Jubilee 2014

Delayed blog post here, this ride was Oct. 4

I was so hoping to get one more 50 mile ride in this year, unfortunately it was not to be.

Work has been absolutely insane and I've been there 7 days a week.  Not surprisingly I have not been getting in many long rides.  The work schedule, coupled with a bit or rain, and the fact that our logging road loops are now off limits due to the new $150 permit required Aug through Jan.... meant I just didn't get it done.

Michelle and I had planned to do this ride since August and I figured doing a 25 would be better than no ride at all, so we headed out Friday morning for the long drive to Prescott Wa and the Jubilee Ranch.  We stopped  few times and managed to find a Starbucks about half way there, although I did drive over part of a curb trying to get in the nearest parking lot.  Eeeek.

Ride camp looked a lot bigger this year as we rounded the corner at the ranch.  Wow, I was a little nervous about finding a spot to park!  We pulled into camp and then did a quick foot cruise to find a good spot on flat ground.  Bonus- it was near both a huge trough and the porta potties!

Michelle wanted to take her new horse Rosie on the trail ride to introduce her to endurance.  By the time we got there and went to check in she had decided just to go for it and ride the 25 with me! We planned to go slow and take our time- I was in no hurry and was just there to have fun after all :)

We vetted in and had the horses all set up pretty quickly and then we cruised through camp to do some visiting before the ride meeting that evening.

I really should have written this blog post right after the ride, as I'm sure I am forgetting much about the weekend. 

Ride morning looked like it could, possibly, do a little raining.  Sigh.  I put on my black jacket.  By the time I had Cartman tacked up I was hot.  I removed the jacket and went with my standard a hoodie. 

Rosie was a bit wound up but Michelle managed to get her close to the mounting block and vault on.  Both horses were very well mannered as we walked through camp towards the starting line.  I mention this because last year we both thought we were going to end up in the dirt before actually starting the ride!   Lol.

Before long we were on the trail and trotting.  It was still a little overcast but not cold.  We wound around the orchards and all kinds of scarey boxes and equiptment.  At one point we came to an intersection and some of the workers were trying to start up a tracto with a big cart trailer thing attatched.  They very kindly turned it off when they saw the horses and we were able to get by without incident.

It didn't seem that we were travelling that slowly but we did do quite a bit of interspersed walk and trot.  Thankfully we were able to keep a nice bubble and Rosie was really relaxed about the whole thing! 

We tried to stop and graze the horses on the edges of the orchards whenever we got some good grass patches and at one stop Cartman managed to spook himself by brushing up against an apple tree and a bunch of apples fell to the ground, oops! 

We pulled back into camp right on time (we had some type of plan, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.)  The horses vetted through although Cartman managed to drag me over to a nice pile of Orchard grass and then proceeded to pee on it! 

Rose was a bit of a pill in the vet check this time.  For her vet in she had gone through Dr Root's line and he is so patient and understanding.  This vet was a little more harsh but Michelle go her through it and we raced back to the trailer to get some snacks!

I wasn't really even hungry and after my stomach disaster at Santiam thought I'd better get some practice actually paying attention to what I was feeding myself.  I opted for a protein shake and banana.  This combo seems to work the best for me when I'm going to be going right back out on the trail.  No potato chips.  No Greek Vegetable salad.

We didn't have any time to spare so made sure to saddle up and head over to the starting line on time.

The sun had come out at this point and it was a beautiful day.  The ride photographer got several good pictures of us as we came up a hill overlooking a huge river (Snake?)

We did manage to get off trail during this section of the ride,  directly after leaving a trough we headed up a hill and missed the turn half way up the hill.  We had run into Michelle and Jodie and the four of us picked our way down the hill towards the flags we finally spotted!

At this point we only had a few miles to go, but we were really running out of time.  Both Rosie and Cartman had been eating and drinking well and neither was acting tired, so we turned on a big trot and headed for camp.

We ended up riding up behind a few other riders and camp was now in sight!  We walked probably the last 1/2 mile in and both horses pulsed in immediately.

