Erebus on day 1 pictured above

Emma Orth, (our junior that has been helping us out all summer) and I loaded up the four guys on Friday morning.  (Jeremy would not be joining us, as he was going to do a big triathalon training weekend with his brother.) Emma and I were heading to the Mendocino Magic, 2 day ride.  We took Kings Gold, aka Elvis and Erebus for the first day 50 and Gold Dust Rising aka Dust and Most Likley (this is how you really spell his name) aka Mo for the second day.

The drive was uneventful in the semi truck, although driving the big truck on the road from Willits to Ft Bragg, (hwy 20), was like trying to ride an elephant on a single track.  We got there without any issues.

After setting up we checked in and then vetted and pre rode the day 1 horses.  I would ride Erebus and Emma would be on Elvis.  It was very foggy but not cold.  Mendocino is very beautiful so I was really looking forward to the rides over the weekend.  It would also be my first race with Emma who has been helping us ride all summer.

After the ride it was just about time for dinner.  We headed over to the potluck, which had way too many great choices, and found familiar faces to eat with.  It was great seeing all of my West Coast friends. 

That night I hardly slept as our crew of horses found a talent in banging buckets on the side of the trailer and clanking the high ties around.  At one point one of the dudes even starting rocking the trailer significantly by scratching his rear end on the side of the trailer.  Oh well. 

In the morning we got on and headed to the start.  At this ride there are two ways to the start, one was going down the hill to the meadow the same way you will come out of the meadow when they let you start, the other was going around the back of the meadow and circling around to the start.  We went down the way you come out on day 1 with the two seasoned horses.  Erebus and Elvis warmed up like pros.  Both were very well behaved. Looking professional in their Easyboot Glue Ons and Reactor Panel saddles. (There were a lot of people sliding around on the grassy slopes but the boots we had did awesome).

 

When it was time to start they both trotted smartly down the road and then up the first big climb.  It is so nice being on horses that are relaxed.  The day went by in a beautifully scenic way.  The fog was heavy in the morning, my ride picture from the morning was so thick in fog you could make out my helmet and my smile and Erebus's star!  Then the fog lifted to show you spectacular views of the ocean below.  Also the forest was amazingly serene in the fog with the redwoods and ferns and even some Aspen with the sunbeams filtering through the fog.  Very magestic. 

At vet check one both horses vetted right through and we relaxed at the trailer, then on to loop 2 which had a tremendous climb which in turn gave us more stunning views.  The lunch hold came and went.  The ride provided lunch to the riders which is always a relaxing treat as it is one less thing that you, as a rider need to worry about.

The last loop was super fun.  We were the 2nd and 3rd horse out of the vet gate.  We caught up to the front runner shortly after leaving the check.  Then there was another really long climb so we took advantage of our horses fresh feel and went up the hill rapidly, then for the rest of the loop we flew, passing LD riders, 50 mile riders and Ride And Tie Teams.  The horses loved this, although Erebus was wondering how they had all gotten ahead of us!  The trail on this loop was a single track of twisting, rolling tight trail, very fun.  I would call out to Emma things like, "Watch your head", "Watch your Knees", "Watch your face!"  Very exciting trail.

At the end of day 1 we were 1st and 2nd.  When we weighed in Emma weighed as much with her tack as I do by myself, first thing in the morning!!  We got the horses ready for BC and then showed them.  They both looked great.

After taking care of the horses and showing for BC we saddled up for round two and pre rode the day 2 horses.  Mo and Dust were very happy to be doing something.  After the ride we headed to town with Emma's mom Giulia and brother Luca for some hand made ice cream at the local ice cream shop.  I had, once again, the mushroom ice cream that they make.  It is made from a candy cap mushroom and tastes a lot like maple. 

Then it was dinner time and awards.  Erebus ended up with BC but Elvis had only lost BC by 1/2 a point so he won the high vet score.  Super day.

That night I slept much better as I was now pretty tired.  In the morning we saddled up and took the round-about way to the start, and about 5 mins late to avoid getting Mo excited on his first 50.  Emma was riding Mo as she has been riding him a lot this summer and really wanted to ride him.

Both horses started really nicely and we had yet another great day. This day was warmer and less foggy.  The views were even better and the trail was amazing.  Emma and I counted 12 different varieties of wild flowers on this day and we only started counting from the second loop onwards.

Mo was playing a game during the ride that each time we would get to a water bar he would tuck up and hop across, this was pretty funny considering we would be walking along, come to one and he would tuck up and hop and then go back to walking.

On our last loop we let the horses move out a bit and there were a number of small streams so Mo got to jump over them and have a great time, it was a game he liked even though he can walk across he had way more fun leaping at the canter over them. 

At the end of day 2 we came in 10th and 11th.  Pretty cool considering we were just out taking in the scenery and hiking a lot of the down hills.  On Mo's final trot out, he trotted out and then cantered back.  I guess he had a good time:)

Before dinner we took Roo, Merlin and Shasta (the Orth's dog) down to the pond for some fun.  Roo and Luca went swimming while Shasta ran at top speed around the pond, falling in sometimes as she went.  It was a super fun time.  Roo was having a blast with his water frisbee too.

The final dinner was fun saying bye to everyone.  Emma and I had a really fun time.  If you get the chance to do the Mendocino Ride I would recommend it to anyone.  It is very well run, well marked, beautiful, great food and great prizes.

The last night there was also a fire with a lot of story telling.  That was fun as it was like the old endurance rides I remember as a junior.

Monday we drove home, stopping at Starbucks of course.  When we got home all four of the horses rolled and then took off.  They all looked great.

Hope to see you at the Quicksilver ride at Harvey Bear on Oct 5th.

Heather

 

 

 

Well another crazy Tevis has come and gone.  It was a juggling act of entries for us.  I entered the ride with Elvis, Jeremy was entered on Cleopatrah and our friend Nicki Gilbert was entered on Erebus. 

Three weeks out Elvis had something happen out in pasture where he was found dragging a hind leg.  He took 5 days to become sound and then I took him for a ride at the 2 week out mark and he was great but the next day looked funky.  I decided with only less than 2 weeks before Tevis to scratch him.  I moved on to Surprise Moment, a horse we have only owned for 2 months (he had done endurance before we bought him), knowing that he might not be willing to pace well, as he has some issues with being anxious and wants to pull my arms out to go faster.  I did feel like he was making some head way so I decided to take the chance with him.

