We are going to Idaho again, but this time it is to the desert instead of the mountains. There is a 5 day ride series going on, but because of Patch's sore tendon problem, I have picked out the two easiest days near the end of the series. I'll be there an extra day and will volunteer to help with the ride that day. It takes a small army of volunteers to make a ride run smoothly, the only people who are paid are the vets, and if there are enough riders the ride managers will also make a little money. Sometimes they just break even after paying vets, buying awards, feeding people, buying gas and other supplies for trail marking, etc.
About 5pm we pull into camp and find a place to park. It's not far to a water fawcett that has about 100 ft of hose attached to it, so I won't be carrying water buckets this time. The outhouse is some distance away, and that's ok, it has that air about it. Since I was here last year the owners of the ranch have installed some indoor flush toilets in a new building, what a novelty! It will be worth the walk.
I go to the ride office to pick up my rider card and ride information, maps etc, and learn that two of the rides will be done in reverse order. So my helping day will be tomorrow instead of the next day, and I will be riding 2 days in a row. I had expected to have a day between rides for Patch to rest.
Patch is happily munching hay and has 2 buckets of water, so I walk around and do a bit of visiting before dinner. The ride managers have hired a couple to cook dinners for the helpers and riders, and if I want a hot meal I can buy it for $10. Nope, I will stick with what I have in the trailer. On the drive down I stopped and bought some chicken strips, an apple, some other goodies and a bottle of juice, most of which I have already eaten, so I am not really hungry anyway. The next 3 days I will get hot dinners, one for helping and two with my ride entries.
I do go to sit with friends during the dinner and stay for the ride information meeting and daily awards, then go back to the trailer to give Patch another bag of hay, a fresh bucket of water, his beet pulp, grain and vitamin mixture, and put a blanket on him for the night. Then it is time for me to go to bed.
The moon is almost full, and I can look out my window and see horses at neighboring trailers, and also see the surrounding hills. The soil in this area is very light colored, so it reflects a lot of light. I think of moonlit nights like this as being some of God's special effects.
Morning finally arrives. I didn't sleep real well. We are in a different time zone, and I think my internal clock is still at home or lost somewhere. I get up, say good morning to Patch and head for the indoor bathroom! What a novelty! However, although it smells much better than the outside one, it's a cold morning, and the building is not heated so the seat is still cold and my visit is as brief as possible. Some people need coffee to be fully awake, all I need is a cold toilet seat!
I eat my usual breakfast since it is all I bring with me, and Patch gets his usual breakfast too, another full bag of hay and 2 fresh buckets of water. Then I walk over to the start line and watch the riders leave. It feels funny to know I am not going with them, but I will see them out on the trail because I will be at the vet check taking pulses. I make arrangements to ride out and back with one of the vets.
The vet check is only about 2 miles from camp, up a very rocky and rough road and on to a flat where there is a Y in the road. Riders will come through and have several more miles to travel in a circle, then come back through from the other direction and have about 10 miles of trail to cover before they arrive back in camp.
I'm kept pretty busy with all the horses coming through, and when things slow down one of the vets leaves the vet check to go back to camp to be there when the riders finish their rides in camp. I catch a ride back in the pickup and then my job changes to finish timer. I take a folding chair, a pen, pad of paper to record numbers and times, a book to read while waiting, and go to the finish line. About half an hour later the riders start coming through. I write the finish time and placing on each riders card which they take with them to the final vet check, then record the same information on the list that will be given to the ride manager.
The last rider finishes about half an hour before the dinner bell rings. I take Patch to the vet for his check in for tomorrow's ride. He passes and I take him back to the trailer and go to dinner. It's been a very easy day but I am hungry. After the daily awards and information meeting for tomorrow's ride, I go back to the trailer, take care of Patch, lay out things I will need for the ride tomorrow, brush my teeth standing outside under the starry sky, and finally get myself into my sleeping bag.
It's finally time to get up. I woke up about 4am and haven't slept much since. The trailer living quarters have inadequate lighting for reading and I use my lights sparingly because I want to save the battery power to light the furnace. If the battery is down, the fan will come on but the furnace won't light. Unfortunately, I know this from experience.
