Ruby and I had a good weekend. We headed out early Friday morning for ride camp. Ruby was not too keen on getting into the trailer without her pasture mate. But, didn’t put up too big a fuss. She stomped around a bit in the trailer on the ride up but she has been far worse. Orland is a 2 hr. drive from home. I was a nice sunny warm day. There weren't many people at ride camp when I arrived so I had my choice of spots. I pulled in next to Irving McNaughton. A seasoned and crusty old timer who all know and can’t help but love. I was going to set up Ruby’s pen beside his horses pen. He quickly informed me that he was saving a spot for a couple of woman who he would be mentoring through their first ride. That left me with setting up my pen on the living quarter door side of my trailer. Which actually worked out great since I could step right out into Ruby’s pen to take care of her and feed her. And go out the back door if I didn’t want to go over her pen fence. Though I still managed to “test” the fence at least 3 times over the weekend. Apparently the batteries in the charger are good since it was working great. Ouch! I quickly set up Ruby's pen and settled her in with hay and water. She could not see any other horses at first so did some hee hawing in protest of her loneliness. Soon others began arriving. Heather showed up at noon time and Ruby’s new boyfriend, Maddy, was soon camping beside her. She was a very happy mule with her boyfriend nearby. The vetting in went quickly. There were two vets for the ride. Art King and Ron Miles. Ron vetted Ruby. He loudly announced that he was the specialized mule vet and would be judging all the mule while Art handled all the horses! Too funny. Of course Ruby was the only mule there. It's amazing how quickly Ruby has become an old pro at the vetting. She knows what it's all about and what is expected of her and is such a good girl about it. No more fussing about the stethoscope. You can see her still trying to control her twitching but knows it is ok and won’t hurt her. She still wants to pick up her feet when the judges run their hands down her legs but that is minor. When I first went up to get Ruby vetted in, Ron was talking to me while scratching and patting Ruby’s face. Ruby decided this meant they were now friends and quickly spun around and requested a “booty scratch”. Of course Ron immediately jumped out of the say asking, “Hey, why is your mule trying to kick me!” and he was wondering why I was laughing. I then enlightened him about the mule addiction to booty scratches. I’m not sure he believed me but he carefully went back to Ruby, got behind her and started rubbing her butt. When he was how much Ruby liked that, he got a good laugh about it.
Tracy Bradford came with her husband and their horses. I can't wait until her mule, Prize, is old enough to ride. There was a pot luck supper that night. Heather did not bring anything for the supper nor did she want to unhitch her truck and go out to eat. Nor did she bring any food. So she ended up with my bag of Dorito’s. There was lots of good food at the pot luck and I ate too much. After supper I sat talking with Heather and had a beer. The lack of sleep and the beer did me in and I went to bed early. I had worked Thursday night into Friday morning.
Sat. morning was cloudy and very foggy. It was not hot, but quite humid. It kind of stayed that way all day with periods of light drizzle. The humidity did drop through the day though. The ride was supposed to be 30 and 60 mile distances. But, the ride manager changed the trail at the last minute to keep us off pavement and on more trail. So, the 30 mile ride went to a 35 mile ride. The 60 mile riders went out at 6:00 AM. Ruby is getting so much better with everything and did not pitch a big fit when the 60 mile riders went out. She was bright and alert and you could tell she would like to be with them, but she knows now her turn is coming. We 35 milers headed out at 8:00 AM. The trail was TOUGH. The hardest ride I've done. I had planned to race this ride a bit but within the first 3 miles there was a hill we climbed that was so steep, I nearly had to cling to Ruby’s ears to stay on her back. This was NOT going to be a racing kind of trail. There were several members of the US endurance team at this ride. When one of the “big time” riders and her husband went by us, he commented it was the tougher rides he's ever done. They have ridden a LOT of rides so know a tough trail when they see one. This ride was very hilly. Some VERY steep sections. And sections of rocky, rooty, woods trail that was slow going. I rode with Tracy and Heather most of the ride. The horses got along fairly well. Ruby and Maddy are definitely in love. And both were being kind of crabby with Tracy’s horse, Fanny. Fanny was a good girl and minded her own business. Maddy did manage to give her a good kick right square in the chest in the beginning of the ride. No harm done thankfully. We all 3 leapfrogged leading throughout the ride and all the equines were good about that. A couple times Ruby had to lead past some horse eating boogers! It took us 3 hrs. 15 min to get to the hold. We went straight into the vet check before we even pulled tack. Ruby pulsed right down to 40. Ruby had not started to drink yet but I am finding this is normal for her. She usually goes 20 miles or so before drinking. She ate well. Heather didn’t bring anything for her horse so I shared my alfalfa cubes, dengie and hay with her horse. I had brought extra. And I shared my food with her also. Tracy had come well prepared and also shared her hay with Heather’s horse. We were out of the hold right on time. It was an "up and back" trail so we knew what we had facing us on the return trip. A few miles out of the hold the first of the 60 mile riders caught up with us. It was Connie Walker. A top competitor who has represented the US and won international rides. We thought she would want to pass us but we were coming up on the worst part of the trail and she said she would be happy to follow us though the "nasty stuff". Soon, two more riders came up behind us. One being on the US endurance team and her husband. They also were happy to let Ruby lead through the tough trail. So, Anthony can now brag that his Ruby mule led part of the US Endurance team through "the nasty trail!" Once we got out on dirt road, they were all off and gone! Ruby started drinking good about 20 miles out. Near the end of the ride, Heather and Tracy were getting a bit tired. Heather was suffering from an undergarment malfunction so refused to trot or canter any more. Tracy was just getting sore legs. So, I went on ahead of them. Ruby sure hated to part from her boyfriend but only expressed her displeasure by hee hawing her way down the road. She did not resist going nor did she try to turn around. Good girl. Ruby and I crossed the finish line alone. I took her straight to my trailer, pulled her tack and quickly sponged off the worst of the dirt. Then I took her straight up to the vet to get our completion. Ruby was pulsed down fine. She trotted out nicely and we had now officially won the limited distance ride!
