Wow, over 6 years ago I started my journey riding Endurance with Traveler. I’ve wanted to hit Decade Team with my equine partner, which requires at least (1) 50mile ride completion over 10years (does not have to be consecutive). I have begun and had the journey cut short many times in the last six years…the loss of 2 horses, the retirement of one that couldn’t even make it through an intro, and finally after a season of 5 LDs last year I felt ready to move up to that 50 mile mark with Sully in 2020.

2020 has certainly had its own set of challenges to make it to a 50… rides cancelled, saddle changes, and hoof issues which resulted in pulling out of 2 rides within a week of the event. We put in over 200 miles of conditioning this year in lots of smaller rides in the 10-15 mile range and registered for several virtual challenges to keep motivated. Finally, it all came together for Foxcatcher to attempt our first 50 – for both of us! But as you know, just getting there is half the battle…

With my last post Sully was on the mend. The abscess had finally run its course and he was sound again. Sometimes still sensitive on gravel/rocks, but remained sound on our next training rides. I scheduled a farrier appointment for the Monday before Foxcatcher to get a new set of his Blue Pegasos shoes on (would have been 5 weeks since last set), and decided to order Equipak (and the gun/tips etc. needed) as well as a hoof casting roll to have on hand, just in case, as these were things I could do myself if need be to help him get through the ride. I was able to snag a pair of clippers from a friend that no longer had horses, and did my first ever horse clip – a modified bib/trace type. Chest and neck came out like I planned, not so much the flanks 😏

Stress – threefold

Stress #1 – The farrier had a family emergency and had to leave town Saturday, and he would not be returning till after the ride. Shoe wear didn’t particularly worry me, but the nails holding for 50 miles after 5 weeks did….I scrambled all week, and was able to use a fellow endurance rider’s farrier to get his new kicks put on Thursday am. The abscess was done, the toe crack that caused it mostly trimmed out, and he wasn’t sensitive to sole pressure anymore. He used the next smaller sized nails I recommended he grab, and all looked good with trot outs while he shod, and during field “catch me if you can” antics from Sully the next day. At least I knew I was loading a sound horse Friday!
Once loaded, things were good…we got a slightly later start than I wanted to hitting the road, one piece of Stress #2 – numerous slow downs and accidents along the way, making the drive nearly an hour longer. I pulled into camp about 520pm….ride meeting was at 545pm. A first for us, I pulled Sully off the trailer to let him graze and grab a drink for just a few minutes and vetted in right away (usually I set up his pen and let him rest a while, but there was that time crunch thing I felt compounding). All A’s and 44 pulse, BCS 5 😊 I was a bit hurried to get him set up in a pen before the meeting as I didn’t want to leave him tied to trailer after a long haul, so made a quick pen for him with 6 of the 8 panels, set up a full bucket of water, and headed over to the meeting.
Stress #3 – more feeling rushed! I listened to the meeting, but still had the rest of our camp to set up, dinner to have, and a crew area to move stuff to, so was a bit distracted. I ended up being parked right behind the vet area, and not too far from crewing if I forgot something thankfully. I was also just down from Amy and her gang’s trailer; they were riding the LD and offered to help me through this 50 too.

Here is where the adventure gets started … a day early!

At the end of the ride meeting Amy came over to help me get organized and drag me to food… In my haste to finish setting up his pen I left him loose in there as we adjusted panels. One pair fell, then another and he jumped around. I walked over a panel and grabbed his halter to walk him out of the mess and then the port-a-potty door slammed. He shot forward, then bolted backwards, reared up a bit and tossed me aside and took off. I hit the ground and popped back up to grab a lead rope to attempt to catch the now completely spooked horse – who didn’t want to be caught. Then I watched the unthinkable happen… He ran straight towards the rope and posts set up for the driveways (which are tough to see). He bolted through two sets of that, sending step-in posts flying. All I could do is watch and not run him down because it will make it worse, and pray he stayed away from the actual road outside of camp. Of course lots of folks at this point are trying to calm or corner him without making him more upset. Thankfully a set of bushes/trees near the crew area slowed him down and he turned to face everyone a little shaken. Dawn (thank you again!) was able to tempt him with yummy mash so that he’d stand still long enough for a lead to be clipped to the halter. I checked him over, felt each leg…Couldn’t see a single scrape or feel any heat. We walked away, both unscathed, just shaken. Amy & Becky kept him a bit away from where the drama started and grazing while I finished setting up the pen – how I normally do when not trying to cut corners/save time (lesson learned). He was a bit snorty, but settled back into to his pen just fine. Amy drug me to food & drink in an attempt to slow down my heart rate 🤣 after that refuel I went back to start organizing the major stuff needed at the crew area. Amy helped move my stuff up to the crew area that Erin had set up and offered us space to call “home” for vet checks. There were 3 of us planning to ride the 50 and another doing the 25 for that spot. After that was done, Amy & I said goodnight with a hug and her reassurance all would be fine Saturday. I went back to finish gathering the rest of the crew stuff up and fed him his dinner. I gave him a bunch of hay and few alfalfa flakes, we did a quick walk about, then put his light blanket on for the night and headed to bed.

