horse and we have already had three great endurance rides this season, including an absolutely spectacular ride at Sunriver. Life is good.

Despite this, I was still feeling a bit stressed and really looking forward to a ride. Then Santiam was canceled. Bummer. So I looked at the schedule and decided to ride a 50 at the Prater Mountain ride as a tuneup for Oregon 100. Then I started looking forward to that.

For me riding is part of keeping my sanity. I work 10 hour days with a bunch of little kids and although I love my job, it's a lot of work. Sometimes I just need time where it's just me, no body else needs something from me. Somehow taking care of my horse is different, maybe because she's a lot more quite. I love endurance rides because it's some time away. Away from my house and my giant list of things to do. Time to be in nature. Even if my kids come I have at least six hours to myself on the trails. There is nothing like seeing beautiful country on the back of a fit horse. It's great!

Things were going great till this Sunday. I took Bunny for a little ride and when I got home, the horses were loose in the field and I turned her loose as too. Syd, her half sister, was in Bunny's paddock.

Bunny and Syd have this sibling rivalry thing going on. They chase each other around. Bunny really doesn't like Syd in her pen, so Syd goes in there any chance she gets and Bunny runs her out, any chance she gets.

So Bunny lit out after Syd, hit a corner at a high rate of speed and biffed it. She slid on her side, at one point her feet were almost sticking up in the air. She slid right into the side of her big poly water tank. When she hopped up she took a few iffy steps on her right hind but then looked fine. She had taken a bunch of hair off or her right knee though.

I was super irritated with her. It was not good timing. I figured I would just leave her be that night and then in the morning trot her out and see if I thought she was sound.

The next morning she looked 100% sound. I trotted her out, lunged her both ways and watched her like a hawk. But her road rashed knee had swelled up quite a bit.

So I started to work doing everything I could think of and that I could find on the internet to get the swelling down. Ice several times a day, clay everywhere but the bunged up part, lots of antibiotic ointment to keep the scraped up part supple. I even tried a brown paper, vinegar and sage poultice and a baking soda poultice. The baking soda poultice brought the swelling down quite a bit.

Every day was a teeter totter of emotions. I was pretty sure the knee was just superficial and swelling was cause by the superficial damage. But would I be able to vet in, should I ride even if I could vet in and what about the iffy steps I had seen in the right hind.

Wednesday night I did some dressage with her. Dressage has many good things about it and one of them is that it allows you to do moves where you can feel each limb bear weight and cross or rotate. It's much easier to feel something off then just trotting along in a straight line. So we did the works, leg yields, bending, shoulder in, haunches in. Most of the time she felt awesome. She wasn't quite as eager to go as she usually was but she was still great. But twice I felt something in that back right leg that wasn't 100%. It wasn't lame. You could only feel it in moves where she was collected and bearing weight pushing off that right hind but it wasn't quite 100%.

I got got off of her, burst into tears, walked into the house and told my husband I wasn't going to do the ride. She could pass a trot out and this morning her knee looks great too. And there is part of me that wishes I was driving to Idaho right now. But deep down in my heart I know I made the right call.

I don't think there is anything drastically wrong with that right hind. I think she fell, slid and banged into a water trough and is probably a little sore. A little of time off and some body work by Kani and she'll be good to go.

Could she do 50 miles tomorrow? I think there is a good chance she could. But there is also a chance that in doing it she would turn whatever it is in her hind leg into an actual problem.

Bunny is more important than this ride. And in a month we will be good to go and hopefully complete another 100 miles at Oregon 100.

I have always said I would make this call if I had to. I have encouraged others to make similar calls. But let me tell you it was hard to do. I really want to be headed to Idaho right now. I really wanted to ride 50 miles tomorrow.

Instead my kids and I are having a “fun day” as they call it. They are going to spend some time riding Quincy and I am going to take them to a park to play. I am going to try not to feel sorry for myself but instead remember all I have to be thankful for.

And if this means that Aarene Storms and Fiddle get more miles than us this year and win the high mileage standardbred award, then I will be thrilled for them.

Well I have a fun day to do so that's all for now.

Next stop, Oregon 100!

When Larissa helped me take my August body condition photo she wanted  me to take a video. 

She told me it's for people who are sad and crying :)

Sunriver 100 - Just about the best day I could have imagined!

Sunriver ride was great, start to finish great!

