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