Well, this story does not involve any mules. Or me riding at all for that matter. But, still an exciting and wonderful weekend for me that involves some wonderful friends and great equines.
Back in late spring I asked a group of ladies I work with at Upper Pond Stables if they would be interested in trying distance riding. Four of us started out on this adventure, conditioning our equines to get ready for this. Luke was already conditioned and had done several rides. My friend Brooke started conditioning my mare Marie and then Mary-Jo and Cierra both had younger horses, 7 years old that were new to trail riding. Both wonderful horses but Mary-Jo ended up needing to take the trail riding slower to give her horse time to adapt to all the new things. Cierra's little mare, Tinkerbell, turned out to be a super little trail horse, bold and willing right from the start. It's my experience that mares tend to mature mentally faster than gelding. (Mary-Jo's Arthur, by the way, is doing very well on trail and we will very likely be seeing him on the CTR scene next year) Brooke and Cierra got Tinkerbell and Marie conditioned enough by July to do the Fryeburg 15 mile CDR (conditioning distance ride). Tinkerbell did great. Marie completed the ride but it was apparent that she was not going to be doing any longer rides. So, it was just down to Cierra and I to get ready for the Maine 25 CTR in October. Then in August Luke pulled a groin muscle and he was now out for the season. So, it was up to Cierra and Tinkerbell to represent us Upper Pond Stable ladies at the Maine 25 CTR. I knew Cierra and Tinkerbell were up for the challenges. They had worked hard all summer conditioning and were ready for this ride.
I contacted ride management to see if there was someone that would be willing to sponsor Cierra for the ride. Cierra is a Jr. rider at 16 yrs. old so would have to ride with an adult. Much to my delight, Amanda Stygles volunteered to take Cierra on the ride! Cierra was a little disappointed that I would not be riding with her but I assured her that I was more than happy to take her to the ride and that she would have a great ride with Amanda. So, she was willing to go. She has no idea how happy I was that she was still willing to go. It would still be a good time for me as I would work the ride and get to visit many good friends. I've been doing distance riding for 14 years and these people are like family to me.
Thursday, the day before heading to the ride I tackled the job of cleaning out my very messy horse trailer as we'd be camping in it for the ride. The previous Saturday I'd used my trailer to haul the mules to Upper Pond Stable to ride. Then Saturday afternoon, I hauled Mary-Jo's horses from my house to her house. On Monday, I hauled the mules to Upper Pond again to ride. While at Upper Pond, I went to get something out of my tack area and I was dismayed to find one of the Upper Pond cats in my trailer hiding under my bench. She'd been in there since Saturday. Ugh! So, when I tackled the chore of cleaning out my trailer, I knew I'd be finding some little gift in there......somewhere........ I started my cleaning on the floor, around the bench, behind the bench....I saw and smelled nothing........ ohhhhhh, this was not good. Next up for cleaning was the gooseneck......I climbed up there and sure enough... the smell hit me. UGH! Yes, there, right smack on the center of my pillow is a big pile of cat poop! NOOOOOOOO! And yes, she peed on my bed. So, out everything went, bedding, pillow, mattress. Thankfully, my bedding took up most of the pee and there was very little that got through to the mattress. My washing machine worked overtime on Thursday.
