Today is Thursday.  This morning Jeremy took care of Smitty and Sam's feet for the trial.  They are ready.  This is the first day here that doesn't feel like we are in the Amazon.  The heat and humidity are much lower today. 

Merlin got in trouble today for going in the hen house and barking at the chickens (but it was so fun!!).  Jan made sure to let him know that it was a very bad idea.  Just last week Jan and Grace gave away one of their Jack Russels (Pee Pee, as he would get so excited that he would pee) for going on a killing spree in the hen house.  I am sure the birds are still traumatized.   I don't think that Chihuahua's have the strength in their jaw to shake a chicken but none the less it is against the rules to stir the hens up.

Right when Jeremy finished up with our horses feet Jan asked for help with the tractor tire.  Today was the first day good enough to cut hay and start baling it.  When Jan went to get the equipment ready it was discovered that the front left tire had a slash in it.  If it isn't one thing it's another.  Jeremy and Grace got the tire off and Grace went into town to get it handled.

If you are looking for a new horse you may want to see the website that Jan and Grace have.  They have WAY more horses for sale than what is on the site but you will get a small flavor for what might be here.  It is a place we will look in the future for sure.  We have been witnessing first hand how the horses are brought up and the training and terrain they ride through.  These horses have done a lot by the time they are for sale as far as being exposed to different situations.  I am pretty impressed by what her green horses and experienced horses as well, have to do.  They move cows, deal with tricky footing, steep muddy terrain, cross country riding, riding in large groups, deep river crossings, snow, ice, living out in hilly terrain in extreme humidity and dealing with herd life.  This is where Ssamiam came from and we see how he is turning out.  Their website is: www.jgranch.webs.com  The horses are reasonably priced too.

After lunch I think we are going to ride one set and then head into the town of Galena for some window shopping in the quaint downtown area and then have dinner with friends.

Heather

We were going to leave for Illinois for the final time trial on the road to the WEG on Tuesday after Tevis.  However, the new truck that we had just bought for the new trailer wasn't ready.  Dodge had to make some repairs to the truck before we could have it and they really took their sweet time with the parts order. 

We had been able to enjoy the new trailer at Tevis as Skip had pulled it with his truck.  It was really cool and much bigger than the old one.  We waited until Wednesday night and decided that we couldn't wait any longer and that I needed to pack up the old rig and we would head out on Friday.   What a bummer.  Oh well.  It is kind of ironic as we had told ourselves that we would save our money and take the old rig and then changed our minds to upgrade, to be more comfortable and then after spending the money, here we are in the old small rig.

We left at 10 am on Friday morning and we arrived in Scales Mound, Illinois on Sunday morning at 7:30 am.  We don't mess around.

Sunday we spent with Jan and Grace.  They are so awesome.  We rode a few of their horses and got stuff done around their farm.  Sam and Smitty both traveled well.  We ran fluids to them to help them recover from the trip.

On Monday we rode and then went into town to get some horse shoes and go to the grocery store.  When we got back Jeremy, Jan and I rode Smitty, Leon and Sam.  They are all doing great.  We also rode a set of younger horses after that.  Jan is really brave about some of the horses she will ride.  She rode a 4 year old mare that kept hopping around and even got to bucking a bit and she just hung on and rode it out.  Pretty tuff.

Sam is happy to see Jan and Grace as he used to live here.  He is really funny in the mornings when he hears Jan call the horses in for their grain.  He listens and then calls to her to let her know that he is here and that she should bring him some too!

Tuesday we rode three sets of horses and Jeremy took care of some of the horses feet that live here.  He did some shoeings and trims.  Grace and I wormed some of the young horses.  It was 92 degrees out with 94% humidity.  Damn warm.  I ran to get some wormer and I only ran about 200 yards.  It felt fine, there was a cool breeze and it was nothing.  About 5 min later it felt like my head was on fire and I was boiling over.  Pretty warm.  The time trials should be interesting.  I do feel better, as Jan and Grace both said that it was even hot for them!

After our riding we all headed into the house for the rest of the evening.  When I got inside the nice air-conditioned house I was cold because of the sweaty clothes so I showered and then made chocolate chip cookies.  Yum.

That night Grace made another great dinner.  Everything we had was grown on the farm, including the venison steaks we ate.  Super great food.  Joe and Michelle came over too.  It was great to see them and hang out with everyone.  Very fun.

This morning, Wednesday the 4th, we got up and had breakfast and then Jeremy and Grace went to get a better anvil while Jan and I caught the really young stock for worming.  There are some great looking horses here for sale. 

Today is my birthday.  It is the first out of state birthday that I can remember.  I have gotten a million messages and Facebook notes so far today.  It is nice to get them all. 

After worming and Jeremy shoeing some more horses we are going to go for a ride with the three WEG bound horses.  We were waiting for the supreme afternoon heat:)  Can't wait, oh so fun.

