Cave Country Canter 2009
If you live in the Midwest, you need to come to southern Indiana in November and do the Cave Country Canter. It has some of the best scenery of any ride I have ever competed in, and Steve Cummins and his gracious crew just does the best job. This year the course was not only rocky and challenging but very muddy. From my years of triathlons, I learned to avoid any course of almost any type that was described as “challenging”. However, in this case, you should leg up your horse for some climbing and bring an extra sleeping bag, as there is no electricity.
Kate, my 5 year old grey TWH mare had won Best of Condition at her last 30 mile LD, and the vet said to mover her up to the 50 mile distance. Sandy wanted to do her first 50 mile ride and use my horse Blues. We have my horses, her horses and our horses. Niki, my 5 year old black and white, Pusher bred TWH mare was about ready for her 2nd Ld with the thought that if she did well, I would move her up to the 50 mile distance 2 weeks later at the last ride of the season in the Midwest.
A careful reading of the ride information sheet revealed that the 50 miler was 55 miles. Gulp. Should I tell Sandy or let her find that little fact out as a surprise? Too late, she found out herself. However, the fact that she had just gotten our first trailer with a full live-a-board and a bathroom seemed to take her mind off the fact that she was getting ready to race 25 miles farther than she had ever raced before.
A friend of ours from Indiana named Beth Steward blessed us by telling us she wanted to crew for us and show up all three days. What a wonderful thing. I have done these rides solo and with a crew. Riding two days without a crew is a lot more difficult so I was very grateful for Beth.
The 55 mile Saturday ride was a field of 24, and naturally, Blues and Kate were the only gaited horses. I have always tried to impress on Sandy that she needed to start the race near where she wanted to ride. The beginning will bog you down if you want to ride in the front eventually and you start in the rear. If you are going for the turtle award and start in the front, you may end up with a stressed horse due to all the horses passing you as they ride faster than you are riding. She took my advice to heart and was off with the first ten horses. I settled in with Kate mid pack and off we went at a rack. Did I mention how much I love this mare? She is by no means my best horse. At best, she might be my 3rd best mare. However, she is my sweet heart and she is not one that will be sold. I have long term plans for this girl. I see 100’s and Tevis in her future. Yes, I know that those are lofty goals. But as the Bible says, “my people perish for a lack of vision”.
We missed two turns on the trail and one of the missed turns cost me 3 miles and probably 25 minutes after I fretted over the right way to go. We pulled into the first vet check at mile 19 in 12th place. All scores were “A’s” and Kate did the trot out perfectly. Well, actually she did a “pace out”. Sandy was finishing her trot out on Blues as I was coming in. She had been in about 5th place and I was confused as to why she was still at the vet check. She admitted she had gotten lost and then thought she had missed a password on the first loop. So, she had shut Blues down and walked him back to camp.
She should have listened closer at the pre ride, as only lap 2 and lap 3 had passwords. She had given back serious time. O’well, endurance racing has a lot to learn for us and is an adventure in dealing with adversity in ever changing situations. It is much like the sport of triathlons in that regard.
Kate and I took off looking for riders to catch. She settled into her rack and her heart rate stayed about 120 at about 9 mph on the flats. She is a trooper on up hills and down hills and through bad terrain. In fact, most of our gaited horses are like that, although some of them are certainly faster than others. I caught the two riders in front of us and was going on just fine when suddenly Kate threw a front left shoe. I heard it and saw it air born so I found the shoe. We were passed as I was putting on a boot. After a couple of miles we caught the riders who passed us and then Kate lost the boot in the mud. The mud was so bad that I could not get the boot even though I knew where it was.
Now Kate had a missing shoe in a hard course and I worried about her hoof. I checked it and was alright, but I still worried. I made the decision to let her pace, as I figured that it would be easier for her to land on two feet at a time instead of one. If you have never tried to ride a pacing horse, well, don’t. It is like a drunken sailor on a swaying ship. I made the decision to post, to save my rear end and Kate’s back.
We got to the mile 38 vet check and passed even though Kate’s shoe count was down one. A ferrier put the shoe back on. Sandy was ahead of me by 6 minutes. I figured she needed to just miss one more turn and we had a chance to catch her. If a few people missed turns we had an outside chance of top ten. Kate and I caught Sandy and Blues with about 12 miles to go to the finish. She was standing on the ground letting him pick some grass. She said his energy level was a little down but that he was not showing any lameness. When he saw sweet Kate, he seemed perky to me and she saddled up and off we went as a team. Sandy and I are certainly wired differently. I am watching the heart rate monitor, asking her for Blues to stay with us, watching my gps, the trail, and listening for the horses I know are ahead. Sandy is enjoying the day, asking if we can stop and take a picture and worrying about the horses. Well, life in married land is a dog and cat thing isn’t it.