Last night was a bit colder than the one before, and I woke up cold, so I turned on the furnace. Then had to open the door, windows and roof vent for a few minutes to get rid of the burned dusty smell that resulted from a summer's worth of accumulated dust being heated and blown all around. Even with that airing out my sinuses got all stopped up and I spent about half an hour sneezing and blowing my nose. I really would have prefered to start the furnace in the daytime, but never thought of it yesterday.
Anyhow, I was warmer for a couple of hours while I waited for daylight to arrive. Since I wasn't sleeping or reading, it was a good time to be praying.
Ride camp is coming to life. I hear voices, a nicker answered by another horse, just the usual sounds. Somebody in a trailer nearby has started their generator. I turn up the furnace and wait for my small living space to warm up, then dress quickly while I start to eat my breakfast, and step out the door for my brisk walk to the bathroom. I'm face to face with Patch who is sniffing at me to see if I smell like carrots, apples or something good. I'm eating a banana, he likes those so rather than loose the whole thing, I give him part of it.
Today we will be riding a 50 mile course before we return to camp. I have a bag with hay, a small plastic pan for grain, a zipper bag with a grain mixture in it, and my plastic box with my lunch all zipped into one neat package. It might be cold at the vet check the first time through, so I take a wool cooler for Patch. All this goes into a truck that will go to the vet check and be waiting for us when we arrive there after the first 15 or so miles.
I finish my breakfast, saddle and bridle Patch, and throw his nighttime blanket over him to keep him warm until I mount up and start walking him around. It's quite cool, with a breeze, so I am wearing several layers. Other riders are already on their horses, walking and trotting around to warm up. Mostly they are the faster riders, most of the slower ones just get on their horses, walk to the starting line a few minutes after the fast ones have gone, and walk out of camp, warming up while making progress down the trail. I finally mount up and join this latter group, but keep my distance and watch most of them leave.
The road we follow out of camp is rocky for the first .6 of a mile, and Patch walks fast so he passes several of them before we get to the turn that starts a single track trail that follows a ravine to the top of a ridge. We alternate walking and trotting, and find ourselves in the space between the fast and slow riders. Perfect! Patch is relaxed and happy.
The first 15 miles goes quickly with Patch using his ground eating trot. We catch up with a rider who had hoped to ride with us, but both of our horses get excited with company, so she holds hers back and I go on ahead and finally out of sight, something that takes several minutes because we are on a large flat plateau without trees.
The vet check is located where a jeep road makes a T with the county road which is gravel. There are about 20 horses eating hay, having pulses taken near the water tank, or being vetted when we arrive. Patch is excited to see so many other horses and it takes about 4 minutes to get his heart rate down to 60 beats per minute, then our hold time starts. We get into the vet line, he passes with no problem, and about 5 minutes later are headed to the row of crew bags and blankets to find our stuff.
Patch is still pretty excited, and so he doesn't want to stand still to eat his own hay. I give him half of the grain mixture, he eats that but isn't interested in his hay. We go for a walk through the waiting area and he finds some hay that he likes, but will only eat a few bites and then wants to walk again. Since I do want him to eat all he can while we are here, I take him to another pile of hay.
The hold is 40 minutes, quite long after just 15 miles but since the next section of trail is 20 miles without much feed along the way, the vet wanted to be sure the horses had plenty of time to eat and drink. I am not hungry, but I do eat a string cheese and some of my homemade oatmeal cookies, fill my water bottles and walk Patch between piles of hay when he gets bored with what he is eating. I take off my jacket and put it with my hay bag and add the wool cooler to the pile. Patch is warm enough and it is almost time to go.
I mount up and check out with the timer right on time. It's good to be moving again. Patch passes a horse that left 2 minutes ahead of us before we had gone a mile. This section of trail goes over a hill, then decends slowly for the next few miles to the Snake River. On the way the trail follows a dry, sandy wash for about a mile. Some of the sand is pretty deep, something that could put a lot of strain on his tendons. I try not to let him go too fast through it but he is feeling good and isn't easy to slow down.