We got there on Thursday and Kandi and I rode our horses both days. Bunny felt great, not just good but really, really good! She wanted to go but she listened, she felt free and loose and had a big nice floaty trot, the kind she usually gets after she's gone 5 miles or so, she had it from the get go.

My only concern was myself. Bunny and I had a little mishap the Sunday before. We were riding with a group and a skunk ran across the trail between me and the horse in front of me. I stopped Bunny and we avoided getting sprayed but while we were waiting for the skunk to amble off she stepped on a downed tree limb and got her foot stuck in it. Then she stepped back and got a hind foot stuck in the other part of the limb. She was calm but trying to figure out some way to get a foot loose, I wasn't sure what to do. In the end she rolled over on her side, I scampered off, she came loose and all was well. Except somehow in the whole process my pelvis had gotten tilted and I was walking crooked. Kandi took one look at me and said, you have one hip higher than the other. She worked on me and fixed that on Wednesday but then I was sore. I was a little better on Friday and was hoping it wouldn't slow me down on Saturday. But at least I was even now and felt confident I could ride even.

The morning of I got up, went through my morning routine; breakfast, stretch me, stretch Bunny, saddle up and warm up. She was ready to go but calm and good.

I decided since there was 22 starts in the 100 and like 8 starts in the 80 that I wasn't going to start in the front. I would let the speedy people go and then see how it looked. I waited till it looked like all that was left was a few people who really wanted to be in the back and then I went.

I passed two people who had stopped to adjust something so a bit later they passed me. The first gal was going faster than I wanted to go so I let her go and hand Bunny hang out for a minute. Celena Pentrack was next and she looked to be going about the speed I wanted to go, so I asked if I could tag along.

I was so proud of Bunny, she was calm and relaxed. She has happy to be going but didn't feel the need to pass Celena's horse. Occasionally we would get to a good wide spot and she would let me know she'd pass if I said the word, but when I told her no she just settled right back in and followed nicely.

We were going at the faster end of what I wanted to go but Bunny felt great, loose and relaxed and so I just went with it. We got down to the river (18 miles) in just over 2 hours.

When we go to the river she pulsed right down. Celena said she intended to speed up heading back to camp and I wanted to slow down a bit. I knew that was going to be a big part of our climb for the day and I wanted to take it easy. I let Celena go and stayed at my hold a few minutes extra to let Bunny eat and let Celena go. Then Bunny and I set out on our own back to camp.

At the water stop we had a little lesson in standing still. She got away with some bad behavior at Mt. Adams because I was too sick to make her mind and I intended to put a stop to it. So I insisted she stand stock still for me to get off and on. Later in the day I would stop her to get off and electrolyte and she would just let out a big sigh like, okay I'll stand still.

With a few extra minutes to eat and a few extra minutes to remember how to stand still, we got to camp just about when I wanted to (including the extras, 1:45 for 12 miles). We got to camp, pulsed down and had our 45 minute hold.

She was a bit distracted and I had to take her out at one point to graze after she was done with her mash. Last year I had a problem with low gut sounds at this ride but this year every time I would come in the vet would comment on how well her gut sounds were. That made me feel good!

So then we were headed back down to the river. Just out of camp we caught Laura, who we rode with on our first 100 and she kept us company down to the river again. I was glad! Doing all that downhill again was not my favorite and it was nice to have company.

I took it a bit slower this time, partly because the trail had been torn up and in places the footing was deep and rocks had gotten churned up. So we go back to the river in 2:20. Again she pulsed right down, vetted great and ate like a champ. I got some lunch and chatted with my friend Dean. He had gotten pulled and was waiting for a ride back to camp. He held Bunny so I could refill my water and use the bathroom, all that good stuff. Then he said, “You know you are in second place, right?” No I didn't! When I had heard there was so many starts on the 100 I figured I would be lucky to top ten. I won't lie, I was hoping for a few extra points, but riding my own ride is more important to me. But I never dreamed I would be in second place!

I decided I would do the best I could, I wouldn't go any faster than I felt I should but I would do my best not to waist any time and if that kept me in second place, great and if not, oh well.

Laura's time out of the hold was five minutes behind mine so I told her goodby and headed out on my own. We had about 14 miles to the out vet. We were over 50 miles into it now and Bunny had a huge, big floaty trot, a great attitude and we just had a blast. At that point I felt like she was more efficient in that floaty trot and slowing her down wasn't going to help her. We would slow down for anything that was significant up or down and otherwise we just floated along. Occasionally she would stretch out on a good spot in the road, she would lengthen her stride, bring up her back and really stretch all out for a few strides. At first I was worried she was going to use up precious energy using that but I was pretty sure she was doing it to stretch so I let her.

