This past weekend Bob and I attended the Del Valle Vulture Venture Endurance ride in Livermore, CA. This would be our first attempt at a 25 mile endurance ride. As ride date approached, I was extremely anxious about this ride.. we had done 25 miler CTRs before, but I knew we'd have to step up the pace to make it within the 6 hour time limit. We are used to Novice CTR speed which usually is about 3.5-5 mph. In hindsight, I'm so glad we did the CTRs before we entered in an endurance ride.. it taught us how to camp, how to take care of our horses, how to vet in a horse, etc.. so without further ado... We arrived early on Friday to set up camp. The campsite was nestled between hills on one side and huge, fall-colored mountains on the other. When I woke up that morning I was totally stuffed up and my throat was sore.. waaaahhh!! I'm sick and weak and can't do the ride! Thankfully they were just allergies and my head cleared up when we arrived (I'm such a drama queen). The weather was cold - quite a contrast to what was being forcast a week before (mid-eighties). We met up with Celeste, who we met through ridecamp - she was a source of boundless energy the whole weekend! Full of encouragement and positive energy.. a total crackup that kept both Bob and I smiling. As camp filled up, we saw some amazing rigs pull up and I began to match names with faces.. saw Bob and Julie Suhr, Trilby.. and others I'd heard of through ridecamp. Robert Ribley parked in front of us with his little mule who entertained EVERYONE who passed by running in place, bucking, rearing, and rolling from the time he arrived in camp to the start of the ride in the morning. Rumor has it that he was found tied up somewhere in the hillside at about 5am. Heheh..

We went ahead and checked in our horses.. Isabella got all As except for 'Impulsion' and 'Attitude'. She pulsed in at 36. I guess I brought her over right after a nap or something.. she was pretty calm and relaxed. I had asked Melissa Ribley, DVM if I could ride her barefoot for the ride and I was given the go ahead, as long as I had easyboots for her. Bob was using easyboots on Tavi with keeper straps (BAD IDEA, folks!). Tavi vetted in I believe with mostly As as well. Melissa was pleased to see a non-arab entering the ride.. I think he was one out of four non-arabs I the entire weekend (others being one TWH, 2 mustangs)

Morning came around after a frigid night (thank god for Coleman sleeping bags!). I slept pretty soundly except for when Bob got paranoid twice during the night thinking our horses got loose.. haha. Turns out both times one or the other was lying down and yanked on the Tralor Tie. Both horses stayed tied during the night (yay, a first!). We woke up at 5:30 and had 2 hours to get ready for the ride which was nice. Wasn't too nervous at this point but I got really excited once I saw the 50s begin to leave. I was really nervous about the start, but found out it would be a controlled start beginning through an extremely rocky riverbed then up a big hill. We started about 5-10 minutes after everyone else and we weren't even the last to leave. Bill Coburn rode with us with his new young gelding.. all of our horses got along well (aside from Isabella giving grouchy looks) and he mentored us newbies along the ride and our horses provided stable riding compaions for his boy.. it worked out great!

Okay.. the ride.. the ride was TOUGH. Celeste told me there were 3 big hills to watch out for.. so the first one comes along. The second one comes along.. the third one comes along.. the fourth, what?? There's more! Okay.. I lost count after about 30 hills! Well, maybe I'm exagerating, but there were quite a few loong climbs and descents. We had to trot our little butts off during the flat parts to make up time.. and we had to stop about 4 times for Bob to keep putting back on the easyboots until finally he decided, the heck with them! My stirrups must've stretched also because I was having a hard time posting.. and when I put them up a hole my knees would start aching like a (fill in the blank). We did get some incredibly scenic views up on top of those hills.. Del Valle lake is so incredibly beautiful with the sun glistening on the water. Finally, we reached the lunch check and Judy Reens vet checked Isabella out okay.. we walked into the check and Isabella was at 44. I was concerned because she wasn't interested in any water. She got a B for mucus membranes and Judy said to keep an eye on her and make sure that she drank. I gave her a sloppy beet pulp/bran mash and she ate about half.. she was more interested in the grass hay provided. Argh. The hold was frantic, only 30 minutes where we had to feed, pee, eat, cool down, etc. I think if I hadn’t pushed Bob he’d still be there with Tavi. *grin*

