Fryeburg 2 day 50 CTR Fryeburg, ME July 1999

Another exciting adventure. Susie and Bonnie came to this ride. Joanie was also supposed to come but a few days before the ride, her horse Porsha slipped and tore a tendon while out on a short training ride. Bummer! Joanie had not had very good luck this year. We followed Susie to Fryeburg since she claimed she knew the best 'short cut' to get there. I'm not sure it was actually any shorter then the way Bonnie and I usually go but it was certainly no longer. And it was a very nice drive. We got to the Fryeburg fairgrounds around 3:00 PM. The Fryeburg fairground is very large and beautifully kept. We had the option of renting stalls or setting up portable pens for the horses. We chose to rent stalls. It is just so much easier and less worry if we leave camp for any amount of time. The barns are lovely. They are shed row type barns. The one we were in has just been built. There are a lot of stalls in each barn. We were able to back our trailers right up to the barn in front of our stalls and camp there. Everything is so handy with water spigots every 3rd stall and even electric hookups. We arrived early enough so that we could let the horses settle in for a while before taking them to be vetted in. There are over 40 riders here between the 2 distances offered making this the biggest ride we've been to so far. The vetting in went fine. The usually back end sloppiness and stabby right leg of Marie was noted by the vet judge but the judge was not too concerned about it. This time it was Shannon they were concerned with. I couldn't see anything wrong with her but they felt she was striding short in the back. Oh no......Susie's horse Cody vetted in fine and we were all cleared to start the ride in the morning. When I took Marie back to settle her into her stall, I found a chicken egg in a corner of her stall. There are a bunch of bantam chickens running loose here.


I had not realized that tonight's supper was included in our entry fee but it was. We had a wonderful meal of baked ziti, salad, bread and drinks and several home made deserts. It was soooooo hot out today. The forecast for tomorrow is for even hotter temperatures. Ride management decided to have an early start time of 6:00 AM so we can get a lot of the ride done before the worst of the heat. I have decided I am going to try to give Marie some electrolytes in the morning because of the predicted heat. Bonnie will give Shannon some also and we'll see how it goes. After supper we took the horses out and walked them then let them graze a bit, then settled them back into their stalls for the night. We loafed around in front of the barn until dark. It was still a million degrees and Susie decided she just had to have a shower right then and there. She just stripped out of her clothes right in front of the barn and took a shower with the water hose between the stalls. Next thing I knew Bonnie was buck naked and showering too. Good thing we were the only ones camping on the back side of the barn, and there were no lights. Though I'm not sure those two streaker would have cared anyway! I showered also, but a bit more discretely and without stripping naked. Go ahead, call me a prude. I didn't know I'd be camping in a nudist colony! I had brought a little fridge and Bonnie brought some booze to put in it. So we had a few beers and wine coolers then headed to bed.

We were up before the sun this morning. Not before the rooster started crowing though. The rooster bothered some people but I'm used to hearing roosters crowing so didn't really notice it. We fed the horses by flashlight and I gave Marie some electrolytes. A nice continental breakfast was provided for us. Not quite as good as what we had in Acadia but pretty close. There were donuts, muffins, cereal, coffee and tea. We were tacked up in plenty of time. Susie was in the starting order just ahead of Bonnie and me. She decided to wait and go out with us. That is allowed but her official start time would not change and would be two minutes ahead of us. She wanted to start with us in the hopes that Cody would stay calmer. Soon we were called to go. We had not gone more then 1/4 mile when we suddenly heard this big snap. Susie's stirrup iron had broken!! Of all the odds things to happen. She could not do the ride with no stirrup so she turned back in hopes of finding someone that had an extra one she could borrow. Bonnie and I had to just keep going and hope she got things worked out.

It did not get nearly as hot as they predicted it would. It stayed overcast which kept the temperature down. Susie caught up with us before we got to the hold. There was a 4-H event being held at the fairgrounds and one of the 4-H kids let Susie borrow a stirrup iron. Susie tried to stay with us but Cody was too excited and she ended up going ahead of us. Marie didn't drink at any of the water stops and when we got into the hold she was a bit dehydrated. This is the first time she had not drank well and the first time I've ever given her electrolytes. I am not impressed.


Susie's horse was inverted at the hold. That is when the respiration is higher then their pulse. This can be a sign of a potential problem not not necessairily. Susie stayed in the hold over her 20 minutes to see if Cody's respiration's would come back to normal. It did and she left the hold with Bonnie and me. Bonnie and I were about 6 min. late getting out of the hold ourselves. There just didn't seem to be enough time to do all that needed to be done. Marie usually needs the full 10 min. to pulse down so that only leaves the last 10 minutes to take care of vetting, metabolic check, feeding, personal needs and getting the bridle back on. So, I knew at this point we were a little behind on time. And Susie was even further behind so once again she had to ride on ahead of us.