After we reach the river there is a good place for Patch to get a drink in water about knee deep. I only let him go out as far as we can see the bottom, I think there is a drop off and don't want to take a chance on finding it. A couple of minutes later we catch up with a fellow named Paul who is taking pictures. We ride together for a while, with Patch leading. Paul is stopping here and there to take pictures and then trots fast to catch up. He says his horse did not eat much at the vet check. That could mean trouble.
After we follow the river for while, we climb out of the Snake River Canyon and follow the Oregon Trail for a few miles. I try to emagine what it was like for those weary travelers. We arrive at the vet check together. Patch's pulse is down to 60 within a minute of our arrival, and we go to the vet. When I lead him at a trot up the road and make my turn to go back toward the vet, I see a rattlesnake in the ditch beside the road. I jog back to the vet, and will let somebody else deal with the snake.
Patch eats the other half of his grain, and a lot of hay. This time he is not so fussy. I eat my sandwich and a couple more cookies and am getting ready to mount up, but when our hold time is up, Paul says he needs to stay a while so his horse will eat more, then after another vet exam he might be permitted to ride the 12 miles into camp at a walk and get a completion. I wish him well, mount up and check out with the timer.
Patch is ready to return to camp, he knows the way, there are no other horses for the first couple of miles, then we pass one who is traveling at a walk up a hill. Patch is trotting, and we are soon out of sight. An hour and 5 minutes after leaving the vet check, we cross the finish line. I take Patch to the trailer, unsaddle him, give him about 3 minutes to eat some hay, and we walk slowly to the vet area.
Ten minutes after finishing, Patch's pulse is 48. The vet has me trot him about 120 ft away from him, then turn and come back. He checks the pulse again a minute after we start our trot, it is still 48. This is known as a Cardio Recovery Index, or CRI. Patch is in good shape, sound, healthy, and cleared to start tomorrow. Our riding time including the 10 minutes we gave away at the beginning of the ride, is 6 hours flat and we finished in 14th place, only about an hour behind the winner.
Paul is able to ride his horse into camp and arrives before dinner, still within the 12 hour time limit. His horse is examined and passes the final vet check, but will not be ridden tomorrow.
I wash down Patch's legs and put clay on them to draw the heat out, put a light blanket on him, give him a fresh bag of hay and clean water. A neighbor and I are visiting next to her trailer when the wind comes up suddenly blowing dust all over! I can barely see about 50 ft to my trailer. Patch moves around and stands with his hindquarters to the wind and his head down. The wind/dust storm only lasts a few minutes but the temperature has gone down about 10 degrees with the wind coming down off the mountains where there is fresh snow from the night before.
I clean myself up a bit, grab a jacket and walk over to the meeting area. The dinner bell is about to ring and I am one of the first in line. After a good dinner, the awards for the day are given out. It takes a while to get through about 60 riders, plus announcing who's horses got the best conditioned award on each distance. The ride manager gives us information on tomorrow's trails and start time, and the vet tells us about pulse criteria and hold times.
By this time it is dark, and the wind has become very cold. I hurry to get back to the trailer and hover over the furnace vent for a few minutes to get warm. Patch gets his blanket changed to a heavier one for the night, he eats his beet pulp mixture with some grain and vitamins, gets a new hay bag and another bucket of water, and I am happy to get into my warm sleeping bag. Morning will be here soon enough. I hope to sleep better than last night.
The furnace comes on several times during the night although it is set to it's lowest setting, about 50 degrees. I wake up when the fan comes on, then breathe a sigh of relief every time when I hear the "poof" of the furnace when it lights. By the time the alarm rings I have mixed feelings about finally getting up and am dreading going out into the cold, half dark morning.
Actually, I find that it is not too cold when I do get outside, and when I check for frost on the windshield I am happy to find none. After a hurried visit to the deluxe indoor toilet, I hurry back to the trailer and by the time I get there I don't feel so cold. Patch still has some hay, and there is no ice on his water bucket, not even frosty whiskers that always form around the edges before the surface skins over. He gets a quick pat and I go back into the trailer to eat my breakfast. I think of the folks camped nearby who have real kitchens, microwaves, etc, and can eat a hot breakfast on a morning like this while I eat yogurt, a banana, etc. All cold. My hot water pump thermos pot is at home so I can't even have hot chocolate. What was I thinking when I left it there?
