Scribners Mills 25 mile CTR Harrison, ME September 2007

Well, here we are heading into the fall riding season. The week prior to this ride had been very cool and fall like. Then, listening to the weather report just a few days before the ride, I hear we are going to have a heat wave with possible record setting high temperatures just in time for the ride. So much for lovely cool fall riding! Thankfully Friday morning Ruby loaded into the trailer quite well. She did hesitate just for a second when she realized Marie was not in the trailer but didn’t make a fuss really. And she was very quiet on the trip. It was an uneventful trip, or so I thought anyway. There weren’t many people at the ride when I arrived. I was soon glad I arrived early since I could see parking was going to be a bit tight. I picked a good spot and got parked without problem. I unloaded Ruby and as I was tying her to the trailer, I see that there is some damaged to the fender of my trailer! They are fiberglass and thank goodness for that! I crossed a bridge just before the ride site. It is on a dirt road and quite narrow with a sharp turn onto it. Apparently, I did not quite make the turn since I could see were it looked like two rails had scraped down the side of the fender. It cracked the fender. Had it been metal, it would have bent it into the tire! Yikes! In all the years I’ve been hauling, I’ve never hit anything before. I was horrified! The damage is not bad and does not affect the operation of the trailer but …… my new trailer.....

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

Scribner's Mills 25 CTR Harrison, ME September 2006

Another great adventure. Usually I head off to the rides after I get out of work in the morning. But Barbara, the woman who is leasing Marie, had to work so I went to bed and slept Friday morning. I got up around 2:00 PM. Bonnie had decided to go to the ride also. It would be her pony mule, Blossom’s, first ride. Barbara got to my house at 3:45 PM. Bonnie was already there and I had everything packed so we loaded up the equines and headed off. Bonnie was following me to the ride. The drive to the competition was uneventful. Except for being able to hear Blossom braying at every stoplight! We got a big chuckle out of that. She sure can be loud and was obviously not happy about being alone in the trailer. We arrived at 5:30 PM. It took a minute to get parked to our satisfaction. I was going to put Emma Jane on the ‘Spring-tie’. Marie, and Blossom would be put in the portable electric pen. I started to set up the pen but we had to get the horse and mules vetted in before it was dark. The black flies were horrible! I had put Emma Jane’s fly mask on her at home before we left. I figured I would have trouble if I tried to put it on her at the ride. There would be too much stimulation at the ride for her to be able to keep calm about having her ears handled. I presented her to the vet judge first. It was a new vet and her first CTR. Here name was Janelle Tirrell. She was very nice and Emma Jane was perfect for her. Then I presented Emma Jane to the lay judge, Sondra Day. Sondra is wonderful and has judged Emma Jane before. Emma Jane wiggled around a bit at first but then settled down and was good. But, I had to take Emma Jane’s fly mask off. Emma Jane trotted out fine but I could hear the judges say something about her being a bit off. They cleared me to ride so I figured it couldn’t be too serious. Blossom and Marie vetted in fine. Now I had to make a decision. Try to put Emma Jane’s fly mask back on ….. or just let her suffer with the flies. I decided to put the mask back on her. That was a bad decision. She had reached the limit of her ability to tolerate uncomfortable situations and she was determined that I was NOT going to put anything over her ears. But, now I had started something I felt I had to finish. And I had quite an audience enjoying the evening’s entertainment of Cindy and her mule wrestling routine. Eventually, everyone got tired of watching and headed up to the ride manager’s house for food. Bonnie and Barbara went up also since we all though they were going to have the riders meeting. So, there I was alone in camp. Just me and one unhappy mule. 45 min. later, Emma Jane froze just long enough for me to slip one ear into the mask. I decided this was going to be as good as it would get. So, I quickly fastened the mask on leaving the one empty ear of the mask hanging limply over her eye. By now it was dark and the flies were gone anyway. Bonnie had come back down to set up her trailer to sleep in. Barbara finally came back down to let us know they didn’t have the riders meeting but everyone was invited to go up to the house to hang out and there was food. I ended up moving my trailer since Emma Jane could not see Marie and Blossom very well in their pen from the ‘Spring-tie’ and that was making her anxious. Overall though, she seemed pretty relaxed on the ‘Spring-tie. After getting parked in a better spot, we fed the horse and mules and headed up to the house.

