NEDA April 2012 - speed work!

So no 50 this weekend. My last post told yall that High Desert got postponed at the last possible second. I called and got a space in Whiskeytown, outside of Redding CA, but the weather sucked. It was snowing in the mountains when I went to sleep, and it was still snowing most of the day Friday. I-80 to I-5 would've been an extra 100 miles and the storm was worst there. Highway 395 to Susanville, then west to Redding, goes over much lower passes but there were still chain controls and slushy/frozen roads all morning. I almost went for it anyway but my horse didn't ask to go and she doesn't deserve to get in a wreck because of my ego. You can read about what I missed at Redheaded Endurance.

I'm pretty fiercely disappointed. I really wanted to get a 50 done. But that's life, especially in endurance.

So instead, I went and had fun at a NEDA ride. It was in Silver Springs again, but it was almost all new trail (or at least trail we haven't done this year.) I've been working on setting a moderately fast speed and sticking to it - faster than I'd do a 50, but not as fast as Miss Thing thinks she can go. Yesterday, I dunno, we walked out down the street and picked up a trot and I thought "why not?" I let her go. I have 0 trail pictures because we probably walked 100 yards of the 20 miles. That horse flew.

Here's the Strava map:


And here's the secret performance graph.

The first seven miles, we chased the carts and lead riders. And by "chased" I mean it was a nonstop arm-pulling head-tossing fight. It was not ideal. I should've stopped and made her pay attention to me, but honestly, I was having fun too. I'm glad I've put such a solid mental base on Dixie - we've done far more rides with us cooperating than with us fighting about who's in charge, so I don't think there's any harm done.

Anyway, in the midst of our last "dammit you cannot canter" fight, Dixie tried to switch gears and tripped. I went over her shoulder like some kind of damn parkour ninja gymnast. Like, seriously, it was the single most graceful thing I've ever done in my whole life. Her front end went down, I neatly somersaulted over her left shoulder, rolled back to my feet, and walked over and grabbed the reins while Dixie was still scrambling to her feet. She yawned a few times and shook her head, but she moved ok on a circle and straight. She skinned some hair off of both of her kneecaps, and she busted a heel bulb. I walked her out about 50' and climbed back on, and the fight for control was over. She picked right back up at 9-10 mph but rated very nicely. Clearly I should've gotten control at the very beginning.

So we zoomed on in to camp and I got her pulsed down in a couple minutes. I drank some water and fed her some carrots, then back up and out again. I was quite curious to see if she'd run out of go with that fast first loop, but amazingly she kept right on chugging.

We were alone in a pocket for the next 45 minutes. I blew right past the very clear trail markers at the top of The Hill right outside of camp, but noticed that there weren't any hoofprints and got it sorted out with only about a half mile of detour. We went back up, found the turn, and slithered down the stony backside of the hill. I asked for a trot, she protested that we were clearly lost because there were no other horses in sight, I smacked her once with the crop, and away we went at about 8 mph.

I knew there was a small group behind me, slowly but surely closing the gap. They eventually caught up a couple miles from the finish. Dixie found new life with a herd and settled right back in at 9-10 mph. We came in 10th, which is my fastest NEDA finish ever.

Gear!

My smiley-tights work, yall. Remember how I said they'd be like protective coloration? No less than three people have said I look great and did I lose weight. No, sorry, I have not lost weight and I have in fact gained weight this year. But you cannot tell how fat I really am under those neon smiley faces! Ha hah!

I got a new shirt from Sierra Trading Post early last week, too. It's some sort of miraculous high-tech fabric, mock turtleneck with a BIG front zipper so it'll be easy to take off in the saddle. It was 50s-60s during the ride, with sometimes hot sun and sometimes sharp wind, and I was perfectly comfortable. I also got a new fanny pack - the old one was disintegrating - and it also worked out. Possibly more comfortable than the old one.

All day I kept thinking that I'd probably actually broken something and I just hadn't noticed from adrenaline or something, but I never FELT sore from my crazy roll. When I got home and showered, I did find the beginnings of some road rash on my left knee, so I slathered it with that Zum muscle rub I bought a while back. It looks much better today, no swelling or new bruising, so I'm going to declare the Zum is the new miracle product for humans.

I feel good today, actually. No new bruises, and I'm only sore from riding. Dixie looks good. She's moving freely, her legs are cold and tight, and the scrapes on her knees aren't bad. There are some benefits to having a thick-skinned hairy horse!

Horse!

The clip job worked great. As fast as she was traveling yesterday, she never sweated like she used to on a 6 mph 20 mile workout. On the next warm day, I'm going to bathe her and finish clipping a couple inches up her belly and hindquarters - she did sweat a lot there. I really like the 7F blades I bought - they cut her winter coat down to just a smidge under summer thickness, and the rough look doesn't leave many lines even if you have all the clipper sk1llz of a drunken barber student.

Dixie trotted/foxtrotted a lot, but she also step paced quite a bit. She rolled into a rack a couple of times, but she didn't hold it for more than a few strides, and she did the Weird Thing quite often. She seems to like it.

Waiting to start.


Ride photo. That's a step pace. I've got another photo, taken a second later, of a step pace, then the third one has her shifted into a trot. When she doesn't trip, she's incredibly smooth about swapping those legs around.


SO DIRTY.


I'm really proud of that horse. Her mid-speed (trot and trot equivalents) has gone from 5 mph to 10 mph in three years. I haven't really planned it that way, either. I thought she'd always be a very slow mover and we'd just need to "trot" most of our rides. At this point, I think we could walk all the tricky bits and walk the uphills and still finish in time. Providing we ever make it to a 50! :headdesk:

Next attempt: The Sunday 50 at Washoe. Sunday, because it's slightly easier, but mainly because it's co-sanctioned NEDA so I'll get NEDA miles too.

NEDA Spring Tune Up

Argh. It feels like a hard failure of a ride. I want to whine about what a hard failure of a ride it was. But the numbers say we didn't do too badly at all.

21 miles, 3500' of climbing, 4 hours moving time.


It was a beautiful day, with gorgeous scenery and great company on the trail. I got a little sun on my arms for the first time in what, six months? Whee! My scheme of bringing a case of beer instead of a side dish to potlucks is going over gangbusters and winning me tons of new friends. My feet in their silly barefoot shoes do not hurt. My husband is coming home tomorrow. And I think that's all the blessings I can count for today!

Look at this fine-looking (slightly dirty) Viking war pony!


We set off down the hill. I love these shots - did you know that Lake Tahoe is right behind that mountain? Did you know it's just chilling out a thousand feet above Washoe Valley at the base of that mountain? It really trips me out, thinking about it. Lake Tahoe's surface is a thousand feet higher than the valley, but it's deeper than Washoe Valley. It's a really unbelievably big lake, yall.


