Autumn Fergus/Saddle Update

So much to learn, so little time to write it all down.

(This post is almost all about trials and tribulations with Fergus this year, and as such often fails to mention "other stuff going on". Not that the other stuff wasn't good and interesting, but I had to stop typing at some point rather than just regurgitate the last four and half months of Interesting Topics)

Lameness

Back in May I was still trying to get the brown 15" Eurolite to work for Fergus and I. We were aiming for Tevis, I'd gone as far as ordering him a spiffy new purple halter and reins, and announced "provided nothing goes wrong, we should be able to pull it off".

< roll eyes > You just couldn't keep quiet, could you?

On a Sunday in late May, we did a nice training ride from Driver's Flat to White Oak Flat and back - lots of good climbing, a couple of interesting snake sightings and I was very happy with how he felt.

King snake taking a shower by the side of the creek below Francisco's.
This was one of two king snakes we saw that day.

By Thursday he was dead-lame. We'd just had some rain, which caused me to freak out that he'd slipped in the mud and pulled something vital, but instead I waited two weeks for an abscess to pop out and it finally did. Rather that immediately giving relief, if anything he was even more lame at that point. Argh.

Finally, two and half weeks into it, I was able to get him in to see Supreme Lameness vet Marty Gardner (now permanently based in Ione, CA) who diagnosed his problem in about 15 seconds (no exaggeration) - an infected corn - had his assistant pare out the problem area with a sharp hoof knife, revealing the black pocket below. "A few weeks and he should be good as new".

But we were out of time - I'd needed that month to really get in some good conditioning and ramp Fergus up to where I needed him to be, fitness-wise. No Tevis for us this year.  :(

Trimming

It turns out that my method of trimming wasn't paring away enough bar, and the result was an impacted area of hoof - and the likely contributor to much of Fergus' toe-first landing and lameness-niggles over the past couple of years - if not longer (see our post-NASTR 75 story from 2015).

Thankfully, it's a relatively easy fix now that I know what I should be watching for, and although I still struggle with where the rest of the bar should be, at least I know enough to scoop out the heels more aggressively.

Hands up if you can spot the corner of the foot that Fergus was avoiding weighting on landing?
(and subsequent location of the abscess)

The good thing about Renegades is they are foot-specific, so the horse wears the same boot on the same foot giving you a very clear view of how he's landing and what problems may need addressing. From the wear pattern on this boot, I was aware of a problem, but didn't know what it was or how to fix it.

Due to his "disability", I only got 100 miles out of this boot before he wore through the toe. I added another 100 miles to it before abandoning it.

This is the matching boot from his right front, same mileage.

I can still see where he's loading up the outside edge, but no where close to how he was wearing the left foot.

Unfortunately, standing funky for over a month while his foot healed up, meant that Fergus' front feet got totally out of whack with weird additional medial height, necessitating aggressive rebalancing = taking off more foot than I really wanted to.

16" Specialized Eurolite

Right about when he went lame, a 16" Specialized Eurolite popped up for sale just 30 minutes away from me, so I grabbed it. It turned out to be an older tree (pre-2010, the trees were much flatter) which actually suited Fergus' long flat back better. It wasn't nearly as nice a saddle as the brown 15" one, but it was the right size and came with fenders. Someone had added some rather pathetic breast collar D-rings to the front of the saddle that I figured would come off the first time they were put under any strain (they did).

I fiddled around shimming the saddle for me (it didn't need much adjustment to fit Fergus) and was relatively happy with how it felt, even if I couldn't really keep my balance in it very well.

By early July, we were back up and running again. I took Fergus and Roo over to NV and spent a happy afternoon riding 20 miles with Crysta, Pam and Connie - climbing NV-style (aka never-ending) and both pones did great. Even with Roo leaping about on the end of the lead rope, I was able to ride nicely in the new saddle.

Pam, Connie, and Crysta after climbing up to the pipeline trail.
Pam and Crysta went on to finish Tevis a few weeks later.

These two were a handful, happy to be out. Gorgeous views over Washoe Valley

The Monday after Tevis we rode CA Loop with Ash (on Roo) and KT (on Ani), and then at the end of July we spent a few days up at Packer Saddle just north of the Sierra Buttes and I was able to put another 25 miles of slow climbing on his back end.

Letting the horses take a break at Francisco's after doing CA Loop

Headed south from the Pack Saddle campground to access the PCT

On the Deer Lake > Pack Saddle campground trail - they are planning to reroute the PCT onto this trail

And so we headed to Bridgeport in mid-August, not nearly as fit as I wanted, but at least upright and sound.

Bridgeport - Eastern High Sierra Classic (EHSC)

I hadn't ridden the Bridgeport ride in six years and it was definitely time to go back. It was on the schedule last year, but cancelled at the last minute due to a fire near the trail. I love this ride, but in retrospect, it really isn't a good choice for Fergus - lots of very tight twisty places to muscle him around, resulting in a weary rider.

Weary or not, it really is probably one of the loveliest rides in the West Region:

Going for the "high energy" look :)

It was the first time I'd done an e-Ride with him booted on all four feet - a little nervous-making, but the Renegades stayed on - with just one emergency toe-strap replacement when the velcro filled up with crud. He didn't feel totally comfortable over rocky footing yet (remember I'd had to aggressively rebalance his feet, so they hadn't had a chance to grow out properly), but we finished and he looked pretty good at the end, considering.

Following our first distance excursion, the 16" Eurolite was deemed "OK". My calves were sore and my crotch was burning. The first few miles of riding felt like I was a complete beginner, with absolutely no balance or control over my floppety body. I hated riding in a new saddle and hated that feeling of discombobulation. It was "OK", but I wanted that usual feeling of "being at one with my horse" back again.

I'd originally intended to ride both days, but Fergus was a bit tight in the right rear glute towards the end of Day 1, so we opted to go to the hot springs on Sunday instead. It poured with rain - score on two counts - I wasn't riding in it, and all the people cluttering up the pools scuttled back to their cars, leaving deserted, quiet pools for us to soak in.