On Wed, the week leading into Tevis we booted Cleo, Surprise and Erebus and I clipped all three of the horses as well.  The plan was to relax on Thursday and have everything mostly complete by the end of Wed.

On Thursday morning we got an email from Nicki's husband asking if he could purchase Cleo for Nicki as she was really in love with the horse (she has ridden her at the last 3 FEI rides and is fully qualified for the next World Championship with Cleo).  He wanted to surprise Nicki with this.  Sure:) On to plan B.  Jeremy decided he would rather ride Chanses than my Anglo, Erebus, so he booted up Chanses and I clipped Chanses, so much for taking Thursday off;)

In hind site, if I had not had tunnel vision on taking Surprise to Tevis I should have stepped back and looked at my options, I should have taken my well prepared Anglo, Erebus.  A horse who we have had over a year and is willing to pace!

On Friday we headed up to Tevis with our two back up horses and Cleo who now belonged to Nicki Gilbert. All three horses traveled well.  Rusty and Kevin had saved us a great parking spot at Robie so we set up and got checked in and vetted in just fine. The ride meeting and dinner flew by and we headed to bed.

We were all in pen 1 so we warmed up together.  The horses were all fine.  When it was time to walk down to the start Nicki and I seperated from Jeremy.  We would go a little slower than him in theory. 

Cleo and Surprise were good at the start and the start was very controlled and easy going for all surprisingly.  A nice relaxed pace of trotting.  Then it picked up a bit and Surprise was pulling like a mad man.  When we got to the spot that Cleo fell off the trail last year she got pretty anxious but Nicki got her past it.

The Granite Chief area was pretty dry compared to some years, although at the first bog Chanses did go down on his side.  Later Cleo had a good scramble over a big granite slab as well.

After fighting Surprise all the way to Robinson, feeling like I was water skiing behind him the whole way I was really happy to get off of him.  He vetted through but had gone faster than desired and had poor gut sounds.  I had Nicki go on without me to take more time with Surprise.

Surprise was much better after Robinson because we were completely alone.  He trotted very nicely.  He got cooled off by Rachel and Bret Lain and Adam Farmer at Dusty Corners then we rode with Hal Hall on the Pucker Point Trail.  We had a good time.

At Last Chance, Surprise still wasn't really eating, however he was drinking really well. I stayed a long while and cooled him and gave him the chance to eat even though he didn't really eat much here.  (I left here with Andre Rugerri and we rode together from here to the bottom of Volcano Canyon.)  At Deadwood he finally was starving and ate super well.  I stayed about 30 mins here to let him try to start catching up.

From Deadwood on Surprise ate with gusto.  He climbed down the canyons and up the canyons and finally we were at Michigan Bluff.  My crew was awesome and cooled him here really well. Then I headed up to Chicken Hawk where more crew awaited.  They are so great:)  Surprise was well cared for.  He again ate really well and we vetted through after chowing down and headed out.  On my way out my friend Nicole was having trouble getting her big guy cooled out, she has an awesome Friesian Arab cross that weighs about 1200 lbs.  His pulse was only 52 but he was breathing faster and the vets didn't like it.  My parents used the rest of our ice on her horse and then he was ready to rock again.

Surprise and I cruised down Volcano Canyon.  I was on foot jogging, I managed to jog down every canyon this year.  At the bottom I scooped him off in the creek and then up we went to Bath Road. I had crew at the bottom with nice cold water to put on Surprise.   Then we trotted up the pavement looking great.  At the trot out at Forresthill the vet saw a hind end funkiness and wanted to recheck him before we left.

During the hold my crew worked on him.  I told Skip that if there was any question that I wanted to pull him as we still had 32 miles and the next vet check was a really long ways and then if I got pulled there, at Franciscos, it was a 3 mile uphill hike to the trailer (I did this last year when Stirgess broke a blood vessle in his leg).  In the end I didn't take him back out.

Cleo and Nicki, unfortunately had to make the 3 mile uphill hike from Franciscos to the trailer.  Cleo had hit something with her shin and had a small cut and a huge lump on the front of her leg.

Chanses made it to 96 miles, the Lower Quary and could see the leader at that check when he arrived. When he trotted out he was off.  Darn it.  Better luck next time.

I would like to thank our awesome Crew: Jean and Howie Spinner, Mary Reynolds and Aunt Leslie, Bret and Rachel Lain, Mike Shackelford, Rebecca Silva, Emma Orth, Karl Knuchel, Tim and Jody Reynolds, Jeff Townsend, Albert, Skip and Heather Lightfoot, Andy Gilbert and Kelly Couch and his friend that I have forgotten the name of (sorry). Also a thank you for the use of Hillorie Bachman's life changing shower at Forresthill.

Congratulations to Rusty Toth for another spectacular year, last year on a different horse he won the Haggin Cup and this year the Tevis Cup.  Well done.  (I have to brag a little, I picked out the horse for endurance for Garrett Ford a few years back, and Rusty got this horse from Garrett:)

Congratulations also to Hal Hall for his 30th buckle completion!! I can't even imagine.  At the rate I'm going I will be lucky to get 10!

My next ride will be Camp Far West.  Jeremy will not be there as he is getting ready for his Ironman that he is doing in late Sept.

Hope to see you there.

Heather

 

Pictured above: Jeremy and Dust, Heather and Surprise

On Thursday we went to the airport and picked up our Floridian friend Lisanne Dorion.  Her plane was delayed and she landed at 12:30 am.  Long day for her...we had been celebrating Jody, our new sister-in-laws birthday so we were up late anyhow. 

On Friday morning we headed to the ranch and fed and then grabbed our 4 horses to head out to the Almanor Hustle FEI 2* 75/120.  We were looking forward to this ride as all of the horses were looking well and we knew we would have fun and see the beautiful trail enjoying the company of our two riders and good friends, Mae Chase Dunn and Lisanne Dorion.  The goal was to get the horses around and get a qualifiction checked off of the list of required rides for our horses. (I just have to share that I think I set a personal record with Surprise's passport.  I received the passport on a Wed night, had it filled out and stamped by my vet on Thursday, back in the mail on that same Thursday and had it back in my hand, 2 days later, on Saturday approved!)

