Celebration and Ride on a Hot Afternoon

The farrier came today to do Luke's feet. Luke's feet have a bit of a history. When I got him just exactly a year ago, he had been barefoot all his life as far as anyone knew. Luke started his riding career as an Eventer down in KY. He was purchased by a stable here in Maine and was put in their lesson program. He was there for I think about a year and just didn't quite work out due to his size. He's a big boy for kids to ride. So, his present owner purchased him and trained him for Western Pleasure. Kyle had Luke 3 years when I started leasing him a year ago and I have been conditioning him and using him for CTR and will do an endurance ride with him at the end of this month. Ok, that's Luke's history as I know it and none of his previous careers have required he have shoes.

When Kyle got Luke, he had thrush and has had a chronic problem with it. And he still had it when I got him despite Kyle's efforts to get rid of it. I started riding Luke barefoot and he seemed fine until he got his first trim and then he got "ouchie" over rocky ground. Luke was absolutely not trimmed too short but his frogs were very tender from being thrushy for so long. And his frogs were very deep and contracted. So, I put shoes on him. The shoes made him sound to ride as it got his frogs off the ground far enough. Though I knew it was likely not the best things for his frogs in the long run, I kept the shoes on him for the riding season and I went to work treating his thrush problem as aggressively as I could. I was pleased that despite having shoes on, his two right feet cleared up by the end of the summer and his frogs in those two feet developed and got much larger and healthier looking. His left rear improved slightly and his left front stayed about the same. In late fall I had his shoes pulled and continued to ride him barefoot. He seemed fine so this was a good sign that his frogs were no longer painful. I continued treating him through the winter and is two right feet remained clear but his two left feet remained a little thrushy. Especially is left front. I kept riding him barefoot as he continued to do fine and this spring went right to really conditioning him for his first CTR's. He remained completely sound barefoot and there was suddenly definitely improvement in his left feet. When it came close to his first CTR in May, I was unsure what to do. I had him entered in 3 CTR's in Maine. So, if he completed all the rides I entered (And he did) we'd be doing 105 miles of competition in 4 weeks not to mention any riding between competitions. I really didn't dare to try this barefoot though he was going great. And I really hated to put shoes on him because he was going so great. I really wanted to try getting him fitted for hoof boots but was not sure how long I was going to have him as my lease on him officially ran out June 1st. After much thought, I finally decided to just put shoes on him. When my farrier came out to put the shoes on Luke, he lost his left front frog! ACK! I'd never seen such a thing. But, Luke was not sore and didn't seem bothered in any way by this and his hoof was looking much better as far as any thrush being in there. He was not clear but he was close. I did my rides and all went well. But I truthfully felt he was moving better when he was barefoot. I really wanted to take Luke's shoes back off. Kyle has given me the ok to enter Luke in a 50 mile endurance ride June 22nd. Again, I don't quite dare to try that barefoot. But, I did have Luke's shoes pulled and I am going to try to get him fitted into some boots. I like the Renegade boots but they are so expensive. Not worth the investment if I don't have Luke much longer. So, I've ordered a fit kit from the Easyboot company to see if one of their boot models looks like a good fit. They are harder boots to put on as a rule but work well if they fit. I've been using Easyboots on my Mare for years.

Anyway, I am celebrating because when Scott came and pulled Luke's shoes, he declared him to be thrush free!!! YEAH!!! I'm not going to let my guard down and will continue to treat Luke's feet on a maintenance basis just because he has a history of a chronic problem with it. But, I'm still going to celebrate this victory at this moment.

By the time my farrier left, I had measured Luke's feet, called the Easyboot company and ordered the fit kit, it was after noon. And it was HOT. In the 90's! UGH. I would not survive living in the south. I decided to ride despite the heat because I wanted to see how Luke's feet felt with a new trim and I wanted to see how he handled the hot weather. After all, it might be very hot at the endurance ride and I need to know how he is with working in heat. I was going to take it easy today so decided to pony my mare along also. She needed the exercise and would appreciate not being left behind. Luke is a very good boy to pony from. He has no issues with the pony rope being all over him. I've used Marie to pony many times. But, she has not often been ponied. The problem with Marie is she is LAZY if she thinks she can get away with it and has a very slow walk. And she's very dedicated to trail maintenance. I would be tricky keeping her from hauling me out of the saddle in her efforts to defoliate the entire forest as we rode through it. I had put a rope halter on her last time I ponied her and that didn't really have much effect on her. So, today I used her regular web halter but put a stud chain under her chin. I don't want to be harsh but she CAN keep up and she does not need to eat the entire forest. We started out and she was not very pleased about the chain under her chin. After a little fussing about it, she set back on it hard twice but I was able to hold on to her. After the 2nd time, she decided he could indeed keep up with Luke and settled for only eating what conviently presented itself right in front of her face. And we then had a very nice ride. I went on the trails behind my house. Nice wooded area so we could keep to the shade on such a hot day. At one point we were mosying along down the trail, I was just gazing around enjoying how pretty it was out in the woods when I feel a slight pressure on my chest and hear a faint "twang" as something breaks. I knew right away we'd just ridden through a spider web. I quickly looked down and sure enough, there was a spider sitting on my chest! AGH! Now, he was not as big as the feeling of his web indicated he might be. But, when they take you by surprise and are sitting on your chest, they are all big!!! Now, I had Luke's reins in one hand and Marie's lead rope in the other and the spider starts moving UP! I lost it. I screeched, did a bit of a dance in the saddle while beating the heck out of my chest. I didn't leg go of either the reins or the lead rope so I'm sure I yanked on both of them. Good ponies they are though they both just kept mosying down the trail like nothing was happening. I came out on the Academy road and decided to ride up past the alpaca farm and go back into the wood for the rest of the way home. I only had to go about 1/2 mile on pavement but boy of boy was it hot in the open on the pavement. We had a very pleasant and uneventful ride back home. No more spider attacks. Marie worked up quite a sweat but Luke barely broke a sweat at all. He didn't seem to be at all bothered by the heat. I hosed them both down when I got home. It was a nice ride, just me and two good equines.