More Tweaks

I had four weeks to get things straightened out before Virginia City 100.

(three weeks if you consider that the following week Ashley flew in from AZ to ride Roo at the Tahoe Rim Ride - I was along as crew and driver, and volunteer at the out-vet check. The ride went great and we all had fun. And best of all, Roo didn't dump her).

Crewing. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
Roo in his jammies

On others' recommendation, I tried shortening my stirrups a hole (necessitated punching a hole in the fenders, since they were on the shortest setting). That felt like a jockey, so I punched another "half-hole" in between and that felt reasonable.

I spent an afternoon playing with bits of felt and various other pieces of padding and learned some things about rotating pelvises, thigh angle, and how the two affect how pointy your seat bones feel. The best padding turned out to be bubble wrap, but was deemed insufficiently durable for a 100 miler so I had to abandon that concept. I added padding, I took padding out, I cut padding up, etc. Poor Fergus had to deal with me getting on, riding 30 feet, getting off.... repeat for an entire afternoon. He was a good boy, although the couple of times we set off down the lane, only to return within a minute or so got him very confused and he suggested that maybe the ride ought to be a little longer?

Very cushy, but not very durable. It was worth a try, though.

I finally realised that part of my problem was not having enough security in the front of the saddle to snug myself behind. Although I had the additional "knee block" shims in there (see pic here from May), it wasn't enough. A lightbulb went off and I fetched the knee blocks out of my Sensation saddle.

These are designed to velcro onto the underside of the saddle - and on a saddle with flaps, are completely covered. Unfortunately, the Eurolite only has shortie flaps (which is how come it's "light"), so the velcro-face was sticking out towards me. I'd had this problem with the shims I'd been using and had wrapped them in a couple of pieces of fleece, but I was worried that would wear through during a 100 miler, so instead popped them into a spare pair of Equiflex Sleeves - purple, to boot - to keep me from snagging onto the exposed hook-velcro.

(Ann's question this morning about "d'you have a pair of socks on the front of the saddle?" made me realise that, yes, a pair of socks (if I can find some purple ones) would be a better option, to save the more expensive EquiFlex Sleeves).

And voila! The saddle was ready to ride.

Virginia City 100

I slept the best I have ever slept at a ride the night before VC100. Having just stuffed 4.5 weeks-worth of work-hours into the previous two weeks might have had something to do with it, but it was good to feel that calm.

Fergus has developed a man-crush on KT's horse Ani and insisted that he couldn't be more than 5 feet from him at any time which got a little old (especially as we were milling about at the start and he was very naughty), but it worked out OK.

photo: Bob Hall

The saddle felt great right from the start - I was able to stay in it, despite Fergus trotting his Biggest Ever Trot (separated from Ani, he had to catch up). I got a nasty rub on the inside of one knee, but that was more due to a new pair of tights than the saddle, and liberal application of anti-chafe gel helped the problem (that, and switching to fresh clothing at the 50 mile hold).

He was in massive glue-ons for the ride - feet still not where I wanted them, I was leery to trim any more off. 3.5 glue-ons on the front were probably a little too big, and we lost the left front at about 33 miles just before Bobcat Canyon on our way down towards Washoe Lake.

My boot bags could only accommodate one 2WW Ren and I didn't have any gloves big enough to fit his front feet, but Ren #1 was enough - off we went again in mismatched boots. I was actually glad my "spare" was a Renegade, since I wouldn't have been able to get a glove on there very easily with all the excess glue still on his foot.

Arriving at the Washoe Trot-by with an extra spare.
photo: Diana Hiiesalu

photo: Diana Hiiesalu

At the Washoe Trot-by I borrowed a rasp and scraped off the excess glue on his hoof wall so I could get the boot on there better. I then replaced the "spare" in the boot bag with Renegade #2.

Multi-tasking - KT's mom Carol elytes Fergus, while Renee feeds him mash, and I rasp.
Many thanks to them both for their crewing help.
Photo: Diana Hiiesalu

Removing excess glue, so I could get the spare Renegade to seat nicely
Photo: Diana Hiiesalu

During this short "break" (hah), Fergus was tormented by stinging insects and was flailing around and I was foolish enough to get in his way and got nailed by a flying back leg. That hurt, but luckily it was a sideways blow, not a full-on kick, so although I had a spectacular bruise to show for it, and whiplash of the lower back, at least it wasn't my head.

Photo: Bob Hall

Back at camp at 51 miles, Renee procured a size 3 glove from Tami Rougeau to replace the mismatched Ren.

Leaving camp after this hold, he was nice and loose (I've had horses be stiff at that point, from standing for an hour) and he was very motivated going across American Flat (read "I must be in front, trotting way faster than everyone around me").

At 60 miles, climbing up to Jumbo Grade, I looked down and noticed my pommel bag flapping around. Realised it was because the ring that it - and my breast collar - were attached to was no longer attached to the saddle. The wimpy ring (remember that one at the top of the page?) had given way. I had to work around this wardrobe malfunction by attaching the breast collar lopsidedly. Fergus apparently didn't notice, thankfully.

At 63 miles, just after the Jumbo #2 hay stop, he lost the second front glue-on, and the spare Ren went back on again until the hold back in camp at 76 miles where Renee snagged second size 3 glove from Tami. At least we were in matching boots now.

(thanks goes to ride partners Kerrie Tuley and Cortney Bloomer for noticing the flying footwear, as I might not have). 

We left the 76 mile check and rode the next 16 miles on our own, much to Fergus' sadness. Getting sleepy at midnight was not good - I knew we still had at least another four hours to go. I sang, Fergus trudged, I worried he was going lame (he was weaving back and forth across the trail and travelling crab-wise - I later figured out he was smelling the vegetation by the side of the trail to sniff out the sparse bunch grass), I sang some more. I felt queasy so sang quieter.

