I have been wanting to do Ride Between The Rivers in West Virginia since before I met
Liz, but after the phenomenal time the
Endurance Trifecta had at Old Dominion, it became the top of my hit list for this year. The problem was that I didn't have a horse to ride, and really couldn't justify the trip unless I was competing. Liz did try to convince me just to come down for the party aspect, and I was sorely tempted. In the end, I half-jokingly told her, "If you find me a horse, I'll go!"
Wish granted.
Next thing I knew, Liz had put me in contact with Dr. Bob, who was going to be one of the ride vets at RBTR, and who I've heard good things about from many sources. Dr. Bob had a young horse named Magic Man who was in need of a rider for RBTR. Liz put in a good word for me (thanks, Liz!) and I was offered the ride if I wanted it. I was all over it!
Dr. Bob seemed laid back and kind through our email interactions and it was almost too easy to get everything figured out. It was decided that Mike and I would arrive in camp on Friday afternoon. I would take Magic Man for a pre-ride, then compete him in the 30 the following day. I would most likely be riding with Dr. Bob's wife, Beth, on one of their other horses. Dr. Bob would be vetting rather than riding. One of his vet students, Kally, who usually rides Magic Man would be competing in the 50 with a third horse.
I got my car back just in the nick of time for the trip down. That's a whole separate story full of ranting and raving, but I'll get back to that later.
On Friday morning, Mike and I slept in just a touch longer than we usually do during the week. We quickly packed the car, left a check for Dyandra for dog sitting, grabbed my helmet from the barn, ate a quick breakfast, and hit the road. I was hoping to arrive in camp around 4pm. Plenty of time for a pre-ride before dinner and ride briefing.
I forgot to take into account that we've moved almost an hour north since our last trip to WV. I also didn't count on the massive volume of traffic that we hit on 81. When Liz called later in the day to check on our arrival status, we hadn't even hit the WV border yet.
Once we were off the highway, the ride directions took us a route we'd never traveled before. There was a new highway that our GPS didn't even acknowledge. The poor GPS was like, "IDK, maybe there's a road over... there?... somewhere..."
Before long, we arrived in the tiny town of Thomas, one of the destinations we'd hit during our vacation with Liz last year. From there, everything was familiar and we knew exactly where we were. We passed our fire tower and debated making a stop, but we were running late as it was.
I had originally told Liz that we would arrive around 5pm, but it was nearly six by the time we rolled down the long dirt road to base camp. I had a feeling Dr. Bob wouldn't be mad, but I felt bad anyway.
Camp was located in a big field right along the river. The entrance was a steep, slick driveway with an incredible view of all the rigs.
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| Photo by D, long before camp filled up. |
The whole way down, Mike and I were talking about how much we missed West Virginia since our last visit. We missed the views and the people and the atmosphere. Every time we go down there, it gets harder and harder to come back. It makes me homesick for someplace I've never lived.
Liz had told us that they were parked by the only tree in camp, and it didn't take very long to spot Liz's trailer, Nicole and Carlos's (
Saiph and Charles) car, and the horses. Mike and I had barely stepped out of the car when Liz whipped up on a quad to meet us. Mike was hastily swept away by our new best friend for the weekend, Mole, and I hitched a ride up to the vetting with Liz. There, she introduced me to Dr. Bob.
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| Heading out in the am. |
Bob was just as warm and welcoming in person as he had seemed over email. Thankfully, he was also just as laid back, and wasn't the least bit concerned about our late arrival. In fact, Magic Man had already gone out for a pre-ride with Kally. I informed Bob that I was totally comfortable just getting on the horse before the start the following morning to get to know him. I ride enough horses that I don't know where it doesn't really bother me.
Bob excused himself from vetting long enough for me to meet my new mount. I had been told that Magic Man was 16.3hh, which I found hard to believe. Then again, many people think their horses are 16.3hh when they're not, so I didn't think much of it. I did think it was unusual for an Arabian to be so tall, but I just assumed he was a 16hh Asgard or something like that. Mike and I had also taken bets on what color he would be. I was feeling bay with a white star, and Mike had his bets on chestnut. As usual, Mike seems to have a sixth sense about all things horse-related. I was greeted by a big red horse with soft, eager eyes, and giant, pricked ears.