Bunny and I leaving the river, 50 miles down, 50 to go!

We were averaging a bit faster than I had planned and that worried me a tiny bit. It was well within the range of what we condition for, I just tend to be conservative. But I felt like as loose and as free as she was she was more efficient at a little faster trot.

Recently I had someone tell me that you sometimes have to be prepared for the fact that your horse might be more fit than you thought or the weather might be better or some other factor that means it makes sense to go a bit faster than you planned. It felt like that advice had come at just the right time. I am always willing to go slower and be cautious but I think sometimes I work to hard to make her go slower when she is fit, happy and efficient at a little faster speed. So I went with it.

We did that leg in about an hour and a half and go into the out check out in no mans land. She pulsed down, vetted great and settled in to eat. I should also mention that I made a point to always strip her tack at every check. I didn't have to but I felt like it let her cool and rest better. It was worth the extra effort.

I realized at that check that I had made one mistake. I knew there was people water out at the river but forgot to ask about there. There wasn't people water. I had a little left in my pack and a juice I poured in there. Not as much as I would have liked but it would work. Note to self, always ask!!! I realized about three miles out of the check that I could have checked Dean's out bag. He had water and had gotten pulled so I could have grabbed his. Oh, well.

Now it was 16 miles back to camp. We left right on time and away we went. We had a great time. Toward the very end of the loop I felt like she was getting a bit tired but so was I. We took about 2:10 minutes to get back to camp. Once again she pulsed right down and vetted great.

It was time for supper, clean socks, glow sticks and last minute prep for the last loop. We had 20 miles to go and we would be done! I was hoping to leave camp on the last loop by 7pm and we were going to head out just after 6pm. I was so excited and yes, we were still in second place.

I told my mom to expect that last loop to take us 4 hours. I felt she was getting a bit tired and I wasn't going to push it. If we made better time, good but I just had a feeling it would be 4 hours. I was also okay with it being more. The important thing was finishing with a horse who still looked and felt good.

So out we went out by ourselves. We trotted right out of camp but then she slowed down a bit and we walked all of the up hill. We go to see all the people behind us as they were coming in on the same trail. That was fun and gave Bunny a second wind.

So we made great time from there to the first water, about 7 miles. Anything that was significant up, we walked, or I got off and walked on foot. Significant down, I got off and ran with her. I was so proud of myself that I felt good enough to do that. We also stopped several times to eat for a bit. She was pretty hungry by this point.

So the rest of the loop went like this. Stop every now and then to eat. Trot the flat spots or the slight ups and downs. Anything more walk or me get off and walk or run. Looked like our average speed was going to put us just about 4 hours, just like I thought but most importantly Bunny and I were doing well!!! My hip hadn't bothered me all day!

There was a new part of the trail that Lois had told me was going to be a bit tougher to navigate in the dark. I was thrilled to get through that at dusk!

At one point we had a bat following us for a while. He was swooping all around us from side to side.

At about 9:40 or so it got dark enough that I turned on the low light floods on my headlamp. It was just enough light so I knew where I was and could see the trail enough to know what it was like. The other nice part was I had ridden this part before. It was great. I trusted Bunny and we just kept trucking along.

About a mile or so out of camp I got off and ran down a fairly good gravel hill on foot. I was so proud of myself. Then I hopped back on back on for the home stretch. At one point I though I heard someone behind me, but there wasn't anyone.

I got to the last little bit before camp and got off and walked her in on foot. I could see the camp fire and people waiting. My mom saw my light and yelled out, “Heather, is that you?” As soon as I said yes, a huge cheer went up. We were surrounded by people congratulating us, helping me hold her so I could strip her tack. Telling me how great she looked and what good job I had done. Honestly it couldn't have been that much better, even if I would have come in first. I couldn't believe how nice and consistent we had ridden all day, how well both of us had done and that we were finishing in second place just a little over 20 minutes behind the winner! Our total ride time was 14:09.

I held my breath as Melissa looked her over for the last vet check. She told me she looked great. That she was really happy with how she looked and that I had taken great care of her. She even finished with an A on gut sounds! I admit, I cried a little bit. It was a fantastic ride, start to finish and I couldn't have asked for more.

