Ok, I know – I haven’t updated since completing IMJ with Sully. We basically spent the next few weeks doing shorter weekend rides to keep ready for our 50mile ride at Biltmore! We also had 2 birthdays to celebrate with Asher now a pre-teen and Skyler almost double digits 🤦‍♀️

Skyler of course had a few lessons in the mix and a saddle fitting for Scooby done virtually. We got Scooby out a few times, she rode at Pony Café again, and then rode Flicka when my truck was down and couldn’t haul Scooby to Jeff’s. She’s still working on becoming more confident and talking through her thoughts rather than just stopping the lesson. She has a really nice position for her trot now, which I attribute a lot of that success to the time at the clinic with Emily and helping her dial that in.

On to the story of The Hope for Horses Biltmore ride!

Of course leading up to the ride didn’t go as planned. The truck went in for routine maintenance and to check a noise I pretty much knew was coming the exhaust manifold on the 16th. Turned out there was an additional issue they found with the turbocharger and was going to require two days of labor to fix. But first, they needed parts! Thankfully they were able to get the parts quickly, but I was advised not to drive it too much until then (so no hauling anywhere that weekend before like I had planned) and it “should be done” by Friday when I was to hit the road to NC. We didn’t use it much over that weekend, Sully and I just did a road ride that weekend to check his new shoes were all good, and I dropped the truck back off Tuesday am and prayed all would be ready and fixed on time!
Now, here we are down to 1 car with 2 kids in soccer practices and still a bunch of last minute stuff to pick up supply wise; and needed to get stuff moved to the trailer and put in what is supposed to reside in the truck bed for the trip. Throw in unexpected school closure Wednesday for flooding possibilities due to the lovely Ida remnants pushing through, it made for an interesting week for sure! I also had to manage to get him a quick neck clip as his winter fuzz started, and finish installing the brackets to hang the panels on my trailer around the rain and practices (not ideal as I had wanted to drive some before the 6+hr haul with them on to make sure all was good) … One of my errands included picking up CMPK from TSC and I used curbside service to save time. Unfortunately, one of the bottles they gave me was expired so that necessitated a 2nd trip to get it replaced. Somehow, I managed to get it all done!

Thursday morning started out with a bang with a wasp sting on my hand at 630 am getting the horses’ breakfast together. What a wake-up call… I was a little frazzled by Thursday evening finally getting it all together after picking up the truck that morning! It all did work out…though wresting 2 small squares into a net after moving them from a ways away with gorilla cart, in the 15min to spare around soccer, was not what what I called fun! (I had no way to get a new round bale without a truck).

Friday finally came. I woke to a swollen and itchy finger from the wasp sting 😦 Asher helped me load the cooler up into the truck before I took him to school, as he knows is his job on ride weekends lol. Sully and Scooby were locked in the smaller pen together after breakfast so all that was left after getting Asher off was to hook up and go! Of course that didn’t go off without a hitch as I returned home to an email from Asher he left something home he needed! Thankfully he was able to borrow it as I couldn’t get back out to him. Last minute heart-attack averted, I went to hook up and load up. We hit the road about 945 and the worst traffic was down near Asheville as we were arriving 3-4pm during a Friday rush-hour 🙄 I lucked out as someone was pulling out of camp as I was searching for a spot and spent a few min getting myself backed into place but got it done! 😂 Off loaded Sully about 430 and set up his pen off my passenger side so I could see him from my bed. He happily munched grass, some leftover mash in the grass from the previous horse, and sucked down hydration hay & water while I worked. I vetted him about 530 with a 44 heart rate and he looked good. Dr. Nick’s comments on “well that horse will never interfere!” made me laugh (for those who need explanation: his wide hind end movement in the trot means his hind legs/fetlocks won’t hit). Put Sully back to eat grass and went off to have dinner with Amy and the gang just a few trailers away. Then a little pow-wow for our strategy on Saturday as I was sponsoring Madison and D for this 50 (Madison is a junior and sponsoring means we must ride together, normally she rides with Amy), and lastly off to put together my crew stuff and get it down there! Gave Sully his dinner mash, tucked him in with a BOT cooler and lightweight rain-sheet over that (misty overnight), plus a supply of hay and alfalfa (flakes this time, not chopped!), and then attempted sleep. That as usual wasn’t really to be had… but I knew that would be the case!

