AUTUMN RUN. Loop One, Continued

Before I continue on with the story of loop one, I need to add an important disclaimer..this is MY story...MY memory .... Whether or not it is completely accurate, I have no idea. As a matter of fact, I am sure the facts become even more inaccurate as each day passes. That's just the way it is!

Also, before we saunter further into loop 1,I'd like to post a few pictures of the start that I found on Facebook. There will be better quality pictures coming when we get Cathy's photos but these do a great job of capturing the essence of an early dawn start:

Ok, so on with loop one. As Susan and I are running (well our horses actually) up Anthony Road, (should have marked the map better...somewhere mist past the #4) Spirit and I settle into a nice pace and once again I realize that I am really thirsty. I had tried to get at my camelpak before this but the pace was just too fast. This time though I managed to reach the mouthpiece and tried to suck back a big drink only to realize that the darn thing wasn't working. Seriously? 50 miles to go and no camelpak? All of a sudden I was also starting to realize that I was feeling really warm...too warm. I had on a raincoat but it wasnt raining, it was hot! So I devised a plan and tried to remove camelpak and jacket so I could throw it to Shelley as I trotted by. I got everything off but couldn't hang on to it, so I eventually dropped it. Why are all these details so important? Because, if you remember from the first post, my rider card was in the pocket...I had forgot about that little detail and did not remember until about two miles before hitting the first hold. I grabbed a gateraid out of my saddle pack and worked st drinking it down so I could get a fresh, full one as I passed Shelley at the only spot I was going to see her for the first 20 mile....Pick Road.

As I approached Pick Road, I could see two or three trucks and people all about. I needed to get Shelley's attention and I didn't want to stop ( we had decided that I would only stop at the "fly by" if there was a tack issue), so I started hollering as loud as I could "WATER, WATER". I could see lots of quizzical faces and body postures, then the next thing I knew there was someone jogging beside me as I was trotting along, It was Shelley! A water in one hand and a gateraid in the other. I slowed Spirit down just a notch, and Shelley passed me that gateraid like a professional relay racer passing along the baton!

Left hand turn for Spirit and I onto Pick Road and right back up into the canter again! Now, according to the pre-ride plan nestled snug in my brain, I was going to bring Spirit down to a strong trot along Pick road. That was the plan. However, it was clear to me that Susan was not planning on coming down to anything closely resembling a trot. Oh oh, here I was about 6 miles into the race, neck-in-neck for first place. I knew if I trotted, I would be kissing first place goodbye. But what about the old argument "ride your own ride"? Well, I realized at that moment that "ride your own ride" does not necessarily mean "ride the ride you planned." I checked into the situation....I had total control of my horse....my horse felt fit as a fiddle...the canter was extremely comfortable (at this point) and seemed effortless for both horse and rider. Was I willing to give up any chance of winning only six miles in with a scenario like this? No, non, No Way.

A few minutes went by and then Susan pointed to my GPS watch and asked me "what is that contraption saying. Can you tell how far we've gone?" I looked down at the watch but couldn't understand the data...looked like it was saying four miles? "No, I can't quite read it", I replied. I looked over at her as I spoke, and she gave me this "look". (liar). Oh oh I thought, we don't know each other very well and she thinks I'm lying! Oh dear. Eventually, we came upon a big mess of mud. "Oh Susan, I said, I remember from marking trails with Troy, that this mud is at about mile seven". I think she believed me and eventually realized that I really could not read that damn GPS. Troy and I had taken a picture of the mud a few days earlier as one of our examples of varying road conditions so I will try to find it and stick it in here.

Another few miles flew by and then we took a sharp right hand turn off of Pick Road and onto Tomcod Road. This "road" is even more rustic than Pick and I love it. We were cantering along and all was lovely. Still smiling that big ol smile, sky's were threatening rain, but so far, nothing. Susan rides with a strap of sleigh bells attached to her saddle (scare away bears) and we were rhythmical moving along to the loud but pleasant jingle, jingle of the bells.

All of a sudden, there was the sound of another jingle bell and it did not match the same pitch or rhythm as Susan's. What could that be? We were 10 miles into the ride, in the middle of nowhere, far ahead of the rest of the pack....or so I thought. "jingle, jingle....here comes Betty riding Hooley! Seriously? Damn! This is not the first time Betty has shown up from nowhere behind me. The last time was our distance ride in Prince Edward Island (not an endurance ride) and that time, after a few miles, she left me in her dust. Grrrrr.

