More Seat Shimming - Fergus' 16" Eurolite

For past info on "Things I Have Done", refer to these two posts:
Fergus Saddle Update (scroll down to "More Tweaks") and
Saddles - Work in Progress (scroll down to "Shimming the 16" Specialized Eurolite")

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Cantle Bolster:

Fergus' new Specialized Eurolite felt great for Virginia City 100, but by the time we got to 20 Mule Team 100 it wasn't doing quite as well. A last-minute (literally - I added it on the Friday afternoon before the 100 miler - figuring I could always pull it out at the first vet check if it wasn't working) addition was to velcro my half-moon-shaped (Sensation) cantle bolster under the seat.

Despite the miles I'd done in this 16" saddle, I still felt like I was swimming around in it so thought this bolster might help for those accelerating-moments Fergus has occasionally (the ones that flip me off the back of the cantle). It probably makes the saddle a little too snug now, so I maybe have to make something similar that isn't quite as bulky, but at least it helped a bit.

Cantle bolster velcroed behind the seat. I raised it a little for NV Derby, so it was slightly less bulky,
but probably still need something a little narrower - right now, this is still a bit too much. 

That said, at about mile 55 on 20MT, my right IT band started to get whiny and by the end of the ride—despite repeated stretching whenever I was out of the saddle—it had seized up altogether. No more trotting for us. Luckily we were riding with Brenna and TWH Sky, so did a lot of big-gait walk, but it was disappointing all the same to no longer be able to trot at the end.

The only other time I've suffered from this problem was riding Roo on VC100 - never with Fergus before, so that was a bit of a mystery. Until I started thinking about how my feet are a lot more underneath me when I ride in my Sensation on Roo - and with the addition of the cantle bolster to the 16" Specialized, I was effectively moving me forwards in the saddle and bringing my stirrups more underneath me. Huh.

So another adjustment this month was to move the stirrups forwards on the Eurolite. I don't have them screwed in to the tree, so figure they'll self-adjust somewhat. They felt fine for NV Derby 50, but like I say, I only had the problem after about 55 miles, so that might not be significant.

* * *

Seat Comfort:

Whether it was because we walked/gaited more during 20MT 100, so I was in the saddle more, or whether the padding I'd added for VC100 had already deteriorated, I'm not sure. Either way, my delicates and seat bones suffered greatly. So for the last month or so, I've been putzing around with some ideas.

The first option was to try using Supracor as padding. Ash had a strip lying around from another project so kindly sent it up to me. I cut a narrower strip to go under the seat and rode in it. Too wide under my adductors. So I shaped it somewhat and rode again - still too wide. I think Supracor is the wrong material for this - it works well as a sheet, but doesn't taper well at the edges, so was too bulky under my leg, instead of fading subtly into nothingness. Rode once more with that set-up and decided it wasn't going to work - too much padding - so took it out:

Holding the Supracor up, so you can see the Specialized shims underneath

Holding the Supracor up, so you can see the Specialized shims underneath

Supracor flopped into place and fat pommel bolster added.
You can see my attempts to shape the Supracor under my adductors

Supracor flopped into place and fat pommel bolster added
You can see my attempts to shape the Supracor under my adductors

Seat flopped down on top. The purple things are my Sensation knee rolls,
velcroed to the underside of the unfastened (at the front) seat

So I removed the Supracor and readjusted the Specialized shims under the seat a little and it gave me enough twist to work fine for the 50 at NV Derby last weekend:

Flat strips of Specialized shim to add twist to the front of the saddle.
The object of the exercise is to raise up the center, so your legs aren't being spread so widely apart.
With more bulk in the middle, your leg can hang slightly straighter.

Flat strips of Specialized shim to add twist to the front of the saddle (and the fat pommel bolster). 

Once the seat is down, who would know you had all that stuff under there?
unfortunately, the velcro on the pommel bolster peeks out of the front slit in the seat,
so it still needs the sheepskin on the top:

Sheepskin added and - voila - enough twist

Sheepskin added and - voila - enough twist

But the seat is still way too hard. No matter what, Fergus' way of going will never be described as "smooth" and being repeatedly slammed into the saddle for 50 to 100 miles is taking its toll. When asked "how is your ride going?" the correct answer is probably not "My crotch is on fire" (which was my response). 

On Sunday I prodded Brenda's new Specialized seat and - huh - that is way cushier than my old used one.

So I have two choices - apparently Specialized have some discounted leftover seats from random sources. If I trace my seat and send them the tracing, they will try to match it as best they can. This might be a good option, since I may be able to get something that will cover the knee rolls a little better (the attachment-velcro still pokes out the front a little and I keep snagging my rope reins on it).

Or Option #2 is to invest in one of these $55 Thinline Seatsavers. This might help. But it might not. But it's probably cheaper than the Specialized seat. And money is tight right now.

Still musing on my options, so will see. Leaning towards the new Specialized seat.

Uno Does 20 Mule Team 100 - February 2011

I wrote this for Easycare back in 2011, but wanted to keep a copy here in case that blog every disappears.

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Uno Does 20 Mule Team 100

Thursday, March 10, 2011 by Lucy Chaplin Trumbull

Yesterday morning I let Uno out of his paddock to roam while I mucked and fed everyone else. Within a few minutes, he was running in and out of the hay barn doing drive-by gallops and bucks, leaping about like a spring lamb. For such a chunky horse, he always amazes me how light on his feet he can be.

Best of all, I was thrilled to see him feeling so good after completing the 20 Mule Team 100 and the returning 13 hour trailer journey just over a week previously.

