Ruby and Promise
Anyway, I decided to set up a pen for Ruby this time. I did not get much sleep either time I put her on my Spring-tie. She keeps trying to reach the grass when on it and pulls quite hard. And then has little temper tantrums when she can’t reach what she wants. So, you hear her “springing” and pulling all night. Setting up a pen is more of a pain but I decided it would be worth the sleep if she was happier. And she was VERY content with a pen. Never challenged it at all. Even if it was not electrified, I don’t think I would have had to worry.
Kyle Nielson with Wakita and Caliegh Wright with River
Caliegh Wright with River
Kyle Nielson with Wakita
It was soooooo hot when I got to camp. By the time I had the pen set up and Ruby settled in, I was ready to pass out! But, no time for that so I went and registered. Then set up a cot in my trailer for Margaret. I had invited Margaret to bunk with me since she always sleeps in the back of her pickup. It has a cap on it. But, she packs everything she needs in there. Then, when she gets to camp, she has to move everything to the back of her trailer so she has room to sleep. And then put it all back to go home. This takes her a lot of time. I thought it would make things a lot easier on her if she just bunked with me. She was happy to take up my offer.
Irving McNaughton & Judy Sewell
After I was all set up, I went to visit with Terry, Judy Sewell and Irving. Judy had brought a friend of hers along that is interested in trying a CTR sometime. She seemed very nice and asked tons of questions. Soon Heather showed up and she parked very close to me. She brought her horse Maddy. We hung out in what shade we could find and I had some lunch I had brought with me. By the time Susie arrived, there were already a lot of people and she could not park near us. But, the field was not so big that she was that far away either.
Maddy, Heather Bonneau's gelding
Ruby was drinking very well and eating lots of hay and seemed very relaxed in her pen. When the vet arrived, we all got in line to get vetted in. Ruby is starting to figure this all out now and was very relaxed in line. The grass is very dry and burned right now so there wasn’t much for the horses do though Ruby did her best to grub up what she could while waiting. The vetting went fine. Ruby was nice and relaxed and let all the judges and vets crowed around and work on her at the same time. She trotted out fine. Good girl! After vetting I settled her back in her pen.
Kathy Brunjes
Stephanie Rice with Prymtym
Margaret Farnum with Promise and Tom Hutchinson
Margaret Farnum with Promise
Tom Hutchinson
At feeding time, I went to my trailer to get Ruby’s grain. I opened the grain container and came to the sudden realization I had not packed any grain! What an idiot. I have camped with my horses and mules for years and years. I have NEVER forgotten to pack grain. I did have beet pulp but no grain. I set some beet pulp to soaking and went around the campsite begging for Ruby’s supper. Surely someone had extra grain near enough to the kind I feed Ruby. Before I knew it, I had a smorgasbord of grain and I swear enough to last me a week! Ruby was not going to starve for sure! LOL. I did have one baggie of her regular grain I keep in the trailer since I always put a handful of in on her hay when traveling. So, I was careful to use this to mix with the grain given to me so I would not get her sick from a sudden change in feed.
Susie Reinheimer waiting in line for vetting with MacKenzie
Susie Reinheimer vetting in with MacKenzie. Char Jewell, lay judge (at head) Dr. Tirrell vet judge (right)
Susie Reinheimer doing her trot out with MacKenzie
That evening the ride managers, Jan and Scott, had us in their house for a nice little meal and wine. It was very nice and fun to just relax and socialize with everyone. The ride vet happened to be the woman I had out to see Emma Jane for lameness. This was the woman that was a bit intimidated of Emma Jane and was not able to draw any blood from her. I was very tired since I had worked all night before coming to the ride so soon headed for bed.