The farm here is very lively.  There are a large number of horses (obviously), cows, cats and four dogs (plus Merlin).  There are a large number of various birds around.  Peacocks, Guinea hens, ducks, chickens, swallows you name it.  I even had a duck egg go into the cookie batter.  That was a first.  Grace told me that it was a duck egg and that they are harder to crack and that the whites are stringy.  All true.  The whites will hardly let go of the shell.  Also the yolk is bigger.  New things are always fun to learn.  Jan and Grace are action packed and there is so much going on here all of the time.  They are really fun.

Well I need to go out and crack the whip in the humidity.  Talk to you later.
Heather

This year we had a lot of trouble deciding who we would ride who at the Tevis.  After loosing Makazin I had decided that I would try to get Kutt ready and see how that might go.

Jeremy couldn't decide between Bey, Strut and Tiran and Tim would be riding who ever we didn't.

17 days before the race we did a training ride on the Tevis trail.  We had planned to ride 22 miles.  My ride ended at 3.5 miles when Kutt tripped over some rocks and clearly needed stitches.  I turned back while the other 3 horses went on to complete the ride.

I rode back at a walk and then took Kutt to Loomis Basin.  It was a bit awkward telling the vets at the clinic that the horse who needed stitches was named Kutt.  Oh well.

I drove back up to where the other three horses were waiting for me and we loaded up and headed home.

Jeremy had been riding Bey, Tim was on Strut and Carole was on Tiran.  Jeremy felt that Bey wasn't ready for the race that Jeremy wanted to do so he was going to take him out of the equation.

Strut and Tiran had handled the ride well so now Jeremy would be picking between them.  I was still going to try with Kutt.  He had 5 stitches in his shin but the vet had said that if it healed well it should be fine and he also recommended that I race with the stitches in the leg to help hold things together.

Fast forward and we decided on Thursday before Tevis, that I would ride Kutt, Jeremy would ride Strut and Tim would ride Tiran.

Friday we drove up to the ride. Skip went with us and we picked up Carl at the Auburn airport.  We all had Chinese food for lunch and then continued on to Robie Park.

Eric was camping at Robinson so that we would have a spot secured and Peter and Kiki were at Robie as well.  Our good friend Shannon also came up to Robie to crew.

Friday morning all three horses were great.  They all handled the start well.  None of us started together.   All three of us were in the first pen.  This was by far the biggest crowd any of our horses had ever been in.

By the time I was climbing up Squaw I could see Jeremy and Strut up ahead of me.  I caught up and we rode together.

The snow was patchy up on the top of Immigrant Pass.  Granite Chief Wilderness Area was not as bad as I thought it might be.  We rode through carefully.  At one point a horse joined our group.  Very shortly after that the rider directly behind us told us that the horse didn't have a rider.  Jeremy hopped off and caught the horse and back tracked to the rider, Carl Bruno.  He seemed alright and was able to get back on.

As we were almost out of the danger of the bogs and rocks and I was thinking we were in the clear, we hit one final tricky spot.  You had to go up on top of a rock pile to the right (while still being on top of the rocks) when Kutt fell down to the left.  He was chest deep in rocks and there was nowhere for me to go so he had to figure it out while I stayed on his back.  He had a few new scrapes.  Luckily Jeremy had put silicone on Kutt's shin over the stitches.  The rocks had hit right into the silicone and had dented and ripped it a little but the stitches themselves were ok.

After that we went fine for a while.  Then right before Cougar Rock Strut fell onto his knees in a rocky area.  He seemed ok.  Good.
Over Cougar Rock for Strut.  I was going to go over but as I was thinking I would, Kutt almost went down.  I went around.  I guess as I went around, Diane Woodard saw me go around and thought about doing the same, changed her mind and then fell and either broke her ribs or damaged the cartilage between her ribs. Damn.  We found out from Tim that Tiran went up the rock part way and then was not sure what to do and Tim had to jump off and run up it with Tiran lunging up behind him.

We made it through Red Star without a glitch.  On to Robinson.  (It was somewhere in this stretch that Melissa Ribley had her accident.) Both horses recovered fine and looked good.  About 20 min later Tiran arrived.  He looked good too.  By this time all three horses had fallen.  Rocky bastard!  At this check Jeremy's mom and her sister Leslie were hand picking grass for the horses.  Great crew.

Onwards.  Right before Dusty Corners we were riding down the last steep, red dirt hill, before the gravel road and the dust was hanging about 2 feet above the ground when Strut fell down onto his knees and nose.  Jeremy was catapulted over his head and knocked the wind out of himself while getting a fair amount of road rash on his right shoulder.  After looking at Strut we could see that his knees had small cuts.  Within a short time Strut was sore from the fall. 

Jeremy pulled Strut at Last Chance.  As I was leaving this check after being there for about 20 min,  Tim came in with Tiran.

Kutt was feeling great.  We did the canyons and he handled it really well.  He did think the swinging bridge was really weird.  We made it into Chicken Hawk and he still looked really good.  We were in the group between 5th -9th, we were in this range pretty much the whole rest of my ride.

Foresthill was a welcome stop.  Kutt had a mild right hind and I would have a recheck.  Kutt ate and ate.  Tiran was there about 20 min later.  Jeremy was there too.  Strut had been dropped off at the finish and now Jeremy was crewing.