We made the trek down to Ridgecrest overshadowed by a less-than-promising weather forecast, but I was fresh off following the Yukon Quest sled dog race where they had to deal with -40°F for days on end so a bit of light snow wasn't going to faze me. As my friend Renee says: "no-one likes a sissy".

As usual we started our trip off with a bang - literally in this case - I blew a trailer tyre about three hours from home. Luckily I heard it go and was able to pull off the highway before it shredded and ripped the fender off.

My jiffy jack lives permanently in my tack room in an easy-to-get-to spot, so it only took me about half an hour to get the tyre changed. I was glad it wasn't raining, though, since the only way I can get the wheel back on the hub is to sit on the ground and balance it on my feet.

We arrived at 9 p.m. on Thursday to gusting winds which didn't really let up until late on Friday. Welcome to the desert!

Friday lunchtime, my friend and most-excellent crew-person Kaity Elliott (she's mine, all mine, and you can't have her) showed up and we spent a happy 45 minutes glueing on Uno's boots. This went very smoothly and the only time I was forced to mumble impolitely was when Uno knocked the schnozzle off the glue gun at an inopportune moment. We also had to interrupt the proceedings twice - once for a passing plastic bag (remember the wind?) and once when a low jet passed overhead - neither time Uno reacted, but I'd rather not be underneath him at these times "just in case".

(Many thanks to Kevin for not only prodding me into glueing, but also making sure I had what I needed when I discovered I was missing half the necessary ingredients... like a pair of front boots.)

We'll call this composition"Plump pone with blanket tide marks and glue-ons".

The ride itself was one of the more relaxed ones I've ever done. Although the forecast was for both rain and snow, it never reached us and instead we were blessed with bright sunshine the entire day. It was cold, but that worked out great for the woolly horses.

We started at 6 a.m. and although Uno was somewhat cheerful in the crisp air, he settled down fairly quickly when he realised his buddy-for-the-day wasn't acting like an idiot the way he was. Despite having never met face-to-face, by the power of the internet, I'd arranged to ride with Crystal Stutz from AZ and her horse Groovy on his first 100. We both wanted to keep a sane pace and as it turned out the horses travelled beautifully together, keeping each other enthused without making each other crazy.

Shortly after the first vet check, we also gained a third rider, Rebekah Loscar, who was doing the 65 mile ride (same loop) and who's horse, Misty, was having a confidence crisis. Both ladies made the day very fun and I thank them for their good humour throughout.

Laurel Mtn with a fresh dusting of snow. At the ride start, they thought they  were going to have to divert the trail away from the higher elevations to avoid the snow, but by the time we reached the first vet check at  17 miles, the original route was back on the menu - which was great as it was unbelievably beautiful out there.



So much of the trail was perfect footing - the ride was probably a good candidate for a completely barefoot ride.



Uno and I, for once looking like we know what we're doing. (photo: Rene Baylor)



Beautiful views about 25 miles into the ride.



Vet check #2 at ~35 miles - Uno is pretending to be good during pulse-taking (not). It got really warm at this point. The riders all wished they were wearing less clothing and the horses were ultra-itchy and sweaty. (photo: Kaity Elliot)



Leaving vet check #2 on the next leg. (photo: Kaity Elliot)



The gang ~40 miles, left to right: Rebekah and Misty, Lucy and Uno, Crystal and Groovy. (photo: Kaity Elliot)



Looking north at around 45 miles. Sadly, shortly after this, Rebekah's horse came up lame, so we bid her farewell and continued on. She hand-walked Misty another 7 miles to where she was met by the horse trailer.

Approaching vet check #3, Uno and Groovy flew into this check on the  twisting singletrack trail - probably the most fun section of the entire day. (photo: Kaity Elliot)

We managed the 9 miles between VC#3 and VC#4 (65 miles) in a mere 1 hour, 15 minutes. The horses felt great and I was sure we were going to have a fun last loop.

But it wasn't to be. As often happens when you move up in distance, what had worked fine for 50 milers didn't work over that mileage - Groovy's saddle was bothering him and he was suffering from a sore loin and was pulled from the ride. This was really a bummer as he'd been going so well the whole day and I felt bad for Crystal.

The even bigger bummer part, however, was that after having spent a really fun day with Groovy and Crystal - Uno and I were going to have to go out and do the last 35 mile loop on our own - and Uno doesn't do "on his own" very well.

So the first 65 miles went excellently and we had a blast, but from 65-75 miles it got "interesting".

Uno and I left around 8 pm and after an initial "I think it would be better if we either moved in sloooowww motion or went back to camp" for a few blocks, I got him to pick up the trot and maintain it for several miles while I chatted continuously to him (although we had to stop and inspect each glowstick with care before starting to trot again). After that was a long gradual hill that ride manager Melissa Ribley had warned me all horses get floppy on - and as promised he did. Once we were up on the ridge, I got him to trot nearly the whole top part (albeit with many spooks and frequent stopping to walk carefully past each glowstick/bush/trail marker). As we started to come off the ridge, he was getting less comfortable about the idea of trotting. He wasn't physically tired, but I think mentally was wilting. But we'd done 10 miles in the dark, so I was pretty pleased.

My most excellent crew Kaity Elliott met us at the road crossing, and the food break for him and hot chocolate break for me helped us both. After crossing hwy 395, we trotted for another half a mile or so, and then Uno was done. The trail was quite hard to follow - no moon and the glowsticks a little too far apart and designed so that you just had to "follow the trail you were on" until you reached the next one. Unfortunately, they didn't take into account the many side trails that (probably in the daylight) didn't look anything like the "main trail", but in the dark you couldn't tell, so you had to go carefully.