The Crooked River 30 Mile CTR AKA the Maine Monsoon

Photo's by Wanda Clowater of Clowater Art & Photography

Was Luke up to a 30 mile CTR just 6 days after completing a 2 day 50 mile ride? I believed he was and we were going to give it a try. It had rained every day all week and the weather forecast for Saturday was for a total washout as well as cold, only in the 40's, and windy! Unfortunately for once the forecasters were right. The Crooked River was originally planned to be a multi-day ride offering a one day 30 and two day 50 and 60 and a three day 80 distance. But, the vet judge hired for the ride was unable to make it so there was a scramble to find a new vet judge. The new vet was only available for Saturday so the ride was changed to just a one day 30 mile ride and the vetting would be done on Saturday morning rather than Friday as is usual. The ride was in Waterford, only 1 1/2 hr. drive from me, so I decided to just drive up in the morning. I closed Luke in his stall Friday evening so he'd be dry and clean in the morning. And I dug out my rain sheets to see if I had one that would fit him. I was delighted to find that one did fit as he was going to need it. I was up at 3 am. had a quick breakfast, packed several changes of clothes, dug out my tall winter riding boots and then went out and fed Luke and Marie. I groomed Luke and dressed him in the rain sheet and we headed out to the ride. It was dark still, cold and raining. I admit I had some second thoughts but I hate wimping out. And I didn't think Luke would have any issues with riding in the cold or rain. It can be hard on the Arabs as they get cold easily. But Luke being a large hairy Percheron mule should be fine. When I got to the ride, which was at the Waterford fairgrounds, I quickly unloaded and tied him in a stall next to Mindy's horse, Movette, as we would be riding together. I wanted Luke under cover and as dry as I could keep him before tacking up. I lugged all my tack up to the barn also. Luke seemed excited but was well behaved and eating hay like he was starving. Once Luke was settled in, I picked up my ride packet then went to the food shack and got coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

Getting everyone vetted in was a slow process. We did the vetting up in the new cattle barn to be out of the rain. But, we spent quite a while waiting for room to get into the barn. Luke happily munched grass until we were in the barn. With nothing to eat in the barn, Luke was quite fidgety. When it was our turn for vetting, I quickly stripped off his blanket and he stood quietly for the vet. The area used for the trot out was just outside the barn and there wasn't much room. Luke trotted willingly like a good boy. I took him back to the stall and tacked him up. I noticed he was shaking slightly. I don't know if it was excitement or the cold though I suspect it was a combination of both. He seemed fine otherwise though. I donned my rain pants, tall winter riding boots, and rain coat in hopes of staying somewhat dry. My saddle being synthetic is much appreciated on a day like this. A friend had just given me a lovely new woolback pad that I was using for the first time. I generally have a rule to never use a new piece of tack for the first time on a competition but I could not imagine this saddle blanket being any problem. Once all the horses were vetted in, we went down to the dance hall for the riders meeting. While we were in there the skies opened and it just poured buckets! Three riders pulled out of the ride at that point deciding it just would be no fun riding in this kind of weather. I don't blame them! I did consider the sanity of riding 30 miles in such weather. But, I've done it before and lived to tell about it so decided to go for it.

Luke stood nice for me to mount but was quite excited to get going. I kept him walking around and he kept trying to head out of the fairgrounds. He really wanted to get out on the trail! I was very pleased to see him so eager to go. There were 24 riders and Mindy and I were the near the end in the ride order. When it was our time to go out, Luke took the lead and headed out like a locomotive. With so much rain, the ditches on the sides of the road were running hard with water and there were streams and little mini waterfalls everywhere. Luke was a little snorty about this but it didn't slow him down. Though at first he was getting some rain in his ears and was shaking his head occasionally.  After a while, Mindy's horse took the lead and Luke and Movette took turns throughout the ride leading and following. They traveled well together. We stopped once early in the ride to make sure we hadn't missed a trail marker. I turned Luke in the direction of the fairgrounds and he did not want to go that way. He wanted to head down the trail. I just love that Luke is really eager and enjoying being out on the trail doing these CTR's. Due to all the rain we've been having, the trail was kept to mostly all dirt roads and sandy tote roads. We had one short section of muddy trail to connect two roads but that was it. So, the footing was extremely good and we were able to keep up a good speed and even did some nice canters.

When cantering, Luke's new pad worked backwards under his saddle. I had forgotten to attach the velcro straps around the saddle flaps. One of my first discoveries of the ride...... my L.L.Bean rain coat, success. It did a good job of keeping my upper body dry. My L.L.Bean rain pants.... fail! I very soon had a wet crotch. Blah! And the rain ran down my rain pants right into my boots. But, I was not cold and nothing was rubbing so I could live with this. We got into the hold in good time. There weren't many other horses there. We asked if everyone had already left the hold. We were told no, were were the first group into the hold. ???? Uh oh, we had only passed on pair of riders so we should not be the first group into the hold. It turned out a majority of riders in front of us had gotten lost. We hadn't noticed any problems with the trail markers so were surprised at this. Because of the bad weather, ride management decided not to have the usual full 20 minute hold. They had us pulse in as soon as we came in and if our equine was 64 and under, they were passed go right to the vet for their trot out. Luke's pulse was 57 so we were good. He trotted out fine so we were good to go. Mindy and I did decide to take a few minutes to let Luke and Movette eat. Luke approved of this decision. I quickly fixed Luke's saddle pad.

Just as Mindy and I were getting ready to leave the hold, Stephanie Buckley asked if she could ride with us. Her daughters pony had been pulled from the ride and Stephanie preferred not to ride alone. We were happy to have her join us. It would be an interesting trio, Mindy's Arab, Luke, a Percheron mule and Stephanie's horse was a Welsh pony.  Luke and Movette left the hold moving along strongly and Stephanie's pony gamely keeping up . About 1/2 mile out of the hold, Tom Hutchinson and the 3 junior riders he had with him came down the trail towards us. He felt sure we had missed a turn. He's very familiar with the trails here as he runs a ride here also. We searched for trail markers and could find none. We rode back towards the hold and finally found one piece of a trail marker but nothing else. Mindy rode her horse up the trail we thought was the right way to go to see if she could find any makers further up the trail. She rode a long way up the trail and we were getting worried about her. But, she finally came back and said she'd found a marker. Someone had sabotaged the trail makers and removed a bunch of them. Gurrrrrrrrr. Tom rode back to the hold to get more markers so that no one else behind us would get lost.  We waited for Tom to come back and helped him to quickly mark the trail. Another pair of riders had caught up to us just as we headed out. So, we were now in a group of nine riders. We were moving along pretty fast and the horses were getting excited about this. I think Luke was fantasizing we were at the Kentucky Derby and I realized I didn't have much in the way for breaks right then. Since we didn't need to be moving that fast, Mindy, Stephanie and I decided to pull back and let the other riders go ahead of us. The rain had let up by the second half of the ride but not stopped completely. Still, it was a relief to only be getting drizzled on. Luke and Movette kept up a good pace to the end and Stephanie's horse, managed to keep up with us as well. We did some nice canters on the 2nd half of the ride also. We did make one pit stop for Mindy and Stephanie to answer a call of nature. The challenges of pulling down and then pulling up layers of soaked garments and undergarments can not be understated. I decided I would hold out to the end of the ride. After all, if this turned out to be a bad decision, it wasn't like anyone would notice a wet spot on my pants out of large group of soaked people! (yes, I made it back to camp just fine) Near the end of the ride we ended up catching up with the group that we'd let get ahead of us so we all rode in together.

