This past weekend, Isabella and I made our 2nd attempt at 50 milers in our quest to become 'real' endurance riders. :) The transformation took place sometime around 4:30 pm on Saturday along Lake Sonoma when we walked in, tired but happy, to the finish line to ride volunteers cheering us on. Hooray! But alas, I'm leaving out all the juicy details that happened beforehand..

I met up with Julie and Becky Bianchi, my barnmates, in Pacifica and we headed out towards Geyserville, CA around 10:30am on Friday morning. I had a bit of time in the morning, so I gave Isabella a very slurpy beet pulp/Ultium mix which she gobbled down ravenously. The weather was clear and beautiful. Our fears that the ride would be cancelled seemed light years away as we started our drive under blue skies and sunshine.

Unfortunately somewhere around Santa Rosa the drizzle started coming down. It was never really rain.. it was more like a really heavy mist that poured down on us for about an hour or so. Traffic was bad here at this point.. A poor guy in his open-topped Jeep was shivering in his car, completely drenched from the precipitation. He seemed to like driving next to our horse trailer caravan, so we were entertained by him most of our drive on 101N.

As we pulled into the lower parking lot of ridecamp, the heavy drizzle had turned into a light mist. We came early enough to choose where we wanted to park, and Becky maneuvered her trailer to get a nice spot for her corrals away from everyone. I assessed the situation and there was no way around it.. I would have to back up into my spot. This part wasn't so bad, but the footing was basically brown slush.. and I don't have 4 wheel drive. Omg, I thought, Cooley Ranch part II?? I slipped and slided my rig into place next to Becky's, vowing yet again that my next vehicle would be of the 4 wheel drive kind!

We vetted our horses in and I had been concerned because Isabella's poops had been very loose recently because of a new batch of CRAPPY grass hay my boarding barn had recieved. The vet (I don't know his name, but he was very sweet and nice) checked Isabella out and she recieved all A's except for a B+ on gut sounds. He checked all 4 quadrants and reassured me she didn't sound like slushy or like she was moving a lot of gas. We were good to go!

The 7:30am start of the ride was down the trail about 1/2 a mile across the road, and I planned on leaving a bit later to avoid the rush. 7:30 came around and I was at my trailer, looking around at ridecamp. Apparentely the rest of ridecamp decided that they would avoid the rush as well. Ugh! So I waited a few more minutes then hopped on Isabella, who had been eyeing the trail since 6am that morning not really eating or drinking, and we headed towards the start. I adorned her main and tail with flowers for Halloween.. my original plan was to be a hula girl, but trying on my leis and flower headband/bracelets the night before, I was sure I was going to get sick of them and ditch them sometime during the ride, so I nixed that idea. As we headed down the trail, the rest of ridecamp decided it was time to go and began passing us. Isabella is pretty good about this - but after the first horse trotted past us she was a bit squirrelley and swung her butt out onto the trail. A lady behind us made a snarky remark.. "you know, a lot of horses are going to be passing you.. I hope those red flowers don't mean she kicks.." Yeah, duh.. that's why I left late! And no.. she's never kicked at anyone. Fortunately that was the least pleasant person I met all day.. I remarked to Julie and Becky that this was the nicest crowd of people at an endurance ride I'd ever encountered. Whenever I went off the trail to let people pass, they were very grateful and thanked me profusely as they went by. Everyone I spoke to, riders, vets and volunteers, were more than nice and seemed to be in wonderful spirits, enjoying the beautiful day.

