Lily, The Lovely Bright Molly: 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.