Chesapeake 3 day

Wow, where does the time go? I wound up completing the ride, earning a Second place..awesome! Saturday was very hard, I hit the wall and found it took everything I had to continue. If it moved it was in pain. Kara found a horse to ride on the last day and I had correctly hydrated myself, JJ was fine except the saddle was falling to far forward and was causing back pain as well as girth galls...the last day 20 is done at a fast pace...you need to complete it in 3 hours and 30 minutes max or you are disqualified. I pulled a tendon in my right leg on the outside of the knee but ignored it. JJ was a champ...he pulsed down, could of been flat-lined as far as breathing was concerned and completed the hands - on.

2009 chesapeake-3-day-100 September 18,19,20 I

Our parameters where great so we continued on..the next 15 miles. Mostly rolling hills, I preferred the trails, they were technical, switch-back like and steep. The rolling hills became mind numbing, though the occasional jogger, bike rider and dog walker broke the monotony.
With only 5 miles to go, my partners horse started to trot lame. we slowed down and walked a spell, then we trotted on and the horse was fine. It turned out to be intermittent and we continued on. We came in on time and went to the vet check. My horse's back was a bit sore, he had managed to have a horse in the pasture bite his side and bruise his lower left back, near the spine, defiantly in the saddle area. Other than that JJ was fit to continue so I waited, while feeding him, for my partner. Unfortunately for my friend it was not the lameness that got her horse pulled, it was that the horse, while standing in front of the vet, kicked herself on the rear right leg which promptly started to swell and she was definately lame now.

Chesapeake 3 day 100, September 18,19,20

This event is held in Elkton Maryland on the beautiful grounds of Fair Hill. I had competed earlier this year at the Fox catcher 25 Limited distance and finished in the middle of the pack..lol. This is a picture of JJ's beautiful quarters, with straw and alfalfa..I am use to him being by our trailer kept in by an electric fence. So even though I could see his stall, I missed having him with us..I got all the stuff ready for the next day, we put up the tent for the hold stop, filled all the buckets and made sure the sponges, scrapers and heart monitors/electrolytes are ready to go. The ride meeting was at 6:30 pm and by this time I am starting to tire..also the days are getting shorter and it was dark by 7:30pm. Friday dawned early at 4:00 am and I quickly changed and got outside. The stars still showed brightly and it was quiet except for a very loud owl. I fed JJ, he was happy to see me..cleaned up his poop and brushed him down. I then went back to the trailer. My husband Larry could open a RC resturant...he made an all white omlete with mushrooms, red and green peppers, & cheese. Nina, our 11 yo shetland sheepdog, hovered around and sat next to her next victem looking as pathetic as possible. Fresh coffee was served (I couldn't drink it as my stomach was in knots tho the omlette went down just fine.
My friend and I had been chosen to ride as point riders, mostly because she had allot of experience so we needed to leave 15 minutes ahead of the rest. Pt riders are there to make
sure the trail markers have not been moved..and the trail is ridable. 6:45 am we took off, I was soooo excited. We had a 10 minute hold in 10 miles and the miles went by quickly.

50 IV

The last loop is what endurance is about. JJ was tired, and I needed to let him go his own pace..and know when to slow him down also. Two horses together can pull each other better than being on ones' own. At every puddle we encountered he drank, he also was still pulling grass up and eating it which is hearting because a horse cannot tell the rider specifically if he is having problems and going into distress. One defiantly gets to know ones horse better because of the subtleties they exhibit. The only way to notice these though is to be OK yourself.
The loop was long, the terrain mixed, though not as rocky. At the crew stop I was grinning ear to ear. Two ladies where also there to help out and one commented how much happier I looked than I did on the first loop. JJ also peed and it was yellow which meant his kidneys where ok and he wasn't in any internal distress. That also made me believe we might actually finish this ride!
7 miles to go...only 7 miles...that was my mantra each passing mile until we knew where we were in proximity to the finish. And then, we saw a bunch of people waving us on in the distance and my partner said this was the finish and her horse took off, mine following. It was exhilarating coming to the end of the race. My partner wanted to finish together holding hands. I would like to say that's how we finished, fate had other plans...I lost my right stirrup and I started worrying about an inevitable fall prior to the finish as our horses were galloping and my legs were shot. Smiling, though I am sure I was listing, we crossed the finish line just behind my partner. Then I needed to stop and that presented other flashes of me hitting the dirt. JJ took care of me though, and slowed down without being abrupt. I was sooo happy we had finished and my horse was ok...of course to complete one needed to meet the correct parameters, so I got off my horse to walk the last mile to the camp. My partner was going for BC..best conditioned so she headed off ahead of me. I talked to JJ the whole way back, telling him he was the best.
You are allowed 1 hour from the time of crossing the finish line to meet the criteria to complete. We took most of it making sure JJ pulsed down (dousing him with water and scraping), letting him eat (for gut sounds) and walking him so that he didn't have his muscles tighten up.
JJ had no problems eating and drinking, and chomped on grass as I walked him around camp.
My partner mean while was having problems pulsing down her horse and her mare was sore on the leg that had lost the shoe. 10 minutes or so before our time was up I brought JJ up to be vetted. My husband trotted him out beautifully. JJ also recovered well, and the happiest words said yet was that he completed! Yippee! Hugs for everybody!
The sad thing was my friends horse didn't complete because she was sore and didn't pulse down.
That put a bit of a Pall on things though at the time I didn't realise the ramifications of that..I had therefore come in 1st place.
JJ happily munched on alfalfa and drank water, seeming to know he had completed and was done for the day. I continued to walk him the next two hours on and off as we broke down camp, finally putting him on the trailer at 8:30 pm. Our race had started at 6:15 am, and we had 5 hours driving to do. Though it was a sort 5 hours compared to riding it!