Patch gets a bit of grain while I saddle and bridle him before other riders start moving around on their horses. I know from experience that it is much easier this way. I put a blanket over him to keep his muscles warm and wait. He picks at his hay and watches while other riders start warming up their horses.
Our start time for today has been moved to allow an extra half hour after daylight to allow things to warm up a little. There is a stiff breeze, so I decide to wear a windbreaker over my 3 or 4 layers. Let's see, t-shirt, lightweight long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, light jacket and finally the windbreaker. There is a slight chance of showers, and the weather forecast also says partly sunny, so I know it won't take too long before I will be either hot or cold.
The vet checks and holds will all be in camp today, so I will have the opportunity every couple of hours to adjust my clothing, and I don't have to pack a lunch. There is no bag of necessities for the horse and myself to send out in a truck, it seems so easy. The loops will be 20, 20 and 10 miles, more or less.
I can see the starting line from my trailer, and watch while several of the faster riders leave when the start official says it's time to go. Then I get on Patch and start wandering at a walk, more or less in the direction of the starting line, while watching a few other riders start up the trail. I'm in no hurry. I joke a bit with the start official about starting in my usual burst of speed when I finally do decide it is time for us to start.
Patch walks for the first 100 yards or so and then catches sight of the horses ahead of us and his feet go into a trot. I thought I had given them a couple of minutes to get down the trail ahead of us, but one rider is having some problems with her horse. He is young and inexperienced. We pass slowly and carefully, watching for any sign that this green horse might feel threatened by a strange horse behind him. The next group is also walking, and by now Patch has some adrenaline going and he is trotting a bit faster. We pass, and soon pass another group. Then there is open trail ahead.
He is excited about passing so many horses and his head is going up and down. I loosen the reins and let him choose his speed, but his head won't hold still. This is what I had hoped to avoid by starting a few minutes late. With every toss of his head I have to readjust my balance. It also effects his gait, he takes a few long steps and then a shorter one. I would rather use this wasted energy wisely, going down the trail in a relaxed manner. It would be less work for both of us. We pass another rider who comes with us for a few minutes and finally decides to slow down.
The trail has followed a jeep road with a rocky surface for the first couple of miles, then we cross a dry creek bed with lots more rocks piled up along the banks, evidence of a flash flood that happened about 2 years ago. The trail is now a single track, and goes up a long steep hill. After that we are on another jeep road. We pass some cattle who stand and watch us trot by, then come to a water tank where we make a turn and go along a ridge where we can look down into a little valley.
Soon the trail leads us down into that valley and we are looking up onto the ridge. I see a few riders and wave but nobody waves back. Suddenly there is a rider behind me. She follows me for a couple of minutes and I know there is a series of steep downhills coming soon and have realized that I need to tighten my girth. She stops with me while I get off and tighten it with Patch going around me in circles. It's not easy to get back on him but after about 3 tries I manage to get my foot into the stirrup and get a handful of his mane before his feet start moving again.
Once I am mounted I thank the rider and tell her to go on without me, I need time to get him calm. We go slowly, but Patch is cantering sideways and doing crazy things with his head. Finally the other rider is out of sight. We cross another rocky dry creek bed and soon come to a closed gate. I get off to open and close it, then have to find a bump of some kind to get on so I can bet back on the horse. Patch is going around me in circles. Finally, I find a good place, and it takes 3 or 4 tries before I can get on. We go about 1/4 mile and come to another closed gate. Repeat. Half a mile later there is a 3rd gate. He is calmer now, having walked all the distance between gates without seeing another horse. He seems to have forgotten them.
The next mile goes smoothly and slowly as we climb up through a canyon, then pick our way over a rocky ridge. I see 3 horses trotting a mile or so ahead of us and wonder if I should slow down and hope Patch doesn't see them. Nope, too late, he sees them so I decide to pass them before we get back to camp.