The pairs were, Dust and Jeremy, Erebus and Lisanne, Elvis and Mae and Surprise and myself.  It would be Surprise's first time going over 50 miles.  For the other 3 it would be their second 2*.

On our way to the ride we had one tire detread.  We think it is because this trailer we are using has been sitting for  awhile, dormant.  Oh well.  We went right away to Les Scwab and replaced the spare in case we had another mishap. 

We got to the ride about 3 pm.  Mae and her mom Carolyn were there as well as their friend Cathy.  Carolyn and Cathy would crew, LUCKY US!!

After the horses were settled we went out on a pre ride to make sure everyones tack was squared away.  Then we vetted in and went to the ride dinner.  It was fun to see everyone that we haven't seen in a while.  Michele is healing up but her smile is pretty adorable at the moment.

Saturday morning we got on and warmed up the horses and had an uneventful start.  All 4 horses worked well together.  The only issue I was having was that Surprise hasn't been in our program very long at all and was having trouble cantering slowly when the group would canter.  He would do a big trot and then I would slow him down to canter and he would not understand why we would slow to canter... He will get it:) 

This ride was rockier than I remembered it being so we were REALLY happy to have our glue ons on all of our horses, it really makes a huge difference in their performance at every race.  It is especially apparent in really hard, rocky footing. (You will also see a difference the day after the race in your horses legs.  There is way less filling in the legs, if any at all after you race hard in Glue on Easyboots.)

The 4 horses vetted quickly at each check.  We were just going to go around but as the day went on we did each loop a bit faster than the last.  By the last loop our 4 were in 3-6 place.  We left the last check and cantered around the last loop.  We passed a rider and were now 2-5.  The leader, Andre Ruggeri had a 3  min lead on us when we had left the last check.  About 2 miles from the finish we could see him ahead.  We decided we would sneak up on him and see if we could take hime by surprise.  At the final water trough he was there and as we galloped towards him he saw us and took off.  It was fun scaring him.  All good fun.  Andre is a great friend of ours.  As we had 4 horses and all of them needed this race we weren't in a position to go hog wild as that wasn't the goal.  We did keep some pressure on him in case there was an opportunity to pass.  At the very final part Jeremy did try one more time to get him as Andre had started trotting but once again he was able to stay ahead.

After the race I told Andre we were just keeping him on his toes.  I have recently been coaching Andre so I think he got a good laugh from it.

It was a great race and the horses did well.  After the race I was very happy with how all 4 looked. Actually how all 5 of the top horses looked, Andre's horse looked good as well.

At the 1 hour mark we showed all 4 for BC.  They looked like a proud bunch, we were all very happy. In the end it was Dust who would win the Best Condition award.

The weekend was pure fun and the scenery was spectacular.  The ride camp is in a beautiful green high meadow with a crystal clear creek running through the middle of it.  The stars at night were amazing as well, there is no light pollution so it is truely stunning.

See you all at Tevis.

Heather

 

Pictured above is RR Surprise Moment

On Friday Jeremy and I headed up to the Shine and Shine Only ride.  This ride is located on the top of a really narrow, steep, crazy mountain road.  Jeremy drove the semi with a smaller trailer than the one we hauled across the country (our big one would not physically fit, even if you closed the road and had free range) and I followed up behind him in our car.  Jeremy had to leave the ride on Friday to go back home so he could do a Triathalon training session on Sat morning, then he would come back up to the ride Sat night for the LD on Sun.

After we unloaded the horses Jeremy helped me get the corral started then left.  I set up everything after he left.  I divided the corral in half so Mo would not harrass NOS (sounds like floss).  Then I put Surprise on the high tie.

(Just for information NOS is something used in race cars to give the car an explosive acceleration.  It stands for Nitrous Oxide, however his name is not Nitrous Oxide, it is NOS.) 

NOS and Surprise are our two new guys.  NOS is a 15.3 bay gelding that will be turning 5 in June and Surpise is a 15.2+ grey gelding who is 9 yrs old.  Surprise had done endurance before we bought him so he was entered in the FEI 1* with me riding him for the Sat ride.  NOS had been ridden a year ago for 15 hrs total, then Jeremy took him on a 4 mile trail ride on Tuesday and then we decided that with Jeremy on foot most of the LD the horse would be fine.

On Friday I saw a lot of familiar faces.  Lindsay and her mom Suzy and dad Steve and Lindsay's Mother- In -law, Veronica, invited me over to their trailer for dinner.  It was great, we had a very fun time catching up and then following the great dinner we made S'mores.  Lindsay looks like the cutest mom ever, she is 7 months pregnant.

After dinner we went to the riders meeting and then I went to bed, still tired from our crazy time getting settled into CA.

I was awoken by a banging sound and had the feeling that Mo was chasing NOS around the corral, I got up quickly and looked and sure enough they had broken down the center divider and Mo was harrassing NOS.  I put Mo on another High tie and let NOS have the whole pen.

On Sat morning I got Surprise ready and got going.  I had only ridden Surprise 2 times before this, the 30 min pre ride the day before, and a 4 mile, very short ride so I was curious how he would be.  He was great.  I went really slowly through the ride as he has not been being conditioned any time recently for endurance.  He has been going out on trails though, and he had an endurance background...

I rode with Sandy Holder and Carol and we had a fun time taking it easy and chatting.  I also m still sore from all of the down hill hiking, my legs haven't seen a hill since last Oct!!  Surprise looked very fresh at the end of the ride and was cheerful the whole time.  The best part is every time I say his name I think of a My Little Pony with exclaimation marks on it's rump!

Just after I finished Jeremy arrived at the ride.  He had ridden a 56 mile bike ride and it went well, so he was happy about that.

We eventually vetted in the two rookies.  Mo was my mount.  He had done his first LD the month prior on a similar course, at this park.  Mo just turned 6. 

That night we had the dinner that Tammie made for riders who ordered dinner tickets. She made a great stew with mashed potatoes. 

Sleep was very easy to make happen that night:)  We woke up at a time that felt very late on Sun.  The LD started at 7:30 and hearing the riders getting ready for the 50 made me feel like we overslept.