Kutt and Tiran both made it out of Foresthill.  I rode with a group of three almost the whole way to Francisco's.  Kutt felt really good.  He enjoyed the cooler weather and really liked going in the dark, a first for him.

When we got to Francisco's I let Kutt drink and eat for a minute and then went to vet him, in case his right hind got stiff.  I trotted him out and he was sore.  That would be it for me.  About 45 min later Tiran was there.  I watched as people came through. 

Eventually I walked up the big climb to where the trailer would take us from.  Melissa's horse, Monique and Kutt went together.

I got back to camp while trying to stay awake and took care of Kutt and Strut.  Then I went to the finish line to wait for Tim and Tiran.  The rest of our crew was down on No Hands Bridge waiting for Tim (and maybe me too).

The group of people at the finish line were all tired but having a good time.  I visited with a lot of friends while we waited.  It started to get chilly sitting there.

I got to see a lot of friends finish.

Finally Jeremy and Eric were there and that is when I knew it would be soon that Tim and Tiran would arrive.  Around 3:30 Tim and Tiran crossed the finish line of their first Tevis and Tiran's first 100.  It was really cool.

After taking care of everything we all hit the pillow hard.

The next morning it was already extremely hot.

We packed up and went to have breakfast at the stadium and then watched the Haggin Cup.  It was clear that Garret's horse looked great.  The horse stood out.

Carl left as he had to fly himself back to Montana.  Eric and Skip needed to get back as well.  Tim, Jeremy and I waited for the awards.  While we waited we hit up Starbucks.  Nothing like a cold caffeinated pick me up.  We got back to the fairgrounds and visited with Garret and Lisa then headed to the awards.

Lunch was good.  Barbara White earned her 3000 mile buckle!!  Holy moly.  I can't even imagine riding that trail that many times.  Great job.  Heraldic and John Crandel had won and Garret Ford on The Fury was awarded the Haggin Cup, wearing glue ons of course.

I am glad that Tim and Tiran were able to make the trip worthwhile.  Maybe next time:)  Congratulations to any one who completed.

Now we are off to Iowa (to rest at Jan and Grace's) and Illinois (for the final time trial)  and then hopefully Kentucky (for the WEG) with Sam and Smitty.

Heather

This is a little late in posting.  Jeremy and I flew out to the Canadian Championship to crew for Deborah Reich on the FEI 100 and also for a few of her horse's on the FEI and open 50.  Just before we left for the ride, I found out that Deborah actually had an extra horse for the open 50 and that I was going to be able to ride as well.

We flew out on Tuesday just after returning from the time trial.  We drove home and were home for just a day and then flew to Canada.  We arrived late at night.  But found our way after some confusion as to where we were headed.

On Wednesday we went to a local breakfast place and then Jeremy glued on all of the Easyboots for the ride.  While we were working on this there was a very elaborate parade happening.  The mayor of the town was even there!  It was the Canadian equivalent of the 4th of July on the weekend of the ride so there was a lot of celebrating.

As the day went on, Deborah went to weigh in and we all got our paperwork and vetting out of the way.  Then we went for a pre ride.  The horse that I rode was named Comet.  He was really fun.  He is a sporty, zippy horse.  Very fun to ride.

On Thursday the 50 started at 5 am!! 30 mins ahead of the 100 mile start.  What the heck??  I rode with Deborah's trainer, Kim and Deborah's son Amos.  It was a very beautiful ride.  We had a great time.

Unfortunately Deborah's ride was cut short from a very mild lameness (that wasn't there within a few hours).  All three of the 50 mile horses that were in our group completed. 

Since we were all flying out of Toronto on Friday it was decided to head in to town a day early and have a look around.  We packed up and said our good byes to Amelio.  He would trailer the horses back to New York on Friday.

We all went to dinner in Toronto.  The town is incredibly clean.  Jeremy and I walked down an old street that was not the nice part of town and in 10 city blocks we only saw one piece of trash, a coffee cup.  That was it, one cup!!  Pretty cool.

The next day, Friday, we all flew to Frank and Deborah's farm in up state New York.  Another very pretty place.  We all got settled and then met for dinner, followed by a swim and soak in the hot tub with a fireworks show in the background over the Hudson river.  I can't complain:)  It was really fun visiting with Frank and Deborah.

On Saturday, the 4th, we woke up early and got to work.   Jeremy was doing all the hooves on the place.  He trimmed and put shoes on a few too.  I think he worked on about 12 horses and 3 mini donkeys in all.  It was a busy day.  After that we still had time to go for a ride around the farm on a few of Deborah's mounts.

By the time we got onto our 7 pm Saturday night flight back to CA we were ready to sleep!  What a fun time.

On the 4th we were home and headed up to a local fair to watch our newest prospect run a game race on the race track.  She is going to be very cool.  We will get her in October when her racing season is over and her new racing career begins:)  She and Smitty have the same sire.

