Boo 25 CTR W. Sumner ME Oct 2000

Well, this ride has a little pre-drama that I must add before telling about the ride. I was sitting in my living room last Friday, looking through the latest Uncle Henry's and reading the ads by the horse trailer dealer where Bonnie and I bought our present trailer. They had just gotten in some trailers with living quarters and I wanted to go take a look at them. They were out of my price range but I still enjoyed looking at them. But, I did find a trailer I fell in love with. It is a 2000 Bison 3 horse slat load gooseneck with rear tack and front dressing room. It was a used trailer but had only been used three times. I inquired about the price and it seemed very reasonable. I asked them to give me a ball park figure on what the payments would be and it was very reasonable. I went home and casually mentioned the trailer to Fred. The next day, when Fred got home from work, he looked at me and said, "well, what are you waiting for?" I gave him a funny look not knowing what he was talking about. "So," he said, "I thought we were going to look at that trailer." I was out the door like a shot. We went down and looked. Fred liked the trailer and told me to go ahead and get it if I could work things out with Bonnie with the trailer we have. Bonnie came over to ride that afternoon and we discussed it. She said to go ahead and trade in our trailer on it. So, Monday, I called the dealer and set up an appointment for 11:00 AM on Thursday to have them look at our trailer to give us a trade in price. The dealer had been out of state and couldn't do it sooner. I took the trailer in and was given a trade in price that was more then I expected. So, I did the paperwork for the loan. The dealer said it would be a couple of hours before we heard from the bank so I headed back home. By the time I got home there was a message on my answering machine telling me that the loan had been approved. I was asked when I could pick the trailer up. I laughed and jokingly said tomorrow morning as I had a competition to go to tomorrow afternoon. I was told fine, no problem. I was speechless. I told her I didn't have a hitch and one would have to be installed. I was told to bring my truck in right away and they would get the hitch installed tomorrow morning. So, back I went with the trailer. My mom followed me down so I could drop the truck off and not have to wait. I didn't hear anything from the dealer that night so I assumed everything was ok. Fred and I headed over Friday morning to finish up the paperwork and pickup up the truck and new trailer. Sure enough, they got the hitch all in and fixed and electrical problem with the wiring on the truck we had been having. Then, when the new trailer was hooked up, there was some problems with the wiring. It took a while to get it figured out so Fred went home. Meanwhile, I'm getting nervous about getting to the CTR too late. I knew Bonnie was at home waiting for me. They got it all taken care of before 11:00 AM so that wasn't too bad. The trailer hauls real nice. I took it right over Oak Hill to see how the truck handled it. We usually avoid Oak Hill when hauling and go around by Rt 126. The trailer is certainly a bit heavier then the 2 horse trailer but not bad. When I got home, Bonnie was not there. I went in the house an asked Fred if he had seen her. He said she had gone out to meet me on the road. I had not seen her and I knew she would not have missed seeing me with the trailer. Then I realized that she would not have expected me to go over Oak Hill Rd. and that is how we missed each other. I started loading the trailer and eventually, Bonnie got back. She thought I must have stopped for gas when she hadn't seen me. We just heaved everything into the trailer and figured we'd sort it out when we got to the ride. We got the horses and prayed they would load into the new trailer without trouble. When we'd gotten our other trailer, our horses had refused to load the first time. There was nothing to worry about, the horses loaded right in. The ride was in West Sumner. I have never been there before but we figured it would take us about an hour or so to get there. We went by the directions we were given. 1 1/2 hrs......2 hrs......2 1/2 hrs.......and we're still driving??? 2 1/2 hrs and we're still seeing signs for Turner, which isn't all that far from my house. The directions we'd gotten took us the looooooong way around. We finally did find the ride camp. We set up the portable pen and got the horses settled in. We had to divide the pen because Marie and Tamara do not get along. Then we took the horses up to be vetted in. Larry Buggia is the vet judge. He is our regular vet. The vetting went great. Bonnie did a great job on her trot out. Tamara was a little fussy about having her mouth messed with but Larry managed. Just as we were getting finished, Susie arrived. She didn't know about us getting the new trailer. We could see her looking around for our trailer and wondering where we were. We flagged her down and pointed toward where we were parked. She looked over there with a puzzled expression, then suddenly recognized my truck. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head, she was very excited.