I could hear her saying something to Susan but with all the jingling and now the odd little "jangle" from Betty's lone little bell, I could not hear what they were saying. I told them what I knew about the trail, that there was a part coming up where we would have to walk and a good water hole on the other side of Beazley Hollow" where I planned on stopping to offer Spirit a drink. We cantered on, it seemed longer than I thought it would before I began to recognize trail markings and realized we would soon be walking our horses through the section of trail blazed by Troy just a few days earlier.

As the road ended and the entrance to the woods (ie Beazley Hollow) approached, Spirt and I were leading the pack. How appropriate, I thought to myself, the first horse to ever step into the trail through Beazley Hollow will be a Beazley! (Kindred Spirit Beazley-Parsons!).

The woods trail was lovely on horseback and well marked. Betty and Susan both complimented the barn for a great job. Gary Parsons and Gary Bottomly were both at the bridge waiting. (they came at it from the road on the other side) in case any rider had trouble on the bridge. We were fine and in no time, we were out of the woods and cantering up the other road towards the first hold.

The next six miles or so to the first hold went along beautifully. I was smiling that big ol smile all the way. Who wouldn't be? For another six lovely miles we cantered along and we trotted along. We tried to get our horses to drink water. None of them seemed to be drinking a lot, but they stood around in the puddles and caught their breath. The riders were enjoying each others company and we were commenting a lot on the weather; the skies suggested rain at any second, but yet..no rain! Before we knew it, we could see the trucks and pit crew for THE FIRST HOLD!!!

FIRST HOLD

As we approached the first hold, I thought to myself, "we have settled into the easiest 19 miles I have ever ridden" and in hindsight it still feels that way. I looked down at my gps just before entering the hold and it said that our average was 10 miles per hour. Even with the walking and stopping for water I thought to myself that the gps could actually be accurate. The heart rate monitor was registering sporadically but according to what it was telling me, Spirit's heart rate was 44 ; I don't believe that for a minute, but it might have been 88. Sometimes when he is moving, the monitor gives me a "half read". (just my observation, but it has happened quite frequently)

I have read in a lot of endurance articles that say you should walk your horse into a hold or even get off your horse and walk into the hold. However, when Gary and I were helping at the US national endurance ride last month, no one walked in; everyone trotted in. What to do? In this instance I decided to follow my fellow competitors. Both of them..trotted in, so I did too!

I hit the hold, got off Spirit. We whipped the saddle off of him and started sponging him with water. In a fairly short amount of time, I approached for pulse but as soon as I did I knew it was too soon. I saw his heart rate spike up to 70 just before he was checked. I am usually very conservative when asking for pulse but decided to be more aggressive at this ride. There is no penalty for having a high pulse, except that you have to get to the back of the line. Seeing how there was just three of us, I didn't think the risk was too serious. Spirit pulsed down to the required "60" a minute or two later.

I managed to complicate things unnecessarily by not having my rider card with me, and got a little turned around with the process ...this being my first ever endurance hold and all!! But the volunteers got me sorted out and my first official 30 minute mandatory hold began. Todd and Kathleen were there to help Shelley. Shelley had everything set up and organized. The Schaffers took good care of the Boy and I. Shelley was especially enthusiastic. She decided, at one point, that sponging Spirit was just too slow a process, so she decided to throw a bucket of water over him. And that's just what she did; literally. Yep, the water went right over Spirit and landed ......on me! I was soaked! Not from the rain; from my friend! In no time flat I was really cold and so ducked behind the truck, stripped off the top half and put on dry clothes. Shelley had parked the truck in a manner that allowed me some privacy to do this (although I was suppose to be wet from rain water!)that girl thought of everything.

Shelley and I had a plan regarding when we would tack Spirit up again (with15 minutes remaining) and when I would get back in the saddled again (with 5 minutes left in the hold) and our plan worked like clockwork.

Betty and I were scheduled to leave the hold at the same time and I think Susan was too. If not, she was only seconds behind us. With a few minutes remaining in the hold, we were saddled on our trusty steeds, staring each other down, waiting for the timer to give the go ahead so we could tear on out onto Loop 2. The count down began, 10, 9,8, ...2,1...and away we went! Seventeen miles of glorious trail ahead of us before we would once again have to atone to pulse takers and veterinarian examination. LOOP 2 HERE WE COME!!! .... To be continued!