I had just fallen asleep when I heard the shout of “ Loose horses!” You just hate to hear those words at a ride. Because even if it is not your own horse that is loose, with so many electric pens set up, a loose horse will often run though someone else’s pen or pens and it can get bad in a hurry. Sure enough, two horses got loose and ran through someone else’s pen and we had three horses running. They all went down the road. Thankfully it is a quiet dirt road. I didn’t take too long to get the horses back and they were all fine. About an hour late, another shout of loose horses wakes me up. Two more pens had come down but once again horses were quickly secured and all were fine. Geesh, I was sure glad I had arrived early and chosen a spot in a quiet corner of the field. The noise and running horses got all of them excited. Ruby was a good girl and just watched with interest. The rest of the night went quietly and I slept very well with Ruby happily and QUIETLY in her pen with lots of hay and water.
It was still dark when I got up and already feeling muggy. Ruby was nickering for her breakfast. She eaten a lot of hay during the night and drank a full bucket of water and seemed very relaxed. As I was picking out her pen, she was very insistent on getting a booty scratch. I finally gave in and as I was giving her booty a good scratch, the guy camping next to me looks over and says, “ I really wish you would stop scratching your ass in public”. LOL. After taking care of her, I went over to the house for some breakfast. There was a lot of good stuff to eat!
Susie Reinheimer on MacKenzie and Cindy Ross on McAllister's Ruby
We had the riders meeting at 6:45 AM. The ride was to start at 7:15 AM and Susie and I were going to be the 3rd pair out. We weren’t expecting that since we were #20 and #22. We thought we would be out at the end so were expecting more time to saddle up. We both rushed off after the meeting to get ready. I know Ruby could sense I was in a hurry and that got her a little bit fidgety. But, she was pretty good and we were soon ready to go. Soon, it was time and we were off. Ruby was feeling great and set off leading with her huge ground covering trot. In only about 15 min. we had caught up to Margaret and Heather, the pair that went out ahead of us. We rode together for a while but Susie’s horse was getting very wound up riding in a group of 4. So, she pulled up and let us go in front of her. Ruby was still leading the way very strongly. At the first water stop we caught up with the lead riders and passed them there. For the rest of the ride, we kept swapping spots with those riders. Susie caught up with us and rode with us but soon had to drop back again. The trails were wonderful. It was a mix of dirt road, woods roads and some beautiful single track through the woods. We crossed the Crooked River early in the ride. You actually ride up the river a short spell to get back on the trail, which is real fun. We got to the hold in good time and were the first riders in. Despite the heat, Ruby pulsed down to 40 very quickly. Her trot out when well. Her gut sounds were slightly diminished but we had been traveling quite fast and Ruby had not had much opportunity to snack along the trail. Susie gave me some Dengie to feed Ruby and she loved that. I will have to buy some for when I compete. I had also made her a wet grain mash and she devoured that quickly. Ruby had not had anything to drink yet but checked out fine for hydration. And I am finding it is normal for her to not drink much until 15 or 20 miles into a ride. Soon, we were off on the second half of the ride. Ruby was still traveling strong. Susie caught up to us again. Her horse was finally starting to settle down and she rode the rest of the way with Margaret, Heather and me. At one point on a single track trail, we heard someone racing up behind us. It was Kathy Brunjes. She was tying to finish the ride in under 3 hrs. And trying to complete the last 12 miles in under 1 hr. She knew it would disqualify her from the ride since that was way too fast. She was just using this ride as a training ride. She is on the US Equestrian team to represent the US in the World Equestrian Games next year. She is going to Malaysia next month for a big international endurance ride. We got out of her way and let her pass us. And she did do the last 12 miles in 55 min!
