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!

Boo! 25 CTR West Sumner, ME Oct. 2003

The seasons last ride. Sigh. The Boo! ride is one of my favorite rides. Held at the farm of Laura and Steve Falconer. They open their home to us every year so that we have a warm place to gather and have our meals. Laura is the amazing woman that has no arms. She doesn’t let that stop her from doing anything.
At work, the night before the ride, we had a mandatory day six (Friday night) scheduled at the last minute so I couldn’t go to the ride on Friday like usual. I went home and went to bed Friday morning. Susie called me early afternoon worried about me. I had her ask Vicki if it would be ok If I came in the morning and vetted in then. She said it would be ok.
I went out to feed the horses at 3:00 AM. They thought that was rather strange but that didn't stop them from eating. I managed to get to the ride at about 5:30 AM. It was still dark when I arrived. Everyone was parked in the upper field and it was muddy getting in. I unloaded Marie down in the driveway and tied her to Susie’s trailer so I could make a run for it up into the field and not worry about thrashing her around in the trailer. It’s a good thing I did and that I have 4 wheel drive! I was told that Louise Lester had to be hauled out with a tractor. The ride wasn’t starting until 8:30 so I had plenty of time to go down to the house and have some breakfast. Marie vetted in just fine. I was riding with Margaret Farnum and Mary Batt. Margaret and I had prearranged to ride together. The Boo! 25 is the last ride in the Triple Trail Series which consists of the Hidden Brook 25, Streaked Mt. 30 and the Boo! 25. Margaret and I had ridden the first two ride together so we figured it was only right to ride the last one together also. Coming into this ride, Margaret and Promise were in first place and Marie and I were in second place for the Triple Trail Award. If Marie and I completed this ride, we would also earn our 1,000 Competitive miles award. Only Marie would earn that since, for the rider, ECTRA splits ride and drive miles. I’ve driven 2 competitions so I am 75 miles behind Marie. The milage is combined for the horse. Susie was one group ahead of us in the starting order with Heather and Heather’s friend. Susie wasn’t too happy about that. When it was time to go, She let them get a head start on her before going out herself.

Zephyr & Grizz

Mary Batt, Susie Reinheimer & Margaret Farnum


It was a good and ride. Beautiful day. Mary’s horse was a bit strong with her and pulling. Marie and Promise were wonderful. A bunch of us came into the hold at the same time so we were held up there for a while. Marie passed at the hold without problems. Just as I was mounting to head out for the second loop, Marie stepped on her own foot and pulled a front shoe off!!! Thank goodness for Easy Boots! I jumped off and quickly put the boot on and we were off for the second loop. The second loop went fine and we were done in good time. Marie passed the final vetting and she had earned her 1,000 miles!!! YEAH! While we were waiting for the meal, we took pictures of all the dogs. Zephyr and Margaret’s dog Grizz. One giant ball of black hair and one small one. They are funny to see together. Susie’s lab cross, Callie, and Mary’s dog are also all black. The meal provided was wonderful as usual. Grilled steak and chicken, salad, scalloped potatoes many different kinds of pie for dessert. Then…..time for the awards! We gathered in the kitchen for this. (The Falconer’s have a very large kitchen) Marie and I got 9th place overall. Susie got Grand Champion for the second ride in a row! Margaret got Grand Champion of the Triple Trail Series and I got Reserve Champion. Not bad for a 23 year old Morgan and a grade Quarter Horse from the Humane Society!

Cindy Ross, Susie Reinheimer & Margaret Farnum


Boo 25 ME 10/18 25/S-F
Judges: Dr L Buggia - J Levellie
J1. SA FR Madazsin / Dagget, Catherine
J2. Willows Rahmaan / York, Cara
J3. Snowfield Kelley, Cricket
1. Xavier Sunnyacres / Reinheimer, Susan
1. Theatic / Brunjes, Kathy
3. Tapped A Nick / Lester, Louise
4. Moria NA / Hurton, Bonnie
4. LWF Paljoe Promise / Farnum, Margaret
6. Travelon's Times Two / Gamester, Marcy
6. Nikadeous / Seames/ Peter
8. FR Midori / Batt, Mary
9. Marie / Ross, Cynthia (score 94.25)
10. Keeper / Brooks, Leslie
10. Shiloh / Seames, Cynthia
12. The J Man / Raymond, Faith
13. Disco Dust Bunny / Nelson, Cindy
14. Alizahr / Bell, Patricia
14. Rugby / Mersereau, Rene
16. Nikita Bahar / Crowley, Lois
17. Nerzans Lady Mariah/ Bonneau, Heather
18. HFA Siver Savana / Deleware, Marsha
Completions:
Dreamcatcher / Soscia, Joanne
Tashi Samr / Rice, Bill
VH Phazon / McNaughton, Irving
SFD Carosel / O'Connor, Colleen


Triple Trail Series
Higest combined score for same horse/rider team for:
Hidden Brook, Streaked Mountain & Boo!
Grand Champion - Margaret Farnum on Promise
Reserve Champion - Cindy Ross on Marie