ANYWAY.

These trails are steep and rocky at the best of times. Today was not actually the best of times - we got some snow on Wednesday, then it warmed up and the snow is melting as fast as it can, which means the trails are tiny muddy rivers.


At one point, Dixie was powerwalking up a huge hill (passing Arabs left and right!) and we hit a section that was basically a ditch. Instead of walking sensibly in the bottom of the ditch, she was walking on the slippery side of the ditch. Right as I thought to myself "if this silly horse doesn't get off this slope she's going to slip" she slipped and fell down, very delicately and lightly, on my right leg. I got ice cold mud all over my leg, but I just stepped off and led her a little way down the trail to make sure she wasn't hurt. She was fine, but she'd lost a boot, so I got ice cold mud all over my gloves and hands as I washed off the straps and jammed it back on.

And that's pretty much how my day went. No injuries, no catastrophies, just a lot of minor-to-middlin' Slightly Bad Things.

I think this is Reno, waaay away to the north, but it's a really pretty photo regardless.


The first loop, 12 miles, went pretty well actually. I started in with a big group of people I know (shout outs to all my peeps) and things went better than I'd hoped. People would be inspired to power trot past us on gradual climbs, then Dixie and I would catch up and smoke them on the downhills, or (gasp!) we'd catch them at a walk on the steep climbs and pass them. I never thought I'd see the day where my big cow of a TWH would manage to pass an Arab on the uphill. Then we'd slow down and another group would catch the spirit and boogie on past us, and the cycle would repeat.

I think this is A, on Fire, who I rode in the Lake Almanor LD last year.


It was actually everything I love about the spirit of endurance. Nobody cared if you rode off in the middle of a conversation - you gotta ride your own ride. Everybody politely let me pass when I asked, and I got clear of people booking past me. We'd just pick up where we left off when we ended up near each other again.

The ribbons were plentiful but erratic. Hey, it's NEDA, it's a low budget low stress fun experience, not an FEI ride. The markers used mostly pink, but they ran out of pink and switched to multicolored part of the way through the marking experience - so about 2/3 of the first loop and 1/3 of the second loop were pink. The rest of the ride was random ribbons. They were always on the right, and the turns were well marked, and there were plenty of confidence ribbons.

The cottonwoods? willow things? are budding out!


Somehow Dixie lost two boots, front right and left rear, on the long downhill back to camp. I thought about going back, I really did, but I figured I'd come find them later or some kind soul on a short horse would find them for me. A kind soul (on a tall horse) DID find them and returned them to me at a little seasonal spring, but we were only a mile or so from camp and they were mud-caked so I just plodded on half-booted.

We walked in to camp and Dixie pulsed down (64) in a couple of minutes. There's no hold in NEDA rides, but I like to take 20 minutes or so at the trailer, and I got to spend those 20 minutes scrubbing all four boots in a bucket of water and putting them back on. Please, little boots, I thought, just one more loop!

I also shed my jacket and headed back out in my magical sports-bra-tank-top and a fuzzy sleeveless vest. Do you note a pattern of ridiculous optimism?

I headed back out with four people. L was riding Ebony, who's like always the top points horse in NEDA - but she's usually pulling a cart. Ebony was sure she needed to pass all the other horses but then maybe she should slow down and gawk at all the sagebrush she usually doesn't see while pulling a cart wearing blinders. L was kicking like a kid on a lesson pony, so I handed her my over-and-under and Ebony squealed like a pig and decided to just trot up the damn hill. We got to the top of the hill together and took a breather, then Dixie went powerwalking down the back side and I didn't see L again til after the ride.

We chased a disappearing tail up endless mountains for a long time, until suddenly we were alone. Our three buddies were far behind us, and the horse we were chasing had gone out of sight, and it was just me and Dixie.

"Wait, what?"


I started to worry about ribbons. Dixie decided we were lost and slowed down. Boots kept coming off. I got cold because we were going slow and I'd left my sweatshirt at the trailer.

It's a Nevada Endurance Thing.


I spent the next hour four thousand years stressing about my horse and the trail. If you look at the Strava map at the top, it looks like a retarded cloverleaf or something, but that's not how it rode. We did a fairly simple loop for the first half of the ride, but the second half kept crossing over the first part of the trail and doing bits of it backwards and bits forward and cutting off into new territory and yall I was sure I was lost. Not like, "oh god where is the trailer" lost, but "I am not doing the trail in the right order" lost. Eventually I decided that I'd ride for 22 damn miles by the damn GPS and then I'd point my horse down the hill toward the trailer and we'd head in and call it a day. But until then we'd just keep the ribbons on the right and follow the dolomite arrows, even though we were totally lost.

More hosebags.


Dixie also knew we were lost. There were no horses for hundreds of miles and her stupid human had led her into the wilderness to die. She slowed down to a crawl. At one boot-fixing pit stop, I snapped off the biggest juniper branch I could grab, but it was only like 12" long. Based on her reaction, it must've felt quite nice as I thwapped her madly about the neck, shoulders, butt, and flanks to try to get her to trot on the nice downhill sections.

Eventually, we moseyed near enough one of those cottonwood/willow things for me to get a Proper Horse Beating Stick, and I snapped off something north of three feet long. Of course, by that time we were only a mile or so from camp, and Dixie had decided that we were actually on the right trail headed in the right direction, and I only had to wiggle my stick to get a trot.

And then we finally caught up to another rider a quarter mile from camp. I'm sure I get no credit at all in Dixie's mind for getting us home safe: we were alone, and things were terrible; we found another horse, and YAY CAMP!

I rode into camp, flung my stick dramatically into the bushes, slithered off my horse, and announced that I hated my horse, the sport, and horses in general. Beth immediately produced a beer that she'd saved for me and I decided that perhaps hate was a strong word.

We finished with 21.1 miles on the GPS, and I'd hit stop at some point because I hung it on a different spot on the saddle, so I'm calling it exactly 22 miles. Ribbons on the right. Watch the hoofprints. Trust the ribbons.

I ate a lot of fried chicken and a handful of Fritos and felt quite a bit better about things. Dixie ate some hay, and some ration balancer, and some hay pellets, and drank a couple gallons of water, and looked pretty good. This is way too long anyway, so tomorrow I'll talk about Everything I Did Wrong.

NEDA Valentines: I love it, she's not feeling it

Sunday we went out to Silver Springs for the fourth time since Halloween and rode. The day was lovely - high near 55, no clouds, no massive wind. I got to ride with my friend R, which was a treat. We've been meaning to ride together all winter and it just hasn't happened enough. But something didn't feel quite right.