Bonnie and I nearly went over our time. We literally galloped across the finish line with just a minute to spare. We hated to to that and felt kind of stupid for not managing our time better. You should walk the last mile into camp to let their P&R's come down. I guess we have some tough little mares though as both still ended with acceptable P&R's. Susie had decided she simply was not going to make her time. But, Steve Rojek caught up with her. He is an international endurance rider with tons of experience. He encouraged Susie and pushed her to make her time and got her to the finish. She made it and Cody was fine. She was thrilled for the chance to ride with Steve and grateful for his help and encouragement. And Susie just happened to have one of her endurance riding books with her that had Steve's picture in it. She asked him to sign it for her. He seemed a bit embarrassed but was very gracious about it. Marie and Cody did fine with their trot outs. The vet judge still had come concerns about Shannon and told Bonnie they wanted to recheck her in the morning. Bonnie wasn't too happy about this but what can you do. I'm sure all will be fine. It turned out the early ride time was a good thing. Though the temperature didn't get as bad a predicted, we had quite a rain storm not long after we got done riding. It didn't last long though. We just hung out at camp. Susie and I played guitar under the barn overhang and it was fun. For supper tonight, we had a choice of hot dogs or hamburgers. There was also an excellent fruit cup, drinks and brownies. We went to the award ceremony for the 25 mile riders. Then we all went and took 'proper' showers tonight. No naked ladies running around camp. We took the horses for a walk around the race track then later around the barns and camp and let them graze a bit. The ride was going to start early again tomorrow so we headed to bed before it got too late.

We were up before the crack of dawn again this morning. Bonnie took Shannon for her re-check and was ok to start the ride. The vet judge was still concerned but could not actually justify pulling her from the ride. Today the starting order had Bonnie and Susie starting together and I was in the pair starting 2 minutes ahead of them. I considered waiting like Susie had yesterday. Then I decided it would be good for Marie to start without Shannon. She needs to stop being so glued to Shannon everywhere we go. I knew that Bonnie and Susie would likely catch up to me quickly. Marie was not happy by this turn of events. She hesitated about going at first, but I got after her and made her go. She was then wonderful and traveled along like a real trooper. Of course she hated every second of it and neighed, whinnied and moaned until Susie and Bonnie caught up to me but otherwise she behaved perfectly. Cody was much better today. He was calm and quiet so Susie was able to stay with us the whole ride today. We also paced ourselves much better today. It was misting and sprinkling for most of the ride. It was hot enough to the misting felt good and was nice for the horses, though the mist did keep Bonnie, with her glasses, blind for most of the day. I had my contacts in so was fine. Marie was doing great today and drinking like normal and traveling strongly. I did not use electrolytes today. Just before the hold, there was a spot that looked good to go down to the river. Susie want down to check it out and it seemed fine. I then went down beside Susie to see if Marie wanted to drink. Just then a few riders caught up to us and decided to join us. Marie didn't want a drink, so I went back up on the trail to make room. Just as I got to the trail, I heard a big splash behind me. The sand bar had collapsed on one of the woman that had gone down to the river and both her and her horse went right out of sight for a moment in the water. They both managed to get out ok and were fine but it gave us a good scare. At the hold I had to do an extra trot out with Marie due to concerns over her 'stabby' right hind. We were allowed to continue. We didn't get out of the hold on time today again. But, we had gotten into the hold in good time so it was ok. We headed out and set a perfect pace for the rest of the ride. We even had a little time to go down to the Saco river in a marked and safe place. We had to ride through a camp someone had set up on the beach but the occupants of the camp seemed too drunk to object. We were able to walk the last mile to the finish as we liked to do. At the end, our P&R's were good. We then went for our hands on and while we were waiting in line, we could see the black clouds rolling in. We had just finished with our hands on when it hit. It poured buckets. We all, along with our horses, quickly ducked into one of the barns where the 4-H kids were. That barn had a nice wide aisle for us to all fit in. We waited for the worst of it to pass but still ended up doing our trot outs in the rain. That's ok, a little rain wouldn't kill us. We decided we preferred this to bad heat. For supper tonight there was fish chowder which was delicious. Then there was the award ceremony. Bonnie got 3rd place in the light weight division. I got 3rd in the heavy weight division and Susie got 4th in the middle weight division. We then packed up and had an uneventful trip home. Another great ride!!

Fryeburg 50 Ride 7-24/25 23/S-19/F
1 Sir Narionn / S Corr
2 SR Finally / S Rojek
3 WCM Beaumark Morgan / J Greenall
4 Wildwoods Liralyn / J Sherman
5 Nakala / J Stratmeyer
5 Alesar / S Greenall
5 SA King Hofflin / V Austin
8 Anchor Hill Alan / M Gamester
9 Alora Danin / K Brunjes
9 Marie / C Ross (score 94.00)
11 HFA Silver Savanah / M Deleware
12 Xavier Sunnyachers / S Reinheimer
12 Jericho / C Sandowski
12 Shannon / B Hinz
15 SA Lady Nevada / H Bonneau
16 Missoula Nac / G Coassin
17 Kofaxx / A Welles
18 Linkk / B Zsiga
Comp Inde Khaldir / L Crowley

