2006 Cranberry Endurance Ride - New Jersey

We were at 905 miles …. and there it sat.

So, I was looking forward to the start of 2006 with the 3 days of the Cranberry ride in NJ on Friday March 31-Saturday and Sunday April 1-2. I figured if we did two of those days we’d top our 1,000 mile mark. It was a good game plan. Now all we needed was lovely weather – not the typical ice/rain/sleet/nor’easter typical for NJ in late March.

The Cranberry ride was a benefit for the Old Dominion, and seeing as I was an OD board member, I offered to volunteer with the vetting in. That meant arriving the prior day in order to have time to set up camp, etc. Wednesday afternoon I kissed hubby goodbye, leaving the animals at home in his and our son’s care, and headed north from Virginia to New Jersey.

The 4 ½ hour drive up was delightful, if one can ignore the manic speeds some people fly at on I95, and I arrived to find several trailers already in attendance at the ride camp. It’s always nice to arrive early to get the choice spots – right near the vet check, the food, and the water  because by late afternoon more trailers were arriving by the boatload. A sign appeared at the entrance indicating that the ride was FULL and trailers were asked to park as tight as possible. The ride camp, however, has lots of room, and it turned out that the coming and going of single ride people left more than enough room for everyone throughout the three days. I worked through the afternoon as vet scribe recording the 33 horses being vetting in for Friday’s start.

That night it dropped into the 20’s, not rare for NJ in early spring, but the temps quickly rebounded early in the morning, soaring into the 60’s by the time the ride started. Due to the severe drought along the entire eastern seaboard, the sand trails were extremely dry and deep. Ride Management had been careful to choose routes that offered the firmest footing, although there was little they could do about the dust. Even the overabundance of water riders had come to expect on these trails was gone – mere puddles were left in place, or dried mud holes to mark where water had once been. But there still was plenty of water – if one knew to look. Since I was riding a ½ Welsh I kept an eagle eye open for water the entire 50 miles… and found more than enough to make me – and my pony – happy and hydrated.

I should mention that Itchy’s back was sore this spring – a problem that one of the top acupuncture vets in the Middleburg area is working on with me. This wonderful vet works with some of the highest level premier event horses on the east coast and seems to feel Itchy’s problem is resulting from a stomach issue – not surprising for my drama-queen, easily-stress, highly-competitive ultra-picky pony. We’d only gotten in one acupuncture treatment before the ride, so I was keeping my fingers crossed the issue would stabilize enough for us to get through both days.

It did … but just barely.

But as of our arrival at camp his back was fine, his attitude great, and amid the fun and festivities of enjoying friends, food, and fellow riders, we were all set for the first 50 on Friday at 7AM.

The first loop of 19 miles was clocked at 20.38 by my GPS. I made sure Itchy was wearing my old eventing Sliding Snaffle bridle (aka: a “gag”) since I usually require more “control power” on him for the 1st loop. He was moving out beautifully, back swinging and tail straight out behind – a VERY good sign! We motored through at about 10 miles per hour, coming back into camp in 2 hours with the front runners.

To my surprise my very picky pony dove into his food, chowing down to beat the band. I took careful notes since a fellow rider and I had decided to test the theory of “no electrolytes” to see if our animals responded better to eating and drinking without all that infusion of salt. She and I both use Perform-N-Win, but this time we were going to forego… and see what results we had. She was only doing one day, however; I was doing two.

Our results did tell us a lot – both our animals drank well on trail the first loop which was highly unusual for both. Both also dove into their food at the first check – again highly unusual for both. We were astonished, and elated. Maybe there was something to the “no e-lytes” theory after all!

But it was early in the race, and my data experience would certainly tell me a totally different story later on. Fortunately, I was hesitant enough regarding the soaring temperatures to give him one scoop of PNW – just in case.

A 45 minute hold, a switch over to just riding in the halter, and we were off on the 2nd loop. Itchy and I were 5th place right behind the leaders when we all came to a fork in the trail about 4 miles out of camp. A ribbon was dangling from a tree indicating a left turn, but a strangely placed arrow a few yards down the right fork was pointing that trail. A moment of indecision.. and the group in front of me opted for the left fork. I hesitated, but that ribbon to the left beckoned… and I went.

