I had not realized that tonight's supper was included in our entry fee but it was. We had a wonderful meal of baked ziti, salad, bread and drinks and several home made deserts. It was soooooo hot out today. The forecast for tomorrow is for even hotter temperatures. Ride management decided to have an early start time of 6:00 AM so we can get a lot of the ride done before the worst of the heat. I have decided I am going to try to give Marie some electrolytes in the morning because of the predicted heat. Bonnie will give Shannon some also and we'll see how it goes. After supper we took the horses out and walked them then let them graze a bit, then settled them back into their stalls for the night. We loafed around in front of the barn until dark. It was still a million degrees and Susie decided she just had to have a shower right then and there. She just stripped out of her clothes right in front of the barn and took a shower with the water hose between the stalls. Next thing I knew Bonnie was buck naked and showering too. Good thing we were the only ones camping on the back side of the barn, and there were no lights. Though I'm not sure those two streaker would have cared anyway! I showered also, but a bit more discretely and without stripping naked. Go ahead, call me a prude. I didn't know I'd be camping in a nudist colony! I had brought a little fridge and Bonnie brought some booze to put in it. So we had a few beers and wine coolers then headed to bed.
We were up before the sun this morning. Not before the rooster started crowing though. The rooster bothered some people but I'm used to hearing roosters crowing so didn't really notice it. We fed the horses by flashlight and I gave Marie some electrolytes. A nice continental breakfast was provided for us. Not quite as good as what we had in Acadia but pretty close. There were donuts, muffins, cereal, coffee and tea. We were tacked up in plenty of time. Susie was in the starting order just ahead of Bonnie and me. She decided to wait and go out with us. That is allowed but her official start time would not change and would be two minutes ahead of us. She wanted to start with us in the hopes that Cody would stay calmer. Soon we were called to go. We had not gone more then 1/4 mile when we suddenly heard this big snap. Susie's stirrup iron had broken!! Of all the odds things to happen. She could not do the ride with no stirrup so she turned back in hopes of finding someone that had an extra one she could borrow. Bonnie and I had to just keep going and hope she got things worked out.
It did not get nearly as hot as they predicted it would. It stayed overcast which kept the temperature down. Susie caught up with us before we got to the hold. There was a 4-H event being held at the fairgrounds and one of the 4-H kids let Susie borrow a stirrup iron. Susie tried to stay with us but Cody was too excited and she ended up going ahead of us. Marie didn't drink at any of the water stops and when we got into the hold she was a bit dehydrated. This is the first time she had not drank well and the first time I've ever given her electrolytes. I am not impressed.
Susie's horse was inverted at the hold. That is when the respiration is higher then their pulse. This can be a sign of a potential problem not not necessairily. Susie stayed in the hold over her 20 minutes to see if Cody's respiration's would come back to normal. It did and she left the hold with Bonnie and me. Bonnie and I were about 6 min. late getting out of the hold ourselves. There just didn't seem to be enough time to do all that needed to be done. Marie usually needs the full 10 min. to pulse down so that only leaves the last 10 minutes to take care of vetting, metabolic check, feeding, personal needs and getting the bridle back on. So, I knew at this point we were a little behind on time. And Susie was even further behind so once again she had to ride on ahead of us.
Bonnie and I nearly went over our time. We literally galloped across the finish line with just a minute to spare. We hated to to that and felt kind of stupid for not managing our time better. You should walk the last mile into camp to let their P&R's come down. I guess we have some tough little mares though as both still ended with acceptable P&R's. Susie had decided she simply was not going to make her time. But, Steve Rojek caught up with her. He is an international endurance rider with tons of experience. He encouraged Susie and pushed her to make her time and got her to the finish. She made it and Cody was fine. She was thrilled for the chance to ride with Steve and grateful for his help and encouragement. And Susie just happened to have one of her endurance riding books with her that had Steve's picture in it. She asked him to sign it for her. He seemed a bit embarrassed but was very gracious about it. Marie and Cody did fine with their trot outs. The vet judge still had come concerns about Shannon and told Bonnie they wanted to recheck her in the morning. Bonnie wasn't too happy about this but what can you do. I'm sure all will be fine. It turned out the early ride time was a good thing. Though the temperature didn't get as bad a predicted, we had quite a rain storm not long after we got done riding. It didn't last long though. We just hung out at camp. Susie and I played guitar under the barn overhang and it was fun. For supper tonight, we had a choice of hot dogs or hamburgers. There was also an excellent fruit cup, drinks and brownies. We went to the award ceremony for the 25 mile riders. Then we all went and took 'proper' showers tonight. No naked ladies running around camp. We took the horses for a walk around the race track then later around the barns and camp and let them graze a bit. The ride was going to start early again tomorrow so we headed to bed before it got too late.
