Shawnee Sunrise Farm

Barefoot Derby 2015
I find the names of endurance ride/races interesting. Dead Dog Creak has lots of creaks but none of them are called Dead Dog Creak. This ride is called Bare Foot Ride and I have no idea why. It is however on top of the Cumberland Plateau. That means it was really high and on top of a rocky area. The climb on the high way up to the altitude of the ride camp was so long and so steep that our diesel truck went into “limp home mode”. This resulted in the truck going is maximum of 35 miles an hour for several miles.
I thought, “This ride is going to be interesting.”
Aubree Becker did a fantastic job of putting this ride on. The facility where is was held was equally fantastic. I cannot think of a ride camp facility that was better in our past history of attending rides in numerous states. The trailer spots were rustic in that you had to have your own generator for electricity. That was the only short coming of the ride camp.
The highlight of this weekend for me personally was the fact that my darling wife. Sandy intended to try and return to the 50 mile distance. She survived liver cancer last year and is dealing with a very rare autoimmune disorder called “stiff person disorder”. It is on the list of automatic social security disability. Sandy requires help on and off a horse. We are believing for more for her, but that is where we are at the moment. She vacillated up to a few days before the race if she would carry through with her plans to try a 50 mile event again. She also has to manage an insulin pump during a 50. My wife is amazing.
I told her I would help her on and off and stay with her. She was riding her top mare, a racking MFT mare named Samba. Sandy has done much better with this mare than I would have. I would have lost patience with her a long time ago. I mean the horse, not Sandy. I was planning on riding Southern Honey, a 6 year old dusty black TWH mare in her first event. The horse is a Pusher bred mare to the best of my knowledge. That means she is extremely athletic but emotional. If you argue with these horses too boldly, you end up in a major wreck. Been there, done that. However, if brought along correctly and you and the horse don’t get a divorce, you can really have a fine horse in the end. I have taken BC with two different mares from this blood line.
Our friend Gabby Hoffmann bought Cheyenne from us. This is one of the 5 twhs in the world being presently being competed with a 100 mile completion. The horse has numerous 50 mile completions and can rack a 50 mile race. In fact she can rack a 100 with some gallop breaks.
When Sandy found out that Gaby was going to be in the same 50 she was going to be in she said, “I am not waiting for you, I am riding with Gaby.” In fact, she said, “we are not waiting for you!” I mentioned that it was Honey’s first 50 and it would be really nice if Honey and I had company. She said something which could be translated into, “it’s a race buttercup, run what you brung! I will make coffee for you when you finish.”
Our friend David Kalhok was going to ride our 21 year old speed racking MFT Blues, but Blues threw a shoe a few weeks prior and was out with a bruise. David said he would be the super crew.
Our friend Chuck Bearden from Kentucky took his TWH gelding Cooper to their first 50.
