I had originally planned to do the Fryeburg 2 day 50 mile ride. But, a little over a month ago, while at work at Upper Pond Stable, I got a bright idea and suggested to my co-workers they should come to the Fryeburg ride and try the 15 mile CDR (conditioning distance ride) Much to my surprise and delight, they wanted to give it a try. Brooke was going to use my horse, Marie and Cierra would ride her own horse, Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell is a 7 yr. old paint mare with limited trail experience. Cierra does 2 phase eventing (dressage and arena jumping) with her. So, Tinkerbell has been getting ridden quite a bit, we just needed to get some trail miles on her to get her ready for the ride. Brooke is a Western Pleasure rider so hasn’t trail ridden in quite a while. Marie also needed some conditioning as she has had an easy winter and spring. Luke was ready to go!
Brooke, Cierra and I got out as often as we could to get Tinkerbelle and Marie ready for the ride. It was tough as we had a long stretch of hot humid weather before the ride but we managed to get out quite a bit and we felt we were ready for the challenge. I was riding in the 25 mile CTR ride on Saturday. Susie and Mary Ann were also. Susie and I both had to return home on Saturday night as we were both bringing people to the 15 mile CDR on Sunday. Bonnie was coming to the ride with me on Saturday to work the ride. It would be so nice to have Bonnie along, it’s been a long time since she’s gone to a ride with me.We did a lot of planning and plotting trying to figure out the best way to get all the horses and people where they needed to be using the least amount of trailers. Susie has a 3 horse trailer but I can only haul 2. In the end Susie just did her own thing and I used Brooke’s 3 horse trailer on Sunday.
I went up to Fryeburg with Luke Friday after I got done work at Upper Pond Stable. Bonnie met me at my house and we packed my trailer, loaded up Luke and headed out. The weather forecast had been for a wet rainy day. It turned out to be a pretty good day with just a few passing light showers. Susie and Mary Ann had arrived ahead of Bonnie and I and had stalls picked out in the front barn across from the office. I parked in front of the barn and quickly got Luke settled into his stall. There were no shavings in his stall so Bonnie and I stripped out another stall for shavings for Luke. There was a big 4-H event going on this weekend and they had all the stalls on the back side of the front barn and the front side of the back barn. So, there were a lot of horses on the grounds for the weekend. Susie and Mary Ann went out for a ride once they had camp set up. Bonnie and I went out to lunch as soon as we were sure Luke wasn’t going to get too upset over Bazeyn and Suri leaving him. He wasn’t happy and was bellowing his displeasure at the situation but he wasn’t being stupid about it. Bonnie and I went into town to the Fryeburg house of Pizza. When we got back, I groomed Luke and took him to be vetted in. He was a good boy and did a fairly nice, if not enthusiastic trot out. We all hung out in front of our stalls and watched everyone being vetted in and visited with each other and anyone passing by. Mary Ann had a smorgasbord of snacks but I was too stuffed from lunch to have anything. Bonnie was busy scribing for the ride. We walked the horse and Luke so they could graze on some grass and stretch their legs. Walking around with Luke is like hanging out with a movie star as he gets so much attention. And he really loves it and is so good with everyone around him all the time.
When Bonnie was done with her scribing job, we all went out to the arena to watch the 4-H kids riding for a while. Nothing too exciting was going on there so we eventually wandered back to camp. Bonnie was given a pizza for working the ride. I ate more of it then she did…… it was good…… About the time the mosquitos were really bothering us, it was time to go to bed. I made sure Luke had plenty of hay and water for the night. He was only picking at his grain but was calm and quiet and eating a lot of hay and drinking well.