Did I sleep? not much!

Ride day arrives!

Up at 530am for our 730 start, I got dressed and gave Sully a beet pulp mash and more good munchie stuff. Took the last of my items to the crew area (food for me!) and chatted with my neighbor Kayti as we set up our saddles – both of us riding the 50. We got our boys ready, and decided to hand walk to the check-in spot. Got our “temp checked approved” bands for the day at the base of camp but I needed to drop a lead rope and stud chain (I still keep it on hand just in case!) up at the crew spot so we parted ways. Lara and I had planned to ride the 50 together, just aiming for a completion for both of our and our horses’ first 50s, but she hurt her back on Friday and found an alternate rider for her horse in the 25 instead. She came to help crew and cheer us on and was already in the crew spot when I came over to drop things off. Shortly after mounting I met up with Erin on Freya and we walked up to the start together. She noticed that Sully’s breast collar had come undone from the girth ring somehow as we walked. I asked a lady we passed on the ground to snap it back on, but of course it was that it unbuckled?! I hopped off to fix it, and sent Erin & Freya on while I found a spot to remount. That part went fine… Then he was not at all interested in listening to my speed request as we headed towards the riders that had left before us. Downside to this ride – open field start… I had a big argument with his race brain on my hands! Sully’s head was high and cranked left, still trying to power forward as fast as possible, and threw in a few pop ups and a buck for good measure. I could feel myself being unbalanced and the saddle slip a little…I was just holding on (thankful I had gloves on) and keeping myself centered as best I could until I could fix things once we got to more horses. I managed to keep him from a full out gallop, and then we found Erin & Freya and settled a little so I could fix myself. Not the ride start I planned!!

• 

• 

Loop 1: 25miles Erin & I stuck together as the horses paced really nicely together and Sully never felt threatened by her (no thoughts of kicking). We did have a 10min “hold” where there was water and grass about 1/2 way through the loop. I tightened his girth at that stop and he grabbed a few bites, but wasn’t horribly interested in water yet. We continued on; they were both quite a handful for the first 20 miles I’d say! About that time we found a nice water stop and they both drank heartily and Sully peed after 😏 The next 5 miles were rather slow in comparison and they both were finally settled. We walked probably the last 2 miles in and both horses were cool by the time we got to crew area. We vetted through 10min after arriving (I let him eat/drink a bit and sponged first), we passed with the note of a mildly sore spot on his back on the left side that earned us a B there, but overall an A- and we were 1/2 way done! One of our longer 25s we’ve done at ~4.5 hours. We both ate and drank well for our 45min hold.

• 

• 

• 

Loop 2: 15 miles Erin, Freya, Sully & I headed on loop 2 with a little less gusto – we were at the back of the pack, so no riders to be in seen in front or behind us for a while! Freya started to fizzle out, and I put Sully up front, which perked him up and helped keep her going too. At one point we used a biker that was out on trail to “chase” since Sully really likes to play that game. Sully was also pretty hungry this loop, doing some grab and go, but also stopping to snack and trying to encourage Freya to do the same. Eventually we saw Lauren & Getcha and friend, and Sully HAD to catch up to them while Freya just wasn’t feeling it to move out. We didn’t stay with them long as some of the 65 mile riders came past us and he wanted to keep going strong. We got back to camp where Amy and her junior met us to help out, and he was ravenous. Gave him another 10min of eating, drinking and sponging before tearing him away to the vet check, where he peed in line 😊 We vetted through again with the same vet – same score on his back (same spot, at least it wasn’t getting worse) and still an A- overall, slightly higher HR that loop 1 but still within required limits. He dove right back to eating and drinking as did I for the 45min hold. 10 more miles to go! That loop took us about 3 hours to complete, so we were staying “on pace” to finish in time. Unfortunately, Freya was not going to continue on and finish the 3rd loop with us.