AUTUMN RUN . Part One - Preamble, The Start, Loop One

PREAMBLE -THE ROUTE

OK. It's time to get to work and write down the details of riding our first endurance race! I'd like to start by explaining the set up of the trail a little bit. Most of the ride took place on the property of a logging company. This property known by us as "Stanley" consists of hundreds of miles of rideable trail and roads. The roads vary in size from one large, long road that is wide enough for two-way traffic and can usually be driven by cars, down to narrow snowmobile-type trails.

The ride site is about two miles from "Stanley", so we have to go about 2 miles into the ride to get to Stanley. We leave the ride site, cross the street, duck into the woods and ride the first mile or so on an old railroad bed. The 2nd mile to get into Stanley is on an old county dirt road with an old steel bridge and a big horse farm. This road takes us to the entrance into Stanley. This is the same route when we leave Stanley to get back to the ride site. The finish line was at the end of the railroad bed.

The ride consisted of 3 loops. The first loop (burgundy colour in the picture) took you into Stanley, around a loop to the left, and then deeper into Stanley. This loop was about 19 miles long. The 2nd loop (red loop in the picture)went to "the top" of Stanley and then back again almost to the hold of the first loop. The 3rd loop (green in the picture but hard to see because it overlaps with other loops) wove its way back to the bottom of Stanley and then back to the railroad bed (ie the finish line).

THE START

I started tacking Spirit up, in the dark with a flashlight, at 6am. When I went around the trailer to greet him, he nickeled a very low, long nicker to me. Right away Shelley decided that he was saying. "All right, let 's do this". I concur with Shelley's interpretation. Spirit knows the drill and he enjoys the run.

Shelley, by the way, was my "pit crew". That is a story all in itself! For now, all I will say is that she was amazing, worked like a dog, was brilliant at the task, and if you ever want to solidify a friendship ( or end it!) just pit crew 50 miles for someone!

It was suppose to rain 15 - 25 cm of rain and I could see the mist, and feel a few drops now and then. I hate tacking up in the rain so I worked as fast as I could to get the job done before the downpour began. The ride was scheduled to begin at 7:15 am. I was in the saddle and at the start gate at 7am sharp. I had my helmet light on. It wasn't too dark at the ride site but you could tell it was going to be dark in the woods along the railroad bed At about 7:05 am ride management decided to delay the ride for 15 minutes because it was so dark in the woods, but the riders would not hear of it, so the ride would continue as planned at 7:15 am. All of a sudden I realized I did not have my ride card!. Oh my poor pit crew, it was starting all ready. Shelley was frantically searching the trailer for it, found it at the last second, I shoved it in my raincoat pocket just a I heard TRAIL IS OPEN! Holy smokes what a rush. Nine horses and riders, all trotting/cantering off into the early dawn with sprays of mist framing our exit.

LOOP ONE. (burgundy loop)

Across the road and deep into the darkness we flew. Spirit and I were at about the 4th spot going along the railroad bed (single file only). The helmet light was useful in helping me judge the distance between us and the next horse. As we were cantering along in the excitement ...9 horses in a column...I could see Susan Hovey's mare (can't think of her name) spooking now and again off to the side. Oh god I thought, I hope we don't have a train wreck on the railroad tracks (did not realize the humour in that thought at the time). My heart was pounding. I'm sure I did not even blink my eyes once the entire time we were on the rail bed and man was my mouth dry. It felt like only a few seconds later and we were on the wider road. Horses were now running two and three abreast, passing each other and picking up speed. All of a sudden a lot of the horses started to notice things around them...like the herd of 20 trail horses on the farm beside the road all running to meet us. Out of the corner of my eyes (still haven't blinked) I could see horses in our group, here and there spooking or shying from things along the road. I had no idea how Spirit would react to strange horses spooking. I decided to look straight ahead, keep him looking and riding straight between my hands and legs and to ignore everything else around me. I focused on this like I have never focused on anything in my life before and it seemed to help. Once we turned into the entrance of Stanley, I could feel myself relax, ever so slightly and I think I might have finally blinked. We rode onto a tiny trail, once again single file. We knew there were a few obstacles on this trail and I wasn't comfortable with the speed the riders in front of me were at, so I slowed spirit's canter down and at a few places I even brought him down to a trot. At this point, I knew those new reins were going to be a godsend...even at the beginning of the ride with horses cantering away from him, he was manageable.