Here's the Strava:


And here's the New Years ride for comparison.


I was talking it out on IM with a friend Sunday night, and I just discovered that yall can't see the Performance info that I can see! If you're logged in to your own Strava account, you can see it, but not if you're a non-user - and I certainly don't expect yall to join just to see a graph :) I emailed Strava and politely complained, and I really hope they'll consider adding that option, even if it's just for pro users. But for now - here's what I see.

Click to embiggen. New Years:

The blue line is our MPH. New Years was pretty much perfect. Dixie started out rocking hard, we came into the hold hot and sweaty and stayed there for 20 minutes (where the blue line bottoms out in the middle), then she went out on the second loop feeling pretty good. She wasn't nearly as fresh as the first loop, but she still picked up a trot (or something) and held it a decent amount of time, then recovered fast at a walk and went back to work again.

Valentines:

Valentines was just worse. The first loop went well at first, but then she got pokey a couple miles from camp. When we really slowed down right before the hold was when I got off and (gasp!) jogged, and she didn't even want to trot behind me. She wasn't very hot, she didn't have that tired eye, I gave the usual amount of electrolytes and she ate the usual nibble of food at the hold. Since she wasn't tired, we headed back out pretty promptly, and she continued to be BLAH.

See how the second loop gets really sawtoothed? My friend's horse would slowly outpace us, and I'd urge her up to a trot. She'd trot out strong then start slowing down and eventually drop to a walk. Again, the last little bit at the end was my pitiful jogging. I ended up unclipping the lead and jogging off without her, and she just kinda half-ass followed me.

So of course by the time I got home I was sure Dixie was probably dying, or starving, or overtrained, or something equally horrible. I wailed to my friends online for most of the night, and by the time I went to bed I tentatively thought she was possibly bored - but I wasn't entirely ruling out tired from overtraining.

Today I've decided Dixie's definitely bored. I slept in til the shocking hour of 7:30 and Miss Thing was raging when I went out to feed - trotting around tossing her head at me and flinging herself on the ground to roll then leaping up to toss her head again. (Do I have the only horse who passive-aggressively rolls, or do other horses do it too??)

After I had some coffee, I backed the truck up near the paddock and started loading scrap metal. Another huge display - lots of cantering around snorting and trotting up to the gate then back to the far corner where she likes to hang out then back up front, over and over again. And when I got home late this afternoon, I decided I was hungrier than she was and I ate dinner first. I'm a terrible horse owner, I know. She behaved herself when I finally went out and fed, but she was just a crackling ball of energy walking beside me on the lead. It's just not the behavior of a horse who's actually tired from doing 20 miles at 7 mph.

So! I'm going to stick with my current training schedule, but try to work in some new stuff. There aren't any more NEDA rides at Silver Springs for a while - the next one is in Washoe Valley, which isn't totally new but isn't old and passé to her either. We're going to a reining clinic on Sunday, and I'm on the lookout for not-too-expensive fun things to do.

You may be wondering how I could've loaded scrap metal in the morning and stayed out til after Dixie's dinnertime - I sold the scrap, bought 19 boxes of engineered hardwood, some crap from Home Depot, a tank of gas, and my usual random junk from Costco, then came home and unloaded it. We have commenced a new phase of destruction at Casa Dixie - I am ripping up the unspeakably gross carpet in the den and kitchen and putting in some (extremely affordable!) cinnamon colored hardwood. I'm so excited! And I only feel utterly overwhelmed about a third of the time! Yippie!

NEDA New Years Ride, with yard art!

All I want to do is go play Skyrim but I know you, my loyal masses, are just dying to know how today's ride went, so I am making the sacrifice of my valuable time to write this.

So we went and rocked another NEDA ride. The hill work is definitely paying off.

Here's last month's ride - exact same course, except that this time we did the first loop backwards. 3:20 moving time, about 8.5 mph for the trot intervals, and she got quite tired at the end and we walked the last two miles or so. The weather was about 5 degrees warmer, and I didn't carry water for her on the trail.

Here's today's ride. 2:30 moving time (a freakin' hour faster!), her trot/gait was more like 9-9.5 mph, and she got very strong in the last mile and I had to keep fighting her to not canter in. I brought one of those little blue bags of water and squirted the crest of her neck every time we walked. I don't know if the cold water cooled her off and perked her up, or if she was just pissed I kept getting her wet, but she did recover faster.

We absolutely roared through the first loop. We fell in with Beth K (I think, you know I'm awful at ID'ing people and she was always 10' ahead) and her friend and just cleaned it up. Dixie was hot and tired at the pulse-and-go, so I said bye to them and stayed in camp for 20 minutes. I gave her more diluted elytes and tried to get her to eat, but she was more interested in watching horses come in and leave. I hand-fed her some grain and she ate a bit of alfalfa, and she didn't seem too tired so we headed back out.

I really thought I'd overdone it on the first loop and we'd do the second one at like 5 mph, but she picked her head up, perked up her ears, and power trotted on out of camp. There was a horse about a half mile ahead of us, traveling just a skosh slower than we were, and we gradually caught up to her over several miles.

About 12 miles in, Dixie interfered and clipped her RF heel bulb. She sort of stumbled and took one lame step, and I had just enough time to think "oh dear god no" before she was back trotting perfectly sound. She didn't take another goofy step, but I found the tiny wound (and tiny blood drops all over her back legs) after the ride, so I think that's when it happened.

We caught up to the lady on the grey at about 14 miles and walked for a half mile talking to her. She had one of those hysterically bad-tempered mares - the mare was very curious about us coming up behind her, and really wanted us to catch up, but as soon as Dixie got abreast of her it was all snarky bitey face and mad ears. (Dixie didn't make faces. She just never makes faces at other horses anymore. <3 her!) We were power trotting but I managed to get a picture of the yard-art boat for yall.

Here's a yard art wagon:


One for my dad, who makes birdhouses (go buy one if you're in Memphis!)



Somebody else - a guy I should know, but don't - caught up and passed us so we all started trotting again. Dixie and I hit one more mentally bad patch at about 17.5 miles - there's a quarter mile of rough gravel road and it seems like forever to camp. I just made her walk (while her buddies ran away, oh no!) and by the time we got to the end of the gravel she was recovered and ready to rock again. She sprang back into the power trot and we caught them at the hill, then they cantered the last flat mile into camp and I insisted we trot. I have a (totally justifiable!) fear of letting her canter when she's tired now.

