Hidden Brook 30 CTR Norway, ME April 2006

Cindy Ross on Emma Jane


Barbara McGovern on Marie


Well, the day had finally arrived. The first CTR for my mule, Emma Jane, and me! Emma Jane is a 10 year old, 14.3 Hand molly (female) mule that was given to me 7 months ago in September of 2005. When Emma Jane came to me she had a lot of “issues” that had to be worked through. She was ear shy and afraid of people she didn’t know. Emma Jane and I bonded right away. It still has been a lot of hard work getting her over some of her problems. And we still have some work ahead of us. But she has come a long way and is doing great! My two biggest worries were getting her through the vetting process. She just does not like strangers handling her. She had also developed and abscess on her left front hoof in November of 2005 and has shown mild lameness on a few occasions.

Cindy Ross on Emma Jane


My friend, Barbara McGovern is leasing my horse Marie. Barbara was competing in this ride with Marie. I was thrilled to have both of my girls going to the ride!!! The ride was being held on a Sunday. Sunday morning vettings were being allowed. Since it is only 1 ½ hrs drive to Norway, Barbara and I decided to go up Sunday morning rather then camp out overnight. It was supposed to be a rainy wet day. We went prepared for anything! We headed out 5:00 AM on Sunday morning and had a quiet uneventful trip up. We arrived at Hidden Brook Farm at 6:30 AM. It was overcast and lightly sleeting. It didn’t feel cold enough for sleet but it was. The good thing is the sleet just kind of bounced off and didn’t soak in. After parking my trailer I went in search of Heather, the ride manager, to get our riders packets and find out what time to be ready for vetting. As I was walking down the driveway, a man walking the other way stops and quietly says, “Cindy?” Right away I knew it was Everett Grant. He is a fellow mule owner! I had only known him and his wife, Cyndi, through an internet message board, Atlantic Coast Mule Lovers. I was the first time I had met them in person. I hadn’t yet found Heather but I had to go and take a look at Jenny, Ev’s mule. Jenny looked very much like Emma Jane. The same dark bay color. They are about the same size and weight also. Jenny is 19 years old. After checking out Jenny, I found Heather and she said to be ready for vetting at 7:00 AM at the indoor arena.

Cindy Ross on Emma Jane


Everett Grant on Jenny


I had cleaned and brushed Emma Jane and Marie before loading them in the trailer earlier so we just had to give them a quick check and we headed down to vet in. Emma Jane was behaving very well. She has previously been used as a show mule but you could tell she was wondering what was going on. Emma Jane was standing quietly with me in the indoor arena until the vet, Peg Schively, approached her. Sure enough Emma Jane wanted no part of that! She backed up and circled around me trying to stay away from the Peg. Peg backed off and went to do something else. At the same time the lay judge, Coleen Hoyt, came right up to Emma Jane and started to stroke her face and quietly talk to her. Emma Jane was just fine with her and Coleen did the hands on with no problem. Peg came back then and once again Emma Jane wanted nothing to do with her. I just quietly but firmly kept telling Emma Jane to “whoa” and “stand”. After only about a minute she finally settled down and let Peg approach her and stood very nicely for her vetting. After Peg was done we did our trot out and that went very well. I mentioned to the vet that I had some concerns about her left front being completely sound and she said she would really watch for any problems. PHEW! Vetting done! One big obstacle conquered! And it went much better then I had anticipated!

Barbara got Marie vetted with no problems. After all, Marie is an old pro at this. And it was a help to Emma Jane to see Marie being so calm and quiet about everything. We took the girls back to the trailer and saddled up. Emma Jane was just a tiny bit fidgety but not bad. Barbara and I took them down to the indoor arena to mount up and warm them up. Emma Jane had to circle me a few times before she would stand still and let me mount. But, once again, no big deal. It wasn’t long before it was time for us to head up to the starting line and get ready to head out on the trail. Everett with his Jenny was riding with Barbara and I. We were depending on Marie to set the pace and get the two rookie mules through the ride!
The trail consisted of two 15 mile loops. All public road. A good part of it dirt with a section of paved road in the middle. It was quite hilly. Marie set her favorite pace. A slightly slow but very steady trot. Barbara had to really push her to pick up the pace. Everett and Jenny would occasionally get out in the lead. Finally Marie spotted a white butt up in front of us. She always hopes it might be the love of her life, Cody, when she sees a white horse. Suddenly, she was off like a rocket putting on the big trot. Luckily, the white horse was setting a good pace and kept Marie inspired all the way to the hold. Marie and Jenny drank good at the first water stop. Emma Jane didn’t drink.