Fall Frolic 25 CTR Harrison, ME September 2003

The Fall Frolic is a new ride being held here in Maine. Everyone was excited about having some new trails to ride on. I didn't leave for the ride as early as I usually do. I hadn't done any packing ahead of time so I had to pack when I got home from work. It didn't take long. I've packed for rides so many times now I think I could do it in my sleep. Actually, once I was packed and had the trailer hitched, I did fall asleep in my recliner. Fred woke me up when he got home around 9:30 AM and I was on the road at 10:00 AM. The direction provided to get to the ride were good. The ride is in Harrison, ME which is about 1 1/2 hr. drive from home. Harrison is nearly due west of Bowdoin. But, there are no good east to west route in Maine. All the main roads seem to run north to south. So, you have to swing either north or south to get to the ride. Frustrating. The farm where the ride is being held is on a dirt road and is an historic site. There is an old saw mill on the Crooked River that was built in 1847 and run until the 1970's and is now in the process of being restored. Getting into the field where we were camping was a bit tricky. It was a tight turn around a telephone pole with a sharp incline down into the field that was a bit washed out. I pulled around the corner carefully and made it ok. There was only one trailer in the field when I arrived. It was Heather Bonneau. The field where we were camping was beautiful with the River running along one side of it. A lovely farmhouse and yard was on the other side of the field. There were picnic tables set up under a canopy in the yard. There was going to be a pig roast for our Saturday meal. I parked on the side of the field closest to the river. Some of the larger gooseneck trailer could not make it into the field due to the steep angle off the road. Those trailer had to park up the road in Scott Hatch's yard by his barn. Jan Hatch and Louise Lester were the ride managers. Heather no longer had a portable pen so her horse would spend the weekend tied to her trailer. The vet judge was Larry Buggia and Char Lester was the lay judge. Larry was late arriving so Heather and I sat around munching on pretzels and chatting. It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the 70's. The same weather was expected for tomorrow. I set up Marie's pen in a way that she would be able to see the horses on either side of my trailer. Susie was coming and if Marie could not see Cody, she would have a fit! Larry arrived around 3:30 PM. I was in line for vetting when Susie arrived. She made it into the field fine with her trailer and parked next to me. Marie vetted in fine but was very sluggish on the trot out. I had to actually tap her with the whip to get her to trot. Not a bad thing for the initial trot out as it could hardly look worse at the end of the ride. It was funny listening to the comments for the score sheet. "wind puff on right leg, bone spavin on left leg, slight splint on the other left leg..." when they were done, I asked if I should just load the poor creature on the next meat wagon! We had a good laugh over that. These things are quite normal for a hard working horse. After Susie got Cody vetted in, we took Zephyr and Callie for a walk on a dirt road so we could let the dogs run loose. They had the best time running together. When we got back to camp, we had our supper. Susie and I had both brought food with us. I had soup with bread and crackers. Margaret had also brought her own supper with her and sat with us to eat. Heather hadn't brought anything but said she was not hungry. Margaret and Susie tried to share with her but she declined. The riders meeting was at 6:00 PM that evening. Jan started to describe the trails when her husband Scott interrupted and said he had changed them in a few places. There was some tense discussion between them for a moment but it was all worked out. After the meeting, Susie and I got our guitars and played a few songs but couldn't really get in the mood. We put them away and went over to sit with a group that had gathered at Margaret's trailer. We all shared chips, dip, crackers and wine. Oh, and some awesome chocolate truffles that Margaret had brought. The group broke up about 9:30 PM and we all headed to bed. Zephyr looked so pitiful when I climbed up into bed leaving him on the floor that I had to get up and put him up in the gooseneck with me. Bonnie has him totally spoiled. He was so happy that he spazzed out like an idiot for about 5 minutes before settling down. He seemed to feel the need to curl up by my head with his butt in my face. I had to shove him off a few times before he got the hint and stayed out of my face. Silly dog. I woke up once and was a bit chilly. I had only brought my light sleeping bag. Bonnie's sleeping bag was in the trailer so I threw that over me and was soon toasty warm. I got up at 5:00 AM and fed Marie. The ride provided a nice breakfast of hot and cold cereal, fruit and a nice variety of delicious muffins. There was also some trail mix and bars to take with us on the ride. the ride was starting at 7:30 AM. Heather had to present her horse to the vet for a re-check this morning. Mariah had looked a bit lame on Friday. The judges still weren't thrilled with how she looked but decided to let her start the ride. Susie throught Callie looked cold so we decided to put the two dogs in her trailer for the day. That way they'd be up off the ground and have plenty of room to move about and play.
The ride started right on time. Susie and I were 13 and 14 in the starting order. I was lucky 13! Cody was an absolute spazz ball. He jumped, spun, danced and pulled Susie's arms out of their sockets. Marie even got excited enough to prance a bit. We started out too fast but Susie just couldn't hold Cody back. Cody finally settled down to "just" out of control from "completely" out of control after a while. We ended up passing a lot of riders. The trails were super. Nice dirt roads and woods roads with some single track and all of 1/8th mile on tar. There were two real neat river crossings. At the first one, we had to walk the horse up stream in near chest deep water before getting out on the other side. Susie and I caught up to Mary Batt at one point but her horse was getting out of control with Cody so she pulled back and let us go ahead of her. A bunch of us came into the hold all at the same time. This is hard on the crew and judges as it backs them up. Susie and I still managed to get out of the hold on time and were soon on our way again. We caught up with Irving and rode with his group for a while. Right at the finish line was the second river crossing. About 10 of got there together. It was a steep drop into the river and you had to cross straight across to avoid getting into any boulders with a short steep climb out the other side. It was a bit tricky to cross in a bunch like that. We tried to cross one at a time but then a horse would refuse to go alone or another would get upset about being left behind so we just lined up single file and in we went. That worked out ok. Marie did very well at the final vetting. She trotted out strongly and willingly. I was very pleased. Heather's horse was dead lame at the end of the ride. When we were done with the final vetting, Susie and I took the dogs for another walk. The meal was being served when we got back. It as delicious. Pork, home made potato salad and cole slaw, baked beans (yuck!) and rolls. And all sorts of pies for desert. It took a while for the scoring to be completed. Susie and Cody won grand champion!! After the awards, we quickly packed up and were ready to go. We were a little worried about getting the trailer out of the field, so we pulled the trailer out before loading the horses and just took turns holding each other's horses. It was a great ride and I can't wait to do it again next year.