After the ride, I settled Ruby in with food, water and hay. Later the wind really picked up and got chilly so I put a light blanket on her. I stayed for the award ceremony. When they called Ruby and my name as the winners of the 35 mile ride, I heard on person comment, “A mule won the ride?” Then they added, “Well, it was a tough trail and a real mule kind of ride!” I sure am proud of Ruby!
Hot Toddy Hustle I 6/S-F
1. 7:15 Cindy Ross on McAllister's Ruby
2. 7:20 Heather Bonniea on SA Mr Madazsin
3. 7:30 Tracy Bradford o LS Simply Fantastic
4. 7:50 Angela Gore on Megal
5. 7:50 Belinda Crose on Ruckus
6. 7:50 Irving McNaughton on RC Neon
Showing posts with label limited distance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label limited distance. Show all posts
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Western Maine 30 mile limited distance endurance ride Fryeburg, ME August 2007
Ruby’s 2nd endurance ride of the season! I hadn't planned on doing this ride since it was so close to the 2 day 50 I had just done with her. This ride was the Western Maine 250 mile ride. A 5 day ride. Each day being 50 to 55 miles. Each day was a separate ride and on 4 days they also had 30 mile Limited Distance Rides. I went to the ride to work as a volunteer. After a few days scribing for the vet and talking to him, he convinced me it would do Ruby no harm to do another ride so soon. As long as I only did the 30 mile Limited Distance ride. And many others that had seen Ruby at the Pine Tree ride were bugging me to go get her. They all wanted to see her again. So, Friday evening after I was done scribing, I went home and picked up Ruby.
The ride went great! Ruby was a real star! She didn't bray until 4:00 AM. But, since we had to be up at 3:30 AM that was ok! I rode with Bill Rice. That is who I had ridden with at the Pine Tree ride. Ruby and Bill’s horse Potoca travel nice together. He was real happy to have Ruby to ride with again. The woman I got Emma Jane from was there with her new horse but she knew she would be going too slow to ride with me. It was hot and humid. We didn't have to do any circles at the vetting, so Ruby did a beautiful trot out and vetted in with all A's. No one can believe what a beautiful trot Ruby has. One woman there that was from PA, said her friend competes with mules. They are also Arab mules and she says none of them trot beautiful, or as willingly as Ruby. The 30 and 50 mile riders all started together at 5:00 AM Ruby was very wound up when I was trying to saddle her and it took a few tries to get the saddle on! (naughty mule!) Stephanie (Bill's wife) offered to hold Ruby while I got on but Bill told her to stay from Ruby because "she's a mule". Yeah, so? Didn't matter, Ruby wasn't bad when I got on. She was a bit excited when we first headed out but not even close to how excited she was at the Pine Tree. Bill and I quickly settled into a good pace. Not far into the ride we caught up to Heather Hoynes. She is a vet and a world class competitor. It was a first ride for her horse and he was a nut case! So, Heather was holding back from a pack of riders ahead of us. Her horse went nicely with Ruby and Potoca. People that saw us on the trail could not believe what a fabulous big Arab trot Ruby has. That was one of the things I got so excited about when I first rode her in Illinois.
The first loop was 18 miles. When we got to the first fly by, the crew people there said we must be setting a fast pace, we were the first riders they had seen. ?????? We knew there was a big group ahead of us????? We look down the road the way we had come and here comes Steve Rojek and another rider. You have to know Steve to appreciate this. Steve is all excited, "Oh, yeah we got lost” he says, “but, look what I got! We stopped at a yard sale and I found this great jacket! It was a bargain! Only $5!". And he is holding up a red, white & blue leather jacket proud as can be! It was too funny! Of all people to be excited about such a bargain. Like he can't afford to buy a leather jacket. And this is also a man who has on several occasions been on the US Team and ridden in the world equestrian games.