Friday morning, all my bedding was clean and dry and after work at Upper Pond stable, I went home and put my stuff all back into the trailer. I moved some saddles so there would be room for Cierra's things and headed over to Upper Pond to pick them up. We packed some hay for Tink. We would only be gone overnight so one bale should have been enough but knowing Tink's apatite, we took 2 bales. Tink loaded into my trailer like a champ and we were off. We arrived at the Waterford fairgrounds around 2:00 PM. Tink was a little anxious to get off the trailer so as soon as we checked in, we were directed on where to park. The only stalls available were the one in the last cattle shed and the stalls are small. So, we decided to set up the portable electric pen for Tink. The weather was going to be good and this would give her more room and some grass to graze. After Cierra walked Tink around a little, Tink relaxed. They were vetting in horses so we decided to take Tink right up and get that out of the way so we could relax and take our time to setting up camp. Tink was a good girl for the hands on. She was a little stinker about the trot out though. She had relaxed enough that she didn't want to trot. Cierra got the job done though and they passed the vetting just fine. We then tied Tink to the trailer with a big bag of hay in front of her so we could set up the pen. We had a nice spot with lots of room and it was near the bathroom too. When Cierra and I were screwing together the fence posts, the squeaky noise they made upset Tink. Not much bothers Tinkerbell but she did not like that sound, and she was not completely happy about being alone as there weren't any other horses next to us. We got the pen set up and put Tink in and she settled down and went to grazing. I put new batteries in the charger and went through the usual struggle with it to put it back together. We gave Tink a flake of hay and some water. We then lugged water down to put in all my extra buckets so we'd have it for later. Cierra went in the pen to move something and the charger fell apart. I had not snapped it into the casing properly. My friend Margaret came by our camp and invited us to sit and relax on the porch of the food shack to relax with a glass of wine. Well, Cierra was only invited for the sitting and relaxing. It was a good place to sit as we could see Tink from there and keep an eye on her. I didn't want to head to Melby's for supper until I was pretty sure that Tink was going to stay in the pen. It's a good thing we did wait because as we were sitting and watching, Tink suddenly decided she did NOT want to be that far from the other horses and started testing the fence. We saw her lean way over it and realized the electric charger was NOT working! Tink did a few circles and charged at the fence and Cierra took off out of her chair like a bullet as we could tell that Tink was going to go through the fence! Cierra made it over in time and got her just before Tink mowed it down. Ok, we'd have to make a new plan!
I had Cierra get her out of the pen and said we'd lead her around to see if there were still any stalls available. There were a few stalls up in the far barn with the small stalls. We took Tink up there and led her into one of the stalls and she quickly relaxed and was happy now that she was near other horses. Well, ok, if she wanted a small stall instead of a large grassy pen, so be it. I had Cierra stay with her and I moved my trailer up into the lower riding arena that was near the barn. We set Tink up with hay and water, got some boards down from the loft to use as a gate on the stall and Tink was a as happy as a clam. (how happy are clams.......) Anyway, a happy horse means happy horse owners and handlers. After watching Tink for a little while, we were able to confidently leave her to go have supper at Melby's. around 6:00 PM. We had a nice and relaxing meal. When we got back, We topped off Tink's water and stuffed her hay bag as full as we could. Tink was calm and relaxed. The Thompson family's horse were in the same barn as well as Colleen O'Conner's buckskin mare. All the horses were quiet and well behaved. We put a blanket on Tinkerbell then Cierra and I hung out in the barn until it was time go go to bed.
It was a cool night but I was toasty warm in my bed and slept like a log. Cierra, in her excitement I don't think slept quite so well and was a little chilly by morning. I felt bad I had not told her where my extra blankets were. 5:30 am game all too soon and we were up and taking care of Tinkerbell. She was still calm and relaxed. Once Tink was all set, we went down to the food shack to get breakfast. They were serving breakfast sandwiches and hot chocolate and coffee really hit the spot. The riders meeting was held at 7:00 and after that Cierra tacked up Tink and got ready to ride. Just as she was getting ready to mount up, Cierra suddenly realized we had not put Tink's hoof boots on!! We quickly took her to my trailer and put the boots on as quickly as we could, trying not to rush so much that we got Tink anxious. I managed to bend my thumb back in a way it was never meant to bend while putting on a back boot. OUCH!!!! Cierra was ready in plenty of time and was soon mounted up and warming up Tink with Amanda. I was so excited for Cierra and was hoping she would have a fun ride. At 8:00, Cierra and Amanda were off. Tink was being a very good girl and there were smiles on all faces.