Bill, Bob and I left the vet check about 5 minutes late. The second loop had quite a few hills as well, however less than the first half. There were some nice single track trails to boogie over and we stopped at the lake to offer them water. Apprently Isabella prefered the larger water container (the lake) than the ones offered at the vet check because she draaank.. and draank.. and drank. Good girl! Isabella and Tavi were real happy to get into the water.. whereas Bill's horse didn't know what to think about the huge entity that wanted to swallow him whole. Bill did a great job on his little boy.. that man must have a velcro-butt with the way he sat his spooks! The first big spook was at a cow patty and the second was at the sound of the lake waves lapping up on shore.. heheh..

The 23 mile vet check went smoothly as well.. it was at the end of a long, gravely descent. Isabella did great over the rocks and gravel, not even a flinch. This is one amazing mare. She met the minimum pulse criteria (64 - I should've gotten off of her and walked her in) and we were on the home stretch! Going into the vet check we were all a little disappointed because we didn't think we'd come in on time, but the people there informed us we had 40 minutes left to do the last 2 miles! That got our spirits up and we did the mandatory walk through the picnic area, then trotted into the finish. Bill, Bob, and I walked in together, tying at the finish. (None of them wanted to race in like I did, heheheh..what? no race for 33rd place?? *grin*)

All the horses pulsed down almost immediately at the end and we had 30 minutes before we had to present for the vet. I checked Isabella's hooves and she had nary a chip on her feet.. good girl! We brought them over to Judy Reens and Isabella got all As and one B, improving on both her previous vet scores ! That just made my day. Her B was for 'Impulsion' which I guess compared to a pure-bred arab, she does gait a little flat *grin*. Tavi was a little off on his left front, probably a small stone bruise from the whole easyboot fiasco during the beginning of the ride.. but he was still deemed 'fit to continue'. Bob and I both hollered and high-5'd each other and generally looked like happy fools, woohoo! Judy congratulated us on our first 25 miler. Yay!

When we got back to the trailer, Isabella wasn't too interested in eating her food.. she was just standing there, staring at the activity going on the other side of the fence while Tavi was Mr. Vacuum cleaner as always, chowing down on his hay. Worry wort that I am, I e-lyted her with the Acculyte/carrot baby food mixture I made up. I think this was too salty for her.. she wouldn't eat her beet pulp or hay after that and only reluctantly ate carrots out of my hand. So I sat there with my 10 pound bag of carrots and hand fed her one by one until she decided she loved carrots again.. took about a 1/2 hour or so until I think the salt burn left her mouth. Next time I'll make sure I use a pre-made e-lyte paste more palatable to her tastes. Within the next hour she was gulping down her beet pulp/Forco and hay and drinking happily.

More about the ride - challenging, ride management EXCELLENT!, trail markings – EXCELLENT! food - good, although Bob's a vegetarian and he had a little difficulty getting food, the views were pretty amazing on top of the those hills. Everyone we met was nice and full of helpful advice. We were warned that some endurance riders could be pretty ruthless in competition, but to be honest, I didn't see one person like that at this ride.

Anyhow, that's my first LD ride story! I'm so proud of us.. I found myself feeling more accomplished with this LD ride than the other CTRs we've been to.. I think mainly because in endurance I feel more of a responsibility to take care of my horse and I did that successfully even with going the faster speed.. and the hills definitely made the ride even more challenging. This will be our last ride of the year.. next year we'll probably stick to continuing to ride CTRs and LD (sorry Kathy, I’m not ready for a 50 miler yet *grin*)