October Meeting

Tuesday 19th, 7 pm (6 pm if you want to eat ahead of the meeting) 
at Baker's Square, Auburn

Our guest speaker this month is Dr. Alan White, DVM.

Many of you are familiar with Dr. White from endurance events and from clinics that he has held in our area in past years.  Dr. White recently moved his equine practice from Nevada to the Grass Valley area. His specialties include Sports Medicine, Performance Enhancement,Acupuncture, Chiropractic and Comprehensive Equine Dentistry in addition to all regular veterinary care. He has also added diagnostic tools including digital x-ray, 3-D ultrasound and endoscope. 

Come join us for an informative and fun evening at Baker's Square and welcome Dr White to our area.

Club Dues:

• Dues for 2004:  Single = $15   Family = $25
• I will collect at the meeting, or they can be mailed to the club PO box: 
  P.O. Box 3412
  Auburn, CA 95604.  
• The email and s-mail lists were purged of "non-paying members" at the beginning of April, so if people want to receive anything, they must pay the dues. We don't charge for back dues - so there is no penalty for missing past years.

Stories

Virginia City 100
(Try to hum "Blowin' in the Wind" as you read this)
Kristy Hartman

Nanci and I did the 37^th annual VC 100 on 9/18/04, finishing in 13^th & 14^th place at 1:10 AM Sunday morning.  Our horses Brando and Amber were incredible.  Our crew was Charlie and his side-kick Gene Myers.  My husband Mike got out of the crew gig by riding his bicycle in the Auburn Century, which turned out to be the same day. By the way, he did great on his ride which very tough with lots of climbs.  I’m sure he wished he was doing the ride on our tandem having me to help him up those hills (yeah right!!).

The trip started off with me standing on the eastbound on-ramp of I-80 at the Applegate exit with my horse and a back-pack.  Boy, did I get strange looks!  This was actually planned.  Mike and I had taken all my horse stuff to the Gabri’s on Thursday night and arranged for me to walk to the freeway on Friday morning to hitch a ride with Nanci as she went by my exit.  Nanci did slow down enough to load Amber.  I on the other hand, had to run down the on-ramp along side of her Dodge until luckily she had to slow for a big-rig so I could get the door open and leap in.  Remember, we were on a time schedule.  Those prime spots in the big open parking lots of the desert fill up early!!

We arrived in Virginia City after a stop on top of Donner Summit to hit the little girls’ room and wait for Charlie to catch up in the motorhome.  I told you, Nanci was on a tight schedule.  

Anyway, remember how Hurricane Ivan had passed through the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico the week before?  Did you know that Ivan decided to reappear in Nevada on this exact weekend we decided to ride 100 miles in the open desert.  We learned the trick of staying upright by leaning into the wind as we sat up camp. At check-in, all the featherweight riders were immediately given one of those scuba-diving weight belts to wear so they could stay grounded. The added bonus we all were able to enjoy was the free exfoliation this wind and sand storm offered to our exposed body parts.  Who needs those expensive exfoliation crèmes, just go to Nevada during a major wind storm and stand naked in the desert.  Hey, I can see a new spa offering in the works!   We even included spot toning for our arms.  We got a wonderful workout every time we entered the motorhome and tried our best to hang onto the door.

I had never been to this ride, so I kept asking Charlie and Nanci if it was always windy like this.  They said they have had some wind but assured me it would die down in the evening.  I will add to this later……

The horses didn’t seem to mind the storm.  Amber and Brando are extremely in love especially with all the close miles they have done this year in training for, and riding Tevis together.  We had set up the corrals next to each other as usual, but Amber decided after seeing a very handsome stallion in camp that she would do what a mare does when they see a very handsome stallion in camp.  Brando, who is a gelding, but has fathered three kids, decided he WAS a stallion and did what a stallion does when they see a mare do what Amber did.  Let the squealing begin.  And the pacing.  And the nipping.  You get the picture.  So here we are, leaning into the wind of course, and moving Amber’s entire corral, not just away from Brando, but clear to the other side of the motorhome!   But not to close to the motorhome.  We had to save room for the tow-truck.  We won’t go into that story.  I’ll just say that I’m sure Charlie and Good-Year tires have had a few words since that weekend.  By the way, I think Charlie knew right away as we arrived in this wind storm that he would rather be anywhere this weekend than here in Virginia City crewing for two women.  He needs to write his story.  His weekend was a bummer.  But he was a wonderful crew and a big help! (Thanks Charlie).

