Year End Review

Audrey and Jazz complete 1000 competition miles together

I didn’t believe at first and had to count it three times.  Jazz and I have completed 1000 competition miles together (only two of which were LDs) in the past two years! The last 110 miles were accomplished in October at Quitaque Climb where we did back to back 55’s on a very technical (and awesome!) course. But first, I feel the need to recap some of the other rides we’ve done this summer and Fall, so buckle-up, grab your favorite hot beverage and settle in, this is going to be a long post.

     My last post recapped our first back-to-back rides resulting in 105 miles in one weekend, which was my main goal for the season. Since then, we’ve done it twice more, once at Fort Stanton (105 miles) and again at Quitaque (110 miles). But I don’t care so much about the number of miles, instead I like to reflect on the lessons learned and experiences gained along the way. (Future me, take note, remember and try not to make the same mistakes).

Fort Stanton 105 miles - Sometimes riding is the easy part

Great shirts, the purchase benefited St. Jude's

Back in July I learned that plans change and change again. The original plan was to drive two rigs: Kenny (owner of the horses) would drive 2 horses with a load of building materials that would stay at the new NM ranch. I (rider) would drive Jazz and Phoenix in the LQ trailer to Fort Stanton with Bobbie (owner of the horses) acting as navigator and crew. Two days before we left, Kenny hurt his back and wouldn’t be able to come! Now it was Bobbie acting as crew and navigator and myself acting as driver/rider.

     Getting there:  This was my first time driving a goose neck 3-horse LQ trailer (eeek!), just remember WIDE turns. At one point in the same town, we stopped at 5 (yes 5) different gas stations because of the difficulty in finding one with available diesel that you could get in and out of somewhat easily with a large rig. If anyone out there has connections with Google or other Map apps please tell them to add an option to find hauling friendly gas stations!

     We made good time getting to our half-way point at Fort Stockton, TX but we lost all the time we made when trying to get Phoenix to back off the trailer. He would not. We spent 45 min encouraging, tapping each leg, pushing and prodding to no avail. A friendly local drove by who said he had horses and helped us readjust the rear tack compartment, so Phoenix could just barely turn around. It was most definitely a tight fit. The horses settled in nicely to their temporary paddock for the night and the next morning we got up to drive 6 hours again to get to Fort Stanton, NM.

     Except that morning Bobbie got a call from her husband Kenny, only to realize he was in the hospital with what was essentially colic or in human terms an intestinal blockage. It must have been painful because he drove himself to the hospital at 2am (and we all know how guys are about toughing out pain). We had to make the decision of going on to the ride or finding a way to get Bobbie back home. Apparently, there’s not a large need for car rental places in west TX because we would have had to drive an hour out of the way and it would have cost $350 a day just to rent a car! We decided to drive on to Fort Stanton and if needed Bobbie could fly from El Paso back to San Antonio.

     Luckily no further adventures that day (except more hunting for the right gas stations). Horses were happy to arrive and settle in. We had all day Saturday to get organized, head to town for groceries and ice, glue-on boots for Jazz and vet-in of course.

     My goal for this ride was to complete the 3-day pioneer of 50, 55, 50 miles. Jazz and I had previously done 105 miles in two days but that was a relatively flat, easy course. Fort Stanton is anything but easy. Rocks, hills, climbs, rocks, hard-pack gravel roads, dry creek beds with big rocks and more hills. Did I mention rocks? Also, when you’re riding 50’s at Fort Stanton it’s guaranteed there will be rain in the afternoon since it’s monsoon season. I had been planning for this ride all year. I was very disappointed last year when Jazz and I had our first pull due to lameness at 33ish miles. It was not a ‘rock with my name on it’, it was my own fault. I did not manage our riding speed well enough. I let Jazz canter up and down the hills in order to keep up with a faster Arab and as a result she had muscle cramps/soreness in the right rear. This year would be different, I’ve been working steadfastly on making sure the left lead is strong and we walk or gait up hills. While I’ve read that cantering up hill is the most efficient gait for the horse, it is so only if it’s collected and Jazz and I aren’t there quite yet.