Bad mistake.

A mile down the trail I noticed another ribbon headed down a different trail, but no turn ribbons. I could see hoof prints in the sand leading that way… but there were other prints going to opposite way. Confused, I turned and followed that trail for a mile to where it split again -- but this time pie plates were up indicating the trail, and in no uncertain terms told me I was following the trail backwards!! Two other plates indicated a turn in the trail heading back to camp --which was only 1 mile away -- but I knew we still had 8 miles to go on this loop.

ARGHHHHH!!

I immediately knew what had gone wrong. I turned around and booked it down the trail at a flying trot, coming to the prior turn just as 4 other riders appeared, also going the wrong way. I hollered at them to get back up to the fork in the trail, I was furious to have already now gone 4 miles out of my way and knew the group was pretty unsure if I was leading them the right way, but two of the riders knew me… and decided they would put their trust in my hands. So did the two other wayward riders we turned around enroute.

Sure enough, the right-side fork was the correct way to go. Ribbons began to appear like magic. We were back on trail. Sadly, the front runners had already made the wrong turn and were back at camp, totally confused. The Ride Management raced out to fix the ribbons (vandalized?) so that no one else went off course, but for those that had – like me—the front advantage was already gone. I’d saved all these people from going several miles of wrong trail, but in short order all of them zipped in front of me and claimed the lead.

I throttled Itchy back – having to do the extra miles to get back on trail and dealing with the increasing heat were not something I’d want to challenge, especially since he and I were doing 2 days. I let the others go with a sigh, and settled down to just rack in the miles.

This 12 mile loop was probably the driest of them all with the majority of water during the first 4 miles. Itchy was thirsty by the time we got back to ride camp, but his incentive for eating had dropped 50% and he only wanted to eat hay – a sure sign his stomach was starting to bother him. I carry several pounds of carrots with me at all times and make sure he eats constantly along the trail, but that still doesn’t counteract completely the stress on his own stomach. Per the advice of one vet whom I scribed for at No Frills one year, I’ve started using Maalox before each loop to help buffer the stomach acid – and it did seem to make a difference.

More electrolytes would have been a better choice, but I hadn’t realized that as yet.

Another 45 minute hold, 1 scoop of e-lytes mixed with Maalox before we set out, and we were on the last loop of 19 miles. The heat was getting high – easily close to 80 – and the dry sand was kicking up a dust cloud at every passing. I was checking my GPS carefully and finding lots of water – at the 4 mile, 6.3 mile, 8 mile, 9 mile, 12 and 13 mile, and the big Mullica Creek at 15 miles. I had passed several riders, but one in particular (whom I met at the 5 mile point) increased pace to match mine and we ended up riding almost the rest of the way in – me showing him all the water spots which amazed him because he never would have noticed. At one point (not knowing he was so close behind me) I almost caused a collision as I abruptly yelled “Water!!” and made a sharp right turn right off trail in front of the poor guy, causing his horse to screech to a halt. I apologized profusely, but he was grateful for the fact that I’d found water… even though he was wondering (as I led him several yards off trail) where the water was -- until his horse actually stepped in it. He was so amazed I could see it from the trail, and decided he would definitely stick with me the rest of the way. We even stopped at one point to let our animals graze on the fresh pond grass as they stood knee deep in the clean water, drinking and chomping happily. Granted, there was one “bush whacking” event to get to water, but my pony – who was my whipper-in mount for foxhunting and used to crashing through underbrush to chase errant hounds out of the brush back to the Huntsman – had no problem “blazing” a trail to get to water. My companion followed suit, although his horse was a bit more hesitant with all this underbrush stuff.

We had a lovely ride the rest of the way, however, my pony’s nature pace was a bit quicker than his horse was conditioned for, and he finally slowed down to a walk just a mile before the finish line, bidding me farewell as I continued on.