Acadia 2 day 50 CTR Seal Harbor, ME June 1999

Well Bonnie and I are on another big adventure. The Acadia 2 day 50 mile ride. We didn't get off to the start we had orignially planned. Wednesday the 9th, I didn't really get any sleep. I was busy doing 'things' in the morning, then I had a P.E.T meeting for Adam in the afternoon. I went to work that night. The next morning Bonnie wanted to go riding. It really was a beautiful day so I went. I decided that I would call in sick to work that night. WRONG! When I called, the only person there was the new Lead Dock person. He is new to the department. Sonya, the Control Clerk had already called in sick, our team leader was on vacation and the performance leader was not going to be in until 1:00 AM. Clint, who had answered the phone, was in quite a panic. So, I told him I would come in and run the office. I had been nearly two days without sleep and I was way too tired to be safe operating a machine. Thankfully, I had already loaded the slide in camper onto the truck as at lunch time, I went out and took a quick nap in it. Then, on the way home in the morning, I had to stop at the Christian radio station where I volunteer and do the prize mailings. They have been having their 'spring cleaning' and have been giving away prizes like crazy. There was a ton to mail. When I finaly got home, I just had to catch a few hours of sleep before heading to Acadia as it's a three hour drive to get there. So, Bonnie and I headed out a little later then planned. This was the first time Bonnie and I have ever been to Acadia and Wildwood Stables. I led the way with my trusty map and we had an uneventful drive up. We stopped at Dysart's Truck Stop in Bangor and had lunch/supper. The 'vetting in' was from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. We arrived at Wildwood Stables at 5:45 PM. There was one other rider that had not arrived yet so managment had us settle our horses in and wait to vet in when the other rider arrived.



Wildwood Stable is really neat and really caters to the carriage horses. There are horses there all season that are used for public carriage and wagon rides. There are three portable barns. The older one has a solid tin roof. the two others are canvas covered with six stalls in each of the barns. These were the nicer barns. We ended up in the older barn as we were nearly the last to arrived. And of course it was the barn farthest from camp. There were already two horses in that barn. The stalls are back to back with the doors all facing the outside. The two horses already in the barn were in the middle stalls. I assmed so they could easily see eachother. Wildwood provided the shavings. We picked two end stalls side by side, dumped in shavings and put the horses in. Well, there is a solid divider between the two stalls Shannon and Marie were in and Marie went right out of her mind. She couldn't see Shannon. It did not matter that Shannon was right beside her, she couldn't SEE her. We ended up moving Shannon to the other end so that Marie could see her through the bars. Though now there was a horse between them. But, all that mattered to Marie was that she could SEE Shannon. Silly mare!

We vetted in sometime around 7:00 PM. Everything went well. The vet judge, Denise Ross and the lay judge, Abby Bloxom, were real nice. So much better then judge at our first ride. They did a very thorough hands on and did not miss a thing. They found every bump, scrape, and missing hair. Which is exactally what you want them to do at the vetting in. Because if someting is missed on vetting in yet found at the final vetting, you might loose points for a change in condidion. After the hands on, we did our trot out. The vet judge said all looked good. Because I had such a problem at my first ride, I asked the vet if she noticed anything at all wrong with Marie. She told me that Marie stabbed out with her hind leg and didn't engage her hindquarters well. But felt it was due to her conformation and nothing she would call a lameness. That was exactally what I had been trying to tell the vet judge at Bog Brook. AGH.


After vetting in, we settled Shannon and Marie into their stalls, then settled ourselves into our campsite. I don't have a step to get into the camper. I've always just used anything handy and lately I've been using an old muck bucket. It's taller then a water bucket and works quite well. And the fact that I have ridiculously longs lets also helps. Well, the muck bucket had been full of rocks at home so I had grabbed my newer one as I was too lazy to empty the old one. The newer one, though the same brand, is obviously not as well made..... The first time I stepped onto it, I broke right through it. Bonnie and I scrounged around camp for something else to use as a step. We came up with a milk crate. That was fine for me and my long legs but it made for quite a long step for Bonnie from the crate into the camper. The first time she stepped out of the camper, she tipped it over and took a nose dive. I'm just sorry I didn't get a better veiw of it but I was in the camper and just saw her suddenly dissappear. Luckily she didn't hurt anything more then her pride. She has sworn that before we camp the next time, we will have a REAL step.

We didn't do anything fancy for supper, as if that is a surprise. We just heated up some cans of soup. We had enough snack food to last a week. And I had made up some of what is becoming our traditional trail mix to snack on also. I usually make it at home but this time had just thrown all the ingredients into the camper. This mix turned out even more outstanding then ever. The secret ingredients are (I should probably keep this a secret...) Gold Fish crackers, M&M's, dried cranberries, dried pineapples, dried mango, banana chips, dry roasted peanuts, mixed dried berries) Well there, now the secret is out.

The only other excitment we had that night was when Bonnie lost her tooth. She took it out when she brushed her teeth and forgot where she put it. She was outside with the flashlight looking all over for that thing. The ladies in the campsite next to us even came to help out but Bonnie wouldn't admit to them what she was looking for and declined their services. It turned out she had put the tooth in her bag in the camper. Phew! For a while I feared we would have to go to bed with that thing running loose just waiting for a chance to sneak up and bit us in the night.