We took Luke and Movette straight to the barn. We blanketed both of them and then sponged them off carefully mostly to removed dirt and mud as it was quite cold. We had to take the horses up to the cattle barn for P&R. Luke was a bit obnoxious here as he was sure he was about to die of starvation and was determined go get some grass. His pulse was 48. So we'd lose 1 point for being over 44. We then lined up in the barn for our  trot out. Luke was not bad at all about it. Yahoo! Though I struggled to trot myself as I think I had a gallon of water in each boot and my feet felt like they weighed 50 lbs each! After the trot out I then hustled Luke back to his stall and ran to the trailer to change my clothes! I felt like a new woman once I was dry. I took Luke back out and as the rain was fairly light at this time, let Luke graze. This made him very happy. We eventually lined up again in the barn for the hands on portion of the vetting. Luke was a good boy  again and we had successfully completed another ride. I tucked Luke back in his stall with lots of hay and packed up my stuff. They supper served was delicious and was followed by the award ceremony. They skies had opened up once again and it was pouring buckets. We were all so glad we were not still out on the trail. There were a lot of cold wet riders huddling around the little heater that was set up in the dance hall. Luke and I placed 5th with a score of 96. I chuckled when I read the not on the score sheet in the trot out category. At the start it was noted Luke was "silly". At the end it was noted, "not so silly".  Mindy won grand champion! Yet another great ride!

Crooked River 30 CTR

20 start - 19 Finished

1.   Movette                     Melinda Vienneau

2.   Via Vacious                Ruth Konecki

3.   Chase                         Esther Desjardin

4.   Luke                           Cynthia Ross (96.00)

5.   Tektonic                     Thomas Hutchinson

6.    Enchanted Safire        Michelle Valley

6.   LSF Benn Fortunate    Monica McKenna

8.   SPD Carousel              Colleen O'Connor

9.   Attala                           Peg Dockham

10. Bay Cliffe Flyer            Stephanie Buckley

11. Ivany Mahara               Patti McPheters

12. Sunny D                       Cindy Seames

13. Highcountry Piper +/    Marcia Deleware

14. Joseph                         Angela Clukey

15. Indian Smoke Sign       Vicki Austin

16. Mufasa SS                    Rachel Towne

J1. Theatric                         India Orino

J2. Lazaarr (Luke)               Kayla White

J3. Frontier Random            Calla Orino

Acadia 2 day 50 mile CTR 2013

(Photos by Wanda Clowater of Clowater Art and Photography )

I was excited to be going to one of my favorite rides of the CTR season. Oh wait, they are all my favorite rides........ anyway, Luke and I would be doing the 2 day 50 mile ride. We would ride 30 miles the first day. 5 miles longer than Luke's done so far. And then we would ride 20 miles the 2nd day. We were going to see just what this big, black, hairy Percheron mule was made of! I had all my and Luke's gear packed early in the week so was ready to go Friday morning. I worked at Upper Pond Stable Friday Morning and as soon as I finished work, I headed home to get Luke. I met Susie and Mary Ann at Susie's house and we all trailered up to Acadia together. It was quite interesting trying to get all of our gear for 3 people and 2 horses and a mule for a 2 day trip all in one truck and trailer. It was like putting a puzzle together but we managed it. Mary Ann had never done a CTR before so she and Susie were entered in the 15 mile CDR (conditioning distance ride) on Sunday. They were going to work the ride on Friday and Saturday. Mary Ann had gotten us a room at the Bar Harbor Regency hotel hotel in Bar Harbor which was quite a treat. We made one stop for diesel and coffee. We arrived at Wildwood Stables sometime around 3:00 pm. It didn't take long to get the horses and Luke settled into stalls. There are 3 barns for the horses at Wildwood.  I put Luke in the middle barn with Amy Beem's two horses. Since I would not be riding with Susie and Mary Ann, I figured it would be best to just separate them right from the start. I was riding with Amy and Allie Marie and told Luke he might as well just make friends with Amy's horses, Washburn and Moxie. Mary Ann didn't have a flat back bucket for hanging in her stall but I had a spare so I swapped her a flat back for one of her buckets for the weekend as I could use hers for sponging water. Luke was calling occasionally for Bayzen but he was not being obnoxious about it.

I was surprised and pleased to see Bill and Stephanie Rice at the ride. I thought Bill was still in Florida. We visited for a while and caught up on news. They have a new Great Dane. He's only 8 months old and already as big as a pony. I groomed Luke so he would be presentable when the judges arrived. The vet judge this weekend was Barbara Perkins and the lay judge was Sonda Day. They are both great! Luke was a complete gentleman for the vetting and did a very nice trot out. Now, I was just praying he would trot out at the end of the ride as it was Luke first 2 day ride. Susie and Mary Ann were put to work scribing for the judges. Scribing was a great learning experience for Mary Ann. When they were done with that they went out for a quick ride before supper. I took Luke out and let him graze on what grass could be found. I then tucked him into his stall for the evening with LOTS of hay, his grain and plenty of water. I had also made sure to bring along a piece of his salt block for his stall as he went at the one in his stall like a crazy mule when I got home from my last ride. We did have a "Great Mule Escape". I had come out of his stall and was reaching for some hay, his stall door was partially open and the bugger scooted out through the door past me. ACK! Luke wandered down the center aisle as I was getting his halter. He walked out the end of the barn and decided to just hang out there making friend with the horse in the end stall. He didn't try to walk away when I came up with his halter so it wasn't nearly as exciting as it could have been.  Amy's daughter, Sierra, had come to the ride to work it and she had brought a friend, Brooke, along with her. Colleen, the ride manager needed some help marking the trails. Sierra and Brooke had brought their bikes with them so went out on the bikes with Colleen who was on her horse. The ride provided our supper Friday night. We were pleasantly surprised by this as most rides don't provide a Friday meal. We had spaghetti with meat sauce, some of the best rolls, a nice salad and and there was even three flavors of cake to choose from for desert! Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry! I had to do a bit of a taste test on them all.....

After supper, we visited for a while but then had to head out to check into our hotel room in Bar Harbor for the night. We checked on the horses and Luke one last time and then left. It was going to be a chilly night so we would enjoy having a nice warm room to stay in. Amy and Allie were sleeping in Susie's trailer. We drove right through down town Bar Harbor on our way to the hotel. Even though it's before Memorial Day weekend, the town was crowded and busy being a Friday night. The hotel was very nice and we were quickly checked in and settled into our room and enjoying a glass of wine. We had a beautiful view of the ocean from our room. I slept fairly well that night. Poor Susie didn't sleep at all. She did, however, get a beautiful view of the sunrise over the ocean from our room's window.