All went well at the pre-ride vet check.  Ride meeting was good.  These NASTR riders sure know how to have fun.  I would have liked to share in their fun a little longer but it was too cold.   We just wanted to get done with any outside activities and get inside the motorhome.  The horses settled down for the night.  I have never had to put two blankets on my horse along with leg warmers, a beanie, a scarf and those little hand warmer packs stuffed inside their blankets.  For good measure, we left their halters and lead ropes on and tied our full 5 gallon water jugs to their lead ropes as weights to keep them from lift-off.  (Just kidding).

Inside the motorhome was a little different.  We had it packed with some of Charlie’s biker buddies.  All very nice guys.  I even learned some new words.  Something about what a cluster of cars is called on the freeway when you are riding your Harley’s.  I can’t write in here what this cluster is called, but I will never forget it and even used it the next day during the ride.  We had no problem with it being cold inside, with that many people packed into a motorhome it is very warm.  Without us knowing it, there was an added bonus with Charlie’s friend over for a visit.  That bonus is weight.  Seems to be a common concern in this wind storm.  The point is the wind NEVER did die down, as promised.  As the gentlemen bid us goodnight and I crawled up into the bunk, I realized we were moving.  Nanci & Charlie were in bed and realized we were moving.  We looked out the windows and the horses were still tied to their 5 gallon water jugs and resting.  But seriously something was moving us.  It turns out, is was the wind.  We were really rocking and rolling in this wind.  If you could have seen where we were parked, it was very unsettling.  We were right next to a cliff.  The three of us didn’t sleep a wink and that 3:00 AM alarm seemed to come very quick.  Oh well, the fact was, we weren’t going to sleep for three days.  Isn’t this why it’s called Endurance?

It took us longer to remove all the winterizing from the horses than it did to tack-up.  We were on the horses by 4:15, met up with Leslie Spitzer riding Eagle and started our trek to Main Street, Virginia City.  This was so fun for me.  We really do start right in front of a bar on Main Street.  We warmed up the horses and waited for everyone to gather.  Charlie and Gene had the fun job of being pooper-scoopers.  A few locals in the bars, yes before 5 AM, cheered us on.  Off we went.  It was extremely dark as we left the lights of town.  This ride is not planned around a full moon.  It is very dark out in the desert.  Glow sticks are used but they were blowing so much in the wind it made you nauseous to look at them.  We just followed the sound of the other horses, hoping that they were going in the right direction.  The sun started to rise and it was beautiful.  Nanci, Leslie and I even passed the time finding creatures or objects in the clouds.  I think we were hallucinating due to all the wind because we all swore we saw a tea set and a bagel in the sky, or was it hunger?

Amber & me, Nanci & Brando, and Leslie Spitzer on Eagle.  We have no idea who rider was behind Leslie, but he stuck with us for miles and never said a word.  He heard some "words" from me though, when a trash can blew from the strong wind as we trotted near a housing development and Amber decided that the trash can was going to eat her.  She jumped from one side of the road to the other and somehow I stayed on.  Maybe it was my "French" that kept me in the saddle.  I don't think this "gentleman" had ever heard some of those "French" words!!! 

The highlight of the entire day was seeing wild horses!  Not just one herd but four herds total for our entire ride.  I got tears in my eyes (this time not from the wind), they were beautiful.

