It's About The Horse

Mandy'sMarty · Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:17 pm Post subject: Mandy's Latest Endurance Ride

We're back! Completed our first endurance ride of the season on Saturday. The Camp Osborn Pow Wow Endurance Ride near Sylvester, GA. We ran the 25 mile event on Saturday, Feb. 11. I'll write more about the weekend soon.
Brrrr...it was cold!!!

Sonya, we were apparently only a few hours by horseback from you! You live in a wonderful place for riding barefoot.

_________________
Marty

We must be willing to let go of
The life that we planned
So as to have the life
That is waiting for us.

~Author Unknown

PasoBaby_CarolU · Site Admin Joined: 31 Jan 2009 Posts: 9030

Way to go Marty! Looking GOOD there! Congratulations.
_________________
Carol Nudell
Corazon de Oro Paso Finos

"The path to your horse's heart lies through your own."

Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots. - Words of Wisdom - Mhar

‎"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss activities; Small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt

ElaineW · Member Joined: 03 Feb 2009 Posts: 1465

That's great!!! Love the photo..

HopeMissouri · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:54 am Post subject:

Looking forward to reading more about your ride!
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Shannon · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:56 am Post subject:

Looks like a lot of fun! I'm jealous that there's no snow on the ground where you are!
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Shannon

becdubie · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 1:46 am Post subject:

Good for you both!
_________________
-Becky
There is more than one right way!

Mandy'sMarty · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:59 am Post subject:

It was about an hour before sundown when we finally arrived at ride camp Friday. Two hours later than planned. I had been up since 4:45am and had traveled about 250 miles. I quickly found a space among the larger truck and trailer rigs amid the pines. There were two suitable large pines available for running a high line from which to tie Mandy. I quickly unloaded her and walked her briefly around the site so that she could snort and greet the neighbors. Soon she was securely tied off from the high line, water bucket was filled and flakes of hay were tossed.

Next I quickly unrolled my expedition tent and had it erected within a few minutes. I always like to get my tent up and snug before dark, before it rains. While placing tent pegs I smelled something awful. I then realized that the entire area around my site had been used by my neighbors as a toilet for their dogs. Their old, sick dogs. Very smelly dog poop. It took me awhile to clean the area and relocate my tent several feet to a safer spot. Somehow I managed to avoid stepping in any landmines.

Next I unpacked Mandy's dinner ziplock, mixed it with some water and liquid electrolytes in her black dish, and nestled it by the water tub tied to one of her trees. Then it was Bodacious' turn to eat. She got her regular mix of kibbles and canned food stirred with water into a stew.

By now my blood sugar was crashing. I needed to eat. But I had not yet erected my kitchen. I have a tent lean-to that I erect next to my Brenderup trailer. It always gets an admirer or two at endurance ride camps. Once erected, I then set up a camp table with chair underneath the canopy. I hang a lantern from the trailer sidewall under the canopy. I heat water with a JetBoil Personal Cooking System that I use when backpacking. It sits neatly on the camp table. Within two steps I can reach my 4 Runner hatch back where my cooler and my dry-goods locker sit.

My original plan was to join some friends at their camp and use their grill to heat up a take-out Cuban dinner. Bistec a la Parilla. A marianated ribeye steak with tomato criolla sauce, yellow rice and black beans. Thirty minutes before my arrival at ride camp I finally got a call back from Alisa, who informed me that she and Carlos had already passed me on their way back to Atlanta. She was sprawled out on the truck back seat, heavily medicated, and suffering from a broken tailbone. During the 50 mile ride that day, a deer had almost collided with her mare in a bizarre accident that sent Alisa crashing to the ground on her tailbone. Needless to say, I was not then joining them for dinner.

Another friend called me and her grill was cold because she was about to walk over to the ride meeting at 7 pm. I begged off joining up at ride meeting. I had to eat...soon! I spent the next 30 to 45 minutes in a stupor as I struggled with my tent/tarp/lean-to. It's a great concept but a terrible execution of interconnected tubing with stretched-out shock cord that must be threaded through narrow sleeves in the fabric. In the dark. Amid steady winds that were now approaching 20 mph with stronger gusts. Eventually I figured it out and was able to strap it tight against my trailer and stake it down securely. Fortunately it had a large window that I opened. allowing the wind blasts to spill out before ripping the whole thing away like a big kite. Remarkably, it remained intact throughout the weekend even as the winds approached a steady 30 mph.

