It has finally happened, the time trial is over.  We will find out tomorrow who will be in the top ten.  Smitty and Sam had a great day.  The weather was crazy and the trail was technical.

Loop one was a 17 mile trek through hazy humidity that would fog up your sunglasses, I tried it.  The bugs were crazy, it felt like it was raining on your face but it was just the bugs,  currently my right eye is bloodshot from the bugs landing in it.

We had a 40 min vet check after each loop.  Our next loop cooled off a bit.  The humidity lifted as it was preparing to rain.  The result was that loop 2 was cooler.  We were able to pick it up on loop 2 which was 24 miles. 

Another 40 min hold.  About 5 min before I was out, it let loose.  There was so much rain that it was crazy.  The thunder and lightning were there as well.  I reluctantly came out from under my tent and got on Sam and left for loop 4.

On loop 4 the footing had gone from ok to slippery and hazardous.  We all went as best we could.  After this loop we had another 40 min hold.  This is when it really got HOT and sticky... like a rice cooker.  I told Becky that I thought all of the horses had done really well and that we had a lot of talent out there but that it was getting dangerous.  She said that we would probably slow down on the next loop.  We all saddled up and mounted.  Becky had not told us our speed yet and we were instructed to go over to where she was to get instructions for the loop.  We all went over there and she informed us that we would be doing the loop at 3 MPH (this is where I got to thinking "This is going to be a long @#$% loop")  and then she added that we should head towards our trailers.  We all thought about this for a second and cheered.  We didn't need to do 80 miles after all, we would only do 52.  It was plenty, trust me.

I feel that Sam and Smitty had a perfect day.  We will find out tomorrow who is in the top ten.

Good night!!

Heather