At the 92 mile check we caught up with the two riders ahead of us - Carolyn and Alex - and, lo, Fergus was miraculously cured. We went from "definitely going to be pulled for lameness" to "holy crap, could you be any stronger or more obnoxious??". Fergus charged out of there like he'd only gone ten miles and proceeded to barrel back down the trail towards camp. Attempts to slow him down - and get him off the side of the trail when someone in a vehicle needed to pass - were met with distain and pushy behaviour.

Comparing this bargy horse with the sad sore one from the previous year, I was pretty thrilled (not to mention it woke us both up).

We crossed the finish line at 3:48 a.m. (21st out of 44 starters) and were back in camp and off the horse by 4:30 a.m... 24 hours after I'd gotten on the previous morning.

< proud of my big bargy horse >

The vet detected slight loin soreness at the final check, but I don't think it was any more than the result of a horse that wasn't as fit as he could be doing 100 miles and walking a good part of the last loop. By the following morning, any residual soreness was gone. My body was fine too - no pokey aches from treed saddle digging in.

I declare the saddle a success for both of us!

Extra D-rings

You can never not have enough D-rings.

This week I took the 16" Eurolight to the saddle guy in Newcastle and asked him to properly attach those front D-rings again; replace the rather wimpy leather holding four of the others on (it was only a matter of time before they wore through and fell off); as well as adding two custom D-rings on the back of saddle behind my leg.

My task for this coming weekend is to design and sew two new boot bags that will accommodate two sets of 2WW Renegades snugly on the back of either side of the saddle. I love my old sausage bags, but they were designed to fit two of Roo's size 0.5 gloves. I can just get a single 2WW in the bag, but it takes ten minutes to wiggle it in there and ten minutes to wiggle it back out again, and as VC100 showed me, carrying enough spares for each foot really is important.

Inconclusive Saddle Fitting

Sunday it stopped raining for a nano-second and warmed up to nearly 50°F, so I was able to finally try out some saddle/pad combinations with the Port Lewis Impression Pad (PLIP) I'd borrowed before Christmas. You're supposed to use it at 50°-70°F / 10°-21°C which was a bit tricky in Southern California where the warmest day we had was 45°F / 7°C.

Not sure if it was because the day's temperature was still pretty cool or what, but the results weren't terribly conclusive in terms of what you could see in the pad (I could actually feel what was going on a little better). I did exactly the same route with each saddle+pad combination: up around the back of my property (requires a short steep climb and descent), down the driveway, along the lane at a trot, up a gradual hill at a walk, trot back along the lane, trudge back up the driveway, for a 2 mile, 30 minute round trip. On the third saddle, the Bob Marshall, I finally ran out of daylight and had to feel around in the dark and wait for the following morning to take the photo.

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Step 1: Removed copious amounts of crud from filthy horse. He's only been home a week and was already liberally coated. I scraped the worst off with a shedding blade.




Step 2: Wash remaining grime off filthy horse with the use of hot water piped from the basement. Was glad for both our sakes that I have a hose set up for this.



Step3: Insert wet clean horse into blankies and install in front of breakfast to dry off while I went indoors for a sandwich.



Step 4: Start to test saddles. I put a pillowcase under the PLIP to keep it clean and so he didn't have slidey plastic against him as I know some horses can't deal with that at all. The whole thing was fairly slidey anyway and made it hard to feel comfortable to start with. Not to mention I haven't been on him since September and have been riding 12:3 hh Small Thing instead. I felt very high up and very unstable.

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Saddle #1: Sensation + Freeform Panels + Triple Thick Woolback pad

The Freeform panels are currently stuffed with high-tech Jen-X multi-layer poron inserts. These are the same material as the pad inserts I used for VC100, but I reasoned I just need to use them differently. The Triple Thick Woolback was a Christmas present from my mumma (thanks mumma!) - I'm not sure what my actual plan for this pad is, but thought it might compliment the FF panels - pad cush without the bulk of a pad with inserts.


In the photo, you're looking at the underside of the pad, with the front at the top, so the right side of the picture is the left side of the horse.

The impression was pretty much as expected - pressure along the topline. Looking at this, it reinforced an idea I've got about how I can improve this set up - and indeed I tried it on Tuesday. More about that later.

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Saddle #2: Freeform + Haf pad + Equipedic Inserts.

I borrowed this saddle from Kerrie (thanks Kerrie!). I really liked how it sat on him, but when I got on the saddle it made me squeak like a squeaky thing. Holy crap - I could not ride in this saddle to save my life and was flopping around like a landed fish. OK, so it's been a while since I rode in a saddle with free-swing stirrups, but that was ridiculous. The pommel admittedly needed adjusting (it was set up very peaked and I kept crashing into it), so I could probably improve the fit for me, but - gah - it was hard to ride in. I was bummed because I really wanted to like this saddle and the impression wasn't actually too bad. I think the underside profile is wider than for the Sensation, so although there's still pressure, it was slightly better. I'd like to try this again with my FF panels, but am not sure if it's worth it given the difficulty I was having staying balanced in the saddle. Will think on this a bit more.


Because the day was warming up, as was the PLIP (and thus giving a more pronounced impression?) I had a hard time stopping it sliding down the windscreen on the truck (my viewing platform, post-ride), hence the creasing on the right.

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Saddle #3: Bob Marshall Sports Saddle + Skito Dryback pad + Skito inserts

For the grand finale, I tried this saddle - the reasoning being that although I doubt it'll work, I already own it, so should try it - stranger things have happened. This is the saddle I started my endurance career in back in 1998. I rode for a few seasons in it (and not many rides when I look back) on both Provo and Mouse and was perfectly happy. Since then, it has pretty much lived in the heated basement as a "just in case" option.