First 50 III

We encountered large ruts, crossed a dam, and had lots of rocks to climb plus wash-out/erosion due to the large amount of rain received this summer. Every mile I felt better. Important point to remember-Keep Hydrated and make sure your horse drinks and eats..!!!!!
The second loop was much more technical than the 1st. We still were in the lead, but the heat and difficulty slowed us down considerably. By the time we got to the 1st crew stop, which was 7 miles into the loop, it felt like we had been riding for days...it was fortunate that they had a hose and our horses could be sprayed and the water scraped off them. The reason this is so important is that leaving the water on the horse acts like an insulator which actually makes the horse even hotter. So by scrapping the water off cools the horse down by removing the heat from the outside.
We where about 3 miles from our next hold when my partners horse lost her shoe. We started walking as her mare became ouchy quickly on the rocks. After debating together whether I should stay with her or move on, she insisted very firmly I should continue ahead. I was torn; we had come so far and it looked like my friends horse was going to be pulled from the ride. I continued on, my mission to get someone out to her to put a boot on her horse. The next portion of the ride was rolling hills on street pavement. This is very stressful and jarring to a horse, the concussion of tarmac against his feet and legs.
Three miles of this was difficult and finally seeing camp was hearting.
In retro-spec, it turned out to be a good thing we had a head start because it took longer for JJ to trot out without looking sore. His girth had been cinched a bit too tight and his back was bothering him a bit. This also made him look stiff in the rear. So we needed to walk it off, and massaged his butt muscles and back. My partner meanwhile made it back to camp and was having the farrier put on a new shoe for her horse. All in all, it wound up I was only 9 minutes ahead of her so I started out slow on the last loop, waiting for her to catch up....

Ist 50 continued

So back to the mental aspect. I did have several positive things going for me that allayed some fears. One was that my horse was ready, Two the saddle I was using fit him perfectly as well as myself, so I could reasonably predict we would both be comfortable and I would not be crippled as I was in my former saddle, and Three I felt I needed to prove to myself I could do it. Lastly, I had someone who was willing to ride with me who was very experienced and patient so I felt safe.
The preparations where the same, re hydrate JJ, give him plenty of alfalfa and hay, and walk him around. I prepared for the next day's holds and stops. JJ was fine even after doing a 30 so I wasn't worried on the next morning's trot out. The management made sure there was plenty of water on the trails; the day before they ran out! Given the humidity and how technical the trails where that caused several horses to be pulled due to lameness, metabolic etc. I was told that the statistic for both days was a pull rate of 50% for both the 50's and the 30's..very high indeed.
So we started well and quickly took the lead. My partners' horse has a huge trot that made my trot rather bumpy but I hung in there. Close to 10 miles there was a mandatory 10 minute hold. I was completely dehydrated at this point..JJ was fine and luckily was taken care of my several crew members as my crew (my husband..lol) hadn't realised this was a stopping point for crew.
It was close to this point I started having cramps and headache from no water and did not want to go on..I told my partner I would finish the 20, but would rather stop after that. She looked at me knowingly and said what ever I wanted to do which was some small comfort...as we went around a bend there was my husband with water for both the horse and me..I drank a huge bottle of gator aid and dumped cold water on myself...for the next 9 miles or so I re-hydrated and started feeling I could do this. We where the 1st to the hold and JJ ate and drank like a champ. He pulsed down quickly and trotted out well. We were clear to go on the second loop!
Each hold is a mandatory 45 minute stop so the quicker your horse pulses down and meets all the Vetting in criteria you then can concentrate on getting the horse re-hydrated and let them eat..the same for the rider. So the second loop was even more difficult that the first, however, since I was OK, it was surmountable ....cont

My first 50 Mile Endurance ride

I am still feeling very happy about how I did in Rhode Island this weekend at the NEATO ride.
I was convinced be a very nice person that I could do it and that she would ride it with me. I have been dithering on doing a 50 for personal reasons..not that my horse could not do it as he is and has been ready for awhile now. For me it was totally the mental aspect of it. There are several considerations one needs to take into effect before jumping into anything that could harm your horse and yourself. Since I had weighted my horses condition and knew he was physically and mentally ready for it I had to turn to myself and ask why the hesitation. Mentally ready for me means being foremost able to take care of my horse 1st and then myself. And I wasn't sure I could do that. Second, how would I handle the inevitable pain and push doubts about myself completing out of my mind...to be continued