We kept up a good pace and came into the hold at 7:15 AM. We stopped at our trailers, stripped tack and as soon as Potoca's pulse was good by Bill's heart rate monitor, we went up to the vet gate. Ruby was pulsed right down to 52. And Ruby did a lovely trot out. She got straight A's on her vet card. In the heat and humidity, that was impressive. We had a 45 min. hold. Ruby was not drinking yet. She did eat some grain and was devouring grass. We got out of the hold on time with only 10 miles to go. We kept up the same pace though it was getting steadily hotter. Heather was still with us and all three equines seemed fine. We kept up a pretty quick pace until the last mile and walked them in. Bill and I went straight up to the vet gate. Ruby pulsed at 48!!! Wooooohoooooo!!!! And she did another lovely trot out once again getting straight A's on her vet card. Outstanding! After having scribed for the vet for 3 day, I knew it was rare for any of the horses to get straight A's throughout the entire ride. Our ride time was 4 hrs. 13 min. Nearly an hour faster then her Pine Tree ride time. (the milage was actually slightly shorter)
Once again everyone was extremely impressed with Ruby and both vets agreed that Ruby really does have some potential to be very good at this sport
Western Maine V August 4th 2007 8/S-F1. 3:34 Mestemaker-Harris, Catherine on Phlairr
2. 3:46 Hartmann, Lynn on Syrocco Blair
3. 3:59 Mruphy, Hanna on WWA Gypsy Sun
4. 4:00 Murphy, Frank on Desparaddo
5. 4:13 Ross, Cindy on McAllister's Ruby
6. 4:14 Rice, Bill on Potaca
7. 4:15 Hoyns, Heather on Zainal
8. 5:45 Robbins, Kathleen on Aramis
The ride went great! Ruby was a real star! She didn't bray until 4:00 AM. But, since we had to be up at 3:30 AM that was ok! I rode with Bill Rice. That is who I had ridden with at the Pine Tree ride. Ruby and Bill’s horse Potoca travel nice together. He was real happy to have Ruby to ride with again. The woman I got Emma Jane from was there with her new horse but she knew she would be going too slow to ride with me. It was hot and humid. We didn't have to do any circles at the vetting, so Ruby did a beautiful trot out and vetted in with all A's. No one can believe what a beautiful trot Ruby has. One woman there that was from PA, said her friend competes with mules. They are also Arab mules and she says none of them trot beautiful, or as willingly as Ruby. The 30 and 50 mile riders all started together at 5:00 AM Ruby was very wound up when I was trying to saddle her and it took a few tries to get the saddle on! (naughty mule!) Stephanie (Bill's wife) offered to hold Ruby while I got on but Bill told her to stay from Ruby because "she's a mule". Yeah, so? Didn't matter, Ruby wasn't bad when I got on. She was a bit excited when we first headed out but not even close to how excited she was at the Pine Tree. Bill and I quickly settled into a good pace. Not far into the ride we caught up to Heather Hoynes. She is a vet and a world class competitor. It was a first ride for her horse and he was a nut case! So, Heather was holding back from a pack of riders ahead of us. Her horse went nicely with Ruby and Potoca. People that saw us on the trail could not believe what a fabulous big Arab trot Ruby has. That was one of the things I got so excited about when I first rode her in Illinois.
The first loop was 18 miles. When we got to the first fly by, the crew people there said we must be setting a fast pace, we were the first riders they had seen. ?????? We knew there was a big group ahead of us????? We look down the road the way we had come and here comes Steve Rojek and another rider. You have to know Steve to appreciate this. Steve is all excited, "Oh, yeah we got lost” he says, “but, look what I got! We stopped at a yard sale and I found this great jacket! It was a bargain! Only $5!". And he is holding up a red, white & blue leather jacket proud as can be! It was too funny! Of all people to be excited about such a bargain. Like he can't afford to buy a leather jacket. And this is also a man who has on several occasions been on the US Team and ridden in the world equestrian games.