We were up before the crack of dawn again this morning. Bonnie took Shannon for her re-check and was ok to start the ride. The vet judge was still concerned but could not actually justify pulling her from the ride. Today the starting order had Bonnie and Susie starting together and I was in the pair starting 2 minutes ahead of them. I considered waiting like Susie had yesterday. Then I decided it would be good for Marie to start without Shannon. She needs to stop being so glued to Shannon everywhere we go. I knew that Bonnie and Susie would likely catch up to me quickly. Marie was not happy by this turn of events. She hesitated about going at first, but I got after her and made her go. She was then wonderful and traveled along like a real trooper. Of course she hated every second of it and neighed, whinnied and moaned until Susie and Bonnie caught up to me but otherwise she behaved perfectly. Cody was much better today. He was calm and quiet so Susie was able to stay with us the whole ride today. We also paced ourselves much better today. It was misting and sprinkling for most of the ride. It was hot enough to the misting felt good and was nice for the horses, though the mist did keep Bonnie, with her glasses, blind for most of the day. I had my contacts in so was fine. Marie was doing great today and drinking like normal and traveling strongly. I did not use electrolytes today. Just before the hold, there was a spot that looked good to go down to the river. Susie want down to check it out and it seemed fine. I then went down beside Susie to see if Marie wanted to drink. Just then a few riders caught up to us and decided to join us. Marie didn't want a drink, so I went back up on the trail to make room. Just as I got to the trail, I heard a big splash behind me. The sand bar had collapsed on one of the woman that had gone down to the river and both her and her horse went right out of sight for a moment in the water. They both managed to get out ok and were fine but it gave us a good scare. At the hold I had to do an extra trot out with Marie due to concerns over her 'stabby' right hind. We were allowed to continue. We didn't get out of the hold on time today again. But, we had gotten into the hold in good time so it was ok. We headed out and set a perfect pace for the rest of the ride. We even had a little time to go down to the Saco river in a marked and safe place. We had to ride through a camp someone had set up on the beach but the occupants of the camp seemed too drunk to object. We were able to walk the last mile to the finish as we liked to do. At the end, our P&R's were good. We then went for our hands on and while we were waiting in line, we could see the black clouds rolling in. We had just finished with our hands on when it hit. It poured buckets. We all, along with our horses, quickly ducked into one of the barns where the 4-H kids were. That barn had a nice wide aisle for us to all fit in. We waited for the worst of it to pass but still ended up doing our trot outs in the rain. That's ok, a little rain wouldn't kill us. We decided we preferred this to bad heat. For supper tonight there was fish chowder which was delicious. Then there was the award ceremony. Bonnie got 3rd place in the light weight division. I got 3rd in the heavy weight division and Susie got 4th in the middle weight division. We then packed up and had an uneventful trip home. Another great ride!!
Fryeburg 50 Ride 7-24/25 23/S-19/F
1 Sir Narionn / S Corr
2 SR Finally / S Rojek
3 WCM Beaumark Morgan / J Greenall
4 Wildwoods Liralyn / J Sherman
5 Nakala / J Stratmeyer
5 Alesar / S Greenall
5 SA King Hofflin / V Austin
8 Anchor Hill Alan / M Gamester
9 Alora Danin / K Brunjes
9 Marie / C Ross (score 94.00)
11 HFA Silver Savanah / M Deleware
12 Xavier Sunnyachers / S Reinheimer
12 Jericho / C Sandowski
12 Shannon / B Hinz
15 SA Lady Nevada / H Bonneau
16 Missoula Nac / G Coassin
17 Kofaxx / A Welles
18 Linkk / B Zsiga
Comp Inde Khaldir / L Crowley