We have found a space where there are no horses visable ahead of us and none close behind. I've gotten too warm with the windbreaker on, and finally get a chance to tie the arms together around my waist, and unzip the jacket under it. Ahhh, that feels better! Patch relaxes and we have several good miles, but then catch up with other riders just before we get into camp and the vet check. It takes a couple of minutes for Patch's pulse to come down to 60, then we go to see the vet.
When it is time to jog with Patch trotting for the vet to evaluate his gait, I go about 120 feet to a cone and then turn to come back. When I stop moving and Patch is going around me, my windbreaker slides down over my hips and falls to the ground. I step out of it, pick it up and jog back to the vet. We all get a laugh out of me loosing my clothes to distract the vet.
We go back to the trailer for our hold time. Patch gets half the beet pulp and grain mixture that has been soaking since last night and then eats some hay when the goodies are gone. I eat another banana and some mixed nuts, drink some juice and top off the water bottles I carry on the saddle. They don't need much, I hardly thought about water on the first loop. I decide I can shed another layer since the sun is warm and it doesn't look like it will rain.
Soon we start out again, check out with the timer and are off in another direction for another 20 mile loop. We are alone and it is wonderful. Patch trots along relaxed and happy. Part of this trail is the same one we did yesterday but today we are going in the other direction. Toward the end of the loop I think I can feel some unevenness in Patch's gait. I wonder if it is my imagination. He has been relaxed and so I think maybe I do feel something from time to time, and even decide which leg it might be.
Second time through camp. Another vet check. The vet doesn't see anything wrong. Patch is well hydrated, his gut sounds are good, trot looks good. Maybe it was just my imagination. We go back to the trailer, he gets more beet pulp and grain, I eat some cookies and more yogurt, then fill my water bottles. Just as it is time to leave I grab a banana, give Patch part of it, and off we go.
Only 10 miles to go. We follow a cow trail across the creek and up a steep, narrow canyon I have never seen before. I've ridden these trails for several years but every now and then the ride manager finds new trails for us. Patch walks up this winding trail for about a mile and soon we are on a plateau where we can trot again. No horses are in sight, Patch is relaxed and we make good time for about half the loop, then I think I feel some uneven steps again.
I slow down and Patch walks most of the 5 miles to camp. When the vet checks him she still doesn't mention anything about him looking lame. We go back to the trailer, I pull off the saddle and start to clean up his legs with a bucket of water and a brush. He flinches when I do the right front leg. I switch to the other leg, another flinch but not as quick. Back to the first leg, another quick flinch. I feel the tendons, he flinches again.
The vet card says his CRI was 48/56. The vet hadn't mentioned it, but that could indicate a problem. We go back to the vet. She examines his legs, yes, both have sore tendons, but his right one is worse. The CRI elevation was probably the result of some pain when he trotted. She hadn't mentioned it because everything else looked so good, he was well hydrated, had good gut sounds and so she thought maybe he was reacting to some other horse moving around nearby.
I get her recommendations on care for them, and take Patch back to the trailer. First he gets ice boots for 20 minutes or so, then I put cooling clay on his legs. He also gets 2 gm. of bute, an anti-inflamatory. I clean myself up, put on clean clothes and prepare to go to dinner. Patch gets a fresh bag of hay, a clean bucket of water, and I head for a hot meal. After awards are given I sit with a few others around a campfire and we talk about horses, riders and rides. One side of me is cold, the other is too hot. It's getting late anyway and time to go back to the trailer.
Patch gets another ice boot treatment over the clay which is now dry on the surface, then I wrap his legs with wet quilted pads and track wrap. That's a cold job and I am glad to retreat to the warmth of the trailer and my bed.
Morning again. I stay in the sleeping bag until daylight. The furnace is still working and I am warm. Nature calls and I cannot ignore her much longer! "Brrr." There is a thick layer of ice on the windshield and that toilet seat is colder than ever! I make a quick trip back to the trailer and take Patch for a walk to warm us both. He finds piles of good tasting leftover hay as we go along, and an occasional carrot or chunk of apple. He has earned his treats, so I shiver while he munches happily. Other riders are walking their horses, exchanging greetings and wishing each other a safe trip home.