Well, we will be getting ready for Tevis now.  Maybe we will see you there.
Heather

Jeremy and I packed everything up to go to the West Coast Time trial on Wednesday and then went home to get some sleep.  We couldn't fall asleep so we watched an episode of House on our laptop.  We fell asleep around 11:45.  At 2 am I heard Jeremy ask if I was awake, I chose to pretend like I was still sleeping.  I heard him get up and realized that he was going to go running!!   He was too excited to sleep.  I slept until he got back around 2:30 am.  He then told me it was time to start our trip.

Up and at 'em!!  We caught the horses and started our 11:30 hour drive.  It was really uneventful, after the last trip that is a really great thing.

We arrived at the camp around 3pm.  There were a number of familiar faces already there.  After setting up camp we visited with Sue and Dennis Summers, Christoph and Dianne, Doug Swingley, Charisse and Carl, Andy Bown ( Andy caught wind of Jeremy's diet took it upon himself to keep Jeremy fueled on Chia seed concoctions all weekend.  They were great.), Darolyn Butler, Ceci and Jason and all of the Namibian girls that were with Darolyn.

Skip had flown up and landed before we even pulled in so he was there as well.

We prepared our crew stuff, which was super easy as we only had two horses to deal with.  Smitty and Sam were the lucky two for this adventure.

When dinner time came, Darolyn told us that her group had set up a reservation at the little store/ restaurant across the street.  There were about 10 of us that headed over for dinner.  Jeremy was the light eater in the group as he was trying to get his weight down so that he could weigh in at exactly 165 at Friday's weigh in.  He stayed for salad only and then left.  Good thing he did!  Dinner was HUGE!!!!  There was salad and fresh baked Beer Batter bread, then cowboy stew followed by the biggest steak that any one of our group had ever seen.
 
The waitress brought one out and we all thought that maybe it was a roast for the whole table, then we realized that it was "A Steak".  As in singular!!  She proceeded to bring 9 more of them out.  They must have weighed 5 lbs each.  They were huge and BB-Q'd perfectly.  The steak was accompanied by a double fist sized baked potato.  When we were all extremely beyond our stomach capacity the waitress asked us if we wanted heavy cream or ice cream on our fresh berry cobbler! 

We all cut up the 3/4 of our steaks that we couldn't eat so that we could make sandwiches out of it over the weekend.

After that dinner, we went back to camp and Carol Giles, who was the trail host and had set everything up for everyone, offered to tour us out on the trail.  Everyone loaded up into crew cars in a hurry and followed her out of camp.

The way it was set up was that the staging area would be about 2 1/2 miles out of camp and we wouldn't return to camp until all was said and done.  (We had already dropped off our crew gear, including our Easy- Up tent which would self destruct on Saturday when a dirt devil, twister would take it out and it alone).

We drove the 11 mile loop.  The footing was terrific.  The flagging was a bit different but we all got the hang out it.  Carol drove us around and pointed out hazards and then we all stopped at water 1 and she drew us a map so we could see how the loops intertwined.  It was getting dark so we all headed back.

On Friday Jeremy and I went for an early ride.  The staff was going to arrive around 11 am so we wanted to be done with what we needed to before that, in case we were needed.  Smitty and Sam felt perfect.

Becky and Vonita as well as the selectors were there right on time.  The vets would pull in around 2 pm.  We checked in with Vonita and weighed in as well.  Jeremy's dieting had paid off, he weighed 165 with tack and was almost 164!!

When the vets got there we all vetted in.  The vets inspected each horse closely and we did our trot outs.  There were 19 horses to look at.  All but two looked great.  17 would start on Saturday morning.

There was a briefing that evening so that we would all know what the plan was.  There were to be three different loops.  An 11, 17 and 24 mile loop.  We would do the 17, 24, 11, 17, 11.  There were vet checks in between each one with varying hold times. 

We were also split into groups.  Our group was: Jeremy on Sir Smith, myself on Ssamiam, Cheryl Dell on Reason to Believe, Lindsay Graham on Monk and Carol Giles on Galaxy (I do not know the mares full name).

After the meeting we broke off into our own "new team" meeting.  The five of us went over how our horses are and worked out riding tactics as a group.

Skip's friend Carl drove from Montana and got to Bend on Friday night.  Another friend, Eric, flew in on Friday night as well to help us crew.  Eric would be sent out to help at the crew spot on the 24 mile loop to hand off water bullets and give us electrolytes.  We didn't get to show Eric how to do them so we planned on giving them ourselves when we got there.

On Saturday morning our group's start time was 8 am.  At the beginning of each loop we were given an exact average speed that we were to keep for that loop. 

When we came into each check the crews were on it, helping us get the tack off and getting the horses cooled.  Sam ended up being the star of the day as far as recoveries went.  He was able to come right in and be down in a minute or less.  He was really amazing.  Our group was really great together.  The horses recovered within 3 minutes of each other.

In all it was really exciting to see that the West Coast does have some fast horses.  Our group ended up with 3 in it by the end of the 80.3 miles.  Monk, Smitty and Sam all looked great.  They had gone really fast.  We did the 80.3 in under 6 hours.  All three horses recovered very fast all day long.  We were all really proud of them.