Fall Frolic 25 ME 9/6 24/S-23/F
Judges:Dr. L Buggia - C Lester
J1 Llinkk / Jack Sarah
J2 Alejandor Del Nordesta / Edgar, Carley
1. Xavier Sunny Acres / Reinheimer, Susie
2. Keeper / Brooks, Leslie
3. Thunder / Vienneau, Mindy
4. KA Shiloh / Niedoroda, Susan
5. AL Ailal Shahin (Rubin) / Brunjes, Kathy
6. Snap Crackle & Spark / Rice, Bill
7. Jahyr Jamlin / Jack, Kelly
8. Marie / Ross, Cynthia
9. FR Midori / Batt, Mary
10. Especial Edition / Prentice. Linda
11. VH Phazon, McNaughton, Irving
11. Snowfield O'Malley / Hutchinson, Tom
13. LWF Paljoe Promise / Farnum, Margaret
13. Nikita Bahar / Crowley, Lois
15. Moria NA / Hurton, Bonnie
16. Melinda Del Pardo / Lord, Andrea
17. Inde Khaldair / Dixon Susie
18. Beechtree Chichen Itza / Whitney, Jennifer
Completions:
Delecia Del Nordesta / Little, Sidney

Streaked Mountain 30 CTR West Paris, ME August 2003

Another competition and I knew this would be the most challenging one I'd ever done. Two weeks earlier, Bonnie and I had trailered to Heather's house to ride the first 12 miles of this ride. Heather is the ride manager of this ride. I'm glad we came for a pre-ride as the trails were a lot harder then I'd expected and Marie was a bit uncomfortable on the rockiest sections. I actually had second thoughts about entering the ride at all. In the end, I decided to buy four easy boots to put on Marie over her shoes so she wouldn't have trouble with the rocks and I entered the ride. Heather paired me up with Margaret Farnum to ride. I was happy about that as Marie and Promise travel well together. Margaret also had some second thoughts about entering this ride. In the end, she also decided to give it a try.

I didn't leave home as early as I'd planned but was still the first to arrive at the ride site. It was very, very hot out and I was grateful for the new truck with airconditioning. So was Zephyr. I pulled into the field where the sign was for the ride with another trailer pulling in right behind me. Heather's trailer was parked in the field and her mother was sitting in a chair beside the trailer. I went over and asked Heather's mother where we were supposed to park. She looked very unsure but said she thought we could park anywhere in the field. I was looking around for a port-a-pottie that should be there and some sign of avaible water. I didn't see either. The couple that pulled in behind me also asked where to park and were wondering the same things I was. Heather's mother got a bit abrupt with us and went back to sit at Heather's trailer leaving us with no clue what to do or where anything was. So, we decided to just wait until Heather showed up. We didn't want to go through the trouble of setting up our campsite and then have to move them if we were not where we belonged. So, we both pulled into the shade of some trees and opened up the trailers to keep the horses as cool as possible. Marie was perfectly happy in the trailer munching her hay and watching out her window. It wasn't long before Heather's father showed up. I've met him before and he is quite nice. He assured us that we could park anywhere we liked. The port-a-pottie was not there due the a breakdown of the truck delivering it. Water was in tub in Heather trailer. The field we were in had two windmills in it. One that supplimented the farms electricity and the other that ran the well pump. It didn't take long to set up camp and get Marie settled in her pen. She was quite happy about all the green grass available. It wasn't long before Margaret showed up. She set up camp next to me so that Promise and Marie would be near each other for company. Marie was as happy to see a familair face as I was. I made myself a sandwich and settled down in what little shade I could find to relax for a while. It was sooooooo hot that I was just wringing with sweat. There wasn't much shade for the horses but that didn't seem to bother them as much as the flies. Both Marie and Promise must have gotten down and rolled a hunderd times to scratch. Margaret had set up a tarp in Promise's pen so he could get under it for shade. He was not interested in it at all so Margaret and I ended up bringing our chairs into his pen and sitting under it. I was tired from working all night and then coming straight to the ride. I ended up falling asleep in the chair for a while. Margaret had a little Sony Walkman tape player with her and was playing Kenny Loggin music.

The vet was a little late arriving. It was a woman from Rochester, NH and it was her first time judging a ride. Janes Brunjes was the lay judge. It didn't take long to get vetted in. One the trot out, Marie spooked at some invisible booger and nearly ran me over! Mary Batt arrived around 6:30 PM. She quickly got her horse vetted in and then there was the riders meeting. As I suspected it sounded like the trail was going to be challanging. The ride time was being extended by 20 minutes so we would have 5 hrs. and 20 min. to 5 hrs. and 50 min. to complete the ride. I knew even that would be hard to make because fo the time it would take to get over Streaked Mountain. thankfully, the weather was supposed to be much cooler with less humidity tomorrow. That would make a big difference. Right after the riders meeting, I went into my trailer and heated up some soup for supper. Then I went right to bed. I did hear the Rojek's pull in sometime in the middle of the night with their big rig but fell right back to sleep. I was glad they had come to the ride. They are international competitors that have ridden all over the world. It would be interesting to see if they considered this ride challenging.

I was up at 5:00 AM and fed Marie. It was fairly nice but not as cool as I'd expected it to be. I heated some water for coffee and oatmeal. Heather did provide donuts and juice. After I ate, I got Marie and put her easy boots on. They are a pain to get on so I wanted to get it done early. Margaret and I were 3rd and 4th in the starting order. Mary was 9th but we figured she would be able to catch up with us. Margaret and I were off at 7:02 AM. We quickly caught up with the first pair out. Only a couple miles furter and Mary caught up to us. The climb up Streaked Mountain was tough. The first part of the trail up the mountain is steep with large rocks that you just have to bumble over. Then, there is several miles of near solid ledge, some of it quite steep. I would have thought the hores with flat steel shoes would have found this slippery footing but I didn't see any horses having trouble. We just went slow and careful. It was a nice clear day so the veiw from the top of the mountain was beautiful. Going down the mountain was quite a bit easier. There are several towers at the top of the mountain and we went down on the road that leads to the towers. It was still very steep in places but the footing was good. Mary and I were gabbing while riding along quite quickly and I noticed that we had gotten ahead of Margaret and Janice. They caught up to us at the first water stop. Heather was at the water stop at the bottom of the mountain. She told us the guy that was driving the truck with the big water tank, lost the tank out of the truck onto the road. The water tank holds 250 gallons and she said it slid a ways down the road before coming to a stop. He had to empty the water out before he could get the tank back into the truck. Then he had to go fill it again. Heather left while our horses were drinking. There were trail markers to take a left turn where the water buckets were. So, we took the turn and headed down the trail. We soon noticed there were no tracks on the trail ahead of us. This worried us because we knew there were a couple riders ahead of us. One was Cindy Seams who had helped Heather mark the trails. So, we couldn't imagine she would have taken a wrong turn. We went back to the water stop before going too far and sure enough we saw tracks going straight down the road. But, the trail markers clearly indicated to turn onto the trail on the left as we had. So, we headed back down the left hand trail. A mile or so later we came out on the old railroad bed. We rode down 4 miles of that to the hold. There was a nice pond 2 miles from the hold and we stopped to let the horses drink and to sponge them off. It was there I realized that I'd lost my sponge. Mary let me borrow hers to sponge Marie off with.