We had a quiet night. I slept well but I was so tired I probably would have slept well if I'd put my sleeping bag right out on the driveway on the tar and used a rock for a pillow. We got up at 5:00 AM to feed the horses. The ride provided a breakfast of fruit, muffins, Bagels, hot and cold cereal, coffee, tea and juice. I, of course had oatmeal. The rider's meeting was at 6:30 to let us know the rules of the ride and give us our trail maps. The competitons was also for drivers but there was only one driver. The driver was the first out at 7:00 AM. Then, ten minutes later the riders started going out in pairs two minutes apart. Bonnie was number 12 and I was lucky 13. We got off to a good start. We traveled slowly at first. We were totally blown away by how beautiful the carriage roads are. There is over fifty miles of carriage roads. They are 16' wide with a broken rock surface. The stone work of the bridges, of which there are quite a few, is just fabulous. True works of art. Marie didn't appreciate the stone work quite as much as I did as she thought all those stones were scary horse eating boogers. She was not too bad though and mostly did some heavy gawking.

We had a great day. It was clear and sunny. We went over the summit of a couple mountains and the views were breathtaking. We had to stop several times along the way to take pictures like a couple of tourists. Needless to say, we had to move along a bit faster the second part of the ride to make up time. We rode 30 miles the first day and had 5 hrs. and 30 miutes to complete the ride that day. We made our time fairly easily. The hold was 15 mile into the ride and back at the camp. We then did a different 15 mile loop for the 2nd half of the ride. Both horses P&R's were excellent at the hold and at the end. Both horse also trotted out fine at the end a. Marie had already had a ridge of bumps on her back when we'd arrived. They were definitely worse at the end of the ride today. They didn't seem sensitive to the touch so I didn't think they were saddle sores. I am not quite sure what is causing them. We were provided sandwiches for lunch and all in all, things went well for our first day. That evening we were provided with a wonderful meal of grilled chicken, green beans, corn, rolls, baked potatoe, salad and pie. We all ate together which was nice. It gave us a chance to get to know some of the people doing this sport. Everyone has been so nice and supportive of us newbies. I took Marie for a walk this evening just to work on getting her used to Shannon being out of her sight. Marie did not like this at all. She whinnied and moaned her fool head off. She had every horse in the camp calling. She behaved pretty well otherwise. Silly, silly mare. She seems to be ok when she knows Shannon is not with us. But, if she is sure Shannon is nearby but can't see her, she panics.


Later in the afternoon I had to interrupt my little vacation to sit down and do my homework for the business writing course I'm taking. Boring! There's been way too much homework with this course. Bonnie lounged around and read a book about endruance riding that Susie let her borrow. This evening, Bonnie and I took Shannon and Marie out walking and let them graze in the little field. Later we made some coffee and sat out for a while. Eventually, the no-see-em's drove us in. It was bed time anyway. Overall, the bugs have not been bad at all. The nice thing about having the camper is having a private place to take a sponge bath. After I had bathed, I jumped right into bed. I called out to Bonnie that she could come in to the camper now. Bonnie opened the door, started to step into the camper, then suddenly jumped back out like she'd just seen the worlds biggest spider or something. Well, I had quite rudely, though accidently, left my undies laying right in the middle of the floor. Ooops, but geesh, it was only underwear....... Bonnie plucked up her courage, carefully climbed back into the camper, gingerly picked up the undies and hurled them in my face! Boy, talk about rude. I may lose my undies but at least I always know where all my teeth are.


Another good night of sleep. The camper is very comfortable. We were up early again to get the girls fed. One of the two women with horses in our barn didn't think she would be able to ride today. When she had finished yesterday, her horses pulse had been high and didn't come down well. The vet also thought the horse looked a bit lame and wanted to re-check him this morning. The woman thought the horse did still look a bit lame and decided to just pull from the ride. They were very disappointed as it was there first competition. The ride manager came over and talked to them and convinced them to let the vet take a look at the horse. The vet thought the horse looked fine and encouraged them to stay and ride. She said they could re-evalute the horse at any point along the trail if there was a problem and she could pull then. They decided to give it a try and the horse finished the ride with no trouble at all.

We were once again provided with a nice breakfast, had our riders meeting and were soon tacked up and ready to do. Today we would do 20 miles with no hold. The bumps on Marie's back were still there and about the same as last night. We were a little later getting started this morning. The driver went out at about 7:20 AM. Ten minutes later the riders were started as yesterday in pairs two minutes apart but in reverse order. It was very overcast and foggy today. We only had 2 hrs. 30 min to 3 hrs. to complete todays ride so we knew we had to move along faster today to make our time. The ride started with a loop to the top of Day Mountain. I'm sure the view would have been great if we had been a clear day. The rest of the ride was on Rockafeller roads.
These roads go right down by the ocean and are just wonderful. We had to keep up a steady trot and canter the entire 20 miles to make time and we just barely made it at that. Bonnie and I really have our horses in great shape and they finished easily. When they took the horses P&R's 30 minutes after we finished, Marie's were lower then I'd ever seen it be. Strangely, the bumps on Marie's back were smaller. I thought they would be much worse after another day of riding. Now came the hard part of the day. It can take quite a while to get through the vetting on all the horses. You have to be ready when they call you but it can be a long wait. They did all the trot outs first in order of finish. Then they do the hands on in the same order. When we were finally done, we settled the girls into their stalls. We were then provided with yet another lovely meal of spaghetti and meatballs, salad, rolls and pie. Then came the award ceremony. They had the ceremony by the barn under an awning. Bonnie and I settled ourselves on the stone wall. They started out with 6th place ribbons and worked up from there. I placed 4th in my divison. Then they gave out breed awards. Bonnie got high point grade horse. She also won high point rookie. By now I was a bit confused and a little excited. After all, we both were riding grade horses and were rookie riders. But, I had already gotten a division ribbon but Bonnie had not. So, how could she have higher points them me in rookie and grade horse unless...........she was reserve or grand champion...... and she was GRAND CHAMPION!!!