She was soaked when we got in, so I blanketed her and feasted on deep-fried turkey. Yes, again! The ride had a crazy big turnout - 49 starters, 31 of them doing the 20 mile distance. Yay! Still, the only people I saw were the ones I mentioned. It felt very solitary out there.

She was still wet and getting cold when I was ready to leave, so I threw the waterproof on top of the cooler and got her home. I left the cooler on for an hour after we got here, but it was cold and wet, so I decided it was doing more harm than good. I'd like to have a second blanket! Gotta check sstack.com and see if anything's on sale. When I went out and pulled the cooler, she was in very good spirits. I'm very happy - we are tangibly improving!

Physically, it was a really awful ride for me. I was cold the whole time, my knees and pelvis hurt, and it was one of those rides where it felt like Dixie was going to trot my uterus loose. My knees hurt because I ate quesadillas every day for a week over Christmas, and grain/wheat really does make my joints inflamed and sore. I was cold because I dressed optimistically - the November ride was just a bit warmer, but the sun was hotter and I ended up taking off my windbreaker and riding in a tank top in November. That was so much fun that I wore the same clothes this time, but I sweated and my windbreaker got clammy and then I froze. Ahh well - next time I'll wear more wool and less synthetics, and get my eating right again. It was a beautiful day to be out, and Dixie's performance was a huge boost for me.

Because she's not an Arab, I always wonder if we can do this, if we'll ever get faster than a 10 hour 50, if I'm training her right, yadda yadda. (Not to mention the tendon thing too, but I'll drive myself insane if I worry about that so I try hard not to think about it.) That's why I'm so obsessive about the GPS stats - I really can't tell if we're getting better til I go back and look over my data. Today was a big success!


I know this is the world's longest post already but I wanted to add a shot of her LF after the ride. Should I smear some thrush goo in her frog or does it look ok?

What a wonderful day: NEDA Turkey Trot

G was home for a whole week, which was thoroughly awesome. I took him to the airport on Saturday, and I knew today would be quiet and sucky if I didn't do something - so I went to Silver Springs for a 20 mile NEDA ride. It was the perfect antidote to a very quiet house.

Today was one of those days that makes you really love Nevada - it's the end of November, sunny, light breezes, and almost 60. I started out with three layers on, but I finished the ride in a tank top. A tank top. In November. It's really hard to beat that. It's the kind of day that really cements my belief that distance riding is the best sport ever invented.

Miss Thing hauled like a pro and ate like a pig and even let me prettify her mane.


We started a couple minutes behind the frontrunners, and I held her to a running walk for a half mile or so before I let her move out a bit. We fell in with Dyke, who I've ridden with before, and actually stuck with him for most of the ride. He was riding a very hairy 4000+ mile horse - usually Dixie cannot hang with the high-mileage horses, but he was in no hurry and we paced well together.

Jackie caught up to us near the end of the first loop. She was riding a 19 year old energizer bunny of an Arab - at 19, with god knows how many miles, he was still spooking at random stuff and bucking when he got mad. Super cute. We all rolled into the check together. Dixie pulsed in immediately, despite being dripping wet, so I gave her some more electrolytes and headed back out.

She was tired but still quite ready to go. I was just delighted with her attitude - I've had to kick her out of camp a couple times, and it always makes me feel like I'm Making A Terrible Mistake with this sport. But she'd just ripped through 9 miles and was quite happy to head back out, yay!

At 18 miles Dixie ran out of steam. It was the end of the long boring second loop, down yet another interminable gravel road, and she was clearly lost. Fortunately Meredith caught up and happily walked on in with us. The weather had gotten so warm that I took off my jacket and finished the ride in just a tank top. (A tank top! In November!)

I love that horse, even when she's covered in mudsweat.


This is the best horse sport. If you're a little intimidated by the thought of riding for a whole day, you should think about doing an LD. Dixie and I did 20.25 miles in just under 3:30 - an AERC 25 mile LD could easily take less than 5 hours in the saddle going much slower than we did. Also I got a coffee cup, a big one, with horses on it! And deep fried turkey. Life is good.

Looking ahead

I'm almost certainly through with AERC rides for the year. Lake Sonoma is too far to drive for a 25. With any luck at all I'll get to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with my husband, instead of doing Desert Gold and Death Valley Encounter. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to do both those rides, but not this year. :)

(I might still do the Turkey Trot NEDA ride - I don't think G would mind if I went off for the day and came back that night, and I'm not worried about doing LD distances on Dixie.)

But hopefully 2012 will be our triumphant and injury-free return to 50s. I really enjoyed both Rides of March and the Nevada Derby, so I'm thinking of doing the ROM 30 on March 17 and the Derby 50 on the 31st. They're both super-local: I will ride farther than I will haul. I don't think a moderately challenging (great footing, some medium-size-Nevada hills) 30 two weeks before a 50 is asking too much. I will probably do most of my winter training rides at Red Rocks or in my backyard toward Palomino Valley, so it'll all be totally familiar to Dixie. And last but not least, I want to support both of them. California friends, SASO is a nice ride, but Nevada rides go on rain or snow regardless! No last minute cancellations here.

I feel like I should quantify my goals for next year. I think if we can do a mid/back of pack 50, with a perky horse and a moderately fit to continue rider, I'll look at doing back to back 50s for the ride after that. But it's hard in the West - there are some rides where a 9 hour finish is shameful and some rides where it's pretty respectable. So I think I'm going to have to rely more heavily on how the horse feels at the end of the ride than on numerical criteria.

Thoughts on my plan? What are your plans for early 2012? I know, winter is coming, but spring will be here before we know it.

~ponies are magic~

May I present My (not very) Little Pony?



I had tons of MLPs when I was a kid. I probably had more ponies than all my other toys put together. Now I am a grownup (and no, I haven't even watched the new cartoon yet) and I have lots of respect for all the real-life magic a real live horse possesses natively... but it's HALLOWEEN! I can let my inner 8 year old run wild.



Dixie was less thrilled about the whole event.



Livin' dangerously. You haven't seen a picture of me sans helmet in a long time.



I think the pro photographer got better pictures of us. My dress has a freakin' tutu with little fiber-optic blue twinkly lights, sadly completely invisible in the daylight. It's a Slutty Alice In Wonderland dress, so I went with playing cards on Dixie's butt.



After the pretty pics, I put my helmet on and sprinted through the 10 mile fun ride. I know I sound like a broken record, but Dixie was awesome. She stood quietly with me on her back for the ride meeting, then walked me around to talk to friends. When the trail opened her ears went up and she was all business. I doubt we trotted a mile - it was all fast flat walk and rack and pace. The photographers set back up at the lake, about 5 miles in, so I'm sure the action shots are horrible - as she sweated the makeup started running, and of course all the dirt came straight out of her coat. I didn't stay around til the pictures were printed; I'll order them later this week. I'll put up links to the photography site when I get them!