Emma Jane was doing great and still going strong when we reached the hold. Emma Jane fussed just a bit when Janet Brunjes came to take her P&R.. ECTRA now allows hand held heart rate monitors to be used at the holds rather then stethoscopes. When Janet got the initial reading it was 68. As Emma Jane realized that Janet was not doing anything to hurt her, her pulse went right down to 43 in less then a minute. Her respiration was 8. Emma Jane was in great shape. She fussed just a little bit again when Peg, the vet, did the metabolic check but settled fairly quickly. Her trot out went fine. No signs of lameness at all! YEAH. Marie and Jenny both did fine with their vetting and we were all cleared to finish the ride. Emma Jane didn’t drink at the hold. She was sure happy to chow down some oats with cut up carrots though! I had a hard time getting her face out of that so I could put her bridle back on to head back out on the trail.

Cindy Ross with Emma Jane at the hold

Since the second half of the ride was a repeat of the first, we knew exactly what we needed to do to finish on time. Once again Barbara had to really push Marie along until she saw some horses up ahead to inspire her. Ev and Jenny actually got out and lead quite a bit on the first half of the second loop. As Marie really picked up the pace she eventually fell behind for a while. A little more then half way through the second loop we lost sight of Ev and Jenny. They did eventually catch up with us though. Emma Jane kept going real strong until about the last 5 miles. Then she finally started falling behind at the trot and would have to canter to catch up to Marie. She was great though and never quit on me. And she was just wonderful the whole time I was on her. You could tell that Jenny (and Everett) were getting a bit tired also at the end. But we all finished on time!!!!! Now all we had to do was pass the final vetting!

The weather had cooperated quite well actually. The sleet stopped sometime before we got to the half way hold. On the second half of the ride we had a few very light brief showers. Not enough to even really get us wet. It had stopped altogether by the time we finished the ride. But it was getting a bit chilly. We got the saddles off Emma Jane and Marie and covered their hindquarters up with fleece blanket to keep their large muscles from getting cold and cramping. We did sponge some of the sweat off their necks and chests. Usually the P&R people come to your trailers or stalls at the end of a ride. Due to a shortage of help, we had to take our animals down to the indoor arena for P&R’s. Once again, Emma Jane fussed just a bit when the P&R person approached her but once again settled fairly quickly and then stood quietly. Her pulse was 46 and respiration was 12. The maximum pulse for a perfect score is 44 so we would lose some points there. But 46 is fine. Colleen Hoyt once again did the hands on. Emma Jane fussed a bit with her this time. Same routine though of a bit of backing and head tossing then settling down. Same for Peg the vet again also. Every time Emma Jane would fuss, she would then stand very quietly and nicely after she had gotten her opinion across! Then it was time to do the final trot out. I figured this would be a disaster. I’ve been doing practice trot out’s at home after each ride. Emma Jane thinks it is a totally stupid thing to do and lets it be known! She will refuse to trot, then when I do get her going she will pin those enormous ears back and scrunch up her lips and glare at me. It’s quite a sight! And this is what I was expecting for my final trot out at the ride. WRONG! She took off like a rocket on the straight. Then she got flying around in the circle and I couldn’t get her to stop. Even very firm “whoa’s” and strong yanks on the lead rope had no effect. I finally had to reel her in like a fish! She got herself together for the second circle and did much better. Well, at least she didn’t look too tired! Hahahahaha. She trotted out 100% sound! YEAH. Ev’s mule Jenny looked fine at the end of the ride but she refused to let the vet and judge examine her hindquarters and back legs. Because they couldn’t complete the exam, maximum points were deducted in that category which was 13 points. Jenny trotted out fine so didn’t seem to be at all lame. The vet thought that it was just muscle soreness and nothing to really worry about. But, he got a completion anyway. Heather had ordered pizza and Italian sandwiches for our meal. She had use of a nice screened in porch for us to use. Barbara and I blanketed the girls and left them tied to the trailer with plenty of hay to munch. After grabbing a slice of Pizza, Barbara and I hung out in the indoor arena where it was warmer and there was a place to sit. We hung out there and watched the rest of the vetting. That is also where they held the award ceremony. Ev won the award for oldest horse/mule to complete the ride. And Emma Jane being the only other mule on the ride won the high point mule award! Hahahahah. Emma Jane ended up with a score of 95 and was 15th place. Very good showing for her first ride! Marie had a score of 95.25 and was 14th place.

