Sully and I concluded his first full year of AERC rides at Fort Valley last weekend. Not only did we finish it out as a year with a 100% completion rate (5/5), but he earned a 3rd top 10!

With Fort Valley just around the corner, Sully just basically had time off since Blackwater. He got a new set of Blue Pegasos shoes the Sunday before the ride and Prophecy his first trim by Felesha. That day was cold and rainy, and I arrived to 2 shivering ponies! I brought them in to eat and dry off some, fortunately the rain stopped by the time we were done and they were dry and no longer shivering.
Hello fidgety Prophecy for a trim! We will have to work on that some but he wasn’t mean about anything. It was his first time in the barn and in the wash-stall cross-ties so he gets a little forgiveness 😛 She cleaned up his cracking and flaring and then we let him stay in while Sully got his shoes. I forgot how much Prophecy dislikes staying in after a bit… I think I’ll just turn him back out next time!

The week leading up of course was another where I didn’t get to be out there much to do any prepacking, but I had left a bunch of stuff in the trailer from Blackwater to cut-down on time and really only had to fill my water tanks and get my hay after hooking up. The water tank proved to be a difficult task! I had to move my rear-tack wall to retrieve the cap again (I keep forgetting about it when I take it off and it falls behind the tank); when I went to re-pin the wall back in place I swear it was a 20min fight that had me removing everything on the floor back there to get a better angle of attack. Eventually I got it all back in place and left about 30min later than I had hoped, but still with plenty of time to get to the ride before it got remotely dark. The drive there was pretty uneventful minus one slow down, and we arrived with plenty of daylight and time for me to let him eat and drink before vetting in. There was actually some green grass there, so he was pretty happy to munch while I set up his pen and such. I really need to fix the hose-hookup on the rear water tank as it just served as a point of sheer frustration all weekend getting my hose on and off with all the leaking (plastic fitting and ball valve need replacing). The front tank needs to be cleaned as the water is coming out discolored, so it looks like I have a little work to do yet before it gets to freezing temps and I can’t anymore.
We went over to vet in and got our go ahead, but I noticed this was his worst vet in on hydration and gut sounds this year (B and 1 minus quadrant); Heart Rate was still great and he has been maintaining a solid 5 body score all season which makes me happy 🙂
Got him settled in and fed, my stuff down to the crew area, and then went to dinner and the ride meeting with Amy, Sarah, and Madison. The weather was predicted to rain some, but was flip-flopping on when and how much for the weekend but I decided to put on Sully’s sheet overnight just in case. While I walked and grazed him before bed Friday, we got drizzled on. It did that on an off all night, so I was glad to have put it on as he wasn’t sweating in it, nor was he shivering from lack of a blanket. I turned in for the night, but of course my remaining poison ivy/oak rash reared it’s ugly itchy head and I don’t know that I slept more than an hour or two total. I did find that Sully’s Coat Defense Paste eased the itch tho! The rest of the night not sleeping is just how I seem to be at rides…

I gave up early Saturday morning and got Sully fed, puttered about getting myself to eat, and then went to see Amy and Sarah off on their 50 mile start. I finally remembered to put some food and an extra water bottle for me with my crew stuff after that. We had an 8:30 start time, so I was moving slow to not have too much time to let the nerves jump in once we were ready to go. Once tacked up I hand walked him to Henry to check in for the start, and then back to our camping spot to mount up. We then walked nicely over to the starting area (no bucking, rearing or backing issues like we had at the intro) and stopped at a water tank and then walked around a bit. We left camp in the front portion of the group with the controlled start. He listened nicely and we let a few folks pass us as we climbed the roads up to the main trail. He did think about kicking another horse once, but I caught his attempt early and corrected that. Once we found a good spot, I let them by.
We eventually fell in with a few folks and at the first creek crossing I realized I forgot hook up my sponge! I was so mad at myself because he of course wasn’t drinking at that point (too early in the ride). It wasn’t particularly hot out, but the humidity of the drizzling rain had him sweaty. It was a fun first loop and I looked down to see we were flying along the hilly grass road at an 18 mph trot at one point! Thankfully, he is super smooth. I didn’t let him stay there too long, but he was sure enjoying it. He handled the rocks well, we didn’t have too much fighting about speed going downhill, and he drank well at the water tank before the final climb heading back to the vet check. We walked the last bit to camp and were lucky to have Felesha right there waiting for us (she rode her horse the day before in the 50 and was there to crew for Roger). It was awesome to have crew! She helped me pull tack and cool him off (which she said he didn’t look as hot as others before him), we let him eat and drink a bit and then headed to our vet-check with Dr Rick (who Sully woefully misbehaved for last year at the intro) and got our green-light. I had no idea where we stood in the mix, and really wasn’t concerned with that. Sully ate and drank well at the hold, took his applesauce elyte mix well and we tacked back up and walked out calmly at our out-time. We happened to end up leaving completely alone – which had us discussing the concrete bridge crossing, but he did go over after a few redirects. This also resulted in a walk past Becky for our 2nd ride photo – he was highly concerned at checking out everything to the right, so I’m surprised she caught a picture of him looking where he was going! lol