NOS and Mo headed out of the start with Jeremy and I on foot.  NOS seemed actually more relaxed than MO!  After a short time we got on and Mo was hopping around as he wanted to GO.  I am a wimp and was intimidated by him and complained.  He and I got over it and after a couple of miles he was fine and so was I;)

I think Jeremy was on foot about 18 of the 25 miles but it paid off, NOS looked very good at the end on the ride.  He was bright and never had that fried, glossed over look that a young horse sometimes can have.

In all it was a successful weekend.  3 starts, 3 finishes.  When we got back to the ranch on Sunday NOS took off trotting and bucking around the pasture!  Pretty cool guy.

Our next ride will be the Almanor Hustle, I hope we see you there!

Heather

 

 

Above: This is the valley that camp is in, you can see the trail markers on the post.  This happened on Sunday and it is still this way now as I write on Monday night.

We shut down our Florida farm for the winter and pulled out early on Thursday morning.  All 9 horses and both dogs in the one rig.  The new trailer did well, the only problem we had during the trip was the sleeve that is on the gooseneck of the trailer collapsed down, the bolts that screw tight couldn't get tight enough.  Oh well, we made it.

We pulled into the ride site around 4 pm.  Lori Oleson met us in camp to help us unload and set up the 9 horses.  The weather was very cold, especially compared to Florida.  We got the horses all set up and then walked around a little to see who was there and set up our crew area. While Lori and I did that Jeremy met with a mobile repair team that fixed the issues that we were having with our trailer.

Just a little later Lynn and Mark Ashby pulled in and set up their travel trailer next to our trailer.  It is awesome and very nice to hang out in.  Merlin's brother and niece were there too, he loves playing with them.

Lynn started making us dinner and Skip arrived.  Some of our group went to Mexican food and some stayed for Lynn's cooking.  Super yummy.  Later on that night Jeremy and I went to the Bistro in the Biltmore Estate and had dessert with friends for a small memorial get together for our dear friend Deborah Reich. 

When we returned from dessert we went to sleep on Lynn and Mark's extra bed in their trailer since our new trailer doesn't have any living quarters (it does have a bed in the nose of the trailer that we put in.)

After I had just fallen asleep Jeremy woke me up to tell me he thought one of our horses was loose because Stirgess was calling.  We got up and found Honor walking around and someone had already caught him.  We tied him up and Jeremy wanted to go sleep in our bed because he wasn't comfortable in the other one. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that something had happened to Jeremy's elbow and it was very swollen and he wasn't sure what happened, he was worried about anything and everything that could have happened, staff infection, poisonous spider bite, bone chip, etc.  He was very worried...Nothing ever came of this.  It is still swollen but seems to be getting smaller, slowly.

On Friday morning we got up and Lynn made us a big breakfast and Lori brought Starbucks.  A great start to any day:)  Michelle Roush and Tracy Hofstrand had arrived at 3 am and came out to the ride site at 10 am to pre ride.  Michelle would be riding Dust in the 2* 75/120 with Lori who would be riding Erebus.  While we rode Skip and Mark set up more crew logistics.

After we rode we had Lori and Michelle go check their weight to make sure they would make weight. I went and got ride packets and then Nicki and Andy arrived.  Jeremy rode a second time with Nicki.  Jeremy and Nicki would be riding the 3* 100/160 on Chanses and Cleo and trying for COC time, which on the Biltmore course can be impossible on some years, weather dependent.

After that we all vetted in.  All 4 horses looked great.  They were all ready to go.  They all had on the new Easyboot glue on tread pattern that we raced in, in England.  It gives GREAT traction on slick conditions, like grass and mud.

Dinner that night was at the riders meeting, and was catered by the Biltmore.  Very yummy, especially the berry cobbler.

Saturday morning went very smoothly.  The two 100 mile horses went off and a half an hour later the 75 mile horses went out as well.  It was cold and threatening to rain, much like the day before.  If the rain would hold off it was the best possible chance to get a COC at the Biltmore.

The loops flew by.  Nicki Meuton was leading the 100 and Jeremy, Nicki Gilbert (our rider) and Amy Atkins, who was riding the late Deborah Reich's mare Juniper were close behind.

Dust and Erebus were doing great as well.  It was their first time doing anything over 55 miles.

Around the 55 mile point Jeremy and Nicki G were arriving at the same time as Nicki M.  Cleo was out recovering everyone but then waiting a couple minutes for Chanses.  Cleo recovers almost instantly.  She probably gave up 15 mins to waiting over the entire day.

Dust and Erebus finished in style as they cantered across the finish line.  Both horses had a successful day and looked great at the end of the day. They were confused leaving the last two checks as they were both certain they had gone far enough!  Rookies are so cute:)

At the last check Chanses and Cleo had a 10 min lead.  Unfortunately Chanses vetted out at this point.  Cleo went on without him.  She had to do the last loop leaving camp and now without her friend and this was her and her rider, Nicki's first 100.  A bit over half way around the loop Nicki M passed them.  Cleo made a good effort but the hills had added up (she hasn't seen a hill since last Aug).  Cleo was second in a time of 10:16.  We were very pleased with her effort and Nicki's ride!  It was a super time for the Biltmore.

We took care of the horses and broke down the crew area and as we did the sky opened and the rain began.  I was happy our horses and riders were off the trail as it was getting dark and now it was pouring.

As soon as we were all done we went to Skip's room and took a shower and then all meet for dinner at TGIF's.  It was fun re-capping the day.  A great result for the Reynolds Team.

We slept well that night, it continued raining all night.  The last rider on the 100 finished around 4:30 am and rode through the night, alone, in the rain.

The awards were complemented with breakfast.  The 100 mile team that Nicki and Jeremy were on, won.  The 75 mile team that Michelle, Lori and our friend's Barbara Hershberger and Sarah Schick were on came in third. 

Nicki Meuton won and also had BC on her mare Not Tonight.  The top three horses on the 100 were mares. Juniper was third with Amy.

After the awards we moved our rig down the road but still in the same valley as camp.  We wanted to get onto higher and more solid ground due to the rain and we had rented two grass pastures for our horses and two nights of hotel for ourselves.  Our original plan was to stay until Tuesday morning so that our horses could rest before hauling to CA.  