The ride was being held at the home of a couple that have horses. Their home is an old farmstead (1736) on a dead end road. The home and main barn have been restored. It is a really beautiful place owned by Steve & Laura Falconer. There are acres of fields which we are camping in. The farm is up on a hill with great views of surrounding mountains."Snacks" were provided for us in Steve and Laura's house. 'Snacks' was a bit of an understatement though. It was a regular meal with soup, finger foods and lots of baked goods. We were stuffed and decided we did not need to go out for supper. When we got back to the trailer, we could hear all this screaming coming from a house across the field. It was a large field so the house was not all that close, yet we could clearly hear a woman screaming, " stop, you're hurting me, someone help me." Over and over again. Even the horses were all staring. Susie called 911. We don't know what happened but the screaming continued until the police showed up. It was very scary. The riders meeting was held at 6:00 PM in the house. It was nice having the meeting in the evening so we didn't have to rush around in the morning. When I walked into the house, I noticed Laura sitting on the floor writing in a notebook with her feet. She wrote, turned a page, wrote some more then tore the page out of the book. She then picked up some pens and pencils, but them in a box and placed them on a shelf all with her feet. I did not realized until then that Laura has no arms. It is absolutely amazing what she can do with her feet. Laura rides and Susie asked her how she controls her horse. Laura said she uses a lot of leg signals. And she has a harness that goes around her upper body and which the reins attach to. So, she has some control of the horses head this way.

Vicki, the ride manager, had us all sing a Halloween song done in rounds. No one had heard of the song before so we did a pretty poor job of it. It was kind of fun anyway. After the meeting, Bonnie, Susie and I went over to visit with some of the riders gathered at one of their trailers. Around 8:30 PM, we heard Vicki yelling that there was a bonfire at the house. We wandered over and it was really only a campfire but very nice and cosy. And, they were serving wine. It was interesting watching Laura holding wine and a cigarette with one foot and even flicking off the ashes. That's more then I could managed with 2 hands. Around 11:00 PM we wandered back to our trailer and went to bed. Bonnie and I are really going to enjoy this trailer.

We were up plenty early in the morning. Breakfast was served at the house at 6:00 AM. It was very good. Hot and cold cereals, baked goods, fruit and all sorts of drinks. Bonnie, Susie and I wandered over to check out the barn. It's a big old barn built in the 1730's. It's been nicely restored. While we were there, the resident rooster came in and decided to defend his territory. Bonnie and I beat a hasty retreat with Susie covering the rear with a large barn broom for defense. Stupid rooster! The ride started right on time and the first riders were out at 8:30 AM. They let Bonnie, Susie and me go out together. Bonnie was at first worried about riding with Susie. She was afraid Susie would set a pace that was too fast for Tamara. Tamara was quite pumped up at first and was quite a handful. We held back and let Susie go on ahead of us. Of course that didn't settle well with Marie. Tamara was so excited that she was trotting along quite fast so that Susie wasn't really getting that far ahead of us. On a straight stretch, we would catch sight of Susie, Marie would start calling to Cody, then Cody was answer and start fussing. Finally, I told Bonnie we might as well ride together. Tamara was moving as fast as Cody whether she liked it or not. So, we joined up and all the horses were happy and did just fine together. Tamara settled down then fairly quickly and was great. we did a 12.5 mile loop and the hold was back at the camp. Marie's P&R's were very good. So were Tamara's. We were about five minutes late getting out of the hold but the trails were great and the time was easily made up. We did the same loop again to complete the ride. The vet judge, Larry Buggie, didn't waste any time with the final vetting. Marie's trot out was good. And Tamara's looked good to me also. Cody looked like he always does. We got the horses settled into their paddocks and went to see how supper was coming along. Supper was being catered. It was ready when we got over there and we were first in line. The meal was great. Grilled chicken, mixed veggies, baked potatoes, fresh bread and apple pie. Bonnie and I sat on the lawn near the house. One of the riders, Becky Lester, was sitting on the lawn near the barn. I noticed 'the rooster' coming out of the barn behind Becky. I pointed him out to Bonnie. Sure enough, the rooster attacked Becky. After trying to kick him a few times from a sitting position, Becky tried to jump up but tripped and fell dropping her plate of food. Becky jumped back up and kept kicking the rooster trying to keep it off her. Finally Steve saw what was happening and ran to her rescue, grabbing the rooster and putting him in a pen. Poor Becky!

The awards followed the meal. Bonnie got a sixth place in her division. Susie got a 5th and I got a 3rd. Marie and Tamara had both done wonderful. Tamara lost point where her girth had rubbed the hair off behind her elbows. It didn't take us long to break camp thanks to the new trailer. We headed out and NOT the way we had come. We went home through Turner and within 40 minutes were in Lewiston. It was starting to get dark at this point so I turned on my headlights. Soon, I noticed I had no interior lights. Then I lost my headlights, then the trailer lights. Now I was quite worried. I knew I could not keep driving in the dark with no lights so I pulled into a gas station in Sabattus. I pulled up to the pumps as I needed gas anyway, and turned off the truck. This was a big mistake as the truck wouldn't start again. A couple girls getting gas helped me jump the truck so I could pull it out of the way. While we were doing this, Bonnie called Fred to come help us. He came, took a look at the truck and said the alternator was shot and there was nothing we could do about it that night. So, I called Susie and she came out with her trailer to get the horses and hauled them home for us. What a pain! Fred and I went back the next morning to get the truck and trailer. We jumped it and headed home. We got about half way and had to jump it a second time. We did get truck and trailer home safely.