Itchy and I crossed the finish line in 12th place. I was still discouraged about being thrown out of the two ten due to a trail issue, but… those are the breaks. At any rate, we got our completion – we were now officially at 955 miles. Itchy still looked and felt good although he was a bit tuckered from the heat and the sand. I got grabbed by friends with multiple invites to dinner. I chose to attend my trailer neighbor’s dinner party since he was not only close, but his spread was downright fantastic. I had lost 12 pounds in the last month and a half, my target goal was to get to 120 by June 1st and I still had 15 lbs to go. I had retained my eating to the point where mere morsels of food were enough for me to feel “full”. Frankly, my recent weight loss had re-energized me in so many ways – I felt more balanced, stronger, my riding had improved tremendously, my stamina had increased exponentially... but the best benefit of all was I was a lot less weight for my pony to pack around. So I happily ignored a lot of fatty yummies I would have craved only a few months earlier.

As darkness fell I returned to my trailer to replenish Itchy’s stock of hay and grain. I felt his back... and noticed it was a tiny bit sore. I resolved to switch the pure wool pad to on that is stuffed with my own sheep’s’ flocked wool for a deeper, softer cushion, even as I knew the problem wasn’t a pad or saddle issue. A gentle massage made him happy, so I left him to enjoy his evening sleep and lots and lots of his favorite grain (Penfield’s EnduroEvent Pro – which he LOVES). I had his bucket hanging on my trailer, and throughout the night I could hear it gently bumping as he ate. I kept filling it, even in the wee hours of the morning, so that he always had something in front of him.

We had been promised some rain, and possibly a thunderstorm, that night, but nothing materialized. The day dawned clear, bright and warm once again. Itchy looked great – his legs tight and firm, eyes bright. Only his back was an issue – still slightly tender to the touch just at the loins.

My trailer neighbor was also planning on doing a 2nd day on his horse, so we were both up early to get ready. 37 riders were going out on this ride. The heat was more oppressive this day, and the miles of trail the prior day were already telling on the both of us – but more on my trailer neighbor than myself. I had been careful to electrolyte myself throughout the prior day which kept the aches and pains at bay.

Itchy and I cruised along on the first loop, him in his halter, me with my eyes every watchful for the water spots I now knew by heart. The heat was quick to rise and by the end of the first loop the thermometer in the sun read close to 90 degrees. It was more like 80 out on the trail, and the cool shade of the pine trees was a blessing.

Itchy was happy to eat his carrots along the trail and his grain and hay at the check. I knew he had eaten well the night before from the constant gentle “bumpbumpbump” of his feed bucket against the trailer so I wasn’t worried about his stomach… but I was worried about his back. His tail was starting to twist slightly to the side, and I began to watch it constantly.

The 2nd loop had been changed to remove that spot where the misplaced ribbon had caused so much trouble, but some of the new trail had deeper sand – a problem the trail manager had done their best to avoid earlier. Again, this was the driest loop, so I set a conservative 7 mph pace, urging Itchy to drink at every opportunity. He drank well, but didn’t inhale the water as I normally expect. Again, he had no electrolytes heading out on the first loop, but I was still experimenting and as yet he didn’t seem to experience the need for them.

Again, Itchy scarfed down his carrots on the final walk in, but he was still hungry and begged for the grain that my trailer neighbor’s wife was holding for their own horse. Their mare wasn’t hungry, so she gave the whole bucket to Itchy and he sucked it down with relish.

However, even though he pulsed in, at the vet check his pulse hung at 68 for about two minutes, causing the vet to frown just a bit. It finally did drop, and we trotted out for our CRI with resulted in same numbers top and bottom; however, Itchy usually has a drop of 2 to 3 points. This time his loins were touchy enough for the vet to notice. We got knocked down to a “B” for that, plus B for gut sounds. I remembered suddenly in the beginning when I first started endurance riding that Itchy had problem with slow gut sounds and poor scores until we turned to PNW. The gut sounds jumped to “A” and I’d never had a problem since. Bells began to ring in my head, especially when we also got a “B” for skin tenting. His scores were rapidly declining from what we usually got. This was NOT good at all.

