WOW!!! Mr. Sandman’s FIRST 50 mile race and our baby boy took a BIG step up and he did it on a long ride with lots of steep rocky climbs, tough terrain for a goat let alone a horse, and 20mph winds that would intermittently gust in the canyons like little tornados. He did super and finished 19th, even though I wasn’t sure he was fit enough, he Vet’d in with a pulse of 44 and 46 at the finish. He followed other horses or we rode in the middle for the first 30 miles but he led all of the climbs like a Billy goat and didn’t draw a deep breath once while along the way, we didn’t lose a single boot 🙂 which is a big deal in endurance riding. On the second and third loops when called upon, he willingly took the lead with his big surging 12mph power trot and he scored all A’s on his Vet checks with two B’s for one gut quadrant and cut on his leg.
He seemed to pick up steam as the day wore, and he left camp with a well of energy on our second and third loop and welcomed leading and especially so when we made intermittent turns that would point his nose in the direction of our far off camp. He had an emotional outburst at the start and a few along the way when encountering bikes or after settling into a riding scheme and then when we changed that positioning he’d kick and that is now something we need to work on.
In general, he did super well for his first 50 and knowing our goal was to just finish and practice some skills, like leading in a group (lot of responsibility for him), riding alone (scary for him), following in the back on pace without getting emotional and surging to the front and finally not intermittently revving his emotional engine while encountering bikes or switching positions with other horses and burning energy on temper tantrums. We practiced all that and over 9.5 hours he and I learned a lot which we are now still processing.
I really enjoyed riding with Aileen and Kacy King and their super steady horses Rocky and Apollo and along the way discussing life, the differences between Chicken, Duck and Goose eggs, Arizona’s water issues, the politics of forest conservation, the in’s and out’s of the controversial desalination technology, the plight of the homeless, the connections we all had with one another while growing up and thru our horses and in general every funny random thing you can think of, we talked about. It was a great ride from a people perspective and the dynamics were very comfortable which made the miles and time just fly by in a fun way.
I want to thank Lancette and her two trusted long time assistants Ellen Hickey and Wendy Letteer for putting on once again, an amazingly well organized fun safe ride. I also want to thank the amazing and also funny Vets, Dr. Houser and Dr. Anderson for their ongoing willingness to support our sport and attend each of our events and lend their expertise, much needed humor, and patient and caring approach to our rides while all along making the often stressful Vet In’s drama free. Lastly, and very importantly, all of the many volunteers and Vet techs who were always available, smiling, and so helpful at every water stop, road crossing, and Vet check.
All up all in, it was a great ride and ride weekend with comradeship front and center, great friends, and great horses. This was a very special ride for Sandman and I, Lori and I are super proud of this boy and we want to thank all of our ride friends who are our family and who made this ride an especially good one for the memory books. Enjoy the ride 🙂 this was one for the memory book.