5 am came all too soon. I got up, fed Luke and then went to the office for breakfast as soon as it was ready. The rider’s meeting was at 6:30 am. After, I tacked Luke up and as soon as I saw Marcia was ready, I mounted up and rode around with her waiting for our time to start. Susie and Mary Ann were going out just ahead of us. Susie and Mary Ann had just headed out, Marcia and I were right near the starting line when we heard the sound of a galloping horse. We look towards the sound and see there is a horse, without a rider, galloping across the field towards us. Susie and Mary Ann stopped as the horse was coming straight at them. The horse actually ran into Susie on Bazeyn and kept on going toward Marcia and I. Both Bazeyn and Suri did well and stayed fairly calm. Luke was very tense but holding his ground as was Marcia’s horse Piper. Thankfully the horse went around us, galloped around a bit more then went through the gate into the barn area and someone managed to grab him. The rider was walking back across the field and seemed to be ok. It was now time for us to go but we were now bunched up in a group from waiting for the horse to be caught. So, all of our horses and Luke were very keyed up from all the excitement and suddenly being in a group. This would be interesting. The trail manager had decided the water was too high in the Saco river for us to cross it this year. And there was a bridge out along the first part of the trail that is normally used. So, the trail was diverted coming out into a housing development and then we were right out on Rt. 5 for a mile down to the Bog Pond Rd. It was a bit of a scary ride as Rt. 5 is a busy road and the horses (and mule) were very excited. We made it down to the Bog Pond Rd. which is a dirt road, with no incidents and from there let some of the riders go on ahead of us so we wouldn’t be in a big group. We didn’t go far on the dirt road when the trail went onto the power line. It was a little muddy along here but not bad. This took us back out to Rt. 5. Here we crossed the bridge over the Saco River. It’s a long, high bridge. Again, this is a very busy road this time of year as the Saco River is a VERY popular river to camp, canoe and party on. The road is wide here and there were ride volunteers to help with the crossing the bridge but people are just so incredibly rude theses day. Cars were not slowing down for us, people were flipping the bird at the volunteers, throwing beer cans at them and such. Our group made it over the bridge with no problems and all of our equines were good. Once over the bridge we were back on trail. We rode down through a campground with lots of interesting things for the equines to see. Again, they all took it in stride and we came out to the water stop on the Corn Shop Rd. Luke took a good drink here. We sponged them all down quickly and continued on our way. About ½ mile up Corn Shop Rd we took a right into the agricultural fields and on out to Fish St. This is a tar road that we ride for ½ to ¾ mile but it’s a nice quiet road with little traffic. We then took a left on Federal Road. This road is part dirt and part tar and ends in a trail. We rode through a short section where there was a logging operation going on then it was trail. Some of this trail was very muddy. Nothing too deep but we slogged thorough quite a bit of mud. The trail took us back to Rt. 5 which we crossed and took the Frog Ally trail. This is a lovely section of trail/field/dirt road that goes out to the covered Bridge.
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| Susie on Bazeyn, Mary Ann on Suri, Cindy on Luke and Marcia on Piper |
The hold was at the covered bridge but we first had to ride though and do another mile of trail through Fern Gully. This is also a pretty spot to ride but there was some nasty mud there this ride. Not far out of the hold area, Susie’s horse Bazeyn was doing a big trot and caught a front shoe with a back foot and pulled it off. I hopped off Luke and picked up the shoe and Susie stowed it away in her pack. The trail here is all soft footing so we just continued on. Tom Hutchinson was on the trail to direct everyone onto the Fern Gully trail. Susie was in the lead with me right behind her and we both sank bad in the first mud hole we came to. Seeing our dilemma, Marcia and Mary Ann stayed to the left of where we went through and fared better. We turned around at the marker and headed back to the hold. We spotted another shoe on the trail and left it with Tom Hutchinson.
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| Sponging Luke down at the hold. You can see we'd gotten into some mud.... |
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| Vet judge Barbara Perkins checking Lukes gums at the hold |
At the hold, Susie started calling out to see if anyone had a spare Easyboot. Steve Rojek said he did but it turned out it was his horses shoe we’d found out on the trail so he needed the boot for himself. Mary Ann had a Cavallo boot with her. It was definitely too big for Bazeyn but Susie put it on him anyway hoping it would get them through the ride. Luke drank like a fish at the hold. And he actually ate the food I brought for him. I sponged him down thoroughly as he inched around scouting out other’s food. He trotted ok for the trot out and passed the vetting as did the rest of our group. We were only a few minutes late out of the hold so were doing well. We were returning on the same trail we came out on. So, back down the nice Frog Ally trail we went and then back through the mud to Federal Rd. We were trotting along where we came out to dirt road when I saw the boot on Bazeyn’s foot fly off into the bushes on the right side of the road. I showed Susie where it went into the bushes and she told us to go on without her. She would look for the boot and continue on the best she could. We hated to leave her but she was adamant so we continued without her. None of the horses fussed at parting. When we crossed the bridge over the Saco River, there was now a police car at one end managing the traffic. The drivers were being much more respectful this time. Marcia on Piper was in the lead when we came to the campground. Piper wasn’t too happy about leading through there so Mary Ann on Suri led the way. This was Mary Ann and Suri’s first 25 mile ride and they were doing great. Luke drank like a fish again when we got to the water stop on the Corn Shop Rd. He drank a full 5 gallon buck and then more from another bucket. We were now getting close to the end of the ride. The mile we had to ride on Rt. 5 was very scary this time as the traffic was very heavy now. No one was slowing down and with so much traffic going in both directions, no one was pulling over to give us room either. Marcia started out in the lead but Piper spooked at something in the ditch and spun out into traffic and came within inches of being hit by a box truck. I went ahead of her on Luke and Mary Ann took the lead and we made it safely down the road back to the short section of trail leading back to the fairground.