Cartman almost managed to pee on the hay again, but I was ready for him this time.  When he stretched out I quickly kicked most of the hay out from under him.  Whew.  I actually think I might bring a small flake of grass hay or straw in my vet bag for him from now on.  He will pee on trail but if we are moving along he will try and hold it.  He did that at Mt Adams and wouldn't pulse down (a first for him).  I walked him away from the pulse area and he immediately pee'd.  I took him right back and he was then down.

We vetted through and headed back to the trailer.

I wasn't even tired after this ride, but it was more fun to ride with a buddy this time and I think the 50 would have been a little hard on my "hairy dude".  Yup, Cartman was working on a true Yak coat this year- he has since completed it and I may actually have to break down and do a trace clip on him if I want to do much riding this winter.

We were both pretty happy with the ride and Michelle's new mare did awesome out on the trail.  She didn't even seem to be at all tired after her first 25 miler!

The evening was also great as a dinner was provided by the Jubilee Ranch!  How awesome was that?  No smelling all those great burgers and steaks from other campsites this time!  We got hot food and it was Mexican food- my absolute favorite!!! 

Both horses came out of the ride really well the next morning-- with no swelling or filling in their legs or any other maladies!  Whew, this was a real relief after out experience at this ride last year!

We attended the awards and then headed for home:)

How time flies...

I can't believe its been almost three months since I did a blog post!  I kept meaning to post but once you get past a certain point it seems a little overwhelming to try and catch up. 

I rode Cartman steadily through September, not a lot of long rides but enough to keep him fit enough for an LD at Jubilee.

Clinic:
In the beginning of Sept. I attended a riding clinic and it did not go as I had hoped.  I was participating with Taj (Cartman's brother) and while we did get some really good lessons on ground work the riding portion was a complete bust.  To the point I got to be the "bad example" for the rest of the weekend. Sigh.

I don't want to dwell on this but I'm going to get it out there, as it was quite upsetting at the time.  I'm not a real "sensitive" person and have done a lot of lessons and clinics over the years and am quite comfortable with trainers being blunt or even barking orders at me- I did grow up with the H/J crowd after all!  But this experience was a new one for me- I much prefer to deal with the problem in the moment- talking about what I should have after the fact doesn't really help me.

Anyway, Taj was such an ass that when we got 8 horse rider pairs going in the arena he pretty much had a meltdown.  We were only working on trot, disengage the HQ and stop (basically one rein stops) but about the third or fourth time around he started acting up.  He was kicking out at other horses and there wasn't a lot of room.  I started getting really uncomfortable and doubting how many more incidents until he bucked me off, or we ran into or kicked someone.

I ended up going to one end of the arena and standing, then trying to walk circles. He proceeded to start trying to jig, and toss his head and just be stupid.  My goal at this point was just to try and get him calmed down a little but he just continued to escalate.

Finally I managed to walk down to the other end of the arena and jump off.   I really didn't know what else to do at that point- I felt it was too crowded for me to try and ride him the way he was behaving.

Thankfully my friend (a great trainer and rider) helped me do a little ground work while the other riders finished up so we didn't stop on a completely horrible note with the horse.

There was no way I was going back in there after lunch for the cantering portion of the day.  Yes, I am a big chicken:(

I was so happy (and relieved) when offered a horse to ride for the afternoon session- so that I could actually practice the lessons w/o fear of imminent danger.   I didn't know until I was walking down the arena again that this horse was the ranch owners Tevis horse! 

What an awesome, awesome horse.  I have never ridden an Arabian before and was not expecting him to feel so smooth and powerful!  He was an absolute gentleman and I can't say enough good things about this guy.  I love him, and I want one just like him :)  How cool is it that they would share this wonderful horse with others??

This part of the clinic was a little more fun, although I still felt really self conscious about wimping out on my own horse. 

The evening pot lucks were really fun and it was really nice to be around a lot of good horse people!

Next morning I took Taj back for the groundwork portion but again rode the fabulous Arab in the afternoon.