So we walked. And walked and walked and walked...

It was another 7 miles before we got over that ridge and down in the valley and it was blowing cold the whole time. I didn't dare get off because I'd probably fall on my face and not be able to find a suitable mounting block, so stayed on and got progressively colder and stiffer. Uno, on the other hand, was walking along, very cheerfully in his power walk. After 7 miles, we rejoined the afternoon's trail and I thought he'd perk up and be willing to trot, but the trail was singletrack and even harder to follow in the dark (several times we veered off it and I was worried we wouldn't be able to find it again [it was only 10" wide]. The glowsticks were very minimal.). He did perk up, but we didn't speed up noticeably. If I asked him to trot, he'd stop dead and start backing up, so was telling me very clearly that he couldn't. Left to his own devices, he was forward-moving, content, and walking fast.

Finally we got into VC#5 at 92 miles at about 1:30 a.m. - it had taken us about 2.5 hours to go the previous 10 miles (which actually isn't that bad in the pitch black). At that check he ate ravenously and I ate a banana (score!). It was 36°F/2°C. I was wearing two layers of fleece legs and Kaity helped me poke hand warmers down along my quads and we put a couple in my gloves. We got out of there about 2:15 a.m. when Uno finally started to come up for air from his buffet.

After re-crossing hwy 395 again, the trail was wider, more obvious, and had less close bushes to be alarmed by and I thought I'd be able to talk him into trotting. But no, Uno was done, so still we walked.

Around 3 a.m. I started to sleep on and off (nice warm hand-warmers in trousis). He followed the trail, I hallucinated things (including an entire stock trailer at one point - couldn't figure out why Uno wasn't reacting to it ), kept an eye on the glowsticks, and tried to stay balanced, but was still more or less asleep.

After an hour or so, I woke up and started to worry that we were off trail - almost no glowsticks and I didn't recognise some of the landmarks. But no, we were still in the right place. Looked at my watch and thought it said 3 a.m. Was very impressed that Uno had done 5 miles in 45 minutes in the dark with me asleep, before realising it was 4 a.m.. Not quite as impressive, but still pretty good considering he'd been flying solo for the last hour.

Down on the back roads in Ridgecrest, I finally got him to trot for about three blocks on a wide, wide, asphalt road - nothing either side of him for 50' and the moon had come up, so he knew he was safe. His trot was smooth and clean and forward - nothing wrong with him physically, that's for sure. Then the road narrowed again, and we continued our 20 Miles of Walking Experience.

We finally completed the 100 mile ride at 5:10 a.m. (we had been on track for about a 2 a.m. easy finish prior to Groovy being pulled). Uno and I walked the entire last 20 miles because he was too mentally "done" to be able to trot, even though he was physically capable of doing so.

No matter - I was absolutely thrilled with him and how he did. For a horse that doesn't do "alone", he stayed happy and cheerful and forward almost the entire time... we just weren't going to trot :))

The following morning, the only real indication of having done anything was a lot of foot resting, so we turned him out in the arena and he lay down, Baby Jesus-style, in the warm sand for a few hours. I didn't wrap or poultice his legs and he had virtually no filling whatsoever.

Post-ride, Baby Jesus enjoying the dry sand of Ridgecrest

So Uno, once again, became the Pone That Could - impressing me with his happy demeanor the whole day and his willingness to go forward in the face of his fears (just so long as we didn't have to trot in the dark). For a horse who wasn't going to make a 100-mile horse, he's not doing too badly.

Driveway V Truck-n-Trailer = 1 : 0

Having missed our scheduled 12 mile ride at the weekend due to rain/sickness, I opted to work from home on Wednesday and get it done then. Had pft feed the pones for me and worked from 8:30 until 1:30, and then took Fergus to Cool.

This was a section of "better footing" at Cool - i.e. we didn't feel like we were going to slip over

As it turned out, trying to ride on the trails was a complete blow out. We went out two miles with me scared to death to do more than trot 10 ft very occasionally. It was so slick that Fergus' feet were sliding 18" at a walk. Finally abandoned the trail option and returned to the trailhead and decided to try and finish our ride on the Dam Road.

Our saving grace - the verge alongside the Dam Rd

Fergus' bars were long and his feet soft enough from standing in slop that he refused point-blank to trot on the asphalt surface, so we were reduced to trotting along the verge on the side. My adductors got a work out pushing him over since he wanted to trot in the softest stuff and I was worried we'd go off the side of the bank. He was cheerful enough for the first out-n-back, but decidedly petulant when I turned us around and made him go back and go again. We finished with 11.7 miles total - not the most exciting ride, but at least we got some decent trotting in.

The part to the north was our attempt to ride on trail.
The part to the south was us riding back and forth alongside the dam road, much to Fergus' disgust

Back at the trailhead I decided to trim his bars and shorten his toes a little - if I waited until I got home, it would have been too dark.

Finally got home after dark and set forth up the driveway... only to get stuck about a quarter of the way up. pft came down and took over while I hand-walked Fergus up and fed everyone. Unfortunately, he didn't have any more luck than I did, and ended up slipped slightly sideways on the driveway such that he couldn't even back down the hill without ending up in the ditch (3-H goosenecks need a run up to start turning and at that point he didn't have enough traction to go up). We abandoned the situation until morning, came indoors and I worked until midnight.

Trouble with photos is that they don't really show hills - or how steep our driveway is.