I didn't worry too much about horses getting ahead of us because when we came out of the trail I knew we were going to be on Phinney Road. Here's the thing about Phinney...we don't train on it but we ride it in competition in the Mud Run. For as long as I can remember, Spirit has tried to run at top, top speed on Phinney. I have never let him, but there were a few times, early on in our partnership, when he got away from me and until i got things back under control, we blasted up Phinney. So today was going to be Spirit's lucky day: I had it all planned out. I was going to do nothing except ride whatever speed he chose to run up Phinney. Well, it was so funny. He immediately went into gallop mode the second his feet left the ditch and hit Phinney. I could tell he was waiting to be told to slow down and I could feel the pure joy of freedom building and building as he ran faster and faster up that road with no one holding him back! Oh yeah, My Boy had just found his own special little piece of heaven and I was right there with him! The faster he ran, the bigger the smile on my face. This was going to be an amazing day! Oh the smile on my face! It was as huge and as authentic as any smile has ever been!

As we turned left off Phinny and out onto Straight Road, I slowed the boy down to a more manageable speed...didnt want him to wear himself out before we even got started. It didn't take too long and we had passed everyone (maybe not Susan, can't remember). Eventually as we turned up Anthony Road it was just me and Susan. (somewhere around the 4 mile mark on the map). I figured Betty and Rusty had to be somewhere close by, along with the rest of the pack. Oh my, I was having so much fun!

The route took as along Anthony Road and then a sharp left down Pick Road. Before I go too much further into the race, let me tell you about Pick Road. It's a BEAUTIFUL little side road that gets increasingly rustic the further in you go, but it ends at around the bottom of the loop in the picture of the map. You see, up until a week or so ago, there was no loop. There were two trails that were not joined. There was over a quarter of a mile of woods and a brook with really deep banks along it separating the two roads. So how did it end up being a loop? Give Troy Beazley a week's vacation, and anything can happen! He worked his derrière off, 12 hour days on the trail and then well into the wee hours of the morning doing other chores, and he pulled it off! With the help of Todd, Gary, and myself, there is now a beautiful trail through the woods where there was NOTHING. The guys actually cut it wide enough that they were able to drive the ATV through the newly cut trail and push it down even more. Gary and Todd built a bridge over the brook, and eventually...."Beazley Hollow" came to life!

This is a warning....if Troy Beazley ever says to you "we just need to build a little trail to connect...". Run and don't look back! Even better, pry that GPS from his hands and then run!!!

I'm a bit off track here as far as the story of the race goes so I think we will end here for tonight and continue on with loop one in the next story. Happy Trails Everyone!

The Big Stuff

How to write a "note"about a weekend that is the pinnacle of so many things? Focus on the big stuff and provide details later. The Big Stuff:

I am now recognized as an endurance rider. My horse and I, after five years of training, have completed our first endurance ride. A day after the ride, Spirit looks to be in better shape than he does sometimes after a training ride. We rode a sub-five hour, fifty mile endurance ride, competed against stiff competition, and having luck on our side, on this particular day, we actually won. I feel a profound emotional mix of accomplishment, pride, and gratitude. A defining moment in my life accomplished. The end of a beginning and the beginning of something that could be endless

This weekend was also a defining moment for the Tidal Treasures Crew. A group of kindred spirits knitted together though our love of distance riding and shared "salt of the earth" personality. The characteristics of this personality include the natural desire to do the right thing for the right reason and the desire to encourage ourselves and encourage others. A harder working group of people you will not find. Well, all of this was capsulated in this past weekend as the ACTRA community was provided with a full blown dose of tidal treasures hospitality. From this experience as well, I feel a profound emotional mix of accomplishment, pride and gratitude. Another defining moment in my life, as a member of the Tidal Treasures Crew, accomplished. Another end of a beginning, and the beginning of something that could be endless.

In conclusion, for tonight, I can't help but think how my feelings for ACTRA as a whole are also a similar mix of accomplishment, pride and gratitude. It was a weekend that was defined by camaraderie and empathy.

All in all, if you took part in this weekend, or in any part of this journey, you will understand the pride that goes into this signing off:
Sincerely

Lynn Beazley, Endurance Rider
Tidal Treasures Crew, ACTRA

ENDURANCE IN 0 DAYS (today!!!! )

The ride is over and now I can finally, finally, say, I AM AN ENDURANCE RIDER!!!!!!
(the rest is all details....to be provided later!)