Allie Marie on Moxie, Amy on Washburn and Cindy on Luke

We were all up at 5:00 so we could get ready and head to Wildwood stable by 5:45. Though Susie and Mary Ann were not riding in the competition until Sunday, I had to get there early to get Luke fed and be ready for my ride. Breakfast at ride camp was at 6:00 and the riders meeting was at 6:30. There were 2 drivers in the competition and they were going out at 7:30 then riders were starting out at 7:40. It was a chilly morning and was going to be a cool day. But it was sunny so we had dressed  in layers we could peel off as we knew we'd all quickly warm up when we hit the trails. Luke was pretty excited as I was tacking him up. He was not a bad boy but did dance around a little. I had Susie hold him while I mounted up. He's normally a perfect gentleman to be mounted but I decided to not take a chance on making a public spectacle. I kept him walking around while waiting for our start because he was ready to go. Soon, we were on our way and Luke took the lead and headed out like a powerhouse. We headed out on the Bubble Pond trail to the end of Eagle Lake and back toward Wildwood Stable on the Around the Mountain trail. Which, by the way, goes OVER a mountain! The roads are far from flat. They were constructed and graded to be handled by carriage horses so the climbs and descents, of which there are plenty, are long and steady. During the first half of the ride, Luke was really powering up the hills and going down them quite fast also. We were keeping to a trot as with such good footing, there was really no need to slow down. After several long slow climbs, Luke, Washburn and Moxie all started to slow down and take the hills a bit easier. Both Amy and Allie quickly found they were having saddle issues for themselves. Allie's stirrups were too long and they would not go any shorter. Amy was getting rubbed on the inside of her knees. Not fun to have happen so early into a 50 mile ride. Amy's horse Moxie was not impressed with having Luke as a riding companion. She didn't want him to be near her herd mate, Washburn. There was a water stop by the Hadlock ponds. None of the our equines were interested in drinking there. There was also water at the Jordan Pond House gate. They all took a sip there.

Taking at drink at the Jordan Pond House gate

We came into the hold in good time. We went straight to our stalls and sponged our mounts down with cool water. Luke was not hot and I could tell his pulse was not high. At the 10 minute check, his P&R was 44/16.  That was excellent! I grabbed Luke's feed pan and took it with me while we waited in line for the vet check. The trot out for a hold is just a simple straight up and back from the judges and Luke trotted out without fuss. As usual, we were late getting out of the hold but figured we'd make our time without any trouble. Allie had been very uncomfortable with the saddle she was using so Caleigh Wright let her use her saddle and Allie was much more comfortable with that. Poor Amy continued to suffer though the chaffing from her saddle. The 2nd loop took us out by Jordan Pond up to Aunt Betty Pond and around by the the Hadlock ponds. Luke headed out willingly and settled into a really nice "get the job done" speed. He trotted along so nice and steady up hill, down hill and on the flat, keeping a steady speed and never wavering. Amy's horses would fall behind on the climbs and then they would catch up and often go ahead on the flat sections or going downhill, then fall behind again on the climbs as Luke chugged steadily along. Luke was amazing in that he didn't fret about leaving his "buddies" behind, nor did he mind when they pulled ahead. He just chugged along doing his own thing calm and relaxed. I didn't have to push him either as even when he doesn't feel like he's moving very fast, with his long legs and long stride, he still covers ground fast enough to get the job done. When we came through the Jordan Pond House gate on the way out of the hold, Luke remembered the water bucket there and made a beeline for it. Luke was ready to drink now and there was no stopping him! Not that I wanted to, but he did catch me by surprise as I was gawking around and had forgotten about the water being here.  Amy and Allie had already ridden by the water bucket but came back and all three of them took a good drink here. They all took another another long drink when we passed though the last time. We finished the ride in good time with around 10 or so minutes to spare. We'd had 5 hrs. to 5 1/2 hours to complete the ride including the 20 minute hold. Luke had now done the longest ride in one day and he felt good. As at the hold, we went straight to our stalls and sponged them all down thoroughly. Luke didn't feel too warm but his pulse was coming down quite a lot slower than at the hold. At the 20 minute P&R check, Luke was 54/12. Higher on pulse than I'd like but not bad either. Luke was hungry and eating well. And he took another good drink at the barn so I knew he was fine. When I took him up for his trot out, he had to think about it. When I asked him to trot he didn't and I started out dragging him. I stopped, lead him back to the vet, looked him in the eye, shook my whip at him and asked him not to make me have to use it. I then asked him to trot again and he did. He still thought it was a stupid thing to do after a long ride but he humored me. GOOD BOY! Amy, Allie and I let the horses and Luke graze for a while and I let Luke take a good long roll. He was now a happy boy. This is the point where you start to worry when doing a multi day ride. You know your equine has just worked very hard, you know they are tired. And the little things like an ending pulse of 54 makes you wonder if your equine is really ready to do what you are asking of them, even when you know you've done all you should to condition and prepare them for it. But, each time I've done a multi day ride, my equines have impressed me by being even stronger and better the 2nd day. So, I just had to trust that I had properly prepared Luke for what I was asking him to do.

 Amy, Allie and I grabbed a quick lunch and then we crammed into Allie's car and I took Amy, Allie, Sierra and Brooke back to our hotel to take a shower. Susie and Mary Ann had gone out for another ride. It took quite a while for 5 of us to shower. While waiting for everyone to finish showering, Amy braided all our hair except Brooke's as she was last to shower. We were long enough at the hotel that we missed the supper at the ride. Amy showed me a different way to get to Wildwood Stable from the hotel that avoided going through Bar Harbor. As soon as we got back to Wildwood, I fed Luke, brought him out to let him graze for a while, then put him back in his stall with a lot of hay. Amy had put in some of her extra straw bedding in his stall. Luke was taste testing it when I left wondering what strange new culinary treat had been spread out over his stall floor. Silly mule.  It turned out there was plenty of left overs from supper and it was all still warm. A delicious pot roast with carrots, potatoes, rolls and yet more fabulous deserts. It was really getting quite chilly so Susie and Mary Ann were quite anxious to get back to the nice warm hotel room. So we headed back to the hotel as soon as I finished eating. We all relaxed and chatted for a while, then went to bed. I only woke up once when I heard a, "Cindy, wake up, your snoring" from Mary Ann.