It was all in all a great ride! Look out CTR world, you haven’t seen the last of this mule yet!!! Hahahahaha.

Everett and Emily Grant at final vetting with Jenny



Words from Everette Grant:

As the pain in my back starts to ease a bit the positives are starting to sneak into my recollections. Meeting Cindy and seeing first hand the skill and mule sense she has and that we all knew she had from her stories was indeed a pleasure. It is an attitude and approach essentially necessary with mules that some folks never achieve after years of mule and horse ownership. I think she had it before she had the mule. Patient, calm, consistent and firm.

I am thrilled with Jenny and a touch perplexed as well. She tried hard all day and responded willingly to every request. She amazed me by drinking very well on the trail and at the hold. She trotted out in hand with ease, both before and after the ride. She was the oldest animal there and a rookie too, she looks this morning like she would be happy to go again today. The puzzlement comes from her post ride vetting. She refused to let the vet examine her hind legs, we therefor took a huge point deduction and finished dead last in points. The vet seemed to think she was just muscle sore, a theory that seems to be accurate as time has passed. Within minutes of the vet check Cyndi was able to rub her hands up and down both of Jenny's hind legs without incident. The final trot out was held roughly a half an hour after the vetting and Jenny trotted out a little stiff, but sound all around. So, I guess before I try this again I need to do a little more conditioning with a focus on adding muscle to the rear.

Definitely a learning experience. I am sure I would not have made time without Cindy and EJ and Barbara and Marie to push me along. Thanks again.
Ev

Hidden Brook 30 Drive 4/23/06 ME 2/S-F
Judges: Dr. M Shively - Colleen Hoyt
1. Day, Sondra / Ager's Lucky Magic
2. Buckley, Stephanie / Cliffe's Copper Peny

Hidden Brook 30 Ride 4/23/06 ME 19/S-F
1. Jewell, Char / Enshalia Fakama
2. Konecki, Ruth / Izusu
3. Lobb, Amy / Shyloh
3. Walker, Connie / Hermoine Granger
5. Stygles, Amanda / Thunder
6. Akerstrom, Sharon / Tonkakola Gold
7. Walker, Courtney / Picabo STreet
8. McKittrick, Janice / Apollo
8. Navoy, Cory / My Heaven Sent
10. Claar, Mitch / Nikademous
11. Libby, Karen / JB Roman Tarbajk
12. Levasseur, Sharon / Zephyr's Elegant Gift
12. Sweet, Eliza / Mainlee tuart
14. McGovern, Barbara / Marie (score 95.25)
15. Ross, Cindy / Emma Jane (score 92.00)
16. Tenggren, Traci / Travelin Man Maverick
17. Burgess, Carolyn / Rouk
18. Burgess, Robert / S/B Mighty Country
Completion Grant, EVerett / Jenny