We kept up a good pace and came into the hold at 7:15 AM. We stopped at our trailers, stripped tack and as soon as Potoca's pulse was good by Bill's heart rate monitor, we went up to the vet gate. Ruby was pulsed right down to 52. And Ruby did a lovely trot out. She got straight A's on her vet card. In the heat and humidity, that was impressive. We had a 45 min. hold. Ruby was not drinking yet. She did eat some grain and was devouring grass. We got out of the hold on time with only 10 miles to go. We kept up the same pace though it was getting steadily hotter. Heather was still with us and all three equines seemed fine. We kept up a pretty quick pace until the last mile and walked them in. Bill and I went straight up to the vet gate. Ruby pulsed at 48!!! Wooooohoooooo!!!! And she did another lovely trot out once again getting straight A's on her vet card. Outstanding! After having scribed for the vet for 3 day, I knew it was rare for any of the horses to get straight A's throughout the entire ride. Our ride time was 4 hrs. 13 min. Nearly an hour faster then her Pine Tree ride time. (the milage was actually slightly shorter)
Once again everyone was extremely impressed with Ruby and both vets agreed that Ruby really does have some potential to be very good at this sport
Western Maine V August 4th 2007 8/S-F1. 3:34 Mestemaker-Harris, Catherine on Phlairr
2. 3:46 Hartmann, Lynn on Syrocco Blair
3. 3:59 Mruphy, Hanna on WWA Gypsy Sun
4. 4:00 Murphy, Frank on Desparaddo
5. 4:13 Ross, Cindy on McAllister's Ruby
6. 4:14 Rice, Bill on Potaca
7. 4:15 Hoyns, Heather on Zainal
8. 5:45 Robbins, Kathleen on Aramis
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Pine Tree LD 30 mile endurance ride Waterford, ME June 2007
Ruby's first competiton finally arrived. We had a good start right off. Ruby, who has let me know that she is not thrilled with my trailer, loaded right up Friday morning without hesitation! (we have been working on this.) Yippee. So, off we went. The ride is usually held at the Waterford fairgrounds where stalls are available. This year, the ride was at a new ride site. We were in a big field on a quiet dead end road. It was a very lovely site. The only things we were going to miss about the fairground was the "real" bathrooms and our favorite restaurant being within walking distance.
I arrived around 10:30am. There were 68 riders between the 3 distances so there were lots of trailer and spaces marked off for each trailer. It is always nerve wracking camping with a new equine for the first time. I unloaded Ruby and put her on my spring-tie. She has been high-lined before so I didn't anticipate any trouble with her on the spring-tie. I gave her lots of hay and water and she settled right in.
I work 3rd shift and I had not slept the previous night. So, once I saw Ruby was quiet on the spring-tie, I went in the trailer and took a quick nap. I woke when a nasty but thankfully brief thunderstorm rolled though. I poured rain for a short spell. When it passed, I went out and gave Ruby a rub down and toweled her dry. The storm circled back a while later and I put a rain sheet on Ruby. I was afraid of hail. The wind was VERY strong and a few people loaded horses into trailer worried about hail. But, it was just another brief downpour.
Tracy Bradford, from the MulesOnly list, came to the ride. She was going to crew for me. Though she ended up working the ride. They needed her more then I did. It was so nice meeting a list member and she was sooooo nice! When my friend Susie arrived, we went out for a quick ride to stretch the equines legs. Susie's horse, MacKenzie, is new to her and it would also be this horse first ride. Ruby was a bit jazzed up when we rode out of camp. We got out on a long open stretch of pipeline and I let Ruby go and she settled into a wonderful extended trot. MacKenzie was a handful. We didn't go very far. When we headed back, Ruby slowed right down like she didn't want to be done but MacKenzie stayed all jazzed up and jigging.
Once back, we cleaned our girls up and headed to the vetting. I have been practicing trotting in hand. As well as doing skin pinches, poking gums and such. Ruby wasn't bothered by any of that anyway. She WAS afraid of the stethoscope! I check pulses by hand under jaw or tail and don't use a stethoscope. Ruby got all twitchy and squirmy and did NOT want the vet touching her with that cold hard thing! Because of this, the vet, Art King, thought she was girth sore. "How come your mule is so sore? Look how sore she is!" (because now she didn't want him touching her girth area at all) "I bet she is lame from being so sore". EEEEEKKKKKKK!!!! I knew she was not sore! He told me to go ahead and trot her out first. Ruby did a gorgeous trot out. After trotting, I showed Art I could touch Ruby's girth area with no reaction. Then, Art put the stethoscope on other parts of Ruby's body and she tried to twitch it off anywhere he put it. "Oh, she is just scared of the stethoscope." PHEW!!! So, all was well and Ruby vetted in with straight A's on her vet card. I settled Ruby in back at the trailer. A group of us then went over to Susie's trailer. She had made a birthday cake for Barbara and me. Then, a bunch of us went out to eat at Melby's, our favorite restaurant.
The Riders meeting was at 7:30. I was getting very tired by now and slept though part of it. I'm just glad my pit crew and other friends were awake. After the meeting, we readied our hold bags for the ride. Filled water buckets, snacks for the hold for both people and equines and put everything in the truck that Barbara would take to the hold.