8 out of 17 completed the full course.  It was a very challenging day and I think that everyone learned something.  I learned that Sam is even better than I thought and that he can really recover!

We found out that Eric had been giving other people's horses electrolytes at the aid station because they would ask for him to do it assuming that he had done it before.  Being the cool guy that Eric is he looked at the syringe thrown in his direction, put two and two together and "plunged the stuff down the horses throat!".  We had a good laugh about that.

The crew was truly awesome as well.  Skip gave everyone on the job training and made sure that every one knew what to do and when to do it.   They went through 9,000 gallons of water and $400 worth of ice (and there could have been more ice even!).  Kudos to them for helping everyone.

That night we overwhelmed the local restaurant/store.  There were probably 40 of us in a place meant to serve 12.  This time we were able to talk them into splitting the steaks between people.  The meal was fun filled and merry.

At one point Melody came up to us and asked us to be part of some contest she is involved in.  She is a personal trainer and apparently she is part of a burpy contest.  This is where you drop down and do a push up and then leap up in the air from the ground quickly.  Ernie got it in a picture so now she is set for her contest!

In all it was a successful trial.  A lot was learned and there were fast sound horses.  All good news.  On Sunday the horses were vetted out, like a BC judging.  Our three group member horses still looked great!

After packing up and saying goodbye Eric, Skip, Jeremy and I hit up the restaurant one last time for a great breakfast.  Then we hit the road around 10:30 am.

We had a nice drive home.  The north part of Highway 5 is so pretty with Mt Shasta and all of the lakes.   We were home by 10 and in bed by 11. 

Now we just have to plan the trip to Illinois for the next trial!  But wait we will crew in Canada at an FEI ride this weekend and ride Tevis first!

By the way Tim did another Ironman Triathalon this weekend in Idaho and that is why he wasn't at the trial.  He did well and was 14th in his age group with a time of 10:08.

Heather

I am so sad from this trip.  This was the worst trip that Jeremy and I have ever been on and I hope we never top it as far as the "worst" category.  We left for the race with Strut, Tiran, Kutt and Makazin.  On the way there we stopped at a pasture that we always use.  It is in Paradise Valley Montana.  In the morning we came out to catch the horses to load up to drive the last 4 hours to the race and Makazin was missing.  Three hours later we found him.  He had run through 5 fences and then ran off the edge of a cliff and had broken his neck.  We are still completely devastated from this.  The other 3 horses were totally fine.  We really don't know why he did that, he just must have been scared and running.

We continued to the race.  It was raining our entire trip.  Jeremy rode the 75 on Tiran.  The footing and conditions were really poor from all of the weather and probably worse as it was a really wet winter.  Tiran won the ride but then was pulled at the finish with a tight hind end.  He was off and that was that.

We decided that we had had enough fun for the year so we left and didn't attempt the 100 that would happen the next day.

On Sunday morning as we packed up I thought that maybe we should have done the 100 as it looked like it was clearing up.  I then spoke to some friends that were coming off of the first 25 mile loop.  One said that her horse had fallen 3 times already, another had her horse fall and roll over the top of her and might have broken her rib.  Later in the day another friend got her horse stuck on its side in a bog for a while.  I am glad that we left.

It is a huge drag as we had really been looking forward to FT Howes as it can be really fun. 

Makazin is sorely missed.

Heather

Skip, Jeremy and I headed out yet again this weekend with the 5 year old crew.  This weekend was the polar opposite, weather-wise from last weekend!!  The plan was that Skip and Jeremy would ride the same two from last weekend, Tin Roof and Stirgess and I would crew as Strut will be going to FT Howes and it wasn't fair to have him do this one too.

On Tuesday I went out and marked a large section of trail with the ride manager, Lori Oleson.  I saw how the ride was going to be really tough but also very pretty.  When I returned from the marking adventure I was telling Megan Robinson, (my friend that rode with all of us the weekend before at Wild West on her horse Kongo) how I wished I were riding as it was going to be so pretty.  She very quickly offered me Kongo as she had to go to a wedding on Saturday and couldn't do the race.

After talking it over with Jeremy it was quickly decided that I would ride Kongo.

We met at the barn around noon and started to load the horses.  We thought that Kongo should be first into the trailer but he didn't agree so Roof was first.  Kongo would have to be second as the third horse needs to back out and IF there should be any refusal with the backing out we wanted the smallest 5 year old to be the one that we would have to "make" get out.  Kongo didn't want to go in at all.  After a bit of asking him he decided to blow us off and spun around and ran around the ranch for a few minutes.  After we caught him again we got him in.

Once at the ride we set things up and put up the Easy Up tent and relaxed in the shade.  It was pretty darn hot out.  We didn't pre-ride but Jeremy and I did go for a 3 mile run.  After vetting in we drove down to Gilroy to Applebees and had dinner and watched some hockey. 

The ride meeting was at 6:30 and went over how vast the park is and to not get lost.  Start time would be 6:30 am.