Hidden Brook 25 CTR Norway, ME April 2004

The first ride of the season! YEAH! There are several pre-ride stories to this first adventure of the season. My neighbor’s daughter, Cheyenne, has been riding my pony, Isabelle, for a while now. Cheyenne was going to ride Isabelle in the competition. Four weeks prior to the ride, Heather e-mailed me asking for help to find a new vet judge for the ride. The vet that had agreed to judge the ride found himself unable to do so due to his partner having a baby and taking some time off. Heather told me she would waive my entry fee if I helped her out. So, I agreed. She e-mailed me the list of ECTRA certified judges to call. I started by calling the vets in Maine, then NH and MA. Next I started on the ones in VT, CT and NY. No luck. It is a bad time of year to get a vet on short notice with spring shots and birthing season for so many animals. Finally I called my own vet and begged. He wasn’t able to judge the ride but did recommend Dr. Stephanie Heikanin . She is a local vet she thought would help us out. She had never judged a Competitive ride before but she had helped out on a few Endurance rides. I called Stephanie and she agreed to judge the ride. There were, of course, two catches. First, she was not a certified judge and would have to become one to do the ride. The second was that she couldn’t get to the ride on Friday until 7:00 PM. I e-mailed Heather to see if we could work around these two problems. Heather contacted the ECTRA office to see about getting Stephanie certified. ECTRA prefers certifications to be at least a month in advance but in light of the vet judge shortage in ME, we got the ok to let Stephanie take the test. The ECTRA office said they would fax the test to Stephanie and she could fax it back. That all seemed like a good plan except the ECTRA office had trouble faxing the test. First they had the wrong number, then Stephanie called several times saying she still hadn’t received it. That didn’t get all straightened out until almost a week before the ride. As to the second problem of Stephanie not being able to get to the competition until 7:00 PM, that also worked out. The stable where the ride was being held has a big indoor arena. They re-arranged their lessons to allow us to use the arena so we would be able to keep vetting horses in after dark.
Phew! This competition was a ride and drive. Heather wasn’t getting any drive entries and sent out several e-mails encouraging people to enter driving horses. Marie is trained to drive but I couldn’t handle driving her and keeping an eye on Cheyenne since it would be her and Isabelle’s first ride. I asked Bonnie if she would like to go with me as my groom if I did drive. That way she could help out Cheyenne if they had any problems. I just needed to find out if they would let a rider go out with a driver. The drivers always all go out ahead of the riders. But, I needed to keep Cheyenne with me and the two horses together. Bonnie agreed to go and Heather said that Cheyenne could start with me. So, Things seemed to all be falling into place. Well, not so. Two weeks prior to the ride, I realize that the week of the ride is school vacation week. Cheyenne and her sister were going to NY to visit their dad for the week. Her mom apparently forgot when the ride was and no one informed Cheyenne’s dad that he would have to bring her home early to go to the ride that Friday. Cheyenne’s dad picked her up and she went to NY and still I had no answer about when she would be back. Finally, the Wednesday before the ride, a very disappointed Cheyenne called me from NY to tell me that her dad couldn’t get the time off work to get her home early. Poor girl! So, Bonnie made the last minute decision to take Cheyenne’s place and ride Isabelle in the competition. I was relieved that I would be able to bring both horses. Bonnie is going to buy Isabelle in the fall so this would be good for them both.
Since the vetting was going to be later in the evening, Bonnie and I didn’t rush to leave for the ride. Bonnie brought her trailer and we put my cart in that. She was bringing her dog, Minnie, and wanted her own space to see how it would go for Minnie’s first overnighter. Minnie is a 9 month old Min Pin. We headed out around 11:00. Susie was already there when we arrived. There was still plenty of parking and I got a nice spot. Bonnie ended up parking a ways away from me since she didn’t want to take up any spaces needed for trailers with horses. Fred bought me a “Spring tie” for Christmas. This is an arm that is mounted 7’ up on the trailer that swivels. A lead rope is connected to the end of it that just reaches the ground. When a horse is tied to it, the lead line stays up and out of the way of the horse’s feet. It gives them as much room to move around as a 12x12 stall and they can even lie down. A really neat rig and it requires no set up time when you get to the ride. I planned to try it out with Marie and put Isabelle in the portable electric pen. I wasn’t sure how that would go since it