The first vet check (24 miles) was at a grocery store in a little town.  Way cool.  You just bring money and you can buy food plus they had real bathrooms!!  Actually our wonderful crew of Charlie, Gene and Leslie’s mom Linda met us there with blankets and food and we had a really good stop.  We were sheltered from the wind by the buildings and vehicles.  Gene spoiled my very picky mare by holding her mash pan up for her to eat.  (This technique was the first thing I let Mike know about when we talked, crew lessons from Gene, or how to really kiss-ass to a rider if necessary).

We left this stop and entered Bailey Canyon.  What a relief.  We were down into a canyon and out of the wind!!  Very rocky and slow going but really a neat section.  NASTR wants you to get the real feel of a ride from the old west.  They do not trim their trails.  I think there is some flesh still hanging on some of this brush from us riders.  I have a few scars to remember this ride by.  Maybe I need to go back next year for some exfoliation of those areas.  The next section was by Washoe Lake, which wasn’t a lake this time of year.  It was completely dry.  Could all this wind contribute to this?  There was a water stop at a park and our faithful crew met us again.  Charlie and Gene had gone out for breakfast since we had last seen them and Gene was going on and on how it wasn’t fair that Charlie and he ate the same meal but he paid twice as much without a senior discount.  I suggested next time just have Charlie order two.  Made sense to me.

Onto the infamous SOB’s.  These are ridiculous!  Straight down, straight up, straight down, straight up, straight down, straight up.   You get off for the down hills and try to stay on your feet as you slide downhill, then you get back on to ride uphill.  One lady tried to tail, her horse went faster than she could, she lost her footing and smack, on her face.   That encouraged us to ride UP those hills!  We continued in and out of the wind until our next vet check at 51 miles and our second one hour hold.  Leslie’s day ended here, Eagle was a little off.  We were sad.  The three horses had been doing so well.

Nanci and I left at 3:05 PM to start the next half of our ride.  The wind was still blowing but it wasn’t as cold and we were in and out of canyons so it was tolerable.  We were even beginning to stand upright when we were on the ground.  It was very strange, for the next almost 5 hours, we did not catch up with nor have any other riders catch us, until we came into the third vet check and final one hour hold at 77 miles.  It is so weird to be out there for that many miles and not see any other riders, the desert can be eerie.  We did get to see more wild horses and a very beautiful sunset.  Our horses were very unmotivated and we just wanted to get to the next vet check.  We were getting tired, cold and hungry.  We were glad the next stop was back in camp so we could have some hot food.

We get to this vet check, each horse pulsed down in 2 minutes as they had all day and we look around for a vet.  They were smart and were inside their vehicles! [Were not! I was vet sec. and we dutifully stood by the fire, freezing our butts off, waiting to leap in and wait on your every need. Ed]  They also had a fire going and warm blankets for the horses.  Had a little problem with a pushy rider at this check, but got through it with the horses passing with excellent scores.  Back to the motorhome to take care of our horses and get our hot soup.  But where’s Charlie and the keys to the motorhome?  We were very thankful for the good ole’ hide-a-key and we had our soup and put on more layers of clothing.  Charlie arrived as we were about to head back out.  Poor guy, he had been sitting out in the dark and cold waiting for us at the road crossing where we had passed about two hours before, ahead of our estimated time of arrival.  I think we were in trouble.  (Sorry Charlie).

Off we go at 8:52 to the next vet check at 95 miles.  Again, we never caught anyone nor had anyone catch us.  This last 23 miles is very tough.  It’s just so dark, cold and we were tired!  But the ponies were doing awesome and at this point it was Nanci and I that just didn’t feel like trotting a whole bunch.  This loop takes you past the vet check which is just 5 miles out and on to do a “key-hole” loop and back to the same vet check for your 95 mile stop.  It is so dark that we would shout to glow sticks that were hanging in the brush and blowing in the wind thinking that they were oncoming horses.  We did get to see riders number 1 thru 8 and say hi to them as we passed in the dark on the common trail.  It was spooky to be out there in the wind and dark and all of a sudden have a human say hello.