Funnily enough, Fergus actually felt the best in this saddle - he was walking out really big and moved well. It might be that the seat was huge (I used to ride it in a sheepskin cover), so I was sitting a bit chair-like even though the stirrups are set back - sitting on your back pockets = better for gaiting? But then again, it could be because it was the end of the day and he wanted his supper. That's why saddle fit on a non-demonstrative horse is hard - it's not like he tells me that he's uncomfortable. I also felt pretty comfy in it, but my gut feeling was that it was going to pinch him in the withers.


By the time we were done, it was pretty much dark, so I had to wait until the following morning to take the PLIP photo, but could feel in the dark that - yup - it was really tight around the withers.

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So conclusions? I'm not sure I have any, based on what I see from the PLIP impressions - at least no different from my existing knowledge.

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Fast Forward to Tuesday Morning:

The main thing I understand is I need to get pressure away from the ligaments either side of his spine because this is the current way any saddle seems to be fitting him:



Tuesday morning it hadn't rained for two days and looking at the forecast, this was the last rain-free window we were going to have for ten days or so. So I persuaded pft to come out with me on his mtn bike and we scuttled out early and rode at Cool for a couple of hours. When we were done, I'd continue on down to work and pft would take Fergus and his mtn bike home.

Although it was bright sunshine, it was pretty slimey out there and we had some interesting shimmying going on at times. Because his feet were so mud encrusted and because of the slick footing, I opted to leave Fergus barefoot which proved to be a mistake - unless it was soft easy footing, he was very tender-footed. Next time I'll be hosing off his feet before we leave home and he will be booted.

My aim on this ride was to see how far apart I could place the FF panels under the saddle - aiming basically to get them as wide apart to allow for F's back ligaments. And I got them pretty wide - so wide that 30 hours later, my hips are still whining about it.

You can just see the panel poking out under the saddle in the back. I was reasonably happy with this experiment (whiny hips, notwithstanding), but it needs a bit of fine-tuning.

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Fast Forward to Tuesday Afternoon:

On Monday evening, I'd sent a long email to Dana Johnson at Sensation Saddlery up in Canada, explaining the problems I've been having and asking if she had any ideas on how I could remedy the problem.

She called me back on Tuesday afternoon and we had a long talk on the phone. I was very appreciative of her honesty - keeping in mind she designed the Sensation saddle, so knows what can/can't be done. 

And the gist of the conversation was her telling me that she'd dealt with horses built like Fergus before - slab-sided, yet with huge spinal ligaments - and she basically thought that I'd never get the Sensation saddle to work satisfactorily on him. She said the basic problem is your seat bones are 4" apart, and Fergus needs a 6-8" gullet, and a treeless saddle doesn't have the structure to be able support the rider's weight across that span. 

So I was pretty bummed, to say the least. 

However, all is not lost. She pointed me in the direction of DP Saddlery - they make highly adjustable, flex-tree saddles, which hopefully will have the capability to accommodate Fergus' weirdo back. I have an email in to them, now, so we'll see if they can help. 

In the meantime, I think I can get the FF panels to work - albeit not an ideal set-up (particularly for me and my hips), but it might get us through in a pinch until an alternative can be found.

Looks like I'm going to be needing to sell some saddles in the near-future to fund a new one for Fergus - probably the Bob Marshall Sports Saddle and one of the Sensation Hybrids.

Planning for 20 Mule Team 100

Here we are again, another year, another 20 Mule Team 100.

This morning I sat down and made a plan to get Fergus and I where we need to be in order to be ready for the ride at the end of February. This year I'm at a disadvantage because I have yet to sort out saddle fit (scheduled for this weekend); El Niño is poking its fingers in my pie in the form of seemingly continuous rain (3" since we got home on Sunday night); for some reason it seems like there are less weekends than usual; and Fergus didn't get a leg-up of 30-40 miles of walking in sand washes that usually occurs over the Christmas week*. Fergus has done nothing but lounge since Virginia City 100 in late September - hopefully healing and working out any niggle-injuries he might have picked up along the way.

(* in fact, Fergus travelled 500 miles to southern California, spent the week hanging out in a sandy arena - eating hay and watching gorgeous sunsets - before being trailered home again. I take heart in the fact that at least he spent that week in dry conditions so was able to walk without falling down, and the coronet band that he sliced open the day we left was able to heal with no ill-effects).

If we go, this will be my fourth time riding the 100, Fergus' third time competing there, and it's a favorite because it's pretty laid back and preparation doesn't require too much angst... at least usually.

Following is my conditioning plan for the time leading up to the ride. I'm hoping to be able to squeeze in some week-day shortie morning rides as well, although that may depend greatly on weather - the more it rains, the more I have to muck, so the less time I have to ride:

• Jan 9-10 - 8 Miles
• Jan 16-17 - 10 Miles
• Jan 23-24 - 12 Miles
• Jan 30-31 - 15 Miles
• Feb 6-7 - 15-18 Miles
• Feb 13-14 - 20 Miles Go-NoGo Ride (if all goes well on this ride, we send in our entry)
• Feb 20-21 - AERC Convention (Fergus gets two weeks off ahead of the ride)
• Feb 27-28 - 20 MT

I'm a little daunted by the amount of work needed, but in theory it's doable so long as we pace ourselves properly, I remember to go to bed at a sensible time, and I don't waste time on useless time-wasting things. And don't get stuck sitting on the side of the bed, staring into space with a pair of socks in my hand.

I suspect we might be in a large amount of riding in the rain, though... I'm melting...

Virginia City 100 - 2015 - Part 2 - the Ride

Continued from Virginia City 100 - Part 1 - The Prep

* * *

Section 1 - 0-24 Miles

The ride starts at 5 a.m. outside the Delta Saloon on the main street running through Virginia City. The start line is about 20 minutes walk from camp, so we really had to be up on our horses by 4:30 ish. I was glad of my glowsticks - it's really dark out there at that time of the morning. Fergus was relaxed but animated and just wanted to get on with it all.