Just then Guy Worthington comes up from behind on his Arabian. Guy is a prince of a guy and I enjoy riding with him and visiting with him. We had not seen him for many miles, but he was back. We came to a gravel road in a line of three horses and Kate and I where the caboose. We rounded a corner and I heard “ting!” and I saw the right front shoe go sailing off. I yelled for Sandy to stop and she did. Guy went bounding down the road in a posting trot. Kate and I were in danger. This was the second time of the day that the right front had gone missing. The boot was gone. There was no way to quit. I decided to proceed at a reduced speed and let her go to her favorite gait. She loves to pace. I hate her to pace, but I decided it would be easier for her to strike two hoofs on each side than one hoof in a four beat rack. I also decided that I would walk the rest of the ride if she favored the hoof in anyway. Gulp, I also decided I had to post her pace for both our comfort.
Blues finds a very small water hole.
Just then Guy appeared from the direction that he had gone and said he missed the turn. I saw the turn and told Sandy to “go” with Blues. Guy tucked in behind Blues and Kate and I snugged into the rear of the train. After about three miles of this, Guy went to a walk. Blues and Kate kept on, but I knew Guy would be back. The forest at the ride is very remote and I kept losing GPS signal. I knew the finish was less than 7 miles ahead, but how far exactly? I also knew there were two riders ahead of us that we might catch. I kept a very keen eye on Kate and she was not favoring the right front in anyway.
Kate poses in her first 55 Miler.
Along the way, we found pleasure riders and hikers on the trail. I always asked them if how long it had been since the last riders had come through where they were. At first it was 20 minutes, then 15, then 5, then 2. I could sense we were less than 2 miles from the finish and Sandy was less than 40 yards behind me. I turned and looked at her and Blues and saw Guy edging up on her. I came around a corner on a long downhill gravel road covered with heavy leaves and saw the two riders we were all chasing. They were walking on 2 Arabians. I posted right on by them and spoke as we passed. Sandy did the same. The finish line was about 400 yards away. Kate was 7th and Blues was 8th. The final vet check was fine for both horses.
Beth Stewart, who had been helping us rode Blues the next day and said he seemed less than perky at first but that he had then racked just fine. I had checked on him throughout the night and taken him for a walk. Anyway, I had the vet check on him the next day and he found a small abscess. He said that it was 3 days old which corresponded with the last training ride he had had pre-race. The Vet scraped it and it drained. He told us Blues had to be incredibly strong to not favor it during any of the trot outs. Blues is and was fine and will get time off to rest and heal up. I love that horse.
Niki Takes On a Challenging 30 Mile LD
Niki is beautiful. She is an extremely athletic black and white Pusher bred TWH. She has a multi-colored tail. She has a rack to die for. Niki is very smooth and very fast. Her rack is capable of 15 mph. She is 5 years old and I have been training her for 3 years. We did one Ld as a four year old and I had been trying to get the turtle award with her. With ten miles to go in the race last year, she was still asking to go and I let her have her head. She went from near last to mid-pack.
I thought she was ready to show what she could do as she came into this event with over 500 miles of training in the last two years. My main challenge was going to be keeping her calm as she had sometimes gotten excited during training at being left behind. Not bucking kind of excited, but nervous kind of excited. The start was controlled during the 1.5 mile climb out of camp. The control rider pulled off and said “the trail is open”. At that point many of the Arabians went bonkers. Some took off in a gallop, some in an excited extended trot and the Arabian right in front of Niki just went sideways.
Niki stopped at my command and sort of pogo hopped up and down as the Arabian rider jumped off and tried to pull her horse off the trail. Just then, we were passed by a galloping Arabian and Niki thought that might be a good gait for her. We stayed with the Arabian but I pulled Niki back to the rack. The leaders came back to us a few hundred yards later when they went to a slow walk to negotiate some mud. Our horses have an advantage as we go down the trail; they always have one foot on the ground. I found a place to pass and went to the lead. Within a ½ mile, we had gotten some separation and I had the thought that we just might win this race. Within another ½ mile the silliness of my idle daydream became apparent as I was galloped past again. I made the decision to pull Niki back in order to keep her calm. Then I would let her rack between 10 and 13 mph and we would catch the two leading horses. Then we would drop back again and repeat this process.
Niki accepted this and it was much fun working on her brain. We hit the first 17 mile vet check and after we were in 3rd place by 6 minutes. Niki was still straight “A”s on her vet card. I knew that we had a shot at doing well if everything went well. The last lap was the best lap of any of the endurance rides I have done. Niki was just super. I did not carry a crop and don’t recall touching her with the spur. She just responded to any cue like a pro. We finished third and came back for BC. Sandy and I have really worked on “trotting out” and even trotting out in circles. She took BC.
3 gaited horses, 3 top ten finishes and a BC. What a wonderful weekend. We are very thankful to Beth Stewart for all her kind help and to Steve Cummings and his crew for one of my favorite rides. We will come back and try to bring others with us .
Niki goes out for her second lap.