View from our hotel window

I woke up at 4:30 am and was wide awake. I decided not to try going back to sleep so I got up and made myself a cup of coffee and sat by the window and watched the sun rise over the ocean. There were some clouds on the horizon but it was still very beautiful. Both Susie and Mary Ann were up before 5:00 am. We dressed, packed up all our things and loaded it into the truck. We took the route Amy had shown me back to Wildwood stable. I actually remembered it! I fed and watered Luke. He looked good and I felt we were both ready to tackle the 20 miles ahead of us today. Amy said after we left they had taken Moxie and Washburn out one last time to graze. They said that Luke let out a few mournful brays and they took pity on him and brought him out to graze also. I was grateful to them for doing that. I had some breakfast, and then went over my tack and considered changing to a different girth, then decided to leave things alone as I'd had no problem the previous day. After the riders meeting, I tacked Luke up. He was certainly quieter today but still very bright eyed and eager. I felt confident of mounting this morning without any assistance. When  our numbers were called for our time to go, I looked around and Amy was missing. Hummmmmm, she was back at the barn doing something with her saddle. She finally mounted up and Kyle Nielson noticed her girth looked loose and called her back and tightened it for her. It was about this time Amy realized we were waiting for her, she hadn't realized it was time for us to go. So, she hustled over and we were off. All three equines were bright and eager to go. Right away Amy knew her stirrups were too long....or too short....I can't quite remember which so we stopped at the top of the access road out of camp and she adjusted them. She was not going to have a fun ride today due to the chaffing she'd gotten on the inside of her knees the previous day that was only going to get worse today. We told her she could whine and cry all she wanted too but we were going to make her finish the ride no matter what. We joked that in the future, this ride would be the one referred to as the ride that Amy whined for 50 miles. The 50 mile riders went out ahead of the 15 mile CDR riders. The first thing we did was the 5 mile loop and climb to the summit of Day Mountain. Luke, Moxie and Washburn were moving along at a pretty good clip to start. As soon as we turned onto the summit trail, Luke, having done this climb a number of time previously, knew we were in for a long climb and switched into energy conservation mode. He kept at a steady even trot and never wavered to the top of the mountain. I was so proud of him. Once down the mountain we came back by the entrance trail to Wildwood stable and there was a water bucket here. All three took a drink here. Wanda, the photographer was also here and we all stripped off a layer of sweat shirts and polar fleeces and left them in her care.

From here the trail was the loop by Jordan Pond and up to Aunt Betty pond and the long way way around to the Hadlock Ponds. At the water stop by Lower Hadlock Pond, Luke was not interested in drinking but was doing his best to find something to eat. The volunteers fed them all some carrots and apples as well as giving us water and some of Colleen's famous peanut butter bars. When we came though the Jordan Pond House gate, all three took a big drink here. The last part of the ride took us down to seal Harbor and around Long Pond. We did quite a bit of cantering today and Luke was very willing to do so. He was moving along just great. As we were doing yesterday, I would get ahead of Amy and Allie on the climbs and then they would pass me on the down hills. We stayed together on most of the canters. And Luke even stepped it up a notch past Western pleasure lope. Not far from being back to the stable, we caught up to Susie and Mary Ann. The 15 mile riders went out after we 50 mile riders but they did not go up Day Mountain so some of them ended up ahead of us. We passed them but they caught up to us as our three equines were taking a good drink out of the water tub at the top of the access road from the stable. We came into the finish on time with Susie and Mary Ann right behind us. Woooohoooo, Luke and I now had 50 miles done.

Coming into the finish of day 2

 We went to our stalls and sponged like crazy. I didn't not let Luke eat this time, I just kept water in front of him and had him rest until our 20 minute P&R was done. Luke pulsed down to 36! Yeah! His best pulse down yet. But, as his respiration was being taken, people were leading horses in and out past his stall and he was sniffing at them. So, his pulse was recorded at 37. ACK! That would cost us some points. We got in line for our trot out and the hard part was keeping Luke on his feet. Poor Luke thinks I'm awful mean to not let him roll right away. Then, it was time to trot......... like yesterday, I jogged off and.......hit the end of the lead line as Luke was NOT trotting. Luke, Luke, Luke. I led him back to the vets and as yesterday, had a little talk with him. "Luke, this is important, you really HAVE to trot". I did give him a tap with the whip but only one quick tap as I've already learned that offending Luke is NOT the  way to get him to do something. And, much to my relief, he decided to once again humor me and did a fairly nice trot out. Yeeehaaaaaa! When we were done with the trout out I and promptly gave him a big juicy apple and whispered in his ear what a good boy he was.

Telling Luke what a good boy he is

I put him in his stall and cleaned up and packed as much of my stuff as I could while waiting for the hands on part of the vetting. Once we got through the hands on, for which Luke was a perfect gentleman, I then let Luke roll  as much as he wanted. He always feels better after a good roll! I let him graze for a short time then put him back into his stall with water and hay and some food with apples and carrots mixed in. No matter what our score was, Luke was a superstar in my book. It's rare that you ever see a mule doing CTR's in the Northeast. And I can't say I've ever seen (though I'm sure there have been) a Percheron in a competition. I am amazed at the stamina and willingness of this big, black, hairy, Percheron mule. Susie hooked up the trailer and pulled it over in front of the barns. We packed everything into the trailer. After we had yet another delicious supper, we loaded, Bayzen, Suri and Luke onto Susie's trailer as we didn't think it would be long before the award ceremony. It was a longer wait then we thought it would be but the horses and Luke were happy as can be hanging out in the trailer with the windows down munching hay and watching things. Luke and I got a 4th place ribbon. Amy with Washburn got a 3rd and Moxie was 5th. Luke lost 1.625 points for his respiration at the end. 1/2 point for windpuffs and 1 1/2 points for mechanical fatigue in the "length of stride" and "willingness" (or lack thereof) category for a score of 96.376. He had on trail comments on his score sheet of "relaxed, nice quite canter", "bright and eager" and "nice, straight, even, steady, relaxed and forward". I could not have been more pleased with Luke, 50 miles in 2 days is a great accomplishment for a big, black, hairy Percheron mule! As soon as awards were done, we were ready to go. Just before we left, Mary Ann realized she had left her cell phone and I pad chargers in the hotel room. After a very frustrating round of trying to call the hotel in an area where cell phone reception is very bad and not getting very satisfying results with what conversations were managed with the hotel employees, we ended up driving back to the hotel with the horse trailer to get them. And they only had one of the chargers. We stopped at Dunkin Donut for coffee on the way home. And we stopped again for gas. We had an uneventful ride home but basked in the contentment of a great ride. The weather had been perfect for riding, the trails in Acadia are unique and absolutely lovely, great people and great food. And both Susie's Bayzen and Mary Ann's Surry were wonderful on the 15 mile CDR that they did. So we declared we had the most wonderful equines on earth. At Susie's house, her husband came out and helped us transfer all our gear to our respective trailer and then the last short leg of the journey home for Luke and I to my house. Luke was very happy to be home and roll in is own dirt. Now, I'm looking forward the the Crooked River 30 CTR next weekend.