At 6:25 am we gave our numbers and then watched the start.  Then we bridled up and started walking out onto the course.  Kongo was being VERY excited.  He is normally a very quiet horse.  I just would lead him a little longer.  Jeremy then stated that it was time to get on.  I got on and Kongo froze and then jumped up sideways onto a bank and felt like he was going to blow.  I jumped off to see if something was wrong.  Nothing.  Got back on, he froze again, Jeremy grabbed him and tried to pony him but it was making Stirgess really amped.  When he let go Kongo felt like he was going to explode.  That is when I pulled him up to dismount for the second time and my left rein flew by.  The clip had broke off!  I managed to get off and proceeded to correct Kongo, which he promptly decided not to stick around for and he spun around and took off back towards camp.  Another rider was coming towards us and following her was Kongo.  Cool.  He saw us and spun around and took off again.  This time all the way back.

After getting new reins and Jeremy riding him around for a second I got on him and he was the calm rational horse that he normally was.  Weird.  On with our day.

The day went on and on and on.  It was one of the hardest 50 mile rides I have done.  It was pretty hot and extremely hilly.  We finished at 6:10 pm.  All three 5 year olds looked relatively good for how hard the day had been.  Another one done for Stirgess, Kongo and Roof.  Next time it will be that much easier.

We are headed off for Ft Howes next, we leave in two days.   We will be doing a 75 on Saturday followed by a 100 on Sunday!  That will be a first for me.  The 75 mile horses will be Makazin and Tiran and the 100 milers will be Strut and Kutt.  That will be fun saying those two names all day, Strut and Kutt, how cute.

Until next time,
Heather

We decided to take our young stock to do day 1 of the Wild West ride up in Nevada City.  The race was on Friday.  We met Skip at Starbucks on Thursday morning and headed out to the ranch.  Our friend Megan Robinson met us at the ranch as well.  She was going to ride her five year old at the race with us.  It rained most of the drive.

Skip and Jeremy drove together and Megan and I drove together.  About half way there we made a stop at In-N-Out.  Good times.  This is the only time the rain really took a break, when we weren't driving.  How ironic.

We arrived at the ride site around 3 pm.  It was looking really bad as far as the weather goes.  It was freezing outside and looked like some form of precipitation was going to happen at any moment.  We were originally planning to pre-ride but scratched that idea as soon as we unloaded the horses.  It was starting to rain.  We blanketed the horses, hung hay bags and filled buckets quickly.  Then we all sat in the trailer.  After we warmed up we checked in and then vetted in.  Then went back in to warm up.

I am not over playing how cold it was.  It was 34 degrees outside and wet.  I had to put another blanket on Strut (the West Virginia horse) as he was too cold with only two on.

It was now about 4:15.  We had 2:45 more minutes to kill before the ride meeting.  We sat in the warm trailer eating chips and salsa.  Then I decided to make dinner.  We finished up and headed over to the ride meeting.

The meeting was straight forward.  After the meeting it stopped raining and started snowing.  There was a campfire and Melissa Ribley brought out marshmallows to roast.  That was a first for me, roasting marshmallows in the snow,  in California, in late May!!

It snowed and sleeted most of the night.  In the morning it had stopped.  It looked promising.  (This is the part where I went wrong and didn't wear enough clothes.)  We happily saddled up.  I rode Strut, he would be the babysitter horse for the three five year olds that were all doing their first endurance rides.  Skip rode Tin Roof, who is over 16 hands, honest to God.  Jeremy rode Stirgess, Smitty's 3/4 brother.  Megan rode her own horse, Congo.

We started about ten minutes late.  All of the horses started out relatively calm... relatively.

The ground at this ride has a lot of clay based soil.  With all of the weather the ground was extremely slippery in places.  There were also puddles that took up the whole road and with the horses being green they thought it would be best to go on the edges to try to avoid the water.  The problem with that was that the edges were on a tilt and the ground was really slick, so every time they tried that, they almost fell down.

Around mile 7, Stirgess became Smitty's true brother.  He was coming unglued.  He started leaping and running in place and going very sideways.  Since the ground was so slick he was also falling over!  After about 20 min. of this he was really starting to effect the other young guys, as well as Strut.  Jeremy got off and was leading him at times to try to calm him down.  We think that he was upset because of all of the stop and go from the footing and not being able to move out at a constant pace.  After a lot of effort, Jeremy decided it would be safest if he separated from the group and did a steady pace.  Away they went.  Everything was calm again.

This is when the weather moved in and the sleet began.  It alternated between rain, sleet and snow all the way into lunch.  This is also where I felt like an idiot for believing that it would be nice out and not dressing warmer.

Strut, Congo and Roof all looked great at lunch and recovered instantly and were in the 40's range for heart rates.  It was so damn cold that they ought to have!  After vetting the horses through and feeding and blanketing them, I needed to defrost.  It was crazy how cold I was.  I spent the whole check in front of the heater.  It turned off at one point and I got up and set the thermostat for even warmer.

I dressed VERY warmly for the afternoon loop.  I knew that I would probably sweat but at this point I would like to be sweating. 

