River Run Year 3; Part 2.....or "Well...? Who/What/Where/When?"

Wow, this has taken a LONG time to get to, hasn't it?  Work and the holidays really threw everything out of wack!!!

So, where was I?

Ahhhh yes, day 2 of River Run, who was on deck, or did I just pack it in and head for home?

So, Saturday evening, before the ride meeting, D.C. came over to our camp and said "If you're game, we think Dez looks good enough to do another day."

GAME ON!!!

We went and got signed up, and then piddled away the rest of the day, hanging out with my girls at the Land Yacht, playing with our horses, taking them for walks, and just relaxing and savoring a ride well done together.

When it was time for ride meeting, we realized we finished comfortably towards the back of the pack, exactly where he needed to be!!

Out of 46 starters, 36 finished.  We were 29th with a ride time of 4:33!  I will take a ride like that day after day after day.  Solid and consistent time without having to race to make cut offs! And plenty of horse left for day 2!!!

At the awards meeting/dinner, we heard some people behind us talking about some horses that had gotten loose.  C.B. had the foresight to quietly slip off and check on all of ours to make sure that they were safe and secure still in their pens (they were). 

So, after we got our awards, we headed back to the Land Yacht, chit chatted some more, and finally started turning in for bed.  However, I was so congested, I was up most of the night.  Around 10ish I was aware of some loud and thumping music.  Truthfully, I thought the music was coming from somewhere in camp, so at about midnight, I left the trailer to take a walk (I kept coughing and choking and didn't want to keep C.B. and T.M. up all night!) and try to figure out who was having a mini-rave in camp.  I fully planned to knock on a door and ask them to PLEASE knock it off.

Turns out, apparently ride camp is near a bar that had some music thumping until 2 am.  Ask me how I know how late the music went on for.  Three guesses, and the first two don't count.

I finally fell asleep around 3ish, and was up again around 5:30ish.  Not an ideal sleep situation, but, work with what you've got!!

Stuffing food in my mouth and racing over to D.C. and R.C.'s trailer to help get ponies ready. 

R.C.'s horse who had done the 50 on Saturday was heading out for day 2 to do an LD in preparation for High Roller's 75.  And today, D.C. swore, come hell or high water, she was riding!!  HOORAY!!!

So, all 3 of  us mounted up, waited a few moments for the hot feet to book it, and away we went!

While out on trail, our motley gang of 2 Paso Finos and 1 Arabian met up with a newbie rider on her horse (M.D. on her horse, who's name escapes me, but according to the results, is River in Motion).  We all quickly clicked together and chugged happily down the trail.

See?!

Having a great ride with great people on day 2 at River Run! 
I love how intense Dezzie looks here! That is a horse on a mission!
Photo courtesy of John Nowell (purchased)

D.C. really seemed to enjoy the river part of the trail.  Truthfully, it's one of my favorite parts as well.  It's shaded, peaceful, and the trails have just enough twist and turn to keep it interesting!!!  I completely enjoyed riding with her, and R.C. (again) and our new friend M.D.  I kept glancing down at my Garmin and was surprised by the time we were making.  It was so nice!

Before we really even knew it, we were all making our way back to camp.

Now, remember when I mentioned that at the dinner, we'd heard about the loose horses?

It was true.

And, in fact, the trail was re-routed because one of them had a catastrophic injury in the dark and they were waiting for the remains to be removed from the trail.

It put a damper on our happy little crew, and made me a little sick to my stomach.  Death can happen in our own pastures, but it's got to be so very painful to make a return trip home without your friend and partner. 

At the end of the first loop.  Yep, I look bad dismounting
but there is a horse who still has juice to keep going!
Photo courtesy of John Nowell.

These are our splits for the first loop.

To say that Dezzie has a nice, forward way of going is an understatement. 

