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WEG 2014

 Heathers Blog 
Sunday, May 30 2010
We decided to take our young stock to do day 1 of the Wild West ride up in Nevada City.  The race was on Friday.  We met Skip at Starbucks on Thursday morning and headed out to the ranch.  Our friend Megan Robinson met us at the ranch as well.  She was going to ride her five year old at the race with us.  It rained most of the drive.

Skip and Jeremy drove together and Megan and I drove together.  About half way there we made a stop at In-N-Out.  Good times.  This is the only time the rain really took a break, when we weren't driving.  How ironic.

We arrived at the ride site around 3 pm.  It was looking really bad as far as the weather goes.  It was freezing outside and looked like some form of precipitation was going to happen at any moment.  We were originally planning to pre-ride but scratched that idea as soon as we unloaded the horses.  It was starting to rain.  We blanketed the horses, hung hay bags and filled buckets quickly.  Then we all sat in the trailer.  After we warmed up we checked in and then vetted in.  Then went back in to warm up.

I am not over playing how cold it was.  It was 34 degrees outside and wet.  I had to put another blanket on Strut (the West Virginia horse) as he was too cold with only two on.

It was now about 4:15.  We had 2:45 more minutes to kill before the ride meeting.  We sat in the warm trailer eating chips and salsa.  Then I decided to make dinner.  We finished up and headed over to the ride meeting.

The meeting was straight forward.  After the meeting it stopped raining and started snowing.  There was a campfire and Melissa Ribley brought out marshmallows to roast.  That was a first for me, roasting marshmallows in the snow,  in California, in late May!!

It snowed and sleeted most of the night.  In the morning it had stopped.  It looked promising.  (This is the part where I went wrong and didn't wear enough clothes.)  We happily saddled up.  I rode Strut, he would be the babysitter horse for the three five year olds that were all doing their first endurance rides.  Skip rode Tin Roof, who is over 16 hands, honest to God.  Jeremy rode Stirgess, Smitty's 3/4 brother.  Megan rode her own horse, Congo.

We started about ten minutes late.  All of the horses started out relatively calm... relatively.

The ground at this ride has a lot of clay based soil.  With all of the weather the ground was extremely slippery in places.  There were also puddles that took up the whole road and with the horses being green they thought it would be best to go on the edges to try to avoid the water.  The problem with that was that the edges were on a tilt and the ground was really slick, so every time they tried that, they almost fell down.

Around mile 7, Stirgess became Smitty's true brother.  He was coming unglued.  He started leaping and running in place and going very sideways.  Since the ground was so slick he was also falling over!  After about 20 min. of this he was really starting to effect the other young guys, as well as Strut.  Jeremy got off and was leading him at times to try to calm him down.  We think that he was upset because of all of the stop and go from the footing and not being able to move out at a constant pace.  After a lot of effort, Jeremy decided it would be safest if he separated from the group and did a steady pace.  Away they went.  Everything was calm again.

This is when the weather moved in and the sleet began.  It alternated between rain, sleet and snow all the way into lunch.  This is also where I felt like an idiot for believing that it would be nice out and not dressing warmer.

Strut, Congo and Roof all looked great at lunch and recovered instantly and were in the 40's range for heart rates.  It was so damn cold that they ought to have!  After vetting the horses through and feeding and blanketing them, I needed to defrost.  It was crazy how cold I was.  I spent the whole check in front of the heater.  It turned off at one point and I got up and set the thermostat for even warmer.

I dressed VERY warmly for the afternoon loop.  I knew that I would probably sweat but at this point I would like to be sweating. 

We headed out of lunch and climbed up the muddy trail that we had come into lunch on.  After the highway crossing we trotted whenever it wasn't too slick.  The horses all handled the ride really well.  There were some really tricky parts for the newbies. 

I got my wish and really got to sweat.  The afternoon was better than the morning as far as weather goes.

The last 8 or so miles of the race were on the best footing of the day.  We did an out and back on a really firm logging road.  The horses were all very happy about that.  We let them trot and canter to the end.  As we approached the actual finish line Roof and Congo were in front and when they saw the finish line they froze and were scared to cross the line.  Strut encouraged them and they crossed.

Stirgess had finished a long time before we did.  His CRI at the end was 44/40.  Pretty cool, now he just needs to learn to chill.  Hopefully a lesson he will learn this coming weekend at the "Just Coe Crazy" ride.  It will be a safer place to have a "discussion" with him about that!

All of our guys finished looking great.  We packed up and got ready to leave.  Megan and I went to look at our ride pictures and they were cool as they had snow in the background.

When we were ready to leave we all sat around and waited for Tim to show up.  He was picking up Jeremy and I to take us to my Mother In Laws house for her birthday.  Tim was supposed to be at the race by 5.  At 6:10 we got in the trucks and left.  We didn't have cell service so we really didn't know where Tim was.  When we got down the mountain we got a hold of him.  He had been stuck in holiday traffic.  We met up with him at a gas station on the way out.

Skip and Megan took the horses back and we went to Minden, NV for the weekend.  In all it was a successful race, but the coldest one that I have done in a long time.