Day 1 50 miles
      I had great riding partners that I stuck with all day. Kerry L., Bill and Deb D. (who I rode with at Old Glory and we recounted the snow and cold). There were some glue-on boot issues, as in they did not stay glued on, but I had spare strap-on Scoot-boots that worked well as replacements. We had an interesting adventure on the last loop. We were supposed to cross a normally dry creek bed but rain earlier in the day turned it into a raging river! The water was moving too fast to safely cross. Another rider was able to call the ride manager (my own phone was dead) and after 15-20 min. of tense waiting (though the horses were fine just eating grass) we were rerouted and finished the ride without anyone getting hurt or injured in the flash flood. All the riders and ride management were very courteous and understanding of the situation, it was impossible to figure out the exact placings given that multiple riders had to be rerouted and finish times/miles were all slightly different. I think most of us were just happy to finish and all 17 starters completed that day. I good lesson here is to make sure you have a fully charged phone and try to remember to recharge it at holds because you never know what might happen on trail.

Heading out on last loop, prepared for rain.

The most disappointing part of the ride was how my own body reacted after the tough (but nothing I haven’t done before) 50 miles. My inner thigh muscles swelled which had only happened at one other ride. I iced as best I could but wasn’t sure I could do another 55 miles the next day. I was disappointed because prior to the ride I had increased my own running and core workouts specifically for this ride. However, I did not get as much saddle time as perhaps I should have leading up to the ride and some muscles you can only work while riding. Now, I’m doing more stirrup-less riding to work these muscles more.

Day 2 55 miles
      The next morning the swelling had subsided so we headed out on trail again. While we had riding buddies on the first-loop, we were by our lonesome selves on the 2^nd and 3^rd loops. To keep my mind off of the pain and endless miles Jazz got to hear a lot of my singing on trail. The folk song ‘Home on the range’ seemed to be a good fit (because I just wanted to get home) and I sang ‘You are my sunshine’ to Jazz, who did seem to perk up and pick up the pace a little more whenever I sang a song to lift our spirits. Of course it down poured and for the last loop we had to be careful in the mud but also be mindful of time. We finished in 10 hours 20 min (turtled) and it was a fabulous feeling ambling back into camp to the cheers and well wishes of the other riders and crew who came to greet us. We were tired, but we finished!   

Phoenix and I warming up before the Intro start.

Day 3 Intro ride with Phoenix
     It can be frustrating when life gets in the way of your riding goals, but eh? That’s life! I opted to not do day 3 with Jazz for a number of reasons, all related to me, the rider and nothing to do with Jazz or her ability/fitness. I knew I would have to be able-bodied and functioning enough to make the long drive back to TX. I had an important job interview lined up for the day after we returned and I thought it might not make a good impression if I couldn’t walk straight or go up and down stairs because I pushed myself too hard and damaged muscles. (Note, I got the job!). In addition, I was planning and signed up to do the Moonlight in VT 50 mile ride in ~10 days with my sister and needed to make sure I was recovered and functioning for that bucket-list ride. As such I was happy with my decision to give Jazz a rest and ride Phoenix (the backup horse) in an Intro ride. Phoenix is an 8 yr old MFT gelding and is Bobbie’s main trail riding horse but he’s only done 1 intro thus far and needs more trail conditioning and experience to build his confidence. I rode with two other intro riders and we had a great time, enjoyed the sights and took our time for a nice successful conditioning ride. Phoenix should be ready for his first LD this Fall!      

Moonlight in VT 50 – Caprock Mtns to Green Mtns
It was very interesting going from the Caprock Mountains of New Mexico to the Green Mountains of Vermont, both beautiful in their own way. Jazz got to sit this ride out. I traveled to my sister’s farm in western NY (www.laurelinfarm.com) and together we rode 50 miles in the Moonlight in VT ride. Just in case you were wondering, a Freeform treeless saddle will fit in a large suitcase. It was a fantastic experience riding alongside ultra-runners who started at 4am (and you think we have it rough starting at 7am) to run 100 miles. The 50 mile ride started at 2pm so that we would have to ride in the dark for the last couple of hours. The green mountains of Vermont were beautiful, and I highly recommend this ride if you ever have the opportunity to go. I made a video of the experience here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTbE9yW6TZU&t=161s

On trail at Unicorn Hunt!