We finished the ride in good time. We tied Luke and Suri to the trailer so they could see each other. We sponged them down like crazy. Luke drank down another bucket of water. He had a heat or pressure bump in the wither area. He looked good otherwise. Susie made it back and finished just in time. We were so happy to see her. She never found the boot but because the footing was good most of the way, moved right along and Bazeyn was fine. We had to go down to the big pine tree at the end of the back barn were they were doing P&R’s. There weren’t enough P&R people to go around and do it at our trailers or stalls. Luke’s P&R was 48/24. While waiting for the others to have their P&R done, Luke got down and rolled. He flipped over once, then twice, then laid there and ate grass for a second, then flipped over a 3rd and 4th time, laid there and ate some more grass, then flipped over a 5th time! After laying there and eating a bit more grass, he finally got up. It was soooooo funny watching him. He’s such a goof!
We went up to do our trot out and Luke was completely unwilling to trot. After a few aborted attempts, I had Susie lead Bazeyn to the end of the trotting area and Luke then, reluctantly, trotted out. AGH!!!! When we finally managed to get the trot out done, the vet judge remarked, “That’s a good example of how to get your ass in gear.” The vet just really had a field day with ass jokes all weekend. “Get your ass over here”. “Get your ass out of the water”. “Stop scratching your ass in public”, and so on. It was really funny. And, I had no sooner finished with Luke’s version of a trot out when along came the 4-H group to watch and learn about CTR’s. I was SOOOOO glad they came when they did and missed seeing Luke and I trot out as it would not have been a good advertisement for mules! We put Luke and Suri back in their stalls to wait for the hands on. I took the opportunity to change into more comfortable clothes. A little before time for hands on, Mary Ann and I took Luke and Suri out to walk them around to keep any windpuffs down. After the hands on, we settled them back in their stalls with lots of hay and water. Luke was still drinking a lot of water! We packed up all that we could. Susie and I were both supposedto bring riders to the 15 mile CDR the next day that would be new to this sport. For 2 of the horses it would also be their first rides and one young lady I was bringing was just 16 this day. Neither one of us felt comfortable about bringing them if the trail was going to be what it was today. We felt the ride along Rt. 5 was just too dangerous. I didn’t want to disappoint Cierra and Brooke but I was going to be responsible for Cierra as she is a Jr. rider. Susie and I discussed it and decided to talk to Tom Hutchinson, the trail manager at dinner. The dinner provided for us was delicious! Lasagna, salad, cole slaw, mac and cheese and several kinds of cookies. During dinner we did talked to Tom. He said he would like for some of us to go down to the river and cross to see if we thought it was safe. He said the water level was going down fast and it might be ok for tomorrow. He would meet us at the crossing right after dinner. Susie, Mary Ann and I as well as Stephanie Buckley and her daughter Sarah saddle back up and headed to the river. Stephanie and Sarah were riding Welsh ponies that were both under 14 hands so if they could get across, it would be ok for anyone else. When we got to the crossing, Tom was there as was the ride photographer. Tom had already waded out into the river. He told us to go straight out to the middle, then turn left and go down the middle until we saw the trail maker on the other side and to cut straight across to the marker. I didn’t know what Luke would think of water this deep but he really didn’t hesitate and he went right in. And he drank more water after just drinking in a puddle before the river. He kept drinking pretty much all the way across. It was funny. There were a few deep spots and a little soft footing but nothing the horses or Luke had any trouble with. We crossed back over with no trouble and declared it safe for the ride the next day! Yahoo! Now we would not have to ride on Rt. 5 and would not have to cross the bridge! I could bring Cierra and Brooke! We got back from riding to the river just in time for the awards. Luke and I placed 6th with a score of 97. He got 1 point off for his pulse being 48. He got a ½ point off for the heat bump on his withers. And 1 ½ points off for his being unwilling to trot. But a perfect score in the mechanical fatigue category otherwise (length of stride, height of stride, body carriage, muscle soreness etc) His on trail comment was, “Strong, wants to go”.