With my kitchen canopy erected, I could then install my table and camp chair, and arrange my lanterns so that I could see without using my headlamp. I could now finally eat! Exhausted, I sat down and opened up my cold dinner. I was now feeling sick and did not see how I could be fit to ride early the next morning. I heated up some water for hot tea and drank that while inhaling my cold bistec a la parilla. The protein helped. I started to come alive again.

To be continued...

_________________
Marty

We must be willing to let go of
The life that we planned
So as to have the life
That is waiting for us.

~Author Unknown

becdubie · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:42 am Post subject:

Love it.....i'd like to load this story to my Kindle.
_________________
-Becky
There is more than one right way!

Clarissa · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 4:57 am Post subject:

Marty, Mandy is certainly looking fit & keen in that photo. However I was surprised to see you have her wearing bit. I felt sure you would be a bitless rider.

Please Explain?!?!?! (Aussies would see the funny side of that phrase better I think)

lol Marty

Your latest post read like an advert for a camping equipment store!!! Like I would expect from a sponsored sportsman!

_________________
http://clissats-own-page.blogspot.com/
Most of L4 PNH achieved WooHoo!! happy10

Mandy'sMarty · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:21 am Post subject:

My friend Amy called after the ride meeting to make sure I knew the start time. Endurance ride managers are notorious for changing the scheduled ride start time the evening before the event. That happened to me last October at Raptor Run when the field of rider teams took off 30 minutes early as I was waiting to get checked in. Mandy and I started that ride dead last and still managed to finish and complete the ride in 6th place. This ride was to start at 7:30am. I needed to meet the vet to check Mandy in at 7:00am. And I was to look for Amy and Katherine at 7:15am as we all started our warm-up routine on the road next to my camp site. I set my cell phone alarm for 5:00am.

I still had to check in and register. I wandered over to the registration building and found someone kind enough to re-open the office and register me. Ride maps were not provided. I was told that the loops were well marked and that the 25 mile event would start on blue ribbon markers and finish on pink. Both 25 and 50 mile riders would start together. Friday's start had involved more than 100 horse/rider teams. Saturday's was supposed to involve about 55 in the 50 mile event and 25 in the 25 mile event.

By about 9:45pm, I was crawling into my tent with Bodacious. Within minutes it started to lightly rain. The forecast was for slight showers to last until about 3:00am. A winter blast of frigid air was scheduled to move in quickly overnight with winds increasing in intensity during the next day. I soon fell asleep to the soft pitter patter of light rain on my tent. Perhaps twice during the night I got up to check on Mandy and my kitchen canopy.. It was really blowing.

At 5:00am my alarm woke me. Normally I wake up to the sound of generators being cranked up at trailers all over camp. It is the downside of camping in a tent amid a clustered mass of horse trailers with sleeping quarters. For some reason, no generators were on yet. I quickly dressed while still on my back inside the tent. Soon I was fixing a breakfast for Mandy and then one for Bo. Finally I made myself some instant oatmeal with lots of fruit, hot tea, a hard boiled egg, and a protein drink.

By 6:55am I had Mandy tacked up, Bo tethered to my truck with plenty of water and shelter. I walked Mandy over to the vet box where we were immediately vetted in. Mandy was assigned the letters "AZ". A ride volunteer applied the letters to her hindquarters with a grease pencil. I then mounted Mandy and we trotted over to rendezvous with Amy and Katherine. My plan was to ride with them as Mandy and I had ridden with both of their horses...and Mandy still needed a horse to pace her during an endurance ride. She needs another horse to drive, follow or compete with.

Amy's Mustang is a very businesslike gelding that just motors along. His name is Maverick. She just starting endurance competition with him last fall and she does both Friday and Saturday 25 mile events to prepare him for moving up to 50 mile events. He had already completed the 25 mile event on Friday. Katherine's mare, Bambi, is part Appaloosa. She usually competes in 50 mile events. I didn't ask her why they were in this 25 mile ride. I was just glad to have someone I knew to pace Mandy with.

It was 7:25am and Mandy was really amped up. Perhaps 20 different horse/rider teams were warming up around us on a stretch of hard packed trail...everyone else either walking or trotting. Mandy was so jazzed that I trotted her over to a small cluster of pines where we did a manic series of serpentines and loops among the trees. Then we would move away from the others so that I could let Mandy canter and then gallop a bit to burn off some of her pent-up energy. It wasn't working. She had a full head of steam and was spinning her wheels with smoke spewing from her nostrils.