I pack up the rest of my things while Patch eats a little grain. The sun has come up and my windshield will thaw out in a few minutes. I load Patch in the trailer and drive to the water faucet to give my windshield a good bath. It has a thick layer of dust on it, made into mud by the melting frost. I don't want to scratch the windshield by using the automatic windshield washers. The hose has been in the sun a few minutes but is still mostly frozen, giving me a fine pencil lead stream of water. I get the windshield wet, turn on the wipers, push the wash button, and repeat.
The road out of camp is about 4 miles of rocks, ruts and dust. There are 3 pickups and trailers ahead of me and I give them and their dust plenty of distance. I putt-putt along slowly to keep the windshield clean while it dries. We are headed right into the sun so I am glad I took the time to get it clean before we left camp. This is another of those things I've learned from experience. One year I left with a dirty windshield and was glad to have about a gallon of water in a jug that I could pour on it before using the windshield washer.
On the way home I stop at a little cafe. Ah, a real restroom with heat, and hot water! What luxury! After a nice hot breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs, and hot tea, I'm ready for the rest of the trip home. I find a Christian radio station and listen to good music, a church service and more music as I drive.
It's been a month since our last ride, and I hope that Patch's sore tendon has had adequate time to heal. The last ride of the Northwest seaon is always one of those bittersweet experiences. It's held in the high desert of central Oregon, elevation over 4000 ft. The nights can be very cold and the days quite warm.
Patch and I are on the road about 10am, the weather is nice and sunny. The forecast for the general area around ride camp is for nights in the lower 20's and days in the upper 50's. It sounds pretty good.
About 150 miles from home I stop to get Patch out of the trailer and walk him around for a few minutes, then go across a large parking lot to the McDonalds to get some lunch/dinner. I buy a chicken sandwich, fries and a milkshake. These are things I do not eat except when I am going to a ride, and I do it because it's easy and fast, and also because I want to load up on calories which I will use tomorrow while I'm riding. The calories will also help me to stay warm tonight.
I noticed when I got out of the pickup that I didn't have my cell phone, but I remember clipping it on to the waistband of my jeans. I look around the seat of the pickup, and then in the trailer living quarters, no phone. I try to remember what I may have done with it in the last few minutes before I left home. Oh well, I'm sure not going to worry about it.
About 100 miles and a couple of hours later we are at the ride camp. My teammates have saved me a spot next to them, and I find that I need the 4 wheel drive to pull the trailer through the sand and sagebrush to my spot. After getting Patch settled with hay and water, I go to the ride office (a table next to a tent) and fill out the paperwork to enter the 60 mile ride, and recieve a vet card. The ride manager is giving out neck warmers and helmet liners before the ride because we will need them tomorrow. How nice!
Patch passes the vet check just fine, and now there is not much to do for the next couple of hours. Things are laid out for tomorrow so they will be convenient to grab quickly. I take the mostly mesh for ventalation liner out of my helmet and put in the new liner which is similiar to a stocking cap but made of polar fleece and will cover my ears. The helmet needs little adjustment. I put it on my hay bale along with other items I will want in the morning.
I decide that since it is going to be cold overnight, that I will put a reflective survival blanket under my sleeping bag to reflect my body heat back toward me instead of loosing it trying to warm up a 5 inch thick foam mattress which is on a carpet glued to a sheet of steel. My bed is above the gooseneck hitch, and of course has cold air under it. Tonight it will be very cold air. Although I have insulation above me there is none below. I open the sleeping bag and turn on the furnace.
Uh oh, the fan works but the burner doesn't light. My next door teammate checks the reset button, and then checks the propane tank. Empty! He loans me a spare tank, smaller than mine and with an unknown amount of propane in it, and says it will get me through the weekend. I hope he is right.
After dark we all go to the ride info meeting. I am wearing my insulated coveralls, jacket, and stocking cap, things I didn't need 2 or 3 hours ago. The stars are bright and the warm day was replaced by cold as soon as the sun went down. Quick temperature changes are typical of the desert. We all huddle around 55 gallon drums that have fires in them while we listen to the ride manager describe the trail, and tell us what order the loops are to be ridden, and what times the various distances will start tomorrow. The vet tells us about hold times and proceedures for best condition judging for those who finish in the top 10 on each distance.