Ruby was getting a lot of attention and just loving it. The only problem was her addiction to booty scratches. She would greet everyone with a sniff and let them pat her head. Then, she would swing right around and present her booty! Which caused everyone to run for the hills! Until I explained what it was Ruby wanted. Though I didn't want anyone to just assume it was safe to be behind Ruby either. One woman came over to admire Ruby and when Ruby swung around, this woman didn't even hesitate but put her hand right under Ruby's blanket and started scratching her booty. When she noticed my amazed stare, she laughed and said, "I have 3 young mules at home. I recognized a booty scratch request when I see one." I got a good laugh at that.
We went to bed around 9:30 PM or so. Ruby was very quiet the first part of the night. I woke up around 1:00 and went out and refilled her hay bag and water. The camp was blessed with a 3.00am wake up call by Ruby. She started braying. She was bored and wanted some attention. Thankfully, she didn't bray much but she sure was loud! The 100 mile riders were getting up around this time anyway. Their ride started at 5:00am. The 50 mile riders were starting at 5:30am and we 30 mile riders were starting at 7:30am.
Buy 4:30am, Ruby was getting restless. A lot of horses were now saddled up and being ridden around warming up. I got up and fed Ruby her grain and made myself some breakfast. At 5:00am, the 100 miles headed out and the 50 milers were warming up. Ruby was really getting upset now. She was really pulling on the spring-tie and braying. She was NOT happy about all the horses heading out without her! Not a relaxing time for me. Ruby bounced around and was kicking out at absolutely nothing. No one was near her. She was just getting mad and having a bit of a temper tantrum! (see, she is not completely perfect! hahahahaha) Once the 50 milers headed off, I took Ruby out to graze on some grass. She was still pretty unhappy at first but finally settled down to graze. I assured her that next year we would be heading out with the 50's and she would not have to wait.
Cindy Ross on Ruby, Margaret Farnum on Promise and Kendra MacDonald on Mystic
It was a LONG 2 hr. wait for our start time. At 7:00am, we saddled up and started walking around to warm up. Then, at long last, we heard the anticipated words, "trail is open". Yippeeeeeeee. Susie wanted to go slow and so did I. So, we let most go ahead of us. Ruby and MacKenzie were both VERY jazzed up. They were both jigging and pulling and dancing sideways. We had a stretch of tar road to start off and did not want to be going fast on this. We managed to hold them both until we hit the trail. At first I tried to hold Ruby back at the pace Susie wanted to go but I soon realized this was just not going to work for Ruby and I. Ruby was going to go nuts if I did that. So, I gave her some slack and off we went. Ruby was awesome. She did not run away or get out of control. She would do whatever pace I asked. Walk, trot or canter but she just had to do it at her speed. I caught up with Margaret and Kendra and rode with them for a bit. But, still too slow a pace for Ruby. So, at the first "fly by" (where you meet your crew for water) I rode on ahead. Ruby was incredible alone. She does not need another equine for inspiration like my horse does. We passed several more riders and finally caught up with Bill and Stephanie Rice. They were riding at a very good pace for Ruby so I stayed with them for the rest of the ride. Ruby would have passed them also, but I had to draw the line somewhere on speed and Ruby agreed it was a reasonable compromise.
Bill and Stephanie's horses were a bit spooky about some stuff. Every time they would hesitate about something, Ruby would go right to the lead and take them through. Ruby was as steady as a rock the whole ride. I was thrilled! And I was so proud of her. And every time we had to slow to a walk, Ruby would out walk those Arabs and they had to trot to catch up with her. Ruby powered up the hills like they weren't there. Floated though deep sand. Trotted down hills without a mis-step. Forded the rivers like a pro. At one point we were in a sand pit and walking so we humans could all take a moment to drink. Ruby thought she had found mule rolling heaven and started to go down! EEEEEKKKKKK. I wasn't really holding the reins so gave her a good kick and shouted a big "No!" Ruby jumped about 10 feet in the air and spooked both of the other horses. Oooops! Well, it saved us from going down though Ruby wasn't sure what she had done wrong poor girl.
We rode fast up to less then a 1/4 mile of the hold. We hopped off and walked them in that last short way and went straight to the pulse gate. You don't have to go straight to the pulse gate. You can take time to get the pulse down if you want. The pulse must be 64 or less for your hold time to start. If it is higher, you have to go to the end of the line and try again. I decided I would take a chance and go straight though. Ruby was not puffing and had not even broken a sweat. Ruby pulsed at 60. Then you trot them out and they check pulse again. If the heart rate goes up after a short trot, that is bad. Ruby trotted and pulsed at 52. Wooooohooooooo!!!! She was still not happy about the stethoscope but what a beautiful trot out she did.