Ride Day – Saturday I was up with my 5am alarm to a hungry horse who finished his alfalfa, but not all the other hay, demanding breakfast; after he was appeased with his coolstance and alfalfa pellet mash I started getting my tack set out and saddle bag packed. About 6am I pulled him out and set him up with some alfalfa to groom and tack up. It was dark…and foggy. None of my outdoor lights work on my trailer right now so I was using my headlamp to see. It was cool enough to need a jacket but expected to get into the 70s later and be sunny so I was in my Team Standardbred Distance Riders hooded zip sweatshirt I knew could be tied around my waist when I got hot. He took his elytes well (used carrot juice instead of Kaolin Pectate and seemed to like that flavor better), and even took carrots and outlast treats after the nasty CMPK doses (he used to refuse anything from me after). Madison & D arrived right at 630 for us to warm up. My hand was now significantly more swollen and itchy…made getting my riding gloves on interesting! We mounted up and began to walk around camp. There were not many places to warm up where we could avoid “hype” or buddy issues for D. In fact, he tried to get back to his buddies pretty sternly by trying to toss Madison off at one point but she rode it out and got him back under control. We moved to the other side of camp completely and kept wandering around warming them up. We did not want to leave with the early pack of 50s & 75s and made our way over after the trail was open at 7am to walk out down the road past camp. Boys did well leaving and we were off under control. It was so foggy they had some extra spotters out at the first few turns to make sure no-one missed them!

The first loop stayed foggy for a while so not much to see! We moved out well, keeping a pace that got us into the first hold just after 9am (~15mile loop). Our loop included a fun blast of speed where D could canter and Sully open up his trot and we chatted along the way. It was also still cool out when we got in so I had to borrow a cooler for Sully’s rump at this check but they vetted in well – the vet noted a funny first few steps to start out in his trot out, but it didn’t persist or show again on the way back so no re-presentation needed, he had a 64/60 CRI this check. We set them up eating, which of course Sully stopped eating for a few giving me minor anxiety over his choke issues, but it resolved quickly and I added even more water to what he had in front of him. He stuck to mainly mash and really just wanted Ultium sweet water to be held up for him to drink or Ricky to hand feed him carrots and hay 🤣. I swapped out my water bottle, ate some breakfast (beyond the banana I managed about 6am) and soon it was time to tack up again…this time for a 21mile loop. Extra elytes on my pack, Madison was to be the designated “doser” on trail as she could easily re-mount vs me trying to find a stump, and we were off again!

The 2nd loop took us over the river, crossing a concrete bridge. It was no problem for Sully and D crossed behind us using Sully’s calm energy without issue. We had joined up with a few riders just ahead of us and then fortunately Madison noticed the Green X on the trail markers so missed a turn! We yelled up to them and quickly back tracked to find the missing turn, thankfully not having gone far. It was a pretty loop – albeit long! We elyted about 9miles in after a good drink and continued on. Coming back my map and rider card Ziploc fell out right before the bridge! Madison saw it and hopped off to grab it and hand walked D back across the concrete bridge. We stopped at the this water tank again, hoping to do another dosing but the kayaker going by on the river flustered D and he didn’t drink. We had about 5miles left and headed back, which included stopping for a nice view of the Biltmore where I snapped pics of Madison & D. That 21 miles took closer to 4 hours, but we stopped often for water (good boys! drank from nearly every tank) and to let them graze where we could. It was warmer now and Amy and her other junior were done with their LD so also part of the crew for the 2nd vet check. Stripping tack I found Sully had a girth gall on his left side. It was definitely tender and swollen. I was very thankful I decided to have a 2nd girth and pad at the crew area just in case! He vetted out well, with dings for tack and impulsion, and a little leg weary she said, but 56/56 CRI. He dove straight into the mash after…getting 3 refills to his original pan from Amy I think it was?! Super wet Ultium and Coolstance were his faves this time. Then he finally moved on to the hay/alfalfa mix. I got to eat a sandwich, an apple and some trail mix. I repacked my saddle bag with a new water and his elytes for on trail, swapped out his pad and girth, and slathered him with “Boudreaux’s Butt Paste” (Zinc Oxide cream basically) that thankfully Amy had in her crew stuff…and time to go again. 16 more miles to go! Out time was 3pm, still plenty of time to complete, we were hoping to make it in by 6pm.

We headed out past the Biltmore again and since Sully was more interested in eating than moving I was able to hand off my phone for a pic of us. The last loop’s trail surprised us with mud bogs and some yucky gravel type. Both of them had started to show some sensitivity even in shoes (metal for D, Blue Pegasos composites on Sully) so we slowed it down a bit more than we planned originally. Sully was also telling me his stifles were not liking the sticky spots and going downhill was now much slower for him. We let him set the pace and moved where we could – finishing together about 615 in 25th & 26th place. Sully was more than happy and willing to trot down that finish line field at 13mph, obviously he wasn’t too beat! A last water tank stop and grass munching and then we easy trotted down the 1 mile road back to the crew spot. His girth gall was much less swollen now and we had many hands to help cool him off finishing/completing with a 60/60 CRI and all A/A-s! This marked our 2nd 50 completion, and a 2nd year towards Decade team. I was told he looked great in that last trot out coming back down the line. He really wasn’t all that thrilled doing it but I made it a game for him to catch and keep up with me with some sweet talk and he liked that it seems! (he totally outran me the first check, the second was more on pace with me)