Here's another local blogger's post about Nevada Day. She lives in Carson City so she actually knows people down there. CC really reminds me of a small Southern town; super charming place. Apparently the parade went on for hours - we were entry #36 but there were over 200. S rode one of her Arabians in native dress in the 150s and she didn't even assemble til 11 and didn't start parading til after that!

Frenchman Creek 3 - Sunday on the Arab

There was no cell reception anywhere near the lake, so I had no idea if my friend A was going to show up Sunday, or even what horse she'd bring for me. Ahhh well, I am an international woman of mystery and I lead an exciting life.

I had a rough night Saturday night. I did put the rain fly up (and it did drizzle again) but it was slightly colder and I about froze. I've camped comfortably in colder weather, but I've done it on my eggcrate mattress. For this ride I used my Coleman air mattress, in deference to my bruised up back. I was a little worried about it on Friday night, because I know how cold an air mattress can be, but that night was fine, even in the rain. Saturday night was just a few degrees colder (low of 42) and it made a huge difference. I slept pretty poorly and laid in bed shivering til the sun came up at 5:30. Then I pried myself out of bed, dragged the sleeping bag into the truck, turned on the truck, and shivered til blessed hot air started pouring out of the vents. I didn't get out of the truck til 6:30. I kept telling myself that it was hot yesterday and it'd be hot again today and I should appreciate the coolness, but mind did not conquer matter.

I got Dixie fed and got dressed to ride, then wandered over and ate breakfast with my new riding buddy R and her friend. She has a cabover camper with proper cookware and served up a real breakfast of champions, scrambled eggs with applewood ham and yogurt with berries. Right as we finished, A appeared and I headed off to do it all over again.

A had brought the grey mare for me to ride. I really want to like the grey mare. She's smart, she's actually well trained, she's got tons of heart, she never quits, and she's got phenomenal recoveries. But she trips. I started riding her because A thought maybe it was just her riding that was unbalancing the mare and making her trip, but she trips for me too. If she's just been shod, she trips less, but if she's two weeks into a trim cycle she trips a lot. Like multiple times per mile. Flat ground, rocky ground, it doesn't matter, she just trips.

I told A and Other A about the trail and difficulty while we saddled up. A was on her lazy but capable bay mare, and Other A was on her hyper bay gelding. I emphasized that they'd definitely get their money's worth if we only did 20 miles! We picked up our ride cards and headed out.

Grey Mare tripped enormously before we even got to the photographer, a mile down the trail. I wasn't clinging to the reins for dear life and she fell on her knees and face. I lost a stirrup and ended up on her neck, but by-god I did not come off. Thank you western saddle with your lovely huge pommel. After that I got the reins properly bridged and gripped and we had no more almost falling down episodes.

Still, she tripped a lot. And she had a cough that we spent the whole ride wondering about. She's one of those horses that needs to be bubble wrapped, and she'd gotten kicked in the neck earlier that week. Was she coughing because her trachea was irritated from the kick? Or maybe she had a bit of hay or beet pulp stuck in her throat and she was mildly choking - but she hadn't coughed the night before. So maybe it was the dust on the trail - but she coughed sometimes when there was no dust, and didn't cough at all in the dust sometimes. It was a mystery, and a terrifying one at that. When she coughed she needed to stretch her neck out, and I had to let the reins out to let her cough, but if the reins were that far out there was no way I could catch her if she tripped.

I am not a big believer in "catching the horse when she trips" with the reins. It runs contrary to most of my beliefs. But this horse has tripped and fallen on her face at least twice with A and twice with me, and it really does seem to help if I can hold her head up when she trips.

I was sore from all those hills on Saturday, plus my back still hurt from the fall last week. My Dad asked why hills are so hard - you use different muscles to stay balanced in the saddle. Miles of conditioning at the trot / gait / canter builds up certain muscles in your core - I could ride 50 miles on the flat and only be moderately sore the next day. But trotting (or walking, or cantering) uphill uses different muscles. Going downhill uses another set. I was worn out from all those hills on Saturday, and every time the grey mare tripped (multiple times per mile) it was a yank of agony to keep her from falling down.

There's a reason they call it endurance, and I endured. We went slower on the downhills, because I felt really unsure about my continued good health if she coughed and tripped while we were trotting downhill! We got to the turnaround at the river and chilled out for a few minutes. The grey mare hates walking in water, so I offered her a bucket and sponged her instead of trying to force her into the river. She didn't drink, which isn't unusual.

About halfway back, I decided the mare and I were going to pull. I was absolutely in agony and the grey mare was uncharacteristically tired. She kept petering out on the hills while the two bays just charged up them like energizer bunnies. Of course the A's waited for us to slog on up and recover, but I kinda think the grey mare was just NQR. I gave the A's a good description of the 10 mile second loop, but they also thought that the 20 mile loop was a hell of a good workout and they pulled at camp too. Our ride time for the 20 miles was 3:36, almost exactly what I did with my fat Walker. (I'm so proud of her!)

I stopped at my trailer and pulled my saddle, and the grey was down when we moseyed on over to the pulsetakers / water stop. I don't quite know her well enough to know if her pulse was a little high... but I couldn't do another 10 miles of coughing tripping hanging on. Honestly, I felt like I'd wussed out, right until I got home and downloaded the GPS info and saw exactly how many hills we'd done. It was an amazingly good training ride!

I've got info on both loops, because of how I rode the two days. The whole 30 miles was 8200' of climb (and another 8200 feet of descent). The first 20 miles was only 4000' of climb. That second 10 mile loop, with the horrible hill of rock that I walked up and down, added another 4200' of climb!

I never know whether to completely trust my GPS. If I look at the track in the Garmin program, I get one number for elevation. If I load the track into a different program, I get another number. A third program gives me another number. They're always within 15% of each other, but they do vary. I can't swear in court that we climbed 8000' on Saturday, but I can swear that we climbed more on Saturday than we did at NASTR in June.

I was pretty sore on Sunday, especially in my quads. I crashed hard that night and felt quite a bit better Monday. My knees feel ok, my muscles aren't too sore, and even my bruised rib isn't bothering me anymore. I'm not in tiptop shape, but I'm not as bad off as I feared. :)

It was an outstandingly good ride. I hope it's scheduled a couple weeks earlier next year, so I can use it as a warmup for the Tahoe Rim ride. If you ever get the chance to ride at Frenchman Lake, do it!

