Nevada Derby - Part II

I have been really busy - apologies for the delay. You can read Part I here!

4.50am ride morning I was rummaging in the back of my truck for slippers and extra sweatshirt to brave the cold for early mashes. My windscreen had iced over during the night. Ponies politely waited for their breakfast, even JellyBean - who I nearly forgot! Ike had kicked over his waterbucket in the night, so I heaved one of the giant containers from the back of the truck to fill it up. Except it was frozen shut. F*ck! Okay new plan, grab buckets and head over to the water container near the vet area and get water from there. Spill icy water all over my fleecy jammies and in one slipper. Give the water to Ike and start picking up around camp so we have less to do before heading out. Ike has kicked over his water again. Are you kidding me, horse??? It's okay, get all these niggling inconveniences out of the way before the start so we have a pleasant ride. New solution, take both Arabs and the mini to go on a water walk (in jammies and slippers, lucky the little buggers behaved haha). Back at the trailer, it's time to crawl back in the 4runner, change in ride clothes, and eat breakfast. Except somehow I forgot breakfast. I think curling in blankets did that for me. Before I knew it, it was time to tack up. E kindly took care of booting for me to keep things moving quickly. We knew we wanted to leave after the masses (92 starters on Saturday) and since everyone had to ride past us to the start we could see everyone leave before getting on and mooching our way out.

All fired up.. or not :)

We had a very calm start, walking out on a loose rein and I wonder what E was on about with the mare I was riding being annoying? No problems here, this is going to be a breeze.
Aside - while we were ambling our way out up the first hill, B was having Mini Horse Stay At Camp issues. She wanted to be an endurance horse too. Oopsie...
Other than a few sideways looks at ribbons, we were moving along nicely. I was still getting used to her way of going, but we had a very light contact even when being passed. This mare had no marish traits at all, which was very pleasant, especially on the rare occasion someone got closer than I was comfortable with. 

Not a great shot - sorry, but the only one I got!

Forward but relaxed, good mare :)

A brief section on foot told me that she wasn't the best at 'my side your side' trail games. Oh well, I have another 45 miles to work on that. Once remounted, there was a little conversation about pace, and who was setting it. We weren't far into the ride, and my hands were a little sore - not a good sign. But we were still not really fighting, so I figured it would settle down. She half spooked at a couple of rocks, but there were plenty (really really quite a lot...) so she'll work it out soon. Silly me. Luckily most of her 'spooks' were nothing threatening to even a loose seat. E and I alternated leaders, and were playing leap frog a little with a couple of other riders, and it seemed everyone was having a great time :)

This pony is backwards. She knows her job to calmly walk out of the start. It's a trend for E's horses to be quiet at the start, and pick up any naughtiness a few miles in. This mare was no different! She never gave me any real trouble, but if we weren't in front we needed strong half halts, and occasionally we forgot what those were. Any time she got too fizzed up, we would take a walking break until we were happily on a loose rein again, then we could go back to trotting in an agreeable manner. I messed up on the first real stretch of running we did - helmet and gloves stayed on, and since it was bloody cold at the start I was wearing two long sleeved shirts and a jacket. It only took a few minutes to feel that I was overheating. Having to take off my hydration pack to fix the clothing issue was a pain, but other than that it performed flawlessly! We enjoyed a nice run for a while, and on a short uphill decided to see if pony knew how to tail. She figured it out pretty quickly provided she had Ike to follow. If we were in front she wouldn't stay on trail, but this didn't surprise me since she was the same under saddle without constant guidance. More miles will fix that though.

There is a distinct lack of pictures from this ride since I had my hands full most of the ride. If I had my camera instead of phone I could have got more but I was too concerned about dropping it to ride with it in hand. There was a sustained climb on this first 25 mile loop that initially I tried tailing up since we weren't in front. Special broke into a trot and I have never run uphill so fast in my life! Braking was not on her agenda until she caught up to Ike and I had no way to get past her and stop her. Slowest runaway ever! Since we had not long ago passed a woman who had parted ways with her horse and was waiting for him to be brought back to her, I was clinging on tight and had no choice but to keep the legs turning over fast enough to keep up. Great training for Diablo. Once we caught up I got myself back in front and hiked under my own steam. The backside of the hill was another nice running stretch and slowly slowly we improved on my partner's trail running finesse (excluding the bit where she pulled my shoe off foot from under my half chap - talented mare). We made a couple of wrong turns but entirely our own fault, trail marking was really good. Each time we went wrong it was because we were trotting and chatting and not paying attention, and quickly and easily found our way back to where we should be.

Back at camp, we pulsed in right away and through the vet check smoothly with all A's except mucus membranes (B). Once horses were taken care of and parked in front of hay and mashes, I set to work for myself. I hadn't made up the morning Tailwind strong enough, or taken snacks with me in my saddle bag, and I was Ravenous!! I ate everything in sight. I've never had a problem eating at rides until today. I ate way too much to make up for not taking in enough earlier. I made up the second pack stronger, but was not quite right all day, though never felt any worse so I at least saved myself there.

The second loop (18 miles) started uneventfully. There was a fun 'trail' through the sage brush that warranted some concentration, it was fun to see who would spot the green on green ribbons first - it definitely wasn't the mare haha. There was an evil hill here that Special was convinced that actually we should speed up. I briefly considered tailing but memories of the last loop made me think twice considering the steepness here. Amazing views from the top though:

Next was the sand! Deep sand and downhills. Bleurgh. We took it really slow through here. This in turn meant by the time we reached trottable trail we were both feeling meh, and just ambled along enjoying the scenery and the fact we don't get to hang out much anymore. Mild excitement when we came across people shooting though! We got some great video for Special's sale video waiting to cross the road with a few dirt bikes roaring past. On the long straight strech running back past the houses, E asked me to watch Ike ride away from me. Maybe something subtle, but couldn't really tell. We alternated walking and trotting trying to figure out if he was off, and she took off the front boots. Seemed to be a touch more lame but not glaringly obvious. Back boots off. Three steps of trot and he was definitely lame. Very sad times. I felt really bad leaving E, but if I walked in with her I would be pulled overtime. We agreed I should keep going. Special had other ideas. I had to get off and pretty much drag her for over a mile to get away from Ike, and once I got back on, she spooked at EVERYTHING! Arab teleportation style. Luckily that didn't last too long, and we finally settled into an easy trot and rolled on into camp. We vetted through fine, and since it was only a 15 minute check we were in and out really fast. She decided she couldn't possibly leave a check by herself with me on her, but was quite happy to jog along behind me without hesitation. This last loop was seven miles and camp was pretty much visible the whole time. Mare decided that meant we had to call to our buddies the whole way around even if nobody was replying to us. She wasn't super spooky at least, back to mostly looking at things. Except for one. I should have realised it was time to sit tight when she stopped calling, and looking, and generally being a brat. We're trotting along with me in two-point - E's saddle tried to break me, I'm sure of it. To pay it back, silly horse spooked at something I never saw, tripped, fell on her face, and pulled out a screw near the pommel. I leapt off and checked her legs and tried to screw the saddle together, at least securely enough to finish the last three miles. So close. We finally made it in, with a whole 19 minutes to spare. Good job Special-mare! Our finish vetting was right at 7pm. About 20 horses didn't finish, so considering the toughness of the day, we decided that Special and I would not go out again Sunday. We had nothing to prove, it was a tough ride, and her first of the year. We opted to spend Sunday hanging out with the mini, socializing, and heading home early.

Ride Photos credit Baylor/Gore