While everyone broke for lunch I did saddle up Taj and we worked in the arena.  He was perfectly well behaved and we did walk/trot/canter and then took a little mini-trail ride. 

All in all, I did learn quite a bit- the clinician certainly knows her stuff and it was really interesting to watch her work with some of the horses.  It was kind of a confidence buster for me however and actually took several weeks to "get over", to the point I didn't want to write about it.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, next up: Jubilee with Cartman!

Escort Service

Today Cartman got to escort Rosie, Michelle's new endurance mount, on her first ride out in the woods!

We left early at about 8:30am and wouldn't you know it there was a traffic jam at the trailhead:)  We pulled in first and then a few ladies we know pulled in and then who should show up but Flo!  It was nice getting to visit for a few minutes with everyone.  We were on a time schedule so didn't stay too long talking.

Rosie got a little excited by all the commotion but M got her tacked up and was on pretty fast.  I jumped on C and off we went.

We did a lot of just walking and letting the new horse get used to the wooded trail.  In many areas they are brushing up against Salal and vine maple and it can get a bit "rustly".  Rosie was really forward though and after a about 1/2 mile she went in front for a bit.

Cartman seemed to enjoy having a new buddy to hang out with and he's pretty calm natured so it ws a good combo.  We did a little bit of trotting where the trail was pretty perfect and did a lot of climbing, stepping over logs, and roots, etc.  Rose seemed completely unfazed by the whole thing and didn't stumble once!  Yeah, good prospect for a trail horse!

We crossed the stream twice successfully and then ended up heading back the same way we went in.

It was a very good first ride with the new trail buddy!

Waaaahhhhh!

Had a great ride yesterday on the trails with Cartman.  We covered about 10 miles and got a great hill gallop and lots of climbing in.

Unfortunately I backed up too close to the road sign (there was a mini-van in the spot we usually park the trailer) and while I didn't hit the post I did put the small street name sign through the back window and screen of the horse trailer!  Agh. 

One more thing to fix :(

On a good note I did get back to my workout schedule for real today- and I already feel better :)

No pictures today. Just some rambling thoughts.

Today I hauled Cartman and Buddy over to the river to ride our jogging trail and the sand flats.

Since I have been mainly riding Cartman out on the trail this summer we haven't been working enough on our arena type exercises.  I've notice that he is getting a bit lazy on the aids, and just wants to plow straight ahead- and do it quickly.

We started out by doing some halts, leg yields, and turn on the haunches (western style- with one hand on the reins).

I've been thinking back to last year and the clinic with Jack Brainard.  I realize that I haven't done much to further his training in the arena.  He can still complete the exercises but probably hasn't progressed as much as he should have in a year.

I feel badly about this and will formulate some sort of plan to rectify it.



It's funny, I think sometimes our personalities mirror our horses. 

I love to go and gallop, love the endurance riding, love to jump, love to show, and love to take lessons and study training but when push comes to shove I am a bit lazy.  I sometimes have trouble getting through the day to day stuff.

Perhaps this is partially due to my job being busy in the summer when the weather is good.  In the winter work is slower- but I detest hauling out to ride in the rain.

Keeping my horse at home, I end up riding alone probably 95% of the time.  When I boarded my horse I had many friends at the barn and always someone to hang out and ride with.  I'm not a real social person but obviously having the social network of riding buddies helped me stay motivated.

My recent obsession with going to the gym is a direct result of joining the team training classes.  Just knowing that I've committed to be there gets me out of bed at 4am.  There is no way this would have worked for me without that aspect.


Back to today's ride....

We got a good aerobic workout and Cartman got nice and sweaty... on his neck.  Buddy stayed right with us the whole time, other than when we ran into a lady jogger with a large Standard Poodle.  Bud was behind at that point and the dog came tearing over towards Cartman. 

I pulled up and faced the dog and just then Buddy burst out of the Scotch Broom and went racing towards the dog, tail wagging.