When they announced Bonnie's name she was stunned. She nearly fell off the wall. I was absolutely busting with pride for her and her little horse. I must say it put some noses out of joint. Here was a rookie rider on a small 16 year old $800 mutt of a horse winning grand champion. It just totally made my day. Bonnie won a nice plaque, a folding camp chair, a spray bottle, a container of electrolytes, a coffee cup and, of course, the BIG ribbon. I think I was more excited then if I'd won myself. I always knew she had a talented and athletic horse. I did remind her that I had helped her pick out that champion horse. And that I take care of that champion horse so the championship was kind of half mine.... I'm just kind of surprised her head fit through the camper door tonight. Bonnie and I decided to stay over an extra day so we could relax and enjoy the evening. And we would sneak in another ride in the morning. It was our first time here and we didn't want to leave. Nor did Bonnie really want to drive home in the dark.

Bonnie and I cornered the vet and lay judge to let them know what a wonderful job we thought they had done. We ended up having a long and informative talk with them. Abby Bloxom was the lay judge and has been riding endurance and CTR for many years. She told me the bumps on Marie's back were pressure bumps. She said my saddle seemed to fit fine, but that I needed to stop riding like I was in a western pleasure class and adjust to this new sport. She said both Bonnie and I needed to sit a little more forward and lighter in the saddle. We needed to post to the trot and absorb more of our weight in our knees rather then on our horses backs. Both judges thought we had wonderful horses and had done a great job conditioning them. I asked Abby if she though Marie could do endurance riding. She said Marie definitely had the strength and ability but that I would likely never be a top ten finisher as Marie is not particularily fast. But, she encouraged me to try it when I though Marie and I were ready. She said it is very good to do 2 years of CTR before going to endurance riding. It takes a long time to build up bone strength. Muscle and cardio build quite cast but not bone. Abby also cleared up some confusion on the need, or not, for electrolytes. The said the horses don't really need electrolytes for CTR distance. But, if you did give them, at the end of the ride, you may have a horse that looks a little fresher and you may have a trot out that looks a little prettier for the judge. But, a horse will naturally replace electrolytes on it's own within hours. We were also advised to be more agressive with our sponging at the water stops. Still, with Bonnie winning grand champion, we can't be doing things too wrong.

It was foggy this morning. It looked like it might rain. We decided to take our chances and ride anyway. I'm glad we did, it turned out to be a nice day. We went back on the Rockerfeller roads since it was too foggy to get any views from the higher elevations. We just did a short slow ride to give the girls a break. They had already worked hard for us this weekend. Bonnie packed up the horse trailer while I cleaned out stalls. We had an uneventful drive home. It was extremely windy so we drove slower then normal. We stopped at Dysart's for lunch. We were smart enough to offer the horses water this time, unlike the trip up. Marie drank a whole bucket. Shannon didn't want any but when we got home she thought she was dying and made quite a scene at the water tub which was unfortunately empty. She hopped both front feet into it, tripped, the tub flipped over and tangled with her back feet. She ended up doing a summersault over it. She then jumped up and was outraged that the tub was STILL empty. After all, a grand champion should get better service then this!!! I had to go out and guard the tub so she wouldn't hurt herself or the tub and send Bonnie rushing to turn the water on! Silly horse!

It was a great weekend!


Acadia 50 ride 6/12-13 1999 19/S 17/F
1 Shannon / B Hinz
2 FR Midori / M Batt
3 HFA Sliver Savana / M Deleware
4 SA King Hofflin / V Austin
5 Merceedes Magic / S. Whitcomb
6 Callander Ocassio / K DiPietro
6 JJ ? C Doughty
8 Kahula D&D's Boy / P Bell
10 LWF Paljoe Promise / M Farnum
12 ? / Marnie Lord
12 Marie / C Ross (score 93.50)
14 Anchor Hill Alan / M Gamester
16 ? / Mattie Lord
17 GA Abadi Jasars

Acadia 50 Drive
1 Ben PUtnam / Sondra Day

Bog Brook 25 CTR Standish, ME May 1999

Well, we survived our first competition. I must say it was very interesting. Bonnie and I arrived Satrday afternoon. The place where we camped was lovely. It was in a nice big flat field. There was plenty of room for everyone to set up camp and corrals for their horses.
We had the horses 'vetted' in that evening so we wouldn't have to rush around in the morning. Susie and Joanie were had also come to the ride. Susie is the only one of us that has done a CTR before. It was the vet judge's first time judging a CTR. She had the personality of a wet dish rag. She told Joanie that she would have to have her horse, Porsha, re-evaluated in the morning for a suspected lameness. She hemmed and hawed over Susie's horse, Cody, claiming she was seeing some lameness in him. Bonnie's horse, Shannon, passed with flying colors. She didn't really say anything to me so I figured I was good to go. Joanie was really worried about Porsha but no one could see any problem other then the vet. We have all worked so hard conditioning our horses for this, not to mention the $50 non-refundable entry fee.

