This is the loop I’ve
been dying to tell you about!
But before I do, there is one little tidbit I forgot to mention about the 2nd hold that is just too cute to hang onto.... Do you remember the story about how my Chief Pit Person (Shelley) decided to pick up a bucket at the first hold and pour it all over Spirit...only to more or less miss him and totally soak me? Well, at the 2nd hold, Janie was helping Chief Pit Person and doing a marvelous job. Before I knew what was happening....I saw Shelley pick up a bucket....I got out of the way FAST....poor Janie, she didn't stand a chance. The water came flying over and splish...splash...Janie was taking a bath! Man that Shelley is deadly with a bucket of water!
To set this up: The last loop is 13 miles. It starts at Anthony Lake, goes through
medium size roads for most of the ride, then at " 4 miles left to go " sign, we pick up the
same route as the way we came into Stanley.
The last 2 miles are on county back roads, two way traffic, and then
onto the railroad tracks. We were told
that there should be no racing on the railroad tracks; basically that the first
person on the tracks (unless they went down into a walk or something silly)
should be considered the “winner”
OK back to the story -
Do you remember back at the first hold when I said that I was trying to be more
aggressive about calling pulse first
because there wasn’t much of a consequence if you didn’t pulse down and had to
go to the “end of the line” (since there was only three of us there...it turns out there was about a half hour or more between us and the rest of the riders) . Well, this
strategy did not work in my favour at this hold.
I called pulse and
just missed being within the parameters.
As Spirit was being checked, Betty called pulse, and then Susan called
pulse. Because Spirit didn’t pulse down,
that put us at the back of the line. As
a result, we went out on the last loop 2 minutes behind Betty and one minute
behind Susan. Doesn’t sound like much
does it! Well, the last loop was a 13
mile RACE and 2 minutes almost did us in…but wait a minute, I’m getting ahead
of my story…
As Betty mounted to go
out first on the last loop, I noticed she took a stick about the size of a crop
and put it in her hand. I think I have a
picture somewhere to add… This should
have been a warning to me as to what was coming! She left the hold, and since there was a fairly long stretch
ahead, I could see her for quite some time.
Susan left next. She left at a trot and soon after that picked
up a canter. I could see Betty canter
out of sight and Susan hot on her trail.
When it was time for Spirit and I to leave, I could just catch a glimpse
of Susan. Oh well, I thought, no
worries. We’ll have lots of time to
catch up. I trotted Spirit through the
first 100 feet or so (it was muddy) just to make sure I had control of him and
to warm him up a bit before taking off.
We went up into a
canter, and as we turned the corner, I expected to catch a glimpse of
Susan….nothing. Spirit looked up, also
expecting to catch a glimpse and I could feel the tension increase in his body
when he didn’t see anyone. So we
cantered a little faster, hit the next turn, took a look and.... nothing. So we cantered a little faster, went along
for about a mile before we hit a hill or and finally came to an area
where I was sure that once we hit the top of the hill we would see them. Got to the top of the hill, could see quite a
distance in front of us…and there was no sign of them!???
All of a sudden, my
horse and I felt very alone and I felt really tired. Fatigue was setting in. Muscles were getting sore. Mentally I was
drained. As we crested each hill…still
no one in sight…I became more and more tired.
Almost depressed – sort of a physical/mental “in the moment”
depression. I think Spirit was feeling
it too. We had ridden a lot of miles,
most of it in a real high and obviously our mood and competitive spirit had
been bolstered by our companions.
Then I thought, “holy
crap” am I on the wrong trail. Troy will
kill me if I end up losing out in placing in the top 3 because I’m on the wrong stupid
trail. I know it. I bet I am.”
I frantically looked for a ribbon as I tried to steer Spirit through
huge puddles and mud, still going at a steady canter. In a short matter of time, a ribbon
appeared! OK, I thought, well maybe they
are on the wrong trail…so I looked for horse tracks ahead of me. Sounds easy enough to do but try it after you've ridden 40 miles and you are in a canter/half gallop.
It took me a minute, but I did start to identify other tracks. So…we were not on the wrong track and neither
were they. However, we had been steadily cantering since we left the hold and
I realized at that point, that they must be galloping…because we were not
making headway. Then…I remembered Betty’s
stick! I laughed right out loud and I
said out loud “That bitc_ (meant with
love!) she is trying to dump me!!!”
So, then I let Spirit open wide and we flew for the next 10-15 minutes (18-20 mph is my guess). THEN all of a sudden ….there they were!!!!
When Spirit saw them, he went into warp speed (thought he as at warp speed
until then). Betty looked behind her and
I heard her utter some kind of shocked expression!