Last Loop/3: 10 miles Amy was watching the time and pushed me to get on and walk up to the out-timer, so a more subdued Sully & I left the crew area at our out time (I was happy to let him keep eating but he was less than thrilled with people after the last dose of elytes and just snoozed instead – lip dangling and all). I knew this would be the tough one – asking him to go out a 3rd time – and now I’ve compounded that lack of drive with being turtle and no one around to motivate him. He refused to go near the out-timer station, kept trying to turn back around. The timer came up and took our sheet and walked to over to road-spot for us and make sure we crossed safely onto the last loop. I spent the next 3 miles moving him forward verses trying to turn around, at a good walk pace. We got some rhythm going and could do some nice trot intervals and then reward with more grass (he was till hungry on this loop). A pair of 65mile riders came up on us and were more than willing to help motivate him to move on. Sully gladly took the bait, but all together too well. He was powering down the road a trot that I was working to rate while still keeping the other 2 horses in sight. He “felt fine” and didn’t seem to be struggling while going; HOWEVER, once we got to a water spot his whole back end was quivering and I knew we had to slow down or risk a metabolic pull. I told the two riders I was going to hold him back some and let him recover. He didn’t fight me too bad on the idea and we spent a lot of time grazing and slower walking again. Another group of 65s passed us, made sure we were ok, and Sully let them move on by without trying to chase. I think he realized he had overdone it too. Now we had only 3 miles to go, and hour to do it to make the cut-off at the finish line by 730pm. I would rather be Over-Time than have a metabolic pull so we grazed a bit more. He perked up a bit and got a bigger walk, then was able to trot and graze and trot some more, at a much more controlled pace as we were alone again. Now it was getting dark… We moved glow stick pole to pole in the open fields but once we hit the woods there were no glow sticks out! I was glad I had packed my headlamp and used it as a flashlight to spot check color of ribbons in the trees and pie plate directions (neon pink and orange are difficult to tell apart at dusk!). I would not let him trot in the woods as I feared a spook from a deer could land me on the ground! As we reached the end of the woods we found Lauren & Getcha and her friend again and we all stuck together. “The last 3 standing” for the 50 were all wondering why the last mile was SO DANG LONG! We made our way in and were greeted by Amy & crew at the finish line with 12min spare at 718pm and Sully and I were “turtle” of the 50s 🐢 Amy had moved my stuff from the crew area to our trailer (as we finished closer to it), and even got Sully’s pen and mash set up while we were out on the loop. Another 15min of eating and drinking and then we vetted out & got our completion! 🎉🥰 Year 1 towards a decade team has been accomplished, and so much more!
I got the equicool wraps on Sully’s legs and his blanket on, then Amy & Ricky fed me dinner again, and let me shower before we all headed to bed. Sully and I were both a bit beat…I removed the wraps, walked him just before bed, gave a last meal for the day, and turned in to sleep like a rock for a few hours myself. Anytime I checked on him he was dozing in a corner after finishing the mash.

I am so grateful for the help on our first 50 attempt! I don’t normally have crew and this was a daunting task to me as it was, but everyone around was willing to jump in and help however they could. 🤗 💗

The days after

Sunday morning I got up at 6, and just decided to go ahead and get going on packing…ever so slowly moving… Kayti and I were joking about how hard it was to step in and out of our trailers and beds while trying to lift and move things about 🤣 Breakfast for Sully, blanket off, and a good brushing, then a leg-stretcher walk down to Amy’s to say good morning. He had a little bit of swelling/stocking up overnight, but was moving around fine with just that one sore spot on his back. It never got worse, and certainly wasn’t going to get better during the ride. Could have been due to the amount of racking he did was way more than usual. A nice change of pace to swap gaits, but not something he’s done a lot of. Or maybe the sideways run and buck a the start…or the fact we had never gone that far in this saddle set up at once before… 🤔 I’ll keep an eye on it. This saddle tho, the changes in his back have been pretty cool to see since May!

The ride wasn’t perfect – but we finished and I learned a lot! I’m proud of him and myself for getting through it all sound and happy 🙂 Ok, well him at least – I’m still not that sound yet – lol.
I had so many doubts on if he/I/we were ready for this. I’m glad I took the plunge, but also glad the next ride is an LD! It will be only our 2nd, and sadly last ride of this short season. Looking towards a better 2021, armed with what I’ve learned:

1. For a 50, I knew I needed to take better care of myself to make it through. I was well stocked with various snacks in my crew area and on the saddle. I had a new water bottle for each loop and used Tailwind human electrolytes. I didn’t bonk and didn’t have any stomach issues 🙂 I do think I will need a separate cooler a crew spot on hotter rides
2. Since Sully was actually tired, he didn’t move around much in his pen after the ride. Need to have a better strategy/plan for his leg wrapping to keep the stocking up at bay.
3. Race brain…ugh. It got better with each ride last season; I just didn’t even think about the fact it had been almost a year since a ride start for him, let alone a more open one! It also can be a good thing when he is tiring out to motivate him, but need to get better control so he doesn’t overdo it.
4. Sully was ravenous, especially during the 2nd hold – I wasn’t too sure how much to offer, so now I know I can and should offer him more! (he had plenty of hay and alfalfa in addition the grain mix I brought up there for him regardless)
5. I discovered Monday eve my roof-vent cover was gone! (it was fine and closed Sunday when we left camp). Must fix that in some fashion before the next rain (sadly it rained all day Sunday and part of Monday so things got wet).