Barbara and I checked that Ruby's tack was not rubbing anywhere. Offered her water, beet pulp and hay. Ruby didn't drink and didn't care for the beet pulp. She picked some carrots out of it that Barbara had added. She dug right into the hay though. Barbara sponged her down a little. Then, it was time to go. The hold was not in the middle of the ride. It was at 11 miles. So, we had 21 miles to go. A last minute change in the trail made it actually a 32 mile ride. If anything, Ruby was stronger on the 2nd half of the ride. She never slowed down and she showed no signs of tiring. We had two more "fly-bys". Ruby did not drink at either. Toward the end of the ride, we had 3 river crossing. At the 2nd crossing, Ruby finally drank like a fish. Phew! I was happy now. We had passed more people out on the trail so were in the front of the 30 mile ride now. We finished in great shape. We did the ride in 5 hrs. 1 min. (ride time). That is not super fast in terms of Endurance riding but just about the pace they want you to go for a 30 mile limited distance. You are allowed 7 hrs. 15 min. to do the ride.
I stripped Ruby's tack off and Barbara sponged her down. Ruby was still not puffing nor was she very sweaty. But, I didn't want to rush to the vet too quickly. I wanted to make sure we passed the check first time. I didn't wait long though. Just long enough to sponge her quickly. When I took her up, she pulsed at 60 again (still afraid of the stethoscope) did another beautiful trot out and pulsed at 48! Excellent! A different vet did our final vetting and gave her a B score on "tack galls". Only because of the way she was twitching with the stethoscope. The vet said he couldn't tell if she was sore or nervous. He thought she was probably just nervous but could not be sure. Ruby ended with straight A's on everything else. She looked like she could go out and do it all over again. The vets had all gathered around Ruby at this point and were really admiring her. They just were amazed at how lovely she moves. And how nice looking and friendly she is.
After giving her a good rub down, I put a fleece cooler on her as it was getting windy and quite cool. I tied her to the trailer with lots of water and hay. She was quiet now though bright eyed and watching everything. She did not look at all like she just did 32 miles! None of the horses what were camped near us were back from their rides yet so Ruby was alone at the trailer. She did fine, only braying a few times. When it was time to go home, she loaded right into the trailer like a good girl again.
I could not have been more proud of Ruby! She was the best of mule ambassadors!!!!
Pine Tree Limited Distance 30 mile endurance ride June 30, 2007
1. 4:44 Dorion, Lisanne on Nation's Glory
2. 4:51 Murphy, Frank on Desparado
3. 4:52 Linnell, Dianna on Half Moon's Majestic
4. 4:58 Rice, Bill on Potaca
5. 4:58 Rice, Stephanie on Prymtym
6. 5:01 Ross, Cindy on McAllister's Ruby
7. 5:14 Denardis, Kimberly on Omar
8. 5:15 Reich, Deborah on SA Zacks Comet
9. 5:15 Cader, Amos on FLF Blaze Star
10. 5:17 Bennett, Abbie on Juneson's Image
11. 5:18 McNaughton, Irving on RC Neon
12. 5:22 Cushing, Susan on Lappi Fra Curtis
13. 5:55 Reinheimer, Susan on MacKenzie
14. 5:57 Palumbo, Mary on Caspian Sea
15. 5:59 Dockham, Peg on Beckie
16. 5:59 Farnum, Margaret on LWF Paljoe Promise
Metabolic MacDonald, Kendra on Into the Mystic
I arrived around 10:30am. There were 68 riders between the 3 distances so there were lots of trailer and spaces marked off for each trailer. It is always nerve wracking camping with a new equine for the first time. I unloaded Ruby and put her on my spring-tie. She has been high-lined before so I didn't anticipate any trouble with her on the spring-tie. I gave her lots of hay and water and she settled right in.
I work 3rd shift and I had not slept the previous night. So, once I saw Ruby was quiet on the spring-tie, I went in the trailer and took a quick nap. I woke when a nasty but thankfully brief thunderstorm rolled though. I poured rain for a short spell. When it passed, I went out and gave Ruby a rub down and toweled her dry. The storm circled back a while later and I put a rain sheet on Ruby. I was afraid of hail. The wind was VERY strong and a few people loaded horses into trailer worried about hail. But, it was just another brief downpour.
Tracy Bradford, from the MulesOnly list, came to the ride. She was going to crew for me. Though she ended up working the ride. They needed her more then I did. It was so nice meeting a list member and she was sooooo nice! When my friend Susie arrived, we went out for a quick ride to stretch the equines legs. Susie's horse, MacKenzie, is new to her and it would also be this horse first ride. Ruby was a bit jazzed up when we rode out of camp. We got out on a long open stretch of pipeline and I let Ruby go and she settled into a wonderful extended trot. MacKenzie was a handful. We didn't go very far. When we headed back, Ruby slowed right down like she didn't want to be done but MacKenzie stayed all jazzed up and jigging.
