Sully basically got a nice rest after the clinic due to uncooperative weather…we did do our haltering work still (he must be haltered to eat), which lead to an interesting discussion with him when I swapped the halters I was doing it with. It also allowed me some time to work on the red trailer and we made some real headway on the horse area readiness (screens up, water tank strapped in, mats taped). Of course I’ve since changed my mind and will carry water in my truck bed instead, but hey we got it done! lol

As I said in my last post, my plan was to ride drag or the intro at OD, both of which would be on the Saturday during 100mile ride. I needed to be home Saturday night, so couldn’t do any later than the 3rd loop to allow Sully down time after, before heading the 2hours home.

I managed to find a partner for drag riding on the 2nd loop, but Thursday night she had a family issue and could no longer attend. Well, I just said we’ll wing it and find out what we are doing when I get to camp! Now of course leading up to leaving is never easy it seems – we had lots of rainy evenings and no great timing for hooking up to fill up the large water tank, so I decided to try and wing it with the 14gallon “extra” I removed from the red trailer and put it in my truck bed (I bring home water just in case he won’t drink camp water). It has a spigot system on the bottom which meant having to make something to keep it propped up on. Doug & I did that Thursday night but then also realized the valve threads were not for a regular hose! He was able to run to Lowes at lunch on Friday to grab the right adapter for me, but our thrown together raised box didn’t hold… I could still use the tank if I needed to so just grabbed one of my 5gal lidded buckets of water as well.

I had a mostly easy drive to camp Friday late afternoon, other than raining on and off, which meant going over the mountain was so foggy/misty I could barely see in front of me on the downside. Thankfully that was the worst of it! We got into camp and set up in ‘drag camp’ right across from Jaime, Iva and Ann, as well as next to Melody and Jerry. I decided to try hydration hay this ride, and Sully gobbled up two blocks Friday evening and vetted in with “great gut sounds” per Dr. Bob. He ate the grass in his pen and several flakes of hay overnight as well – Not sure if dosing with his gut-goo (EZ Gel) from Basic Equine before he stepped on the trailer made a difference, but I don’t think he’s ever polished off so much before a ride (including all the hay in his net on trailer ride there). He got a dose of e-lytes with his dinner, and then gut-goo again Saturday morning. He didn’t drink as much plain water as I’d like, but was still eating great and slurped down his mashy breakfast well.

As it turned out, Jaime was drag riding loop 1 with Iva on Hope, and she felt K was ready and able to do the second loop as well, so the decision was made to keep going with the drag idea and not ride the intro.
For loop 2 I was picked up and taken to the BirdHaven/1st vet check at 8am (after a morning wake up of 430 to see off the 100 milers start at 530am). I tacked him up starting about 730 with the Nexus X saddle we had borrowed from Amy until I found one to buy (I did! I will be here tomorrow!). Sully gave her trailer a few side eyes and snorts over different looking mats but loaded and rode nicely. We got in the VC about the time the last group of riders did so were supposed to be heading out after their 45min hold and once Jaime & K arrived and had time to eat and regroup. Jaime and Iva got a late start as we had trouble finding them a radio and vest, and didn’t make it into the VC until close to 10am… Sully spent a lot of time grazing and finishing up scraps of hay and such left behind by others, and getting love from the volunteers stationed there lol. It was decided to move us (trailer ride #2) to VC 3 at Laurel Run, and if needed we could back track to find any riders and move forward from there as there were no riders on the next loop (VC 3 to 4) assigned. It was actually the loop I had wanted to do to begin with, just was finishing a bit later – I guess it was meant to be!
We got to hang a bit again, meaning Sully got to keep eating and take a nap; the last riders came into Laurel Run about 1230, putting us out on trail around 115pm. It was starting to get a bit more sunny and humid, but not brutal. Given that, I dosed Sully again with some e-lytes (had done at 930 as well in anticipation of the 2nd loop ride) and Jaime & I headed out after the last rider. We had a lot of fun chatting and working in their different gaits/speeds taking turns leading and following; Jaime & I haven’t had much time to really ride together so this was nice….we realized our last ride together not associated with the clinics was actually when we first met in 2015! (both on very different horses then too). Sully and K ate up some trail where we could and navigated the rocky section well…even the grassy areas we could move along had hidden rocks though! 😛
A few miles from the VC we came up on the last rider, walking his horse. The first time we yelled up to check in with him (stayed back to not have our horses pressure his) we couldn’t really hear a response over the cicada sirens (just WOW how loud are these bugs!!), but he mounted up and trotted off so we figured it was a “yes” to our question. We hung back a few to offer some space and started up again. Not long after we came across him hand walking his horse again, this time we were able to chat and find out the horse was refusing to eat or drink when offered. We stayed with them and slowly walked in to the VC together, stopping often to offer grass, carrots and outlast treats to the horse but he had no interest. The horse was just “blah”…no belly kicks or trying to lay down, no muscle spasms we could see; did have a few poops, but definitely ADR (ain’t doing right for non horse folks). There was a reason we were “meant to be” on that 3rd loop… We reached the vet check where K & Sully dove into the water (even after finding a creek to drink from just before) and then I did a courtesy vet out for him before getting on a trailer for the 3rd time that day! We made it back to camp around 6, I cleaned him up and gave more mash and fresh water, then let him be for a bit before loading up ~745pm; home about 945pm. Long day! Thankfully I could just leave nearly everything up in the truck with the trailer hooked as we were hauling Scooby to a lesson the next morning.

Our loop was about 13.5 miles, across lots of different terrain so it was a good training ride. Not only physically for Sully, but mentally. He had to load on and off a trailer 4 times in one day… he had to stand around and chill after all horses had left VC1 and hang out at VC2 as well tied to a tree. He had a different saddle on than the last drag ride at No Frills. The pads now stayed in place beautifully – though I was constantly checking in the beginning of the ride as this has been such a problem before. He had a new riding buddy, and got to work on being the middle horse as well as well leading and following. Overall he did really well IMO – definitely not as “race minded” as he was at No Frills. We both feel dragging is fun now!

Scooby maintained being sound post an abscess burst through the coronet band, so what better way to celebrate than haul him out for a lesson? We weren’t really sure what to expect since she hadn’t been on him since April due to the lameness the abscess caused, but gotta start somewhere as Jeff said. I really didn’t expect anything “bad” given his personality, and that was exactly right. In fact, someone (me) forgot to grab the bridle bag hanging right next to her saddle so she rode him in borrowed snap on reins and a halter! They did well and walked and trotted in the grass arena alone and with another rider in there later. Super chill Scooby didn’t seem to bat an eye at being hauled off alone to a new spot, with horses in a pasture near the ring, or a riding pair joining him in the ring midway through. He did get a little worried about something at one point, and we realized he could hear something walking up the driveway hidden by the trees – a person on foot 😛 He settled back down fine and I even had to give Skyler my Quirt to help “enforce” her asks. She’s a feather on him, and still worried about being too strong with him, but once he gets the message he will do what you ask. A Gentle Giant for sure. We’re hoping to do another lesson this week with him, as the weather doesn’t look like storms every afternoon!