Magic Man, at five years old, already stands at a leggy 16.1hh. He is also not all Arab. He is an Arabian/Saddlebred cross, otherwise known as a National Show Horse. I was
not expecting that.
I took an immediate liking to the giant endurance horse. He was sweet and in my pocket and there was something about his face that just struck me as very honest. I was introduced to Kally, the vet student, and she started to tell me all about Magic... his strengths, weaknesses, and quirks. It sounded like he was a willing young horse with a good bit of experience under his belt already.
He came from Oklahoma, where he did two LD's under a previous trainer. Bob picked him up at the beginning of the year, and he was involved in a bad trailering accident that left him with some extreme scars on his hind legs. The recovery took four months, but he is miraculously sound. This would be his third LD with Bob and company, and definitely the trickiest one he'd done to date.
I also met Bob's wife, Beth. Unfortunately, during their pre-ride, her horse had reared up on her, slipped on the wet grass, and fallen down on top of her. She hurt her ankle pretty badly in the process and wouldn't be starting on Saturday after all. Bob assured me that Magic Man goes out without a buddy just fine, and Kally told me he would settle into a great working rhythm after the first mile and a half or so. I wasn't worried.
Shortly after that, I realized that Nicole was going to be starting Griffin in the 30 as well. It was to be his first ever LD. Since we had two youngsters, we were both planning to wait for the rush to pass before heading out at the start. We quickly decided that we would try to ride out together in the morning, and agreed that we would ride our own rides. If the horses were a good match, we would ride together for the day, and if they weren't, we would go our separate ways, no hard feelings. It was an easy agreement to come to, and we gave it no further thought. Little did I know...
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| My prince charming. |
I walked back to the vetting area with Bob, Beth, Kally, and Magic. Kally offered to trot him out for me, since he's still learning the ins and outs of vetting and tends to be a little antsy and inexperienced. He vetted in with a pulse of 52 and A's across the board.
When I asked if there was anything I was needed for for the rest of the night, I was told that Bob and company had everything handled. I did end up grazing Magic a bit later that night so I could get to know him, but they really had their system in place, and I felt pretty spoiled the whole weekend.
Once the horses were taken care of, we wandered down, beers and 'shine in hand, to the dinner area for the ride briefing. Liz and I were gabbing at a million miles an hour while Mike tried in vain to shush us. Yeah yeah... something about holds and pulse times and ribbons. Luckily, it was all written on a white board by the sign in area, and I didn't miss much.
After the ride briefing, it was time for food! Before this year, I had never actually been to a pig roast, despite my love of food (and pork). In the last month, I have been to two, and Friday night at RBTR was one of them. I discovered the beauty of cheek meet and stuffed myself stupid on corn, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, pork, pork, and more pork. Mmmmm...
We stayed up pretty late that night, chatting, laughing, and being rowdy. Darkness fell over base camp, generators went off, and we looked down at our watches to realize that it was after 10pm. We were looking at a 5am wake up call, and it was time to pack it in for the night.
Liz very generously provided a tent for Mike and me to share at this ride. Not only that, but she, her Mike, Nicole, and Carlos pitched it for us before we arrived! Did I mention we were spoiled at this ride? We blew up our air mattress, snuggled up under our blankets, and drifted off to sleep.
I can't say that we slept very soundly that night. There was something snuffling around our tent a few times over the course of the night. I thought maybe it was Kenai, but he was in the tent with Liz and her Mike the whole time. Then, around 3am, a few horses started screaming back and forth and didn't stop. I'm pretty sure one of them was Griffin.
By the time 5am rolled around, I was wide awake and my bladder was ready to explode. We crawled out of the tent into the damp morning grass and wandered into the half-darkness in search of coffee.
The 50's were starting at 6:30am, and I was up by Bob's rig at 6am to make sure I hadn't missed any crucial instructions. It seemed like everything was squared away, so Mike and I wandered to watch Liz and her Mike start. Mike was riding Q and Liz was riding her friend's horse, Prince, and sponsoring a junior rider.