We kept moving at a pretty quick pace to the hold knowing we couldn't afford to waste any time. The hold was in a nice spot with plenty of room for the horses and vetting. We were the first ones into the hold. The group riding with Cindy Seams had indeed gone off trail and were now behind us. All the horses in our group passed the vetting with no problems. We fed them and managed to leave the hold on time. Just as we were heading out, another rider was coming into the hold and had my sponge. Yippee. Now, we had a decision to make. We either had to ride as fast as we dared in an attempt to finish on time and risk losing points for a possible high P&R at the end, or ride slower and lose points for a sure time penalty. We would lose one point for every minute were were over on our time. If you go 30 minutes over, you are disqualified. We decided to ride fast and take our chances with their P&R. The weather was good and it had actually cooled off and there was a nice breeze. We felt confident that our horse could handle the speed. Going out of the hold, we had six miles of the railroad bed to travel. We made excellent time on this. It was all flat with excellent footing and good for cantering. The rest of the trail was a mix of some dirt roads, some pavement with decent shoulder and some very rocky woods trail. We moved as fast as the terrain would permit. Along one stretch of dirt road, Margaret's horse nearly tripped over a young eagle. It was on the trail holding a squirrel and didn't want to give it up. It hopped down the trail directly in front of us trying to fly but was unable to get off the ground. The eagle finally released his prize and flew off. As we passed the mile markers for 3 to go, 2 to go and 1 to go, we knew we were close on time. The last mile was a narrow woods trail. We just ducked our heads to avoid hanging branches and moved along as quick as we could. When we came in sight of the finish line, we could see Heather waiting anxiously and waving us in. Margaret and I crossed the line with 10 seconds to spare!!! We were the first to finish. I quickly untacked Marie and sponged her off well. Margaret and I took the horses to the edge of the field by the woods so they would have some shade to stand under. Marie's pulse was over by a few points being 48 but I was quite pleased with that. Midori was also at 48. Promise pulsed down fine but the P&R person thought his respiration was slightly high. I could tell Marie was tired but she did a good trot out. Other then the fact that I dropped her lead rope and she took the opportunity to run back to my trailer. I had to chase her down and bring her back to finish our trot out. It was a while before hands on were done. Only 5 riders had managed to finish the ride on time. Six or seven others made it within the 30 minute window. The rest went past the disqualification time but Heather didn't want to eliminate them. She said one of the mile marker got torn down but that really wouldn't make any difference. Heather provided hamburgers, hot dogs and salad for lunch. And the port-a-pottie never did arrive so there were a lot of visits to the woods. Steve Rojek said this was indeed a very challenging ride. Margaret won grand champion! Not bad considering she was riding the oldest horse in the ride at 22 years old. And I won reserve champion on my little mutt of a QH.

Streaked Mt 30 ME 8/23 14/S-F
Judges: Dr. C England - J Brunjes
1. LWF Paljoe Promise / Farnum, Margaret
2. Marie / Ross, Cynthia (score 98.00)
3. FR Midori / Batt, Mary
4. Zaim / McKittrick, Janice
5. Shiloh / Seams, Cynthia
6. Dreamcatcher / Soscia, Joanne
7. Keona / Rojek, Dinah
8. Seagull / Barbosa, Hernan
9. Twopence Kelly / Gelston, Andy
10. Zephyr's Elegant Gift / Kenney, Sharon
11. Segway / Kallela, Sini
12. Rugby / Mersereau / Rene
13. Finch / Rojek, Steve
14. Lady Virginia "Nettie" / Tenggren, Traci
13.
14.

Fryeburg 2 day 50 CTR Fryeburg, ME July 2003

Well, I was heading off on this adventure alone. Bonnie decided not to ride and was staying home to take care of the horses. I headed off right after work at about 6:00 AM. I stopped at G&G store for gas and a few grocery items. When I went to put the grocery items in the ice box, I noticed that the passenger side rear tire on my truck was nearly flat! AAAGGGGHHHHH! There was no air hose at the store. I had a whole pack of local elderly gentlemen looking for one to no avail. I decided since it wasn't totally flat and I was only a few miles from home, I would just go back. I got back to the house without incident. I unloaded Marie and tied her to the side of the trailer. I unhooked the truck and went out back to the garage to put air in the tire. There was only 10lbs in it and it holds 80lbs. But now I wasn't sure what I should do. Head out for the ride with that tire or change to the spare. I waited for Fred to come home from work to get his opinion. His opinion was "I don't know what you should do." He doesn't seem to understand that since he's the man, he is supposed to be able to fix everything! He filled up the portable air tank for me and sent me on my way. I just checked the tire a few times on the way up to make sure it was holding air. The tire was fine and I arrived at Fryeburg without problem. I picked my usual spot at the end of the first barn. Marie was wondering where all her friends were and called a bit between stuffing her face with hay. I set up camp and had just settled down to read when Susie arrived. Very early for her. I was impressed. She brought along Libby, a 12 year old girl, and her new puppy, Callie. Marie was very, very happy to see Cody and made quite a ruckus. Susie and Libby quickly got set up and Susie and I decided to go for a ride. We tacked up and headed out on the trail that we always use for the ride. Cody was very excited and acting up. Marie was a bit light on her feet also. When we got to the road, a man pulled over and asked us if we had permission to be on the property we were on. He said that the man that owned the property didn't like people on it. We didn't know anything about it so we headed back to check with Colleen, the ride manager. Colleen told us that she had permission to use the trails. But, by this time we decided to just take the horses around the race track so we wouldn't be leaving Libby alone for so long. Both horses were very excited. We trotted around the track a couple times then worked up to a canter. Cody finally settled down a little. Then I saw something come off Susie's saddle and come flying by me? Susie started yelling, "Cindy, please stop, my stirrup fell off!" I stopped Marie and sure enough, Susie's stirrup was laying on the track behind us. Her stirrup leather had broken. Upon checking, the other one was ready to break also. Luckily, my English saddle happened to be in my trailer so I was able to lend Susie my stirrup leathers.