Everything seemed to be pointing in only one direction. The experiment was over. He needed electrolytes.

I took him back to the trailer, watching him carefully as he ate then closed his eyes to sleep. I was more concerned about getting some food in him, so I hand fed him apples and carrots as he ate with his eyes half closed. I palpated his loins and noticed they were more “ouchy” than before. They weren’t sore for the first several minutes after the saddle was taken off, but once the muscles relaxed it was a different story. His back had some this day left in it, but not another day.

We had one loop to go and I knew we could make it if I was careful. I mixed up a good batch of electrolytes, gave him the dose just before we set out on trail for the final 19 miles. By now Itchy knew all the water spots and, like a bird dog, was making his turns off trail for them before I knew we’d come to them! I was happy to let him cruise along at 8 mph, enjoying a brief respite from the heat as a thunderstorm skirted overhead, dropping a gentle shower of cooling rain on us even as it poured more heavily back at the camp. Itchy wasn’t happy with the rain, dropping his head low so that he was almost trotting with his head between his knee, and I had to encourage him to pick his head up so he could keep following the trail. I noticed his tail was starting to stay twisted to the side now, not straightening at all. Every now and then I would canter him, just to relieve his back, and the tail would float back out straight… for a while. I was riding on borrowed time, and I knew it.

Again, we passed a rider to two enroute, always happy to show them the water holes. Midway I came upon another rider who was walking her horse. She fell into pace trotting with me and – like the rider the day before – I led her to all the drinking spots which she was very grateful to share. Four miles from the finish, at the big creek, we came upon the newspaper photographer who was out photographing for an upcoming article. He happily took some great shots of us from the bridge above as we waded our animals into the deep creek below, letting them drink and cool down to their hearts content.

Then it was off down the final few miles of trail, my companion forging ahead so that her horse would stop pulling on the reins. Itchy was happy to see the other horse go – he hadn’t liked that animal (who was making nasty faces all the time). Itchy prefers to keep his own company and that’s just the way he likes it – on his own. We walked in the final ¼ mile, Itchy munching down his whole bag of carrots happily. I kept checking his back -- it was still a bit tender, but hadn’t deteriorated further. A good sign. He did wonderful on the final vet check – all “A” except the gut sounds were still just “B”.

We had our completion… and our 1,000 miles. 

I gave him a nice hot bath, lots of Sore No More rubbed into his whole back, and as much food as he’s ever seen in his life. He ate a leisurely meal, took a nice long nap near my trailer neighbor’s horse who was also in a deep snooze, and gave me every impression I still had one happy pony. It had been a long weekend, but we’d both done well despite the heat, the dryness, and the unrelenting endless sandy trail.

We stayed overnight, and I helped time in/out the following morning and helped direct the great volunteer motorcycle club members (two bikes, one club truck) on which trails to remove the ribbons. What a super bunch of really friendly guys – the two riders were dressed in awesome attire -- just like Starwars storm troopers -- but their small colorful chrome trail “ponies” were very quiet and mannerly. The day was much MUCH cooler – temps in the low-mid 60’s with a stiff breeze the whole morning. We were dressed in parkas to keep warm that morning, shedding clothing only as noontime rolled in with a warmer sun. What a switch from the heat of the prior two days! In among timing in/out the 31 horses in the Sunday ride, I was also packing up camp getting ready for the trip home, plus getting the final e-mails from people I was interviewing for the article I was writing for the Endurance News.

As the final riders went out on the last loop, I said my goodbyes to my friends and ride management, and headed south to Virginia, cruising down I95 at a turtle pace of 60mph with a happy smile and a light heart, my pony in the trailer still snoozing away.

This weekend we head to the No Frills – lots of mountains and slopes, something Itchy loves best. I’ll be up there a few days early doing the parking plan... and hoping for sunny weather once again.

Now that our first 1,000 is behind us, we have the national Championship ride this October. After that we the final miles to go to meet our overall 3,000 AERC endurance miles goal.

And all those miles will be rides to just enjoy the trail! Wish us luck!