Unicorn Hunt 55 humid miles

The next ride with Jazz was at Unicorn Hunt in September. This ride took place in eastern TX, just north of Houston. I live in San Antonio which can have quite humid weather (particularly in August/September) and if anyone in my area complains about the humidity, I always reply ‘at least it’s not Houston’ because it will always be worse there. This gives you an idea of the weather conditions of the ride (100% humidity). Not ideal for larger muscled Tennessee Walking horses but I was at a point mentally where I needed a ride/vacation. I had been working non-stop (Visiting Assistant Prof. teaching Physiology and Biology) for the past 4 weeks and needed a break from undergraduate students and never ending course/lecture preparation. Being so busy I did not have a lot of time to ride Jazz but luckily horses keep their conditioning much better than people.
 
Between Fort Stanton and Unicorn Hunt conditioning for Jazz:
3 weeks rest
week 4: two rides 7.5 miles each
week 5:  no riding (I started the new job)
week 6: one 7 mile ride, one 10 mile ride
week 7: Unicorn Hunt 55 mile ride

     My goal was to just have a nice ride and go at our own pace. I did not get off to a good start though since I ended up sleeping in! First time I’ve ever done that at a ride. I typically like to have 70 mintues from wake-up to the start of a ride to get everything ready. This time I had <30 minutes! Sleeping in late actually resulted in us having one of the best starts this season. We were about 10 minutes late starting and everyone else had left. Jazz was focused with a job to do. There was no fighting, fussing or head shaking. She just went smoothly down the trail, which was great since it was quite dark in the woods and for the first 1.5 hrs we went from LED to LED in the blackness. I had a red light but Jazz new the way. Riding in the dark is now one of my favorite things and I wish more rides would offer opportunities to experience it. We did not see any Unicorns but there was a nice down pour twice in the afternoon. We turtled and were awarded a lovely folding camp chair, best turtle prize ever!

Conditioning in mud.

Quitaque Climb – 110 miles in one weekend

Between ride conditioning (or lack there of) for Jazz:
2 weeks rest
week 3: one 4 mile stretchy walk/slow gait along the road (too muddy of anything else)
week 4: one 4 mile easy gaited ride in the rain along the road
week 5: Quitaque Climb

     This was the ride with no expectations. While Jazz and I have had a great season so far, since August things have changed. Namely I started a new job as a Visiting Assistant Professor teaching in the Biology department at St. Mary’s University. Preparing lectures and labs, grading assignments and managing students means working >50 hour weeks. This means little to no time for riding or running or maintaining any meaningful exercise routine for myself. I needed a nice relaxing weekend with just a horse and a trail where I tried not to worry about the exam I was supposed to give on Tuesday that I had only partially made.

     I’ve had this ride on my calendar since last year for a couple of reasons: 1) I like the technical terrain and beautiful trails 2) Ride camp at Pole Canyon Ranch has heated bathrooms and showers! (a major plus for me since I’d be working out of an open stock trailer and sleeping in the back seat of the truck) 3) it falls on a long weekend where I didn’t have to work on Monday. The downside was that it is a 7-8 hour drive and I was crewless. Jazz’s owners, Bobbie Lieberman and Kenny Webber, were off getting their new New Mexico ranch prepped and ready for more permanent living (see Bobbie’s article series in Equus magazine).

     The ‘weekend’ started Thursday night. I finished teaching my freshmen biology lab at 6pm and made sure to let the students know they could not stay late this week (I had places to be!). I drove to the ranch and packed up for an early morning start Friday. My original plan was to arrive Friday afternoon and relax on Saturday, so Jazz could recover from the 7.5 hr drive and we’d ride on Sunday. The drive went well and Jazz was bright eyed so I decided to ride on Saturday. With help from fellow rider Todd H. we glued on renegade shell boots with no problems. Jazz’s eating, drinking and attitude were all great. But then I noticed she had a squinty left eye that I hoped was just from road dust and would work itself out. The ride meeting was abbreviated due to an impending lightening storm! I had just enough time to vet-in and get settled before the rain hit. But the squinty eye had become a swollen eye ☹
     The vets gave me eye ointment and I was able to apply some ice just before the storm hit. I huddled in the truck and got everything inside as organized as possible. The rain ended after about an hour so I was able to re-ice the eye while avoiding getting nipped/bitten (yes, Jazz ice is cold but its good for you) and did the ugliest braid job I’ve done yet in the colder drizzling rain.