The poodle was having second thoughts about approaching us now and both the jogger and I took off going opposite directions and our dogs followed suit. Whew.

We ended up going about five miles and the dog's tongue was dragging the ground as we got back to the truck!  He loves nothing more than to go with the horse.

I would have loved to do a 12 mile loop today but unfortunately Weyerhauser has locked us out of using their timber lands to ride July through January :(  I could get a gate key and access the logging roads, but the 6month pass is $150, and since they are now letting people drive in with the pass I'm not sure it will be as safe to ride as before.

Its really sad to me that lack of trail access may make it even harder to train for endurance in this area.  We do have the 5 mile path but the county refuses to enforce their own rules (no ATVS, no 4 wheeling) and the path has been destroyed in several areas by people in 4 wheel drives.  If my horse wasn't very dependable I would be scared to ride him down there nowadays. 

I want to be somewhere with endless trails, that doesn't rain 9 months of the year!!!!!

Sunday Ride

I had a great ride today with Cartman and Buddy.  We went up to the local trails and spent about 3 hours out there.

Our long conditioning hill was opened back up, as the timber company had replace a huge culvert and the road  had been impassable for several months. 

We trotted and galloped the hill and at one point spooked up about 6 really large elk.  Luckily Buddy was behind us when we faced off with them and I was able to keep him from chasing them.

Several times he did take off after deer or some smaller animal, I decided to see if he would come back and catch up to us instead of stopping and waiting and calling him.  Both times he soon came tearing up behind us after a few minutes.

I'm getting better at trusting him not to get lost!

Cartman was really good, especially after having two weeks off.  I had planned on riding him last weekend and then several times last week but we had some really irritating problems this week with our neighbors that caused a lot of undue stress, and then I got a sore throat/cold! 

I think things are under control again and I'm getting over the little cold thing so I think we are back in action now.

Work has been completely crazy and I expect it to get nothing but worse over the next month or so:(

I'm still planning on going to Jubilee Ride in October so hopefully we'll be able to stay on track until then!

Santiam Cascade Ride

I wanted to post sooner, but I've been busy, busy since getting back from this ride and I want to do a good post about it because it was a BLAST!

For some reason I was nervous prior to going.. I'm not sure exactly why, but I think I was hoping that we could complete another 50 and that I wouldn't find out the first one wasn't just a fluke?

I had everything packed and was on the road by 9:30am.  Despite the early hour, traffic slowed to a crawl on I-5 right by Portland Meadows.  It was slow going from there until we cleared the Terwilliger Curves. 

It's been years since I've driven the highway from Salem to Sisters and I'd forgotten how absolutely gorgeous the Detroit Lake area is.  Despite being kinda scared of water I really wanted to stop there and get in the lake!  It was the perfect summer picture: blue sky, sun, the lake, the boats, the beaches, and the forest. I was feeling more relaxed already and by the time I cleared the pass and encountered my all time favorite- Ponderosa Pine trees I was getting excited too!

Sisters was as cute as ever and before I knew it we were at the Rodeo Grounds.  The parking was a lovely green meadow and  I found a spot at the end of camp that was close to both water and a porta potty.

I set up camp while Cartman grazed on the hi-tie and then we went for a nice grazing walk about.  There were quite a few trailers there and still room for more.  I was saving a spot for M. next to us and expected her to arrive around 6-7pm.  We walked and grazed.

I checked in and then walked C over for the vet-in.  With that accomplished I could now relax a bit and get everything ready for the morning. It was really nice knowing that Michelle and Tucker were on their way.

Around 7pm Michelle and Tucker pulled into camp, the drive had been quite hectic (I can imagine) and both were excited to get out of the truck and trailer.  We set up Tucker to eat some hay and them M ran to check in while I walked Tucker to the vet.  He passed beautifully despite being off the trailer for only about 15 minutes! 

Ride meeting was just about to start and I was determined not to miss it.  After feeling kinda out of it doing the Bare Bones trail ride without attending the ride meeting I was not going into this ride missing any information I could get.