Sunday afternoon I called the Biltmore stable to ask about the rumors I had been hearing about an evacuation order.  The stable employee assured me that there was nothing to worry about and that it would not be an issue and not to worry.  (I told her if anything changed, no matter what time it was, to call me right away.)  She also said that if it did become a problem that I could exit out the back road behind the Equestrian center.   I asked her if a semi truck with a semi trailer could make it down that back road and she said yes...Apparently this person was delusional at best.

On Sunday, after this call we went to the movies and saw 42.  After too many previews the final preview went on too long and I realized that we were in the wrong theater and that we were watching the beginning of Scary Movie!! We jumped up and switched theaters, we missed the first 10 mins of our movie:(  It was a great movie though.

That evening we went to dinner with Emilio at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It was great.  We had a good time.  Slept like babies that night. 

This morning, Monday morning, we woke up and had our hotel breakfast and we were thinking about checking out and hitting the road when we both got calls from the Biltmore Equestrian center saying that there was a bit of water in our horses pasture.

I guess in NC "A Bit Of Water" is different than what I would call a bit of water.  When we got out to where the horses were it looked like the picture above.  You could see just the tops of the pasture fences above the water. Luckily one of the ranch hands had the foresight to move our horses to a higher pasture so they were not swimming all night!! 

The 9 horses were all standing on a postage stamp size island and wondering what the heck to do with themselves.  We got a ride out to them in the bucket of a tractor.  The water was really deep.  We decided on the least dangerous plan as far as what route to take them out of this area.  Our trailer was also on an island.  So all looked fine, well relatively speaking, nothing was harmed.

Jeremy saddle up Smitty and ponied the horses while I ponied horses with a ranch hand named Gary, off the tractor bucket! (Gary has a brother-in-law that lives in Los Gatos, the town in CA that we are headed to!  Small world!)  The horses did great and got moved to a higher pasture on a hill.  They were relieved and happy. Stagg and Cheryl showed up about then and saw the tail end of the water rescue mission, I think Cheryl even got a video of Jeremy ponying across the water.

As for the trailer, it is stuck out in the middle of the water on a small island.  It doesn't much matter as the "backroad" in no way would accommodate our rig.  So it looks as if we will be here until Wednesday.  If we are still here tomorrow night we will have dinner at Stagg and Cheryl Newman's house and stay with them.

After the horses were situated we went for a run, the weather was perfect today.  The trails were beautiful, a little muddy but not too bad.  Then we ran a few errands and went to Pannera for lunch.  We then went to the horses again and fed and blanketed everyone.  Now we are at our hotel with our two dogs.  We had pizza delivered and we are about to watch The Voice.  We are still having fun! 

We will see you on the other side... in CA.  Hope we see you at the Shine and Shine Only ride on the 18th.
Heather

Fun In The Sun was a busy time for us!!  We had 8 horses entered in the three day FEI event. 

On Tues we drove our big LQ trailer over to the camp to park where we wanted to be for the duration of the weekend.  The ride is less than 15 mins from our house. 

After that we went to Meg and Dave's house for another awesome Lynn Kenelly cook out.  She made amazing shrimp and grits with a chocolate cobbler for dessert.  Very yummy.

On Wed we fed our herd and then loaded up our horses that would be doing day 1, Smitty and Erebus.  Smitty for the 2* and Erebus for his first 1*.  We pre rode these two and then vetted in and hung out.  We were parked next to our friend's Amy Atkins and Lissanne Dorian.  Amy would be riding Deborah Reich's mare, Juniper on the 1*. 

The ride meeting came and went and we headed to bed.  At about 4 am we heard running horses and jumped up to help catch loose horses...again!  Last race we had too also.  By the time we were up the horses were caught.  Thank God!  Back to bed for a brief while.

We got up and saddled our guys.  As we got ready our awesome crew, Skip, brought us hot chai:) 

Smitty had had a bruise in his RF foot a week prior but Jeremy was feeling fine about him.  We thought we might ride the first loop together.  About a mile into the ride we parted ways as Smitty was going much faster than I wanted to go. 

This was the first race that Erebus had done without his side kick Dust, so when Smitty went on I was very happy that Erebus did his job and didn't care. 

My day flew by and Erebus did a great job.  He was a lot of fun, he is like riding the family dog, maybe the ball dog who wants to please and do everything fast but with a big stupid grin.  He is super fun and also comfortable, so I had a blast. 

Smitty went two loops and the bruise in his RF caught up with him.  Jeremy had no regrets, he said if he had to pay and do it again, he would.  He and Smitty had a really fun time for the two loops they did, Jeremy was grinning ear to ear.  (Two days later and Smitty is perfectly fine.)

Erebus did a large portion of the 55 alone and stayed motivated and cheerful.  We ended up 6th. 

(Amy had ridden Juniper and when she had called the farm in NY to let Deborah know how she had done on her mare she was told that Deborah had passed away that morning.  Deborah had been fighting a long battle with cancer.  It was a huge loss and we were all extremely saddened by the news.)

After we finished we vetted, rested the horses and then loaded up to go trade out horses for day 2.  We had 4 horses doing the 2* for the second day.  We picked up Vegas (Erica DeVoti's horse), Elvis (my mount), Nixon (Jeremy's mount) and Cleo (Nicki's mount). 

Nicki and Erica had arrived at the camp and were both ready to vet in when we arrived.  All 4 vetted in without a glitch.  That night we went to Don Pepe's Mexican restaurant for dinner, the ride meeting was going to be the same as day 1 ride meeting as the trail was identical.

The morning for day 2 was very chilly.  The weather was having a major cooling trend! Nicki and Jeremy warmed up together and Erica and I warmed up together. 

Elvis and Vegas went through the first loop together and after vet check one parted ways.  My day on Elvis went ok, I over did it on loop one.  I thought he was more prepared than he was.  He was able to do the pace and was not at all tired but the sand put a kink in his hind end and I dealt with it the rest of the day.

Each loop I went slower and slower as he was tight in the hind and I didn't want to get pulled.  At the last vet check I was leaving as Nixon and Cleo came into the check. 