was Isabelle’s first overnighter and she has very little respect for electric fencing. We got the horses all settled in, camp set up and things seemed to be going fine. Then, Isabelle realized that Lady was just a few campsites up from us. Lady is the horse Bonnie owned previously and Isabelle had been stabled with her for a while. Isabelle got all excited and plowed the fence right down. She was quite proud of herself and ran around a bit looking quite impressive with her high stepping and tail up in the air. Isabelle wouldn’t let me get near her. She ran over to visit with Lady and Heather managed to catch her. I quickly decided that maybe Isabelle should go on the “Spring-tie” and Marie in the pen. That worked much better. Supper that night was going to be Pizza. We know it would be late before we got the Pizza so I made myself a sandwich and some coffee. Margaret arrived much to Zephyr’s delight. Zephyr worships her dog, Grizz. We sat for a while and visited after Margaret got her camp set up. Bonnie and I took the dogs for a walk. Minnie was very excited about all the new stuff and all the dogs there were around. A little after six, we started gathering near the arena with our horses. Bonnie and I were near the front of the line. I was anxious to meet the new vet that I had hired for this ride. I brought Marie into the arena for hands on which went fine. Then the trot-out. When I got done the vet tells me that Marie is dead lame on the right hind!!!!! AAGGHHH. Marie is not a pretty mover and she always travels funny with her hind end. She was NOT lame. I go through this every time a new vet sees her. After a bit of haggling, she agreed to let me vet again in the morning to see if Marie looked any better. I know that she would look just the same but it was the best I was going to get from the vet. Bonnie vetted in and the vet didn’t like the way Isabelle looked either. The vet thought Isabelle looked like she lifted her right hip a bit higher then the left but conceded that maybe it’s just the way she travels. So, Bonnie also had to vet again in the morning. Now wouldn’t it be ironic if the vet I hired wouldn’t let me start! The pizzas arrived soon after Bonnie and I were done vetting in. We quickly settled the horses back in at camp and went back up to the arena for pizza. Just after dark, I was heading back to camp from the arena when I heard the dreaded sound of a horse going through a fence. Suddenly, I see a large, panicked horse galloping up the road toward me dragging its whole portable electric pen! There were fences on either side of me and I had nowhere to go! Thankfully, the horse managed to kick free of the fencing it was dragging just before it reached me and thundered harmlessly past. Unfortunately, when that horse got loose, it spooked several other horses in pens nearby and 2 more horses got loose. They galloped around camp a few times then headed down a woods trail that led to the main road. We followed them to the road but they were long gone already. So, we went back to camp to go out looking in cars. I stayed in camp since enough people had already headed out in cars to search. The horses were found nearly an hour later. The sheriff called us with their location. Someone had driven off the road trying to avoid hitting them. Horses and driver were ok though the car sustained some damage. The horses were brought back to camp safe and sound. When that excitement was over, Bonnie and I realized we had never asked what time to come back for the vetting in the morning. We headed up to the arena where the vet was just finishing when we heard Sue Greenall yelling. Before we knew it, both of her horses went galloping by us right out the driveway and onto the road. Bonnie and I gave chase but the horses were moving too fast. Just as we were heading back to camp, Heather came by in her truck. Bonnie and I jumped in the back so we could watch for fresh tracks. Heather had a big water tank in the back and Bonnie and I had to squeeze in and really hug that thing to not fall out. We went up a dirt road and found some fresh tracks we thought might belong to the escaped horses. They were heading back toward camp so we followed them to the paved road. While we were there trying to decide where they might have gone, Abby came by in her car to let us know that the horses had been caught and were already back in camp. Phew! By the time we got back to camp, Bonnie and I had nearly frozen to death riding in the back of Heather’s truck. Susie, Mary, Heather, Bonnie, Margaret, and I hung out and visited by my trailer. I heated water for hot chocolate. Margaret had brought some “flavoring” to add to it. Heather eventually joined us. A little after 10:00 PM we all headed for bed.