Susie wanted to ride with me on the first day but Colleen had the 25's and 50's going out separately. It just happened by chance that I was paired up to ride with Mary Batt. That would be good as Marie likes Mary's horse Midori. After riding, Susie and I went into Fryeburg to get some lunch. When we got back, we got our riders packets and I put the numbers on our horses. Then, the long waiting line to vet in. Cody and Marie both vetted in fine. Callie and Zephyr were getting along well. Rich Gamester was providing the meals for the weekend. We had hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixings tonight. Mary arrived sometime after 6:00 PM. The vet told Mary that Midori was running a mild fever and she had a snotty nose when she came off the trailer. So, the vet wanted Mary to keep Midori away from the other horses for the night and re-check her in the morning. We walked the horses aound that evening out in the field where we could let the dogs run loose. Callie and Zephy had a great time playing. Callie is so uncoordinated still and Zephyr was running circles around her. It was very cute to watch them. The bugs finally dorve us back to the barn. We put the horses away and hung around for a while just visiting and chatting. We had the riders meeting this evening. colleen informed us that the trails had to be changed at the last minute. We do quite a few miles through agricultural fields and Colleen had gotten a call that the fields had just been sprayed with pesticides and we couldn't safely go through them. Scott Hatch saved the day by going out and rerouting the trail. He did a great job fiding an alternate trail and getting markers up. I don't know how he managed it! Everyone was tired so we turned in for bed early. It it going to be hot tomorrow so the ride was going to start at 6:00 AM. We would have to be up very early.

Susie was up before me and fed Marie for me. When I got up, I wandered over to the office to get my coffee and oatmeal. The coffee was ready but no hot water for the oatmeal. This is not like Colleen, she is usually so well prepared. I didn't want to wait so I got my coffee and went back to my trailer to heat water for oatmeal. Midori passed her vetting was was set to go on the ride. She was having a strong heat cycle and was just in love with every horse on the grounds. Mary and I were nearly the last one out in the starting order. There was only one groupo of four that hung back and went out after us. This was Mary Coleman's group. Mary and I alsmot got off the trail one right in the beginning but realized our error right away and turned around. Not before Mary Coleman's group got to yelling at us. It was good of them to be concerned about us and want to help. They got in front of us at this point. We passed them somehow at the river crossing. The water was hight this year. Not quite deep enough for the avarage horse to swim but close. A pony would have been swimming.

Several miles further down the trail, Mary Coleman's group caught up with us again at a water stop and informed is that we had gone off trail right after the river crossing shortening our ride by 1/2 mile or so. ????? Mary and I had seen tracks and markers the whole way. Mary Batt told Mary Coleman that possibly she had gone off trail and not us. Mary Coleman insisted she had stayed on the trail correctly. And so it went back and forth until finally I said to Mary Batt we were just going to have to go back because if Mary Coleman was right, we would be disqualified. We had to ride hard to make up the lost time. We had NOT gone off trail and we did get to the hold on time. Even though we'd ridden hard to make the hold on time, both horses vetted out fine. We finished the second half of the ride with no problem. Marie vetted fine at the end and was good to go for the second day of the ride. The vet wanted to check Midori again in the morning thinking she looked a bit lame. Susie said Cody had been real strong and pulled her most of the ride. Her hands were blistered! There were sandwiches when we got back from the ride. The, we had supper at 2:00 PM. Lasagna, salad and bread. It was very good. After dinner they had the award ceremony for teh 25 mile riders. I can't remember what Susie placed. Susie packed up quickly and headed out.
Mary was tired and laid down for a nap. Later, heather, Margaret, mary and I went into Fryeburg to climb Jockey Cap. A short climb up a granite dome of about 150 in elevation. The view is great from the top. Margaret had her dog Grizz with her. He is huge and it was funny watching Zephyr and Grizz playing together. Zephyr has no fear of other dogs no matter what their size. When we got back down from Jockey Cap we stopped for ice cream from the store at the trail head. We sat at the picnic tables with the dogs. Margaret bought a dish of ice cream for Grizz. he didn't eat it all and Zephyr was thrilled to help out finishing it. After we got back to the fairground, we walked the horses until we couldn't stand the bugs anymore. We then settled the horses in their stalls for the night. We decided to go to bed early. I went into my trailer and was playing my guitar when someone pulled up beside my trailer in a car. It was Bonnie!!!!! I was so excited to see her. She had decided to surprise me! Yippee! I got up and we took Marie and Zephyr for another walk while I told her all about the days ride. We then went back, put Marie in her stall then went to bed. We ended up chatting for quite a long time.

I slept longer then I'd planned but not to long to be a problem. I fed Marie then went to the office for breakfast. Colleen had everything ready this morning. Mary Batt's horse did not pass her re-check this morning and was pulled from the ride. So, I would be on my own for today. Bummer. I ended up riding with a woman from PA that was riding a very hot Paso Fino. Not many gaited horses are seen at rides in this part of the country. It was fun watching her horse move. She didn't think she would be able to ride with me because her horse is very competitive. It didn't take long though to see that Marie was actually having a quieting effect on her horse as she does with most horses. But, the Paso Fino was setting too fast a pace for Marie so I eventually fell back and rode with Louise Lester. Louise was riding her stallion Nickolas. Marie was upset about being parted from the Paso Fino and didn't care at all that she was now riding with a handsome stallion! Silly mare!I rode with Louise into the hold. Marie was still upset about the Paso and just squeeked in with her P&R. The woman with the Paso waited for me to leave the hold as her horse had also been stressed over being separated from Marie and we rode the rest of the ride together. Marie lost a front shoe and I had to put an easy boot on her. I had just had new shoes put on her three days before the ride and didn't think I'd have to worry about that! The pace the Paso was setting was still to fast and at the end I had to stop and hang around in the field before the finish line for about 15 minutes so I wouldn't get a time penalty. Marie was not to happy about this but managed to deal with it. The vetting went fine at the end. For dinner we had steak, potato, Italian Pasta salad and bread. The steak was a bit tough but everything else was very good. The award ceremony was after the dinner. I got a 4th place ribbon and was very proud of my little mare.




