On October 23rd Doug & I celebrated our 15th anniversary! 🥰
In addition to that, Sully and I completed the Fort Valley LD (30miles) earlier that day 🐴

I’m one lucky gal and Doug agreed to let me go to the Fort Valley ride and return late on our anniversary; as it is only 2 hours from home I didn’t feel that it would be unreasonable to do a trailer ride home after a bit of rest. I had thought we’d be done earlier in the day and home around dinner – little did I know we’d be pushing to make the cut-off time for a completion!

True to the endurance form, there is some type of stress getting there! I will say though, after just prior getting myself packed up and mentally ready for a 50, the thought of the LD didn’t stress me at all! I slept fine all week; no racing thoughts all night about remembering this, that or the other thingamajig.

Sully had a solid rest after Foxcatcher and then the week leading up to Fort Valley went mostly smoothly. Tuesday evening he got a massage to make sure the spot on his back was not an issue. Getting his SuperSport was a stressor as Southern States was unusually out when I went in a week prior to needing it! I had set aside enough for the ride itself just in case, but I got that picked up when it came in Wednesday eve, and even managed to put Equipak CS in all four of Sully’s hooves between Wednesday and Thursday in prep for the rocks. It was my first time doing the sole packing and using any Vettec product myself – wasn’t too bad. He didn’t need any padding at the same ride last year, but with all the other issues he’s had this year related to hooves, he was more sensitive on rocks so I wanted to protect his soles. The only thing I could not manage to do myself before the ride was clinch his nails tighter. I kept my fingers crossed 🤞 that I could find the ride farrier or a friend before the ride start to help me with that, but had his Scoot Boots and prior used less worn shoe sets on hand if needed.

Thursday arrived and I hooked up the trailer during lunch. Everything but a water bottle and printed directions were in the truck or trailer ready to go for when Doug made it home from work. About 2pm I went out to move the rig into the driveway and load up. Of course Sully played his “catch me game,” but this time in the woods instead of around and around the shelter! Ugh…he had too many ins & outs for me to be all that effective in getting a hold of him or using any groundwork to my advantage… Plus Prophecy kept playing “bouncer” and was always positioned between Sully & I when he would stop. About 20min of this (at least showed me he was sound for sure!) and I think Sully felt my mood change and decided it was best to stop and wait for me to halter him. We walked up to the trailer, put on his shipping boots, loaded up easily, and we finally headed out 🙂 The drive there is pretty straight forward, just some hair-pin curves and tight roads near camp that you hold your breath for. We checked into camp about 445 with a vet-in time assigned for 530pm. For a limited entry ride (100 riders allowed + volunteers) we seemed to have lots of rigs on grounds already! I pulled into a spot that I later realized happened to be near my friends and riding buddies Roberta, who was drag riding both days, & Jennifer, who was doing her first 50 Friday.
I unloaded Sully and tied him to the driver’s side of the trailer in the shade to munch and have access to a bucket of water. I then went to work setting up my panels off the back of the trailer with the step-ins to support a few junctions. No mishaps this time with spooks, but he is definitely more leery of them when I walk him in and out! Got him squared away, myself a short break, and then off to the vet we went. Sully was amped up and totally out-running me on the trot-out. Bob (vet) was surprised to hear he had recently done a 50 and said he looked good and was obviously rearing to go. On the way back I asked Jennifer about clinching nails, as the ride farrier was not on site, and she saved us! She figured out a trick to get the clinch done with a hammer as my cheap clincher set didn’t quite have the handle length that would have made it easier to do. That took care of my last ‘worry’ for starting the ride – now I knew he at least had tight nails and we would deal with the rest if a shoe came off ride day. Then I got Sully settled back in his pen with dinner and went to set up a crew spot. Not many spots left and we ended up near the truck lane out in the sun.
I stopped in to Mary Coleman and got my Turtle award from Foxcatcher, picked up a 2nd bale bag (so I can put the alfalfa in one vs. a trash bag lol) and a new sponge/leash combo so I have a spare.
Finally I had time to relax and socialize with friends at camp (with distancing of course) 🙂 Then put a sheet on Sully for the night and off to bed – but I didn’t sleep much….kinda the norm at rides for me, hence the need for caffeine on ride day! (I don’t do caffeine much at all).