Bless Bob Hall for telling me to keep my fleecy sweater on (it was warm at the start and I'd wanted to jettison it) - it turned out to be freezing at various points along the trail just before sunrise an hour or two later.

Trying to persuade Fergus not to trample the spectators at the start (photo: Bob Hall)

KT and I once again went to our plan of riding the first section separately - so I could let Fergus move out without rubbing either of us raw fighting his enthusiasm, while KT and Ani could start their day in a more measured, sensible fashion. Having done this successfully at 20MT 100 back in February, I knew this would put me about 30 minutes ahead of KT, which meant I'd get an extra long rest at the first vet check.

Our friend Megan Kenworthy and her excellent horse Scooter were riding VC for the first time and we were pooling our crew to some extent. KT had her mom Carol, Megan had her mom Katie, and Renee was going to play floater between the three of us. To add to this, KT would be riding with Nina, who's husband Juan was also thrown into the mix.

We'd discussed ahead of time how the crew pool might work - who would need to be where, when. Renee thought that Megan "usually moved out pretty good", so we figured she'd likely be in the front, with Fergus and I in the middle, and KT bringing up the rear.

Sunrise over Virginia Highlands

As it turned out, Megan caught Fergus and I in the first five minutes of the ride and we ended up riding almost the entire first loop together (with one break when she got off and ran down the old Toll Geiger Grade and I hand-walked it).

At the top of Geiger Grade overlooking South Reno - Megan off and running... and that would be the last we'd see of them until we got to the bottom

  

Bottom of Geiger Grade/Old Toll Rd - by then I'd found a rock and taken advantage of it to scramble back on, as I knew they were few and far between towards the bottom of the hill. At the bottom, the local residents had put out a water trough, and through Fergus' enthusiastic TWH-walking, and Megan getting a drink, we caught up with her again at the bottom (photo: Sanne Steele)

Fergus and Scooter paced well together, although I was a little concerned that I'd be tempted to go faster than I ought to be going if we stayed together (the horses egged each other on a little, so I had to watch my rating at all times). 

I actually spent almost the entire loop agonizing over what to do - stay with Megan, or wait for KT? I kept looking for a sign that this pace wasn't going to work for us in some way. 

I had a feeling that Megan wouldn't be taking as many walking breaks as KT would (and I do like those walking breaks, wussy rider that I am). KT rides an overall slower pace - but is really even - she doesn't necessarily get any slower towards the end of the ride. Put simply, she is the Queen of Pacing and is the most sensible 100-mile completer I know. If I stayed with her, I knew we'd finish because she just has a knack of picking a really good pace that gets us to the finish line. 

But I also knew that I'd  pay dearly – physically – for that slower pace, keeping Fergus' natural speed down. I'd done this at Tahoe Rim 50 three weeks before and my body had been a mess for about ten days afterwards - totally out of proportion with the degree of physical activity of the day. He just naturally moves about 20% faster than most horses - not because he's fast, he just moves BIG.

Mindful of that pain, but also knowing that so long as I could keep things under control, it was probably kinder to Fergus in the long run - to let him move out at his more natural speed - I finally opted to stay with Megan for the whole ride - she was good company, we'd move out sensibly, and finish in good time. 

And I reasoned that KT was riding with Nina, so had company... and although I really wanted to spend the day with her (she lives nearly 500 miles away, and we don't get to see nearly as much of each other as I'd like), we'd be competing again together in the Riding Dead 100 over Halloween and we'd have plenty of time to catch up then (predictably, the Riding Dead 100 was cancelled, so that plan totally backfired). 

* * * 

Heart Rates:A strange thing had happened at Tahoe Rim 50 three weeks before. The day wasn't particularly hot and we weren't moving particularly fast, so I didn't elyte Fergus at all during the day - other than what I'd put in his feed, which predictably he refused to eat during the ride. At the first vet check, Renee was doing PnRs and her initial take on it was that Fergus was "dead" - he had no pulse. Finally she found one (in the 50s, I think), so off we went to the vet. The vet - Chrysann Collatos - listened... and listened... and listened. She finally said "well, he would have had a pulse around 56, but it's actually only 28 because he's routinely dropping 2-3 beats at a time". Fergus stood looking totally relaxed, he was eating and drinking well and showing no signs of stress in any way. So we decided to just keep an eye on it and make sure he didn't do anything amiss.

At the next vet check, it was the same story - nothing amiss, except for those missing beats.

At the final vet check, his pulse appeared to be totally normal, so I dismissed it as "one of those things". 

It was only afterwards when we got to discussing it among a group of endurance riders that the connection with the lack of elyting was made. Hmm.

Because of the above, I resolved that I was going to adhere rigidly to a proper elyting protocol during VC100 and that Fergus would get dosed at regular intervals. There would be no anomalous heart rates making any appearances at VC. I dug out every syringe I owned at home - some of which hadn't been used in years, let them soak overnight (they had traces of god-knows-what in the bottoms of them), then rinsed them out and was ready with my arsenal of squirters and a bottle of mixed up ProCMC+Enduramax+applesauce. 

At vet-in for VC100, Chrysann was our vet. She was very pleased to see me as she couldn't remember my name from Tahoe Rim and had wanted to get into contact with me. After the Tahoe Rim, she'd gotten curious and talked to a few other vets - including Gary Magdesian - an associate professor at UC Davis, and one of the Tevis research veterinarians - and the general consensus had been that this was NOT normal and WAS cause for concern. She suggested that I should take Fergus in and have him monitored with a remote heart rate monitor for 24 hours to see what he was doing. 

No pressure on the eve of our 100 miler, eh? 

That said, when she checked him at vet-in this time, his heart rate was totally normal - no skipped beats, no anomalies. She wondered if perhaps he had had some kind of virus at Tahoe Rim?