	Time	Cumulative Time	Moving Time				Avg Speed	Avg Moving Speed	Max Speed
1	12:50	12:50	12:38				4.7	4.7	9.6
2	7:42.7	20:33	7:38				7.8	7.9	10.0
3	8:34.0	29:07	8:31				7.0	7.0	10.0
4	9:19.8	38:27	8:55				6.4	6.7	9.6
5	8:56.5	47:23	8:49				6.7	6.8	10.3
6	7:54.4	55:18	7:52				7.6	7.6	10.0
7	9:15.3	1:04:33	9:07				6.5	6.6	10.7
8	9:33.2	1:14:06	9:17				6.3	6.5	10.3
9	9:49.8	1:23:56	9:45				6.1	6.2	11.0
10	13:49	1:37:45	13:09				4.3	4.6	10.1
11	11:28	1:49:13	11:18				5.2	5.3	10.2
12	12:40	2:01:53	10:56				4.4	5.1	10.0
Summary	2:01:53	2:01:53	1:58:28				5.9	6.0	11.0

So, we vetted through just fine and headed back to the trailers to let the horses rest and relax.  R.C.'s boy was a little tired, and R.C. wanted him to have better gut sounds, so he and D.C. opted to wait longer than the mandatory hold to allow him to refuel and get a few more minutes break.  The added bonus is that the two of them could ride TOGETHER.  Which is something that I gather they don't get to do a lot of.  So, M.D. and I headed out together to hit that second and final loop.

Dezzie was ready to rock and roll, but we tried to keep it to a dull roar.  I think he was starting to feel a little back sore as he was stretching down, not to rip the reins through my hands, but, it felt more like he was trying to stretch his back out.  I was using their Barefoot on him with a Skito, but he kept asking to canter, and I wanted him to take it easy as M.D.'s horse didn't seem to mentally be prepared for that on ride day.  So, he and I had lots of discussions about it.  And I made a mental note that if we rode together again, he would need a different saddle, at least for the second loop.  Maybe swap him out for my own saddle if needs be.

And, once again, before we knew it, we were heading back to camp.  And, unsurprisingly, Dezzie just REFUSED to drink the whole damn ride.  He has race brain still something fierce.  You would think on day 2 he'd be more settled down and in, and, oh, I dunno, maybe THIRSTY?!  Nope.  Not Dezzie!!

I kept thinking R.C. and D.C. would catch up to us on trail, and they did, as we were coming in to camp!  :)

These are our splits for the second loop.  We took it nice and easy.

	Time	Cumulative Time	Moving Time				Avg Speed	Avg Moving Speed	Max Speed
1	11:28	11:28	11:22				5.2	5.3	9.9
2	12:13	23:42	11:57				4.9	5.0	9.3
3	9:00.8	32:42	8:56				6.7	6.7	9.6
4	10:35	43:17	10:27				5.7	5.7	9.3
5	13:27	56:44	12:58				4.5	4.6	10.4
6	10:09	1:06:53	10:07				5.9	5.9	11.2
7	11:35	1:18:28	11:27				5.2	5.2	10.6
8	14:16	1:32:44	13:13				4.2	4.5	12.6
9	12:33	1:45:17	12:24				4.8	4.8	11.0
10	16:53	2:02:09	16:20				3.6	3.7	4.7
11	14:12	2:16:21	13:52				4.2	4.3	9.6
12	7:42.2	2:24:03	7:24				3.5	3.6	4.2
Summary	2:24:03	2:24:03	2:21:24				4.8	4.9	12.6

And, is anyone at all surprised that Dezzie completed?

In fact, our entire crew completed!!!

Dezzie was ALMOST Turtle (R.C. took turtle, dangit!  LOL!!!) with a ride time of 4:57

Overall, it was a great weekend with a fine horse!!

AND!!! I earned my 250 LD mile patch on Saturday on Dezzie.  It was such an honor and a blessing to be trusted with such a fine animal to carry me across the finish line (such as it is for an LD ride). 

I am ever so grateful that they offered me the use of their horse.  I'm ever so grateful that I met R.C. at River Run 3 years ago and got to ride with him that day.  And I'm beyond grateful to call them friends and part of my endurance tribe.

Thank you R.C. and D.C.

And thank YOU Dezzie!!!

Now...about High Roller.....