Ride Day began for me about 615am when I gave up on ‘sleep’ and decided to get dressed. Sully happily chowed down on his beet pulp and alfalfa pellet breakfast and had polished off all the hay I had left him the night before (should have set out more it seems). He left several poop piles for me to clean up so I could keep an eye on the EDPP post ride, then gave him more hay and topped off the water bucket. I went and saw Jennifer off on the start of her 50 then came back to brush and slowly tack up. I did electrolytes slightly differently, a bit earlier than usual, to see if he’d be willing to drink sooner. After that I offered carrots and alfalfa hay on the ground as he won’t touch a thing from me for a bit once I’ve dosed him 🙃 Once he had finished that off I moved his water and some alfalfa to tie him to the trailer to tack up.

We were ready about 810 (start was 830) and went to check in and warm up walking about camp. He was very calm walking around, and I kept him from the starting area when the truck first left as I had no desire to do anything but finish another ride. He left camp the calmest he has ever – no rodeo – no pulling – and we made our way up the road at a slow trot and settled in with Cathryn and Brenda in a nice easy trot pace climbing our way to the trailhead. For those who haven’t been, Fort Valley starts out with a hefty set of climbs right off the bat – up a long winding road that climbs the mountain, then up the mountain some more on a rocky trail with amazing views, so a horse can easily tire itself early in the ride or get a cramp if not warmed up. We were joined by a few other new riders and the little group moved steadily onward….until we were on the way down the rocks and riders ahead noticed no ribbons of our color on the right as there should have been. This created a bit of confusion for all! We headed back up to see if a turn was missed and then a whole traffic jam of most of the 21 LD riders resulted trying to figure out the trail. Eventually it we continued back down the way we started and finally found a red & white on the right as it should have been. Once we made the left onto the next trail there was some jockeying around and folks passing. Sully of course was less than thrilled but behaved as I warned people to let me find room to move him since he kicks (which is why I keep a red ribbon on his crupper!). We all found our “spots” and I spent nearly all the first loop with Cathryn and Brenda – the 3 horses did well together and none of us were racing. We took breaks where we could find water and they all drank pretty well after about 10 or so of the 17 miles of this loop. There was only one bobble coming up a steep climb from a water spot where Sully almost went down to his knees slipping on the dirt climbing up. The 3 of us had a great ride chatting away and got into the vet check together just about 12. Sully then heartily drank and ate while I sponged him off. He had peed shortly before we came into camp so I knew that was taken care of at least. All 4 shoes remained on and nails appeared good; he vetted out that loop well 🙂

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I probably tend to wait longer than I need to before taking him to the vet to let him eat more… we ended up about 5min apart in our out time from Cathryn and Brenda, so I didn’t get to ride with them on the 2nd loop. Instead, he and I headed out alone after he spent the hold eating his beet pulp/ grain mash and hay, and drinking – until I offended him with more electrolytes lol. This was like loop 3 of Foxcatcher…he was not happy to move out alone so we did little spurts here and there, and I asked him to keep up a forward walk in the intervals. Eventually we were caught up to by 2 ladies on their Morgans and we spent the rest of loop 2 with them. All 3 horses were hot and on the one crazy big climb we took several breaks. They drank well when offered, we sponged a lot, and even stopped to Elyte on trail. As we were pushing them to make time the last few miles of this 14 mile loop they were also pretty hungry and stopping often to grab grass. Since we didn’t have a map for an idea of where exactly we were in relation to the finish line, only our mileage trackers to see the total against what we told the loop was (which of course all said different distances!), that made finding that finish line by cut-off (345pm) a bit unnerving! It was 335 when we crossed the finish and then walked back into to camp 🙂