Once the fifties were out, I ran back to the trailer to get Magic Man ready to go. It was pretty easy to locate his stuff since it was all bright red. It just so happened that I had worn a red tank top down to WV so I could mostly match my horse (pink helmet aside). It also turned out that I didn't have to do much in the way of tacking up. I retrieved Magic and tied him to the trailer, then went to get get his saddle. Then, Bob took over and my horse was tacked up and ready to go before I could properly blink. Talk about service!
I managed to get on Magic from the ground. Bob held his head and grabbed my other stirrup.
We moseyed around camp getting to know each other. Magic was a little tense, but I couldn't blame him. There was a lot going on! My favorite thing about him is that he's the type of horse who sees something scary and immediately wants to touch and understand it. That's a trait I value highly in horses. I quickly realized that there was something about Magic that really reminded me of Ozzy. He's a sweet, gentle goofball who has no idea how big he is. He's also a bit of a comedian. I was charmed immediately. Not surprisingly, Magic Man also had a big, swinging walk. I had a feeling his other gaits would be the same!
After a few laps around camp, I made my way back to Nicole and Griffin. We had let the horses meet briefly the night before and they seemed to take an immediate liking to each other. The morning of the start was no different. Magic was totally in love with Griffin and kept wanting to touch him. Griffin was being a really good sport and allowing it, though I'm not sure the adoration was mutual. As we stood around waiting for the trail to be open, the babies were playing with each other faces and lipping each other. It was quite adorable.
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| "Hi. I touch you." |
At 7:30, the LD started. There was a flurry of activity and one horse galloped madly sideways while another threw a bronc'ing fit worthy of a rodeo. Nicole and I exchanged a glance and told our boys not to get any ideas. Thankfully, our two mounts were young, but sane, and didn't try any antics of their own. We waited until the front runners were out of camp, then went out somewhere near the middle of the pack. By then, most of the strung out horses were out of sight, and we didn't really need to wait for everyone else to leave before heading out on our own.
We climbed the hill out of camp together while Mike snapped photos and wished us luck.
The first stretch of the loop was down the dirt road out of camp, and for a moment, I thought Nicole and I weren't going to get to ride together at all. Magic Man took off at a power trot, and I remembered Kally's advice and just let him move out. I figured I'd let him get the worst of his energy out before settling on a more reasonable pace. As we flew down the road, Griffin fell further and further behind.
"Well, at least we got to ride a mile together," I thought sadly.
But then we reached a long downhill slope. I knew Magic Man liked to trot the down hills, but I wasn't about to let him power along the way he was unless we were on level ground or heading up. He may be a good boy, but I wanted to get to know more about his balance before we tried anything of the sort. A few riders rushed past us and Magic watched them go. I gave him a soft half halt and he flicked an ear back, then slowed to a shuffle. We half shuffled, half walked the downhill, and by then Nicole and Griffin had caught up to us.
Just a little while later, the trail made a sharp right up a big hill. The hill looked big from where we were, but I had no idea just how long of a climb it would be. I did try to get my helmet cam for this stretch of the trail, but hit the button one too many times and didn't realize it until it was too late.
We started climbing at a brisk trot, but as we got higher, the footing started to give way under us, and we slowed it down to a walk. I was perched in half seat with a hand on one of Magic's braids, just trying to stay out of the big gelding's way. He navigated the trail carefully and effectively, and I praised him as we went.
At the top, Nicole and I were able to pick up a trot, but it was short lived. Before we knew it, we were hitting one puddle after another, and we had to slow to a walk again. I was getting pretty tired of the constant stop-and-go, and I'm sure the horses were feeling the same way. I hoped this was just an access trail leading to some drier ground. Had I been listening at the ride meeting the night before, I might have caught onto the fact that this was something we'd be dealing with all day.
At this point, a bunch of locals went blasting past us. At one point, we were heading down a pretty steep down hill when a pair of riders asked if they could pass. Seeing that the bottom of the incline was just ahead, I called out, "Can you just wait until it levels out? These guys are just babies and I'd like to make this a good experience..." The women ignored us and went barreling right by. Ok then. Thanks for that. At least our horses handled it well.
Some time later, a couple rode up behind us. They were walking, but their horses were making quick work of the footing. I offered to let them go by, but they were happy to wait. When we reached a stretch where we could pull off trail, Nicole and I stepped aside to let them pass.