• 

• 

• 

• 

Needless to say I’m proud of him. We had a few discussions but really he was great and took care of himself! It was so nice to have company all the way through and I think it helped Sully too. And of course I couldn’t have gotten through this without the amazing Amy & Crew! I have not had to do a 50 yet crewless, it is a very daunting feat for me, but one I know we must tackle sometime. Amy is great about answering my questions and helping talk me off the ledge when I start worrying and over-thinking 😛

After the final check Sully cleaned up every spec of hay, alfalfa or spilled mash left behind in our crew spot while Amy and the gang moved everyone’s stuff back to the trailers. Sully had a sweet deal this time as I had a bid on an equine massage session by Lauren Kay during a fundraiser and as she just so happens to work at Biltmore, she was waiting for us at the finish. She helped with sponging and then came back to my trailer to work on him. I was unpacking my crew stuff, sorting things and chatting with Lauren while he got some myofascial work, a massage gun, red light therapy, and some other stretches done. He thoroughly enjoyed it (while still eating hay too of course) and she said he looked and felt amazing for just having done a 50. Makes me feel like I did right by him and didn’t ask too much! After he was done he got his BOT cooler and rain-sheet back on and I went to have some real food for dinner at Amy’s. I gave him all the hay & alfalfa that was left over from the vet checks plus what he had from the night before still there and a new full tub of water; I swear he didn’t move for hours, just kept eating! Amy helped me poultice & wrap his legs, I got a hot shower at her trailer and then it was time to sleep!

Sunday…the morning after. I finally got up and out of bed around 7am, lots of folks had already left on Saturday and the remaining were all starting to pack up. I was surprisingly NOT as sore as I had been after completing the Foxcatcher 50 in 2020. I gave Sully a big mash breakfast which he slurped down, refilled his water as he had nearly finished the bucket (very good!) and started to pack up. I was not in much of rush, as it was too foggy out to hit the road and I knew there was a long day ahead. The misty weather also made it not so fun to put things away as everything that was wet, was still wet, or wetter now! I walked Sully a bit and then tied him up while I took apart his pen. My panels were slippery to hang, and the wheel wells slippery to stand on to strap things in place, but I didn’t fall. We were on the road about 9am and the fog lifted just outside of Asheville. I took a different route home that was less hilly overall, but a little longer time-wise. Sully of course pawed the last bit of the drive as he was ready to be home and I think he starts to recognize where we are. Home and offloaded about 330, he happily rolled a bit then went to drink, and the rolled some more. His buddies were happy to see him and they all went off to graze together.

What did I do different this time?
First, since the last ride I re-watched a webinar for the 3rd time from Dr. Garlinghouse and took tons of notes. I used my notes to make a plan on feeding him leading up to and through the ride. I revised the elyte plan, and switched to something more palatable as the liquid portion (carrot juice). I used MORE elytes and CMPK than I had before. I made sure we had the alfalfa he likes (Standlee compressed bale), LOTS of carrots (however learned he does NOT want them on trail, any other time yes, but not on trail) and outlast cookies. I had an inkling I might need to swap tack depending on how sweaty he was, so had an extra pad an girth at the crew area (and need them!). I didn’t force myself to eat much the morning of the ride until the first check and I drank more than I normally do (used Tailwind elytes in my own water); I got some Advil at the 2nd hold for my side starting to get sore (and stretched). I did get a pop-up tent and had it with me, but didn’t need it. I got a new utility wagon that got put to good use and was easier to roll on grass (the other died after IMJ and the prior 6yrs of random use). Cooler weather also helps with “non-Arab” horses, so that was in our favor and made it so it wasn’t too hot to use the BOT cooler for him.

Lessons for next time:
Fix the lighting on the trailer! It was annoying to not have anything but headlamp or flashlight to work with.
Mohair for a 50 may not be the best choice, or his slight winter fuzz is a problem for it … keep desitin in the crew bag (I do have it in the trailer at all times).
Bring a cooler/sheet to the VC regardless of the weather forecast.
Get real “pillow wraps” for doing his legs.
Get some Enduramax paste for on trail use, as they are easier than the ‘homemade’ syringes to keep on the saddle bag.
For the next 50, consider an upgrade of my saddle bag to style with ability to hold more water for me, or add the cantle bag on.
Use Equipak in his shoes if there will be a lot of gravel.
Don’t use TSC curbside to pick up CMPK!