The first part of the trail was a loop then an out and back to the lake. Isabella was in her fire breathing monster mode with either two gaits: jig and crazy manic trot. So I made her jig/walk most of the way, trotting only when there were no horses in front of us. We were in the last 3/4 of the riders and made a lot of time when she pulsed quickly down to 56 bpm at the first pulse box and vet check. She recieved all A's and a few B's from Michelle Rousch and we headed out again after a 30 minute hold. The next loop was around 16 miles and was on this beautiful trail that traversed next to the lake. The views were spectacular.. the fog hadn't completely disappeared, so there were little cloud mists hanging above the water and trees. It was absolutely beautiful. I managed to enjoy the view while Isabella still kept asking to go faster MOM, FASTER. I kept her as slow and steady as I could. You'd think she would've learned after our last 40 mile ride that she was in this for a while.. but alas, no.

At the lunch check she pulsed down quickly to 56 and decided she was going to finally drink here. We vetted in with the same vet we encountered at East Bay and he wished us luck this time around after saying she seemed like she was in good condition and good spirits. :) Isabella munched on grass hay and her beet pulp/ultium mash, relaxed, and snorted occasionally at the wierd looking horse (a mule) who was within our vicinity. She was looking a little sucked up at this point so I wanted to really take this next loop slow and come in with her in good condition. She ate and drank well here and pretty soon our hold time was up. She took another long drink from the creek before we headed out on a loose rein. What a difference..

The footing on this 17 mile loop wasn't the greatest - there were quite a few rocks and I hadn't padded Isabella this time around, so we took our time. I could tell Isabella was getting a little leg weary as she started to trip sometimes when jogging along downhill. As the loop went on, I could tell her spirits started to go down.. she climbed the hills sloooowly and kept stopping and looking whenever she heard people chatting behind us or in front. She really needed other horsey company so I was pretty happy when a couple from Auburn caught up to us (I didn't catch their names). The guy was riding his arab mule who was HUUUGE and the gal was riding a cute bay arab. This was her first endurance ride in 3 years and her knee was basically shot, so they were taking it easy. Isabella and I rode with them the last 5 miles or so and I could tell she was very happy to have other horses with her, even if it was the wierd looking horse.

When we reached the finish line, the volunteers there recognized me from the check-in and cheered for me - hoooray, first 50!! I was pretty pleased with Isabella. The vet was also cheering for us.. Isabella took a long drink then vetted out with all A's and B's. I didn't think she drank all that well, but she recieved A's on hydration all day long. I was glad I decided to clip her.. her winter coat is pretty thick at this point. I stayed cool all day long because my frozen hydration pack leaked all over my back and butt.. sometime around 3am that evening my butt defrosted.

We were all trailered back, and as soon as Isabella reached the trailer she took a nose dive into all the food she had neglected in the morning and cleaned up. She had about 20 pounds of carrots throughout the weekend, tons of crappy grass hay (thank goodness I'm moving her from this barn this week), and alfalfa cubes. I'm so proud of our accomplishment, but I'm looking forward to the future to see how I can manage her better. Should I let her trot more in the beginning, even if its her crazy manic trot? Do I let her trot up more of the uphill grades? Currently I make her walk up all hills, not matter how steep. Am I conditioning her enough? The gut sounds have definitely gotten better.. she didn't recieve below a B on this ride which is a marked improvement.

When I let her out in pasture Sunday afternoon she trotted and galloped away to her herd, announcing her return loudly, which was pretty amusing. Did she not just go 50 miles on Saturday?? I fared much better this time as well.. I was much less sore (maybe due to the 'glycogen loading' at lunch the next day-haha) and today I have a little bit of soreness in my thighs, but I can function normally which I couldn't say after the East Bay ride. :)

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement.. especially Katie A. who has had so much enthusiasm for us and Sandy H. for her tips and advice (I poulticed/wrapped Isabella's legs afterwards and the windpuffs stayed down.. :) ). I'm still debating on whether or not I'm going to Desert Gold. I would like to try and do all 3 days of the LD, but that would mean missing Thanksgiving with the family which I'm not so sure of.. I already missed my mom's bday this year (doh!) and I'm not sure if she would ever forgive me if I missed Thanksgiving as well.. but she should know by now that the horse bug makes people do crazy things.. like riding 50 miles.. :)