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Happy Birthday 1 yr old Khaliq!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe it's been a whole year!!!!!!!!! I was sleeping outside with Aura and at 11:45 pm July 3rd she went down and her water broke and 5 minutes later I saw a white foot & leg!! 12:05 am 4th of July baby Khaliq was born!!!!!
I PROMISE I will get new, current photos of her!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!OOOOOhhhhhhAaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh
Lalalalalalala!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am soooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
T & I, Summer & all the doggies went to Gold Country's 30/50 miler this weekend. Here's the entrance to Dru Barner Park ~ Really beautiful campgrounds and the ride is also very scenic and gorgeous and rocky (in spots) and difficult. I love it!
Our club members.....the bestest in the world!!! I know they wanted to be on the blog so this is why I took their picture. This is Judy and whatshisname (omgosh I'm horrible with names......)............REALLY SUPER DUPER great people, even whatshisname!!!! They would have backed our rig into a spot but T doesn't need backing help. He's an expert at that.
We've seen this picture before except last time Squishy was with us.....S Q U I S H Y...................I mentioned something to T tonight on our way home that I've done 3 50's in the last 2 months and he said "I KNOW!! I was there waiting for you at the RV with all the dogs for hours and hours". T was GREAT yet again, helping me with everything and walking all the punkies. Ridecamp Punkies and one red dog.
Our number 33. Hat Creek didn't put numbers on the butts....I think it looks cool. Summer's slick like a seal.
This was Summer's first 50 since she was about 7 yrs old, sooooo a LONG time ago! Donna was suppose to have some sort of stomach flu today (she works weekends) so she could do the ride with me but Lily Pod got hurt and had a swollen front leg. So, I was on my own, though I don't mind riding alone. I missed Donna though.......pictures, silly girl talk, and a buddy for Summer. Next time.
I normally like to start after the bulk of the riders leave, but this am, I decided to leave with a group of people. Summer wasn't horrible, but she wasn't ideal either. We went too fast the first 8 miles, so I had to slow her way down after a while.
After the first rush of riding too fast and almost getting lost, I really slowed down with Summer. She was hot and tired and wasn't eating and drinking as well as I wanted. When I got in for the one hour hold (we had already had a 30 minute hold after the first 16 miles) Summer looked so tired. Pam, from our club helped me, then sent her friend Kathie Perry over to help me. I'm so thankful for their advice. Pam brought me over some electrolytes with a buffer in it to make sure it wasn't making Summer's stomach icky, and Kathie told us to get the saddle off and really douse her with lots of water. I wasn't going to go on if she didn't brighten up and eat & drink. Pam told me a whole lot came happen to a horse in an hour (meaning, they can look great). Sure enough, when we left, actually 90 minutes later, she had a lot of spunk in her step. I was so thankful for their help. I still feel like such a novice in this sport.
"Where's the ribbons???????"
This was an ugly scene.......12 or so endurance riders wondering where the ribbons went. We crossed a gully then saw 2 ribbons to the left, which isn't exactly the way they should look for a turn. (Turns have 3 ribbons together, so you know a turn is coming up and then there are more ribbons to determine direction. Sometimes there are lime markings to show direction.) Well, on this trail, some pissant malcontent rearranged the ribbons so there was mass confusion at that turn, but no more ribbons followed. I was ready to go up the hill when a large group of riders came down the hill saying they hadn't seen any ribbons for 1 1/2 miles. That's a drag. Finally after several of the riders discussed where we might go, someone said they saw a grey horse go to the right and never came back. That's hopefully a good sign. Off we went thru manzanita & windy single track trails. We went quite a long ways before we saw any ribbons, but lo and behold, there they were! But, what a pain in the ASS this (or these) individuals are. Apparently this happens every year and they were rearranged either late last night or early this morning. What ended up happening with some 40 starts on the 50 miler, so many were overtime that ride management ended up giving them a completion, even though they were several hours over-time.
I started the second loop VERY slow. I took 2 hours & 45 minutes to go 12 miles, but I wanted to save my horse. I hopefully could make up time later when it was cooler and she had another 30 minute hold.
This ride is rather difficult and also because it's in July, can be very hot. I'm not sure how hot today was, but it was probably close to 90 degrees. The heat normally doesn't bother me when riding and today was typical. I felt great. Quite a few horses didn't pulse down right away at the away vet checks, but luckily there were hoses at the afternoon vet check so we could cool our horses down. And there were soooo many volunteers to help with horses and rider. I cannot say how much I appreciated everyone's assistance. And, there were lots of good snacks, fruit & drinks at the checks. Since I forgot to bring my GU https://guenergy.com/products/products-energy-gels
the snacks and drinks were very much appreciated. Besides that, there was ample hay & water at the stops for the horses.
I love the hills on this ride, because besides being a harder ride, it also means views. And, a chance to get a break from straight, flat trotting.
There were also lots of wildflowers ~ and I like how they match Summer's bridle.
About 4 miles from camp. I was dousing Summer with my water bottles to keep her cool.
This is the "Enchanted Forest". Sorry for the bad cell phone photos. It's about 2 miles or so in length and is near the beginning (and end) of the second 25 mile loop. The forest is covered with a forest fern that has a nice carpet look. The trails are roads and fun single track (my favorite) with nice soft footing. When you get back here, you know you are home free!! Summer wanted to stay and munch grass and I told her we were too close to home to dilly dally.
Over the finish line!!
I was at the last vet check at 3:02, with a 1/2 hour hold and had to be back at camp by 6 pm to finish in time (even though the ride management gave us time for people who got lost, I didn't, so I wanted to still finish in 12 hours). After pulsing down with the hose at the airport, my out time was 3:38. I was pretty determined to get in by 5:30ish, so we moved pretty well on the way back. We made it back at 5:38, vetted out and had a completion. Yeah!!!!
Summer drank and chowed down well, so I was very happy. Here she is with her CoolMedics leg wraps on.
We rode in EasyBoot Gloves the entire way and not an issue at all. They went thru mud, rocks, rivers, steep, gutted uphills and down. I love them. Proper fit is everything.
Summer looks good today. Now, she gets a break for a week and I'll take out Ali'i this week. He hasn't been out since Hat Creek, so he's good and rested. Another 50 miler completed!!! Good girl Summer!!!!! You are an awesome horse!!! Oxoxoxoxoxox!!!!!!