Sent my boss a "dog ate my homework" type excuse, citing "unable to come to work due to my own truck-n-trailer blocking my driveway" and worked from home for a second day in a row (thank goodness what I'm working on was perfect for home-work).

Despite waiting until later in the day for the driveway to "dry out some", we still couldn't get the truck-n-trailer moving, so we fetched the old white truck. It may have dubious qualities*, but it comes in mighty handy every now and again.

(*electrics are dodgy, lights work intermittently, driver's side inside door handle no-longer works, it has a short that drains the battery so pft installed a disconnect switch on it for when it's not being used, etc...)

White truck to the rescue

Pulled out the yellow nylon high-line rope and used the white truck's nudging tow-powers to give the little extra that the rig needed to get it out. Success! Huzzah!

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Fast forward to this weekend. Yesterday pft fetched a yard of 2" road base and this morning he slowly drove the truck up the drive while I frantically shovelled the rock out the back. pft then used the truck to tamp it down - and the final result was quite good.

... and yes... it's wet 2" road base, meaning it weighs more.

Unfortunately, I still have to wait a while for everything to settle, so creative routing will be needed tomorrow to get in the scheduled 15 miles. I see lots of repetitive to-ing and fro-ing on the local lanes in Fergus' and my future.

And although we had enough rock to get the immediate problem area fixed, it wasn't enough to cover areas further up the driveway that are going to need some remedial care in the near future, so it looks like I'm going to have to shovel rock every weekend for the next few weeks.

Note: By peculiar coincidence, I read on FB that today in 2011 we had two transfer loads of gravel delivered for the driveway. Unfortunately, the ground is too squishy right now to do this, so it looks like I'm going to have to shovel rock every weekend (to fix the bald areas further up the driveway) for the next few weeks.

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Edited to add: creative routing R us. Fergus and I managed 14.22 miles from home today - we could have finished with over 15, but I promised him that if he trotted all the way to the top of Becky's hill, we wouldn't have to do Brumarba ( = 1 mile) for the third time. He did, so we didn't. Finished in the dark having both had a good workout.

Thwarted from continuing on my hoped-for route by a downed-tree - hah, got around that one... only to find a second one just up the trail.

Plans (with a small p) for 2017

It's that time of year again, when energy levels are so low that you can't actually accomplish anything, so spend your time planning things you could accomplish if perchance that enthusiasm should return.

During my daily mucking sessions (when I do my best thinking), I was musing on the regular thought that none of us are getting any younger. Roo will be 17 during this coming ride season, Uno and Hopi 16, with Fergus being 15. Small Thing brings up the rear at 12. Having extra horses is my insurance for when the current Worker Bee gets broken. This only works, of course, when they do break, and thankfully we haven't been in that position recently, so I have the dubious pleasure of having more horses than time to ride, so have to prioritize. This is the plan for this year:

Roo - Decade Team Other than getting a single 50 on Roo this coming season to officially cement our Decade Team standing, I don't have any big goals for him. The plan is to to take both him and Fergus to NV Derby and do both days since it was so much fun last time (not)(fun times juggling screaming horses during vet checks in camp). To get him fit I suspect much of his conditioning will be at the end of a lead rope, as I prepare Fergus for his first ride of the year at 20MT, but it has worked before and is fun to take both of them out as a gang.

Small Thing - Tahoe Rim Ride  Thursday afternoon, I got the news that Small Thing and I had a place in the Tahoe Rim Ride at the end of next August. I've done this ride three times (on Roo - it's his best ride), crewed/volunteered twice, and figured it would be an excellent trail for Small Thing - tight and twisty with very few "big trot" sections ("big trot" being something he doesn't really have in his repertoire). This does mean I've got my work cut out for us, getting him ready, and I have no idea if he's capable of 50 miles - the furthest we've ever gone is 21 miles on the CA Loop - but it's this sort of push that I need to actually do something constructive with him, instead of putzing around.

Fergus - 100s As always, Fergus forms the core of my endurance goals. Having him means I can pick things I want to do, rather than having to limit the goal to the horse's capability. Of course I'll willingly do that if necessary - see above - but the freedom of being able to chose what I want to do is something cherished and never taken for granted. Fergus is such an outstanding horse and with our time clock ticking, I want to do as much with him while I still can. What has always excited me the most is doing 100s, so that's a big part of next year's plan with four 100s scheduled. A fun thing to do at the beginning of the year is see what's available and see how it fits together - and it looks like the rides I hope to do with Fergus slot together beautifully, giving him plenty of time between each one: 25 February - 20 Mule Team 100 (5 weeks) April 1 - NV Derby - Fergus April 2 - NV Derby - Roo (5 weeks) 6 May - Duzen Doozie 100 (5 weeks) 10 June - NASTR 75 (4 weeks) 7-8 July - Tevis Educational Ride - Fergus as a Mentor? (4 weeks) 5 August - Tevis (3 weeks - Tahoe Rim with Small Thing) (6 weeks) 16 September - Virginia City 100 (and hopefully a Triple Crown Completion)

2015... in Review

Looking back on the year, it felt somewhat disjointed and out of sorts. But despite some missed goals and disappointments, I realise that I rode in some absolutely amazing locations and continue to appreciate just how lucky I am to live in such a lovely area.

We had our ups and downs, but finished the year on an up with ailments either diagnosed or at least on the mend, and starting 2016 positively.

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January:

This month marked the driest year since records began in 1877 for our area - the whole state was in trouble, and our lovely dry winter - whilst good for horse conditioning - did little for the parched reservoirs that were dropping to record low levels (for example, Folsom Lake, one of our closest, was at 15% capacity by December).

