New Season... Red Barn Run!!

Photo credit: Unbridled Imagery

Well, it was another successful start to a season! We finished the 50 in style, and Mr. Marco was certainly still happy and ready to go at the end :). We had an awesome time camping out with Marty Head and his horse Mandy (who finished their FIRST 50!), and many many thanks go out to Caitlin for coming out and crewing for us and babysitting Miss Shiloh :).

Miss Shiloh did the 25 on Friday, and was staying in camp Saturday for the first time by herself ;)

First off, I would like everyone to know that if you EVER hear me saying that I am considering doing the first loop with the S-hack... please go ahead and burn my hands with a fiery log... it will give me the same ending in a much shorter time period and with less effort ;) I would also like to say that Marco had a HR of 36 at our vet in! That is the lowest ever!! I even had someone else retake it! The first loop I rode with Marty and Mandy, and I let him go a little, but was trying to keep him back a some as I was worried he was not in good enough shape to do a 50 at that pace (10mph average!). We had a great time with Marty, but Marco was just a bit too competitive with Mandy and we had to split up for the next loop. By the second loop (with the bit!) he was downright pissed at me for holding him back, and was behaving so badly that I finally pulled him aside and let EVERYONE pass us, costing us an entire hour and a half. Once he finally calmed down enough that I didn't feel like I was on a runaway freight train hell bent to kill me, I let him canter, which he did for the second half of the loop. He actually cantered into camp and we went straight to the vet check, and he vetted out right away with a 60 HR and all As except (of course) his gut sounds. I could actually hear his gut while riding him in, so I am beginning to be convinced that his low score on gut sounds (B rather than A... yes I am a perfectionist!) is because he gets nervous being vetted out and kinda shuts down a little bit. So Otis was our vet, and after vetting out I asked him "he is killing me trying to hold him back, with how he looks what do you think I should do?".... He said "LET HIM GO!", he looks great, this is the perfect time to see what he is made of! It is cool, he doesn't look like he has even started yet, let him show you what he's got. So I reluctantly "let him go" the last two loops (the last 25 miles)... he cantered almost the entire time, and was as happy as he could be! I mean he was thrilled! Cantering is his absolute FAVORITE thing to do in the world, so he was on cloud nine! I think it may be his most efficient gait too, as he really stretches out and relaxes in it, and does not do the racking that he does in trots and largos.

We had ridden separately from Marty and Mandy for the 2nd and 3rd loop, but Mandy was losing her get up and go :( When we were in camp before doing the last loop they both looked a little frazzled, and Marty was feeling a bit down. We had almost caught back up to everyone after my hour and a half of pissing Marco off on the second loop, so we were actually only a few minutes behind them for the last loop. About 10 minutes into the last loop Marco got his groove on and was cantering away again, and we were coming up on Marty and Mandy. I yelled "y'all need some motivation???". We galloped past them and boy did she wake up with a quickness! We kept up a good 7mph average pace for the entire last loop and Mandy stayed right with us, without Marty having to push her at all. Turns out she just needs a little competitiveness to keep her happy on the trail ;).
 

While we came in almost last, we came in happy and ready to go. Marco was still perky and vetted in all As except skin tenting with a 54 HR... he actually got an A on gut sounds! And within 10 minutes was an A on skin tenting too ;) . Most awesome beginning to the new ride season for us, and we look forward to a fun adventurous year of happy times on the trails.