Waterford 30 CTR Waterford, ME May 2000

Susie and I decided to ride the Waterford 30. They are running the Maine 80 also but Susie didn't have the time to do it. I didn't feel I'd gotten Marie in good enough shape yet. The Maine 80 is a three day event. 30 miles the first and 2nd day and 20 miles the last day. Bonnie decided not to bring her horse to this one. She wants more time to get more weight and conditioning on him. Bonnie did haul us up though. Bonnie didn't have to work Friday so she came over and picked me up about 10:00 AM. I was ready to go so we just needed to hook up the trailer and load Marie on. We then went over and picked Cody up. Susie had to work so she was meeting us in Waterford later. We had an uneventful trip there. We were set up in short order. We used my and Bonnie's portable fence. We were going to separate Marie and Cody but she is so in love with him that we didn't need to. As a matter of fact, Marie is so in love with Cody that whenever he got out of her sight for just a second, shd acted like an idiot. It only took a few minutes to clean up the horse trailer and set up our cots in there. Using the trailer for our living quarters is so easy. I wish we'd thought of doing this earlier. the vet was supposed to start the vetting at 11:00 AM. he didn't show up until 3:00 PM. Bonnie and I went down to Tut's restaurant for lunch since we had plenty of time before the vetting. We both had chicken salad Italians. They were huge and very good. Great coffee there also. Susie arrived at about 2:30 PM. There were a lot of horses to be vetted but they got us through in good time. Susie's husband, David, came up for the weekend. He drove up after he got out of work. I ended up taking a nap in the afternoon. I didn't intend to but the bed kept calling to me and I'd had a full night at work. Later, Bonnie and I went back down to Tut's for supper. Susie and her husband had gone down earlier. Bonnie had not wanted to wake me from my nap so had decided to just wait for me. I forgot to bring my guitar and Susie almost killed me. We both took turns playing her guitar and singing up a storm. David was very nice but kept smiling at us like a parent smiles fondly at their children doing something cute. We went to bed when it got dark and had a nice quiet night.

We were up early. I heated up some water for coffee and oatmeal. The ride provides coffee and donuts but I needed more then that to start the day. The ride started right on time and we got off to a good start. I started ahead of Susie. Marie did not like this at all. She hollered and called constantly, but she behaved otherwise. It didn't take Susie long to catch up to me. I didn't realize that my Easyboot had fallen off my saddle. Susie saw it on the trail and had picked it up for me. Susie said Cody was doing great until she stopped to pick up the boot but he squirreled out after that. This ride was one tough ride. The toughest I've been on yet. A lot of hills and one downright mountain that was extremely steep going. Some very bad mud also. At one point, while traveling down a steep hill that was knee deep in mud with a lot of large rocks mixed in also, the woman riding behind me lost control of her horse and the horse bolted forward and rammed right into Marie. It ran us right off the trail. She got her horse backed off and I got Marie back on the trail and then her horse bolted and rammed us a second time. The woman did an emergency dismount that put her right between her horse and Marie. I was so afraid that Marie might kick out and kill the poor woman but she didn't. The woman was mortified that her horse had done that. She apologized profusely throughout the whole ride. I'm just glad she wasn't hurt. Her horse is an adopted wild Mustang. He'd run wild for eight years. He's thirteen now but still needs some training obviously. At the hold, Marie's P&R were well within limits. Cody's was borderline high. The vet checked him a second time to make sure he was alright, which he was. David was working the ride as a timer. He was doing the time into the hold and Bonnie was doing the time out. The hold is a mandatory 20 minutes though you can stay longer if you wish. You just end up making up the time while riding. The trot out for Cody and Marie was fine and we were out of the hold only two minutes late. We took it easy going back over the mountain. It was a beautiful day with great views from the top. It was a tough climb but well worth it. When we got down to the bottom of the mountain, Marie started stumbling and limping. I was so afraid she had pulled something on the steep terrain. Thankfully, she had only lost one of her front shoes and we were on some pretty stony ground. I had to stop and put the Easyboot on her. I was sure glad Susie had picked it up when she found it on the trail! I had tied it so tight onto my saddle that I had to cut the tie strap to get it off and once again Susie saved me by having a pair of cutters in her saddle bag. Two miles later Marie lost her other front shoe. By then we were on soft ground and it was good the rest of the way back to camp so we managed to finish on time. Poor Marie!She did such a great job. I used Bonnie's endurance saddle on this ride as I've been having some troubles with mine. It seems to fit her well. I don't know if it has anything to do with the saddle but she traveled better today then she ever has. She was doing great extended trots and keeping right on Cody's tail. She usually has trouble keeping up with him. I am suspecting that my saddle has been pinching her in the shoulders making her unwilling to do extended trots. She passed the final vetting with flying colors and we placed first in our division. Susie got reserve champion. We were both thrilled, it was a great ride.