They thanked us and wished us a good ride, and I replied, "Thank you for not just blowing past us. We appreciate that."
"Of course! That would be silly. We all want to stay safe today."
You would think.
We rode on through endless ups and downs, and even more endless puddles. About half way through the first loop, I declared, "I'll be happy if I never see another puddle after today."
Nicole shot back, "The puddles here are like the rocks at OD."
Truth.
At one point, we reached a T in the trail. On either side, a steep climb awaited. The trail happened to go right, but Magic Man tried to convince me that we could continue straight on through the forest and skip the climb.
There were also moments when we questioned our sanity. On one particularly tricky downgrade, I called back over my shoulder, "Remember, this is what we do to relax!"
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| Kiss good luck. |
Overall, however, we had a great first loop. Magic Man led for most of the way. The only thing he really didn't like was the noise of the compressor stations at the top of the mountain. They unnerved him, and after that he had a few baby moments where he balked at a parked truck, etc. At that point, Griffin took the lead, and Magic was content to just follow for a while. The only time Magic actually spooked was when a trail marking ribbon smacked him right between the eyes, and honestly, I had to just laugh at his startled response.
We did ride side by side for a while, when we reached a long downhill stretch of gravel access road. After riding several minutes in silence, Nicole said, "I'm thinking something right now, but I'm afraid to jinx it by saying anything."
"Is it about puddles?" I asked, since my own thoughts had just been resting on the fact that the break from the water hazards was just plain blissful.
"Yes."
"I'm thinking what you're thinking."
There was a particularly technical part on the first loop. I later found out this part is called Rattlesnake Drop. Charming. We climbed up and up and up on really rocky footing, and I had to remind myself that Magic conditions on this stuff and probably doesn't find it nearly as exciting as his Jersey Girl rider. Some way up the mountain, we ran into some spotters. Ahead, there was a rock face on trail. I have it on helmet cam, but the footage doesn't do it justice. Apparently, most of the horses all day had been leaping clear up it, a thought that made my stomach turn.
I turned my helmet cam on in case we had an exciting moment, then urged Magic Man forward. Very calmly, he navigated up the rock face at a walk, like it was nothing. Griffin followed suit.
"That's probably the most graceful attempt we've seen all day!" the spotters noted.
"That's funny because these two are four and five years old!" I laughed. "Good babies!"
Somewhere in there, I had to dismount and fix Magic's saddle pad. Apparently, the girth didn't get passed through the girth loops that morning, and the pad was sliding back terribly. I also took the opportunity to school Magic on standing still for mounting. I appreciate his enthusiasm about moving forward, but he's really way too tall not to stand completely still while we scramble onto him. Thankfully, that was our only tack glitch for the day.
I spent a lot of the first loop marveling at the scenery around us. There weren't grand vistas like there were at OD, but I could tell we were doing some pretty impressive climbing, and there were parts of the trail that were downright rugged.
By the time we crossed the river, however, I was starting to worry about time. The loop was supposed to be 14 miles, and I had told Mike that we'd do it in two or two and a half hours, depending on the terrain. At two and a half hours into the loop, there appeared to be no end in sight. The second loop would be a longer 17 miles. I was worried that if the first loop took any longer, and the second loop featured similar terrain, I wouldn't make the cut off.
A little while later, we ran into a group of riders ahead of us, and asked them if they had GPS with them. They did, and informed us that we were almost 15 miles into the loop. "Once you cross the river again, there's only about a mile left to camp."
"It's the loop that never ends," I grumbled.
The river crossings were beautiful, and I was glad to see Becky Pearman, the ride photographer, stationed at one of them. I also video taped our crossing while we joked about Griffin laying down and rolling in the water (something he's been known to do in the past). Thankfully, we stayed dry and there wasn't much more riding before we reached camp. Also thankfully, Nicole had done a pre-ride with Liz and knew where camp was located.
On the last stretch of trail, there was a pie plate. In black marker, someone had written one simple word that made my heart stop.
"BEES."
I had flashbacks to Fair Hill, and was relieved to see that ride management had already taken care of the nest. That is an experience I'd like to never relive again.
One more obstacle remained between us and the first hold. There was another compressor building along the trail. We didn't have to ride right past the building and Magic Man didn't seem to mind the noise too much, but there was a pipe that led across the trail, and which hissed loudly as we rode over top of it. I was pretty proud of how well the horses handled that one!
