Leaving the Foresthill vetcheck in 2010. Karen and Bo.
Foresthill is an easy spot to crew as there is plenty of room to park and it’s easy to get to. The most important thing here is to get the horse in and cooled down so that you can pulse in and vet through right away. The pulse criteria is now 64 and will be at that or higher from here to the finish of the ride. There were only two checks earlier in the day that used a 60 pulse.
Here is my draft list for the FH vet check for my crew. I will have a couple of new helpers at this spot – my husband who will have driven the rig there and will be in charge of cooking and another friend that will help with the tack pulling and horse cooling as we come in on Bath Road.
| Vet Check @ Foresthill, Mileage: 68, Criteria: 64, Hold: One Hour |
| ETA 7:30 PM (Check readerboard to see when I went through previous checks) |
| Crew members: tbd |
| Sponge Bo as we walk in – 1 bucket of ice cold water for cooling & 1 bucket for drinking |
| Pull tack |
| Let Bo drink then resume cooling |
| Crew 1 follow me in to vet and trot horse |
| My rig will be at this spot. Get the following ready: |
| Set up a bucket of water |
| Empty baggies of feed into feed pans or buckets (don’t soak till I get there) |
| Have a blanket ready in case it is cool (for after we get back from vetting) |
| Set up chairs and stand for saddle |
| Clean and sponge Bo |
| Rinse out splint and ankle boots and set out to dry; make sure we put them back on! |
| Apply ice boots to Bo’s front legs for ½ hour (they will be in the trailer freezer) |
| Give Bo whatever he will eat. Halfway through the hold ask if I want him walked briefly |
| I will have marked baggies of feed similar to what went to RF to make mashes out of. |
| Tack Change: Here we will change over to the glow tack. |
| Red headlamp can go on my helmet at this time |
| Refill electrolytes |
| Refill baggie of strategy if needed (for saddle) |
| Replace AA batteries in GPS |
| Reapply Desitin to Bo’s pasterns and on any dings |
| Do a hoof boot check and replace anything if it needs it |
| I may bring a light windbreaker or sweatshirt depending on weather – remind me! |
| Follow me out, carry handful of feed for horse |
| Trot out horse for exit CRI |
| WATCH THE TIME! |
| Misc. Notes: |
| I’ll change clothing here |
| Dave will cook/BBQ at this point |
Karen, I always love reading about your adventures, but reading about your plans for Tevis and the step by step things that need to be done has my excitement soaring to a whole new level! Thank you for sharing all of this great information with everyone! Good luck and have fun! The photo of you and Bo is awesome too…floating on air!
Karen,
Thank you for these Tevis preparation posts! I am crewing for a friend this year and then plan on riding my first Tevis next year! This information is soooo helpful and it’s getting me hyped up for Tevis!!! Good luck this year. I’ll see you at Robinson Flat.
Jaya