I was so excited to be going to the Pine Tree ride! It has been several years since I've done a 50 mile ride. The Pine Tree ride is based at the Waterford Fairgrounds. This is the same place where the Crooked River 30 CTR was held just 4 weeks ago. Luke had done so well at that ride and finished very strong so I felt he would be ready to move up to a 50 mile ride.
I tortured myself for weeks about trying the ride with Luke barefoot. I'd only put shoes on him for the month of May this year to do the 3 CTR's that I did with him. Prior to that he had been barefoot and I'd had his shoes pulled right after the Crooked River ride and he's been just fine. I really wanted to get him some boots but mule feet can be hard to fit because they are quite different in shape than a horses foot being long and narrow rather than round as well as having a larger heel bulb that sit back further than the heel buttress. I ordered an Easy Boot fit kit. They send 3 sizes of boot shells that they feel is most likely to fit by the hoof measurements given. It seemed the boots would work and I ordered a set for front and back and when they came they would not work. The shell fit well enough but the gaiter that goes around the pastern was much too small. Darn mule feet! So, I had to send them back. I got out Marie's old Easy Boots, they are the original style with no gaiter. After playing around with them my smallest pair seemed to fit Luke's front feet. I had nothing small enough for his back feet. I did one good ride with the boots on his front feet and they seemed to work. Ok, that would take care of the front feet. I then ordered a pair one size smaller for his rear feet. When they came they were far too small. The sizing system had changed since I got the boots I already had! I did not have time to send them back and get the new ones before the ride. I did have my farrier come over on Friday, the day I left for the ride and shape up a set of shoes so they would be all ready in case I needed the farrier at the ride to put them on.
I had to work at Upper Pond Stable Friday Morning. As soon as I was done there I had to go pick up my truck at the mechanics. Just a week ago I'd been getting ready to pull out of my yard with the trailer and blew my front brake lines. All the brake lines had to be replaced. And when replacing the brake lines, they found that where the power steering units is bolted to the frame of the truck was all rusted and cracked. That had to be welded and reinforced, so, $800 later....... Then it was back home and wait for my farrier, who due to my waffling on what to do with Luke's feet is thinking I'm crazy but he's willing to humor me.
I had been hoping to get a much earlier start for the ride but it was not to be. Still, I managed to head out sometime around 12:30 or 1:00 pm. After giving Luke a quick bath as he was so covered in dust that even after being brushed you couldn't tell what color he really was. When I got to the fairgrounds, I was pleased to see so many trailers. It looked like the ride had a very good turn out. But, where to park.....I pulled to the side parked my truck temporarily to look around for a spot. I lowered Luke's window on the trailer so he could look out. He bugled happily to everyone in camp announcing his presence.....repeatedly. I found there was a stall available in one of the barns. In fact, the same stall he'd had last fall for the Maine CTR ride. I quickly set the stall up with hay and water and settled Luke in. The mare in the stall next to him seemed to like him just fine which was good as there is not much separating the stalls. I did throw up a rope between them to discourage any thoughts of getting too friendly. Luke was very quite and relaxed so I hunted down Adam Jack who was in charge of parking. He told me that since I didn't need space to set up a pen, I could park my trailer in the lower arena. It's a slightly tight turn to get in there so any trailers larger than mine can't park there anyway. I was happy with this as it was near the barn Luke was in. I quickly got camp set up. As I was heading to the office to register, I spotted my good friend Ival standing in line for vetting and quickly said hello. She had come up from NJ with her friend Wendy. I was SO happy to see her. Once registered, I checked on Luke again, put his number on his hindquarters and took him to be vetted in. All went well and we were good to go in the morning. I settled Luke back in his stall and went to visit with Ival and Wendy.
My friend Bonnie had planned to crew for me but both of her dogs had gotten sick and she'd had to stay home to take care of them. So, another friend, Margaret, generously volunteered to crew for me but could not come until Saturday morning. She would not make it before the ride started but was sure she could get to the first hold before I did. So, I was now fretting about how to get my things to the hold. I decided I should just take my truck over and leave it there. Ival, Wendy and I were going to eat at Melby's that evening so they said they'd follow me over to the hold so I could drop my truck off and then we'd go out to eat. We did this and once at the hold, I wasn't sure where would be a good place to park my truck. After a bit of hemming and hawing I just pulled the truck off the side of the road as far as I could. The hold was at a farm on a dead end road. but, it's not the last farm on the road and the road is quite narrow. So, I was hoping the truck was ok where I parked it. Wendy and Ival helped me to set my thing up near where they were set up. I had forgotten to put the crew instruction in with my stuff for Margaret, sigh.