NEDA vs. AERC

NEDA stands for National Endurance Driving Association. Sadly, it's much more of a regional thing right now. Hopefully one day someone will expand it, but for now you have to come to Nevada or California to see a NEDA ride. They offer a 10 mile fun ride or a 20-30 mile endurance ride.

Yes, it's endurance driving. It's set up for carts - a few people bring Clydes or Percherons and big chuckwagons, but a lot of the drivers have little homemade... well... chariots. Little stand-up chariots, made out of metal, pulled by one light horse. It looks utterly terrifying and like a ton of fun. They go barreling across the desert like some modern-day Ben Hur reenactment.

The carts alone make it a fabulous training experience for green horses. Yes, horses generally come completely unglued the first time they see a cart, but, you know, once you work through that you've got a way better mount.

NEDA rides have no time limits and no vet checks - just a pulse and go between the two loops. You can pulse in and turn right around for the next loop, or take a lunch break, whatever suits your style that day. I usually sponge my horse, make sure she's drinking and gets a bite to eat, grab some human food, and go back out. A lot of local AERC riders use NEDA rides as training, and that's basically what I do too.

AERC is the (multi)national endurance riding association. Some areas also have regional endurance associations - the Southeast's SERA is particularly active. Most of the time if there is a 50 mile or longer ride being held in the US or Canada, it's sanctioned by AERC (and, optionally, FEI or a regional group). AERC rides offer: sometimes a 10-15 mile fun ride, a 25-35 mile limited distance, a 50-65 mile endurance ride, and sometimes a 75 or 100 mile ride.

AERC rides cost a lot more than NEDA rides - I did two days at Frenchman, plus the corral rental, for less than a one day AERC ride. In large part that's because AERC rides have vet checks, plus higher overhead for an active national organization. At an AERC ride, your horse has to get a passing grade from a vet before the ride, several times during the ride, and shortly after you finish the ride.

I'm fully in favor of all the AERC vet checks - but I also don't worry too much about not having a staff vet at a NEDA ride. There's a lot of evidence showing that horses face serious metabolic stress after about 40-45 miles of riding, but a 20 or 30 mile ride just isn't inherently dangerous. I wouldn't want to do a 50 mile ride without a vet check, but a 30 mile ride isn't that hard on a horse. You're still assuming some risk when you ride 30 miles - but you're assuming risk any time you un bubble wrap your horse. :)

NEDA rides are fun. There's a pretty laid back attitude, even among the racers. And yes, there are racers - NEDA has quite good year-end points awards. I'd love to get a blanket one year!

The AERC fun rides are a good way to check out the crazy endurance thing in your area. Here's the AERC ride calendar. They don't list fun rides in the regional listings, but if you click on the ride flyer it'll say if there's a fun ride. They're inexpensive, about $25-35 in the West. (I am too lazy to look at other regions.) AERC does stagger start times, so if you go to a fun ride you will not have to start with the serious racers. You will see them on the trail, but you don't have to deal with the starting line stampede! They're designed specifically for people curious about our sport, so feel free to wear your cowboy boots or ride in your Passier. The riders are usually stressed out, but I've never met a rude volunteer (at least in the West!)

ETA the NEDA website. Thanks, C!

Frenchman Creek part 2

The Frenchman Lake area is stunningly beautiful. Well, honestly, I haven't seen a lake in the Sierras that isn't breathtaking, but this one is breathtaking and relatively deserted. Ridecamp was on private property just a couple miles from the lake, at a former eventing center. There was horse water pumped out of the creek and a surprisingly nice little outhouse, with potluck BBQ's both nights. Surprisingly good turnout, considering it's not a cart-friendly ride.

I camped beside the creek, looking out over the cross country field into the mountains.


I got Dixie set up in a pretty good sized corral, maybe 15x15, for $10 a night. Well worth it! She traveled well and set in to eating as soon as I turned her out. Smart girl. I got my camp set up, then saddled her up and took Cers on a short ride to see how rocky the trail was.

I'd washed her right before I loaded her, so she was very white and shiny. Rocking the viking war braids, of course.


We meandered about a mile up the trail, just far enough for me to decide that I'd definitely boot the next day. The ride flyer said the trails were good with "some rocks", but that was wishful thinking. The trails were that fine Sierra dust with many fist sized and larger rocks, and many stretches were all rock.


I felt pretty shy the first night, so I sat by my rig and read a book (Glen Cook's Garrett PI series) til dinner time, then crashed out shortly after that. I did stay up long enough to catch a gorgeous sunset!


About 11 I had a vivid dream where suddenly it started to rain. Some higher level of my brain began sounding alarm bells and I went from dead asleep to wide awake in about two seconds flat. Yep. Raining. Raining right through my tent. I decided that since it wasn't supposed to rain, it couldn't possibly keep raining, so I shoved my cell phone and kindle deep inside my duffel bag and went back to sleep. Getting the rain fly on the tent seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

I woke up to more rain twice more. I did get to hear coyotes yipping every time I woke up, at least.

About 6 I decided it was really about light and I might as well get up and make coffee. I ate a Clif Bar for breakfast. It is not the breakfast of champions, just the breakfast of lazy Funders who are sick of burned scrambled eggs on a camp stove. It sufficed.

NEDA rides start at 9, so eventually I got Cersei set up for a day at the truck and saddled Dixie. Her hooves were a bit long and I was worried that the boots wouldn't fit quite right, but they seemed to go on well. The ride meeting had super nice color laser topographical maps, which were really handy. The trail was two loops with a lot of lollipops, but they promised it was well marked.

I was planning on riding with John and we hung out at the start. But a couple headed out just before us over the start line and HOLY SHIT A HORSE EATING CART WAS HIDING BEHIND A BUSH! The guy's mare went sideways and over and he came off. No harm done to anyone, but I saw an opening to get around the mess and took off just ahead of John, just to get clear of the wreck.

We gaited along briskly and passed a couple of obvious pleasure riders. Hmm, lemme explain that.

NEDA rides, like most AERC rides, have a short distance fun ride too. AERC staggers start times so all the 50s start together, all the LDs start together, etc. NEDA just has one start time, so the NEDA racers and laid back pleasure types all head out together. Usually people in jeans are just doing the 10 mile ride, and usually people in gaudy endurance gear are doing the longer distance.

So I passed an older gentleman in jeans and a cowboy hat, then caught up to a guy in tights and a helmet. We zipped past, got past the photographer (who got one of the best pictures I've ever seen of me and Dixie). I told him that Dixie is not a good fearless lead horse and he should feel free to pass me, and he did pretty soon. We slogged on a bit further and caught up with two more riders, and I stayed with them for most of the rest of the loop. They were all very friendly and I've seen them before. Another woman on a big racing Arab hung with us for a while. That horse had a bigger butt than Dixie and top 10s 50s regularly.

