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Prineville
Oregon 50 Miler
June
Snook, Oregon, and her 6 year old gelding, Ace High
McCurdy, completed their first 50 mile Endurance Race
last week-end.
A 4 year
old mare, McCurdy's Glory, was 8th out of 54 riders
in the 25 Miler!!
Ace and June "trucking"
along....
This
shows you part of one of the downhill shale trails. You
can see that one of the Arabs is being led down the
trail. I think it's more dangerous to get off and be in
front of a horse on a slippery trail...
Ace and June after
first hill climb, with Redmond, Oregon in the
background.
June and Ace, Brenda
and Brego(TWH), Melinda and Dazzle(TWH) on the flat
grasslands part of the second half of the 25 mile loop.
This is at the Out Vet
check at 14 miles.
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Hey guys,
I thought I would do a synopsis of the ride so that I
could remember what happened and at the same time tell you
the whole skinny:
My friend Brenda and I followed each other over Mt Hood
and down to Cyrus Horse Camp that is near Prineville,
Oregon (central Oregon...high desert with mountains). We
arrived around 1pm on Friday and set up camp with about
100 other rigs! The horses were kept on high ties from the
trailer (like I did), portable corrals, electric
tape corrals, or just tied to the trailers. We set
up so our horses could see each other and be settled. It
worked great! I had Ace, Brenda brought three horses and
riders, including herself. McCurdy's Glory was entered in
the 25 mile limited distance with Mary... and Ace and I,
Brenda and her TWH Brego, and Melinda and her spotted TWH
Dazzle did the 50 miler (endurance).
After setting up camp, we took a short ride up the start
of the ride trail to get the horses used to the terrain.
The first part of the ride is up a steep steep grade.
It's good for excitable horses to calm down and settle in
for the rest of the ride's ups and downs. After the
short ride, we had to do the Pre Ride first exam by one of
the four Vets handling the ride. They grade on a
scale of A,B,C, or D.
They also determine a resting pulse. They check:Mucus
membranes, capillary refill, jugular refill, skin tenting,
gut sounds, anal tone, muscle tone, back/withers pain,
tack galls, wounds, gait, impulsion, attitude, and overall
impression. (Ace got all A's, and a resting pulse of 44!)
To check the impulsion they have you trot....yes trot
(sigh)....your horse for a straight 20 yards out and back
in front of the Vet. They are used to Arabs, and not
gaited horses, so you have to practice this and Really go
fast to try and get the horse to trot out evenly and well.
At the end of the ride I wasn't as able to run with Ace as
fast as the other Vet checks! (I must attribute that to my
age!!!!) Ace received all A's.
So....the next morning,
after a long night with 40 MPH winds rocking the trailer,
the 75 milers started out at 5:30am. (This ride did not
have a 100 miler...) There were 12 starters in the 75
miler...all Arabs. (Fractious and uncontrollable mostly!,
but fast trotters and crazy gallopers!) A gaited horse
usually cannot begin to compete for a top ten placement
against the Arabs.... Then the 50 milers started at
6:15am. We waited for the big rush of horses competing for
the Top Ten awards to leave, to avoid our horses possibly
getting caught up in the stramble! We left about 15
minutes later and we still saw two gals get bucked off
their Arabs in the first few moments. Ace was a good boy
and was listening to me and doing his job. The 25 milers
left about 45 minutes after us, including McCurdy's Glory.
Brenda bought Glory from field trialer, Paul Wells, and
picked her up at the Pacific Coast Championships in
Washington the middle of March. So, Glory has had limited
conditioning for endurance, but she's tough and determined
and loves the job!
The ride for the 50 milers consisted of two 25 mile
loops...starting at camp and ending up at camp. It
consisted mostly of up hill and down hill single track
trails, and flat grasslands with sage brush long
stretches. The mountain climbs took us up into ageless
juniper groves, with tons of wild flowers....verbena,
lupine, red indian paintbrush, and yellow lillies of some
sort! The downhill descents were loose shale steep single
track trails that some Arab people took on foot.
(Cowards!!!) Point of interest: many times I would see the
Arab riders off their horses and running beside
them....probably because their butts were so sore from the
trot and their legs cramped from posting! They say to
conserve their horses. Our horses were either fast
racking, loping, or fast walking. Being the first ride for
us and our horses.....(Melinda and I)...we took the whole
ride conservatively, to see how our horses would handle
the distance and competition. Ace was the only first time
endurance horse in our group. He NEVER took a false step
or stumble. He NEVER hit a wall....never did I have to ask
him for more speed. I was SO proud of him. He did a great
job and loved it!
There were 52 starters in the 50 miler. (42
finished.....ten of which were eliminated at one of the
Vet checks or chose to not finish) There were 54 starters
in the 25 miler. (52 finished) There were 12 in the 75
miler (10 finished) There is an etiquette on the trail:
announce when you want to pass, get over to the right off
the trail, and let the 75 milers to the water troughs
first. Stay with other horses when a rider is off, until
they mount. (Makes perfect sense....)