I was headed out on a key hole loop, out, around and back when two riders came at me head on and Cheryl warned me to be careful as the ride photographer was just around the corner and had caught a loose horse that was being held by his halter.  (I was thinking to myself it was odd that the photographer was out here this late in the ride).   Then the young rider who was riding with her pipes in that the tack matches my tack...  I am thinking to myself "Well that's impossible, my horses are at the vet check".

I came around the corner and there stood Nixon, without any tack on, except for his cavasson.  So odd, I couldn't figure out what was going on, my first thought was that Jeremy's saddle had broken and he had fallen maybe...? 

I asked the photographer how that horse had gotten there and where his tack was, he simply said that it must be one of the horses that had broken away at camp!  He explained that two had run out of the vet check.  Great, where was Cleo???  I asked what direction Nixon had come from and he pointed to the only road we had not ridden on.  I was just contemplating going down the road to look for Cleo when he assured me that I should continue and that things were under control.  This was nice of him as they weren't really under control, but he was going to make sure Nixon made it back to camp and someone was on their way to get him.  I looked closer and saw that he was using his cell phone car charger as a lead rope!  I wished I had something to give him to hold Nixon better.  I told him to yell to me if Nixon got upset when I left, he again told me not to worry. 

I left and was full of all sorts of wild images of how that came about.  A little while later Sondra Roberts, a young rider who's a good friend, came riding along.  She decided to slow down and ride along with me.  We had a great ride into the finish. We had many good laughs, as usual.  We were 8th and 9th.

When I got back into camp I heard the story.  Jeremy had given the horses to Nicki to hold while he and her husband Andy took down the pop up tent.  While Jeremy was giving Andy instructions on how to take the tent down Nicki misunderstood and thought he was addressing her.  She started helping with the tent and Jeremy looked up, saw her and asked who was holding the horses!!  The two horses had walked off in the direction of the trailer, then started jogging, dragging their ropes, their blankets fell off and they started sprinting.  Jeremy ran up to the corner of the camp, which is in a large pasture to try to shut the gate before they got there but it was too late, they ran through.  Both horses are off the track and are VERY fast.  They were now running down the road, Cleo down the center of the pavement, Nixon on the grassy shoulder.  Skip saw this and got in his rented Charger and FLEW down the road to get ahead of the horses before they would get to the intersection where the fast two lane, highway, country road was.  He made it there just in time to flag down traffic and park his car perpendicular in the middle of the road.  With out him there the horses probably would have been hit.

When the horses got there they made a 90 degree, left turn.  Cleo and Nixon had their Easyboot glue ons on so Cleo made her turn with ease on the pavement, Nixon however at 35 mph didn't fair so well in the grass.  He slid out and proceeded to slide on his side with his feet in the air across both lanes of the road and on the other side the shoulder dipped down and his legs rolled beneath him and he continued like nothing had happened, at a dead run!  Skip got back in his car and continued to try to get ahead of them and cut them off.  It wasn't working.  In the mean time Jeremy was hoping from vehicle to vehicle trying to catch up to Skip.  At some point the horses turned off into the forest.  It was at this point that the horses split up, Nixon found the photographer and Cleo came back out onto the road. 

An hour and a half later both horses were back in camp getting vetted again to see if they could continue.  Nixon was rider optioned as he looked spent from his big run and had some road rash from his slide.  Cleo went back out to continue.  The two had probably covered close to 8-10 miles at a full run.  Jeremy says if they have that much to spare at the 60 mile mark they will be going faster next time...

Bummer for Nixon.  This is his only pull.  He is fine and was fine the next day.

Cleo finished with Nicki, that is the pairs second 2* together (Cleo's 3rd 2*).  Vegas also finished and it was his and Erica's second 2* as well.

When all was vetted and the time had passed for the resting we loaded up and traded out for day 3.  Chanses for the 3* with Jeremy and Dust for the 1* with myself.

After vetting in we left back to our house and made dinner for our group.  It was nice.  We talked a bit about the hectic day and then headed back over to the race.  I was getting a little sick and was so ready for bed.  It was very chilly.

On our final morning we warmed up as usual, today we would get to do a new trail that we hadn't used yet.  For my ride, the 1* 55, we would go 22+ miles out, vet check, 10 mile loop, vet check, 22+ back to camp.  Jeremy had a longer than 10 mile loop then back, then more loops from camp.

The first two loops I rode with my good friend Sarah Schick (Sarah used to drive over 2 hours each way every weekend when we lived in VA while working at Cre Run to come and ride with us) and Amy.  We had a great time, the horses behaved well.  Then on my third loop I decided to let Dust move out a bit more.  I had no idea what place we were in as I wasn't paying attention to that and all of the distances started together so it was really hard to tell who was doing what any how.  I was hoping I could make it into the top ten.

He was relaxed and feeling very fresh.  He got me back to camp in an hour and a half!  He was so cool, he just cantered along and when I asked him to trot he would but then after a minute or so he would pick up his canter again.  Very fun.  He looked great the whole time.  He came in second.  Super!  He showed great for BC too but the winning horse had 38 mins on us. 

I took care of him then went to crewing for Jeremy.  Jeremy had taken a fall with Chanses on the first loop around 10 miles into the race.  When they fell Jeremy got knocked out for a brief moment so they fell hard.

From the first vet check on, Chanses' back got more and more tender from the fall.  By mile 90 he was just too sore and his back had transferred to a tight inner thigh on the side he had wrenched. Chanses had been in the lead with Ellen Olson and Hot Desert Night but it was decided he needed to be done for the day.  (Ellen Olson won the 100 on Farzad Faryadi's Hot Desert Night.)  Poor Jeremy, a rough weekend all the way around between pulls and losing Deborah. 

In all it was a good ride weekend.  We will all miss our great friend Deborah Reich, she was truly an amazing person and we will always miss her positive energy and cheerful smile.  I hope she is doing well wherever she is now, she will live on in our thoughts and memories.

On Thursday we loaded up Erebus and Dust to go to the Boy Scout 50.  We also hauled up a cute mare for Pat Thomas that belonged to the ride manager, Kim Williams. 

When we were about an hour from the ride it looked like it was going to be raining soon.  As we exited highway 75 I saw a Starbucks and made a comment on hitting that up on our way home.