Acadia 50 CTR

Start 9 - Finish 9

1.  Morning Mist Angel          Mary Palumbo

2.  Chase                               Esther Desjardin

3.  SPD Carousel                   Colleen O'Conner

4.  Luke                                 Cynthia Ross (96.376)

5.  The Batchelor Z                Sandra Stavens

6.  Washburn                         Amy Beem

7.  ABF Miss Moxie River     Alexandria Hafford

8. Mic Mac Amulet                Meghan Thompson

J1. UC Minuet                        Burnie Thompson

To West Bowdoin with Linda and Diane

The Cody Loop Trail

Susie, Linda and I rode the Cody Loop trail today. Susie rode her mare Dixie today. We met over at Triple J Farm at 10:30 am. Ack, too tired to finish ride story now.....to be continued........

Riding at Upper Pond With Lindsey and Brooke

While working at Upper Pond this morning, we all got talking about trail riding and I got the bright idea that we should all go for a trail ride after work. Lindsey was on board with the idea pretty quickly. Brooke said she didn't really care to take one of her horses out on trail so I offered to let her ride my Marie. Brooke said she would be happy to go out on trail with Marie so, as soon as I was done work, I went home, quickly fed, grabbed a quick sandwich for myself and loaded up both Luke and Marie and headed back to Upper Pond. Lindsey decided to ride her horse, Outie. He is an ott Standardbred with little trail experience. Luke and Marie would be very good for him to go with as both are such steady trail ponies. It didn't take long to get ready and we were soon headed out. Outie didn't know quite what to think of it all but he was a very good boy. I took the lead with Luke and Brooke took the rear with Marie and we kept Outie between us for most of the ride. A few times he did forge ahead but not for long. He is quite unsure of how to handle himself with a rider going down hills. So, Lindsey would just zig zag him down the hills and he would manage that way. We made a few circuits of the trails behind the stable. On our last pass by the pond, I rode Luke right over to it. He was hesitant about approaching it and as I was urging him towards it, suddenly Lindsey and Outie passed right by me. Outie was quite interested in checking out the water. It was funny watching him. Luke did step in after a minute. It was a fun ride and I think we need to do it more often!

Leverett 25 Competitive Trail Ride



Ride camp at the Leverett 25 CTR in MA. (Mr. Mulie on right)

The much anticipated first ride of the season had arrived! Susie and I were heading to Leverett, MA for a 25 mile CTR. We were taking Susie's truck and trailer as her truck gets better gas mileage and she has a nice LQ trailer. I packed everything into my trailer Thursday afternoon. You would have thought I was packing for a week long trip. A mule blanket for if it rained, a wool cooler if the evening was chilly, extra girths, pads, break away halter for turn out, rope halter for vetting, regular halter for ..... well regular stuff....grain, and extra grain just in case, way too much hay........sigh. If Susie packed as much stuff, the trailer wouldn't be big enough. I had to work at L.L.Bean Thursday evening but was fortunate enough to get out early at 8:00 pm. I made a quick stop at the grocery store for some snack items and drinks to take with us and then home, took care of the ponies and got a decent night sleep. I did have to work at Upper Pond stable Friday morning but Karen let me leave there at 9:00 am. I hustled home, made myself a sandwich and salad to eat on the way, loaded up Luke and headed to Susie's house. Bonnie was at Susie's house when I arrived as she was going to borrow my new Sensation western saddle for the weekend. Bonnie helped Susie and I transfer my stuff to Susie's trailer and we did get everything in.  Soon Susie and I were on our way.  It is a 4 hr. drive to Leverette, MA. We made one stop for gas on the way. Susie's husband had given us directions to take Rt. 202 off Rt. 2 to cut over to Rt. 63 where the ride site is. It was not the directions that were given in the ride information but looking at the map, it did look shorter. It turned out that it was not the best way to go. However, it was a lovely drive.....if you were in a car......very hilly with narrow winding roads. We didn't have any problem but it was slow going. We found the ride site fairly easily. We pulled in and parked next to Esther and Jim Fiddes. I haven't seen them in a while and it would be fun camping next to them. We commenced to setting up camp. Susie warned me to be very careful going in and out of the LQ part of her trailer. Her husband had cleaned her trailer for her and had used Pledge on her floor. It was slippery like a skating rink! I had brought my portable fence unit and we got that set up right away. I, of course, forgot to get batteries for the charger but we didn't think either of the boys would challenge the fence. If they did, we could drive to town for batteries. We did separate the pen into two sections as Susie's horse, Bayzen, doesn't always play nice with others. We quickly realized I'd forgotten to transfer my buckets into Susie's trailer. AGH! Susie had a few extra and the Fiddes loaned us a couple so we were ok there.  I decided that Luke was not going to test the fencing when I saw him with his lip hooked over the edge of his water bucket trying to pull it back. It was too close to the fencing for his comfort and he was worried about getting his ears zapped. I immediately relocated his bucket further into the pen much to his relief. Once we had camp set up, we registered and found out where to get water and such. Susie and I signed up for the team competition also. We called out team Mutt & Jeff. It seemed fitting as Bayzen is a small gray Arab and Luke is a huge black Percheron mule. We then relaxed and visited with the Fiddes for a while.

There was already quite a line for vetting by the time we got around to cleaning up Luke and Bayzen and heading over to the vetting area. Waiting to vet in is always a good time for visiting with old friends and meeting some new ones. Luke was very good for the vetting in. Though the anal tone check startled him a bit. The first foot that the vet judge tried to pick up was Luke's left front. That is the only foot that Luke is reluctant to pick up. (from months of treating thrush that sometimes was uncomfortable for him) I told her he would happily pick up any other foot. She moved to his left hind and he snatched it right up before she even reached for it. The judge hesitated wondering if he was lining up to kick and I assured her that he was only offering her the foot like a good boy. Luke did a very nice trot out and both Bayzen and Luke were passed to ride. We settled the boys into their pens, fed them and made sure they had lots of hay and water. Now it was time for us to relax! A group of us gathered at the Fiddes trailer for the evening. We shared snacks and Susie and I had our easy supper of salad and sandwiches. When it got dark, Jim got out his "campfire". This is just a fairly small metal bucket with tightly rolled cardboard in it. He throws in a bunch of wax and it makes for a great little campfire. With adding the wax, this one roll of cardboard in the bucket lasts him the whole ride season. Is was a fun, relaxing evening with friends old and new. Susie decided to blanket Bayzen for the night. I decided to leave Luke naked. He still has most of his winter hair and though it was a cool night, it was not that chilly. Susie and I headed for bed at 9:00 pm. We chatted until about 10:00 pm though Susie's plan was actually to read for a while. I woke up once for a call of nature and gave Luke more hay since I was up. The boys were both quiet and relaxed.