I've never attended a ride where the 50 had just one hold but this one did.  So much for the boyscout motto, I was unprepared...

Doing the LDs I've gotten into the habit of feeding C his electrolytes in mash prior to the ride and at vet checks.  I have never dosed him with a syringe.  I had mixed most of my electrolytes into small quantities of grain for top-dressing over beet pulp.  With one hold we would be out for 4-5 hours on each of the two loops.  I decided to take some of the grain/elyte baggies with me and try to get him to eat it out on the trail.

Soon after the ride meeting (which was refreshingly brief) we were back at the trailer to choke down some dinner.  About this time I realized that I had forgotten something.... Actually I knew I had forgotten something as I always do.  So, about this time I realize what it is.  My lettuce.  I eat salad every day for lunch and at every ride I attend I have it for dinner.  Usually salad with chicken, and avocado on Fri. night and salad with steak on Sat. night after the ride.

Hmmm.... I had the chicken, the dressing, the avocado.. but no lettuce.  I decided to mix it up a bit and have a carrot salad with chicken.   It was pretty good and I didn't go to bed hungry:)

Cartman had eaten a ton of grass Friday afternoon while we cruised camp, he was actually turning up his nose at Alflalfa!  I gave him an assortment of hays to choose from- alfalfa/grass, straight alfalfa, and local grass and on Sat. morning it appeared he had eaten some of each variety.

The 50's went out at 5:30am!  It was an early morning for us. Luckily I am usually up by 4:30 on weekdays so it wasn't too hard to get going.  I poured a Starbucks Via into a half bottle of water and downed it first thing.  There was no time for heating water and drinking hot coffee this morning. I wanted to make sure I was at the start no more than 5 minutes past time as it was a controlled start.

Everything went smoothly and at 5:25 I was saddled and ready to go.  I'm not big on getting on early and riding around camp.  I imagine if I was going to try and go out fast I would certainly do it, but since I have, so far, kept my focus on going out relaxed and easy it makes no sense to get on and mill around with all the other horses that may, or may not be behaving.

We said bye to Michelle and Tucker (they were doing the 25 this time) and headed over to the start.

It was barely light at this point.  I could see fine, but it was still dark enough that things in the shadows looked odd and the second we passed the out timer Cartman gave me the biggest spook he's ever done.  For a second I thought "uh oh!"  He jumped sideways and started to whirl around.  Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the offending article, a giant wooden spool standing on its side.

Thank goodness for that fancy "Memal" leather on the new saddle because I was able to stick to it and we kept walking.  Cartman was now on high alert.  I seriously felt like I was riding a giraffe.  I tried to keep a light contact but encourage him to drop his head a little and relax.  No way, no how, it was not happening. 

The sun was coming up fast and the trail was beautiful, everything was getting a golden orange glow and we were going west so could enjoy the sights without being blinded by the sun. 

As soon as I felt comfortable taking one hand off the reins I started trying to take some pictures.  Looking back at the time stamp on my camera this was one hour after the start!  Holy cow- is this what happens when you get your horse fit enough to do 50s????   I had hoped that doing the longer distance would make Cartman more mellow, as he would know he had a long way to go.  Maybe this will come later as he gets more experience but for now he has become the fire-breathing dragon, for miles...

I really can't complain though, at his worst he is still a pretty good boy and I never felt unsafe or that he was not paying attention to the trail.

We leapfrogged with several people and finally got into our own zone about mile 5.

It was already warming up at 7-8am so I got off at every water set (they were ample- thank you ride management!!! Every time I thought about water we would come to a trough).  So, I got off and sponged him at each trough.  He didn't seem to mind it as much this ride.  Previously the sponging just seemed to really irritate Cartman and I'd end up with more water on me than him. Not fun.

We got into our own little zone and just kept chugging away at the trot.  Trot is Cartman's gait of choice, despite the fact that he's a TB and really should prefer the canter!  I was just loving the trail.  At times I was all alone and it was so still and quiet out there.  Heavenly.  I decided that Central Oregon really is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I love it and feel really comfortable there.