Fryeburg 50 ME 7/26-27 29/S-25/F
Judges: Dr. Glass - J Levellie
J1. Heart of Fire / Patty Simcox
1. Tyger Dan / Greenall, Sue
2. Czar Nickolas / Lester, Louise
3. Shyrocco Lyric / Kimberley, Jenny
4. GH Jesse Jolady / Houghton, Deborah
5. Finch / Rojek, Steve
6. CR Monarchs Memory / Malkasian, Robin
7. Blew Away / Down, Kathy
8. Langwood's Lorelei / Stratemeyer, Joan
9. Nikazem / Winslow, Roxanne
10. DS Easter's REplica / Simcox, Cindy
10. Queen of Argyll / Stuller, Marilyn
10. Marie / Ross, Cynthia (score 94.00)
13. Prince Buddy (Casey) / Cameron, Pamela
13. Shiloh / Seeams, Cynthia
13. Hawks Neopolitan / Coleman, Mary
16. HFA Silver Savana / Deleware, Marcia
16. Otis / Beem, Amy
18. Shyrocco Crisedyde / Hartmann, Lynn
Completions:
Amilie Spunk (Jamil) / Kohler, Elizabeth
Medallion Del Pardo / Hall, Brenda
Samid Ar Ras / Blittersdorf, Meoldy
DLA CAssidy / Hatch, Janice Conley
Nikita Bahar / Crowley, Lois
MCO
Inde Khaldair / Two riders

Acadia 2 day 50 CTR Seal Harbor, ME June 2003

Bonnie and I were very excited to be heading off to our favorite ride. Actually, I was going to be driving Marie in the cart. Bonnie was going along with me as my groom. A groom is not required for driving a single horse but is allowed and a good idea. Bonnie is a brave soul. Bonnie and I headed off at 7:00 AM Friday. We decided to try a different route to Acadia that someone had told us about. We were taking Rt. 3 out of Augusta. It was a real nice drive but took us the same amount of time as the route we usually take. And we did not go by Dysart's which is our favorite place to stop and eat. It is so nice hauling now with the new truck. We arrived at Wildwood Stables at 10:00 AM. No one was around to check in with. There was a sign on the fist Barn that all the driving horses were to be in Barn A and the riding horses were in Barns B and C. This would work out well. Susie was coming with Cody. since she was riding and I was driving, we wouldn't be able to travel together on the trail. It was best that Marie and Cody stay as far away from each other as possible for the weekend. I was still expecting to have a hard time with Marie. She is so in love with Cody. As long as he was on the grounds at all, she would know it and probably cause a fuss wanting to be near him. We picked a stall and Bonnie got it set up while I unloaded Marie and the cart. Then, we picked out the campsite we liked. We didn't set up right away. We wanted to wait until we checked with ride management to make sure we were ok where we were. Bonnie had packed us a lunch and we relaxed at the picnic table by the barns to eat. Marsha Deleware arrived and joined us as soon as she got her horse settled in. There were still no signs of any ride management after we ate. Apparently, they were out marking the trails. I hooked Marie up to the cart and Bonnie and I went out for a little test drive. We did the Day Mountain Loop but didn't go up to the summit. Marie was wonderful. Soon after we got back, Janice Hatch, who was helping with the ride, arrived and we were able to check in. I was hungry again so Bonnie got out the rest of the lunch we hadn't finished earlier. We settled in once again at the picnic table by the barns. Heather had arrived and was walking her horse, Mariah, around. She came over and sat with us. Mariah kept coming over and blowing horse boogers all over the table. ECK! Bonnie and I went back to camp to set up and settled down to relax for a bit. Mary Batt showed up and decided to go for a ride after she got her horse settled into a stall. She'd had a problem with the stable manager, Ed Winterburg, on a previous trip. Well, she wasn't there more then 30 minutes when she was getting in trouble with Ed again! No horses are allowed in the camping area and not realizing this, Mary had led her horse into camp. Now to access the trails you do ride the horses on the road through the campsites but are not to take the horses into the campsites. When we told Mary how to access the trails, she didn't believe us and instead rode up the alley between the work horse paddocks. During the operating season this is not allowed. But, since the work horses had not yet arrived, they let us do it so Mary was saved from getting in trouble a second time.

Mary Batt & Midori

Mary Batt with Midori and Susie Reinheimer with Cody

Susie lunging Cody


Vetting was to start at 3:00 PM. The lay judge showed up on time but the vet judge was quite late. He was coming from CT so had a long drive. He arrived around 4:30 PM. Marie vetted in nicely. Susie arrived while we were waiting in line to vet in. Marie recognized Susie's trailer right away but just called once to Cody then went back to munching grass. After vetting in, Bonnie and I settled Marie into her stall with her grain and lots of hay and water. She was drinking a lot which was good. Rich Gamester was catering the food for the ride. We had hamburgers, hot dogs and salad that night. He does a good job with the food. I took Marie out for a little walk after we ate and then settled her in for the night. Bonnie and I got talking with another woman that was driving. Her name was Kathie and her horses name was Shadow. Her mother had also come along to the ride with her. Kathie was telling us how strong and "naughty" Shadow could be. I told her that Marie was usually very quiet and steady. Kathie asked if she could possibly drive behind me figuring that Marie's calm steady pace would keep Shadow quiet. I told her that would be no problem at all. After Susie got Cody settled in, she came over to relax with us at camp. After the riders/drivers meeting, Susie and I went back to camp and got out our guitars. We played and sang until nearly 10:00 PM. by the light of......the flashlight. We had quite a few people gathered at our camp before we were done. we checked the horses one last time before going to bed.