I didn’t sleep very well. It was very cold. My sleeping bag is rated for 0 degrees but I needed to add a blanked over it to get comfortably warm. Zephyr cuddled up to me under the blanket just as close as he could get. Just as I got nice and toasty warm, I had to get up for a call of nature. I also have to get used to the sounds that the horse makes on the new “Spring-tie”. When you camp with horses, every unusual sound wakes you up. It’s a good thing I had the alarm clock with me. I was finally sleeping soundly when the alarm went off at 5:00 AM. I got up and put on some water to heat. I fed the horses and cleaned up after them. We had to be re-vetted at 6:30 AM. Apparently Bonnie was quite comfortable in her trailer. She nearly overslept. I had my usual oatmeal and coffee. We took the horses up and did our trot-out and the vet still insisted Marie was lame. She didn’t want to let me start the ride. I argued (nicely) with her and she finally agreed to let me start. She warned me to expect to be pulled at the hold. I wasn’t worried since I knew that Marie was fine. As we were heading back to camp to get the horses ready, Lady and Isabelle got calling to each other. Suddenly, Isabelle rammed into Bonnie, spun around pulling out of her hand and kicked. Off she went to visit with Lady. Luckily, Bonnie was knocked down when Isabelle rammed her while spinning around. That kick would have been nasty otherwise. As it was, Isabelle still connected with Bonnie’s hand which swelled up and was quite sore later. Naughty pony!!!!! After we caught Isabelle, I led her up and down by Lady’s camp and let her know that I thought she had better behave. Drivers would be starting before the riders. Drivers had a 15 minute window from 8 to 8:15 to start as we were ready. Riders would be start going out at 8:30 AM. There was only one other driver in the competition. Bonnie and I headed out around 8:04. The course consisted mostly of dirt road, some tar road and a little bit of woods trail. We were setting quite a slow pace for Isabelle. Being her first ride and being only 8 months since she was first trained, we didn’t want to burn her out mentally. I know that she could physically handle the distance, but I also know that she would be more tired then she has ever been and would be feeling quite sorry for herself. All went well. The woods trail was a bit rough in the cart but Marie and I managed it. It was a lot of work for her pulling me through some deep mud. About 3 miles out from the hold, the riders started catching up to and passing us. When Susie and Cody came along, I knew I would have some trouble. I was right. Marie got all excited when she saw Cody and wanted to keep up with him. I was able to hold her back until Cody got out of sight. Unfortunately, on this part of the trail, we were going up to a water stop and then turning around and coming back the same way. Bonnie and I left the water stop ahead of Susie so she ended up passing us a second time. That was more then Marie could handle. She flipped out and bolted down the road after Cody. I pulled back and kept trying to calmly tell her to whoa. She did slow down but started hopping and bucking in the cart having a temper tantrum. There were a lot of riders on the road at this point going in both directions. Everyone was clearing off the road a fast as they could to get out of our way. Marie put on quite a show for everyone but we finally got things under control and managed to continue on our way. We got to the hold without any more trouble. Marie was very nervous at the hold. She knew all her buddies were there and she wanted to be with them. The trot out went fine. The vet admitted that Marie didn’t look a bit different and we were allowed to finish the ride. Isabelle’s P&R’s were fantastic. She was right down to resting rate within 10 minutes. We were held up a bit at the hold and got out 9 minutes over our time. They would have to add that back to our total ride time. The second loop went without incident. All the riders eventually passed us. I knew we would not make our time and would be disqualified. I didn’t care as long as everything went well for Bonnie and Isabelle. About half way around the second loop, Isabelle decided she had’d had enough and tried to quite on Bonnie. Bonnie handled it great. She patiently persisted in making Isabelle move forward and finally Isabelle realized she wasn’t going to get away with being lazy with Bonnie and was fine the rest of the way. We did end up finishing the ride about 10 minutes over the disqualification time. Even though we had disqualified, we requested a complimentary vetting so we could see how the horses scored. And I wanted the vet to see that Marie was fine. The vet admitted that she still looked just the same so couldn’t be lame after all. By the time we had finished the ride, the wind had picked up and was blowing real hard. It was causing some big dust devils to be whirling around. It made our outside supper a bit of a challenge to eat. Heather’s father set up his grill between two horse trailers to get some protection form the wind. He was cooking hot dogs and hamburgers. There was also salad. Once again we were grateful for the use of the indoor arena for the final vetting and then the awards. It gave us some relief from the wind. Susie got Reserve Champion of the ride!

