Today turned out to be quite nice. I had a fantastic ride on Chief, though it’s rare that I don’t – he such a sweetheart and I so love riding him. At the start he was pretty amped up but settled in after a few miles and was pretty good all day.
I rode with Jackie Bumgardner and Tom Jenkins all day. We were all pretty relaxed and spent the day chatting away and telling stories. Jackie knows a lot of interesting history and it is always fun to hear about the past. I was extremely relieved to ride Chief all day and have him feel so solid on his feet. It was really a bummer at DVE when he felt sore over the rocks. So, BIG relief! His eyelid looks healed up and I am so hoping and praying that this is IT, the real deal….I so want my horse back!!
There were 63 riders today with 61 finishing. Doug Swingley came in first with Mindy Wolfe’s horse receiving BC. Doug, as it turns out is a well known sports hero! He has won the Iditarod four times and has 36 (I think) national titles, etc. He was gracious enough to talk to the riders tonight and answer questions – very interesting! Anything endurance is always an attention grabber for me so it’s fun to hear first hand about these incredible dogs.
I’ve got a shoulder bothering me, and a rope burn on the opposite hand…boy is that a story! I tried to fit both horses through Nannette’s barn door and…duh…we didn’t all fit.
I’ll try to post more on this later, but to make a long story short, the horses knew they were in trouble when they didn’t fit and squashed into me, so jumped to get away. I did NOT let them go, as I don’t want a horse to learn it can bolt or jump like that and get away — and they didn’t get away. I don’t like when my horses do idiot things, or when *I* do idiot things, and this was one of those times, no question. I know, I know…I *should* know how wide they are by now!
I’m planning on riding Bo tomorrow on the day two 50. I like to alternate the horses, it’s a great way to build them up. I’m hoping to make it to the 20 MT 100 at the end of the month, so the goal here is to go nice and slow and conservative. Build the horse up without breaking anything. Fingers are crossed, wish us luck~!
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