Fort Valley

Fort Valley is currently the last ride of the season in the Northeast. It is also the third jewel in the Old Dominion Triple Crown, awarded to anyone who completes No Frills, Old Dominion, and Fort Valley on the same horse in the same season. You can ride any combination of distances, and each mile counts as a point. The maximum points used to be 205, but now that each ride is two days, you could technically get more.

In eleven seasons of endurance riding (holy crap!) I've never managed to make it to Fort Valley before. Despite the fact that the ride is less than five hours from home and during my favorite time of year, something has always come up that has prevented me from going.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday

I am aware that things have been really quiet around here. I was waiting for these photos to say anything at all. The short version is that I "did the LD" at Tevis two weeks ago. I am waiting for the dust (and the emotions) to settle before I say anything else. However, I've had a few of you reach out about my absence on social media these last few weeks, so I figured I'd share these while I sort through the rest...

It's true what they say. Tevis will change your life. In my case, it just wasn't in the way I expected.

Photos by Gore-Baylor Photography  used with purchase, as always.

Horses Across Maine

As I mentioned in my last entry, I did an endurance ride in Maine last weekend. It's always exciting to see a new ride in the region, so when the new Horses Across Maine event popped up, Jen and I decided to show our support. Jen has a soft spot for the Maine rides as it is, and there seem to be less and less rides in New England in general. Even though Muckleratz is only about two hours from us and was  being held the same weekend, we made the trek up north instead.

The Beast of the East

Photo by Becky Pearman.

I am so beyond excited to be in the position to write this story. I feel like my blog could be a cheesy teen book series about a girl who does endurance. This entry would be the happy ending that wraps up the series.

New York Adventure 2019

Last weekend Mike and I went to Dodie's Ride, New York Adventure. I did the 50 miler with Lunar. Mike was the official ride photographer. Mike has been signed up for that position for about a year so we knew we'd be at this ride either way, but I didn't know I was riding until two weeks before.

VERDA Bare Bones 2019

After No Frills, Jen casually asked me, "What should we do next?" and I sort of shrugged. Then she suggested, "How about 50 at Bare Bones in three weeks?"

That sounded good to me! I'd never done Bare Bones before. In fact, I hadn't ridden in New Hampshire at all. I always get excited about new rides and adding new states to the list. Plus, the ride was on a Sunday (there's a CTR on Saturday), which meant I didn't need to reschedule any lessons and Mike didn't have to take off of work.

No Frills 2019

The next endurance ride of the season was Old Dominion's No Frills in Virginia. At Foxcatcher, Jen told me she needed to chat with Paul and figure out what horses they would be bringing for which days. She'd let me know what distance(s) I'd be riding and on who.

When Jen texted me to tell me I'd be doing the 55 on Lunar on Saturday, I just about did a cartwheel. Lunar and Maddie are Jen's top horses. Maddie just got her 3000 miles and Lunar was one completion away from getting his as well (no pressure). 

Lunar's accomplishments include winning the OD 100, three Triple Crowns, nine 100 mile completions, and an 11th place finish at Tevis. He has 29 top tens, seven wins, three BC's, and has an 85% completion rate. 

Needless to say, it was an incredible honor to be invited to ride this horse. 

"Bring gloves," Jen texted me. "He pulls."

I spent the week leading up to the ride pep-talking myself. "This horse knows his job better than you do. Just get out of his way and let him do it." 

Photo by Becky Pearman, used with purchase.