Over Christmas/New Year, pft and I made our usual trip south to the desert and went horse camping at Catalina State Park down near Tucson, AZ. pft wasn't riding horses, so we only took Fergus and bicycles. It snowed and we froze our butts off, but had a good time nevertheless. The scenery is so gorgeous down there - and best of all, it was slop-free. Ash drove over for the day and we spent a happy afternoon walking deckers in the snow.

I love it there, but the two-day drive to get there is definitely a damper.

Catalina State Park, near Tucson, AZ

Later that month, the horrible Charlie Hebdo shooting occurred, raising many questions in my mind about freedom of speech and ramifications thereof.

20 Mule Team 100 was on the calendar and I decided to give myself some "just in case" insurance by getting both Roo and Fergus fit for 100 miles. I ponied Roo off Fergus at high speeds (gosh, his legs can extend - something I wouldn't in a million years let him do under saddle), and had fun having them both along.

In the knitting department, I churned out this excellent star beret in one weekend. Love it to bits, but it's hard to wear because I'm never quite sure how to put it on:

Star beret

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February:

Sally came to visit and we took Roo and Fergus out on the high trail for an afternoon of speed work. This was yet another time when Roo went out under saddle but I wasn't on him - which was a recurring theme throughout this year.

Most people have sporting heroes and mine is musher Brent Sass. Brent has the best approach of anyone I know - his motto being "Attitude is Everything" - doing his utmost to make the best of even the worse situations. Last year he came so close to winning the 1000-mile Yukon Quest before flipping off the back of the sled in a moment of exhaustion and giving himself concussion. This year he was back again, wearing a helmet buried under his layers of hats. Figuring out a helmet that is going to work in -60°F/-51°C took some doing, but it paid off and he won - despite oversleeping on the trail by several hours towards the end of the race, causing his followers to have minor panic attack and think that, once again, "something bad" had happened. It ultimately provided a nail-bitingly close finish, with many hours of hitting <refresh> <refresh> <refresh> following the tracker - and he finally won, beating the 2013-2014 champion Allen Moore.

At the end of the month, Fergus, Spike and I headed south for 20 Mule Team 100. We rode with Kaity and had a lovely time in what turned out to be one of the best spring flower displays in years. Kaity's mom, Carol, crewed for us and took care of Spike for the day - for which I am mightily grateful.

20 Mule Team, near Ridgecrest, CA

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March:

After two and half years, I got my braces off! And felt like I had a mouth of someone else's shiny plastic teeth.

The AERC Convention was a fun weekend - at dinner there were four decker-owners in a row... and mine was the only one who (news from home) had TPed the back deck. I came home minus all my sweaters and jackets and had to contact the hotel's lost and found - thank goodness I have friends in Reno who could go and retrieve them. Lastly, I did my homework and filled out eight (count 'em) 100 mile surveys that I'd promised the AERC research vet, Olin Balch.

Inspired by the Adhere guy at the convention, Fergus and I embarked upon a search for squishy feet inside his boots to give him more concussion protection. This proved curiously prophetic later in the year.

Uno got ridden (something that needs to happen more often) at Cronin and Roo and I took to the Larimer Trail in hot and humid conditions (and, bravely, in an S-hack... not the best choice for him) and got chronically lost on the way home exploring the area behind Larkin's.

Larimer Trail high above the Middle Fork of American River, looking down on the River Road used on Tevis

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April:

Fergus, Roo, and I headed for a weekend of 50s at NV Derby. Luckily I parked at the end of the trot-out lanes, because whenever we got back to camp, the horse left behind screamed incessantly, necessitating fetching it and taking two horses through the vet check. I opted to let Fergus out a little "to see what he could do" - and the result was a 25th place finish in a field of 72 - but an "I see something on the left front" from the vet at the finish (we completed, but it was there).

(Coupled with an "I see something" at the first vet check at 20MT - it was enough to make a girl nervous that something was brewing ...but predictably not loudly enough to tamper my enthusiasm).

The next day Roo got a top-ten finish tagging along behind Connie and Dave. Although in a field of only 21 starters it was a slightly less spectacular result, I still felt like I worked hard.

Snow that afternoon meant that I couldn't get home, so I spent a frigid, blustery night camped out alone at Washoe Valley (pones bundled in their blankies) before driving back over the mountain on Monday morning when it cleared - on an absolutely crystal clear morning of crisp white snow. Gorgeous.

Fergus, overachieving at NV Derby
Photos Gore/Baylor

Roo holding his own and getting his first top-ten

Towards the end of the month, there was a horrific 7.8 Earthquake in Nepal - lots of destruction in the country and a nasty avalanche at Everest Base Camp. That put paid to the climbing season for the second year in a row.

With our success at 20MT, I decided that Fergus and I would make the trek to Wyoming to do the Big Horn 100. With lots of climbs to get ready for, we spent a good few mornings climbing the Powerlines at the end of the lane.

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May:

The whole family (well, pft, Finn, Spike, me, n' Roo) went to the High Desert ride over in NV. I'd never done it before and we were to chaperone friend Dionne on her horse Storm's first 50. It was exactly what was needed - a nice relaxed easy-going 50... pouring rain the day before notwithstanding:

High Desert, near Stillwater, NV.
Roo wondering about the thunder clouds, Storm trying to pretend she can't see them.

Another first - pft took me to the drive-in to see "Thor" for my birthday.