I also took my top horse, Kate, to race solo in the second day 50. Kate is just a brute of a competitor and has a perfect completion rate under 100 miles and is 5 completions for 8 starts at 100. She is the only TWH to have a BC or first place finish in a 100. She has both. I am really proud of this horse, but riding her is a real handful as she is as finicky as an Italian sports car. Keeping her smooth in a race can be a challenge at times.
Did I mention this ride camp had shower houses and hot water? Plus they featured flush toilets. Yahoo!
All four of us presented gaited horses for the start of the 50. David was ready to crew. Bless him and all crews. Really!
The fastest Arabians took off at the start. Our horses were the only gaited horses. We were all just behind the lead pack. At about the mile mark, many of the riders apparently decided the warm up was over and dropped the hammer. As the speed got over 10 mph, I knew it was faster than what I wanted to go on Honey and I let my gaited friends go with the faster pack. I said, “let them go”. Who am I kidding? As if I could have stopped them. Just as the rest of my gaited buddies separated from Honey and I, we were passed by two galloping Arabians.
Honey then lost her mind and her composer. She strained into the bit, broke out of gait and into a gallop. She pulled so hard she actually sheared a Chicago screw in her left rein. I was now holding onto one rein attached to a bolting horse with the other rein dragging the ground. My “whoa” brought no response from Honey, unless you want to count the fact that I think she sped up.
I tried the emergency one rein stop we all know as horsemen. Honey’s response was to turn her head all the back to me and continue in a gallop on the tight trail. Did I mention that there were roots and rocks? I had the thought that a very bad tumble was immediately in store for us and I gave her back her head. I was running out of ideas. What I had left was to shimmy up her neck and try and reach for the side of the bridle that was supposed to have a rein attached. Keeping my toes in the stirrups, I went up her neck while trying to keep my weight back as far as I could. Grabbing the bridle with my left hand, I shortened the right rein and started gathering the horse.
I was catching the lead pack and then said loudly, “Would you please stop, I have lost a rein and have an emergency!” They stopped, and as Honey came down form the gallop I jumped off. Gaby spun Cheyenne around and said, “I have an extra rein.” She grabbed it and handed it to me. Honey continued to dance. I tried to attach it and Sandy said, “Do we have to wait on you while you are putting that on?”
I asked her to wait 10 seconds while I got back on because I knew Honey would not cooperate with my mounting if the other horses were running off. It took about 10 seconds to clip the rein on and get back on. It took me 5 miles to calm the horse and steady her after they took off the second time. We used the 5 miles as a training time.
Pusher bred twhs mares are like that. They are emotional but athletic. You spend more time training their minds than their bodies. Once that is done, well, almost done, you have a fantastic horse.
After she steadied, she went down the trail in her usual manner. That means a 9.5 to 10.5 mph racking gait. We then started catching Arabians and politely asking to pass. We pulled into the 20 mile vet check and after pulling tack and a bit of sponging, were down when we presented.
Sandy and Samba were several minutes ahead as was Gaby and Cheyenne. Both of these horses can fly in a 50 and I had no thought of trying to stay with them. I had put around a 1000 miles of training on Honey but she was not as far along in her training as the other two horses.