Once awards were over, we quickly packed up the rest of our things, stripped our stalls and loaded up. It was so nice to have Bonnie’s company for the ride home. It was so nice to have Bonnie’s company period! Though we accidentally took the scenic route home, we did get home safe and sound if a little later than planned. Luke and Marie were happy to see each other. I fed them both and cleaned out Marie’s very nasty stall. (I don’t know WHY she insists on peeing in her stall! UGH) I parked my trailer, cleaned it out and unhooked. I packed up what I would need for the next day as we were using Brooke’s trailer since hers was a three horse trailer. I took a shower and headed for bed. I had to be up by 3:00 AM. I was hoping to be pulling out of my house by 4:30 AM.
It seemed I’d just gone to bed when the alarm clock went off. I got up and had a quick bowl of cereal and cup of coffee then went out to the barn to feed Luke and Marie. Marie was all good with that and didn’t seem to think much of the odd feeding time. Luke was wondering but after a few minutes of thinking about it decided to eat. I then headed over to Upper Pond Stable to get Brooke, Cierra and her horse Tinkerbell. I nearly hooked up to the wrong trailer in the dark! It was a good thing Pam caught me before I did. Brooke had moved her trailer over by the barn to put air in the tires. Cierra had already put her things in the trailer the night before so I hooked up and pulled the trailer around to the side of the barn were Tinkerbell was. She loaded in like a good girl and after a quick good bye to Pam, Cierra’s mom, we headed back to my house to pick up my two. I pulled right out back and we loaded Marie and Luke in before doing anything else so Tinkerbell would stay calm. We put Marie in the middle and loaded Luke on the back as that spot has the most room. Brooke’s trailer is a 3 horse stock combo slant load. There is no rear tack compartment like Luke is used to. Just an open space and he didn’t know quite what to do with it. It was so funny watching him try to figure it out. He was willing to go in so stepped his front feet in, then stood and thought about it, then turned his head to the right and was going to step in facing backwards but then hesitated and faced to the left. We had to help him figure it out and he was good. We quickly transferred all the tack and things I needed into Brooke’s trailer and headed out. It was close to 5:00 when we left my house which was later than I’d hoped but it was what it was. We had an uneventful drive to Fryeburg and arrived around 6:30 AM. We unloaded them and tied them to the trailer with hay bags to keep them happy. Tinkerbell was a little bit excited when she first stepped off the trailer but settled down quickly. We quickly groomed them and put on Marie’s boots. We left Tinkerbell barefoot for the trot out as her boots all go over the coronary band and the vet has to look at that. The trot out area was good footing so it wouldn’t be a problem trotting her out barefoot. For the CDR, you only have to trot in a straight line anyway. They were ready for us when we brought them up to be vetted in. Tinkerbell was just a little bit fidgety for the vetting but it was pretty minor. Luke remembered this being the vetting area from the previous day so was automatically reluctant to trot out. Poor Luke, it’s my fault that he has learned to dread the trotting out process and therefore not even want to approach the vetting area, which he has learned to identify quickly. But, he did it without too much fuss. We then got them all tacked up. We put vet wrap on Tinkerbells pasterns as well as Marie’s back pasterns to help keep the sand from the river from getting in their boots and rubbing. Susie loaned Cierra her English saddle pack for the front of her saddle so she could carry water with her. When they were all set, we had a few minutes to relax and grab something to eat from the office. Soon it was time to mount up. We walked them around the barn area to warm up. They were all well behaved. Luke and Marie know the drill. Tinkerbell was curious but calm. Our numbers were called and we were off. We were ahead of Susie and Diana and had talked about crossing the river together. So, we only walked at the start to give them time to catch up. We walked for a while then picked up an easy trot to the river crossing. There is a short steep descent from the trail down to the beach with a knee knocking squeeze between two trees at the bottom. Tinkerbell handled this extremely well going down slow and easy. Luke had to take a drink in a puddle at the bottom of the descent so I told Brooke to go ahead of me and lead into the water. Marie wasn’t thrilled with this idea but she’s done the river crossing many times so I knew she would go. As we were approaching the water, another rider had come up from behind us moving quite fast and she went right in and crossed ahead of us. Tinkerbell was watching this horse and she forged right out in front of Marie and she ended up leading us across! There were stakes in the river to show us the best way to cross. We had to go straight out to the middle, then go left and ride up the river a short distance and then cut across to the bank to get out. There was no beach on the other side, just a hop up onto a bank to the trail. Tom Hutchinson was in the river keeping an eye on everyone to make sure we all crossed safely. We were part way across when we saw Susie and Diana come down onto the beach and enter the river. They looked like they were doing fine so we kept going. The river crossing was so much fun and all our ponies seemed to enjoy it.