Boo 25 ME 10/21/00 28/S-27/F
Junior
1 San Sierra / A Catanease
Adult
1 Silvea / J Brunjes
2 SPD Carousel / C O'Conner
2 LWF Paljoe Promise / M Farnum
4 Alora Danin / K Brunjes
5 Talzrianon / N Okun
5 HVA Silver Savanah / M Deleware
7 Briwds Mardi Gras / S Corr
8 Willowbrook Precious / L Crowley
9 Marie / C Ross (score 93.75)
10 ? / T Hutchinson
10 Willow Rahmaan / I McNaughton
12 Xavier Sunny Acres / S Reinheimer
13 SA Lady Nevada / ?
14 EA ABadi Jasara / ?
14 Mighty Frankie / T York
14 Nerzans Lady Mariah / H Bonneau
17 Travelons Times Two / M Gamester
Comp Rolling Stone / H Moss
Comp ? / J Hatch

2000 ECTRA Year End Awards
YTD milage Marie-370 Cindy 370
Middle Distance - Adult (10 rides - 99 horses)
Bronze
Beau Socks Bette Laug MD
HFA Silver Savanah Marcia Deleward ME
Imperial 'O' Munif Joann Farman MD
JJ Sandra Hoffacker NJ
Junior Henry Smith VAonnie Snodgrass MD
Son Bob's Tony Reiner Sandra Draus NJ
VAnitys El Hadiya Jan Larson
Silver
HV Terdakis Bean Doran VT
I C Double Kathy Schiermeyer NJ
Indevincable Dinah Rojek VT
Little Hi Jinks Betty Bannerot PA
NLF Moonstruck Carl Lange NY
Narizar Renee McNamara NJ
SHS Shoo Fly Pie Susan Doucette NJ
SR Spirit Steve Rojek VT
Stoneybrook Lyric Stephanie Muncy VA
Stormy's Raini Day Drozan Mahon NJ
Gold
Aleser Sue Greenall Vt
Anchor Hill Alan Marcy Gamester MA
Briwds Mardi Gras Sue Corr RI
Crystal Mint Lee Alexander VT
Marie Cindy Ross ME
Otter Brook Sonata Lance Lochary MD
SR Zeppelin Steve Rojek VT
To The Moon Greg Senseney MD
WW Risky Business Barry & Louise Schimel MD

Crooked River 2 day 60 CTR Waterford, ME Oct 2000

The weather forecast was for cold and rain for the weekend. It takes more then that to stop Bonnie and I from going to a ride! We set off early Friday morning. Bonnie took the day off work. She isn't riding in this competition. She is just coming along with me for moral support. She will be working the ride. She is such a great friend and good sport. It was raining when we left. We had an uneventful trip. We took a camping spot where we could have electricity. Bonnie brought a heater so we would not freeze to death. There weren't many people there when we arrived. The Rojek's were there with there enormous bus. We parked our puny little trailer right behind them. Talk about extremes, it was pretty funny. It was raining lightly when we got there and while we were setting up camp but thankfully, no downpours. We got Marie settled in first. The competition is at the Waterford fairgrounds. It is a small fairground and not the most well maintained. The stall are open cattle pens. I brought along some boards and the hardware to put a gate across the front of Marie's stall. I used my electric unit last year. That was a bit of a nuisance, I thought the board would work better. After we set up camp, Bonnie and I headed down to Tut's for some lunch. This is a great restaurant and within walking distance of the fairgrounds. After lunch, we took a tour of every one's horse trailers. We like looking at all the different ones and hearing what people like and dislike about them. We would really like to get a gooseneck trailer sometime in the near future. It would make camping with the horses so much easier. The Rojek's brought the pony mare, Cavaletti, that Bonnie is interested in. Steve just hasn't committed himself to selling her yet. Nor will he tell Bonnie what his price will be if he does sell her. Bonnie is going crazy with wanting something definite. It didn't take long to vet in the horses. The vet was one I didn't know, Matt Holden. He was very quiet and didn't say much. Bonnie and I went back down to Tut's for supper. After supper, we took Marie out for a walk and let her graze for a bit.