Once back, we cleaned our girls up and headed to the vetting. I have been practicing trotting in hand. As well as doing skin pinches, poking gums and such. Ruby wasn't bothered by any of that anyway. She WAS afraid of the stethoscope! I check pulses by hand under jaw or tail and don't use a stethoscope. Ruby got all twitchy and squirmy and did NOT want the vet touching her with that cold hard thing! Because of this, the vet, Art King, thought she was girth sore. "How come your mule is so sore? Look how sore she is!" (because now she didn't want him touching her girth area at all) "I bet she is lame from being so sore". EEEEEKKKKKKK!!!! I knew she was not sore! He told me to go ahead and trot her out first. Ruby did a gorgeous trot out. After trotting, I showed Art I could touch Ruby's girth area with no reaction. Then, Art put the stethoscope on other parts of Ruby's body and she tried to twitch it off anywhere he put it. "Oh, she is just scared of the stethoscope." PHEW!!! So, all was well and Ruby vetted in with straight A's on her vet card. I settled Ruby in back at the trailer. A group of us then went over to Susie's trailer. She had made a birthday cake for Barbara and me. Then, a bunch of us went out to eat at Melby's, our favorite restaurant.
The Riders meeting was at 7:30. I was getting very tired by now and slept though part of it. I'm just glad my pit crew and other friends were awake. After the meeting, we readied our hold bags for the ride. Filled water buckets, snacks for the hold for both people and equines and put everything in the truck that Barbara would take to the hold.
Ruby was getting a lot of attention and just loving it. The only problem was her addiction to booty scratches. She would greet everyone with a sniff and let them pat her head. Then, she would swing right around and present her booty! Which caused everyone to run for the hills! Until I explained what it was Ruby wanted. Though I didn't want anyone to just assume it was safe to be behind Ruby either. One woman came over to admire Ruby and when Ruby swung around, this woman didn't even hesitate but put her hand right under Ruby's blanket and started scratching her booty. When she noticed my amazed stare, she laughed and said, "I have 3 young mules at home. I recognized a booty scratch request when I see one." I got a good laugh at that.
We went to bed around 9:30 PM or so. Ruby was very quiet the first part of the night. I woke up around 1:00 and went out and refilled her hay bag and water. The camp was blessed with a 3.00am wake up call by Ruby. She started braying. She was bored and wanted some attention. Thankfully, she didn't bray much but she sure was loud! The 100 mile riders were getting up around this time anyway. Their ride started at 5:00am. The 50 mile riders were starting at 5:30am and we 30 mile riders were starting at 7:30am.
Buy 4:30am, Ruby was getting restless. A lot of horses were now saddled up and being ridden around warming up. I got up and fed Ruby her grain and made myself some breakfast. At 5:00am, the 100 miles headed out and the 50 milers were warming up. Ruby was really getting upset now. She was really pulling on the spring-tie and braying. She was NOT happy about all the horses heading out without her! Not a relaxing time for me. Ruby bounced around and was kicking out at absolutely nothing. No one was near her. She was just getting mad and having a bit of a temper tantrum! (see, she is not completely perfect! hahahahaha) Once the 50 milers headed off, I took Ruby out to graze on some grass. She was still pretty unhappy at first but finally settled down to graze. I assured her that next year we would be heading out with the 50's and she would not have to wait.
Cindy Ross on Ruby, Margaret Farnum on Promise and Kendra MacDonald on Mystic
It was a LONG 2 hr. wait for our start time. At 7:00am, we saddled up and started walking around to warm up. Then, at long last, we heard the anticipated words, "trail is open". Yippeeeeeeee. Susie wanted to go slow and so did I. So, we let most go ahead of us. Ruby and MacKenzie were both VERY jazzed up. They were both jigging and pulling and dancing sideways. We had a stretch of tar road to start off and did not want to be going fast on this. We managed to hold them both until we hit the trail. At first I tried to hold Ruby back at the pace Susie wanted to go but I soon realized this was just not going to work for Ruby and I. Ruby was going to go nuts if I did that. So, I gave her some slack and off we went. Ruby was awesome. She did not run away or get out of control. She would do whatever pace I asked. Walk, trot or canter but she just had to do it at her speed. I caught up with Margaret and Kendra and rode with them for a bit. But, still too slow a pace for Ruby. So, at the first "fly by" (where you meet your crew for water) I rode on ahead. Ruby was incredible alone. She does not need another equine for inspiration like my horse does. We passed several more riders and finally caught up with Bill and Stephanie Rice. They were riding at a very good pace for Ruby so I stayed with them for the rest of the ride. Ruby would have passed them also, but I had to draw the line somewhere on speed and Ruby agreed it was a reasonable compromise.