The rain started and it was pouring.  We pulled into the ride camp and got our rain gear on.  We then went to check in and after that the mare was unloaded and taken to Kim's camp.  We decided to leave Erebus and Dust on the trailer for a while to see if the rain might let up.

Jeremy and I went to hang out in the trailer to kill time and wait out the rain.  Right when we got into the trailer it was clear that the recent trailer repair to seal the roof did not work!  The ceiling was dripping from multiple places, including over our bed!  We quickly got out some buckets (unfortunately we are well versed in what to do when you are camping in a rainforest trailer!  This happened to us already this season, hence the trailer repair to seal the roof!!).

The rain was coming down heavy.  Jeremy had the idea that he should check to make sure the truck and trailer were parked in a straight line so if we had to get pulled out it would be easier to pull us.  (Our neighbors were getting pulled out of the mud right about then)  He decided to fix our parking job.  After he moved the rig into a straight line the roof above our bed stopped leaking as it changed the angle of the roof and now the leak was further back, hooray!!  But now Roo's bed was getting wet, so we moved him to the couch. We had about 8 buckets in various places and the whole thing was so ridiculous that we just had to laugh!

We offered the horses water in the trailer and eventually unloaded them when it was time to vet in.  We did not pre ride but we did walk and jog in hand a little. 

The dinner was at 6 and it was made in the Boy Scout camp kitchen.   It was yummy.  The ride meeting was at 7.  Lisanne and her rider Molly sat with us and we goofed around for awhile before heading off to bed.

In our conversation, Molly and I discovered that we share a past Halloween costume, we have both been a Spice Girl (that is weird enough, right??), and better yet we were both Scary Spice!!  That is the African American Spice Girl:) What are the odds??? Small world!!

Around 9 pm the rain stopped and we were able to put the buckets away, good thing because I might have been hospitalized trying to find my way through the bucket maze on my way to the bathroom in the night!!

The next morning it was foggy and damp but not raining.  There were about 1/2 the entries that had been at the ride the year before, there were over 60 riders for day 1.  Our only day.

Erebus and Dust were feeling good and we had decided to start late as it was their second 50 and we wanted to have a peaceful ride.  We started 6 mins late and walked out across the starting line. 

The ride has really fun winding single tracks for the first loop.  We would be doing the Blue loop, Pink Loop and then repeat in the afternoon.  Having 2 vet checks, a trot by after the blue loop with a 50 min hold after the pink loop.   Then the blue again, a 50 min hold and the final pink loop.

Both horses had a great day, they increased their speed a bit each loop.  The final loop they cantered easily around.  We actually ended up 9th and 10th!  Pretty cool considering we left late from each check and started late.  The guys did well and looked great.

After the ride we let the two guys hang out and after about 2 hours we loaded up.  On the way home we hauled Amy Whelan's horse back with us to go to the Olson's. 

I was excited to hit up Starbucks.  Our drive would only take 3:30 so it was going to be a simple drive and we would get home by 8.  We got out at Starbucks and Jeremy noticed a smell that was like burnt rubber.  He felt the rims on the trailer and one was really hot and could barely be touched.  Not good.  He was thinking a bearing was going bad.  Which we also just had fixed, as well as the trailer brakes and multiple other things.

I made a few phone calls and found a big rig repair 2 miles down highway 75.  They said they would check it out.  We took our coffee and headed over to that shop.  After they checked it out it was found that the brake was dragging and could have caught on fire! 
The trailer repair place that "fixed" our roof and brakes and other things will be hearing from us...

We got back on the road, our new ETA was 10 pm.  Oh well, at least we didn't brake down on the highway or worse yet catch on fire.

The rest of the drive was uneventful.  We dropped off the horse to the Olson's and then cruised home.

The next day Erebus and Dust were bathed to get all of the mud and grime off from the race and then proceeded to gallop around the pasture bucking, that's always cool when they do that.

Our next race will be FITS on Feb 28, March 1-2, we will be taking 8 horses all of which will be doing FEI races.  I hope we see you there.
Heather

Above Left: Heather and Elvis  Right: Jeremy and Chanses
We had a great ride weekend at Broxton Bridge.  Originally we were going to drive on Wed but there were tornado warnings, high winds and rain at the ride location that day so we decided to wait until Thursday.

Thursday morning we loaded up Chanses, Cleo, Nixon and Elvis around 5 am and started our drive to South Carolina.  About 6 hours later we pulled into the ride site.  The horses all settled in nicely and we set up camp and relaxed.  Our friends Nicki and Andy (from the UK) arrived at camp in the afternoon .  Nicki was to ride Cleo with Jeremy on Nixon on the FEI 2* on Friday.  They went out for a pre ride and had a good time.  After that, Jeremy and I went for a pre ride with myself on Elvis and he on Chanses.  The trails at Broxton have as perfect footing as you can come by.  It is a nice depth of sand that has a firm bottom.  Really, a course you could go barefoot on if there was one.  (We were fully booted with the Easyboot Glue Ons)

When all of our riding was done we vetted in the three horses that would do day 1.  Elvis and I were going to do his first 1*.

The camp at Broxton is great, there are full RV hook ups, showers and there was a food vendor and Teddy from Running Bear Tack had her full store there.  There was also a covered pavillion for the riders meetings.  This would be a great place to host a big deal race.

The ride meeting went quickly and then we were so tired we headed to bed.  At 8 pm we were in bed and I was reading my book when Jeremy said he heard horses running.  He went out to see what was going on.  He came back quickly and told me to get up, there were many horses loose.

Our friends parked next to us had all 7 of their horses loose and there were many more that had broken out of their electric corrals.  It was total mayhem.  Horse had gotten out and then run through other horse's pens.  Our friends were at dinner so we tried calling them during the mayhem.  Luckily 5 of the 7 came running back through and we were able to grab them. 

A few minutes later 4 more were caught, 2 of which completed our neighbors M.I.A horses.  We caught 13 horses at camp.  Then our neighbors pulled up and our friends face was very upset.  She explained to us that on there rush back from dinner after receiving the call about their loose horses that they had just seen a grey horse on the hwy that had been hit and was dead.

Very upsetting.  The same lady who had lost the grey was missing her second horse and it was believed that it had been hit as well.  We rushed to help her try to locate her second horse.  When we went out to the road in front of camp we saw two car accident scenes about 1/4 mile apart from each other, two spots where horses had been hit.  It was very unclear about the second accident site as there was no horse at the scene, it had run off.