We actually did a lot of walking enjoying the scenery and beautiful colors of fall together. He’d pick up a trot when asked and we just enjoyed the first 5miles or so of alone time. Eventually we had some folks catch us from behind, Diana on Rocky & LeeAnn on Jack, and we stayed with them the rest of the ride. Fun getting to meet folks in-person! The second loop was less climbing? Hmmm, a few deceiving hill climbs but not rocks..Sully and Jack both acted like they needed to pee but we couldn’t get them to. They did all happily stop to munch grass and clover any time we asked them to take a break though. When we finally found a creek Sully dove right in and drank heartily, and then at every water opportunity after that all the way back to base-camp. We hopped off about 1/2 mile away at Henry’s finish tent and walked back to camp. Felesha was waiting for us again and we got him cooled off with Mary Coleman yelling at us as I walked him to the water tank before to hurry up and we’d be 9th! We got over to her and pulsed in to earn another intentional Top Ten! He vetted in all A’s and we were coerced to stand for BC, despite being an hour behind the first riders in. Felesha, Sully and I hung out at the crew area and let him continue to eat and drink. We went to the BC presentation and I let Felesha be the one to do the trot out 😛 It was fun getting to watch someone else with him.

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Saturday night was fun getting to relax and have dinner and drinks with folks around the fire. Then after tucking ponies in for the night (again, with the blanket) us gals sat down to watch Seabiscuit, chat, and take showers at Amy’s trailer. That always makes you feel human again! Amy & Sarah completed their 50s and in turn got their OD Triple Crown for the year 🙂 Madison crewed again for them, but now that her hip is all healed up she’s just counting down the days to her 50! I look forward to seeing her out there next year 🙂

It rained a lot off and on Saturday night. About 5am there was a lull (and I was up anyway, as were a bunch of folks to hit the road) so I went out to feed Sully; I had basically packed up everything but his fence, water bucket, and feed pan the night before to avoid getting too soaked when leaving. More downpours, and then there was enough of a lull again around 630 that I opted to get Sully on the trailer and finish packing up. I pulled his blanket, got him loaded, and then set to work on disassembling the fence, which doesn’t take much – but the water ran down my sleeves as I lifted them onto the brackets lol. We hit the road about 650, in complete darkness and still raining, but I think I crossed 3 cars on the road back to 81? Which makes that worth while. Easy trip back to the barn, but I got completely soaked unhooking the trailer…

Unfortunately I didn’t come home to completely happy times…Gypsy had been having some issues over the prior week and she got significantly worse while I was away. After getting home and showered, I made an appointment with the local after-hours vet for later that afternoon to see what had changed, and if there was anything more we could do for her. I knew in my heart it was her back issues that were found back in June when things originally got bad. She had been doing well on the meds, and we had thought we’d have a while with her yet, monitoring the spleen growths every few months for changes and keeping her on a special diet. Despite her desire to play, her back feet were knuckling over when walking and she didn’t want to stand long. Doug and I discussed what to do, and had the kids say goodbye to Gypsy before I left with her, just in case. She played ball with them for what ended up as the last time, and we took a few pictures of them with her.
The vet confirmed my suspicions, that she was neurological in the back legs and things were not going to get better. It was still a very tough decision as I so wanted to bring her home but I didn’t want her to suffer – emotionally or physically. I spent 2 hours with her there before saying that final goodbye with her head in my hands, laying on the blanketed floor with her. The pic collage has a picture from the day we picked her up in April 2013 and then pics of her and the kids that day…

Skyler and I have certainly taken it the hardest, but things are getting better. I do miss her all the time…her pillow, empty on the side of my bed, but I can’t bring myself to move it. I miss her rotti wiggle and nose-bumps every morning pushing the back of my knees to get her breakfast. I even miss the snoring. She’s joined many others we have dearly loved over the years, including her best buddy Cherokee, pain free over the rainbow bridge.