Bonnie and I have a real nice portable electric fence unit that packs up, nice and neat, into a duffle bag. It sets up into a turnout plenty big enough for both Shannon and Marie. And we both know from personal experience that the electric charger is working just fine! I am glad we purchased it as it allows for a good nights sleep.

Bonnie hauled our trailer with her truck and I drove my truck with the slide in camper on it. We were really appreciating the camper by morning as it got down to 32 degrees! Burrrrrrr. We were quite cosy in the camper.
Susie and Joanie were in a tent and they didn't have sleeping bags rated for such cold temperatures. They said they both got a bit cold during the night. If I had known, I'd have invited them into the camper. Though it only sleeps three. We made sure to get coffee ready for them when they got up to help get them warmed up. The camper does have a heater in it but I've never used it. I'd rather try it out at home to make sure it's working properly. With my luck, I'd blow it up and burn the truck and camper to the ground.

Joanie took Porsha up to her re-check while the rest of us were tacking up. The vet said Porsha was still lame and pulled Joanie from the competition. Poor Joanie was so dissappointed, though more from worry about her horse as not being able to ride. She was such a good sport though and kept her spirits up and helped the rest of us get our horses ready. Since Susie had come with her and was planning to ride with her, she wanted to pull from the ride but Joanie would not hear of it.

Then...... we hear someone yelling, "number 8, where is number 8...". that was me!! The vet was calling me back to have Marie checked again for lameness. She had not said anything to me when I vetted in the previous night so there I was with my horse all tacked up. I went over and the vet, of course, told me I would have to untack Marie. I then told her if she had let me know I had to have Marie re-checked I would not have tacked her up to begin with so she could just deal with it. She did. She had me trot Marie out once, and then a second time. She hemmed and hawed and finally decided that she would let me start the ride, but told me she would be watching me closely and would likely end up pulling me from the ride at the hold. I know Marie and I knew she was not lame and at this point the vet and I are both pretty disgusted with eachother. Marie does not have perfect conformation. She is built heavy in front with a large head, heavy neck, massive shoulder and little withers. And she has hindquarters that are too small for the rest of her, so, she travels heavy on the front and is close and 'stabby' with her hind legs. So, she is not a pretty trotter like all the Arabs that are the horses of choice for this sport. Nor did it help that my horse seemed to be as fond of the vet as I was and was acting very badly every time the vet came near her. Marie pranced, danced, reared and even kicked at her once. I have never seen Marie kick at, or even look like she was thinking about kicking at anyone in the 7 years I have owned her. I was so embarassed and I wanted to thrash her for such bad behavior. But, the vetting was the only time the whole weekend that Marie acted badly. She didn't fuss with anyone else around her such as the lay judge or the P&R crew.

The ride was very nice. The trails were lovely and we actually had more then enough time for such easy terrain. Bonnie and I had to walk the last six miles and even hang around and let the horses graze on some grass in order to not finish too early and take a time penalty. We could have easily done the ride in about three hours. Bonnie and Shannon placed 3rd in their division. Marie and I placed 5th in our division. I thought that was very good for our first ride. There were 26 riders. I would have done even better but the vet took off points for Marie's bad behavior but she got a perfect score otherwise. Sigh.



I made an appointment with my vet to get a complete lameness exam a few days after the ride. Marie is completely sound. The vet judge at the ride was seeing just what I thought, that Marie is not a pretty mover and that is just the way she is and will alway be. My vet did suggest a few things I could do to help develop Marie's hindquarters such as dressage work or driving her. I felt better after seeing my vet as my next competition has an entry fee of $140. I don't want to spend that kind of money just to have my horse pulled for lameness. There is a different vet jude at the next ride so hopefully I won't have this problem again.

Bog Brook 25 5/16/99 26/S 23/F
1 Linkk / B Zeiga
2 High Country Pepper / M Deleware
3 FR Midori / M Batt
4 Izusu / S Niedoroda
4 WB Precious / L Crowley
6 LWF Paljoe Promise / M Farnum
7 Cormac Duke / P Snow
9 Shannon / B Hinz
9 Xavier Sunnyacres / S Reinheimer
11 Anchor Hill Alan / M Gamester
14 Especial Edition / L Prentice
14 Kineo
16 Thunder / M Veinneau
17 Marie / C Ross (score 89.25)
Comp Rolling Stone / H Moss

Evergreen Valley with MTRA 1996

August 27, 1996
We arrived at camp without mishap. That really worried me especially since I'm hauling the trailer with an older truck and Bonnie is driving Fred's old Ford Ranger PU with the camper on it. The wimpy 4 cylinder was not really meant to carry anything as heavy as the camper and it took a certain amount of skill to manage it. I was proud of Bonnie. Things just never go so smooth for me. Hummmmm......Well, we did miss our turn for the camp due to some confusing directions but got back on track quickly so it was no big deal. We got camp set up in pretty short order. It took a few minutes of head scratching to set up the portable electric fence unit we had purchased. I finally had to break down and read the instructions and then managed fine. Bonnie couldn't help me since she had to babysit Polly who was pawing and acting up while tied to the trailer. The portable fence unit is really nice and Bonnie found out the hard way that it was working very well. Actually, Jeff Chute tested it with his dog Cisco. Jeff had his hand on the wire and said he couldn't feel much. He then touched poor Cisco and she sure felt the zap. It sure is nice having the camper also. We had a relaxing day all in all. We cooked a wonderful meal of rice, corn and hot dogs. We are such fancy camp cooks. (snort) Sleeping in the trailer is neat as I can watch the horses from the window by my bed. It's a full moon and all was quiet. We sat around the campfire with everyone for quite a while. Turns out Jeff Chute knows my brother Kevin. They work together at Sears.

