Audrey & Merri Complete Old Dominion Open 55 mile and Crew 100

 

Photo Credit: Becky Pearman Photography

 It’s been awhile since I’ve done a blog-style ride report. Writing these helps me recognize all the steps along the journey that is endurance riding overall and reflect on how to improve. My last blog report was written back in 2018/2019 when I was living in TX and riding Jazz (TWH), then owned by Bobbie-Jo Lieberman, who I can’t thank enough for mentoring me. Since that time, I’ve moved back to NY and bought my own horse, Merri (Da Bomb NPF) who is a now 8 yr old Appaloosa/Arabian mare. In 2020 I broke my ankle from a fall off Merri, recovered, both of us regaining confidence and we’ve been having a great journey in this epic sport!

Last weekend we traveled to Orkney Springs, VA and rode in the Old Dominion open 55-mile race with Caroline North (my sister) and Barbara Hager (mom) as crew. It’s great to be able to share the sport with family, especially because if you forget something, you can borrow it from your sister! I had forgotten my spare hoof boots but Caroline let me borrow a spare of hers that we could tie to the saddle just in case Merri lost a shoe. All this season we’ve been using EasyShoe Versa Grips which have been working so much better than last year’s trials and tribulations with glue-ons and struggle with hoof boots. While the nail-on Versa’s have been working well so far this year, it’s always good to have a spare boot in case you lose a shoe on trail. At this ride our luck held and, in the end, I did not need the spare.

The start, finding our place in the pack
At the 6:30am start my strategy was to start mid-pack, around 15^th place out of the 30 starters, and aim to find a pocket of space where I wasn’t stuck following behind other riders or going too fast with the front runners. We were able to do just that and as a result Merri was happy just to go along at a speed I liked. This way I avoided her turning into the head tossing dragon that was trying to get to the front of a line of horses like she was at the No Frills ride earlier this year. Somewhere on the first loop two riders came up behind us, one wanted to pass and when I asked the other rider if she also wanted to pass she said profusely no and meekly asked if it would be ok if she could just follow? I said that was fine and Amy S. and I rode the whole rest of the ride together! Amy thanked me >5 times for letting her follow on the first loop because she must have been dealing with her own dragon! One of the best things about this sport is making new friends and Amy and her horse Luna were a pleasure to ride with. Amy was very familiar with the trails and provided great commentary. It’s a horrible feeling when you don’t know the trails, are riding by yourself and have the nagging doubt of ‘Am I off trail!?’ but I didn’t have to worry about that with Amy as a ride buddy. We picked our way through rocks, some mud, winding forest trails, then maintained a road trot (9-10 mph) down the long 2 mile downhill along hard-packed forest roads. We made it into the first vet check hold without a problem, pulsing down well. At the trot-out the vet asked to see Merri trot a 2^nd time because she does have an ‘interesting’ way of going, with a wide chest she tends to have a side to side motion/waddle. But Art King, DVM watched her go the 2^nd time and gave us the green light since he’s seen Merri trot out at previous rides and was familiar with her.

Amy Stone riding Luna

The 45 min. hold provided time to eat, drink and refuel and crew Caroline and Barb got to work and had everything ready and waiting. Since the 1st loop had gone so well I made the decision to switch from the bit to the S-hack, which was the first time at a ride I felt comfortable enough to do this with Merri. The S-hack allows the horse to eat better on trail but it also affords less control to the rider so that if the horse wants to take the bit and run, they could. This was a big step for Merri and me in that she was listening to me and I was listening to her and our communication was working well. This was an improvement from No Frills 2 months prior when she did take the bit and run/gallop which was scary!

The never-ending climb

The 2^nd loop was the hardest terrain with the never-ending mountain climb through rocks. For local readers, picture Allegany State Park Carrollton Trail #1, only twice as long and half as wide single-track with lots of rocks, did I mention the rocks? Two miles of steep uphill and you think you’re at the top but then it just keeps on steadily going up! While Amy knew the trails she said she always blocked this part out of her memory and couldn’t remember when it would end. Finally, we made it to the ridge line and I took some pictures and video. After a bit of downhill and roads to make-up time we made it to Laurel Run vet check 2! Merri passed the vet check with all A’s. My crew weren’t allowed to be at this hold due to space constraints but the volunteers were fabulous! It was at this point I realized that for future rides I need to refine my hold food. I ate the food provided at the hold (a PB sandwich, cheese sandwich, granola bars, gummy snacks, Gatorade, water) but it did not sit well. The same thing happened 2 weeks prior when I rode NY Adventure, I got an upset stomach after the 2^nd hold.

Unexpected upper level dressage moves
Back on trail, since I wasn’t feeling well, Merri was also taking her time, now at 2:30pm, 35ish miles completed with the sun beating down, 75ish degree heat and flies buzzing around. We maintained around a 7mph trot down the mostly flat roads with Amy and Luna enthusiastically leading the way (where did they get that extra energy from?). All of a sudden with no warning Merri did an airs above ground, with all 4 feet off the ground, landed, lost her balance and stumbled to the side of the trail where I thought she was going to fall over on her side! During this, I screamed (first time I’ve done this on a horse) at the completely unexpected behavior, maybe she spooked at a bug? Luckily Merri did not fall over and I promptly unclipped my air vest (really glad I invested in this purchase) to dismount and see what was the matter. After hand-walking a few steps I got back on and we didn’t have any other unexpected upper level dressage moves (though at one point she may have done a flying lead change and did let out a buck of joy while cantering).    