Chuck and Cooper

Our friend Chuck Bearden did not get his Cooper horse back to the vet in the 30 minutes he needed to be declared down to 64. When he presented, after cooling the horse, the pulse was in the 50s but he was a couple of minutes past his time. I felt bad for him, but his horse was fine.
Leg two was about 15 miles of gravel roads and we were alone. This is the worst trail conditions for many gaited horses but Honey did not seem to mind. She was all business and showed no misbehavior. I did not have to motivate her to make her go. Her gut sounds were quiet and that did concern me, but she was okay.
The last leg was technical and Honey was still in good racking form. We presented and although her gut sounds were still quiet, she got her completion. We finished in 10th place. Sandy was 8th, and Gaby was 9th. They both finished 12 minutes before Honey and I!

Sandy and Samba, Photo by and permission from Jessica Willis at Unbridled Imagery

Picture by and permission from Jessica Willis of Unbridled Imagery

Southern Honey flying in a racking gait. Picture by and permission from Jessica Willis of Unbridled Imagery

Day two was Kate’s turn. This course was meant for Kate, as the second day did not have the long gravel road section. It was muddy, technical and had a lot of climbing and turning. Kate was the only non-Arabian in the 50.
On Saturdays ride, the first 20 mile loop was technical. Kate and I went with the lead pack and settled in third. She held this position throughout the loop. The day was getting warm. Water on the trail was a real issue. Unfortunately, you really had to look for water. Although there was a few streams and a lake you passed once, most of the water that was available was muddy. There was no water set out by ride itself management and that was the only drawback to this ride.
Kate lost a few minutes to the top two Arabians on pulse down and that is normal. Unfortunately, losing your “pack” almost always involves your falling off their pace. Leg two was about 15 miles and we had the company of Arabians several times. Kate always asked to go and she pulled back into third place. Again, her gut sounds were quiet. To some extent that is a trait of gaited horses compared to Arabians. However, her heart rate was running on the trail higher than usual and I watched it continuously. It was hot enough that the vet added an extra vet stop and 40 minute hold. This meant that you had to stop at mile 45 for a full vet stop.
The fourth place rider was a well-known and very experienced lady. She was also very gracious but she did have her game face on. I did not know her before the ride but I sure did know she could ride. I learned later that was a past U.S. 100 champion. We must have passed each other 6 times on the loop ending at mile 45. Kate pulled into mile 45 vet check with a 2 minute lead and in a solid third place.
I was really looking forward to seeing my pit crew. Having four volunteers is really a blessing. Well, except that they were not there. Something about lunch and maybe cold beverages back at the trailer is what I understand was happening. Also, my wife told the others that there was no way Kate and I were going to cover the distance in the time I had said. We did. Picture a NASCAR driver fighting for position in a race and making his pit stop and finding tires and tools but no crew and you will see the situation. Also, I was at mile 95 of two days of endurance and maybe just a little brain faded. Okay, I was really brain faded. I was trying to sponge my Kate and text “where are you “ to my crew at the same time.
My friends David and Chuck arrived and helped me. Kate pulsed down upon presentation but had quiet gut sounds. I was told to let her eat. I did that and she ate like a horse during the entire hold. We were told to go out for the last 5 miles.
Kate and I were now in fourth place and had lost 8 minutes during the hold. This means we were 6 minutes back from the third place Arabian. Kate is amazing in a reaching gallop and can actually hit 30 mph. I thought Kate had the horse power to out pull the Arabian if it came down to a sprint but I was stuck trying to do a math problem in my head. After all, I was brain faded and on a moving horse. You know the problem you can never solve where someone leaves New York at 9 am at 60 mile an hour and you leave Chicago at 70 mile and hour and you have to figure out how long it takes you to meet them? It was like that. I thought the Arabian would average about 9 mph during the last 5 miles. I needed to catch him 80-200 yards from the finish. So, how fast did Kate need to ride? I could not do the math in my head while riding. I just could not. So I decided to watch her heart rate and see if we could average 10.5 mph. Kate said she wanted to average 11 mph. I really think she understood what we were doing. Did I mention how much I love this mare?
Kate is the most challenging gaited horse to ride I have ever set on. My two top mares do not get along. I mean Kate and Sandy. They seem to disagree on the pecking order issue. Kate is also a bit of a witch to the other mares. She will also kick a gelding if I ride one through her pasture. But, the horse is very affectionate to me and has a heart for endurance past my imagination. She is one tough girl.
I hardly ever compete this girl in a canter. As soon as we got out of camp, I asked her for the canter. She gave it to me and 11 mph.
She caught the Arabian in 2 1/2 miles.

We pulsed down okay, but her gut sounds were still quite and she had some rub spots on her front legs where she wore boots and on her flanks where the cinch buckles had rubbed her. We let her eat and took her back to the vet and we got our third place finish and completion. The rub spots on her flanks and her quite gut sounds, in reflection, were both my fault. I took a horse from Illinois to south east Tennessee that still had too much hair on her. The day was hotter than projected and the rain that was supposed to occur did not fall. It made for a hot and humid ride and the water situation was not good on the trail. Next time I go south for an early spring ride I will clip the horse. I will also closely study my electrolyte plan.
We had a great time and learned a lot. All three of our horses finished and were in the top ten in their respective 50s. We enjoyed meeting all the friends who we had not seen in a year. Best of all, Sandy returned to form after cancer and dealing with a continuing problem of the autoimmune neurological disorder. Like Kate, Sandy is one tough female.
The two Lds had many gaited horses. I hope to see more of them step up to the 50.

See you down the trail my friends.
All things are possible,,,,,,,

Keith and Sandy Kibler
Shawnee Sunrise Farm

All pictures below by my friend and super crew David Kalhok, who did a great job of crewing and hiding his disappointment that his ride for the race threw a shoe in training and bruised a foot two weeks pre-event.