It was exactly the kind of ride I like. Outstanding scenery, very technical trails. The trail had a lot of potential to be very confusing but it was extremely well marked.


The first 10 miles went by VERY fast, probably 6 mph. Dixie felt strong and I thought it was the kind of trail where you should go as fast as you can when you can, and I was right. We went up over a mountain - you could see the whole Chilcoot/Vinton/Loyalton valley from the top.


Then down a huge switchback to a river, then back along the river for a couple miles to a spot where we could ride the horses in. They'd warned us about it - there was a 6-8" dropoff, but the footing once you got down into the water was very firm. Dixie scrambled right in after one of her new buddies and ate some grass, but didn't drink. Sigh. I patiently explained that there was no more water on the way back, but she didn't listen.

We headed back up the hill, over common trail part of the way and new trail part of the way. It was rugged and beautiful and HARD on my fat Walker. She hung in there with the Arabs for about 18 miles, but when she started to get tired I let them motor off ahead of us.


Close to camp we hooked back up with the woman on the racing Arab. Her BF was the guy who got dumped at the start, and he was doing the 10 mile ride. She waited for him at the common trail for both loops, and the three of us ended up riding in together. We agreed to ride the second loop together. (She was, obviously, not racing this ride.)

When we got back to the creek crossing right outside of camp, Dixie drank really deeply and I used up the rest of my horse water on her neck. I've started carrying about 1.5 liters of water in my bags, just to squirt on her neck, and it definitely helps her. I stopped at the trailer and sponged her pretty heavily, then took her over to the pulse check and she was down to 60. She ate some oats and carrots and quite a bit of hay while I loved on Cersei and scarfed down some leftover steak. Cold steak is the lunch of champions, let me tell you. I'd drank all my water so I mixed up two more liters of electrolytes and refilled my camelbak, then we were ready to go.

We did the first 20 miles in about 3:30.

R and I headed out on the second loop. Her horse was 100% go, of course, and Dixie felt pretty good to me. We climbed a big ass hill, scrambled down the other side, and passed two ladies on beautiful palomino mustangs. We started along some rather nice road curving along a hillside when R's horse stepped on a rock funny and started gimping. She double checked with me, and I saw a bit of head bob too, so she immediately turned around. We were at 23.4 miles. If I'd headed back, we'd have done about 28 miles, but I thought Dixie could keep going alone, so I pressed on.


Dixie was, of course, not very happy about being all alone. Then a pair of deer sized us up for dinner - we came around a curve and there they were. Two little this-year's mule deer, about 15' up the slope. They bounded another 10' away and watched us. Tiny things, couldn't have weighed more than 150 lbs, and super curious. No fear at all. I talked to Dixie while she quivered and stared and they just stood there, staring back at us. Eventually I had to gently urge Dixie to just get past them (i.e. kick in the ribs and cuss) and they still didn't run!

The trail wound around to a cattle guard with a wire gate, then kept going on the other side. I missed the turn for the water stop/turnaround, but only went about a half a mile before I decided there just weren't enough hoofprints for me to be going the right way. There was a lovely cattle tank when I doubled back. I dumped the rest of my horse water on Dixie and filled her bottles back up while she tanked up.

On the way back we saw a dead redtailed hawk in the road. I don't know how I missed it the first time! When we got back to the wire gate I noticed that one of Dixie's boots was un-velcroed at the toe. Completely. Nothing at all was holding it on. Renegades are great boots if they fit your horse's hooves, yall - that boot could've been undone for a mile and it never budged. I got it back on and rode up the hill away from the gate, and then Dixie was done.

She just gave up. Gonna die, out in the woods, all alone. I knew we weren't the last people on the trail, because my vet was out there riding turtle, but I figured we were next to last. We were past 25 miles so there was no point in turning around. I parked Dixie in the shade, watered her neck, and let her cool down. Then I got off and started dragging her up this monster hill, up this thing that even a mountain biker might not consider to be a trail. It was slippery shale with a tiny bit of mountain dust on top, and the area had burned a couple years back so there was no shade, and I got hot. It was at least 90 with a disgusting amount of humidity - remember, I've been living in the desert for two years now. I cussed that horse and dragged her up the hill, then I cussed that horse and dragged her down the backside of that hill. The backside had a bit more shade, but in one place the trail was just a 45 degree waterfall of small boulders.


Eventually we made it back on the normally rocky jeep road and I got back on. Dixie perked up a bit when we hit the common trail and managed a nice slow trot across the XC field to get back to camp. I was feeling slightly more charitable by the time we got back to camp, but I was absolutely shocked when the in timer said we'd finished 6th. My GPS said 31.9 miles in 7:15 - subtract out about 15 minutes at lunch and you're still looking at three and a half hours for the 10 (11 with a detour) mile loop. I was still trying to process that 10 minutes later, when John came in. Behind me. I'd started just ahead of him, but I was sure I'd just missed him at lunch or when I took my little detour at the end of the second loop. Honestly, we were both shocked that I finished ahead of him.

Again, Dixie had a big drink at the creek, some oats and carrots, and started chowing down on the hay. Her legs looked and felt identical, and she was totally sound. She was tired - but that's what I wanted. I wanted to push her on the 30, to see if she'd hold up to a challenge. She definitely did!

A lot of people quit after the first loop. The guy in the cart quit - I don't know if there's any way he could've done the 10 mile loop. Those of us who finished got a super nice crew bag at dinner. I watched another beautiful sunset, hung out with R and her friend, talked to a lot more people, and put the rain fly up before I crashed about 10. After all, I had a different horse to ride on Sunday - I needed to rest!

Good mare

The NEDA ride was the best kind of uneventful. 23.5 miles in 3:30. Dixie wasn't too hot and she certainly wasn't tired. She drank a couple gallons at the trailer (and of course drank better when we got home).

I photoshopped all of these pics. You can't take HDR photos from a moving horse, and there's no other way to get the high contrast landscapes. The colors are accurate though! The sagebrush really is mint green right now.


We fell in with Nancy and Feena - Feena was Dixie's buddy at High Desert.


Poor Dixie. The other horses had the real Power Trot thing going on, but Dixie doesn't think she can trot faster than 9 mph. When they'd speed up, Dixie would have to canter to catch up, then slow back down to a trot or a pace or something. They'd pull ahead and she'd have to canter again.


The other people I was riding with thought it was very humid. Once they mentioned it, I could tell that the air was in fact moister than usual, but no southerner would ever think it was humid.


Astonishingly, it rained on the way home! Look, raindrops!


