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.