ENDURANCE IN TWO DAYS

The words that best describe my feelings at this time. Hmmm lets try " controlled chaos" or "exhaustion". I think the whole team is feeling this way. Take a look at the pic below. There are 4 pots of food cooking (some just started and it's 9pm!) there are horse socks on the kitchen counter sitting next to a pie! Yes there is a counter there somewhere From the conversations I've been having, the whole tidal treasure crew has similar circumstances of "controlled chaos". So multiply my kitchen by 12 more houses and you get the idea of what is involved with hosting a ride! Everyone is tired, exhausted really, but everyone is also in great spirits.

Tacked Spirit up today, checked out the tack and the new reins. Rode for about 10 minutes! Gave him electrolytes. Had a "pit crew" meeting with Shelley. This is new to both of us so there are a lot of details to work out. Have his food packed. Have my clothes packed (bringing extra set of clothes in case it rains) Todd and Troy finished the trail today. Carrilee, Lucy and Pam are ironing out a hundred little details. My back is really sore from all the trail marking on the ATV so hoping a good doses of something tonight will help straighten it out a bit. Would like to give more details about preparing a horse for a fifty mile ride, but I'm too tired! Tomorrow is a big day....we. Vet in tomorrow night in Stanley!

ENDURANCE IN THREE DAYS!!

Let me tell you 50 miles is a LONG, LONG trail ride. I know because we have been fixing and marking trail since Sunday. Today Troy and I left the driveway at 8am and never got back until almost 8 pm. Yesterday Troy and Todd put in a similar day. Come to think of it, Troy has pretty much living in Stanley since Saturday. The good news...it is all done except for the first mile (which is also the last mile). I am going to bed, getting up in the morning and getting my horse, gear, tack etc ready. I hope Spirit remembers what I look like. I hope I can ride 50 miles. The reality of the distance really sunk in today.

Profile of an Endurance Rider

IRMGARD LIPP AND HOOFPRINT

IRMGARD will be the last rider we will have a chance to profile until after the race on October 20th

How many years have you been riding Limited Distance rides?
I joined ACTRA in 2000

How many endurance rides have you participated in?
I have participated in two 50 mile rides. One in NS; the other in NB hosted by the Amigos

Tell us about Hoofprint's background.
I have his mother and I have raised him since he was born. He is 13 years old now. He is truly a "mixed" breed. His mother is a mixture or Arab, saddlebred, Morgan and quarter horse, I think.

What are your favorite moments in distance riding?
The 50s because they are so challenging. I also loved riding in PEI. Really, there are so, sooo many great rides

Tell us what you love about HOOFPRINT
He is a very sensible trail horse. Not too crazy when things get a little hot. He will go over, under or through anything I ask him to. He is also very helpful to others (horses) when they are first learning to go over, under or through obstacles.

Thank you Irmgard for this quick little snapshot of your riding and your horse. Best of luck on Saturday!

