On Friday afternoon, Isabella and I made our second attempt at the Fireworks LD ride in Santa Cruz, CA. Last year we were pulled for sore feet.. Isabella was barefoot and I had NO IDEA how rocky this ride was. Fortunately she recovered in about a week or so. When this ride came around the calendar again, ultra-paranoia set in and I had her shod all 4's with Shocktamers pads in the front. The paranoia was also fueled by a mystery on-off lameness we'd had for the last 3 LD rides we've done so far this year which I had called out a vet to evaluate (and of course after trotting her out all over the ranch she took nary a wrong step). Fortunately my precautions paid off and Isabella came through in fine condition!

Matt surprised me this year by asking if I wanted him to join me.. of course I did! After last year's ride, I highly doubted he wanted to come back.. the oppressive heat and boredom at ridecamp and subsequent worrying when he heard I was pulled was too much for him and he'd shied away from attending other rides. Earlier in the year when he decided he wanted to give it another try at Cooley Ranch, he arrived to the other end of the spectrum - wet and mud up to your knees! This year's ride weather was perfect! Mid 70s in the shade and lower 80s on the trail.

The ride itself was great, but there were a few spoils of the bunch that were a bit irritating. First off, one of our neighbors decided it was a good idea to leave their dogs in their trailer unattended.. this would've been fine had it not been for a yappy little dog that when on and on and on and on until his owners came back. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs.. China was at this ride and she had a grand time, but that dog's yippy bark was puncturing holes into our eardrums and was ultra-annoying. *sigh #1*

Ridestart was at 7am and I began about 10 minutes after everyone had left. Isabella and I started off on a loose rein and started our trek down the mountain. We didn't get very far - there was a big bottleneck at the big mud crossing and it took a while for everyone to get across. Finally it was our turn to leap/cross the mud bog and everyone began to spread out. Isabella was trotting out very nicely and we approached a couple going at a more leisurely trot. The gal was pleasant - she immediately turned to ask if I wanted to pass. I responded and smiled, "SURE!" and she notified her riding partner. He wasn't as accomodating.. he responded with "What? You want to race??" and sped up. What the heck? Was he joking? *sigh #2* So I followed them like this for a little bit until he slowed down again. I asked the lady if I could pass and she told her riding partner again.. and this time he was nice enough to maintain his pace while we trotted past.

After a little bit, we made it to the river crossing where I met up with a newbie rider, Carol, and her 18 year-old chestnut arab, Avid. She was struggling with him a bit and he finally settled when he met up with us. The river crossing went smoothly and we rode together for a while. After the railroad crossing, we ran into a jogger who was trembling and sobbing. I asked if she was okay and she responded with a warning that there was a yellow jacket nest that was disturbed up the trail. YIKES!! Carol and I made our way up the trail and I spotted the group of riders in front of us. I watched them as they went around a bend and saw all the horses swishing their tails.. here it comes. I sped Isabella up and and we ran through that corner.. Isabella began bucking and I pushed her through. I felt a big stab on my butt and later found that Isabella was stung twice on her right flank. My riding partner went unscathed, but her horse was stung in the face and almost went head first into a tree. Yikes. Carol and I chatted and rode together for a while until Isabella began getting goosey and pissed off at Avid's nose in her hiney.. so I told Carol to pass us and go on as I didn't want her or her horse to get kicked. Isabella's never been known to kick, but she was getting more and more agitated.

Next up was the 11 mile loop.. not my favorite trail. A lot of it is in the sun and just seems to go on forever.. but Isabella was just kept chugging along. We ran into Eric D, who I knew from a local horsey chat board and who was on his first LD ride. Unfortunately I later found out his horse had a big ol' rock with his name on it and was pulled at the 18 mile mark. :( We trotted most of this loop and walked in the shade when we could. Isabella was panting a bit and I was pouring water on her from my water bottles. (Side note: this was the first time I used my Camelbak and it worked GREAT! I drank quite a bit more water than I normally do when I just have my bottles in my snugpack.) We then arrived at a portion of the trail where a kind soul had left water buckets out for us. Isabella immediately dove her nose in and drank and drank in one of the small buckets.. until another rider came and stuck her horse's nose right next to Isabella's without any warning. Ok, I'm not quite sure what the proper water etiquette is here, but shouldn't you ask before bringing your horse up right next to a horse that is drinking from a small container? Isabella stopped drinking, got PO'd and tried to bite the other horse. She didn't drink again for the rest of the ride. *sigh #3*

The vet check went great, Isabella was famished and was eating everything in sight (although she did recieve a 'C' on gut sounds here.. which is getting to be the norm with her :P). Gait was an A (HOORAY!) and the vet just told me to get her to eat as much as she wanted.. which wasn't a problem. The rest of the ride backtracked the first part of the ride and I was pleased with how Isabella was doing. She would pulse right down after the long climbs (there were quite a few) and trot sections. At one point we ran into a runner who was doing the Ride n Tie portion of the ride. I never caught his name, but we chatted a bit while he ran and Isabella trotted along the trails. He tried to convince me to try a ride n tie.. even just a 15 miler (my response at this was maniacal laughter). :)

I think our total ride time was about 4 1/2 hours excluding the holds and taking into account our late start. Not too shabby! We finished and walked back to the trailer and I greeted Matt with a happy smile (wasn't pulled this year!) and a hug (which was cut off quickly due to excessive sweat). Isabella dove into her hay and feed while I cleaned her up for the final vet check. Matt joined me and we made our way up to the vet area and we stood in line waiting for our turn. Another LD rider decided she wanted to be in front of me and just squeezed herself and her horse right in line.. even though there was nobody else waiting behind me. I turned to Matt and gave him a confused look.. then turned to her, "Umm... are you in line?" She gave me a very snotty 'YES' and turned around. Okay, I just don't understand rudeness like this.. but I guess it wasn't that surprising.. the same gal had been racing past Isabella and me the last part of the ride, not giving any sort of warning that she was passing. I overheard her tell the vet that it was her first ride so maybe she didn't know any better about the passing warning.. but to cut in line? That's just silly. To top it off, she motioned her friend to get into line in front of me as well. Matt was getting a bit PO'd at this point but I made him stay quiet.. it wasn't worth it. *sigh #4* Isabella passed with flying colors (well, for her anyway) :) A's on gait and a B on gut sounds! I had brought a handful of hay for her to munch on while we were in line which I think helped.. plus I think the spirulina supplement I've been giving her. I was very pleased with her. :)

All in all, we had a very good ride. I was so happy with how Isabella took care of herself and her attitude throughout the ride was excellent! She had her ears perked the entire ride and never lost any desire to want to move out, yet paid attention to me. It's Monday now and I am sooo much more sore than any of the other rides I've done this year! The yellow jacket sting I got is itching like crazy.. scratching it gives me more pleasure than anything known to man or woman (and as a result, the bite site has bloomed up like a 3rd buttcheek). Not sure what my next ride will be.. we may do the LD at Camp Far West and then the 25 w/ the option to elevate to 50 at the Oakland ride.. we shall see. :)