Oh, her 10 minute CRI was 52/52, in case you are curious. The next morning I showed her for best condition and her CRI was 44/40. We lost to Carla's horse but I didn't feel to bad about that. Bunny did great and someday we will win a BC.

It feels really good to see your hard work pay off. To see all the improvement in your horse and yourself in so many ways and to have such a fantastic ride! I am blessed to ride such an athlete who gives me her all and loves every minute of it. I am blessed to have friends and family who know how much this means to me and help me in so many ways so that I can do this. And to have so many fans, it feels like I'm a celebrity! I am a lucky girl.

The season's not over yet and can't wait to see how the rest of it goes! Next stop (if all goes as planned) 80 miles at Santiam!

Bunny doing what Bunny does best, floating down the trail!

Photo by Cassidy Rae

Sunriver 100 - In case you want to know my plan

So it's no secret that I'm a planner.

These days I'm thinking through Sunriver and making my plan. Plans help me to think through how things will work, what I will need and give me a goal to work for. I'm always happy to slow down if I feel my horse needs it but today I also got a good reminder that there may be times where I discover I can go a bit faster than I thought. If you've ridden with me on rides you know I often spend a lot of time rating my horses speed. I'm concerned about going to fast. That's good but I think there will come a day when speeding up a bit will be just fine. I need to keep an open mind to that, pay attention to my horse and ride smart, vet check to vet check.

So what's my plan for Sunriver? Well if you want to know I'll tell you.

A while ago, I started writing out a ride plan. I write down time estimates for each loop. If the hold is in camp there is a list of what I need accomplished during my hold, that way my mom knows how she can help me or remind me of things.

I know some about this ride since I've ridden the 50 twice. I have asked questions about the part of the trail I haven't seen. I know we will have two out check locations. I will have two holds at one and one hold at the other. I've started a list of what to send to each out check location. Yes, I like to plan.

I've thought through how I think I can ride it. If everything goes well I would love to be headed out on my last loop (20 miles) at 7pm. That would mean that I would be able to ride a good portion of that in the daylight, including the few rough parts at the front. To accomplish that I don't have to ride at a fast speed, just our good cruising speed averaging 7-8 miles an hour and not dilly dally or loose any unnecessary time at the holds.

So as I ride, that's what I'm going to be reminding myself of, last loop 7pm!

Again, no problem slowing down if I think Bunny needs it. I struggle on the other end though. There are times where I think we could make better time in a section but then I worry, what if I am wasting energy she might need later? My husband says I worry to much.

So here's my plan. I'll do my best and let you know how it goes!

Sunriver 100 Ride time goal – 14 to 15 hours

1. 18 mile loop - time estimate 2:15 – 2:25 (in by 7:25)

15 minute hold at the river

2. 12 mile loop - time estimate 1:45 (in by 9:25)

45 minute hold

Have waiting at vet check

Rump rug if still chilly.

Bucket and sponge if it ends up being hot.

Hay if there isn't any at the vet check.

Ready at camp for after we vet

Refill Camelpak and exchange used electrolytes for 2 new tubes, put in 2 gel packet for me

Electrolyte Bunny

Snack for me

Clean out Bunny's boots

3. 18 mile loop - time estimate 2:15 – 2:25 (in by 12:35)

45 minute hold at the river

4. 14 mile loop - time estimate 1:50 – 2:00 (in by 3:20)

30 minute hold at VC 2

5. 16 mile loop - time estimate 2:10 – 2:20 (in by 6:10)

45 minute hold

Have waiting at vet check

Rump rug if still chilly.

Bucket and sponge if it ends up being hot.

Hay if there isn't any at the vet check.

Ready at camp for after we vet

Refill Camelpak and exchange used electrolytes for 3 new tubes, put in 3 gel packet for me

Electrolyte Bunny

Snack for me

Clean out Bunny's boots

Change my socks

6. 20 mile loop - time estimate 3 + hours

Done!!!

Have waiting at vet check

Cooler for Bunny

Bucket and sponge to clean her up a bit.

Hay if there isn't any at the vet check.

Ready at camp for after we vet

Electrolyte Bunny

Ice boots for Bunny

I'm trying to keep track of Bunny's body condition over the season.

Here she is the beginning of June. I'm curios to see how she'll look the beginning of July.