Saturday 55 mi
      In the morning I was rushed as usual. You’d think I’d have a better routine by now, this is an area that still needs improvement. Anybody got any helpful tips for morning routines? The good news was that the eye looked normal, swelling was gone. The bad news was that I had <5 minutes to warm up, but Jazz seemed rearing to go (figuratively, not literally). It was still pitch dark out and the start sounded but nobody was heading down the trail! Finally, veteran rider Mike G. headed out and I followed because somebody’s got to go. The first 8 miles Jazz was a dragon, head tossing avoiding the bit, wanting to rush up and down the hills. I slowed down to let the front runners get out of sight and Jazz would relax, then we’d catch up to them because they thought they were off trail because nobody had seen a ribbon in a while! And I was back to taming the dragon. (Just a note: I use the term dragon loosely. It’s more accurate to say she’s just an opinionated mare that needs a bit for the first 8 miles but after that an S-hack is fine).  
      Once we found a good spot back away from the front runners she calmed down. Then we lost our first rear boot, the left rear. I put on the scoot boot and hoped it would stay on for the whole ride (which it did!). Just before each hold I seemed to lose another glue-on. Not quite sure why they didn’t hold up, the terrain was a combination of rocks, some mud and creek crossings. I had lots of spare strap-on boots though. I put on a renegade strap-on, on the right front and near the end of the ride put on a scoot boot on the right hind foot. I was pleasantly surprised that we had no problems with the strap-on renegade, despite having to go through lots of water and some mud along the creeks.  

     On the 2^nd loop I met up with Bill and Deb D. who I’ve ridden with in the past and I had a great time with them. They’re smart riders who take the time to let their horses eat grass and then move out on the flat. I love that every now and then one of them will let out a hoot or a holler or a Yee-haw! Which keeps it light-hearted and fun. More fun on the 3^rd loop, but we had some unexpected bad luck. Deb realized her horse was intermittently off on the front end. She decided to hand-walk the horse the last 3-4 miles back to camp. Bill and I went on ahead but soon we heard her yelling for her horse! We high-tailed it back to Deb who reported that when she had gotten off to hand-walk him back (the stinker) up and decided to take off in the opposite direction. I hurried back to camp to let them know the situation. The horse had made his way back to camp and everyone was relieved to hear that no riders were hurt or had been thrown. Jazz vetted in just fine and we came in 5^th out of 12 starters. I felt really good (unlike Fort Stanton, I had no major swelling or chafing) and I realized since we had such a good ride, we’d have to do it all again tomorrow!

Sunday 55 mi
     My biggest worry for Jazz about riding a second day was whether or not her feet could handle it with the strap-on boots. She had the beginnings of redness/rubbing along the heals and on the left rear it looked like the top of the boot was rubbing the hoof wall. With some help from a fellow rider and farrier, we trimmed the top edge of the left scoot boot so that it was not rubbing on her coronet band (Yay for ride friends!).

     There were only 3 of us riding the 55 on Sunday, with the other two being experienced riders who had completed Tevis in the last 2 years with their horses. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the stories of the Tevis trail and given Jazz’s performance this weekend, I’m pretty sure we could do it. But there’s lots of planning and money involved in that once in a lifetime ride and who knows what the future will bring.
      I did the 1^st loop with the other riders, Jazz was happy to keep up or hang back depending on the terrain. We lost a front scoot boot only once (we were cantering a flat stretch in a gentle rain and the wetness combined with the action of legs and feet, just flipped it off). I stopped, got off, readjusted the boot. With that done, I realized I could not get back on my horse! No rocks to stand on and the saddle, being treeless and wet, kept slipping. I was very grateful when a group of LD riders came up behind and saw my plight. One rider got off, held my stirrup as I got back on. Thank you, thank you kind strangers and now facebook friends!  