We all hurry back to our trailers when the meeting is over. The moon is coming up, it lights the desert enough so that we can walk without needing a flashlight. After giving Patch another bucket of water and a fresh hay bag, I get ready for bed. It is already cold, ice is beginning to form on the water buckets. Patch is wearing the heaviest blanket I have, and between that and a lot of hay, he will be warm enough. An active gut keeps producing heat.
About 2 hours after going to sleep, I wake up because my arms are numb, the result of having something out of place in my back plus the strain of weeding and digging in my flower beds for the past several days. I get up and shake my arms until they wake up, then go back to bed. Over and over, every one or two hours, all night. In between I hear the furnace every time it comes on and I keep thanking God for having heat in the trailer. Will morning ever come?
Finally, it is time to get up. The 75 mile riders are leaving just before daylight. I watch through my window as they leave, but really can't see much. I'm just glad I am not riding 75 miles today, I think Patch can do 60 miles but I didn't want to risk entering the 75 and not being able to finish it. Besides, I didn't really want to ride that far.
Patch is warm under his blanket, but his water buckets have 1/2 inch of ice on them. I break the ice and dump them out, oops, he has used one of them for a target sometime during the night. I put that one aside after dumping it, grab another clean bucket from the back of the pickup, and walk to the water tank and fill both of them. I give him one, which he ignores, and put the other one next to the pickup for later use. The thremometer which I hung in the back of the trailer last night says 17.5 degrees. I almost wish I hadn't looked.Brrrr! After that necessary quick trip to the frozen seated plastic throne I hurry back inside my heated space.
As I eat my breakfast I plan. On this cold morning I don't want to waste motion or waste time while saddling Patch. I need to try to keep him covered with his blanket as much as possible while I saddle him and for a few minutes afterward since I will not be leaving with the leaders. Patch doesn't like that cold saddle pad at all, and the neoprene girth is even worse. He moves around a lot while I saddle him and get everything adjusted. I should have brought the pad and girth inside the living quarters so they would be warmer, more comfortable for him and more pliable. I did bring the bridle inside overnight so the bit is not like a chunk of ice.
By the time Patch is dressed for work, my fingers are cold and uncomfortable. There are things I just cannot do with golves on my hands, saddling a horse and buckeling buckles, and putting a bridle on the horse are some of those things. I go back inside to warm my fingers, thankful that I have a place to do that. Patch and I watch as riders warm up their horses and prepare to leave. He is calm, I like that.
After the leaders ride out, I take Patch and his blanket to the crew area next to the vet check area, and give the start official our number, mount up and we walk out of camp. I have nice warm gloves, so my hands are warm, and also have toe warmers stuck on my socks so my feet are warm too. Everything in between is cold, and the saddle is like a block of ice. Why didn't I think about taking the fleece cover off Breezy's saddle and putting it on Patch's saddle?
The first couple of miles are on the dirt road we used when we drove into camp yesterday, and we pass a few horses before we come to the turn where the trail becomes a 4 wheeler trail that goes up a hill between rocks and juniper trees. We pass more riders but Patch stays calm and just trots along nicely. I hope the whole day goes like this.
As we come to the top of the hill the sun is just coming up, the sky is pink and gray streaks, the air still and crisp, and there is not a sign of civilization in sight! Not even jet trails in the sky.
The first loop is 14 miles, and in about 1 1/2 hours we are back at camp. Patch's pulse comes down to 60 beats per minute in about 2 minutes and we go to the vet. Everything is fine. We have 15 minutes, so I put Patch's blanket on him to keep his hindquarters warm and let him eat hay that the ride management has provided near the vet check. There is both alfalfa hay and grass hay, Patch chooses alfalfa which he does not get at home. The sun is warming the air, and while it isn't exactly warm it sure is more pleasant than it was earlier this morning. We stand in the sun, soaking up the warmth.
Soon it is time to go out for another loop. I shed a jacket and the gloves and we start out at about the same time as a lady named Joan who is riding a gray mare. Patch stays calm so we ride the whole loop together, it takes about 2 hours and leads us back into camp. Our horses pass the vet check and we have a 45 minute hold, so we go back to our trailers.