Susie on Bayzen and Cindy on Luke waiting at the start

Susie got up just before I did in the morning and fed the boys, picked the pen and topped off water. It pays off to sleep in a little! The boys knew something was up. This was only the 2nd ride for both of them so they don't quite know the routine yet. Bayzen bit Luke over the fence and was being quite mean to him. It was a good thing we'd separated them and Luke had plenty of room to get out of Bayzen's reach. Luke seemed quite offended that his buddy Bayzen would treat him this way. We went down to where they were serving coffee as well as some fruit and pastry. It was chilly in the morning but was to be an absolutely lovely day. In the 70's, sunny, light breeze and low humidity. We cleaned up the boys, tacked up and left them tied them to SEPARATE sides of the trailer while we went to the riders meeting. There was a very good turn out for this ride with well over 30 riders. After the meeting, Susie and I went back to get the boys and we just walked them around for a while. When the pair of riders ahead of us went out, we mounted up. Both boys were excited but behaving extremely well. Our numbers were called and we were on our way. Luke took the lead at first and was doing his huge trot making poor Bayzen canter to keep up. Though for Bayzen, cantering is an easy gait for him. The first of the ride was along dirt roads. We did a lot of gradual climbing and the landscape was lovely. We came into a little village and were trotting along a short section of tar, me in the lead on Luke, when we came up to a little corner store. Just as we got there, a man stepped out of the store with coffee in hand. Luke spotted this and put on the emergency brakes. Metal shoes on tar..... We did quite a nice slide! I'm not sure what Luke thought the man was carrying that was so scary......or maybe he wanted a coffee..... and then Bayzen was reluctant to go by as he was wondering what had spooked Luke. Silly boys! We got them moving again without much fuss and were right back on dirt road again. This road followed a beautiful stream and we went by many older and lovely homes. We went off the dirt road into the woods and did a nice little lolly pop trail that was very nice. Here we passed riders going in the opposite direction which made Luke and Bayzen wonder what was going on. Neither of them fussed though. By now, Bayzen had taken the lead and stayed there the rest of the ride. It was like Luke had remembered our last ride and realized we might be doing a lot of miles and went into energy conservation mode. Not lazy mode at all. He just relaxed, and went just the speed he needed to go to get the job done. I didn't have to push him at all. After the lolly pop, we rode the same way back to camp for the hold. There were many opportunities for water along the trail but neither Luke or Bayzen really drank much. We sponged them each time we could though they were not really sweating much.

A mule admirer who can't resist the ears

Getting ready to head out after the hold

We were able to go to our trailer for the hold for P&R's. We sponged both boys like crazy though neither was all that hot. The one challenge I'm going to have with Luke is getting his pulse down. And only because his resting rate is 40 which is higher than many horses used for distance riding. He pulsed down fine to 52 in 10 minutes and I was pleased. We grabbed the boys food and took it with us for them to eat while in line for the vet check. The ride was extremely well organized and things were moving along very efficiently. It didn't take long to get through our trot out and both boys did great. Despite how well things were moving along, by the time we got back to the trailer after trot out and getting their bridles back on, we were 6 minutes late leaving the hold. This is fine as there is no penalty for leaving late, we just had to make up that time along the trail. The 2nd half of the ride was on trail and went up and over a mountain. There were a few steep climbs and some sections of the trail were quite rocky but it was very beautiful and fun. Luke and Bayzen did great on the climbing. They chugged along very steadily and handled it very well. They are both used to rocky trails so that was no issues though it did mean we had to move along slower. The actual trail mileage was a little short of 25 miles so we had a little leeway in time and had made good time on the first part of the ride. We had a mountain biker cruise by us as we were going up one hill. We were trotting along and Luke was a little worried about the bike just because it was moving fast towards us. But, I just pushed him along keeping him at a trot and he just sucked back for a moment when it got right to us but then kept moving like a good boy. We met a few hikers along the trail. Not surprising as it was such a lovely day. There was one rider that we passed back and forth with for a lot of the ride. She was having a lot of trouble with her horse and at one point it got Bayzen a little excited. But, he kept it together, and eventually didn't really pay any attention to this horses antics. A lot of the trail on the second half of the ride also followed a little stream and the boys were finally starting to get thirsty. We found a few places to get into the stream to let them drink. And just before entering the grounds of the ride site, there was one last stream crossing and Luke took a big drink here and he was wanting to eat everything in sight. A GOOD sign as that meant he was not overly tired. Bayzen had taken a few good drinks on the 2nd half of the ride also.