We headed out of lunch and climbed up the muddy trail that we had come into lunch on.  After the highway crossing we trotted whenever it wasn't too slick.  The horses all handled the ride really well.  There were some really tricky parts for the newbies. 

I got my wish and really got to sweat.  The afternoon was better than the morning as far as weather goes.

The last 8 or so miles of the race were on the best footing of the day.  We did an out and back on a really firm logging road.  The horses were all very happy about that.  We let them trot and canter to the end.  As we approached the actual finish line Roof and Congo were in front and when they saw the finish line they froze and were scared to cross the line.  Strut encouraged them and they crossed.

Stirgess had finished a long time before we did.  His CRI at the end was 44/40.  Pretty cool, now he just needs to learn to chill.  Hopefully a lesson he will learn this coming weekend at the "Just Coe Crazy" ride.  It will be a safer place to have a "discussion" with him about that!

All of our guys finished looking great.  We packed up and got ready to leave.  Megan and I went to look at our ride pictures and they were cool as they had snow in the background.

When we were ready to leave we all sat around and waited for Tim to show up.  He was picking up Jeremy and I to take us to my Mother In Laws house for her birthday.  Tim was supposed to be at the race by 5.  At 6:10 we got in the trucks and left.  We didn't have cell service so we really didn't know where Tim was.  When we got down the mountain we got a hold of him.  He had been stuck in holiday traffic.  We met up with him at a gas station on the way out.

Skip and Megan took the horses back and we went to Minden, NV for the weekend.  In all it was a successful race, but the coldest one that I have done in a long time.

Maybe we will see some of you at the Coe ride this weekend.

Pictured above from left to right: Stratagem & Katie, Makazin and Heather, Bey and Kathy, Tiran and Jeremy.  Carole took the picture.

This weekend we went to the Shine and Shine FEI ride.  We loaded up on Friday morning and discovered that the horse that the young rider was supposed to ride was not looking like he should be doing a ride this weekend.  We needed to bring a passported horse for her to ride as she was flying up to the ride to try to qualify for the young riders championship.  We looked around our horse selection and decided to take Strut.  He had just come off of a long time of lay up as he had stitches in his shoulder since Easter morning.  We knew we were pushing it but I was pretty sure he could handle it.

We loaded up Tiran, Makazin, Strut, Bey and Freebie (Carole's horse).  Jeremy would ride Tiran, I was riding Makazin, our friend who flew in from Maine, Kathy Brunjes on Bey and another friend and client Carole on Freebie.  All but Strut did the 75.

Katie was doing the 50 FEI on Strut to qualify for the Young Riders FEI Championship this summer.

On the way to the ride we gassed up and then grabbed a quick Starbucks and away we went.  The drive is less than an hour for us so it was nice to get there so early.  The road up there leaves a lot to be desired.  It is very narrow and windy with long drop offs on the shoulder in spots.  We took two trailers up and Carole would meet us up there later in the day with an RV.

We set up camp.  Jeremy, Kathy and I as well as Kathy's friend Biz.  It didn't take any time at all.  Then we hung out and relaxed while we awaited Katie and Carole's arrival so we could pre-ride. 

Katie arrived but still no Carole.  Carole thought she would be there around noon or sooner.  Around 2:30 she arrived.  It turns out the RV place ran really late and then she took Quimby road up to the ride which is EXTREMELY steep and windy.  Part way up there was a sign that said absolutely no RVs but she had nowhere to turn around.  Then she drove further than she needed to, by mistake, and ended up going up to the observatory, which is even more windy steep narrow road.  She needed to relax for sure when she arrived. 

After Carole recovered from the crazy drive we all went out for a ride.  All 5 horses and riders looked great.  We were ready to have a fun Saturday.

Right when we returned from our ride someone asked for Jeremy's help to locate two loose horses.  He took off while we got the horses ready to vet in.  The horses were found within the hour.

Carole made a great dinner on Friday night.  We had blackened Cajun chicken alfredo with a salad and garlic bread.  Very tastey.  Then we all went to the ride meeting and went to bed.

Saturdays ride started at 5:30 am.  We were up and at 'em.  We went to the start for our dress inspection and then the ride started.  In the first few miles we spotted a large black galloping pig.

The views were amazing.  On the first big climb there were views into the Silicon Valley.  The clouds were lower than we were.  It looked like the ocean with the clouds covering the whole valley like that.  There was misty, foggy areas that we rode in and out of.  Flowers were on the hills and the scenery was still green.  When the fog lifted and the day warmed up there was a perfect breeze that kept it just right.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.

The trail was very hilly and well marked.  There were two long, identical loops and then two small identical loops to do back to back.  On the two large identical loops there was an away vet check of 20 mins and then an hour vet check back at camp.  In all we had 2:40 of hold time.

At the last vet check Bey and Kathy were pulled for a hind end lameness.  Darn!  We were having so much fun.  Carole, Jeremy and I went around the last two short loops and this is where the rattlesnake almost took us out.  He was huge, and coiled!  Fortunately the snake didn't get us and neither did the ground squirrel holes that were like land mines everywhere.  The whole day we were yelling "Hole, Hole".