August 28, 1996
We were up early. It was cool but not too bad. We had breakfast and even had time to sit and relax for a while. We rode out of camp at 9:30 AM and had lunch at a nice stream that was in a large cornfield. Kathy Small and her daughter wouldn't follow the rules about keeping the horses tied and out of the fields. This caused a bit of a confrontation between them and Annie as Annie had gotten permission to ride on the agricultural roads as long as we stayed out of the corn. We rode a little further with the group that was doing the over-nighter, then we turned and headed back to camp. It was a slow ride back. Bonnie and I went out to eat tonight lazy things that we are. She had a buffalo burger and I had a loaded pizza. It is soooo nice having the portable electric fence. We can now leave the horses without too much worry. We had a nice campfire tonight.

August 29, 1996
We were up early again this morning. The horses must have been tired because they took turns laying down all night. Marie was taking quite a snooze at saddling up time. Just before we rode out, someone (Kathy again...) decided she didn't want to do the same ride again to meet the overnighters at the agreed place and time. There was quite an uproar over this and split the riders up. Half wanting to go with Kathy and half wanting to do the planned ride. Then there was a disagreement about whether or not Kathy's group would get credit for their ride hours if they did not do the planned ride and that didn't set very well with them. It was decide that Kathy's group would not get credit for their hours. Bonnie and I did the planned ride to meet the overnighters.
We have had showers available every day so far which has been great. Tonight we had Dinty Moore beef stew over rice. Once again the gourmet chef's at work. At the campfire tonight we were told that the people who drove out to the overnighter's camp to visit with them had gotten lost. They were creeping down this dirt road when low and behold, up ahead in the beam of the cars headlights, they see a naked man with a shovel. Stan yelled, "lock the doors". Well, I guess it was only Mark in a beige bathing suit out burying his "business". Yeah, sure! We played some volley ball tonight with Amy and Lance.

Sept. 1, 1996
The horses stayed in the fence yet another night. Horrrayyyyy. We headed out for a two hour ride this morning. When we got back, we snuck up to the lodge for a surprise birthday party for Annie and I think we really did surprise her. For once she was totally speechless. Nancy Weeks and Tammy put on a real nice lunch for her. Bonnie and I stayed after to help clean up, then headed back to camp to hang out in the shade with the other women. We brought Stan a plate of food from the party since he had been too tired to go up to the party. After all, he is over 80 years old. Tammy, Missy and I took a walk up a stream that flows by the camp. It was really nice. Then a group of us decided to go to Virginia Lake for a swim. I rode in Laurie's truck with Kathy. Marianne rode in the truck bed on a lawn chair and what a sight that was. We got kind of lost getting there but not too bad. The dirt road to the beach was quite a cow path. On the way back, we were trying to cut Julie off on the road and Laurie cut through a small parking lot in this effort. She cut a corner too short and ran over a rock with a back tire. Over went Marianne in the truck bed with her lawn chair. She was rolling all over the bed all tangled up in the chair....once again, what a sight. We were in hysterics in the front despite being somewhat worried about possibly killing the poor woman. Turned out she was ok though her chair would never be the same again. Thankfully she also has a very good sense of humor. Tonight was pot luck supper night. It was very good as expected. We then played a little volley ball. In the evening, we headed out for our "moonlight" ride. It turned out to be a "flashlight" ride as no one had thought about what time the full moon would be out. It was much later then our ride. We still had a great time. It was beautiful at the top of the mountain. You could see light for miles. It was VERY dark on the trail coming back down the mountain. We had a 'mountain witch' (Missy's mom) that rode up and down our line trying to collect 'treasures' for passage. Thanks to the spotlight on Sylvia L's truck, we were able to see to untack and put things away when we got back from the ride. We hung out at the campfire very late tonight. It was a very rowdy group!

Evergreen Valley MTRA August 1995

August 28, 1995
Well, we made it! After a little trip around Lewiston we didn't plan. Oh well, we're none the worse for the wear. We've got a decent spot to set up camp. We're a little distance from the water and restrooms. But, I don't imagine the walk will hurt me or Bonnie. We managed to get the fence set up. It's not electric so I hope the horses stay in it. I doubt Marie will. We got the tent set up and managed to get the stove fired up. We cooked a delicious meal of Dinty Moore beef stew. Yummmmmm...... Well, it was easy anyway. Annie Chaloux introduced us around. Everyone seems friendly. Stan is in the the trailer next to us. He's 80+ years old!! Everyone brought their dogs. Wish I'd brought Sam, he'd have loved it. We started packing what we would need for the over-nighter at the Shaw's camp. We all gathered over at Marianne's trailer for an evening around the bug candle. There were no campfires allowed due the the dry weather we've had. We headed back to camp around 9:30 PM. Hope we get some sleep.