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I had a little bit tougher time getting him down to where I wanted on HR and fortunately had an extra hand come offer to help with sponging. He was not that interested in his hay, though drank well, and I could tell he also needed to pee! I didn’t have a 2nd beet pulp mash at the crew spot (that was dumb on my part) and it was hot… so we sponged and scraped, and I walked him a bit and finally got him to where I was ready to go vet out for our completion 🤞. Wasn’t his best finish, as he took some convincing to start the trot out and his HR was higher then other rides at the end – but we got our completion. Of course he finally peed on the walk back to the trailer! In the end, we were 11th of 13 finishers – 21 started the ride, so I’m still pretty dang proud we completed that ride in the time allotted 💙☺🤗

We went back to the trailer, where of course there was more food for Sully and I wrapped his legs in the Equicool wraps. I started collecting my stuff and went to buy ride photos (shown below by Becky Pearman Photography) while he rested, ate and drank. I was all packed up and hit the road about 6pm to head home; we arrived shortly after 8. I let Sully out, watched him roll a bit, go for some water, graze and go back for more water, and then left the truck and trailer to deal with in the morning! (big bonus with having them home).
I had some dinner, got kids to bed and then Doug & I exchanged gifts. Funny to see how much we think alike! The 15th anniversary gift is traditionally Crystal or for a modern touch, a Watch. We both bought a wall clock for the other that was engraved/detailed for the anniversary. Doug also gave me a crystal rose and some horse themed paintings for the bedroom, and I gave him a wooden guitar with crystal tear-drop suncatcher.

I did a night check on Sully before bed, where of course he came to great me at the gate expecting another dinner…

So what did I learn this time around?
– His back was not sore during any of the vetting at the ride (or when I checked it there), but at home when checking him the next day the same spot on his left side showed some soreness again and a bit of inflammation. Monday I started to see some flakey skin. I’m not sure if we are dealing with a friction issue or what right there, and will continue to troubleshoot. So while things are good – they aren’t perfect yet.
– I learned how to use Vettec ‘pour in’ products and finally put my heat gun to use (drying out the hooves to apply). A few lessons learned on that one for the future too.
– Learned a trick for clinching his nails using a hammer and the tool I have, since you can’t get a good grip with it…
– The Blue Pegasos shoes are definitely worn out after 75 miles of hard riding on gravel and rock! I actually plan to have them pulled soon, and will have a new set put on right before the ride if we chose to go to JD’s later in November. We have boots to use in the meantime and don’t have plans to hit the mountains between now and then anyway.
– Why in the world I didn’t put a 2nd serving of his mash at the crew area for the finish, I have no idea…other than I didn’t expect it to be quite so hot at the end of the ride. Lesson learned to have more there than I think I want.
– I did well with drinking using the Tailwind again, though I used up the last of my non-caffeinated samples so I need to order more. I actually ran out of water on loop 2. I use my larger bottle on loop 1, so I may need to reverse that. I’m also finding I can eat! After 6 years I can actually eat breakfast and snacks at the holds without feeling sick.
– Sully is in a really good spot weight wise. He has reserves and hasn’t come away from a ride looking thin. I’m sold on Basic Equine having helped his gut as he isn’t showing signs of tummy upset either (like pawing and gulping) 🙂

Do we have one more ride in us this season? I haven’t decided on that just yet… Sully will get another bit of time off, a massage and some troubleshooting to see if we can figure out the spot on his left side better. It is a longer haul to JD’s (5ish hours) and we’ll be dealing with the loss of daylight from the time change too…so going for another 50 would mean finishing in the dark again! But maybe another Turtle? 🐢

Skyler is coming along in her lessons getting more practice with the canter. We are planning a trip to go check out a few Standies for her soon too 😉