The poor woman who had lost her horse was beside herself worried sick about her second horse.  I felt so badly for her, her horses had been turned loose by someone else's horse running into their electric pen!

We had no luck finding her horse that night.  Around 11:30 we got back into bed.  How devastating...

At 4 am I got up to feed and went back to bed, at 6 we got back up to start getting ready for the 7am, 75 mile start.  I helped saddle Cleo and saw Nicki and Jeremy off then Andy and I hung out until it was time to saddle Elvis for the 1* that started at 8 am (how civilized!).

(Just as the 75 was starting the final missing horse was being led to the vets to get looked at.  It was walking fine and looked ok, what a relief.  In further findings it was discovered that the grey horse that had been hit the night before had actually been hit twice.  The first time it was able to run away and then probably panicked and ran into the second car.)

This would be my first race on Elvis.  He shipped out from CA after Christmas so he hadn't been worked much in the sand so I was going to ride a little conservatively.  At the first vet check, without crew his recovery time from the arrival to the pulse was 6 seconds!  He is pretty awesome.

I had a great ride on Elvis, I rode most of the day with Ellen Olson and we had a great time.  On the last loop I was out several minutes ahead so I decided to keep a 14 mph pace on the 10 mile loop and bump it up a hair at the turn around point.  Elvis won with ease and felt great and effortless.  His CRI at BC was 48/36!  Even I was impressed:)

At the end of the day Cleo and Nicki finished 12th and Jeremy and Nixon were 13th on the 2*. 

Elvis won the 1* and got Best Condition and High Vet score.  A great start to our career together.

That night we had homemade gumbo that Lynn Kenelly made for all of the riders, it was great.  Then the meeting and sleep.

On Saturday morning I woke at 4 to feed Chanses and went back to sleep and slept in past Jeremy leaving, it was nice as it was easily lower than 28 degrees outside.  I woke with plenty of time to start crewing for him when he came in.  Chanses looked great.  Most of the day Darolyn and Jeremy rode together.  On the last loop Chanses opened up his lead and cantered easily across the finish.  He won by almost 2 hours.   He looked great and showed really well for BC.

That night we had another Lynn Kenelly meal, yummy.

Today, Sunday, we had the awards breakfast.  Chanses had won Best Condition and High Vet score on the 2*.  Pretty great.  What a great weekend.  We are very sorry for the loss of the horse on the road though...

Next weekend, really a few days from now!  On Friday we will be doing the 50 at the Boy Scout Pow Wow ride with Dust and Erebus hopefully getting their last slow 50 done so they can do their 1*at FITS.  We hope to see you there.
Heather

We did the Gator Run ride this weekend.  The first day we made the error of taking our two rookie horses only two weeks after their first 50 that they did at the Greenway ride.  The two both had tight hind muscles and we pulled both for sore hind ends from all of the sand work.  Darn, what novices we are!

The second day went really well, Jeremy rode Cleopatrah and I rode Chanses.  Both days the weather was in the low 80's and humid with a lot of deep sand.  Cleo and Chanses did well, they cantered through the first loop, recovered right away and ate well.  The rest of the day flew by.  The two horses galloped their last loop in the heat and sand and averaged 12+ mph for the 10 mile loop.

Near the finish line we started to lap the LD riders.  Cleo and Chanses tied for first and Chanses won BC.  Our ride time was 4:37.

The ride was uneventful for us but there were a lot of unfortunate things for others.  On Thursday night some horses got loose and raced through camp and several more got loose as a result.  There were a few injuries to the horses that got loose.  (Luckily we live 5 mins away so we did not camp there.  The camp is a beautiful place though if you were to camp.)  There were 2 rider falls on each day with two, maybe three broken collar bones and one helmet that split in half, one horse is still missing as I write this, from the rider falling off.

The trail was really well marked and there was plenty of water.  There were also great meals all three nights and the awards were nice too.  Gator Run is a very well managed ride.  Thank you to the Caudill's.

Heather

Christmas came and went.  We had a great time in CA seeing family.  Other than me getting a sore throat and then losing my voice on Christmas day.

We flew home on the red eye on the 27th and landed at 5 am on the 28th.  We had our car waiting for us in the lot as Rebecca had flown out the day before and had left it there for us.

It was nice to be back in Florida.  We drove home with Merlin as he flew with us on our trip.  We were pretty tired, luckily I had packed our trailer before we left and we would have very little to do today to get over to vet in at the Greenway ride.

Erebus and Dust still had their easyboot glue on shoes on from the Goethe LD ride so we were pretty much all set.

We went in and took care of a few pressing issues, then Jeremy took care of our new horse, Elvis's feet so he could be turned out with our herd and then we caught our guys and loaded up.

(Elvis arrived while we were in CA.  He was our good friend and client's horse, Carole Kraft Edwards.  He was born and raised at Jan Worthington and Grace Ramsey's farm in Illinois and was purchased by Carole after we spent the summer in 2010 with them and recommended him.)

The weather was pretty nice, especially compared with CA where it had been in the 40's mostly.  (As I write this it is 5 pm and it is 72 outside!) We vetted our guys in and then went on a very short ride.  They felt great.  Then we were off to dinner with the Olson's.  We had a fun time at Sonny's BB-Q, ribs are always great!!

That night we went to bed super early as we had been operating on about 1:30 hours of sleep all that day.  It started raining shortly after we went to sleep.  It rained all night long.  When it was time to get up it was still pouring and there were high winds and thunder and lightening.  We saddled up and headed to the start.  Jeremy noticed that there was no one else warming up.  We asked around and the start had been delayed by 30 mins. due to lightening.  So nice that they told everyone!

I rechecked in 30 mins and it was delayed another 30 mins.  At 8 am we started.  The rain had stopped and we actually did not get rained on at all!!

The day went very well, both of our first time 50 mile horses did great.  They both recovered well and ate and drank well.  I am very happy with the two of them.

At the end of the day they both looked good and they finished 4th and 5th.  A pretty good start to their careers.

Have a Happy New Years and hope to see you at the Gator Run 2 day ride.

Heather