There were some rocky places on this ride and some places with stationary rocks hidden under the trail dust.  I pulled C back to walk whenever I saw a section like this or whenever we headed down much of a hill. 

We rode through some burned area, but I'm unsure if this was from the fires this year or previous ones.  It was really neat to ride through- there were still burnt trees that had fallen across the trail but it was easy to go around.  I guess this would indicate that these areas are recent burns.  Either way, the  underbrush was starting to come back and was a brilliant green in contrast to the blackened trees.  This area was beautiful in its own way and I hope they don't re-route around it next time.

Soon we had looped back around and were again at the second water trough crossing.  Here we headed back onto the pink/white loop towards camp.  I figured this must be about mile 15?  Cartman had eaten a little bit of the grain/elyte mixture and had started to drink a bit by this time.  He did drink well at the one stream we crossed. 

He was still feeling strong so when we got to long stretch on some fine red gravel road I let him canter.  I think he knew we were heading in the direction of camp because he wanted to go!   Finally I pulled him up, realizing I hadn't seen a ribbon for a few minutes. 

I looked down at the trail, too few hoofprints.  I turned him around and we started walking back to where I'd seen the last ribbons.  Soon I saw another horse and rider approaching.  I asked her if she'd seen a ribbon recently and we both started looking for tracks.  There were several sets besides mine going back towards the way we'd come.  I started walking back and really quickly saw a pink ribbon, then another.  Aha, the third one was on the ground and I'd blown right by the others because I was cantering and not paying attention.  Sorry Cartman.  Luckily we'd only gone a few hundred feet or so extra.

We picked up the trail again, this time single track and soon we were running into riders going out on the common trail- 25 milers already through their hold and going out for their last loop. 

We made it back to camp and gave our number to the person at the gate.  She seemed surprised that we were doing the 50.  I explained, yes, we're just slow!

Cartman passed the vet check well and I finally got him to pick his head up out of the grass long enough to get back to the trailer!  I unsaddled him and got his mash with electrolytes  into the feed pan. 

I like the hour hold, its enough time for me to re-organize my saddle bags and replenish water and snacks, plus sponge the sweat marks off Cartman and still have time to eat.  I was starving as I hadn't eaten a bite out on the trail.

I drank a protein shake, ate some Greek vegetable salad and some chips, then drank a bunch of Fierce Grape Gatorade.  I felt a small headache coming on so right before re-saddling I downed  a Starbuck Double Shot and two Excedrin Migraine.

I swapped out the saddle pad for new ones and was back on and out of camp on time!  Hey, there's a first time for everything :)

Leaving camp was much more relaxed this time, and I noticed they had moved the gigantic spool.  I mentioned it to the guy at the gate and he's like "Yeah, I remember you!"

Michelle was just getting back and passed her completion exam as we were leaving. Yeah Tucker!

We picked up a nice trot and had made it about a mile when I noticed something odd.  I didn't feel quite right.   I kept going for a while but was feeling even more not right as we trotted on.  Uh oh.  I decided to walk for a few minutes and see if it went away.

It did not.  I started to feel like I did when I went deep sea fishing with my parents in Mexico.  I had to sit very, very still... Unfortunately this isn't really possible to do on a moving horse.  I felt bad pulling him back to walk but had to.  We walked and walked and walked.  Finally I got off and walked with him.

I have an iron stomach and can count the times on one hand that I've gotten sick enough to throw up. I will do almost anything to not throw up.  I finally decided it was either do it- or take the next 10 hours to walk the last 25 miles on foot. 

Soon after I felt much better and managed to climb back up on the horse.  We ended up walking for about 45 minutes so had lost a lot of time.  Thankfully Cartman was still willing and we finally got to the first water set.

Here we were at mile 30 heading out and run into two riders already headed back in!  It was a fortuitous meeting  as they were very nice and gave me some great advice:)  I told them it was his second 50 and one asked if I had electrolytes for him.  I was a bit embarrassed to admit I did not.  Instead of making me feel bad she took a tube out of her pack and told me to give it to him.