Marie with feed bag having supper

Emma Jane having her supper

Blossom having supper


Janice and Scott Hatch were the ride managers. Scott makes a living restoring old barns and taking down old barns and building houses from the barn materials. Their house was built from an old barn and is very unique. They have a huge fireplace and had a fire going. There was plenty of food. We had not expected this and had planned on making our own supper. We were pleasantly surprised and happy that we did not have to. None of us like to cook. We stayed at the house till about 9:00 PM then headed back to camp and to bed. Bonnie would have stayed up longer but for us party poopers! Emma Jane seemed to be doing fine on the Spring-tie. There is a large metal grate bridge by the field we were camping in. Scribner’s Mill is on a dirt road but there was surprising amount of traffic all night. And the bridge was very loud and clangy when a vehicle went over it. This scared Emma Jane at first. But she soon got used to it though she never turned her back to it.

Once I was in bed, I couldn’t sleep. I was worried about Emma Jane on the ‘Spring-tie’. Every noise she made woke me. Then she was so quiet for a while that I ended up getting up to make sure she had not gotten loose. Though I’m sure Marie and Blossom would have let me know if she had. She was fine and just snoozing. I went back to bed again but finally gave up. I was now awake since I had slept during the day and I was hungry. So, as quietly as I could not wanting to wake Barbara up, I got out my stove and pan and heated up a can of soup and made a cup of tea. It was a full moon out and really lovely. I didn’t need any extra light. It was even light enough for me to clean up the manure while waiting for my soup to heat up. It was really pleasant outside hanging out with the equines with the sound of the river behind me in the full moon. Blossom and Marie lay down beside each other to sleep while I was eating. They looked so cute together and I wanted to take a picture but figured with my luck, the camera flash would spook them. I finally went back to bed and by the time I was really falling asleep it was time to get up.

Riders meeting on a foggy morning

Barbara was up the same time I was. I went and checked on Bonnie who was also getting up. We fed the horses and mules then went over for breakfast. I was not that hungry due to my 3 AM ‘snack’. So, I just had some coffee that I’m pretty sure caused some hair to grow on my chest! And I had half a bagel. We were taking our time since we were going out at the end starting order so would have plenty of time to get tacked up and ready. I got our hold bag ready. I made up a package of Beet pulp for Blossom also. Emma Jane was having a fit on the Spring-tie. She was just plain tired of being tied and was bored. She was rearing and hopping and pulling. They called for the riders meeting. Emma wasn’t pulling hard enough to look like she would get in trouble so we walked off and left her. As soon as she no longer had an audience, she stopped and settled down! Silly mule! After the riders meeting we tacked up and got ready to go. Soon, we were out on the trail with Barbara on Marie leading.

Barbara McGovern with Emma Jane & Marie getting ready to ride

Bonnie getting Blossom ready to ride

Barbara McGovern on Marie

Cindy Ross on Emma Jane



Barbara McGovern leading us across the Crooked River on Marie. Cindy Ross on Emma Jane behind.
The first half of the trail was very pretty. Mostly all woods trails wide enough for 2 equines side by side. Quite flat and easy with one nice shallow river crossing. Bonnie forgot her sponge so borrowed one of ours. We made it to the hold with no problem and were doing ok on time. It was quite warm and humid but Emma Jane and Marie pulsed down quickly and we were able to get our P&R done in 5 min. We waited for Bonnie and then went and did our trot out. All went well there. We then fed the horses and were out of the hold only a minute or so late. The second half of the trail was tougher. It was still very lovely but some very rocky spots and more hills. And I knew in the last few miles we were going to have a very tough hill to climb. When we hit the 5 miles to go marker, I knew we were in trouble on time. I was quite sure we were not going to make it on time and we still had the tough hill to climb. I was also quite sure that the mileage was not right and longer then 25 miles. But, all we could do was push as fast as we could to the hill. This is what we did. Marie and Blossom trotted up much of the hill. It was VERY steep and halfway up, Emma Jane slowed down to a walk and would not go faster. At the top, I had to get off and fix my saddle since it had slipped way back going up the hill. Now we had a tough descent down a power line that would also be slow. Once back on flat ground, we pushed fast the last 1 ½ miles back to camp. Not the best of plans but it was either take FOR SURE time penalty points or POSSIBLE points for a high P&R. There was a short steep hill into the camp and finish line. We got down the hill and on the last flat stretch though camp to the finish line when I heard a commotion behind me. Just as I looked back, I saw Blossom stumble and she did a complete summersault. I saw Bonnie roll clear of Blossom. I was torn…… do I stop and help Bonnie….. or race for the finish line. The clock was ticking…… I saw Blossom and Bonnie both get up, lots of people moving in to help so I went for the finish line. Blossom was caught and brought back to Bonnie were she had come off so she could get back on and finish the ride! Bonnie and Blossom were fine and finished!!! YEAH.