Hidden Brook 25 CTR Norway ME April 2003

At last, the first competition of the season. It's been such a long cold winter that I thought this would never arrive! This ride is a new one. We don't usually have any rides here in Maine until late May. The frost isn't completely out of the ground this early in the year in some places so you can't ride in the woods yet. Heather Bonneau is the ride manager and said it would be an easy ride all on dirt roads and pavement with good shoulders.

I hadn't been feeling very well for a couple of days before the ride and had taken two days off work. I still wasn't feeling very well Friday morning but was going to the ride anyway. I set off about 8:30 AM and it is just a little over an hours drive to Hidden Brook Farm in Norway. It is quite a large farm. The camping site was fine except it was much to far from the toilet! And all uphill to get there! A water truck was provided so we would have water handy. Heather came out to greet me as soon as I pulled in. There was a little girl, Mabel, tagging along with her that was about 6 years old I'd guess. They both walked down to the camping site to show me where to park. I was the first one to arrive so I had my choice of spots. After I got parked, Heather wandered back up to the barn but Mabel stayed with me. She was just full of questions. "What's your name? How old are you?" and my favorite, "How old were you when you were young?" I had to think about how to answer that one for a moment. Mabel was determined to help me set up my fencing. She actually did turn out to be quite helpful. It didn't take long to get the fence up and Marie settled in. Marie was a bit worried about being the only horse in the campsite and called a bit. She was fine otherwise. Once I had Marie settled in, Mabel and I wandered up to the barn so I could check in and get my riders packet. After I got my packet, I went back to the trailer and set up camp and then took a nap for a few hours. When I got up, I made myself a sandwich then headed up to the barn to hang out with Heather. Laura and Steve were there. They were working the ride. Steve was busy following the farm owner around and helping him to get chores done. He was having way too good a time since there was a lot of large equipment to 'play' with. I sat and talked with Laura and Heather for a while. We were having pizza for supper that night. Laura and Heather are both Catholic and it was Lent so they decided to share a meatless pizza. Steve and I would share one loaded with meat just to tease them. Laura is quite amazing in what she is able to do considering she has no arms. While we were standing out in the open, some dirt blew into her eye. She wears contact lenses but this presented no problem for her. She sat at the registration table, quickly popped the lens out with her big toe onto the table, picked the lens up with her tongue and gives it the spit rinse, placed the lens back on her big toe and popped it right bacn in her eye just a slick as can be. And faster then I can do the same with hands. I went back down to the trailer to check on Marie. She was fine and quite happy now as she had some company. She seemed quite smitten with the buckskin gelding that was right next to her. I had to put on my long underwear and heavy socks and boots, it was cold!

Don McLean is the vet. He's the one that is so bugged by the way Marie travels. Norma House is the lay judge. She's real good. Vicky Austin and Abby are the scribes. I had Marie ready to go as soon as the vet got there. I was the first one to vet in. Don McLean, as usual, made a few comments on Marie's short stabby strides in back but passed her to ride. I put Marie away and went back to watch the others vetting in. The vet and crew asked me to go up to the barn and get them some coffee and hot chocolate. Heather didn't have anything available so she sent Laura and Steve out to the store to buy coffee for the crew. There were a lot of new faces at this ride. People had come from RI, CT, MA, NH and VT. There were originally 30 entries though a few had cancelled. Not a bad turnout at all. The riders meeting was at 7:00 PM. After that we had our pizza. We sat in Laura and Steve's truck to keep warm. Laura did have trouble getting the pizza out of the box as it was a bit soft and Steve ended up helping. Once the pizza was finished, I went down to the trailer and settled in for the night. It wasn't long before Margaret Farnum showed up with hot chocolate mix and brandy. She was willing to share that in trade for some hot water as I had a stove. I thought that was a pretty good deal. Then Heather showed up. It was quite a squeeze to get us all in my trailer but we managed. It was cold in the trailer but much better then outside. After Margaret and Heather left, I snuggled down in my sleeping bag and was soon toasty warm. I knew it was going to be hard to get out of it in the morning.