About 5:00 AM Saturday morning. Marsha Deleware knocked on our trailer door to let me know that Marie had gotten out of her stall. She said she had put her back in and everything was fine. Sigh, that mare can't leave anything alone!! We got up at 5:30 AM and fed Marie. She had leaned on the top board of her stall gate and broken it, which is how she got out. Marsha had taken the bottom one and put it on top to keep her in. I ended up using my electric fence unit to keep her in her stall. Rotten horse!!!I heated up some water on our new little stove for oatmeal and coffee. It wasn't nearly as cold as they had predicted. No complaints about that. The riders meeting was held and the ride started right on time. I was out at 8:06 AM. I was paired up with Lois Crowley. She took off like greased lightening. I didn't want to start out so fast so I held Marie back. Marie didn't like being alone. She behaved well enough but was so nervous that eventually, I let her speed up a bit. We then caught up with Marsha Deleware and Marcy Gamester. That made Marie immensely happy. She fell in love with Marsha's horse, Piper. I don't know why, Piper is a mare. I guess you have to be a horse to understand these things. About 5 miles out, I really had to pee. I just couldn't wait any longer so I told Marsh and Marcy that I was going to make a pit stop and I would catch up with them. I got off Marie and went off the trail into the woods. I climbed over a bank of dirt for a bit of privacy and to keep Marie from bothering me. Well, she was very worried about the other horses being out of sight and at the most inopportune moment, leaped over the bank of dirt almost on top of me. Here I am in the middle of doing my business when suddenly I have 1,000 lbs of very unhappy horse doing the Mexican Hat dance around me. I'm doing the crab scuttle with my pants down around me knees trying not to get trampled to death. I certainly could not stop what I was doing as I was now in fear for my life!!! I finally finished, jumped up and yelled at my horse to settle down and stop and by some miracle, didn't wet anything I shouldn't have. I was soon mounted up again and quickly caught up with Marsha and Marcy. The first 10 miles of the trail was rocky and kind of slow going. Then there was a 5 mile loop that was just wonderful sandy dirt road.Part way through this loop, we stopped to let the horses drink at a puddle. All of the sudden, I felt an awful pain on my right shoulder blade. I accidental kicked Marie while trying to swing around and see what it was and Marie jumped forward and ran into Marsha's horse. I was stung by a nasty yellow jacket! We moved right out of there quickly in case there was a nearby nest. We came into the hold and Marie's P&R's were good and her trot out was ok. We then repeated the nice 5 mile loop and another 10 miles back to the fairgrounds. Marie and Marcy's horse are very well matched in pace. I was glad to ride with her. We finished in good time. Those of us doing the 2 day 60 only had to do a quick trot out. Marie was fine and cleared to ride the second day. Heather, Jean and Dinah were told they would have to have their horses re-checked in the morning. The ride provided us with a nice supper but Bonnie and I still snuck down to Tut's for coffee and desert. We got back just in time for the award ceremony for the 30 mile riders. Later we walked Marie one last time and headed to bed.

We were up early. Marie was kind enough to stay in her stall last night. The vet was a little late showing up which caused a slight delay due to the horse that had to be re-checked. Bonnie and I did a little packing while we waited. The vet passed Dinah and Jean's horse but was a bit concerned about Heather's horse. Heather was not happy as she was working towards the versatility award. For this award, you have to do a one day ride, a two day ride, a three day ride and one endurance ride in one season. Heather's horse had been pulled at the last 2 day ride so this was her last chance to complete a 2 day ride. The vet judge finally decided to leave it up to her and she decided to ride. Marie has totally bonded to Marsha's horse Piper and has been a real nuisance about it. Today Marhsa and Marcy rode out ahead of us and Marie was very unhappy. Just barely managing to contained herself. About 12 miles out, we caught up to Marsha and Marie settled right down. Everything went fine at the hold and we finished in good time. The final vetting went a bit slow. Marie was very restless after the ride and didn't do the best trot out. I figured we would place poorly due to that. But, we placed first in our division and 4th overall. I was thrilled. Heather placed last but did get her completion and was very happy with that. Bonnie and I stopped at Tut's one last time for coffee before heading home.

Crooked River 60 10/7/00 11-S/F
1 Briwda Mardi Gras / S Corr
2 Anchor Hill Alan / M Gamester
3 High Country Piper / M Deleware
3 Marie / C Ross (score 90.00)
3 Alora Danin / K Brunjes
6 Willowbrook Precious / L Crowley
6 S R Spirit / S Rojek
8 ? / D Rojek
9 ? / S Greenall
10 SA Lady Nevada / H Bonneau