The three of us finished together, one two three.  Jeremy, Heather and then Carole.  Very fun day, with the exception of Bey and Kathy. 

We were all in camp done with vetting and everything when Strut rode by to do his last 3 1/2 mile loop.  He looked fine and was doing his thing.  He and Katie finished and that is what she needed.

Tiran not only won but was awarded BC as well.   He is turning out to be pretty amazing.  (This was his third endurance ride.) 

While it was getting dark a large pig wandered into camp.  The ranger saw it and tried to scare it away but the pig almost ran into a horse that was tied to a trailer and the horse pulled back and ran off.  The horse was located an hour or so later about 5 miles down Mt Hamilton road.  I think the horse was fine.  The pig stayed in camp for the night.

Sunday morning I got up around 5 am to use the restroom and Makazin's halter was hanging on the trailer with no Makazin.  I looked and saw him about ten feet away.  He had gotten loose and then proceeded to make a nest out of an entire bale of oat hay.  He was sound asleep all snuggled up in the hay.  It was very cute but a big mess to clean up as we had to pack up all of the hay.

Sunday we loaded the horses and headed back down the mountain.  Another one down.  Our next ride will be Wild West.  We will be doing day one with the young stock.  Stirgess and Tin Roof will do their first rides and our friends horse Congo will join the rookie ranks doing his first ride as well.  All three of them are 5 year olds.  It will not be their first races as they all three ran on the race track.  Strut will go as the fearless leader to take them through.

Until next time,
Heather

After 380 days of waiting and wondering, on April 22, 2010 Gem finally had her foal!  There had been many jokes about it.  Like, "The baby will come out wearing Easyboots"  "The baby will be FEI qualified and ready to race when it gets here"... etc.

Jeremy and I had just about given up on guessing when she might have it when one morning (April 21st) she had waxed.    That evening she still hadn't had the foal yet.  We headed home to take care of things and returned to the ranch at 11:20 pm.  No foal in sight.  Gem was being pretty active though.  She was also being really nasty to the by-standing pasture horses on the adjacent fence.  She can be this way anyhow, on a normal day.

We went in our LQ and set the alarm for 12:30 am and went to sleep.  I got up when the alarm went off and headed out into the pasture/paddock where Gem is living.  It had just stopped raining within the last few hours so everything was very damp.  It was cold.  There was a foggy mist hanging about.  I looked around in the dark until I saw Gem.  Then there were two.  The birthday was April 22, 2010... Earth Day.  Really cool!!  I walked over and the little one nickered to me.  It was already standing up and was curious as to what/who I might be.  After quickly confirming all was fine I went to wake Jeremy.

We stood around together looking at the mare and foal.  We also imprinted the foal at this point.  I thought that we had had a filly and then Jeremy looked closer and it was a boy!  That is what we really wanted.  I was surprised by just how much more excited I got when I found out that it was not a filly! 

Since Gem is a maiden mare she was really concerned about where her foal was at all times.  She was constantly touching him.  They were having some trouble figuring out the whole nursing situation.  The colt's legs were REALLY long so he had trouble fitting under her to find the right spot to nurse.  She wasn't helping at all as she would only allow him on the uphill side of her.  Then when he was able to get in the right area she would spin around and face him!  We tried to help but it only made Gem frantic.  We decided to give them some time to get it sorted out on their own. 

We walked around and found the afterbirth.  That was great as we didn't need to worry so much about Gem having possible problems from that being held up.

We went back to sleep and I set another alarm for an hour later.  After the alarm went off there was still no nursing.  The colt was still on his feet trying to figure it out.  We tried to help again but had no luck.  We did syringe a little of her milk to him at this point. 

Back to bed.  We woke up at 5 am and then Gem was willing to have help with the nursing process and he finally got it.  He was extremely happy when he discovered where and how to eat.  It took three of us to succeed.  Our friend Megan Robinson just happened to be at the barn really early on her way to work.  She held Gem's head, I lured the baby with milk covered fingers (I was on the opposite side of Gem as him).  He would suck my finger and then I would redirect him.  Jeremy helped hold him and guide him.  It worked.

After all of this we went home and Jeremy went back to sleep so he could go to work and I got warmed up and then headed back out to make sure he could eat on his own.

I measured him that first morning.  He was 43" tall (not bad for a maiden), Heart girth 32, chest 7" wide, weight 93 lbs.  I am not sure if he is actually going to be a chestnut after all.  He is looking more and more bay.  He has identical markings to Gem.  A blaze and a tall right hind sock.  His legs were really folded up.  He was very low in his lower leg and probably would have been at least 2-3" taller if he was unfolded.  That first day whenever he lay down he would lay with his legs straight out.  It was pretty funny. 

Now the baby is getting very coordinated.  I saw him itching his right ear with his right hind and then, probably because his legs are so long, he itched the left ear with the same leg!!

He is also really great at copying his mom.  She was drinking at the trough and so he did the same.  This is when he was three days old.  He also saw her eat grass so he tried gumming some too.  He is way too cute.

Heather