So, I will explain the 50 mile course only, so as not to
bore you too much! The first Vet check was at the 14
mile marker. You try to walk your horse into the Vet check
to allow the horse's pulse to get to 60 or lower. If it is
over 60, you must cool your horse down and sponge the
horse with cool water until it's down. Then be
checked again. Your "In" time does not start until the
pulse is accepted. The first Vet check had a 15 minute
"Hold" time. During this time you must take your horse
through the Vet check successfully, and rest and water and
feed yourself and your horse. (Plus, go potty!) The Vets
get you to trot your horse out again....same as the
pre-ride exam. Then they grade the same areas as they did
in the pre-vet exam. Some horses are eliminated with poor
gut sounds, lameness, etc. We try to let the horses drink
water and eat some of the native bunch grass on the trail
to keep their gastric system moving. Ace easily pulsed in,
and passed the Vet check with all A's and a B for gut
signs. This gut B is typical. The other horses in the
group sometimes had longer Holds because of pulses, so I
waited until they were released for us to continue
together. Brenda was a terrific mentor for me,
because she's been doing endurance for over 10 years. It
was a good learning experience for me. I learned many
things to make the ride easier for me and Ace. The next
Vet check was at the end of the 25 miles. Same procedure
except we were required to un-tack for this Vet check,
same Vet check, and a 60 minute hold. �Ace continued with
his good scores. We had to re-tack and went back to our
trailers, because we were in camp. We ate, fed and watered
the horses, sponged them off, re-tacked again, and started
out at the "Release" time. Oh, I forgot to tell you
that the horses had Rider #'s painted on their rumps. We
had to announce our numbers leaving and arriving at the
Vet checks. There were plenty of volunteers helping to
take the pulses and numbers and announcing the rider
numbers when the horses were released to continue after
their hold periods. The next Vet check was again at the 14
mile post, and there we had a 30 minute Hold after the
pulsing in and Vet check. They have plenty of water at the
Vet checks and on the trail. They provided hay at the Out
check from camp and we also had prepared packs of grain,
carrots, etc....Advil, sunscreen, water, powerbars, etc to
be at the Out check waiting for us. Oh, also, we used
electrolyte pastes after each Vet check after the horses
had gotten plenty of water. We had pre-ride
electrolyted the horses and also post ride. Then we had
the long 11 miles back into camp to finish the ride!
The 25 milers had 6 hours to finish. The 50 milers had 12
hours. The 75 milers had 18 hours. This also includes the
times of the Holds at the various Vet checks.
Glory finished the 25 miler in 8th place!! We were
so proud of her! She kept up with the Arabs.
That's pretty good out of 54 horses! She was just fine
after the ride. In fact, she finished in 5th place for
Best Condition! The top ten finishing horses can compete
for Best Condition, which includes another Vet check one
hour post completion. They pulse them before a trotting
out, and the pulse should be lower after one minute post
trotting out. Amazing..... The three of us in the 50 miler
made it with 45 minutes to spare. Dazzle is really a 25
miler, and held us back a little. We took the whole ride
with the spirit of "To Win is To Finish", and we did just
that! Ace was just as strong, if not stronger, at the
finish. I wanted it to be a good experience for him. I
think it would have been easier on my body if we had gone
faster and quicker to finish! We shall see next time,
because Dazzle will be doing the 25 miler and Brenda and I
have horses that compete about the same. It should be
fun!! (Just push the Aleve!) I was sore in every muscle
the day after and today I am pretty much completely
normal! I was told that this ride was one of the hardest
with all the mountain climbs and shale rock downgrades. It
was a gorgeous ride, however.
There were 16 gaited horses there. I am a member of the
"Master Gaiters" team and we made points for year end
awards. There is an "Insta-Gaiters" team as well. We all
pot-lucked the dinners there, although local riding groups
provided meals for a fee. Sunday morning, the morning
after the ride, they had a wonderful breakfast for the
riders and an awards presentation. Everyone that completed
their rides got an award. They gave out ribbons for Top
Ten placements and also Best Condition awards. So, to me,
if you don't go for the Top Ten placements, you should
pace your horse well, and win with a sound, happy horse,
instead of pushing the horse too hard to come in 11th!! As
you can see, the horses come first for care. The Vets make
dern sure that that takes place.
I had a great experience and look forward to the next
ride. Ace will rest until next Sunday's conditioning ride.
Then he will be ridden once or twice a week until the next
ride the end of June in Washington in the Klickitat Canyon
Natural Resources Area. (Julie, you should be familiar
with this area...it's north of White Salmon)
I wish all of you could do one of these rides! Granted the
25 miler sounds more sensible, but it is not considered an
endurance ride. They classify it as a Limited Distance
Ride and it doesn't get endurance ride points. The 50
miler is the first distance to be considered
"endurance"......maybe a 30 mile ride is, but not too many
are offered. (And....sigh......I have NO desire to go for
a 100, or even a 75 miler!!!)
They even ride in the dark with glo-sticks on for light!!!
NOT ME !!!
Thanks for enduring my synopsis of my experience!!!! Hugs,
June |