Waterford 30 5/27/00 11/S-F
Junior
MCO Ali Darkness / J Wazelle
Adult
2 Xavier Sunnyacres / S Reinheimer
3 Briwds Mardi Gras / S Corr
4 Marie / C Ross (score 92.00)
5 Otis / A Beem
6 Mighty Frankie / T York
7 ? / S Day
8 FR Canadian Pilgrim / S Vieria
9 Little Beau / S Leavitt
10 Travelers Midnight Shadow / S Booth

Bog Brook 25 CTR Standish, ME May 2000

Bonnie and I headed out for Bog Brook 25 on Saturday morning. We got there around 11:00 AM and quickly got the portable fence set up. Bonnie and I are getting the routine down very well now. Bonnie has a new horse, Max, and this was his first camping trip. I thought he might be a bit nervous with all the other horses around but he was mostly just curious. He was very quiet and relaxed in the paddock. Bonnie and I decided to try camping out in the horse trailer this trip. It would save the time of setting up a tent or driving an extra vehicle to bring the camper. I had a fold out cot that I had set up in the trailer at home to see if it would fit. It just made it in one half of the trailer. Bonnie was happy as she had a similar cot. After sweeping out the trailer and wiping the walls down, we got my cot out and set it up. Then we got Bonnie's cot and .....uh, oh, it was a little bit wider then mine. What a time we had cramming it in there. We had to do some very serious cramming but we did manage. Bonnie has decided she will look for a new cot that is a bit more narrow.

There was a long line for vetting in. Max behaved very well while waiting. Better then Marie! they did the vetting in an indoor arena. Neither Max or Marie were used to that, they both behaved kind of badly for the hands on and trot out. Marie was spooking at the walls because there were mirrors on them. After, we fed the horses and settled them in for the night. Bonnie and I went down to the local convenience store and picked up Italians for supper. We went to bed fairly early. It poured buckets during the night. We felt bad for the horses out in the rain but at least it was warm. We were very comfortable in the trailer. I was up early and got the stove out to heat up water for oatmeal and coffee when I realized we'd forgotten to bring matches to light the stove with. Bonnie went out and borrowed a lighter from someone. Bonnie knows I can't start my day without my oatmeal. We had to hustle to get the horses ready after the pre-ride meeting as we were rider number's 1 and 2. Max was a little excited when we started out but not bad. After all, he had no clue what was going on since this was his first ride. When the first riders passed us, Max did get a bit upset and he tossed his head a lot for a while. Bonnie did a great job of keeping him under control though so it was no problem, just annoying for her. We had a great ride. We went nice and easy for Max but made our time with no trouble. Max and Marie were both a bit naughty at the final vetting. (sigh) We finished in good shape though.

Bog Brook 25 5/14/00 24/S-22/F
1 Alora Danin / K Brunjes
2 ? / S Nash
3 Especial Addition / L Prentice
4 LWF Paljoe Promise / M Farnum
4 BAF Cubis Choice / L Pederson
6 ? / L Lester
7 Shiloh / S Niedoroda
8 Jewelys Gem / C Bechstrom
9 HFA Silver Savanah / M Deleware
11 Desert Falcon / J Graffam
12 Rolling Stone / Heidi Moss
12 Maxwell / B Hinz
15 Anchor Hill Alan / M Gamester
16 Inde Khaldair / L Crowley
17 Marie / C Ross (score 90.50)
18 Silvera / J Brunjes
Comp Travels Midnight Shadow / S Booth
Comp Mardi Gras / S Corr