Susie Reinheimer and Bonnie Hinz relaxing in camp


I slept great as usual in my home away from home. I got up around 5:00 AM, fed Marie and started looking around for where they were serving breakfast. Bonnie joined me and we had to wander around for a while before we found that they had set up the breakfast table in barn C. There was hot and cold cereals, muffins, donuts and coffee. I had the usual oatmeal and a donut to hold it down. Marie was a bit anxious while I was harnessing her up. Bonnie held her while I hitched her to the cart. Marie kept fidgeting around but Bonnie did a great job of keeping her under control. Marie had put on some weight and the shafts of the cart were a bit tight. There was one team being driven. They were very impressive all hitched up. The drivers safety inspection was at 6:45 AM. The ride/drive was starting at 7:00 AM. I thought I had everything I needed in my cart but boy was I wrong! I had everything that I'd had at my last competitive drive but obviously they hadn't done as thorough an inspection. I was missing a quarter sheet, hoof pick, hammer and a spare halter. I don't even own a quarter sheet. Luckily Bonnie does and it happened to be in my trailer. I raced to the trailer to gather the things I needed while Bonnie was left holding one very anxious Marie. By the time I got all the required items together and passed the safety inspection, it was time to head out. Marie was very happy to finally get moving. It didn't take long for Kathie and Shadow to catch up with us. Marie was very curious about who was behind us since she couldn't see them with blinders on. Marie soon settled into a nice steady pace and all was going well until another driver came racing up from behind and flew past us without much warning. Then, just up the trail a little way, the same drive was poking down the trail at a slow walk. So, we came up on her and slowed to a walk. She kept at a slow walk so we asked if she would mind if we passed her. Kathie and I went by and were on our way down the trail. Well, within a few minutes the woman came racing by us again. Then, within a few minutes we once again came up on her poking slowly down the trail. We passed her a second time since we wanted to keep up a steady pace. This pattern went on for a while with this driver racing by us then slowing down. By the sixth or seventh time Marie started pulling and getting a little strong with me. I had to really get after her to pay attention to me. Then we came up on all the other drivers lined up on the trail going nowhere.

Cindy Ross with Marie

Kathie Robbins with Alert's Shadow

Robin Cuffey with Golden Rule & Long Hill Soprano

Anita Jack with Deacon

Clara Hendin with Rohan Nimloth

Sondra Day with Ben Putnam


The Jorden Pond House gate was closed and locked and we couldn't get through. We all waited a while and finally the first rider came along. It was Heather. The gate is only a few miles from camp so we told Heather to let Colleen know that all the drivers were stuck at the gate. There is an archway beside the gate that the riders can go through. We waited about 40 minutes for someone to come open the gate. Many of the riders passed us in this time. I tried to really distract Marie when Susie and Cody went by. It seemed to work. When the gate was opened and we started going through, the woman who had kept racing by us started having trouble with her horse. The horse was backing up and getting upset. She couldn't stop him and he ended up backing into someones pickup truck. Due to the back up at the gate, all the driver came into the hold at the same time. This makes it hard for the ride workers to get everyone through the hold and out on time. If they can't, we are credited for the time we are held up. Kathie and I got an extra 15 minutes. We headed off on the second half of the drive in good shape. One of the things I had told Bonnie to remember when she agreed to come with me was that if anything happened, to bail out of the cart as quickly as possible. Well, at one point we were passing another cart and we were on the drop off side of the trail. Bonnie must have felt we were getting too close to the edge of the trail because she suddenly started climbing over me getting ready to bail out. I could see she was taking my advise to heart and it was going to be every woman for herself on this drive!

Acadia National Park wouldn't allow Colleen, the ride manager, to put up any marking ribbons on the trees or any of the usual paper plates with arrows on them that are traditionally used at the rides to mark the trails. She was only allowed to put up little white arrows on the signposts at the intersections. That was fine except someone thought it would be funny to remove a few of the markers. So, as you can guess, Kathie and I got to an intersection, saw no marker and assumed we were to go straight. A little further on Shadow started indicating he was thirsty. We stopped at a little stream. We couldn't get the horses to the water in the carts. Kathie saved the day with her collapsible bucket she had with her. Bonnie held Shadow while Kathie got water for Shadow. Then Bonnie held Marie while I got water for her. Both horses drank a lot. We were soon on our way again with much happier horses. We were almost to the end of the "Around the Mountain" trail when we met up with a group of riders coming down the trail in our direction. That was not supposed to happen. And I don't know why they call this particular trial the "AROUND the Mountain" trail since it so obviously goes OVER THE MOUNTAIN!! We had already done this trail once on the first half of the dive. The riders told us that we had all taken a wrong turn and had to go back to the last intersection we'd passed. This was going to add about 8 miles to our ride/drive. The riders took off at a fast pace in an effort to make up for the time they lost. Kathie and I turned the horses around and headed back. It was going to be far harder for Kathie and me to make up our lost time since we couldn't safely travel as fast as the rider with our carts. We hadn't gone very far when we came across Heather coming down the trail in our direction. Her horse, Mariah, started freaking out when she saw our carts heading towards her. Heather jumped off and started yelling, "I've been lost twice today, I've fallen off, I've been dragged and I'm not going to turn around again! They will just have to come pick me up with a horse trailer!" Well, since no motorized vehicles are allowed on the trails, we knew this was not going to happen. We got Heather calmed down and back on her horse and she headed back with us. It wasn't long before she started saying she was very thirsty. I looked back and she truly did not look well. She hadn't brought any water with her and was getting dehydrated. Bonnie and I gave her our water. We ended up going over the mountain on the "Around the Mountain" trail three times that day. We just couldn't make up all our lost time and actually came in 5 minutes past our disqualification time. We didn't know how ride management would handle this situation since it wasn't our fault the markers had been removed. Colleen rode out to confirm the markers were gone and we were not disqualified. YEAH! Bonnie and I got Marie unhitched and sponged her down outside. Then I put her in her stall to cool down. Marie passed her P&R and trot out with flying colors despite the extra miles going over the mountain. The only problem was the shafts of the cart had rubbed her sides and there were swollen sore spots on each side of her. I felt sooooo bad when I saw this. Marie had never given me any indication that she was feeling any discomfort. I applied cold water to her side to make her more comfortable and keep the swelling down. Bonnie and I had to figure out something to do with the cart or we weren't going to be going out for the second day of the ride. Luckily, my cart has metal shafts and we were able to bend them out. If only we had thought to do this to begin with. Sigh.... The woman that had been racing by us all day had broken the frame on her cart. She had one of the men look at it to see if he could patch it up so she could go out the second day. Bonnie, the sweetheart that she is, cleaned out Marie's stall for me. We took the pads off Marie's harness, hosed them down and cleaned the harness. Then Bonnie and I went back to camp and hug out relaxing while munching on snacks. Susie had taken a couple of people to the public showers to clean up. Bonnie and I didn't go since driving the cart doesn't make you hot and sweaty like riding does. Supper was great that night. We had a choice of lobster or chicken. There was salad, rolls, clam chowder, potato and corn on the cob. After supper I walked Marie around for a while before going back to the trailer for the night. It wasn't long before the guitars came out and we had another sing-a-long. We didn't stay up quite as late as the previous night since we were all tired.

