48 Hours Down to Ride Camp

It has basically been raining here in Texas, off and on, for almost a week now.

This has my stomach in knots.  I am concerned about thrush in the horses.  I am concerned about them "torquing" something prior to the ride this weekend.

I am concerned because I have NOT been in the saddle as much as I've needed to be to make sure Strider is adequately prepared for this ride.  However, knowing the terrain where we're going is flat, I feel confident that a 50 is doable for us.  I'm a little iffy on the back to back 50/25, yet still feeling confident about him being able to pull this off.

The rain is supposed to stop on Thursday. 

The current plan is to load up Strider and Dakini Friday morning and head on down.  I will decide once we arrive if I want to put Hoof Armor on their feet or not.  I'm leaning towards the extra insurance of putting it on them, just to give them some extra protection. 

I need to go run and buy a bag of grain as well.  I'm not sure how much is left at the barn.  I will probably do that tonight on my way home. 

The temperatures are supposed to be in the 70's Friday through Sunday, so it's going to be a little bit warmer than I had hoped for.  Fingers crossed that the trails dry up quickly so they don't rapidly get torn up with 200 horses going over them all weekend long.

Due to some scheduling changes, B and I will get to ride the LD together on Sunday.  I'm super excited about that!!  This way I can help coach her through it if she needs the assistance, and we can spend the whole afternoon out riding together.

I think I was also slated to ride out with J and her horse Jett on Sunday, so there might be quite a group of us.  Or just B and I.  Any which way, I'm forcing myself to feel confident and not give in to the internal voice screaming panic that's there. 

If it ends up being just B and I on Sunday, we'll go out mid-pack.  Strider does well there, and Dakini, well...she's such a good girl that I know she'll do just fine there as well. 

In my office at work, I have 4 photos from this ride last year.  It was our very first 50 attempt.  I have since added my Green Bean medal that Strider won for me.  The jacket should be on it's way to me.  I am looking to find a way to add the mileage/points certificate Strider earned as well.  But, I look at those photos and I feel slightly calmer.  Our total RIDE time last year was 8 hours and 9 minutes.  Adding in the holds from last year, etc, it was probably around 2 hours.  So, as I look at our ride time, and add in the hold time, I realize that we still finished with almost 2 hours to spare last year.  And I feel so much better.  Because I know we can get the job done. 

I am SURE he is going to act like a crazy fool at the start, but we're going to pair up with J and Cowboy on Saturday and the group J is with, and we're going to do just fine.  Slow and steady on Saturday and slow and steady on Sunday will earn Team Strider 2 completions and slow and steady on Sunday will earn Team Dakini another completion!