* * *

7:45 a.m. - When we got to the highway crossing at 19 miles, Chrysann was there doing the trot-by, and while I chatted briefly with KT's mom, Carol, she scuttled over and took his pulse. It was actually very comforting - having our "own personal cardiologist" out on the trail to keep an eye on things - she'd been the one to notice this problem in the first place, so she knew exactly what she was listening for. And it wasn't there at 19 miles either. Phew.

Vet Check #1 - "Market" at 24 Miles

8:45 a.m. - Chrysann was our vet at the Market, so she was once again able to monitor him carefully. Fergus was ravenous, but otherwise seemed normal - his CRI here was 52/44. Chrysann was suspicious - 44 seemed too low to her. 

Far from being a relaxed 45 minute hold - I almost reverted back to my early days in endurance when everything went by in a blur and I simply didn't have enough time. 

Best thing at this check - Renee - my saviour! She had dived into Starbucks and gotten me a mocha and a sandwich. I managed to force in about 2/3rds of the sandwich, but the mocha went down, almost in one. That stuff is nectar at that point in the ride. 

Once I got that out the way, I had to deal with the problem that first thing that morning I'd neglected to lube any of the normal places I need to lube when riding Big Mover Fergus - the insides of my knees, knicker elastic line, and my under-boobs. Usually I keep a tube of Monistat Chafing Powder Gel in my pommel bag for just such occasions, but it had recently exploded in my pack, coating the inside with gel (there'd be no chafing inside my pommel bag). And of course I'd forgotten to replace it, so had to borrow KT's Bodyglide. 

Couple that with - surprise! Every girl's dream! I got my period unexpectedly - and of course had nothing with me, so had Carol rummage through KT's truck to find me something. So I had to scuttle to the portapotty and do some speed-remediation. Needless to say, only the insides of the knees (already chafed raw) got lubed. 

In the meantime, Fergus was starting to act funky. Partly it was that he needed to pee (he did - all over the concrete we were standing on, splashing both of us liberally), and partly it was that Scooter – his new best friend – was in another crew-location. He scarfed down two pans of goodies that Carol offered him (go figure - this was the stuff I nearly didn't even bother to bring, since he'd ignored it so categorically at Tahoe Rim), but then started fidgeting around and acting odd, so I took him over to stand with Scooter. And instead of standing quietly like a good boy, he proceeded to trample everyone and everything in sight, drip mash all over everyone else's belongings and generally make a nuisance of himself. Because I needed to "remediate", I left him in the care of Katie Kenworthy who I'm sure was very relieved to hand him back when I reappeared. Sorry about that, guys. 

KT and Ani showed up 30 minutes later, and we did our best to avoid the horses seeing each other. Ani (who is a grow-up) couldn't care less, but Fergus had spent the day before bellowing at him and needing to stay close at all times. He'd even gotten pissy with me when I insisted we did a pre-ride out to the cemetery and back in the afternoon. Either way, I didn't want to risk him spotting Ani and getting all attached again. Result - KT and I did a "Hi! Bye!" at the vet check, and Megan and I were off again (or at least would have been if someone hadn't done the wrong math on my vet card and written my out time down wrong - ten minutes later. Spent a couple of minutes getting that sorted out).

Section 2 - 24-39 Miles

This loop went pretty much as planned.  It started to get hot, I dunked my bandana in the trough at the bottom of Geiger Grade. Actually, more accurately, Megan dunked my bandana in the trough - I couldn't reach the water from the lofty heights of Fergus' back. 

Bailey Canyon

We spent a happy hour working our way through Bailey Canyon with Fergus leading. When we were finally done, he pulled off to the side to let Scooter have a go and proceeded to stop a lot and generally act unmotivated going up to the saddle. Down the other side he moved out, but still didn't feel outstanding. Despite warnings that the creek on Jumbo Grade wasn't running, there were several places where the water had pooled on the trail and we were able to sponge a little and get them to drink. Towards the bottom, I elyted Fergus like a good girl and realised that you could lose a lot of time faffing around with elyte syringes and trying to get back on your recalcitrant steed who didn't want to stand in a convenient location next to the trough - instead he wanted to move back and forth, do his best to knock me in, then stand so close I couldn't actually get my foot in the stirrup.

LOVE THIS PHOTO!! Fergus and I trotting across Washoe Lake State Park (photo: Baylor) 

We zipped across the Park, taking advantage of the good footing (and the fact that Fergus knew where he was, and knew that there'd be Good Things at the other end).

Arriving at the "Trot-by" at Washoe Lake - a 15 minute hold for refreshment purposes.
By now, it was HOT. (photo Hiiesalu-Bain?)

12:25 p.m. - The trot-by proceeded like a NASCAR pit stop. The horses drank, Renee hosed Fergus and Scooter liberally, we got 60 pulses on them (a requirement before we could leave), we did our trot-by, and we retired to the small stripe of shade next to the truck for refreshments.

Saddle bag water bottles were refilled, elyte syringes replenished, I forced down an entire meal in about 45 seconds while the horses scarfed down the buffet provided to them by Carol, Katie, Juan, and Renee.

My favorite part was when I was reaching up to get something out of the saddle bag, Renee walked up, without a word sprayed my arms with sunscreen, told me to shut my eyes and mouth, sprayed my face, and walked off again without me ever uttering a peep. This is the best kind of crew - the ones who don't ask you anything, they just do it - but they know what you need so it's not intrusive.You just feel "serviced".

L to R: Renee, Scooter, Juan, Katie, Carol, Fergus, and Megan

And then after 15 minutes, they threw us out, citing that their "next round of customers" (KT and Nina) were about to arrive. Knowing that they needed to pick up the pace a little, they'd made 15 minutes on us in this section. Good going guys! (I bet they didn't waste all that time faffing around elyting at that last trough...).

Section 3 - 39-51 Miles

This next is the worst of the climbing. Last year, poor Roo about wilted going up here. It's a huge 1700 ft climb that goes on and on, in the worst heat of the day, with no redeeming qualities - other than the lovely views looking back down on the valley. I'm sure the horses appreciate it. Oh yes.