Patch gets a mixture of beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, whole oats, and a grain mix that has molasses, plus his vitamins, all soaked in water overnight in a bucket in my living quarters to keep it from freezing. It's the same mixture I give him every day at home. The soaked food gives him moisture and is soft so it is easy to eat a lot of it without having to spend a lot of time chewing, so it goes down quickly. He also has hay.
I eat a banana, yogurt, some nuts, piece of string cheese, a few homemade oatmeal cookies, and drink some carrot and orange juice. The water bottles on my saddle get refilled and I make a quick trip to the outhouse. I leave another jacket at the trailer, change helmet liners back to the ventelated one, and then it is time to go do another loop, another 15 miles or so in another direction.
Joan and I ride the next loop together. Patch stays calm and travels well with the mare. I am thinking that maybe he likes mares and I could have somebody to ride with if I choose riding partners who have mares. Something to think about for next season.
Halfway through the loop Joan's horse stumbles badly, and Joan goes off as the horse falls. She lands on her side clear of the horse who also lands on her side. When the horse gets to her feet I can see Joan moving, and her horse is moving too, down the trail at a trot. Patch and I go after the horse, and in a minute or two catch up with her. The reins are a continuous loop and are still draped over the mare's neck. I reach out and grab the rein, then flip it over the mare's head to allow me to control her more easily, and we slow to a stop, turn and ride back to Joan who is on her feet and walking toward us. She says she is ok, but is sure she will be sore later. She is glad she was wearing her helmet, she says she heard and felt the impact with the ground, thankfully she did not fall on the nearby rocks, which are what caused the horse to stumble. We go on, and the rest of the loop is uneventful.
The day has warmed to about 55 or 60 degrees, the sun is shining, it is very pleasant. We are making good time and the horses are happy. When we come into camp at 50 miles Joan's horse passes the vet check without a problem, but Patch's pulse hangs up at about 72, so after about 5 minutes with no change, I pull off the saddle so he will cool. He has already grown a fuzzy winter coat so it is harder for him to cool, and a hot horse has a high heartrate. After about 5 more minutes his pulse is down to 60 and we go over to the vet.
Everything looks good until he trots. He is lame. The vet says it might be because he stood for about 10 minutes after we came into camp, so suggests that I walk him around for a few minutes and bring him back for another check. She keeps the vet card, and we can't go without it.
After walking Patch for about 20 minutes, I trot him and have a couple of the other riders watch him. Still lame. I go back to my trailer and put the ice boots on his front legs, then continue to walk him for the next 20 minutes. Our hold time is up, and Joan leaves to do her last 10 miles. I tell her I might or might not get to go, and wish her well.
Finally I decide to go back to the trailer, take the ice boots off, and take Patch for evaluation. The vet watches him trot and says he looks better but is still lame on every step with his left front. She asks the other 2 vets to watch as I trot him again. Unanamous opinion, lame. He has a sore suspensory ligament. We are done for the day. There will be no team points on the 60 miler, but the 3 75 mile riders are still on the trail so we might get something there. The team hasn't done very well this year, we have had plenty of troubles, both horse and human.
I put the ice boots on Patch's legs again to take the heat out of the tendons and ligaments. I give him some Bute, an antinflamatory medicine. He snoozes in the sun. It is still pleasantly warm but won't last long and tonight will be as cold as last night.
I decide that I will not spend another miserable night in the trailer. Patch eats hay and rests while I pack up all my gear, disconnect and return the borrowed propane tank to my teammate who is still on the trail, and before the sun goes down we are heading down the road.
I drive about 100 miles and stop for a rest, buy some diesel fuel, and drive on. When I get sleepy I pull off on a quiet spur road and unload Patch. I hang up a hay bag for him so he can eat while I sleep. After an hour or so, I'm awake, Patch's hay bag is empty and we go down the road again. I drink cool tea, and juice, eat cookies and nuts as I drive along. I feel sleepy and turn up the radio, not many stations are available in remote areas, so all I get is noise and nonsense but it helps me stay awake to drive. At 2am I arrive home, put Patch in his pasture, give him hay and go to bed. Half a night in my own bed is far better than a whole night in the trailer.
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