Perfect weather, perfect trails, perfect horse, friendly people.. The Diablo's Pistoleros ride this past weekend had it all. This really was one of the prettiest rides I've ever been on, and even though it was "only" a 25, I couldn't have been prouder of Isabella. She took wonderful care of herself the whole weekend (did she really even need me there?) :) Anyways, rewind to Friday morning.

Friday morning I was working at home, planning on driving down to Morgan Hill in the afternoon. Matt was rustling around in the bedroom about mid-morning and so I went in to give him a good morning kiss. He gave me a long hug, "I don't want you to go away.." I smiled at him, "Why don't you come with me then?" He pondered this for a while.. the few times he's come with me to a ride have been in knee deep mud (see Cooley Ranch 2005) or worried sick of where the heck I was (see Fireworks 2004). After a major cuddling session (rated PG) and a fresh egg breakfast I convinced him. *grin*

It's amazing how much faster preparation goes with 2 people. I've gotten pretty used to going solo on these rides and I have my own routine down pat, however, with a helping hand everything just goes by so much more smoothly. My OCD self was in less of a hurry with another person there helping out as well. We drove down to pick up Isabella in Moss Beach and headed off towards Henry Coe Park at around 1pm, making good time.

Ridecamp was absolutely beautiful, something that should've been in brochures for horse camping destinations. The small meadow at the bottom of a picturesque valley was sparsely populated with horse trailers and corrals when we pulled up. Apparently the meadow was also home to millions of ticks. Ticks everywhere. Ticks on people and on animals. Ticks in people's conversations the whole weekend. Tick talk, tick talk (as observed by Matt, haha!). We finished preparing camp in no time and I hopped on Isabella for a test run. I was trying out my new Freeform West that I had for only a week or so. I was very pleased with how Isabella responded in it, and even more happy with how light it was. :) My only issue with this saddle was a slight problem with my back.. because Isabella is built slightly downhill, my back tends to ache if I'm sitting for long periods of time. My back is sore this Monday morning but the advantages so far seem to outweigh the negatives.

I left Matt to his own devices and rode around camp and the small hills surrounding it for a while. There were quite a few familiar faces.. Doug and Barbara White were camped right next to us and Bill Coburn and Trystan was camped right across (although I wasn't able to run into him to say hello.. hello!) On our way back from our ride we ran into Kathy Mayeda getting her saddle worked on by Lisa from Reactor Panel Saddles. We chatted a bit about the woes of saddle fitting and she offered some helpful advice. Lisa was even nice enough to take a few pictures of Isabella's back and did a measurement for us just in case the Freeform didn't work out. Sorry for interrupting your saddle session, Kathy! Lisa's hubby looked quite bored so I mentioned that I had another bored significant other sitting at my trailer and if they should get bored enough to hang out. :)

Friday night dinner was catered by ride management and provided a yummy BBQ chicken dinner with potato salad, green salad, garlic bread, and (yum!) cake. Camp was very quiet that evening which was unusual. Usually there are one or two horses that converse with whoever will listen all night long, but all the horses were very very quiet. I had a fair night's sleep and awoke the next morning at 5am to the sound of ride management honking, making sure NO ONE slept through the ride start.. :) First class service.

The actual ride start was about a mile and a half away, so Isabella and I headed out of camp on a lose rein at around 6:40 for the 7:00am start. The starting trail was flat and crossed several beautiful creeks before we ended up at a parking lot at the trail head. Two riders caught up to us and I let them pass before heading up the long hill. Okay, it wasn't really a hill, but more of a mountain! Isabella was excited, but attended to the business at hand.. getting our butts up this long climb. When we reached the top, a drag rider (for the 50s?) was hanging out by a gate. As I passed by I looked down the mountain and was absolutely amazed.. "I can't believe how high up we are!!"

Ride management did an excellent job with trail markings. Every time a small doubt rose in my mind if we were on the right path we'd see either a yellow or orange ribbon. The next part of the trail traversed down the side of the mountain and we made some time up here. The single track trail was so much fun. We ended up near another park entrance and after a quick pit stop we started up the fire road (the only one, rest were single track) up the grade to the mid-ride vet check. Isabella walked up this hill and we were passed by most of the LD riders. Ok, I'm not really the competitive type when it comes to endurance rides.. I do this for fun and to get the miles. However, when tons of people pass me up the hills doubt creeps in as to whether or not Isabella and I can really do this in time and in good shape, especially because I reserve Isabella's energy and choose not to trot up hills unless she really wants to. Most of the time, however, she decides not to waste her energy so we plod along uphills 90% of the time. It makes me think she's pretty tired.. BUT.. then we'll get into the vet check and she'll pulse down immediately (down to 44!), and recieve all A's from the vet as well as a compliment, "She looks great!!". Hrm.. it leaves me a bit confused, but I guess I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I saw Sandy Holder at the vet check (who was so nice as always, offering me snacks, electrolytes, etc) and there was plenty of grass for the horses to graze on during the 1 hour hold.

The last 9 miles were the most fun.. all single track, all windy small trails going through the hills, amazing views. The grass was green and covered the mountain sides. Everytime the wind blowed you'd see waves flowing through the vegetation.. it was breathtaking. Every so often when I'll be riding Isabella I'll be hit with the notion that it's a perfect day to be alive, and I hit that moment constantly on this ride. She was doing so well, even eating on the trail (which she's never done!) and drinking at every opportunity. I couldn't have been more happy that day, that moment. Towards the end of the ride we met up with a nice guy named Keith from Monterey and a lady on a big warmblood looking anglo-arab and had a great time scooting in towards the finish line. We boogied in most of the way, trotting down the slight grade towards the finish and chatting along. It was so much fun!! This is why I ride.

We reached the finish line and Isabella pulsed down right away. Keith's riding partner took a bit more time to pulse down at the end and so we headed on back to camp. On the walk back we ran into Kim Zvik and her daughter.. her daughter was so funny, giving Keith flack for not wearing a helmet ("Why aren't you wearing one??" "What if you fall??" - to which he responded, "I'll just try and land on my nose so I don't break my head" HAHA) Smart little girl. ;) We got back to the trailer and Isabella ate and rested up while I cleaned her up. Giving her a good sponge bath I took a good look at the trace clip I had given her a few days before the ride.. it was really horrible looking! *grin* Ah well. We went to our final vet out (running into Dick Carter, hello!) and Isabella recieved all A's except for a B on gut sounds (pretty normal) and she was stepping slightly short in the back.. which made sense because I only had front shoes on her. I will definitely be shoeing her all around on her next appointment with the farrier.

After waiting a few hours we headed home and cleaned up. Isabella ate non-stop, about 5 huge flakes of grass and oat hay the whole weekend.. the most she's ever eaten on a ride. The next day she recieved the ultra-spa treatment, a nice bath and brushing. I swear, she looked more chunkier than before the ride.. far from the sunken looking horse the next day when we started out doing NATRC and endurance back in 2000. She has really matured and come into her own the past few rides. I couldn't have been more proud of her!! I turned her loose after her bath and she flipped her head and trotted/cantered around for a bit. One of the best sites I could see... :)

Thanks to everyone for an awesome weekend.. I recommend this ride highly to anyone on the fence about it. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be (I heard it was a TOUGH ride with lots of hills, but it was actually VERY doable - even for those in less than perfect condition), and ride management was friendly. Next stop, our first multiday LD at Wild West.. and after that, 50's for the rest of the year! (eek!)