When we got to Melby's restaurant, it was already very crowded and we had to wait for a while to get a table. This was when I realized I had left my cell phone in my truck, sigh.....Soon after we were seated, Stephanie Buckley and her daughter Sarah came in and we invited them to sit with us. We had a nice time visiting over supper. When we got back to camp, I checked on Luke again filling his water bucket and hay bag and fed him his grain. He seemed very content in his stall hanging out with the horses. At the riders meeting a short time later, it was mentioned that they didn't want people parking vehicles just where I had parked my truck. It just figured. I spotted Wanda Clowater, the ride photographer, and asked her if she would run me down to the hold so I could move my truck and kind woman that she is, she took me down. I remembered to take the crew instructions for Margaret to leave with my things. Once back at the hold, I decided to just put all my stuff out as it was not going to rain and I drove my truck back to camp. By now it was getting dark and everyone was heading to bed as we all had to be up early. The 100 mile riders were starting at 5:00 am, the 50 mile riders at 5:30 am and the 30 mile riders at 7:00 am. I checked on Luke one last time, topped off his water and quickly picked out his stall and headed to bed myself. There was a full moon and a clear sky and it was a beautiful night. It didn't take me long to fall asleep. I woke up once around 1:00 am and as I lay there listening to the sounds of the night, it amazed me how quiet it was. There were over 70 horses in camp and yet I didn't hear any sounds that indicated there was a single horse there.
4:00 am came all too soon and I was up and getting ready to ride. I fed Luke and went to get some coffee and had a donut, breakfast of champions you know. I was going to ride with Wendy and Ival. Ival's horse Clover has done quite a few rides already and even came in 8th place at a 50 mile ride out of over 30 rides with a time of 5 hrs. 9 min just a few months previously. Wendy's horses Fleuron is younger and this was his first 50 mile ride. Wendy wanted to stay up in the fairground and wait until everyone left so her horse wouldn't get too excited. This was fine with me since I was not planning to race and was just hoping for a finish. Ival went down to the start and checked us in. She came back and we got mounted up and just rode around the grounds until about 5:35 and we were quite sure all the other 50 mile riders had gone. We then wandered out of the fairground and headed left up the dirt road. We picked up a nice trot and Luke took the lead. Fleuron would pass me occasionally and fall back. Luke didn't mind and just moved along steadily. When we passed the first turn off the main road we see a group of trail marker plates marked with all the loop numbers for the trails and I see L4, L45, L6, L.....whatever. What I don't see is L1.......I mention this to Wendy and Ival but they feel quite sure we are fine and this is the direction the ride usually starts out so I didn't think to much more about it right then. We also know we are supposed to be following white trail ribbons and we do see them but they are on the wrong side of the road. Well, if we are returning the same way, the ribbons might be only on one side. But then again...... and then I did start to worry a little but this WAS the way the trail usually goes. 4 mile up this road, a long slow climb, we come to another turn off and this one has a plate with a big "W" on it meaning WRONG way. And a sign that says "No Horses". This is where we expected we'd be turning off the dirt road. Now we know something is wrong and I am now quite sure that right from the fairground we were supposed to turn right NOT left. There is nothing to do now but turn around and go back until we find a marker plate with L1 on it. Sure enough, right at the end of the driveway of the fairground, in plain sight where it could not be missed was the marker for L1 and an arrow pointing to the RIGHT. We had just ridden 8 miles before even officially starting the ride. This was quite demoralizing to us all. We all pretended that it wasn't knowing full well that each of us knew it was. We put on our best smiles and continued riding joking about this now being the 58 mile Pine Tree pleasure ride. Luke continued to lead for the most part and he was happy to do so. Fleuron could have moved faster but he is still young and a little green and he was happy following Luke. Ival's horse Clover could have trotted much faster then either of them but Ival didn't want to set a pace too fast for Luke and Fleuron so stayed behind us. This was not easy for poor Clover as she is just naturally a much faster trotter. After all, she is an off the track Standardbred! On the first loop we had to go over French Hill. It's a long steep climb to the top. Wendy and Ival, being from NJ, don't have a lot of hills where they live to condition on. I don't either for that matter so this was a lot of work for Luke and the horses. Luke and Fleruon climbed pretty steadily. Clover had to stop a couple times to catch her breath. The descent is even steeper so we all got off and walked Luke and the horses down letting them grab grass here and there along the way. The black flies were brutal on the walk down French Hill. There were a few other places along the trail where they were bad and you didn't want to go to slow. Thankfully, it was not like this everywhere.