To get our second part of the Triple Crown, Fergus and I went to NASTR 75. Inspired by his performance at NV Derby, I once again let him move out - we were even leading the ride at one point, much to my embarrassment - with the predictable result that he went lame at 60 miles. <slap forehead>

Although interesting and educational, playing "top ten" wasn't remotely enjoyable and won't be happening again - not least because letting 1200 lb horses run on hard dirt tracks is not conducive to good health. A subsequent visit to the vet on Monday produced a "sore feet" diagnosis (I had been resigned to a suspensory injury at best, so this diagnosis was met with some degree of disbelief) and I consequently made the decision to move to slightly beefier Renegade boots for better concussion protection.


Despite the vet thinking Fergus'd be OK for Big Horn 100, I wasn't much enthused by the idea - I always prefer to give a good break after any injury, and didn't think that travelling 2000 miles round trip on a "he'll probably be OK" gamble was a great idea, so our Big Horn plans fell off the calendar.

Finally, after many years of good service, my Miata let me down by nearly not making it to work one morning. We got trucked home, courtesy of US Rider, and the problem was deemed a faulty ignition system. Couple that with being about 100,000 mile past needing a timing belt change, Miata has been moved to the garage for some TLC.

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June:

June 5th marked the real start of summer with the annual erection of the back deck sunshade (this year tied to a tree, rather than a cinder block - high tech).

With a visit from friends in England who we'd promised to take camping looming on the horizon, we took a trip up to Faith Valley to reccy the situation. pft mtn biked, the dogs romped, and I rode Small Thing (who managed to kick Spike in the chin on purpose, dampening the fun day). Love it up there.

Faith Valley - across the meadow

Faith Valley - evening quickie on our day of arrival

While we were there, pft got a puncture and Small Thing ended up tied to a tree - no big deal. But he then had a small meltdown when he got his leg over the lead rope - not usual for him who normally sees such things as minor inconveniences. Once we got home, I figured out why - it looked like he'd gotten his legs caught in the fence a few days before we left without me realising. As a result, the fence at the bottom of his paddock wasn't as good as it had been and needed replacing - particularly as that would be Kaity's horse Ani's paddock during Tevis week, so pft and I spent a happy weekend scrabbling in the dirt, pulling out the old (now long-buried) fence and replacing it with new.

Spike n' me do fencing

Knowing this year I wasn't going to ride Tevis, as soon as it got vaguely hot, I shamelessly cranked up the a/c in the car and drove to work in the nice cool. I'll take the little pleasures as needed.

At the end of the month, I spectated the WS100 run - this year giving impromptu help crewing for a runner from the East Coast. As always, in awe of the runners - and enjoyed spending the day in Foresthill and the evening down at the river crossing.

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July:

This month saw us cram in as much as we possibly could.

We took the dogs and mountain bikes to Utah, camping - and had one of our best trips to date. Starting at the Wedge - the scenery was amazing, the place deserted (excitement and interest whenever we saw a car off in the distance), and we had a fun time mtn biking the Good Water Rim Trail... a LOT.

Good Water Rim Trail - most amazing, unexpected scenery 

Good Water Rim Trail, a quarter mile from our camp

We spent the second half of our trip at San Rafael Swell, behind the reef, visiting Wild Horse Window cave, Goblin Valley during a spectacular thunderstorm, and finishing up with a hike through the slot canyons of Little Wild Horse Canyon.

Our camp "behind the reef", San Rafael Swell

Wild Horse Window cave

Goblin Valley

Goblin Valley

Little Wild Horse Canyon

Little Wild Horse Canyon

Little Wild Horse Canyon

We were then home for a week, before setting off once more to Faith Valley to set up for the Kind family's camping trip. We had a fun weekend, mtn biking, horse riding (not as successful as hoped, but we were able to salvage some rides out of it), and ending with a trip for pft, Dave, Elliott, and Austin to the Flume Trail on mtn bikes/running.

Small Thing disgraced himself at Faith Valley, but to be fair I put him in a bad situation so take full responsibility for my own stupidity. Unfortunately, however, his behaviour filled his imaginary jar almost to the brim with black balls and it would be Christmas time before we got everything back under control.

Finally it was Tevis week ...

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August:

...This year it was Kaity and Ani competing, and Ash, Carol, me and Renee crewing. We got her in, we got her out, and as a team we did a great job. High Five Us! ...Oh, and Kaity and Ani finished on target, so I guess they did good too ;)

After meeting sisters Ali and Jessica at Faith Valley, once we were home, we hooked up and did some fun conditioning rides with Ali on Roo. Although he did plenty of conditioning this year, most of it was either on the end of a lead rope, or with someone else in the saddle. We had plans this month for Bridgeport - Fergus one day to get him ready for VC100 in September, Roo the other; followed by Tahoe Rim - Roo's favorite - to ramp him up for the Riding Dead 100 at the end of October.

Well, best laid plans... Bridgeport was cancelled due to a wild fire, so I ended up having to take Fergus to Tahoe Rim out of necessity. The ride went well but I came out of it in poor shape - mostly from holding him back all day, as well as muscling him around that tight course. My ducks weren't in a row ready for VC100, but I thought I could pull it together in the next three weeks.

Early one morning Finn was out on the back deck barking at squirrels... and continued to bark and bark and bark. Finally pft went out to check — only to see a bear about 50 feet from the back of the house. Oh.

I made some feeble attempts at putting white balls in the ST's jar - not with great success when we once again ended up with him rearing and me yelling. Needs work. I persevered (mostly by avoiding the horses running the fence) and got a couple of shorty rides in, but not with any degree of confidence.