We broke through the treeline at a canter, and there was Mike standing faithfully in the field next to camp, camera in hand.
He later told me that he was about fifteen minutes away from sending out a search party for us. It took us nearly three full hours to complete the first loop. I also found out that there was a woman on trail whose horse got stuck chest high in a sink hole by one of the puddles, and broke the woman's leg in the process. Yikes! I can see why hearing these sorts of tales would leave Mike worried.
The good news was that Magic Man was still feeling very fresh and not the least bit tired. I dismounted to walk into the hold, and loosened his girth.
I was greeted by a stellar crew at the tent. Mike quickly took charge while we stripped tack off the horse and started sponging and scraping. His pulse was right at 67 when we came in. Pulse criteria was 64. With a little sponging, he came right down, and we walked right over to the vet area. We trotted out, scored all A's across the board, and went to hold for 45 minutes.
And this is when the royal treatment really started. Beth took Magic Man from me while Mike brought me yogurt and 'shine. I was also handed a cold coffee drink, which I guzzled. I was instructed to just take care of myself. I even got a potty break.
Unfortunately, Griffin hadn't pulsed down right away and I found out there was a ten minute gap between my out time and Nicole's. Beth asked me, "Are you going to wait?" and I could tell that the correct answer was no. Had I been riding my own horse, I would have, but in this case, it wouldn't be fair.
I apologized profusely to Nicole on my way out, giving her a big hug and telling her, "Hopefully you'll catch us and we can keep riding together!" I wasn't sure if Magic Man was going to miss the company, but I certainly was.
I worried about taking Magic Man back out alone, but it was a wasted effort. He pricked his ears, picked up a trot, and never looked back. We rode basically the entire second loop alone, though we did catch a glimpse of some fifties just when he needed it most.
For the most part, the second loop was easier and drier than the first. There weren't as many technical climbs and while there were still a lot of puddles out there, we also had a nice long stretch of service road to make up for lost time.
I wound up costing us a huge chunk of that made up time, however, by going way off course. There was a section of gravel road, followed by a left turn into the woods. With my polarized sunglasses, I never saw the turn. I rode quite a way up the road before I felt like something was wrong. I hadn't seen a ribbon in a long time, but I wasn't sure there was anyplace else I could have gone. I rode a little further just to be sure the next ribbon wasn't right ahead before doubling back. Magic powered up the road, and it didn't take us long to back track, but I spent the rest of the loop wondering if Nicole had passed us during that time.I felt bad about putting the extra miles on the horse, but he didn't seem any worse for the wear.
I was glad when Magic Man drank deeply at the first river crossing, and sipped from a puddle a little later on. He seemed perky and upbeat and I let him pick our pace for the most part. We also checked in frequently with our friend, Mole, and I was always glad to see him. He was cracking me up, driving ahead of me to check points on the trail with his quad, and offering me refreshments every time I came upon him.
There was a section of the second loop that was a lollipop. Apparently there have been issues with cheating on this stretch in the past, and they had extra spotters in the woods this year.
We rode up, up, up the service road, and I couldn't resist opening it up to a canter. Magic's big strides ate up the ground and we cruised right along. What a beautiful mover.
Eventually, we turned off the service road and into a single track in the woods. There were even more puddles, but by then I could tell which ones were safe to trot through, and had figured out how to circumvent many of the others. We never did see the sink hole that cost that other rider her leg.
Moments later, we rounded a bend and I recognized where we were. We were by the spotters next to the rock face from earlier. Only this time, we were facing down hill. I contemplated riding Magic Man down the rock face, but remembered that he's only five years old and decided not to push my luck. I dismounted and clipped his reins to the halter attachment on his bridle. Magic walked right past me to lead the way down the rock, and I took the opportunity to tail him down. In retrospect, he probably would have been fine with me on his back, and he navigated the rock safely and gracefully, but I'm glad I didn't take the chance. Afterwards, Magic stood like a champ while I climbed back on board.
The trail went two ways from there, straight ahead, rocky, but mostly level, and off the the left, where the earth just sort of dropped away. Jokingly I said, "Haha, is it this way?" pointing to the drop of doom.