Susie Reinheimer on MacKenzie, Cindy Ross on Ruby, Margaret Farnum on Promise and Heather Bonneau on Maddy
Cindy Ross on Ruby
About 3 miles from the finish we crossed the river again. Ruby finally drank. And she took a good long drink! Good girl. We let the horses rest and drink in the water for a few minutes. Sponging them off good. Ruby is not bothered about me tossing out my sponge and pulling it in dripping wet from the saddle anymore. Not that she was ever bad about it, but now she pays no attention at all. At the end, we had to slow down and walk the last mile or so or we would have finished too soon and also been disqualified! During the ride, Ruby had fallen in love with my friend Heather’s horse. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her pay much attention to a strange horse. But, she was obviously taken with him. We crossed the finish line on time and headed right to our trailers to cool our animals down. Ruby is now quite used to all the sponging and is actually starting to like it. It was still very hot of course and I sponged her a lot though she didn’t seem to be in the least stressed out from the heat. 4 riders had dropped out due to the heat. Ruby pulsed down just fine. Heather and I headed up together for our trot out. Heather trotted out first. Then asked me if I wanted her to wait. I told her no. BIG mistake. I trotted the straight line fine, but, as we went to make our first circle, Ruby spotted Heather’s horse (and her new boyfriend) walking away and headed down the road in that direction. After a few seconds of being the "dope on a rope" I was able to pull her up and stop her but I sure could not convince her to do a good circle after that. She wanted her boyfriend! Silly girl! After the 2nd unsuccessful attempt at a circle, I heard a comment of “Typical mule” from the sidelines. Now I was mad because I’ve seen a million horses do the same thing when they are worried about where a buddy is! I pulled Ruby up, stared her in the eye and told her “you WILL do a circle if it’s the last thing you do!” I swear she must have understood me for she did then do a circle. Not a very round circle and quite reluctant but we did it! Of course by now I feel like I’ve run a mile in the heat and am ready to have a stroke! But, I don’t care. There was no way I was going to let them see a mule get away with that and perpetuate their silly prejudices.
I took Ruby back to the trailer to rest for a while. Then I walked her for a little bit waiting for the hands on. Ruby was a complete perfect lady for the hands on. She really is starting to understand what this is all about and getting very comfortable with it all. After the hands on I took Ruby back to the trailer and settled her in with lots of hay and water. I was sooooooo proud of Ruby. She did a great job on the trail and was so much fun to ride. Heather and I then went down to the river to cool off for a bit while waiting for the rest of the vetting to be completed. After the vetting as done, there was a great meal served. A real live pig roast! Beans, cole slaw, potato salad, rolls and every kind of pie you can imagine. After the meal was the award ceremony. Ruby lost 8 points for swelling of the inside tendon sheath on both rear legs. I couldn't really see any swelling but I’m not the judge. She also lost 1 point for a “slight nick”. It was a tiny old scar that the vet missed when I vetted in. (sigh) She lost ½ point for a raised bump in the girth area. That was accurate. Ruby had no points take off at all for lameness, metabolic fatigue or mechanical fatigue! (Good mule) It was all in all a great ride. Fabulous trails, great food, Ruby was awesome and a blast to ride. Lots of good friends. What more can you want!
Sribners Mills 25 Sept 8, 2007 29/S - 24/F
Judges: J. Tirrell/ C. Jewell
J1. Linkk / Jack, Sarah Jane
J2. AJ Morning Star Wakita / Nielson, Kyle
J3. Asa / Kortz-Rossi, Allegra
J4. Cry Me A River / Wright, Caliegh
1. Thunder / Stygles, Amanda
2. RC Neon / McNaughton, Irving
3. DB Prophet / Fisk, Debra
4. Prymtym / Rice, Stephanie
5. GBA Karakoram / Sewell, Judy
6. LWF Paljoe Promise / Farnum, Margaret
7. Classic / Ward, Dianne
8. SPD Caruosel / O'Connor, Colleen
9. Jahyr Jamlin / Jack, Kelley
10. SA Mr Madazsin / Bonneau, Heather
11. Tektonic / Hutchinson, Tom
12. McAllister's Ruby / Ross, Cindy (89 pts)
13. SS Polar Ice / York, Theresa
14. Potaca / Rice, Bill
15. Enshalla Fakama / Niedoroda, Susan
16. SRF Atlas / Rojek, Dinah
17. Travelon's Times Two / Gamester, Marcy
18. Beaujolais / Rojek, Steve
Completions:
MacKenzie / Reinheimer, Susan
Wisp / Murray, Lindsey
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