Early in the month pft thought he'd pulled a stomach muscle which gradually got worse over time. The Dr thought it might be a hernia, so he started undergoing various tests to figure out what was going on.

My mumma said she was tired of knitting for babies and I talked her in to knitting me a cardi. When it showed up, I loved it.

My lovely cardi

 

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September:

The exciting "moment" for this month was me attempting to trim Hopi in the breezeway of the barn, him having a minor flip out, which escalated in to bigger flip out, followed by me leaping into the hay shed to get out of his way - and him following me into that tiny space. Awk. We managed to get out of the situation unscathed, but it was one of those "life flashing before your eyes" moments.

In a continued effort to get Fergus in better shape for VC100, I had Tom Mayes come out and work on him with some eye-opening results. What I thought was a developing "hunter's bump" turned out to be muscle atrophy on his rump cause by him being jammed up all the way to his shoulder (might explain some of the back atrophy also). Tom suspected that he may have ran into something with his shoulder at some stage and had been carrying this problem around for a while. He also had some similar blocking to his innards, which possibly contributed to my vague impression of his "failure to thrive" this year - it was hard to keep him in good weight. I hoped that this bodywork would help him feel a little better.

pft's health issues continued with a sleep study to see what his apnea might be doing, along with some chiro work to try and relieve his stomach/muscle/back problems. Neither was terribly conclusive.

Our final conditioning rides for VC100 were cancelled due to smoke from the Butte Fire about 35 miles south of us. This fire, which burned enthusiastically for a couple of weeks, ended up consuming 475 houses, 343 outbuildings, 71,000 acres and killing two.

We were well socked in with smoke, raw throats from breathing the air particles, and things were so tinder dry we were living in daily dread over the possibility of any fires starting.

Smoke from the Butte Fire at home

On Saturday 12th, we watched in horror as footage unfolded of what was to become the Valley Fire - strong winds blew what should have been a minor incident into an inferno in a matter of minutes, injuring firefighters and ultimately growing to 50,000 acres in 24 hours. That fire topped out at 76,000 acres, with four deaths, and burned most of the towns of Middletown, Cobb and surrounding communities - 1958 structures burned.

On Sunday 13th, a small fire started a few miles from us and although I could hear the air tankers to the north of us, I couldn't see them in the already thick smoke. They got the fire out quickly and it turned out to be an arson/triple homicide.

It was not a good month for fires.

VC100 happened on 19th - and I think I was already sufficiently unsettled that it just didn't seem to go well, despite Fergus having an outstanding day on paper. I came home exhausted and dreading the fact that I needed to "go again" to get Roo ready for the Riding Dead 100 at the end of October. I knew I'd have fun once we were there, but my heart really wasn't into the commitment needed to get him ready, so although I was bummed when the ride was ultimately cancelled, I was actually secretly relieved.

Poor Roo - Bridgeport cancelled, replaced by Fergus for Tahoe Rim, and RD100 cancelled. My goal to get him to 2000 miles this year was slipping away, despite only needing a couple more 50s to get us there.

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October:

"Winter" arrived on October 1st with me having to put socks on for the first time in months. Always a sad day when you have to put away your Tevas.

October turned out to be what I needed - play with no pressure.

The weather held and pft and I (in shorts, natch) took the dogs for a day trip playing in the South Yuba River at Big Bend near Rainbow Lodge just off I-80. Finn got car sick on the way up there, but once we arrived we all had good fun playing on the rocks. Spike amazed us by falling in the river but not caring one jot - swimming across and then swimming back again (this was after he was too wussy to cross the small creek at Faith Valley). He was fearless leaping from rock to rock (and falling in occasionally, before bobbing back to the surface again, legs scrabbling), while Finn was cautiously reticent.

South Yuba River near Rainbow Lodge

Family photo, South Yuba River near Rainbow Lodge

Because of being slammed at work, and being burned out after Virginia City 100, all I wanted to do this month was explore new trails and ride short distances - I was done with coming home exhausted. Erin and I drove up to Silver Fork (between 50 and 88) and explored the trails - climbing up over the ridge between Caples Creek and Silver Fork. The Silver Fork canyon is quite something to see and Roo was in an excellent mood. It was a good relaxing day.

On the ridge dividing Caples Creek and Silver Fork of American River (photos Erin Riley)

Roo snorkeling in Caples Creek

The next weekend Roo and I drove up to Donner Summit on our own and explored the PCT south of I-80 - from New Donner Summit to Old Donner Summit. Such fun technical trails, with no-one to please but ourselves, we had the best time. It seems like I never get up on these trails until late in the year - and then only have a short window before the weather turns to play up there.

Donner Lake from Old Donner Summit

For the final weekend of October, neighbour Becky and I trailered back up to Donner Summit and this time took the 15 mile Castle Peak Loop north of I-80. It had snowed the night before, so we were squeaking in under the wire. Most of this trail is up above 8000 ft, so once the weather turns, you're done until late June at best. I was feeling a little pressure that Roo needed to be ready for two days at Gold Rush Shuffle in November to meet my goal of getting him to 2000 miles. He was fit, but we hadn't done a lot of mileage or long trotting. I hoped that the over-abundance of muscle-using rocks, not to mention the climbs, would set Roo up. 

Although I knew we wouldn't be going fast, I hoped the amount of climbing and the degree of difficulty would give Roo an all-over workout to get him ready for two days at Gold Rush Shuffle in November. (photo Becky Batson)

Back side of the basin behind Castle Peak (photo Becky Batson)

Front side of Castle Peak, looking down on Round Valley towards the Peter Grubb hut (photo Becky Batson)

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November:

Dionne and I did a last conditioning ride from Twin Rocks to the Auburn Overlook in the middle of the month. Roo did well and was quite cheerful the entire ride.