So I sent in my entry for the NASTR 50. I need a new rasp - mine is no longer adequate to deal with summer desert feet. And I need to scrub Dixie's mane and tail again if it's warm enough Friday - they're approaching whiteness but they're not fairy-tale quality yet. ;) That's about all I've got!

We did it!

Just got home from the NEDA President's Day ride. Dixie and Diego plowed on through 20 miles like (very slow) champions. They pulsed down immediately (shouldn't be a surprise based on our pace, but it means we didn't exhaust them). We conquered rocks, lake-sized puddles, dead dogs, live dogs, chickens, pigs, kids, llamas, and a cow. They even drank water!

Here's the Garmin - 20.29 in 4:51, which is 4.2 mph. A bit slower than I'd hoped, but not bad at all for the longest ride either horse has ever done! The weather was lovely - it had to be near 60, sunny, and calm winds.

We deliberately started off slowly. Neither horse was really paying much attention to the silly humans, but we kept at it and eventually got a bit of attention. Right when we were ready to move out, a huge group of quarter horses overtook us, so we headed off to either side of the road and let them pass. Seriously, it was like 8 people, mostly on big ole halter-bred QHs. A buckskin did something - I think she tried to kick another horse? - and the rider booted her, so the buckskin bucked her off and kicked her in the hip when she was down. Owwwww. :( The rider got back on and we let that group get a bit ahead of us. After a while, we passed them - they were only doing 10 miles, so we didn't see them again.

Dead dog - We were just starting up a hill when I noticed a very freshly dead dog's head and spine. ~C called it as a pit bull, and I think she was right. We asked the RM about it when we finished, and he said it got killed overnight, probably by coyotes. (I think, alternatively, it was shot for trespassing and coyotes ate it once it was dead - but there's no way to know.) The horses, in a stunning display of obliviousness, did not notice it and in fact almost stepped on it.

There were about 50 live dogs, ranging from totally loose to behind secure fences. Both the horses did pretty well. I had to spin and glare down a Chihuahua, of all things, before the owner came to the door and hollered it back to the house. We rode down one street we dubbed the Street of Horrors - first we noticed the chickens in the road. The horses were deeply uncertain about chickens. We coaxed and booted them toward the chickens and noticed the pen full of goats. Then the dogs across the street came barrelling out and barked like the hounds of hell - they weren't fenced, just "invisible fenced" with shock collars. Eeek. Then, as we finally tentatively minced on past the chickens, we all noticed the cow in the corral. It mooed and put a little spring in the horses' steps.

Dixie ate like a pig - I gave her a bit of salted grain and some hay first thing in the morning, while I braided her mane. Then she ate while we registered and I tacked her up, then she ate again while we grabbed a bite to eat after the first loop, then as soon as we hit camp again she ate some more. She did not drink til about mile 15, when she washed her mouth out in a puddle. Then at mile 17, there was a stock tank for us and she had a pretty good drink, and when we hit camp she drank quite a bit. She dropped two little horse-poos every single mile, and she peed 7 times. You know you're a horse person when you brag in your blog about the quantity and frequency of pee and poop.

I'm very glad I got her a blanket - I think she would've gotten cold tied to the trailer while we were eating. My thighs are rubbed from my jeans, so I think tights are next on the list. Her bridle really annoyed her on the second loop, and I think I could've controlled her with a rope halter - I plan on getting one and trying it out. Braiding that thick mane really worked to keep her cool. I am so tired I can't think of much more to say, so hopefully ~C will fill in the blanks.

Here's my girl, post ride :)



Oh! C got to see one of Dixie's Almost-Famous Enormous Spooks. She kicked sand on a bit of white plastic and it made a NOISE and she leapt sideways and back like 5 feet. I'm so glad she's mostly quit doing that.

Epic win!

We had about the best first endurance ride possible!

The good: Dixie loaded, ate, peed, pooped, and kept her cool remarkably well. Diego did the same, and they got to be trail buddies - but not so BFF4LYFE that we couldn't leapfrog each other. The horses saw NEDA driving carts for the first time - they're like homemade chariots. They were a little snorty but didn't come unglued!

The bad: Iffy footing. No drinking. I led that horse to water no less than four times - two different types of water - and she just wouldn't drink. I definitely have to work on that - I think I'll try offering her flavored water at home (ACV? apple juice?) so when I offer her flavored water at a ride, she won't think it's unusual. And I think I'll give her some salty food first thing in the morning before a ride, so hopefully she'll be a bit thirsty when she steps off the trailer. Thoughts? Suggestions?

I talked ~C into signing up for the 20, but we should've just signed up for the 10 mile. Woops. It was one 10 mile loop, ridden once or twice - all roads, and all covered in about 4-6" of snow. The snowy bits were excellent, but there were miles of that slippy ice you get from traffic on snow. The iffy footing was one of the main reasons we decided to stop at 10 miles.

The horses got all big-eyed about the carts heading out, but we just hung out for a few minutes extra at the trailer til most of the riders headed out. Then I mounted up and ~C led Diego and off we went. Diego was doing his best snorty bug-eyed tail-up wild Arab impersonation, and Dixie kept wanting to rush off faster and faster, so we both made lots of circles on the side of the trail. Every time Dixie got tense and rushed, I pulled her into a big dressage circle and rode the circle til she focused on me again. Diego got to run in a circle once, but otherwise he just gradually calmed down on his own.

We walked probably the first three miles, before the horses had settled in enough to pick up the pace a bit. I asked Dixie to gait a few times, but the footing wasn't good for it - she'd start to rack, slip a bit, and trot instead. So we trotted. Dig's slowest trot is faster than Dixie's fastest flat walk, and Dixie does not believe she can trot any slower than she does, so we started leapfrogging. I'd trot ahead a bit, then drop to a walk, and Diego would jog past, then we'd repeat.

Amazingly, we passed a group of three riders. They'd started out a bit faster, but we caught up and passed them some time after the halfway mark. One guy on a green horse stayed behind us the whole time, so we came in 5th and 6th from last (on the first loop) - pretty respectable. I think most of the greenies only did 10 miles.

Dixie worked up a good sweat on the last half of the loop, but I really haven't conditioned her to trot for miles. She wasn't exhausted, and she seemed to have a good time. We came back to camp, offered them water, pulsed in (58, then she got mad about the stethoscope and went up to 60), let them eat for a few minutes, and went back out for about a mile, just so they'd get used to ride -> eat -> ride. I think we did the 10 mile loop in 1:45 - not record breaking, but not embarrassing.

Next official ride I'm planning on is the LD at Rides of March. I've got plenty of time to put some speed on her, and if she's still yaklike I'll clip the underside of her neck in early March.