August 29, 1995
Well, not much sleep. The morning started at about 4:00 AM with my horse loose (it just figures) I hope I don't have to tie her the whole time we're here. Bonnie's horse Shannon was a good girl and stayed inside the fence. We couldn't get the stove started this morning. It wouldn't hold pressure. We talked Annie into heating some water for us so we could have coffee and I could have some oatmeal. By the time we took care of that, finished packing for the over-nighter, and saddled up, we were in a bit of a rush. That put poor Bonnie into a mental overload. We managed though. Nancy Weeks let us load our stuff into her trailer to be trucked over to the camp. It was a nice ride to the camp. We stopped for lunch at Horseshoe Lake. The trail was rough in some spots but not too bad. The camp here is quite a heathen affair but it's on a real nice piece of property on a peninsula of Horseshoe Pond. Marianne set up her tent out on the dock. Maybe we'll cut it loose tonight. (snicker, snicker) Bonnie and I are sleeping on the porch of the camp with a whole pig pile of other people including Sue's dog Papa Dog. It rained some on the ride to camp. Bonnie left her raincoat with the stuff being trucked over on the trailer, so, she's really roughing it. We had take out pizza for supper. Bonnie had an Italian. Nancy Weeks made a blueberry cobbler which was delicious. We set up a highline for the horses and hung a hay bag between them. I hope they stay put for the night. Bonnie and I stayed up a while and visited with everyone then headed off to bed.

August 30, 1995
Up early. the horses had stayed put, yeah! They skinned down a few trees but that's all. Annie provided coffee and Nancy some muffins and fruit. We got off to an early start (there's a rumor going around that Bonnie slept with some dog last night!) We went up to an old mine site on some mountain today. We stopped at the top to have lunch and met up with the group that had gone back to base camp last night. Linda Temple had arrived this morning and was with them. The view from the mountain was real nice. It's been a real nice day. Linda had brought her own stove with her so we were able to cook our own supper tonight. La-Choy sweet and sour chicken. Another culinary delight. Linda's son drove up with her. Some friends of his were meeting him here to do some bike riding. Marie has managed to clean out the fence twice now trying to roll. We're going to have to tie them tonight. Marie has also formed an unreasonable attachment to Shannon all of the sudden. If Shannon is out of her sight for a second, she goes nuts! I made her follow behind on the ride home from where we had lunch and what a bad girl she was. She bucked, reared, danced and about everything else you can think of. I finally had to get off and walk her in hand for a while. She settled down some after a while but she was not happy at all. Neither was Shannon. Marie got so rattled at one point that we actualy walked right past Shannon and Marie never even realized it with all her hollering and carrying on. We were quite a way ahead when Shannon finally answered her and Marie nearly turned herself inside out trying to turn around and get back to her. It was a rather stressful ride. We've also had problems with bees. They seem especially fond of one woman that is riding a white horse. Linda's son's friends were late showing up so he finally called them. They had gotten into an accident in Auburn on the way up. I guess everyone is going to be ok. Just some bumps and bruises. Bert, Linda's son, is upset and wants to go home right away. We had quite a time setting up Linda's tent. It's an old one and she's never set it up before. WE finally managed after a few false starts. We tied the horses up for the night.

August 31, 1995
Marie managed to escape again, the rotten creature! She untied herself somehow. I had tied her with a neck rope running through her halter as she has a habit of rubbing her halter off so I though I was safe. I apparently didn't get the knot tied properly on the tree and she got it undone. Bonnie woke me up asking if we should be hearing the sound of a horse slurping water near our tent. NOT! Too bad she didn't go visit the beautiful paint stallion at the end of the field. We were right on the ball this morning and managed to be ready on time. We rode to the top of Adam's Mountain. It as beautiful and another great day. The trail up and back was great riding with real nice sturdy bridges. Linda worried about her son. She decided to leave in the evening but then one of her son's friends came and picked him up so she could stay. We had a pot luck supper. I made Pasta Primavera. There was a lot of great food. I ate like a pig. Bonnie and Linda were more civilized. Since we couldn't have a campfire, Annie got permission to go up the the lodge for the evening. It's very nice there. We played charades which was interesting. I don't think Linda was very impressed but she's a good sport.

Sept 1, 1995
We went to the Stoneham Rescue for a buffet breakfast they put on for us this morning and it was very good. The horses actually stayed tied last night and we got a full nights sleep. Linda's horse, Mac, was a real brat this morning. Linda had to walk him out before trying to ride him. Today's ride was a long one and stressful for the horses. We must have stopped a hundred times due to people looking for their dogs. I really wish people would leave their dogs in camp. The trail into Emerald Pool was a hiking trail and real rough going for the horses. We also had to clean the manure off it on the way out which created more standing around and waiting. From there we split up into two groups going back to camp. The slower riders going back the way we had come. The riders that wanted to move out faster went back along a six mile dirt road. We went with the fast group. Poor Sue had a very fast ride back to camp when she lost control of her horse. Poor Marianne got swarmed by bees on the hiking trail and fell off her horse. Thankfully she was ok if a bit rattled. We were very happy to get back to camp. We had already packed up most everying that morning before riding so we only had to load up the horses and head out. All in all we really had a great time.