We got the horse and mules back to our trailers and sponged them heavily with water since it was such a warm day. Blossom’s P&R was very high so Bonnie walked her for quite a while. Within less then an hour Blossom was fine. Marie’s pulse came right down fine. Emma Jane’s was a bit high at 60 when taken at 20 min. I had it taken again at about 23 minutes just to make sure it was coming down and she was at 52 so no worries there. I was just going to take some points for a higher then optimum pulse. Her respiration was very low. I could tell she was quite tired from racing at the end. Emma Jane is still not nearly as fit at Marie. The vet decided to do the “hands on” first, then the trot out. Not the favorite order for the riders but that’s ok. We like to do the trot out first before the equines have time to stiffen up. Hands on went fine. Emma Jane was quiet for both the vet judge and lay judge. At this time, a thunderstorm rolled in and we had a downpour. The storm circled us several times with the rain coming and going. Luckily, the three of us managed to get our ‘hands on’ and trot out done between the rain.

After the “hands on” the meal was served. A pig roast. Very good except for the baked beans!!! (I hate beans!) YECH! After the meal was the trot out. Emma Jane was reluctant to do her trot out but we managed. She was definitely a bit lame on her left front. Sigh, not again! Marie trotted out just fine, though Barbara dropped her whip and got a bit discombobulated. Marie just stopped and stared at her like, “come on lady, just let me do my thing, I know what my job is.” Bonnie could not get Blossom to trot out at all except back towards the judges (towards Marie). After the vetting was done, Bonnie gave Blossom a dose of Banamine to help keep her from being too sore from the unaccustomed exercise. Blossom put up a bit of a fuss about that. We stayed for the awards even though we knew none of us had scored all that well due to the time penalty we had taken. Turns out quite a few others had taken time penalties also. A lot of other had left already because of the rain. Wimps! Bonnie ended up with a low score. She took the full 25 points for lameness. Blossom was not lame but since she would not trot out, the vets have to give the points automatically. Emma Jane didn’t get a great score either due to the points for high respiration and the slight lameness. Marie did fine. They actually all did great and finished in good health. Blossom didn’t want to load up into the trailer for a long lonely ride home but Barbara and Bonnie managed to get her in. It was a very nice ride on beautiful trail so a good weekend in all.

Marsha Deleware on Savana, Cara York on Laureado & Char Jewell on Zus

Heather Bonneau with Mariah


Scribners Mills 25 ME 9/9/06 37/S-35/F
Judges: Dr. Janelle Tirrell - Janet Brunjes
J1. Linkk / Jack, Sara Jane
J2. Prymtyme / Bean, Lindsay
J3. AD Laureado / York, Cara
1. Enchanted Safire / Seams, Cynthia
2. SPD Carousel / O'Connor, Colleen
3. Tispiret Tafira / Quill, Anne
3. Michabou KT Brigadear / Rice, Stephanie
5. J Roman Tarbask / Libby, Kerry
5. Travelin' Man Maverick / Tenngren Traci
7. Julio / Rojek, Steve
8. Travelon's Times Two (Moon) / Gamester, Marcy
9. Sahara / Alexander, Phillis
9. Potaca / Rice, Bill
9. Misty Falls Amanda Lyn / Beem, Amy
12. Beckie / Dockham, Peg
13. Anchor Hill Alan (Max) / Huson, Rosemary
13. Ishtar/ Jack, Blaine
15. BW Warrior / Brone, Ruth Bither
15. Thunder / Stygles, Amanda
17. Picasso , Rojek, Dinah
18. Izusu (Zus) / Jewell, Char
18. Nerzans Lady Mariah / Bonneau, Heather
Completions:
Marie / McGovern, Barbara (score 85.00)
KA Shiloh / Niedoroda, Susan
Odie / Palmer, Judy
Alladins Storm / Seams, Peter
HFA Silver Savana / Deleware, Marsha
Rally / Doan, Ann
CF Angel By Far / Handren, Jillian
Emma Jane / Ross, Cynthia (score 84.75)
Cindi Jo's Velvet / Levasseur, Kathy
Stonewall Sally / Hoyt, Colleen
Count CAnaskis / Arsenault, Steven
MCO
S/B Mighty Country / Burgess, Robert
Blossom / Hinz, Bonnie