Amanda's 11 year old daughter was staying with me. After Amanda and Cierra headed out, I quickly cleaned Tink's stall. We would want to keep Tink and Amanda's horse Thunder together at the end of the ride so I set up water buckets, and put a blanket and some feed over by Thunder's stall. I gathered up Riana and followed Margaret to the hold. There I helped with putting out hold bags and filling water buckets. Then the wait began for the first riders to come in. This weekend there the local ATV club was holding a poker ride on many of the same trails the riders would be on. We were all hoping it would not cause any problems with the horses. One rider had been thrown at the beginning of the ride. The horse was not found until later in the afternoon. He was banged up but ok. I was helping to take P&R's and I was torn between doing my job and anxiously standing at on the trail and staring down it waiting for my first sight of Cierra! And then, there she was, a smile on her face and Tink looking good! Yahoo! One of Tink's back boots had come undone but was still on. I quickly took it off, rinsed the mud out of the velcro and put it back on. I managed to bend my thumb back a second time!! DOUBLE OUCH! Amanda had their pulses taken in about 5 minutes. Both Tink and Thunder were under 64 so they took that and went to trot out while Riana and I got the food ready for the horses. Both horses ate well and they were out of the hold only a few minutes over their time. Once all the riders were though the hold, we picked up all the hold stuff, emptied buckets and headed back to the fairgrounds. And I had picked up a second young lady, Phoebe Jewell, to keep me company. Phoebe and Riana were delightful companions.
Back at the fairgrounds, the waiting game was on again. They had 4 hrs. and 10 minutes to 4 hrs. and 40 minutes to complete the ride. When the riders started coming it, I was once again busy doing P&R's, but was anxiously watching the finish line. Their minimum time of 4 hrs. and 10 minutes came and went. I watched the clock. 4 hrs. and 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes...... I was getting nervous. Not only for Cierra but I hated to have Amanda not make her ride time.......35 minutes, 36 minutes, 37 minutes, 38 minutes and suddenly Margaret exclaimed, "There they are!" Yahooooooooo! They made it in time! I was doing a silly happy dance I was so excited for them both. And Cierra was grinning from ear to ear!
I had Cierra bring Tink over to Thunders stall where I had set up the water buckets. Tink took a big drink. Cierra untacked her and sponged her down. Tink thought she was starving to death so Cierra led her into a small straight stall so there would be no grass to tempt her as we needed to keep her as quiet as we could to get her pulse down. When the 20 minutes were up and her pulse was checked, she was down to 42! Fantastic! We put Tink's blanket on her and led her out of the stall to let her eat as much grass as she wanted. I also gave her the pan of wet hay stretcher/dengie/grain and apples I'd made up for her. That disappeared in short order. Then it was time for the final trot out. Cierra got in line and I got her a long whip to encourage Tink to trot in case she was reluctant as she was on the initial trot. Cierra didn't need to use the whip at all, she did a great job and Tink did a nice trot out.
The hard part was all done now and just a little more waiting for the "hands on" part of the final vetting. We put Tink's blanket back on while we waited and let her graze some more. Then hands on went well and Tink was a good girl.
Cierra and Tink had done it!!! While I'm sure I was not quite as excited about it as Cierra was, I'm pretty sure I was close to it! Tink just wanted some food. We settled Tink back in her stall with lots of hay and water. I had already packed up the trailer while waiting for the first riders to come in so we packed up everything else that we could while keeping an eye on Tinkerbell. Tink looked great so there was no worry there. I managed to bend my thumb back yet a 3rd time in one day while pushing the saddle onto the saddle rack! TRIPLE OUCH!!!! By now the thumb was swelling up nicely. The awards ceremony was done before the meal. Cierra and Tink earned 3rd place in the Jr. division with a score of 97. What a great job she and Tink had done and we were both so grateful to Amanda for getting them through the ride. After awards a wonderful meal was served and we got to sit, visit and relax for a while. Then, we cleaned Tink's stall, packed up the last of our stuff, loaded Tink up and headed home. It was a great weekend!