Climbing towards the SOBs

At the top, instead of being rewarded by what appears to be a flat section of trail, you're confronted by the SOBs.  Unfortunately for Fergus, I'm pretty sure he remembered this section. Luckily for Scooter, he was cluelessly oblivious, so we put him in front.

Climbing, then climbing some more. 

Poor sad Washoe "Lake"

We came from that lil' road down there between the hills

Start of SOB #1

SOB #1

SOB #1 - starting up the climb. Andy Gerhard and John Brain catching us

Andy Gerhard wondering why this was a good idea

Fergus fascinated by the varying degrees of abuse being exclaimed from behind

Andy and John

Megan catching her breath

...nearly at the top

The trick is to teach your horse to tail without being distracted
by the vegetation invitingly placed beside the trail

Stopping to munch on said vegetation is actually well received by horse and rider

Fergus puts on a burst of speed and we surge to the front

SOB #2

The bunch grass by the side of the trail is always a big hit

Andy and John keeping pace with us

With the SOBs done with, Megan and I did our best to keep our pace up - trotting as much as we could on the way to the Jumbo #1 water stop. The trail is pretty rocky in places and Fergus wasn't very motivated along here, so it was a "down" part of the ride. I hoped to spot some wild mustangs which sometimes congregate up here, but they were a no-show. I drank some warm Ensure and did my best to stay cheerful.

2:50 p.m. - At the Jumbo stop, Fergus dived into the wet hay and I drank some lemonade. At this point in the ride, it's hot, you're tired and you know you're falling behind in the fuelling game.

The last section between Jumbo and camp (and the alluring hour-hold at 51 miles) is four miles of flat/slightly downhill very hard-packed rocky Ophir Grade (the old toll road between Virginia City and the mill at Washoe Lake) and we left right behind John and Andy. Megan seemed eager to keep up with them but straight away I was unhappy with the speed for this section. Last year I'd been forced into a much speedier pace than I wanted to go with Roo because I needed to stay with his buddies to keep him motivated. My gut feeling was that was what tipped Roo over into his "too much" zone, which I'd been trying to stay out of - and needed to stay out of if I hoped to finish the ride. Just another thing that didn't work out on that ride.

This year I didn't need Fergus to stay with the other horses, but trying to persuade him not to keep up with them was all but impossible. I could force him into a slower pace by making him walk, which he'd do without too much complaint, but if I wanted him to trot sensibly and let them pull ahead, that just wasn't going to happen. A few times we walked, but then he'd just accelerate even faster each time we started to trot again, pounding his legs even harder. No amount of rating would make any difference. So we were towed along with me doing my best to try and maintain some semblance of control and wincing at the pounding.

51 Mile Check

3:30 p.m. - The first time I did Virginia City 100, I distinctly remember coming in to the 51 mile stop, totally whupped, and thinking "We're only half-way done". Kiss. Of. Death. Never, ever think this. So instead I do my best to focus on the fact that we've got a nice hour-hold waiting for us - food, rest, and maybe a face wash. And here we are - sitting in the shade, enjoying boiled eggs by the looks of things, and the use of Carol's aloe-drenched wet ones to spiff up my grimy face. 

Lunch stop at 4 pm. 

Throughout the day, I'd been watching Fergus' front glue-ons gradually separate from his feet, so I had to make a decision - continue with what we had, and run the risk of losing a boot in the dark and making him lame (as I had with Roo last year - he lost a boot in the dark somewhere on the 51 to 76 mile loop... but no idea when). Or remove the front glue-ons and put strap-ons on instead. I opted for the latter and Crysta very kindly took care of removal for me. As it turned out, the boots were better attached than we thought and she had quite a struggle on her hands getting them off.

Crysta working on Fergus' feet

This was the first time I'd used gel soles and so I was expecting some teething troubles. In the event, at least they protected his feet for the first half of the ride. The squishiness of gel soles mean you get more movement of hoofwall against boot wall than with standard boots and as such, I should have cut notches into the side walls to allow for that. It would have meant better adhesion at the front because that area wasn't being stressed so much. Lesson learned.

Crysta removed his glue-ons and we put on his Renegade strap-ons and I'm happy to say that I had no further boot issues (although I was worried going through the deep mud-puddles near the spring on the Cottonwoods loop).


Section 4 - 51-76 Miles

At this point we were 45 minutes ahead of Kaity, so by the time she had vetted and with all the kerfuffle of prep to go out again, Fergus didn't get a chance to glom on to Ani.

And unlike last year, Fergus didn't fall over as Roo did leaving the check. We were in good shape.

Curiously, I swore that the trail was completely different in places on this first section, but when I downloaded the GPS track, it turned out to be exactly the same.

We moved along, trudging the climbs and trotting where we could. Out by the V&T railroad tracks we saw two big bands of mustangs coming down out of the hills.

6:50 p.m. - At the Jumbo #2 water stop, Fergus once again dived into the wet hay and scoffed and scoffed. I checked his boots to make sure no grit was getting caught in the heel captivators.

Once again we were being pushed and pulled by Andy and John who arrived just behind us, but passed us on the long climb leaving Jumbo. I was worried that Megan would want to stay with them again and knew that their pace was faster than Fergus wanted to go, but thankfully she opted to let them go ahead. Fergus used my rule of trotting the flats and walking any hills.

Up on the mountain, as the sun set, we were rewarded with the twinkling lights of Reno far below us. I ate my pizza-margarita-inna-squeeze-bag and got heartburn (the downside of this foodstuff). With no moon, despite glo-sticks, it was pretty dark out there, especially on the steep downhills, and we had to rely on the pones' surefootedness to get us through. Turns out one of my glo-sticks had given up, but I still had two bright ones to light our way.

