So we returned from the clinic and I began the hunt for a saddle for Scooby and Skyler. I currently have a Specialized on loan to see if it can be adjusted to fit him, and then to her with some seat reduction (as it is adult sized). Hot as hades out there…but finally threw it on and started to tweak!
We unfortunately couldn’t get out for a lesson the past few weeks due to her ending up on QT again for an exposure, but I did get Sully out for longer rides the following few weekends as I was prepping for the IMJ LD.

The first Saturday’s ride was a bit slower paced, with a few fast miles put in with Karen & Bailey as one of Gracie’s boots would not cooperate for Roberta. It was super hot and humid and we got into a pond to swim together after stripping tack. That is another workout in itself and I got to “body surf” behind him – He’s a funny little fish and seemed to enjoy it, just not as much as Bailey did! I’m sure he’ll take to it better next time as this was a first for us. The following Saturday we had a bigger group out, and Karen & I went off quite a bit on our own at a faster pace to get race-ready. Sully and Bailey did well together pacing each other and not being ultra-competitive. It was fun to have the wide trail and ride side-by-side a bit! He followed nicely too and actually had a bit of a slow walk going. I kept him more reined-in on his trot speeds the last few times out and he has felt good – not as much ‘falling out’ with his stifles. Now I seem to be only be feeling it at the walk on occasion, and if he gets ‘goofy’ or out of balance over something at the trot (such as flinging his body around from flies). I started to feel more confident about getting through our LD, and later a 50 this season too.
I do love our Horse Hoodie for dealing with the flies, but had an interesting experience with a bomber getting in it and getting stuck in the face part! Sully was not a happy camper and was in the throws of a quickly escalating fit when I saw it and hopped off to get it out. I got to practice getting on from a ditch, using both sides for mounting, as later I dropped my quirt fixing the rein-safe strap. 🤦‍♀️

That Sunday afternoon was spent getting the last bits of things ready for the first day of school! We all got new shoes and went out for some Sweet Frog to celebrate the start of 4th for Skyler & 7th for Asher! They had a great first week of school.

Amidst the start of school buzz, I received very shocking and sad news that one of my “lil sisters” from the sorority suddenly passed away. I wish we would have talked more, for real, not just on FB… life is short, embrace it fully… I can’t believe she is gone so young.

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Another hard pill to swallow… the anniversary of losing Traveler. 7 years ago, 8/23/2014, was our first endurance ride, and our last ride together. Sully and I returned to the ride again this year. While it wasn’t quite the comeback we had in 2019 (8th, High Vet Score & Best Conditioned), it was our first LD of the year after some physical struggles and To Finish Is To Win! Not only did we finish in the heat and humidity 25/35, but those completion miles put me over the 250 LD Mile mark for AERC! (I was 5 short end of last season). It took a lot longer than I thought it ever would to reach that marker…

The ride weekend itself started out a bit differently than usual for me, as I had to go drop off Asher at school Friday before I could hook up the trailer, but that meant I had an extra hand to move the full (heavy) cooler out to the truck 😛 My plan was to be on the road by 10, and we headed out at 945. No major traffic at that point on 64 or 81 so arrived at camp right about 3.5hrs later. I settled Sully in and got us registered. I ended up crewing for Amy’s juniors finishing up the 2nd loop of the 50 before vetting in; Sully had no issue hanging out eating some hydration hay and grass. He vetted in at a 44, with a comment of “he has a low HR for such a big horse”. It was also the first of many times getting asked “What kind of horse is that?” after his trot out. He happily went back to eat more hay and grass and drinking up while I helped crew at the finish and then dinner. Dinner was so good! Glad I decided to not have to worry about that and bought the extra meal. Unfortunately I found that Sully does not like chopped alfalfa instead of flakes. He refused it, but did enjoy the compressed timothy bale and was polishing that off faster than I expected! I barely had enough by the time the weekend was done to have some in his hay bag for the ride home. No shortage of appetite from him! I started sorting things out for the morning and made his electrolytes. Off to bed on a mattress that arrived Thursday eve and got stuck in the trailer to decompress before a storm hit. I ended up going with a hybrid spring/foam mattress this time. It was pretty comfy 😴 I had to sleep somewhat diagonal being parked on a hill, and as usual, I didn’t really sleep much the night before our ride.