     At the 1^st hold, I had a silly rider mistake: I knew my out time was 10:41am and I’d check my watch periodically to make sure I was on task. However, I was looking at the ‘avg. pace’ field of my Garmin watch which read 10:18, instead of looking at the ‘time of day’ field which read 10:38am. Doh!  Rushing around I got back out on trail. You may be saying, ‘hey what’s the big deal, it’s just five minutes’. But it’s more the principle of the thing, no wasted time, ride the best ride that you can. Jazz and I were by ourselves for the rest of the ride (~36 miles).

     No issues on the 2^nd loop and I had to make sure I was eating/drinking enough at the 2^nd hold. At each hold I reapplied Desitin to heals and pasterns to prevent rubs. I did not electrolyte at the holds but brought a syringe with me and only elyted after Jazz took a big drink on each loop. This seemed to work well. The weather was great for TWH’s, cloudy, around 70 degrees and some sprinkling misty rain here and there.

     The 3^rd loop was the hardest (of course) since we had to do the flat rail trail alone. This is a short stretch of pastures to a short stretch of road which connects to a looonng stretch of flat, straight, boring 4-mile hiking/biking trail which goes over 5 bridges (I counted) to an old railway tunnel that is now home for a colony of bats. At the tunnel you simply turn around and go back on the flat, boring loooonnngg 4 miles to the road/pastures. The trail seems to stretch on for miles (which it does) to the horizon line. It’s like the pictures or paintings you see of railroad tracts that stretch forever into the distance. Being forced to contemplate the vast infinity of space that is before you is not good for endurance riders. Have I mentioned that I prefer technical, hilly rides?

     At this point Jazz was very pacey i.e. not the smooth, wonderful gaited horse that is motivated to keep up with other horses. It was mind over matter, chiefly my mind over her matter. I played various mind games and pep talks of ‘OK Jazz, let’s just maintain this 6mph pace’ to ‘OK Jazz let’s aim to reach 7mph’ and then when the glimmer of a bridge was ahead, I said, ‘OK Jazz lets get to 8mph to get to the bridge!’. And Jazz would comply each time and didn’t put up any fuss (at least not too much). She’d be rewarded by eating grass at each bridge.

     I’ve found that when you ride a trotting horse, you can use the momentum of posting to help keep the speed and forward movement going. But on a gaited horse there is no posting and so I use my core strength to keep the momentum going. Most of you dear readers are probably used to trotting horses so here is a thought experiment. Imagine somebody is going to punch you in the stomach (yes, close your eyes and imagine it), you naturally engage your core muscles. Now imagine holding those core muscles like that for >7 hours! I had lots of time to experiment with this, as soon as I relaxed my core, Jazz would slow down and walk. It didn’t really matter how much I wagged my legs, flapped the reins, or waved my hands around, which helped for a short while, but my core strength is what really kept her focused on moving forward. During the last loop I remembered I should document this and took some pictures and video. I was super pleased when Jazz picked up the left lead (her bad lead) at mile 49 and near the end we cantered to where the finish line was supposed to be and got back to camp with plenty of daylight to spare! We were top ten, 3^rd place, turtle and the first horse and rider to complete two days at the Quitaque Climb ride!

     One more ‘adventure’ awaited on Sunday night. It was super windy, but I knew Jazz was taking care of herself, eating and drinking well. I woke up at 5:30am and looking out the window the electric pen didn’t look quite right. The wind must have blown the electric tape (not electrified) off the T-posts and Jazz decided to wander off! My heart was completely in my throat and my stomach was doing loops! OMG I thought, Jazz is gone, lost and nowhere in sight. Since there was no poop in the pen and most of the hay was still there, I concluded she must have been out for most of the night! Deep breaths and think ‘if I were Jazz, where would I be? I’d want to be with other horses of course’. I walked along the horse pens and found her within 10 minutes. Major sigh of relief!

     The drive home was long but uneventful. Jazz had some swelling in the left hind ankle/pastern. This was the foot that wore the scoot boot the longest and there were some rubs from the gaiter and straps. I was concerned when we finally got back to the ranch, but she wasn’t lame or limping, just stiff after the drive. Jazz has deserved some time off and this concludes our ride season this year. Time to set new goals…the next logical step is 100 miles and did you know that Tevis is 100 miles? Hmmm….