 |
| Wendy on Flueron, Cindy on Luke and Ival on Clover |
When we headed out of the hold, all three of our equines were moving slower. We had to do a loop that would bring us around and through the hold area that we would repeat. The 2nd time through would be our 2nd hold. We didn't make the best time on the first circuit. Luke really slowed down quite a bit. Wendy pushed Fleuron ahead of Luke and I and Clover was traveling a little behind me. Luke was drinking very well now and he was eating everything he could get his lips on. But, he was really slowing down and I didn't push him too hard. I have not found Luke to be a lazy mule so I had to trust him on this one. We passed through the hold area and on our 2nd loop Luke actually perked up a bit. His head came back up and there was a little bounce to his step again though I can't say our speed increased much. And somewhere on this loop one of his boots came off. Darn boots! But, he seemed to be doing fine without it. When we got into the hold, Luke was immediately searching for food. Because of our 8 mile detour, we were way behind everyone else so there was no one else in the hold. I quickly stripped Luke's saddle off and took him down to get his pulse taken. He did not in any way want to go down to the vetting area but he did go. His pulse was 64. Right at the cut off. And his gut sounds were present but slightly diminished. He was VERY reluctantly to do his trot out and just barely passed the vetting. I was given an "out time" but the vet asked that I bring Luke back for a re evaluation before heading out. Ival had already decided to pull from the ride. Clover's pulse was not coming down quite as it should. She looked fine though and was eating and drinking well. Luke was snarfing up all the left overs from everyone else that had been left behind. A regular buffet and he was loving it. I put a lot of cold water on him to cool him down. I checked his pulse after 30 minutes and it was still in the 60's. At this point I knew the only way we could complete the ride in the time allowed was to pick up the pace and I just was not comfortable doing that with Luke. He was truly very tired and it was time to call it a day. We had done nearly 40 miles so not a bad day all in all. And it was 40 tough miles. And though the temperature was not extremely high being around 80, it was quite humid. I still had to take Luke back down to the be reevaluated even though I had decided to pull from the ride. Again, Luke was not happy about being taken from his food to see the vet. As we were approaching the vet, Luke was taking one step toward the grass then one step in the other direction attempting to turn around then a step towards the grass. It scared the vet for a minute as they thought he was staggering. After checking him over, the vet agreed it was best to pull him from the ride. His gut sounds were now very good so he was fine but he truly was very tired. Wendy was going to attempt to finish the ride but she too had Fleuron reevaluated and his gut sounds were slightly diminished so Wendy decided it was best to pull from the ride also. None of us wanted to risk doing any harm to our animals. All three were eating and drinking well so would be fine if we pulled now. Margaret packed up all my stuff into her car and helped Ival and Wendy pack up their stuff. Fleuron and Luke were trailered back to camp first and the trailer was sent back to get Ival and Clover.
Once back at camp I let Luke graze for a few minutes as he was still sure he was about to starve to death. Then I settled him into his stall with lots of hay and water. Margaret helped me put all my stuff away into my trailer. After packing up and making sure Luke was fine, Margaret and I went down and sat and visited with Ival and Wendy for a while. We then enjoyed a nice dinner provided by the ride. After eating, I said my good-byes to everyone, loaded up Luke and headed home. When I got home Luke was looking great. He vigorously rolled 3 or 4 times and then trotted out to the pasture to eat.
While it was disappointing to not have completed the ride, there were some good lessons learned. Luke needs a bit more conditioning especially on hills. He needs more water used on him to cool him down. He wants different food then his usual fare at the holds apparently. We'll be better prepared for the next try for 50 miles!
Pine Tree 50 June 22, 2013 43 start - 35 finish Winner - Sammy ridden by Kyle Gibbon 5:52 hrs. BC - Sammy ridden by Kyle Gibbon 1. 5:52 Kyle Gibbon on Sammy 2. 6:22 India Orino on Tektonic 3. 6:23 Suzette Fegan on SB Socrates 3. 6:23 Carrie Therrien on AKA Alluring 5. 6:33 Gene Limlaw on Richly Kept 6. 6:34 Sarah Disque on Shyrocco Rabia 7. 6:34 Meg Sleeper on Shyrocco Rimbaud 8. 6:52 Lynn Hartmann on Shyrocco Melody 9. 7:13 Heather Hoyns on Just Bill 10. 7:14 Meghan Delph on Fourmiles Kuna 14 10. 7:14 Sarah Jack on QH Endeavor 12. 7:17 Sydney Meeker on Mecca Bey 12. 7:17 Wendy Bejarano on Zambizy's Red Comet 12. 7:17 Constance Walker on VSF Otis +/ 15. 8:12 Lory Walsh on Midnight Rain Cloud 16. 8:22 Kelley Bentley on Anthentika 16. 8:22 Kayla White on Locust Hills Jeri 18. 8:26 Melissa Lenter on French Fyr 18. 8:26 Lauren DiOrio on Getcha Good PW 20. 8:29 Patricia Stedman on Supreem Aviator 20. 8:29 Rachel Lodder on El Dakaragorn Bey 22. 8:30 Bill Rice on RC Neon 22. 8:30 Jay Brunjes on Emblematic 24. 8:40 Mindy Vienneau on Movette 24. 8:40 Blaine Jack on Wyns Moon Tyme Rebel 24. 8:40 Kelsey Brown on Tonkakola Gold 27. 8:50 Sandra Stavens on The Bachelor Z 28. 9:04 Roxanne Winslow on Ali Kazem 29. 9:29 Kristey Wilson on Brigadier D+/ 29. 9:29 Tim Farquhar on Ali Naadir 31. 9:40 Kay Bond on RL Oracle 31. 9:40 Jodi Rowlands on Ramegwa Maggy 33. 9:50 Jean Audet on Espoire 33. 9:50 Michelle Rice on Rubys Tuesday 33. 9:50 Liz Tallberg on Dare To Dream RO Wendy Mancini on Fleuron RO Cynthia Ross on Luke RO Ival McDermott on Extra Virgin RO Katelyn Heath on Reign Era RO Rachel Tarnauskas on II Damb Much Lame Kelley-Anne Jack on Jahya Jamlin Lame Debra Fisk on Nick Of Tyme Lame Pamela Karner on Surprenant
No comments:
Post a Comment