We were up early again. It had rained during the night and was still very foggy with a heavy mist. The rider/drives meeting was at 6:30 AM. It ran a bit last since people were a bit paranoid about getting lost again. We drivers had to really rush to get the horses harnessed, hitched and through the safety inspection on time. The shafts of my cart are fine now that Bonnie and I have bent them out. Marie's sides looked ok except for some missing hair. I went out a couple minutes late. Kathie was right behind me. Since the second day of the ride/drive is only 20 miles, there would be no hold. Things were going well so Kathie asked if I would mind if she and Shadow led for a while. That made Marie very happy as now she could see her driving partner.

Cindy Ross and Bonnie Hinz with Marie on trail

We had to stop once when Shadow broke his tie down. Bonnie tied it to his breast collar to keep it out of the way. While we were stopped we all took the opportunity for a quick trip out into the woods to.......to check out the wildlife.... Bonnie, once again, was a big help with holding the horses. Because of the mist, Kathie and I had both taken off our glasses. We had to be very careful at the intersections watching the markers. At one point we did take a wrong turn but realized it right away. We turned around which put me ahead of Kathie and Shadow. It was just a short stretch back to the intersession where we had gone wrong. I pulled down a side trail to get out of Kathie's way so she could take the lead again. Marie thought I wanted her to go in the opposite direction of her new friend Shadow and had a temper tantrum. She reared up when I wouldn't let her turn around immediately. Luckily, I had my whip in hand and quickly gave her a smack on the butt. It surprised her and she bolted forward a short distance. Bonnie was already half way out of the cart when I got Marie stopped. Bonnie was obviously taking no chances. Marie behaved after that. I guess she can't be perfect all the time. Shadow had been getting strong with Kathie and she was getting tired of fighting with him so Marie and I took the lead again. Shortly after that, along came the "racing woman". She flew by us without warning in a rather narrow spot narrowly missing us and startling our horses. And, sure enough, we soon came up on her poking slowly down the trail in front of us. We just slowed way down to give her time to get well ahead of us. That worked since we didn't see her again until just before the finish line. About 2 miles from the finish, Bonnie was in the process of cleaning my glasses for me when we heard Kathie yell, "Help me, I need help!" We had just rounded a sharp corner and for some reason Shadow decided not to finish the turn and had gone into the ditch. There was a huge rock right in that particular spot and it had jammed between the wheel and body of the cart. The cart stopped and threw Shadow into the rock gashing one back leg. He jumped back out of the ditch but couldn't go anywhere with the cart wedged on the rock. Bonnie immediately jumped out of my cart and went to Kathie's aid. Bonnie really kept her head and approached Shadow calmly and quietly taking hold of his bridle. Kathie, of course, was a bit shook up and wasn't sure what to do at first. They couldn't back Shadow out of the ditch and off the rock without risking further injury to Shadow. Kathie got out of the cart and was able to lift the wheel over the end of the rock while Bonnie slowly led Shadow forward and back onto the road. Once again, Bonnie saved the day! I don't think I will ever do a competitive drive without a groom! The gash on Shadow's leg looked nasty but he didn't seem at all lame and it wasn't bleeding much. We were close to camp and running short on time so we decided to move right along as quickly as we safely could and just get back. We finished with only a few minutes to spare. Bonnie and I got Marie unhitched and Bonnie took her in her stall to sponge her off. Marie's pulse was a bit higher then desired but her respiration was low and she was fine. Her trot out was great. I knew I'd lose points for the missing hair from the shaft rubs though. We had another great meal provided by Rich. Honey ham, baked potato, asparagus, and cookies. Susie, as usual, was rushing around trying to get everything packed up as quickly as possible so she could bolt for home. We had the award ceremony right after the meal. If I had fixed the shafts on my cart for the first day of the drive I would have won the driving division!! AARRGHHH! I was so mad at myself. Well, we all knew how well Marie had done. She is an amazingly tough horse with a big heart. We did get high point rookie driver, high point rookie horse as well as high point grade horse. It didn't take long for Bonnie and I to pack up. Bonnie, the woman sent from heaven, stripped down Maries stall while I packed up the trailer. What a great ride/drive. I really enjoyed driving with Kathie, she was so much fun. I hope to see her again soon. Her mom was so nice too.

Acadia 50 ME 6/7-8 6/S-F
Judges: Dr. Gorra - J Lorimer
1p. long Hill Soprano / Cuffey, Robyn
1p. the Golden Rule
1s. Rophan Nimloth / Hendin, Clara
2s. Ben Putnam / Day, Sondra
2s. Marie / Ross, Cynthia (score 94.50)
4s. Deacon / Jack, Anita
5s Alert's Shadow / Robbins, Kathie

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