At 7:29am someone yelled out that there was a run-away horse loose in ride camp...with a corral panel stuck on its neck. We were to remain in place until the run-away could be caught and safely contained. I learned later that the horse was caught by the biggest guy in camp. He's a 6'8” rider who apparently was able to physically hold the horse down until the panel was cut away. The horse was severely cut by the shredded panel but is expected to fully recover.

Slowly we all began to ease over to the start. Amy, Katherine and I were all riding more or less alongside each other as a threesome. We were at the back of the pack. I later learned that there were about 44 teams in the 25 mile event that day. There were almost 100 teams massed together at the combined start for both the 25 and 50 mile events.

The first half mile was hard-packed dirt roadbed and quite wide. Plenty of room for teams to maneuver and jockey around each other. Mandy was not interested in the pace that Maverick and Bambi were making. Amy did not want Maverick to go as fast as Maverick wanted to go. Katherine did not want to go as fast as Mandy wanted to go. I have long ago learned that it is a waste of good energy to fight with Mandy...especially during a ride that she knows is really a race. Besides, this race was another test to see how fast Mandy could go and maintain her pace barefoot, without the constant worry about throwing a hoofboot whenever she cantered.

Mandy was obviously motivated to catch all or most of the nearly 100 horses in front of us. She was already pulling away from Maverick and Bambi and still accelerating with her big extended trot. I relaxed and let Mandy pick her pace. The last words I heard behind me from Katherine were "Marty, I'm not going to go as fast as you are now going!" Without turning my head, I just waved my arm back at them as if to say, "That's OK, we'll meet you up ahead..."

To be continued...

Mandy's "AZ" ID brand during the Endurance Ride.
_________________
Marty

We must be willing to let go of
The life that we planned
So as to have the life
That is waiting for us.

~Author Unknown

Mandy'sMarty · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:38 am Post subject:

bit · Member Joined: 02 Feb 2009 Posts: 4353 Location: Kansas

Woo hoo! I'm all zippity just reading this! Must be how Mandy feels with you riding her! LET'S GO! With Eclipse's "issues" of having to be first on the trail, and a big motor, sounds like we'd have fun...till she passed out. Got some conditioning to do. LOVE your lean to! I found bitless to be Eclipse's hall pass to GO! Hope you are enjoying warmer temps. That's one fuzzy mare! Stay safe and write often!!!!!!!
_________________
"It was once said I should clear my head for one cannot ride a Thoroughbred. Hot they are. And too fast they be. Forever on the fly. But I stayed the course and have no remorse. I love my off the track racehorse!"

Mandy'sMarty · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:43 pm Post subject:

Last October my friend April Battles finally got to meet Mandy 'in person'. Until then, she and Mandy had been communicating with each other energetically. April lives in California and Mandy in Georgia.

It was only the second time I had been with April in person since we met over the phone about seven years ago. Back then April became my endurance mentor and holistic coach. Since starting out as a horse trainer and behaviorist, April has studied an impressive array of healing modalities and integrative therapies for equines, dogs, and even people.

She's no longer competing as an endurance rider. She's working full-time and traveling, conducting workshops and clinics in equine holistic therapies across the country. She's the one who pushed me for years to develop my talents and study with one of her teachers, Regan Golob. April is the one who is most responsible for helping me help Mandy to transform herself into the athlete she is today.

April was attending a healer's retreat in Taft, Tennessee during the October 15 weekend when I was competing with Mandy at the Raptor Run Ride in Alabama. We were only about 75 miles apart. After the ride, I trailered Mandy up to Taft and we camped out at Dragonfly Farm. For about an hour Sunday, April broke away from the retreat in order to coach me on some new healing techniques with Mandy. They felt like a blend of craniosacral work and Reiki.

It was then I realized that Mandy's hindquarters were getting only about 75% of the life force energy ( chi, qi, ki, or prana ) coursing throughout her body. April showed me where to place my hands in order to direct energy to where Mandy was blocked. The next morning, Mandy told me she was fine and that she now had access to 100% of chi throughout her body. April couldn't believe that the healing had happened so fast.

Since that weekend I had been wondering what specific effect such a healing would have on Mandy's performance during an endurance ride. Well...last Saturday I found out. As Mandy pulled away from our intended pace horses, Maverick and Bambi, I felt an action under me that was both powerful and somewhat awkward. At least it was somewhat awkward for me to ride. I soon noticed that my bootlaces would not stay tied. I must have tightened and re-tied them every time I dismounted during that ride. It then dawned on me that this was what it felt like to have 100% of Mandy's energy available and moving down the trail.