To the Finish!
The rest of the ride is a bit of a blur. Amy and I got off and ran ¼ mile down hill to give the horses a break and stretch our legs by jogging. We made it back to the Bird Haven vet check at 4:05pm to meet our helpful crew for the last 30 min. hold. A few miles from the finish Amy was able to keep her seat as scary turkey vultures were roosting in the trees next to us and making scary noises which Luna did not appreciate as we were traversing the last down-hill section. In the end we trotted across the finish, tying for 12^th place at 5:43pm. There was initially a bit of mix-up at the finish line, when Henry the official timer marked us as coming in 14^th behind other riders but we were able to get it sorted out. The organization it takes to put on a ride like this is amazing and the volunteers were all wonderful! At the final vet check Merri received all A’s except for a B on impulsion. In the next few weeks we’ll be working on collection and strength training to get her to use her back and core muscles more to help with this.

Ride Stats
The ride camp had a horse scale so I could measure Merri’s weight before and after (I felt no need to measure my weight :). My Garmin GPS watch recorded other stats but note the distance is not accurate but HR and speed should be.
Merri weight before on Thursday: 1105 lbs.         Merri weight after on Saturday: 980 lbs.
Elevation of Base camp: 1398 ft.  Elevation Ascent during 55 mile: 7336 ft  Elevation Descent: 7306 ft.
Distance measured by Garmin: 47.43 miles (again not accurate since I forgot to turn it on/off a few times and it doesn’t accurately measure distance over elevation).
Average HR of Merri: 112 BPM                  Average Speed: 5.1 mph 

 

Saturday 100 mile Most Improved Crew
While I had a successful 55-mile ride on Friday, the weekend wasn’t over and Caroline was ready to ride 100 miles with Glory (QH/arab gelding), pairing with Felisa Read and her morgan/arab gelding Lenny. Barb Hager and I have voted ourselves as Most Improved Crew compared to last year. We did not get lost in driving to any of the 4 different away vet checks, we did not forget anything (with the exception of not being able to find Lenny’s carrots at the first hold but luckily we found them for the next one), nobody sprained an ankle (poor Jen last year) and we did not leave anything behind at the holds (last year I left Caroline’s extra clothes bag behind and we couldn’t retrieve it until midnight ish).

Despite our stellar preparedness we could not change the weather or ride conditions. It had rained steadily the night before and during the 5:30am start. All the rocks were still there but the muddy sections were muddier and now the rocks were slippery. They don’t call this ride the ‘Beast of the East’ for nothing. Caroline and Felisa made it into Bird haven vet check 1, completing loop 1 in about the same time I did the previous day, making good time. Lenny must have a huge heart (literally and figuratively) because he pulsed down to the required 64 bpm immediately at all the vet checks. Glory wasn’t far behind since he is the most in-shape he’s probably ever been. However, Caroline had to trot out Glory a 2^nd time because the vets thought they saw something a little off but he did pass. Now in hindsight we realize he probably had a loose shoe.

Caroline & Glory, Felisa & Lenny @ Birdhaven

Caroline and Felisa left the hold together to complete the never-ending rocky mountain climb. It was somewhere on this trail that Glory lost a front shoe to the slippery rocks. Caroline realized it and put on the spare Easyboot to protect him until they got to vet check 2 at Laurel Run, where no crew was allowed. The farriers were hard a work at this check because many other horses had also lost shoes to the harsh conditions. They were able to nail on a replacement Versa Grip but it was one size smaller than ideal and Glory had ripped off a chunk of his hoof wall when he lost the original shoe. At the re-check it was up to the vets to determine if Caroline and Glory could go on with the replacement shoe or if they should be pulled. One vet said OK, one vet said no-go and the third tie breaking head vet said no-go. Both Caroline and Glory were disappointed (Glory still had tons of energy left) but they will be able to ride another day.

 Felisa got the all clear to go on and we were able to crew for her and hear about Caroline’s pull at the 3^rd vet check of Bucktail. Lenny was a carrot eating machine (literally like Bugs Bunny sucking up the carrots) and Felisa did not sit down once, eating her burrito while on the move (a hold food item which I plan to try out at my next ride). They headed back out on trail 30 min behind Todd Hezeau and his horse Wynd, one of my friends who drove all the way up from Texas! It was nice to chat with him again and provide crew help to Kathy as needed. Todd finished the ride in 8^th place!

Long story short, Felisa and Lenny soared through all the following 4 vet checks and crossed the finish line at 2:30/3:00am in the morning in 10^th place out of 35 riders! They are an inspiration and maybe next year or the year after, Merri and I will finish the OD 100. The completion T-shirt prize really says it best: ‘It’s hard to be humble when you’ve completed the OD 100’.