We arrived back at the 95 mile check at 12:03.  This place was awesome!  They had hot cocoa, snacks and hot chicken noodle soup that Nanci was so excited about.  Nanci even scored on getting to borrow a red Gortex jacket.  I guess it helps to be friends to all those Harley riders that just appear in the middle of the night. This was a 15 minute hold and off we went, again all by ourselves, to the finish.  No one was around when we arrived.  Charlie had crawled into bed hours before (he deserved it after his day).  It was too cold to hang out at the finish; this is way different then The Tevis.  

Both horses had incredible scores and CRI’s at the finish and head vet Sue McCartney really complemented us both for a fine job.  We were so proud of them.  Amber does not trot out well, ever, but as I’m telling that to the vet, Amber and I take off and she flew and floated in her trot-out just to make me look like an idiot.

Maybe it was that wind still in her sails!

Brando the morning after VC 100, saying "Yum, yum, I LOVE MY bran mash 
and Amber's bran mash and..."

Playing Vet Secretary at VC100
Lucy Chaplin Trumbull

Virginia City 100 is not a ride I'd been to before, so when my friend Dennis Miller said he and Bailey, his Tevis horse, were going to try it, I decided to spend the weekend up there, helping Dorothy crew for him.

I had to work on Friday, so didn't get up there until quite late on that night and proceeded to drive up and down the main street in the dark, trying to figure out where the heck ridecamp was. I finally did find it, and miraculously found the Miller's camp as well, and went straight to bed to for a few hours' sleep before our 3 am wake up alarm.

Bailey was as cheerful as ever, trampling us as we accompanied Dennis up to the start on VC Main Street - a very strange and cool way to start a ride. Dorothy and I went for breakfast and then made the leisurely drive down to the first trot-by, where Dennis and Bailey appeared much sooner than expected - but looking good.

Dennis and Bailey being vetted by Susan McCartney at 25 mile check

On we went to the 25 mile VC, but unfortunately Bailey was pulled here. He'd come up lame the week before in one of those mysterious instant lamenesses that disappears as quickly as it comes on - but it was back, albeit mildly, and not worth trying to nurse it for another 75 miles for a predictable outcome. Jamie Kerr took a look at him and said it was a strain in his triceps muscle. Back at camp they loaded him up and took him home to Quincy, leaving me to twiddle my thumbs. Since it felt like I'd only just got there a few hours before, I decided to stay on, at least to watch the horses coming through for the 50 mile VC.

I hate standing around at a loose end with nothing to do and within a few hours managed to find myself a job helping the vets who were a little short-handed - I got to be a vet secretary. I've never done this job before, but it was quite fascinating - especially because the ride was set up in loops coming back to camp, so I got to see the same horses at 50 miles and then again at 75 miles - and watch how they were progressing as the ride went on, which was pretty interesting.

Most scary (in my paranoia) was to watch horses coming in with varying degrees of lameness. A group of five riders riding together came in at one point and every single one of them was pulled when their horse wasn't sound - talk about a bad day. At least two of them were serious injuries: a bowed tendon and a suspected deep digital flexor strain. I felt so sorry for them, knowing what was in store for them in the rehab department over the next few months. 

Some of the milder lamenesses where the riders considered continuing left me wanting to shout "Stop now! Don't go further! You'll just end up having to rehab it if you don't stop now! It's not worth it!" 

If nothing else, watching these horses come in was a useful lesson in discovering that you aren't alone in your "all my horses are lame" world.

What I learnt from listening to the vets was that aggressive and immediate treatment (bute and icing) of any strain injury can help immensely, compared to letting the horse stand and dealing with the problem when you get home. This added to my resolve to make sure I keep bute in my trailer (the big bottle at home won't do me any good when I'm gone for the weekend) and make sure I keep iceboots on hand and use them.

Another interesting thing to watch was a horse coming in and not pulsing down in the 30 minutes allowed. There was seeming no reason for this - the horse looked fine in every other way - which led people to speculate that it was possibly some sort of problem brewing that would manifest itself later in the day. I don't know if it did, but certainly the horse stuck around (at each vet check he was brought over to calm and schmooze with his two buddies who were still out there on the ride) and didn't seem to be in any trouble. Sometimes horses just have bad days.