As we passed a couple of 50 mile competitors ( yes, we were passing those guys!), one of them called out and told me my cantle bag was falling off my saddle. I turned and looked down to see that a D-ring had been torn from the fabric by Mandy's new-born athletic action in her extended trot. My whole body was being shaken and stirred in a new way. Whenever the trail opened up enough to pass, Mandy's big trot took us past every team in our way. I remember at one point, as we motored past about half a dozen teams trotting in tight single file formation, that one rider cried out “There goes that cute Morgan!”

To be continued...

_________________
Marty

We must be willing to let go of
The life that we planned
So as to have the life
That is waiting for us.

~Author Unknown

Mandy'sMarty · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:03 am Post subject:

Mandy and I arrived at the mandatory vet check at 8:52am. I believe that first loop was 14 miles. My ride card shows that Mandy's pulse time was at 9:02am. It should have been about 5 minutes sooner but I was told to step out of line and remove her tack before having her pulse taken. I think we should have had the option of keeping tack on to keep our horse warm. It was cold and very windy that day. Removing tack is to give the horse the benefit of removing weight in order to achieve the target pulse easier. The required pulse at the midway vet check is usually 64. Mandy pulsed in at 44, well below the required rate. She scored all “A's “ on her physical exam.

We had a mandatory 50 minutes hold after achieving target pulse before we could continue the ride. I walked her over to my tent camp, removed her tack and offered her water and hay. She had yet to drink any water and wasn't thirsty now. I grabbed a power bar and some trail mix. I was too excited to feel hungry. We were ready to go at least 6 minutes before our 50 minutes was up. Now I felt like Mandy, pawing at the ground and wanting to just GO. We could only impatiently circle around the timer until we were given the signal to go at 9:52am.

The wind during the first loop was a real challenge. It was blowing steady at 18 to more than 20 miles per hour. We were often riding along the border of cotton fields and pine forest, where we were totally exposed to the wind. At one point we were riding straight into what was probably a steady 30 mph blast. It literally took my breath away. The net effect on us was a blast of 40 mph headwinds.

I don't remember many details about the second loop. We eventually found ourselves alone on a very wide and straight hard packed sandy road. The sort of road where we could have galloped and cantered easily for miles. Instead, Mandy felt like she was lost. She had no one in sight to chase down, no one to compete with, no one to push and drive in front of her. For the first time in the ride, I took the tail of my lead rope and slapped it against my legs to spur her on. It seemed to only momentarily encourage her to go. She was weaving from one side of this road to the other rather than just going straight. The road was at least three lanes wide. Mandy began to feel like she was halfway pushing forward with her brakes on. I sensed that she was waiting for a horse that was slowly gaining on us from behind.

Moments later I could hear the hoof beats and steady breathing closing in on us. The horse and rider cantered past us and then Mandy surged forward to catch them. Within seconds we were easily cantering alongside them. The rider was happy to let us join them and so we continued for the remainder of the second loop. We took turns helping each other see the turns up ahead so that we wouldn't miss them and waste time doubling back. The rider was from Florida and familiar with this venue and trail. She was helpful in alerting me to what to expect along the trail before us. It soon became obvious that her mare and Mandy enjoyed each other's company and were happy to trot and canter alongside each other for miles.

Our companion started checking off landmarks along the trail as we were quickly approaching the last mile of the loop. I couldn't believe that the ride was almost over. It felt so short. She said that we were actually doing only 24 miles, that the first loop was about 14 and this one was only about 10. Soon we were bearing down on the approach road back into ride camp. I don't remember what then happened to our companion. Mandy chased down a group of about three teams ahead of us and then we were cantering the last few hundred yards. Normally at this stage of a race, I slow Mandy to a walk, dismount, loosen her girth and then walk across the finish line so that her pulse is near the required 60 when we walk into the vet box. Not this time. Mandy wanted to run and I let her. We arrived at almost a gallop.

To be continued...

_________________
Marty

We must be willing to let go of
The life that we planned
So as to have the life
That is waiting for us.

~Author Unknown

lizloveshorses · Member Joined: 24 Jan 2011 Posts: 101

Marty, she looks as thin and and as beautifully proportioned as a greyhound. I think it's stunning, as they are in my top 3 of dogs. It's so exhilarating to read about your rides! Thank you for continuing to update us.