Arriving at Geiger Summit road crossing, our trusty crew was there to feed us and our pones. Both Fergus and Scooter dived into mash pans which I was very grateful for, but I wasn't able to enjoy the hot chocolate due to having a desperate need to use the toilet (as always, endurance is nothing but glamorous in the need to share). With no portapotties available, we continued on.

The section shortly before Lousetown Road is very trottable, but after being slapped in the face by tree branches, followed by Scooter tripping badly on the whups, Megan requested that we walk instead. Given how fast I've done this section in year's past (2012 - chasing Connie and Pam and trying to catch up with them in the dark; 2009 - following Connie on Shardonney as she flew off the mountain), the Mt Davidson to town section seemed to take a very long time this year. Every year the track down from Sign Hill towards town seems to get more and more rubbly as well, with no path through the middle to avoid the rocks.

Arriving at the cemetery at 74 miles
(photo: Sanne Steele - who mans the finish line with her trusty twin helpers - who by this time were fast asleep.)

Section 5 - 76-100 Miles

10:25 p.m. - After being "in distress" for much of the last 10 miles or so, I spent much of my hour hold at 76 miles in the portapotty, much to Renee's consternation as she came looking for me. At least you can rest sitting on the toilet.

Thankfully my crew-buddies took good care of Fergus - blanketing him and stuffing him with food. Thanks guys - this could've gotten tricky without you!

Carol cooked up a vat of pasta, chicken apple sausages and alfredo sauce (which we discovered at 20 Mule Team, goes down very well at this time during a 100 miler), so I sat and scoffed a bowl of that. Yum. By this time, Kaity and her companions were only 30 minutes behind us, so we did a slightly longer "hi-bye" and soon enough we were out again.

I have to say I don't remember much about this loop, other than Fergus being fairly reluctant to do anything but walk, which made me sad. He'd trot short distances, but his heart wasn't really in it. Luckily both he and Scooter have excellent walks, so we walked... a lot.

By the time we were on the backside of the Cottonwoods lollipop, I was starting to hallucinate from fatigue - something to do with plastic rip-rap on the ground. I even dozed off a couple of times - waking up slightly panicky - thinking if I fell off Fergus it was a long way down to the ground.

It was cold coming around towards the Cottonwoods vet check as it always is along the river bottom there. Fergus still wasn't very interested in trotting and I was feeling slightly sick at the idea that we might - once again - get pulled at 92 miles.

2:20 a.m. - As it turned out, my fears were unfounded. We vetted quickly upon arrival and Fergus trotted out with straight As on his card and a CRI of 60/52. As at all stops, the horses were ravenous, so we let them eat for 20 minutes while we drank coffee. I was a much happier girl this time around, knowing that unless something went horribly wrong, it looked like we would be finishing.

At 2:45, we saw the red lights of Kaity and her group approaching the vet check, so we pulled the big blankets off the horses and scrambled back on and set off into the darkness before they arrived (once again, I was concerned that Fergus didn't need to see Ani).

On the return journey, I remembered a section of track where, on a training ride a few years back, Fergus had been the strongest and fastest I'd ever felt him. This night, however, while he was walking with purpose, he still had no interest in trotting. I had to assume that his feet were bothering him and concluded that this just wasn't the ride for him, given all the hard-packed trotting.

We were approaching Lousetown Road when a pickup truck driving in from the vet check passed us. Fergus and I were in front and although the driver slowed way down, for reasons I still don't understand, Scooter suddenly totally flipped out and leapt sideways, dumping Megan unceremoniously on the ground. Luckily she clung on until the last minute, so didn't have too far to fall, but from my vantage point I thought he'd trampled her and immediately started visualising a ruptured spleen or other internal injuries. And the fatalistic part of my brain flashed back on my earlier thought of "unless something went horribly wrong..."

Thankfully Megan got up unscathed*. The driver stopped, mortified to have caused this problem, but Megan assured them it wasn't their fault. I don't know if it was the lights of the pickup that scared Scooter, or the unexpected bed, or something in the bed that rattled, but he settled down soon enough and Megan was able to clamber back on.

We decided we were definitely walking in :)

(* afterward I confessed to Megan that I had plans that, even if she was injured, I was going to stuff her back on her horse and get her to the finish... a little bruising and broken bones never hurt anyone....)

4:27 a.m. - Coming up from the bottoms towards the finish, we could hear Kaity's group catching us from behind, and as we reached the finish line, we could see their lights coming - trotting strongly along the last section of track. They would finish a mere four minutes behind us.

We came through town for the final time - Fergus still walking strong and I thanked him mentally for hanging in there.

At camp he was as hungry as I've ever seen him - diving for hay and towing his minder around helplessly behind him. Other than extreme famine, he seemed none the worse for wear for his ordeal and trotted sound with As for his final vetting. We were done and Fergus had completed VC100 for the second time.

During the confusion of vetting five horses at once, someone came up and said "we need to drug test your horse" and had me sign a release form. Suddenly my bubble burst. I flashed on my aggressive elyting protocol and in my tiredness began to panic in a paranoid fashion that I hadn't cleaned all those syringes properly and that somehow Fergus would test positive for something (not clear what, since I couldn't remember the last time I'd used Bute, so any residue that I imagined being in the syringes would be at worst months old, and more likely years old. But when you've been awake for coming up on 28 hours, rational thought isn't high on your list of skills). I was totally bummed out - despite getting straight As for his final vetting (OK, a B on guts, but considering how he was stuffing food in, that was hardly a concern), I felt that Fergus had been "not quite right" for much of the last 30 miles of the ride and wasn't quite sure why. And now he was going to test positive for "something" and it was all for nothing.

Got Fergus untacked and tucked in a blankie and pulled on his leg-sleeves and installed him in front of more hay and mashes than a horse could possibly eat, and then sat sadly watching the sky lightening and ate another bowl of pasta and sausages.

* * *

Results for VC100


On to the Aftermath...