Thankfully, it warmed up overnight. It was still cold but much warmer then yesterday. So, It wasn't go bad getting out of my sleeping bag after all. I fed Marie, then heated up some water for coffee and oatmeal. Heather only had donuts and orange juice available so I heated water for some of the campers around me for coffee. I got my hold bag ready packing a couple of bagels for Margaret and I in it. I tacked Marie up and rode up to meet Margaret as we were riding together. We walked the horses to warm them up. We were the second pair out in the starting order. Marie and Promise were fairly quite to start and we let the walk for a bit then moved out at a good trot. The buckskin gelding that was next to Marie all night was just ahead of us. Marie spotted him and started pitching a fit. She decided she was quite in love with him and wanted to catch up with him. He would get just out of sight around a corner then she would spot him again on a straight stretch and it was making her crazy. She called and pranced and got all sweaty fretting about it. There was no way I could let her catch up with him because she has got to learn not to attach herself to other horses like this. It's weird how she can pick a completely strange horse and form such an instant attachment to it. Here I was riding with Promise, a horse she knew from many rides, and she could care less about him. Marie carried on for 6 or 7 miles before finally settling down. So, this was an improvement since I've had her carry on for an entire ride. Margaret and I took turns leading. The ride was indeed all on dirt roads and pavement with good shoulder. It had more hills then we were led to believe but with the good footing, this was not a problem. We got into the hold right on time. The hold was on someones front lawn. It was a little crowded and there was a bottle neck of riders that had all arrived close together. I had bought Marie a feedbag so I could feed her at the holds and remain mobile too. The hold are so rushed as you only have 20 minutes. The first 10 minutes are spent pulsing down. Many horses pulse down quicker but Marie most usually needs the full 10 minutes. You need to keep your horse quiet to pulse down but Marie sees the other horses eating and hay, grain and all other imaginable horse goodies everywhere and gets anxious to eat. So keeping her quiet is nearly impossible. Once the P&R is done there is only another 10 minutes to get though the vet check and trot out, feed the horse, yourself and take care of any other necessary business. Anyway, she pulsed down fine so I grabbed the feed bag, put her food in it so I could slip it on her and then get in line for the vetting. What I never thought about, when I tried the feed bag on her at home while she was wearing her halter, was that it would not work with her hackamore on. So, here she was trying to shove her head into the feed bag to get the grain but couldn't quite reach it with the hackamore hanging up on it. Marie started to get very frustrated, Margaret is now several horses in front of me in the vetting line, I'm starting to stress out trying to figure out how to get Marie's grain to her since there were too many horses milling around for me to just dump it on the ground. I finally just flung the feed bag back with my hold bag and got in line for vetting. Now Marie was mad and sulking. Margaret had to trot Promise twice as the vet thought he might be a bit lame. Marie trotted out fine. Margaret was already mounted up by the time I got through vetting and it was past time to go. I scurried to my hold bag, grabbed the bagels I'd packed for us all the while Marie is shoving me around trying to find the stupid feed bag with her grain. I finally got myself together, mounted up, threw my hold bag in Heather's truck so it wouldn't get lost and we were finally out of the hold. We walked the horses while we munched our bagels. Margaret seemed to think we were fine on time. She has been competing for many years and has never gotten a time penalty so I didn't worry about it. When we came to the mile markers for the last 5 miles we both realized that we were behind on time. We picked up the pace as much as we could but still finished 3 minutes late. That would be 3 points off our scores. Poor Margaret was horrified and I felt bad I had not helped her keep track of time. We took both of our horses down to my trailer. Keeping them together would help them stay quiet and have better P&R's. It was quite warm by the time we finished the ride so we were able to sponge the horses down. Marie's face was itchy and sweaty and when I was reaching up to carefully sponge around the top of her head, she shoved her head right into my hand trying to scratch on me. This caused me to accidentally squeeze water right into her ear. She freaked right out. She started shaking her heard really heard, then pulled back and broke her trailer tie. She was so upset and offended with me and there was nothing I could do. Don't you know it was right at that moment the P&R person showed up. So, her pulse was up but her respiration was great. So, I knew I'd also get a few points off for a high pulse. The grand championship was once again slipping out of my grasp. Drat! All went well for the hands on and trot out. When that was all done, I put Marie in her pen with plenty of hay and water and went up to hang out with Margaret while waiting for awards. Supper was hamburgers and hot dogs. Louise Lester won grand champion with her stallion.

Hidden Brook 25 ME 4/19/03 25/S - 23/F
Judges: Dr. McLean - N. House
1. Czar Nickolas / Lester, Louise
2. Sdemens Thunder / Chsriser, Diana
2. CSF Otis / Walker, Connie
2. Raczaarr / DeShon, Deborah
2. BF Saxx / Bentley, Valerie
6. Ton Ka Kola Gold / Akerstrom, Sharon
7. Royal Legkacy "Naji" / Broome, Jennifer
7. count Canaskis / Miller, Brenda
9. Nikita Bahar / Crowley, Lois
10. Chlostc Moon Danse / Downs, Kathy
11. Nikademis / Seams, Peter
12. Chocholare Soldier / Rice, Stephanie
13. Misu Koran / Navoy, Cory
14. Shyloh / Seams, Cynthia
15. Dreamcatcher / Soscia, Joanne
16. LWF Palfoe Promise / Farnum, Margaret
17. Jewely's Gem / Beckstrom, Carolyn
18. Inde Khaldair / Dots, Jen
18. Marie / Ross, Cynthia (score 94.00)
Completions
Lady Virginia "Nettie" / Tenggren, Traci
Zephyr's Elegant Gift / Kenney, Sharon
Silvea / Brunjes, Janet
Micky B / Rice, Bill