I'm always torn on the "don't try anything new at a ride" rule, but sometimes you just have to do it.  I could tell these riders were experienced and I decided to trust their judgment.  I gave Cartman the dose of Pink Electrolytes and then rinsed his mouth with water. 

They also told me that this next section was the hardest part of the loop and to sponge him as much as possible, take it slow, let him eat when he wanted to, and keep going and we'd get through it.  This was just what I needed to hear at this point.  I can't thank them enough for taking the time to stop and help!!

After I had Cartman all sponged off again we headed out for the second water set and the blue and white loop.

We started passing lots of riders heading in.  Thankfully Cartman is not bothered by this and still kept chugging along on the trail.  There were a few riders that I know and they encouraged us to keep at it.  Some seemed concerned that we were just heading out. Very nice people.

Finally, we arrived at the second water set.  I've decided that Pink stuff is magic because C. drank, and drank, and drank, looked around, put his head down, and drank some more!  I thought he was gonna dunk his whole head. 

He really perked up and as soon as I was back in the saddle we headed out at a nice trot onto the blue and white loop.  This loop wasn't too long, it had some sand and a few rocks but also some nice long spots where we could lope.  Cartman decided he was famished at this point and I just let him graze as much as he wanted.  I knew we were probably the last ones out there but I was really having fun and he seemed to be having fun too.  Why hurry??

At one point we came around a corner and C spooked again (not as bad as with the spool)  I looked over and a big deer was running right alongside us in the woods!  We hit one more water set on the blue loop and again Cartman drank well.  :)

Before long we were back at that second water set and headed back to camp. C totally knew where he was now and he didn't really want to stop long for grass or water.  I knew he'd tanked up at the two previous troughs and had eaten quite a bit on the last loop so I didn't worry at this point.  We were in the homestretch!

I stopped to take a few pictures and was feeling really well.  Since I did get that horrible back soreness at the end of Sunriver I had decided to get off and walk or run some on this ride.  I did walk about a mile total during the second half but running with Cartman was somewhat of a disaster.  He is simply too fast.  I can't run fast enough to keep ahead of, or with him and I end up having him almost circling me.  So much for that idea.

Apparently all the walking while I was pukey and  the getting off at troughs did the trick though, because I was feeling good as we headed to camp on this ride.  Seriously, I didn't want it to end.  We were about 1/4 mile from camp when my phone rang.  Michelle wanting to know if we were OK.  I assured her we were and that we were almost back.

As we got to the gate there was Anna and several other people waiting for us, they all jumped up and down and yelled "hooray!!!"  I tried to get a picture, as we have never gotten such a reception before- the benefit of being the Turtle, I guess!

We headed straight to the vet, pulsed in and he got all A's on his card!!!!!!  She said he looked great and I had taken good care of him, this made me very happy.

I got C back to the trailer and Michelle had cleaned up his area (so nice!!) so all I had to do was untack, and relax. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon drinking a gazillion gallons of water and Starbuck's Refreshers.  Finally about 8pm I got really really hungry.  Some other campers were grilling hamburgers and they smelled SO good.  I may have to break down and bring the grill next time.  I can guarantee I won't forget my lettuce again.

We let the horses graze and wandered around visiting.  At one point I spotted the Appy that belonged to one of the pair of nice riders that had given me the Pink stuff.  I was able to meet "K and D"  (I won't use their names, as I didn't ask if it was OK to blog about them- it still seems really awkward to me to do that).  I got some more information about the electrolytes they use and some general endurance training info.  It is so nice when experienced riders (and they are) are willing to share!

We managed to miss the awards- didn't hear the horn.  But saw everyone heading back afterwards.  We went over and got our awards- a nice little door organizer with the ride name on it.  I also got the Turtle award for being dead last.  This was a nice handknitted lap quilt! Love it.  I don't think this being last thing is bad at all:)

The next day we were on the road by 8am and Cartman was back in this pasture by 2:30pm.  Looking good!