We were much more organized on Sunday morning. I was truly impressed with Lyn when I rolled out of the tent trailer at some unGodly hour in the AM and saw that she already had boiling water ready for our hot chocolate. We should have given her an award for that feat alone! The horses already had their breakfast, so all that was left for me and Char to do was dress ourselves, eat, tack up the horses, and head to the start area.
Our plan again was to let all the eager beavers hit the trail before us, so as to avoid the commotion and jam ups. However, just as we started our walk past the vet check a couple of riders came up behind us and that was all Tia needed to send her into a major right-brained outburst. For a minute I thought I was toast, as she jumped, reared, hopped, twirled, and generally put on a show for the vets and everyone else in the vicinity. She did a leaping side-pass into the deep grass next to the road and we nearly parted company....Char and I waved the other riders on past us, waited a moment or two, then resumed our trot-out for Robert Washington. Ti was pretty much doing her own not-so-private little song and dance, but Dr. Washington didn't seem to be concerned with us. He must have decided that if Ti had that much energy she was probably good to go. So go we did.
Char and I had already decided to step up our pace a notch or two on this loop. Bouyed by our success the day before, including our horses' great vet scores, we felt pretty comfortable asking more of ourselves and our faithful steeds. So we picked up a brisk trot and hit the trail. Aside from Ti's performance at the start, both horses were calmer and easier to pace than they'd been 24 hours earlier. They must have done a lot of lip licking overnight, metaphorically digesting their collective experience on the trail. I was relieved to see that Tia managed the technicalities of overtaking, being overtaken, passing, and being passed by other horse/rider teams with considerable more left-brain reason that the day before. Whew!...that much less stress for me to deal with! Ti and Delight were equally comfortable leading and following each other too. Another plus. We moved along at a pretty good clip.
Katya, Anya, and mom Katrin from B.C. played hopscotch with us along the trail, and the five of us had a grand old time. Sunday's terrain was much more up and down than Saturday's and after discussing the relative merits of one gait vs. another up the hills, Char and I finally just asked Katrin. She clearly seemed to know what she was doing, and confirmed that faster was easier on the horse than slower when it comes to hill climbing. A horse can power itself up with it's hind end with less effort than pulling itself up at the walk. Makes sense. So we let the girls have their heads as we followed the undulating ridgeline of East Mountain.
There was a spot (or a moment) along the way where I suddenly felt like we were almost there--meaning approaching the final mile or two. I have a really good navigational sense, and turned out to be pretty close to the mark. Then we caught a glimpse of ride camp down below and off to our left. And that was all the invitation we needed for one last push to the finish. We passed David and Max waiting to greet us on the road just after coming out of the woods, gave them a wave and blasted past. Ben was still sleeping in Tilly, but I was happy to see my two other favorite guys out to cheer me on.
Lyn met us at the finish to help pull tack, we went through vet check with no problems again, and headed back to our camp for lunch of tomato sandwiches, beet pulp, and hay, depending on preference! Poor horses...Char and I snagged the sandwiches and left the mash and hay for them. Oh I just love mayonaise and tomato sandwiches! Yummy!! And before we knew it we were heading through ride camp for one last ten mile loop--the same one we'd done yesterday afternoon.
There's something to be said for familiarity, and for experience. We knew this trail and put the girls in high gear the minute we turned off the gravel road up into the meadow. My gosh we had fun. The clock ticked on but my buddy Char and I had no doubt we could finish this off in less time than the day before, and finish we did. With minutes to spare! And with horses with energy to spare! Char was giddy with elation, joy, satisfaction, and maybe a touch of relief too. I was thrilled too, and must have had a goofy grin on my face as we threw tack off and went through our final vet check.
We did it! Our first official distance ride, completed! With sound, happy horses! And for our hard work and success we each came home with a lovely new blanket for our horses...with the Pink Flamingo logo!
The rest of the afternoon was spent resting and packing up our campsite. David, Ben and Max had kindly taken Tilly the Tent Trailer down and packed her all away, but not without their own share of complications and probably a swear word thrown in here and there for good measure. They then hit the road by mid-afternoon. Lyn, Char, and I stayed behind to attend the final awards ceremony etc., and it must have been after 7:00 PM when we finally loaded Delight and Tia into the trailer, swished our way back across the Corral Creek ford, dumped our trash, and headed west toward Highway 55 and home.
What an adventure. A highlight of my summer. And time to start thinking about the 5-day, 260 mile Owyhee Canyonlands Pioneer ride at the end of September.
Happy Trails...........
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