When we finished, we tied both boys to the same side of the trailer as that would keep Luke happier and help him to pulse down. We just had to baby sit them like crazy to make sure Bayzen didn't get nasty towards Luke. We quickly stripped tack and the first thing I did was offer Luke a chance to roll. He surprisingly did not take the opportunity and was instead looking around for food. He was hungry! Oh well, I tied him back up and we sponged the boys thoroughly with lots of cold water. Luke pulsed down to 44 with a respiration of 16 in the 20 minutes allowed. WOOOOHOOOO, I was pleased, this is what we needed. Bayzen was fine also. We took them over for the hands on. Again, things were moving along very efficiently and it didn't take all that long to get to the vet. This time Luke willingly offered all 4 feet to the judge. Good boy! Everything was good and Luke had no changes in his tack area or legs. And his metabolics had been good so as of now I knew we had not lost any points. All we had left at this point was the trot out. But that is what can make or break your placing in a ride. When the hands on were done, Susie and I let both boys roll in the nice sand in the arena. Luke was in heaven! He rolled, got up, rolled again, got up, rolled a third and then a 4th time. Every one was getting a kick out of his rolling antics! And we decided he was worth $400 as he'd rolled completely over 4 times. We put the boys in the pen to let them relax and eat and went to get lunch as it would be a while before it was time to do our trot out. The lunch provided was very good. There were pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, macaroni salad, and yummy home made deserts. Susie and I packed up as much as we could at this time. When it was getting near time to go for the final trot out, we got the boys out and I had to groom Luke again as he was covered in arena dirt. We walked the boys around and did a few practice trots and Bayzen was great. Luke also trotted for me but he was slightly reluctant. When we got up to the judge, Susie went first with Bayzen. He was a good boy and I thought his trot out looked nice. Now it was my turn. Well, Luke had decided he was all done working for the day. And he saw no sense in trotting yet again. He had humored me all weekend, doing silly trot outs for the vet, lugging me 25 miles up and down hills and he was all done, thank you very much. Nor did he see any reason to be leaving his buddy Bayzen. I had to swing my lead line around and pop him on the butt to finally get him to trot away from the judges. He was quite offended by this but did reluctantly break into a trot. Then the circles.......ha! NOT! I started out running with him and he came back to a walk and just said no. So, I set him up to lunge him around, which I have taught him to do..... nope, not happening...... So again, I swung my lead rope and gave him a good pop in the butt. Well that was the last straw for Luke. I had offended him one too many times in the space of just a few minutes and he broke into a brief canter then shook is head, jumped up into a big buck and then stopped, faced me and positively glared at me. He truly felt I was being unfair to him. It's a mule thing. Their sense of justice is very strong and truly it's one of the quirks I love about mules even when it means that sometimes things don't go as I want. Though it's not quite as endearing when it's happening in front of a large audience. I persisted in trying to make him trot, he did do so a little bit with the most sour of faces. He trotted back towards the judges quite well though as he knew that would be the end of it. So, I knew we had just sunk our placing in the ride with a bad trot out. Once out of the arena, I had Susie take Bayzen back to the trailer and I went to an open spot and made Luke trot out for me a few times. He has to know that he needs to do this when I ask. And he eventually did do it for me. Though in the long run, forcing it on a mule is not the best solution. I need to trot him out at the end of every ride I do at home so it just becomes a habit. And I need to encourage it with positive reinforcement to get him to do it willingly and look forward to it so you don't get the sullen, sulky looks you see in so many horses at rides who do it because they know they have to and have been taught this by being poppoed with whips to force it.




Waiting in line for the final trot out

We loaded the boys into the trailer after the trot out as we didn't think it would take them all that long to do the scoring as things were just moving along so efficiently. The boys both are very relaxed in the trailer and were happy with hay in front of them and the windows down so they could hang their heads out. We then packed up the fence unit and cleaned up camp and were ready to go when the awards were ready to be presented. I had indeed lost 4 points for "mechanical fatigue" due to our poor final trot out. I think the judges were quite lenient all things considered. Luke had a perfect score in all other categories. No tack changes, clean legs, no lameness, no metabolic issues. So, I was truly very pleased. He handled the trail, mileage and speed easily and was a joy to ride. Susie also lost 4 points for mechanical fatigue. With 8 points lost between us, we did not place in the team category. We placed 9th and 10th overall in the ride. With as many riders as there were, not bad at all for two boys new to the sport. Bayzen had been such a good boy all weekend, his behavior out on the trail had been wonderful making it a fun ride for Susie so she too was extremely pleased with her ride. We just had such a wonderful time. Susie has done this particular ride just once before but she had been very sick when she did the ride and hadn't remembered what a beautiful ride it is. And this was my first time at this ride.

Once the award ceremony was over, we were ready to hit the road and headed right out. We took the better drive for hauling a trailer back to route 2. Susie wanted to stop for gas so when we saw an exit sign that showed there was diesel fuel at an Irving station available, she took that exit. Well, we about got lost trying to find the gas station! It was not all that close to the exit and we had to drive on some little roads, through a neighborhood, stop to make sure we weren't lost (we weren't)  cross over the highway and after a few more turns, we finally found the gas station. We made a mental note to NOT get off at this exit for gas in the future. There was a Duncan Donut in the Irving station. We both wanted coffee but it took forever to get waited on and we almost gave up. As we pulled onto the entrance ramp for Rt. 2, a container of bite size Kit Kat candy bars we'd been munching on, fell under Susie's feet and we had to stop and pick them all up. It was the attack of the Kit Kats! And we missed our exit off Rt.2 onto Rt. 495. I was gabbing on the phone and Susie saw the sign too late. No harm done though as the next exit was only a few miles further on and we just turned around. And while on the highway, we heard a noise in the back of the truck. Uh ohhhhhh, what had blown out..... I craned around to see if I could spot anything missing. I see that the bag for my electric fence unit is open but nothing seemed to be missing. Hummmm. The rest of the ride home was uneventful and we got home safe and sound. Upon getting to Susie's, we did find that what had blown out was the carboard box that my fence charger was in. The charger, which had been in the box, was no loose in the back of the truck, just the box was missing and was what had blown out of the truck. So, no big deal. It was a great weekend and a great ride!



Leverett 25 CTR 5/4/13

39 start  34 finish

J1. UC Minuet                                Burnie Thompson III

J2. Depot View Dynamite Dolly       Dale Thompson

J3. Black Martini                             Alexis Laflamme

J4. MTS Glorious Mariska              Emily Field

J5. Chia                                          Noa Block

J6. Benny                                       Andrea Jernigan

J7. Kira                                          Alice Adams-Nice

1.  Breeze                                      Erica Botman

2.  Highcountry Piper +/                 Marcia Deleware

2.  Creme Brulee                           Martha Demson

2.  Travelons Batman                     Jessica Cassidy

5.  High Brook Quintessential         Kathryn Waters

6.  Patenaude Valcain Gazelle         Jeffrey Gardener

6.  Mic Mac Amulet                       Megan Thompson

6.  LBF Hickory Smoke                James Fiddes

6.  Sheba's Knight Dancer              Heather Vecchio

6.  Avatar Bey Magic                     Pamela DeSimone

11. Boston Creme                         Paul LaFlamme

12. Spice Girl                                William Lasher

12. Sa Bazeyn                               Susan Reinheimer

14. Hawks Nest Expedition           Allen Welles

15. Luke                                       Cynthia Ross (95.50)

15. Diva                                        Nancy Folbre

17. Quietude MacKenzie              Esther Fiddes

17. Gingerbread                            Pat Clark 

c     Storybooks Lady Killer          Elizabeth Kohler

c     April's Velvet Star                  Lynn Clark

c     Midnight's Pearl                      Millie Seaton

c     CBMF Secret Crush              Stacey Stearns

c     MTS Shadow Cricket            Janice Kilmer 

c     Salons La De Da                    Ralf Kohler

c     Amorata Alibi                         Amanda Stazick

c     Clancy's Galaxy                      Samantha Hammond

c     Bid's Pretty Sassy                   Judith Guske

DNF Kodak Moment                   Bonnie Hurton

DNF Ghost                                   Christina MacDougal

DNF Ollie                                     Jeff Cook

DNF MTS Royale Jasmin              Jane Rathbun

DNF Teeze Me PW                      Joanna Lasher