So now, here is an
interesting part….as we got closer to Betty and Susan, Spirit pushed with
everything he had, passed them and flew by as if to say “Screw you guys, you
are not getting ahead of me again.” I
swear to God that was what his body posture was suggesting. (I think he gave them the equine "finger"!) I thought once we caught up, he’d lighten up
and settle in behind them. NO WAY. He kept up the speed and he flew. Every time he heard a horse foot come close behind him, he went as fast as he could go to keep the lead. It was amazing! I’ve never seen him so competitive. Now, I understand what Jeannie Waldron meant
when she said “it’s no fun winning if you are on a horse that you have to push
the whole way.” I totally get it. What an amazing experience to be on a horse
that is determined to win! Loved it.
For those of you who
know the trail, at this point we are about halfway down the back road that runs
parallel to Straight Road. We still have
to make the left turn on Anthony, go all the way up Anthony and then start
hitting the “x miles to go sign” My
guess at this point is that we were about half way through the last 13 (might
have been 14) miles.
At this point, my
horse has not come out of the canter/gallop since we picked it up at the
beginning of the loop. Seriously.
As we were racing
along I smiled at Betty and hollered out, “You tried to dump me!” (have to
holler loud because the bells make a lot of noise). She looked at me with a big smile and
hollered back something like, “Yes I did, but damn it, I can’t believe you caught
up. That’s quite a horse you’ve got
there.!!!”
My mood had lightened
up now that we were back with the front of the pack but my body was getting
tired. We were turning up Anthony Road
by this point, and there were a lot of puddles to maneuver through. Spirit usually slows up for a puddle, he may
not transition into a slower gait, but he usually rebalances and slows – not on this loop. On this loop, between the desire to give
his buddies the “finger” and probably from getting “muscle tired,” there was no
re-adjusting for puddles. I could have
“made” him rock back a bit at each puddle, but there were so many and I was
pretty tired too. So, I steered towards
the least messy looking part and let him fly through everything.
So let’s examine
Spirit’s canter for a moment. He has two
canter gaits…a nice “rocking horse dressage canter that he was in during the beginning of the ride when he was full of energy and light on his feet. Then he has his “fast” hit hard canter–
it is like working out on an epileptic
machine. It is an aerobic adventure that utilizes every core muscle in your
body. I cannot sit this gait – the
bounce and whip lash would kill me – so I ride it two point. So, I’ve been riding an epileptic machine,
two point, for about 7 miles straight at this point. OMG my muscles are soo tired. My body is sooo sore. I am totally winded…I have never canter/galloped
this long before and my lungs are exploding.
I start to try to breath in unison with my horse…just to get my breath
back to something “normal.” At this point, even with all the adrenalin, I
really want this to be over. I consider
bringing Spirit down for a trot…just until I can catch my breath and give my
legs a break but I know that if I do… that's it. The race is won and not by us.
Here’s what you need
to know about me…I hate it when my horse is limited because of
“me.” It has happened to me a few times
when I have slowed him in training or in competition because of “me” not
him. This really, really bothers me and
it is one of the best motivators I have ever had for trying to keep in shape. So I dug deep on that day…deeper than I have
ever dug and I made a conscious decision.
If Spirit did not win this race, it would not be because of
me.
I can also tell you
that I was not totally sure that I should let him continue to
canter/gallop. He’s a great horse and I
don’t want him hurt. I wasn’t sure what
to do. I know this…if he was younger or
less experienced, I would not have allowed it.
But he felt…confident….He’s being doing this a long time and he knew
what he wanted. I knew we were pushing
the envelope, but decided that as long as he had it in him, he could go. At this point, I had not kicked or urged him
on once – the speed was all him.
Finally we flew passed the "5 miles to go sign" This was not an exciting feeling. It reminded me of when I first started doing distance riding. Five miles? Are you kidding. There is no way I can go through this for another 5 miles. I could tell Susan was feeling this way too. Betty was silent on the matter.
We turned onto the main artery - Straight Road and by this time we only had 4 miles to go! The pace was the same, if not faster, and I could not stay in two point any longer. I had to sit on Spirit's back. I figured when I did, he'd slow down for sure. I was heart broken. I was so sure that when I sat down, he'd slow down with the extra weight and it would be my fault. I figured he wouldn't be able to keep up. I had no choice. A girl can dig deep, but I was at the bottom of the well. So...I sat. It was painful. The first few steps were like my body was at the end of big ol lunge crop. Each step whiplashed my entire body. So I leaned forward and grabbed the mane to take some weight out of my seat and distribute it through my arms. Spirit didn't care...he did not slow down...not one bit!!!! God I love this horse. He has so much heart.
As we were speeding up Straight Road, the three of us still neck-in-neck, Shelley took some video with her phone. It's not the best quality, but I have it here anyway....even if you can't see much, you can hear the hooves...and you can hear those damn jingle bells! (Imagine listening to them for 5 hours!) I'm so glad Shelley got a bit of video, it brings it all back!
. Enjoy the video (it's only 13 seconds long!)
Story to be continued tomorrow (sorry, a lot happens over 50 miles of riding!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAZZPA6V5r4&feature=g-upl