Saturday morning I was up about 10min before my alarm; I fed Sully and wished my friends leaving for the 50 good luck and watched the start. I got the last of our stuff together and moved down the crew area and attempted to eat breakfast. I have no idea why my nerves were so UP, not like I haven’t done this before?!
Quickly it became time to get tacked up and on! I dosed Sully with his elytes, which he was less than thrilled about, but did still take carrots from me after this time (sometimes he is too offended to eat again despite having his mouth rinsed). Tacking up he was super calm… it was actually making me wonder what was up! He even stood, once settled in a spot, to mount. Normally I’m getting the 2nd foot in and asking him to stop moving. We walked over to check in for the race and then just wandered around walking near our side of camp away from the start. Rachel & I hooked up to do the first loop together and keep our horses at a reasonable “let’s just finish” pace. Sully walked out of camp on a loose rein… I was in shock. We walked the first mile, and then picked up a trot on the dirt road that carried us into the trails. Our start time was 830, it was already hot and sticky out and they quickly got sweaty. We got a little caught up with a few faster moving horses, but I was able to get to Sully to “break free” of them at a water stop. We had our first snafu on the worst downhill of the ride – my crupper t-bar attachment worked itself out again and the whole crupper dropped off his tail! It had happened a few weeks prior but I thought I was because of the seat saver interfering so took that off. I hopped down, and found a spot to clip the crupper to us and continued on. We were now moving at our own pace trotting where we can and walking where needed, occasionally a horse and rider or two would join us but mostly just our little gang. Once in the rangeland we had a good chance to sponge at a water stop and at the 2nd tire tank he drank – 9miles in. Gave some carrots and continued on, and then our second snafu was discovered where my sponge lease had a broken clip. We were surprised to come upon the backside of camp quickly after and we hopped off to walk them in with loosened girths. Amy and the gang were there waiting on us and many hands made for quick work to untack and start cooling. We went to vet-in after 7min and then it was time for both of us to eat. Sully did that well and stood very calmly in the shade of the tent content to chow down. I went and grabbed my other sponge & leash out of the trailer and Amy fixed my t-bar issue for the crupper with vet wrap; She kicked us out ~5min past my out time (I was in no rush and happy to let him continue eating and drinking a mash while we retacked). Dosed with elytes again, this time a double of CMPK. Our riding buddy was 12min later to leaver for her ride out time so we headed out alone. He wasn’t too happy with me asking for a trot by the photographer as we left that loop! As we approached the dirt road again a few 50s came up that were starting their 2nd loop. It helped motivate him a bit and then trails split off in different directions. He was a real ‘kick ride’ for a bit, but I knew eventually we’d catch others or someone would catch up to us. We found the same 2 riders we had gotten caught up with the first loop and rode with them most of the rest of 2nd loop (everyone now a bit calmer). Sully drank well at nearly every stop, and I sponged away too. As we approached the last few miles another pair of 50s were coming off their 2nd loop on the same trail ending so we rode into our finish with them. It was hot…it was humid. It took 4 people sponging and scraping in the shade of the tent to drop his heart rate. 15minutes later he vetted out well (all As) and we had our completion! No thumps. Hydration was good. Gut sounds good and he was hungry. We went back to the trailer and he had 3 different buckets of water set out between our water, their water, and hydration hay, plus regular hay and mash.

I got our stuff from the crew area and set things out to dry and ready to pack up in the am. I was super hot myself… I sponged myself off and changed, then I ended up sitting on the floor of the trailer with a fan on me for about an hour. Sully had me a bit concerned with his heavier breathing, but all the horses around us were panting having to be out in direct sun post finish. A little group of us took our horses over to a shady spot to graze and that seemed to help a bit. I also dosed him again with a double of CMPK. I probably should have done this right after the finish too… one more lesson for next time! He was continuing to eat and drink well, so I kept and eye on him and once the sun went down things got better. Dinner again was fabulous and had a great time socializing. I took Sully for a walkabout to stretch to the other side of camp where Amy’s rig and gang all were. After returning him to the trailer I got to enjoy a purposely cool shower back at Amy’s. Then tucked him in for the night with fresh water and hay. Eventually I turned in myself and slept pretty hardily till 630, minus a few noises I had to look into 😛

We had a fairly easy trip back and he took off to find his buddies and have a good roll after the trailer ride home Sunday.

Lessons learned
Horse management: I went the route of pulling alfalfa completely for the week leading up to the ride, as the idea is to “trick the body” in better utilizing the fuel at the ride. Since he didn’t like the chopped stuff, I have a feeling he didn’t get enough alfalfa to help him at all at the ride with just the pellets part of his mash (thankfully did not result in thumps). I need to dose CMPK at the finish and maybe even do the double dose for the first loop (I did just 1). We need shade. A pop-up or something at the trailer for him post ride. A second battery fan for him to help move air at the sticky southern rides.
I’m questioning the overall diet change we made this summer having gone from Ultium with minerals and supplements, to alfalfa pellets and Coolstance as the base and if he was “lagging” in energy.
He was tighter in the hind at the finish than he has been previously… Mountains working those stifles and muscles I assume, or could be part of being P2/P2. Going down steeper hills was not his favorite thing, but he wasn’t rushing it. He really had minimal “falling out” during this ride. Most of which I could attribute to terrain and slipping vs. his stifles.

Camping: Well, this was the first time camping in the red trailer. There are definitely things I miss about my other one! The brackets I had made for the holding the panels for sure; The battery and inverter set-up I had along with a roof vent fan; Working loading/exterior lights; A dedicated tack area for sweaty stuff and buckets to name a few! But all in all my organization system seemed to work for getting us ready to ride and headed back. I think I need to utilize my walk-through capability more next time.
One thing I need to take note of is the aerodynamics being a bit different for the truck bed! I used to be able to tuck things at the tailgate to keep it dry in case of rain on the road, but that apparently is now a bit of wind vortex so I need to put only heavy things there. I had trouble with a hay bag which held the 50lb bag of chopped alfalfa on the way to the ride I had to stop and fix, and then on the way home my step-in-post storage bag caught too much wind and I had to pull over and fix it before it blew away.
The water tank in the bed worked well overall. I did learn I should have put my hose on while it was empty, as it was a struggle to do at camp once full since the hose connection end is so stiff. Also, since it was at the back of the bed, maybe adding a block under to tilt it for getting the last bits out would helpful.

Management of myself: Before the next hot and humid ride, I want to have a portable shower setup to rinse off and help cool myself! I had some new chaffing issues to resolve too. 🙄

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