"Yup." The spotters weren't kidding.
"Of course it is."
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| That awkward moment when the trail drops away in front of you. |
So we shuffled down, down, down for what felt like hours. The sun baked down, the rocks fell away, and Magic Man just pushed ever onward. What a cool, cool horse. By this point, I was completely in love.
We trotted fast back down the access road to Mole and some more spotters. I was told there were only four miles til camp, and I couldn't wait. We trotted some more puddles, walked a few more iffy stretches, and emerged near the river.
Ahead, I could hear whooping and cheering. The last spotter warned me, "There's a big group of pleasure riders up ahead and they're being very rowdy."
Sure enough, I entered the water to find 20 or so people on horses, trotting around, churning up the water, and laughing and being loud in general. As soon as they spotted me, one woman shouted, "Watch out, here comes an endurance rider, get out of the way!!"
They moved aside and I thanked them. And then they caught me by surprise. As I rode by, they started cheering and hollering, shouting things like, "Way to go! Go get 'em! Good luck!" They were clapping and whistling and good old Magic was eating it right up.
I love this sport.
Less than two and a half hours after I went out, I came back in. I was ahead of schedule and I was relieved that I was well within the time limit for the ride. I looked around and didn't see Mike. I dismounted, loosened Magic's girth, and started to walk in, figuring I was early enough that he hadn't walked out yet.
And then, as I approached the finish line, I heard a familiar chorus, "YOU JUST RODE THIRTY MILES. HOW DO YOU FEEL???" There at the finish line stood Mike, Liz, Nicole, and Carlos. It was probably the warmest greeting I've ever gotten at the finish, and I was beaming.
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| Woooo! |
And then it sank in that Nicole was standing with everyone else.
"So you did pass me on trail!" I was so happy for her. She must have beaten me to the hold. "How is Griffin?"
And then I caught on to the fact that Nicole was shaking her head, and it slowly sank in that she'd been pulled.
"No... no no no..." It was my turn to shake my head. "What happened? Is he ok? Are you ok?"
"He threw a fit when he didn't have a buddy to go out with. It wasn't worth fighting with him..."
And then the guilt sucker punched me in the gut. "O my god... Nicole.. no... I'm so so sorry..."
But Nicole was already hugging me and telling me that it wasn't my fault and assuring me that it was ok and that it was the right thing. Still, I felt like scum. I deserted her and she didn't complete. It was easy to agree to ride our own rides if we had to, but the reality was different all together.
It turned out Liz had pulled too when her horse came up crampy at the last hold. So that meant that Mike was the only one of us still on trail. None of us had seen THAT one coming! Mike and Q were out for the last loop, and they were officially sponsoring a junior rider. I had to laugh at the irony.
As for Magic... he still wasn't even remotely tired. Physically, I think this horse could do a 50 next week. Mentally, he still has a way to go.
Once again, I stripped tack. This time, I had a crew of about eight people working to help get Magic Man down for pulse. They were a sponging, scraping, pulse reading machine. His pulse hovered right at 64, and finish criteria was an even 60. Unfortunately, Magic found all the attention very exciting, and every time anyone touched him, his pulse spiked. Also unfortunately, he wouldn't hold still without being restrained.
We went up for a courtesy check, but he wouldn't come down below 64 despite our best efforts. I started talking at him. It was silly nonsense. I had already promised him a beer if he completed, and I was getting ready to offer him my tent if he came in top ten (I doubted it).
Thankfully, within a few minutes, Magic's pulse did come down to 60, and I was able to trot him out. With each trot out, he got better and better. Magic's CRI wasn't great, but I suspect the excitement of seeing Bob and getting to rub his face had a lot to do with it. He finished with a good overall impression and lots of A's still on his card. I suspect if I had waited another ten minutes to pulse, he would have done even better.
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| Mike managed to crew and run around like a crazy person to get photos of everything. I love him |
I did get chastised for being too enthusiastic about his completion. Ahem.
Bob and Beth were thrilled with how well Magic Man did. I gushed to them about how much I loved their horse, and spilled all the details from the day's ride.
"Does this mean you would ride for us again?" Bob asked.
"In a heart beat."
Apparently Mike had been talking me up to them all day. I think he may be my biggest fan.