Horsekeeping Blunder

I hesitated to blog about this for two reasons: 1. It has nothing to do with our Endurance/Limited Distance ride which is foremost on our minds and 2. I was pretty sure I didn't want ANYone to know. But it's part of my experience so here goes.
  Last Wednesday morning I went out as usual to feed Mister & Willow their hay and breakfast. When I went to open the the freezer holding their breakfast I found it was NOT chained. We spent a lot of time talking about whether or not to have the freezer inside the barn. Hubby chained it shut so they couldn't open the lid and then he chained it to the wall so they couldn't tip it over. But I left it open by mistake.
GULP! Heart beating super fast now as I turn to look at them. They hadn't crowded each other when I came into the paddock and were quietly munching their hay I'd just tossed them after carefully smelling it to make sure it wasn't moldy. I open the freezer to find their dishes empty, feed bag shredded and top knocked off the vitamins. Some Flax and Soy beans tossed about.
  I lock the freezer and I'm shaking. I look at them again as I walk towards the house, "HUN!!" I yell in an unmistakable tone to hubby holding the dog. "Put Lilly inside & come help me please!" I say to him. He knows the tone well and just does it without asking.
I tell him, we look again at the freezer and I tell him we have to move it. He sees I'm trying not to cry and we just do it. Move a bunch of hay out of the hay building and drag that freezer to the new spot. He says they'll be fine, they hardly got any - they probably couldn't keep the lid open to eat much.
  I canNOT stop thinking that I may well have killed both my horse and my daughter's horse. He leaves me alone, wise hubby.
  I go back over to Mister & Willow and take their hay away and I lock the pasture gate so they're stuck with only an appetizer portion of grass that's hardly worth the effort. I'm frantically going over colic symptoms while trying to stay calm. I look for fresh manure and can't find any. I have no idea when they were eating out of that freezer. I listen for gut sounds and when I don't hear any I listen with the stethoscope and think I hear some. They don't feel warm anywhere, I run my hands over their legs and they feel fine. Feet do not feel hot. Breathing is same as always. They look Ok, but definitely look "full" and lazy. Lethargic. Lethargy! Ohmygosh! They DO look lethargic! Thing is, they always look lethargic after breakfast. Really, they're potatoes after breakfast.
  I'm looking at them looking at me. There is no obvious sign to call a vet, or Gary. What to do? Coffee and internet to investigate colic. I look at them out the window and they're looking more lethargic every second.
  I can't stand to stay in and wait so I go back out and move them. Grab a stick & say "Walk!" - Willow goes right away and Mister just looks annoyed. I move them for five minutes and step back. Nothing - they just look at me. I pick the paddock so I can see right away any fresh manure. I'm keeping busy, that's all. I move them again for another five minutes. Mister gets a drink and Willow deposits a neat little pile of manure that looks perfectly normal. She is aghast at the profuse praise she receives for this small act. I listen again for gut sounds and think I hear some. For Mister, I can hear plenty, but no manure and he's still looks "off" to me. I tell him what a good boy he is for taking a drink.
  I leave them alone for twenty minutes and come back to do the same thing. Still no manure from Mister but both are drinking water and looking for bits of hay from this morning. I move them two more times before he gives me manure. Whew! I start to calm down. Maybe I didn't kill them after all. Maybe. They doze more than usual throughout the day but otherwise seem fine.
  All day I watch them and they get no supper, just hay. They are annoyed but I tell them that's what they get for stealing. Normal manure and normal attitudes the next day.
Perfect. I didn't kill them. And they didn't kill me. But it sure felt close.

ENDURANCE in 6 Days!!

Well, I've been trying to chronicle our (myself and Kindred Spirit's) journey leading up to our first endurance ride, but in the past few days my focus has shifted to helping with the ride. Everyone at Tidal Treasures, along with our adopted couple (Lucy and Elwood!) has been very busy tending to paperwork, cooking/baking, and trail blazing. I' was out for hours today on the ATV with Troy checking trails. (troy is practically living in Stanley these days.) The trails look great believe it or not. Much dryer than last week. And very pretty. We will be really busy tomrrow blazing a path through the woods to connect two small ATv trails so we will have a nice "rustic " loop to throw into the mix. Hope to have pics of the trail and maybe even some video soon. Meanwhile here's a picture of some yummies Shelley is baking up for Saturday. Yum!

Profile of an endurance rider

DEANNA JOHNSTON AND AZZI

Our series of interviews featuring the upcoming riders in the Autumn Run continues. Today's profile is about a wonderful lady in ACTRA, Deanna Johnston.

How many years have you been riding limited distance rides?
"Seven years." (However she's actually been riding since she was "knee high to a grasshopper!)

How many endurance rides have you ridden in?
"Zero! This will be my first. I want to to try it, just so I can say that I've ridden one!"

Tell us about Azzi's background.
I purchased him here in the maritimes as a 7 year old, but he was still very green. You know, he'd gallop but not canter, that type of behaviour. He's an Arabian and he is 13 years old now.

What are your favorite moments of distance riding?
"I enjoy it all. All the types of trail. I love the experience of riding long distances with Azzi. It's a wonderful opportunity to ride for hours upon hours, and to do so in the company of so many good people. I'm happy just to be able to experience this at this time in my life.".

Tell us what you love about Azzi
He is my Pal. I have so much faith in him. He will do whatever I ask of him We have jumped together, done dressage, and eventing. He looks after me. He does his job and he enjoys doing it.

Thanks Deanna for a quick snapshot of your riding and your horse. Best of luck on Saturday October 20th,

Pics fom Maple Ridge Ride-JP

Snap shots of the Maple Ridge 35 mile LD Ride

Tammy and Kathleen and Marie having some fun.

Lynn and Spirit are ready to go.

Troy and Wind are ready too.

We snapped as many as we could between pit crew stops-sorry if we missed anyone.