All day we stood in the blustery wind and as the sun went down it got colder and colder, resulting in me wearing every item of clothing I'd brought with me. The fires lit to warm us up helped somewhat, so long as you weren't standing downwind of them. It wasn't until people started talking about possible snow at 6000-7000 ft that I got nervous. My bed had left with the Millers so I had nowhere to sleep and had no desire to end up sleeping in my car in the snow - or be stuck in Virginia City for the rest of the weekend - so at 9 pm I finally called it a day and make a break for Echo Summit on hw-50 before things degenerated any further. As it turned out, the weather held, but it did apparently snow the following day on people returning home on hw-50.

All in all, I'd heartily recommend being a vet secretary to get an education on things that could possibly happen to your horse during an endurance ride, why they might happen, and how to detect trouble brewing when it's in its infancy.

Patriot Day Ride - October 11th
Lucy Chaplin Trumbull

Click for more photos of the Patriot Ride.

State of the Trails

Canyon Creek, Greenwood Update

We were able to collect enough donations to pay for both of the gates needed on the Canyon Creek trail. A great big thank you goes out to the following people who so generously provided these funds:

The first gate has been installed thanks to the hard work of the following people:

• Jim Gardner 

• Gary McFall 

• Michael Rapposelli 

• Bill Johnson 

• Stuart & Britt Porter 

Another thank you to the following for their work on realigning the Vineyard trail at the end closest to the Canyon Creek trail to correct problems with an adjacent landowner:

• Bill Johnson 

• Gary McFall 

• Stuart Porter 

• Cathy Richardson

The second Canyon Creek trail gate will be installed in a few weeks & will be located where the trail starts at Spanish Dry Diggins. Then we’ll get a group together to paint both of the gates. I’m sure there will be more issues like this in the future, but as in this case by diplomatically working with the landowners we should be able to resolve them.

Thanks,
Cindy Larkin

Cronin Ranch, Pilot Hill - Public Meeting to Discuss Trails

For several months now, American River Conservancy has been conducting a campaign to raise funds for purchase of the Cronin Ranch and completion of a trail from Greenwood Creek to Salmon Falls. Trail construction will begin in 2005. In the meantime, Bureau of Land Management will hold a public meeting for everyone to give their input regarding the trail. As far as is known, there will be only ONE public meeting and the ONLY issue being discussed is the trail. 

The meeting will be held:

Tuesday, November 16
7 p.m.
at the Grange in Coloma

An official release will be forthcoming, but please put this on your calendar if you want BLM to consider your input.

Adverts

Local Horse Rescue and Adoption Facility 
Needs Used Tack Donations

Too Much Horse Stuff? 

Help yourself and horses in need with a donation to:

Horses' Honor*

*Horses' Honor is a non-profit horse rescue
and adoption facility in Auburn, California 
All donations are tax deductible!!

Horses’ Honor founder, Niña Clark and Pirate           Niña Clark  and Paco

Some of Horses’ Honor residents

Donations are needed for both the Horses as well as Tack Sale and Benefit (see below)

♥ Giving is Easy: Drop off at Echo Valley Ranch or Foothill Feed and Gift in Loomis
♥ Giving is Profitable: All gifts are tax deductible.
♥ Giving is Important: Your unwanted goods will help the horses at Horses’ Honor 
and help to rescue many more

Final Collection Date: Monday, November 1st

Items needed for the horses:

• Blankets • Flysheets • Fly Masks • Buckets • Lead Ropes • 
• Basic Tack • Grooming Tools • Vet Supplies •

For more information as well as the Donation form for tax purposes please visit Horses’ Honor’s website at http://www.horseshonor.org/

Horses’ Honor (Tax I.D. 75-1549614) located in Auburn is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting horses in need. It provides sanctuary in a safe, natural environment to horses that would otherwise face likely slaughter or unnecessary euthanasia. It offers rehabilitation, re-training and adoption services.

Upcoming Dates