Once Magic had eaten his food and had a good roll, I put him back in his pen with his buddy (the horse that fell on Beth) and went down to the finish line to hang out with Mike, Liz, Nicole, and Carlos while we waited for Mike and Q to come in.
After a while, we spotted lime green and orange on the horizon. Mike and his junior rider were coming in! The junior was leading and she kept glancing impatiently back at Mike. They both finished looking sharp.
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| "Come ON. You're so OLD!" |
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| Q and Mike looking sharp after 50 miles. |
It was time for Team Q to assemble. We all set to work sponging and scraping and pulse checking. Q was still hovering pretty high, and the water coming off of her was hot, hot, hot, especially along her belly. I had an idea. I grabbed a handful of ice from the beer cooler and stuck it up on Q's udder, fully prepared for her to kick out in protest. Surprisingly, Q seemed to actually enjoy it. Her heart rate came down.
"When in doubt ice the nipples."
Mike sweet talked Q through her final vetting and they passed with flying colors. Major congrats to Mike on his first 50! That was no small feat.
With the riding day behind us, it was time to party. We started off with a trip to the swimming hole at the back of camp.
As the name would imply, the ride was located with lots of river access. I hadn't brought swim clothes, but my shorts and tank top did the trick. The water was cold, but felt o so good after a long day in the saddle. The swimming hole was deep enough that even the men couldn't touch bottom!
While Mike swam, I watched a bunch of dogs play in the water. Camp was extremely dog friendly, and there were packs of happy pups running around loose all weekend. There was no place for them to go, and they all frolicked and ran themselves silly. It made me wish my dogs were better with other dogs because they would have loved it.
Eventually, we ditched the river. Ominous looking storm clouds were starting to roll in, and before long the skies opened up and it was pouring down rain.
We did have time to grab dinner and have the awards ceremony before the storms set in for the night. Dinner was delicious spicy sausage and spaghetti and completion prizes were RBTR beer mugs, full of beer. Now that's my kind of prize! To my surprise and delight, Magic Man and I hadn't finished last, or even close. Out of 31 starters, we got 16th place! Considering that my only goal for the day was a completion, I was pretty thrilled.
The dark weather didn't put a damper on our night. We lowered the EZ-Up and hid from the worst of the elements, and continued having a grand old time.
That night, despite pouring rain, loud claps of thunder, and a mostly floppy air mattress, I slept like a rock. I woke up at 7:30 the following morning feeling very refreshed. Unfortunately, the weather was still rather dreary and we decided to pack it in before the next set of showers came through. Between the six of us, we made quick work of our camping area.
Liz and her Mike threw out the idea of taking the horses home, dropping off the trailer, and going out for breakfast. We were all on board with that!
But first we had to get out of camp. With the night's downpours, the driveway in and out of camp was slick and deep. A few people got stuck on the way out, despite ride management giving explicit instructions of how and where to drive. Luckily, my Poof made it up the hill despite not having 4WD. Phew!!
After a quick stop at the barn, we went over to Bob Evans. It was my first time there and I wanted to eat ALL THE THINGS. Breakfast was hilarious and wonderful, as all meals with the six of us tend to be. I even did a reenactment of my OD Original Chocolate Milk Face. Hahaha.
There was some discussion on how we would get home, and Liz jotted down some directions on my leftover container. In the end, we decided to just follow Nicole and Carlos back to 81. They make the trip down frequently enough.
We all hugged goodbye and wished each other safe travels, then stopped for some gas before hitting the road.
"Just FYI," Carlos mentioned as he was getting into his car, "If you see me pull over and throw the GPS into the woods, that means we're lost."
(He did pull over at one point, and joked that we'd been 'off course' for 40 minutes.)
Mike and I acted like a pair of tourists all the way back through West Virginia. Mike snapped away with the camera, and got some great shots along the way.
The ride home was uneventful, thank goodness. No drunk drivers or break downs or anything. We did hit some traffic and a good bit of rain, but made it home well before dark.
It was a perfect weekend for us, a great combination of competition and vacation with some of our very favorite people. I was thrilled to find that I wasn't sore this time around either, and I'm hoping this is the start of a great relationship with some new people who I really took an immediate liking to.