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| Brooke on Marie, Cierra on Tinkerbell and Cindy on Luke |
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| Crossing the Saco River |
From there we went right up into the agricultural fields and followed the field roads for nearly 4 or 5 miles. This is fun to ride as the footing is so perfect and you can really move right along. The crops are beans and corn this year. Riding through the beans you can see for miles and it’s so pretty as the fields are in a valley and there are mountains all around. We kept the horses and Luke to a trot as Cierra said Tinkerbell felt kind of excited. She was being very good though and listening to Cierra. I think Cierra and Brooke were both ready to see something besides corn and beans by the time we left the fields. We came out on Fish St and rode about a mile up this road, which is a quiet back road, to Federal Rd. This is the dead end road that is part dirt and part tar that turns to trail where Susie lost the hoof boot yesterday. We were riding up to where the logging operation started and then we would turn around and ride the same trail back to the fairground. There were water buckets here so we stopped and sponged Luke and the horses. I don’t think any of them drank here. While we were sponging Susie and Diana caught up with us. We waited for them and decided to ride back together. Brooke, Cierra and I left the turn around/ water stop in the lead. I was pointing out to the girls where the boot had flown off Susie’s horse and joking that from my lofty height on Luke I might be able to spot the boot in the bushes as I tippy toed up in my stirrups …….. and right at that moment I DID spot the boot! We were so excited as it’s a new $150 boot! I jumped off and retrieved the boot. I left it with Robert Day who was at the water stop keeping the buckets full.
From here Susie and Diana took the lead and we headed back. We alternated between trotting and walking on Fish St. Once in the fields, we moved right along at a good trot. All the horses and Luke were doing well together. Cierra was ready to try a little cantering so on one nice long straight stretch, we went ahead of Susie and Diana and we did a nice canter. The agricultural roads are wide and we were going side by side and moving along at a pretty good pace. Luke stretched those legs right out and gave up his Western pleasure lope in favor of a good canter. It was so much fun. We slowed down to a walk to cross Corn Shop Rd. We had just gone around a corner in the fields when Susie and Diana came up behind us. It startled Tinkerbell but all she did was stop suddenly and look behind her. She was being SUCH a good girl! We rode together for a bit then Susie and Diana wanted to do another canter so we let them go on ahead of us. When there was a little distance between us, we decided to canter also. Cierra said she felt confident she could keep Tinkerbell back if we started to catch up to Susie and Diana as we didn’t want to pass them. So, we did another lovely canter and Cierra and Tinkerbell did fantastic. We let them all walk for a short distance after to let them catch their breaths. Then, we were back to the river crossing.
We had now officially gotten a completion for the ride! I know I’m repeating myself but I was so proud of my Upper Pond Stable team! We tied the horses and Luke to the trailer, offered them more water and made sure they had plenty of hay. It was only a little after noon time and the meal would not be until 2:00. Around 1:15 we discovered there were sandwich makings in the office and though we knew we should eat so soon before the dinner, we were all starved and made ourselves sandwiches. We hung out at the picnic tables under the pine trees across from the office and chatted with everyone. We kept an eye on the horses and Luke, offering water and filling hay bags as needed. They were quiet and well behaved the whole time. Dinner arrived right on time and was delicious. Chicken Pot Pie as well as two lovely salads followed by several flavors of cookies. Though I’d had a sandwich, I managed to fit in plenty of dinner anyway. The awards followed. There were completion ribbons handed out to the 15 mile CDR riders. Don’t you know that when it didn’t count, Luke scored a 99! I think I he was laughing at me! Tink got a 96 and Marie a 93 (I think) So they had all done well. As soon as the awards were finished, we loaded up the ponies and headed home. Luke had to really think again about how to get into Brooke’s trailer. Silly boy.
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