Maybe we will see some of you at the Coe ride this weekend.
Posted by: Heather Reynolds AT 09:36 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, May 16 2010
Pictured above from left to right: Stratagem & Katie, Makazin and Heather, Bey and Kathy, Tiran and Jeremy.  Carole took the picture.

This weekend we went to the Shine and Shine FEI ride.  We loaded up on Friday morning and discovered that the horse that the young rider was supposed to ride was not looking like he should be doing a ride this weekend.  We needed to bring a passported horse for her to ride as she was flying up to the ride to try to qualify for the young riders championship.  We looked around our horse selection and decided to take Strut.  He had just come off of a long time of lay up as he had stitches in his shoulder since Easter morning.  We knew we were pushing it but I was pretty sure he could handle it.

We loaded up Tiran, Makazin, Strut, Bey and Freebie (Carole's horse).  Jeremy would ride Tiran, I was riding Makazin, our friend who flew in from Maine, Kathy Brunjes on Bey and another friend and client Carole on Freebie.  All but Strut did the 75.

Katie was doing the 50 FEI on Strut to qualify for the Young Riders FEI Championship this summer.

On the way to the ride we gassed up and then grabbed a quick Starbucks and away we went.  The drive is less than an hour for us so it was nice to get there so early.  The road up there leaves a lot to be desired.  It is very narrow and windy with long drop offs on the shoulder in spots.  We took two trailers up and Carole would meet us up there later in the day with an RV.

We set up camp.  Jeremy, Kathy and I as well as Kathy's friend Biz.  It didn't take any time at all.  Then we hung out and relaxed while we awaited Katie and Carole's arrival so we could pre-ride. 

Katie arrived but still no Carole.  Carole thought she would be there around noon or sooner.  Around 2:30 she arrived.  It turns out the RV place ran really late and then she took Quimby road up to the ride which is EXTREMELY steep and windy.  Part way up there was a sign that said absolutely no RVs but she had nowhere to turn around.  Then she drove further than she needed to, by mistake, and ended up going up to the observatory, which is even more windy steep narrow road.  She needed to relax for sure when she arrived. 

After Carole recovered from the crazy drive we all went out for a ride.  All 5 horses and riders looked great.  We were ready to have a fun Saturday.

Right when we returned from our ride someone asked for Jeremy's help to locate two loose horses.  He took off while we got the horses ready to vet in.  The horses were found within the hour.

Carole made a great dinner on Friday night.  We had blackened Cajun chicken alfredo with a salad and garlic bread.  Very tastey.  Then we all went to the ride meeting and went to bed.

Saturdays ride started at 5:30 am.  We were up and at 'em.  We went to the start for our dress inspection and then the ride started.  In the first few miles we spotted a large black galloping pig.

The views were amazing.  On the first big climb there were views into the Silicon Valley.  The clouds were lower than we were.  It looked like the ocean with the clouds covering the whole valley like that.  There was misty, foggy areas that we rode in and out of.  Flowers were on the hills and the scenery was still green.  When the fog lifted and the day warmed up there was a perfect breeze that kept it just right.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.

The trail was very hilly and well marked.  There were two long, identical loops and then two small identical loops to do back to back.  On the two large identical loops there was an away vet check of 20 mins and then an hour vet check back at camp.  In all we had 2:40 of hold time.

At the last vet check Bey and Kathy were pulled for a hind end lameness.  Darn!  We were having so much fun.  Carole, Jeremy and I went around the last two short loops and this is where the rattlesnake almost took us out.  He was huge, and coiled!  Fortunately the snake didn't get us and neither did the ground squirrel holes that were like land mines everywhere.  The whole day we were yelling "Hole, Hole".

The three of us finished together, one two three.  Jeremy, Heather and then Carole.  Very fun day, with the exception of Bey and Kathy. 

We were all in camp done with vetting and everything when Strut rode by to do his last 3 1/2 mile loop.  He looked fine and was doing his thing.  He and Katie finished and that is what she needed.

Tiran not only won but was awarded BC as well.   He is turning out to be pretty amazing.  (This was his third endurance ride.) 

While it was getting dark a large pig wandered into camp.  The ranger saw it and tried to scare it away but the pig almost ran into a horse that was tied to a trailer and the horse pulled back and ran off.  The horse was located an hour or so later about 5 miles down Mt Hamilton road.  I think the horse was fine.  The pig stayed in camp for the night.

Sunday morning I got up around 5 am to use the restroom and Makazin's halter was hanging on the trailer with no Makazin.  I looked and saw him about ten feet away.  He had gotten loose and then proceeded to make a nest out of an entire bale of oat hay.  He was sound asleep all snuggled up in the hay.  It was very cute but a big mess to clean up as we had to pack up all of the hay.

Sunday we loaded the horses and headed back down the mountain.  Another one down.  Our next ride will be Wild West.  We will be doing day one with the young stock.  Stirgess and Tin Roof will do their first rides and our friends horse Congo will join the rookie ranks doing his first ride as well.  All three of them are 5 year olds.  It will not be their first races as they all three ran on the race track.  Strut will go as the fearless leader to take them through.

Until next time,
Heather
Posted by: AT 05:27 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email

Reynolds Racing
Dunnellon, FL 34431
 Heather: 408-687-7082
Jeremy: 408-687-7083
Email: Info@ReynoldsRacing.us

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