Bill and Stephanie's horses were a bit spooky about some stuff. Every time they would hesitate about something, Ruby would go right to the lead and take them through. Ruby was as steady as a rock the whole ride. I was thrilled! And I was so proud of her. And every time we had to slow to a walk, Ruby would out walk those Arabs and they had to trot to catch up with her. Ruby powered up the hills like they weren't there. Floated though deep sand. Trotted down hills without a mis-step. Forded the rivers like a pro. At one point we were in a sand pit and walking so we humans could all take a moment to drink. Ruby thought she had found mule rolling heaven and started to go down! EEEEEKKKKKK. I wasn't really holding the reins so gave her a good kick and shouted a big "No!" Ruby jumped about 10 feet in the air and spooked both of the other horses. Oooops! Well, it saved us from going down though Ruby wasn't sure what she had done wrong poor girl.
We rode fast up to less then a 1/4 mile of the hold. We hopped off and walked them in that last short way and went straight to the pulse gate. You don't have to go straight to the pulse gate. You can take time to get the pulse down if you want. The pulse must be 64 or less for your hold time to start. If it is higher, you have to go to the end of the line and try again. I decided I would take a chance and go straight though. Ruby was not puffing and had not even broken a sweat. Ruby pulsed at 60. Then you trot them out and they check pulse again. If the heart rate goes up after a short trot, that is bad. Ruby trotted and pulsed at 52. Wooooohooooooo!!!! She was still not happy about the stethoscope but what a beautiful trot out she did.
Barbara and I checked that Ruby's tack was not rubbing anywhere. Offered her water, beet pulp and hay. Ruby didn't drink and didn't care for the beet pulp. She picked some carrots out of it that Barbara had added. She dug right into the hay though. Barbara sponged her down a little. Then, it was time to go. The hold was not in the middle of the ride. It was at 11 miles. So, we had 21 miles to go. A last minute change in the trail made it actually a 32 mile ride. If anything, Ruby was stronger on the 2nd half of the ride. She never slowed down and she showed no signs of tiring. We had two more "fly-bys". Ruby did not drink at either. Toward the end of the ride, we had 3 river crossing. At the 2nd crossing, Ruby finally drank like a fish. Phew! I was happy now. We had passed more people out on the trail so were in the front of the 30 mile ride now. We finished in great shape. We did the ride in 5 hrs. 1 min. (ride time). That is not super fast in terms of Endurance riding but just about the pace they want you to go for a 30 mile limited distance. You are allowed 7 hrs. 15 min. to do the ride.
I stripped Ruby's tack off and Barbara sponged her down. Ruby was still not puffing nor was she very sweaty. But, I didn't want to rush to the vet too quickly. I wanted to make sure we passed the check first time. I didn't wait long though. Just long enough to sponge her quickly. When I took her up, she pulsed at 60 again (still afraid of the stethoscope) did another beautiful trot out and pulsed at 48! Excellent! A different vet did our final vetting and gave her a B score on "tack galls". Only because of the way she was twitching with the stethoscope. The vet said he couldn't tell if she was sore or nervous. He thought she was probably just nervous but could not be sure. Ruby ended with straight A's on everything else. She looked like she could go out and do it all over again. The vets had all gathered around Ruby at this point and were really admiring her. They just were amazed at how lovely she moves. And how nice looking and friendly she is.
After giving her a good rub down, I put a fleece cooler on her as it was getting windy and quite cool. I tied her to the trailer with lots of water and hay. She was quiet now though bright eyed and watching everything. She did not look at all like she just did 32 miles! None of the horses what were camped near us were back from their rides yet so Ruby was alone at the trailer. She did fine, only braying a few times. When it was time to go home, she loaded right into the trailer like a good girl again.
I could not have been more proud of Ruby! She was the best of mule ambassadors!!!!
Pine Tree Limited Distance 30 mile endurance ride June 30, 2007
1. 4:44 Dorion, Lisanne on Nation's Glory
2. 4:51 Murphy, Frank on Desparado
3. 4:52 Linnell, Dianna on Half Moon's Majestic
4. 4:58 Rice, Bill on Potaca
5. 4:58 Rice, Stephanie on Prymtym
6. 5:01 Ross, Cindy on McAllister's Ruby
7. 5:14 Denardis, Kimberly on Omar
8. 5:15 Reich, Deborah on SA Zacks Comet
9. 5:15 Cader, Amos on FLF Blaze Star
10. 5:17 Bennett, Abbie on Juneson's Image
11. 5:18 McNaughton, Irving on RC Neon
12. 5:22 Cushing, Susan on Lappi Fra Curtis
13. 5:55 Reinheimer, Susan on MacKenzie
14. 5:57 Palumbo, Mary on Caspian Sea
15. 5:59 Dockham, Peg on Beckie
16. 5:59 Farnum, Margaret on LWF Paljoe Promise
Metabolic MacDonald, Kendra on Into the Mystic
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