I hadn't ridden there in years and although I knew Folsom Lake was "low", I was quite unprepared for the complete absence of lake - and the resulting rock-pile covered moonscape. Very cool landscape to see. The sandy "lakeside" trail was also something I hadn't ridden on before and I made a mental note to ride there again when a) I needed sand work and b) when El Niño hits and everywhere else is sloppy.

My plan for Gold Rush Shuffle was to do two x 50s with Roo to get him to his lifetime mileage of 2000 miles this year. Dionne and I were going to ride together with Roo in chaperone position to be a calming influence.

I hadn't gotten a chance to trim up Roo's feet before the ride, so ended up doing it the day before which I think was a mistake - I trimmed him too short and right from the start of the ride he seemed very subdued. This was ideal for Storm who was quite excited by the whole proceedings, but he didn't get any more enthused at time went on. By about mile 40 I wasn't sure we were even going to finish the ride at all, as he'd lost all impetus.

Having ridden the 55 there last year and gotten caught out in the dark, I still had PTSD from the experience, but this year the trail in the dark was well-marked with glow-sticks, Roo cheered up towards the end and got his completion, despite being a little off. We were given the option of a recheck to start the following morning, but knowing how he felt, I was almost certain we would not be riding the second day. Sure enough, a recheck wasn't necessary - he was still stiff and not moving freely the next morning, so that was the end of our season - finishing up 15 miles short of our 2000 mile goal.

So all in all, a mixed year, endurance-wise. I made a bunch of stupid mistakes that didn't do Roo or Fergus any good and although we had some good results, my impression of the year was one of disjointedness - rides cancelled, rearrangement of plans, and uncertainties that went with it. You live and learn.

On the health front, I finally got fed up with the tendinitis in my left elbow and went and got some physical therapy. The wussy arm started out with 55 lbs of grip pressure (compared with 90 lbs in my good arm) and through (what at first seemed like very wimpy) exercises, it gradually worked its way up to 75 lbs. Best of all, by January the pain finally went away and I could start picking up coffee cups and cans of beans without wincing.

In the middle of the PT, I opted to add a yard of gravel to our parking area - which helped greatly when the rains came (we were getting tired of squelching in sloppy mud trying to get in and out of cars), but didn't help my wussy elbow.

pft had yet another sleep test and was fitted out with a CPAP machine which meant that he started sleeping properly and not thrashing around, yelling, at night. His snoring was gone and he slept quietly all night long. Despite being concerned about having to sleep with a mask, it turned out to be a non-event. Good stuff.

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December:

...and the rain started. After a four-year drought, this winter they promised an El Niño event for us - and indeed, the drought appears to be over.

Early in the month, Finn came in from morning feeding restless and shaky. Spike was due in for his rabies jab that morning, so we took Finn along. X-rays were clear so he was diagnosed with a mystery back ailment and sent home with pain killers, muscle relaxants, and anti-inflammatories. and commanded to stay quiet for ten days. Within a week he was back to normal, but it still gave us a scare.

In a last minute flurry of tests (ultrasounds, x-ray, MRI), pft's mystery "hernia diagnosis" was finally dispelled and it was concluded to be a bad bout of spondylolisthesis (his vertebrae don't stack one on top of the other properly - and one in particular is about 25% off center, pinching nerves and causing peculiar pains in hernia land).

We got wise and signed him up for the second time with Symmetry - a physical therapist who specializes in straightening people out. They helped him in 1996 when he broke his leg and got all tweaked up. Almost immediately their series of exercises began helping again and pft began to improve.

Once again, I started up working on a quilt that I began making several years ago. I love the design, but the individual pieces take forever to put together - particularly after I came up with a extra-special design of my own making. I think it'll be pretty good by the time I'm done... some time in the next millenium.

Throughout the year, we had a multitude of babby chooks get hatched, and an even bigger number of chooks disappear under mysterious circumstances, such that we're down to our lowest numbers in a long time. With the population decimated, I may have to resupply from outside stock next spring - something I haven't had to do in years.

At the end of the year, we headed south for our annual Christmas getaway in the desert. This year we opted for the easy and camped out at Kaity's place in Apple Valley for the week. The horses lived in her arena, while we plugged the trailer into her barn (necessary for CPAP power) by running an extension cord through the skylight. It was well below the temperatures we were used to (12°F / -11°C at night, warming to a pathetic 45°F / 7°C on the warmest day), and because we had Grizzle with us, we had to run the propane heater 24 hours a day for nearly ten days straight (interestingly, that used less than two tanks of propane). Towards the end of the visit we were starting to lose the battle against condensation, with ice on the inside of the window every morning.

We did civilised things like go to the cinema (Star Wars - the Force Awakens), eating out, playing cards, sightseeing, hiking with the dogs, and watching endurance friends in the Rose Parade on TV on New Year's Day.

Day 1 of riding nearly ended horribly when, in my nervousness, I forgot a crucial piece of equipment.
Luckily no harm done, and we went on to ride five days straight for a total of ~22 miles. 

Kaity and I rode five days in a row - which meant that Small Thing and I worked out our differences (thanks to some quality time in the round pen before each session) and refilled his jar with white balls. He behaved well the whole time, and I learned some coping skills with him when things start to turn south. I think we are back on track for a good partnership.

And so 2015 ended on a good note with one of the best sunsets I've ever seen: