Iron Horse! 100 miles, 2 days

Iron Horse Award, handmade by Marshall Bates from old-horse shoes found on the Iron Mtn trail

Sunny completed 50 miles both Friday and Saturday at Iron Mountain Jubilee. The weather was perfect, the trails were fantastic, and all the stars aligned! He transversed 100 miles of mountain trail with 15,622 elevation gain/loss on Saturday and probably about the same on Friday (my Garmin lost Friday's data).  His 100 mile ride time was 18 hr 52 min, we tied for 27th on day 1 and had a 4-way tie for Turtle on day 2 (it was great sharing the trail all day with Dale, Roger, and Monica!) The Renegade Vipers stayed on perfectly for both days and the vet cards looked great the entire time. Thank you to Nancy Sluys and team for putting on such a great, well-thought-out ride!!

Day 2, Photo by Becky Pearman

After just under a 5 hr drive to camp, he weighed 910 lbs (413 kg) and had a body condition score of 5.5/9 on arrival. (I love having the horse scale at rides! On an aside, he weighed 878 lbs on arrival at Old Dominion after a 1 hr trailer ride). After completing the 50 on Friday he weighed 896 lbs, losing 14 lbs or about 6.4 liters of fluids, this would equal to about 1.5 % dehydration (not taking into account any weight loss or dehydration from travel prior to the ride) [For the math geeks,  Liters of fluid loss = Kg of horse x % dehydration].   I was hoping he would regain his 14 lbs of loss overnight, but the next morning he still weighed 896 lbs (hey but in the morning he didn't have his renegades on... so he actually regained about 1.4 L of fluid, and YES I did just weigh all my wet/muddy renegades and all 4 weighed about  3 lbs or 1.4 kg).  At the end of the 2nd day he weighed 878 lbs or 399 kg, having lost a total of 32 lbs or 14 kg.  This equates to about 3.4% fluid loss or dehydration for the 100 miles/2 days.  That is not too bad, but of course I hope this improves at future rides as he becomes better at eating and drinking on the trail and at camp; he did eat much more consistently on day 2 than on day 1. I did give Sunny plain salt and mashes prior to the ride and electrolyted about every hour on trail with 1 oz (half-dose) of Enduramax and 1oz ProCMC (and lost my drench syringe on trail too).

Powerline view on trail

I was pumped and excited after finishing the first 50 on Friday with both of us in great condition, so I went ahead and signed up for Saturday. About 1 am on Saturday I was definitely thinking 'WHY?" why did I think this was good idea again... And when I tried to get up and walk Saturday am, I definitely thought, why??? But I had already paid my $110 so I certainly wasn't going to back out and lose my entry fee, LOL.  Sunny agreed and was reluctant to leave basecamp, he wasn't concerned at all about following the herd of horses down the trail, he knew the correct direction to go, back to the trailer and his alfalfa.  However, after a few miles down the trail we both loosened up and he was especially happy to catch up with Dale and Cheyenne; Sunny has a crush on Cheyenne and loves to share the trail with her.

My Trail Buddies for Day 2 - Dale, Roger, and Monica

Hospitality stop on the 2nd, 20 mile yellow loop

Sunny and Cheyenne enjoying Melody's and Sweet Pea's leftover hay at the Vet Check

I loved having different trail both days, with gorgeous views!  I thought the footing was fantastic, mostly firm sand/clay base trail with some shale/rocks and gravel roads. There was no boulder climbing like on the Old Dominion trail. I enjoyed hiking the climbs to give my body a change and Sunny's back a break from carrying me.   During the last 15 miles on Saturday my calves were failing and my shoulders were cramping.  I still need to improve on my posture while riding, I push my heels down too far which works my calves too much and I hunch forward a little which is why my shoulders cramp from supporting my heavy head.  Also, when I have brace in my position it can create brace and tension in Sunny as well (never a good thing).  This is a continual work in progress and fatigue brings out bad habits, but on the bright side when my calves stopped working I had to find new ways to keep posting without using those muscles :)

Photo by Nancy Sluys. Starting out on Day 2, this photo captures my braced posture (and tells my why I am still so sore today!)

I loved basecamp, it was picturesque with mountain views, shade trees, and on the banks of the New River (and had showers too!!). The horses enjoyed the cooling river (great for 'icing' the legs after riding all day!) and good roll in the sandy banks afterwards.

Lessons learned --
1. I need to keep practicing better posture
2. My hind renegades rubbed on the 2nd day, this has never happened previously but I may have had them adjusted too tight.
3. I did have mild girth chaffing on the 2nd morning, I smeared on the Desitin and it actually looked better post-ride. Next time I will use Desitin prior to any long ride.
4. This ride really took everything Sunny and I had. We are both really tired, my calves are swollen and I have been on/off nauseous, he is still only walking around the field, not trotting and playing yet; his windpuff's are little extra puffy this morning out from standing around after such intense exercise. We did finish with A's and in good condition but in hindsight I don't think we were really fit enough for this level of difficulty. Had the conditions been less than perfect (ie muddy, hotter, more humid, etc) we probably would have run into problems.  This is the hardest I have ever pushed myself or my horse and while I don't regret it, I do understand that we need to be more fit before tackling hard 100 mile rides (ie Old Dominion). I don't have the experience to know what is 'normal' for horses after such a hard ride but I would like both my horse and myself to be a little perkier a little sooner.   I think prior to tackling any more longer rides I would like to pace a little faster, add-in a little more canter, finish 50's solid early to mid-pack rather than with the turtles. But we have just added 100 miles to our base of long-slow-distance and we should both come out better for it.
5. Our relationship is improving, Sunny trusts me more (and vice versa) and I love the fact that he still wants to be partners after such an ordeal. He seems to know I do love him and he trusts me to take care of him, knowing I dismount and lead him through the hard sections, take him off the hi-tie for grazing walks and pee-breaks (he doesn't like to pee in his 'bed'), and in return he still walks up to me in the dark, after 12 hours of work, after 100 miles and almost 10 hours of trailering, just so I can make sure everything is still ok.

Plan:
Rest and more rest and relationship play while resting!  Then we will keep building our partnership, practice dressage, and maybe start adding in some more speed to our conditioning rides.  I would like to practice maintaining a balanced, easy canter for longer stretches on the trail.

Ride Between the Rivers 2017

Sunny and I received our first Turtle Award!!!  Definitely got our money's worth in hours on the trail, LOL!  Also, I had my heart rate monitor on me instead of Sunny to participate in a study comparing the intensity of exercise of endurance riding to other sports, such as long-distance cycling.  Here is what Jerry (the researcher) said about the results:

"Your maximum predicted heart rate was 185[220-35]. Your average heart rate was 133 therefore your maximum predicted percent heart rate was 72%. This is almost exactly what the average has been turning out and comparable to a bike rider doing 100 mile race. You are tough to be able to do that for 10 hours and 42 minutes"

But to start from the beginning... I made some adjustments to (hopefully) prevent a repeat of the tying-up episode at Old Dominion.  Sunny was treated for Anaplasmosis, I switched his diet to the low-starch, high-fat/fiber Triple Crown Senior,  I rode him lightly in the arena for about 15 - 30 min every day the week prior to the competition, and I did about a 20 min pre-ride the night before.  It worked -- no muscle stiffness, tying-up, or any other problems! Yay!!!  He also looks a lot better having gained some weight since switching his diet  -- he went from about a 4 - 4.5 Body Condition to a 5- 5.5 BCS.

Also in the 8 weeks between OD and RBTR Sunny has had some significant muscle changes from our dressage training and me learning what a lifted back feels like, and then asking for it!  (Thank you Theresa!!!) I started to have saddle sweat dry spots under my seat (from his lifting and developing/widening back muscle), so I adjusted my saddle 1/2 turn wider and we had even sweat patterns again (it has a large allen wrench that you insert into the 'magic-hole' and turn 'righty-tighty' for narrower and 'lefty-loosey' for wider).  I love my DP saddle!!

Otherwise everything is getting much easier about going to endurance rides, which is wonderful. Graham and I have a routine and list, we know what needs to be packed, how long it takes, etc, etc. Much less stress about camping, electrolytes, and everything -- So if you are a Green Bean just starting out, things do get easier with practice and repetition!.  Sunny camps like a pro, lays flat out on the high-tie every night and eats better at every ride!   The funniest thing is that he doesn't like to pee on his Hi-Tie or on the trailer, he will hold it until I take him for a walk -- I understand, I don't like to pee at my bed or dinner table either!!  I also would like him to eat a little better by himself on the trailer, but he is improving.  I also just used my previously made electrolytes from OD (I froze them between the rides) and gave Sunny a dose every 1-2 hours, with plain salt the day before the ride.  He doesn't currently like to eat salt in his feed so I am having to give it to him via syringe.  But I just found out the Triple Crown Senior provides about 1 ounce of salt per 5 lbs of food, which is the about the basic maintenance requirement which makes things easier!

Trailering to ride-camp and setting up was smooth, no issues.  I did get a bit of headache/migraine from the intense mountain driving but with medication and rest it was gone by ride morning.  I really enjoyed my pre-ride. Sunny was motivated and gaited the best in his life thus so far- smooth, fast, and fun!  Sleep the night before the ride was in short-supply with lightening flashes and rain keeping us awake for a few hours, then sometime in the early morning loose horses running past spooked Sunny who jolted on the high-tie and caused us to wake-up very quickly to check on him.  All was ok and I believe the loose horses were quickly recovered by their owners.  And the impromptu wake-up allowed us to check on Sunny who felt a little chilly since the rain and temperature drop, so I put a light sheet on him so he wouldn't have cold/stiff muscles in the morning, and also fed him an early breakfast.

Trotting through the river. Photo by Becky Pearman

Ride morning went as planned with plenty of time to eat and warm-up. Graham was wonderful help, making sure I was checked-in with the start-timer and ensuring that I was well-fed with all my gear. Sunny was ready-to-go at the start, but certainly calm and listening well --no troubles with speed or rating.  The trails were quite muddy in parts (I describe it as brownie batter with walnuts!) with large puddles. We were pre-warned that the puddles may be very deep in the middle with dangerous debris; last year one was so deep a horse fell!  So I was very cautious to go around the edges and avoid any deep centers.  The river crossing were absolutely gorgeous -- knee to chest high clear mountain water with good footing of small-medium river rocks.  There was plenty of room for Sunny to splash and self-cool himself without disturbing any other horses too!   He got me plenty wet too, I had to change my soaked boots out for dry sneakers at the first hold.  He didn't drink or eat much the first loop, but steadily improved through the 2nd loop, and by the third loop he was devouring everything in sight -- he really liked a roadside weed with little blue flowers...I think it may be Chicory.

Headed out for the 2nd loop with dry sneakers. Photo by Becky Pearman

I had decided to try my Renegade hoof boots out during a competition for the first time and the mud was a real test!  I put 3 of the rubberband holders on the velcro prior to the ride, knowing all the mud might be problem for the velcro; this worked very well, I didn't have any problems with loose velcro! I did have 1 front boot cable break during the first loop and had front boots slip off two other times with no damage. The cable broke after he had a hard slip at at trot on a front foot at a sloped mud bank going around a puddle; I think the crazy angle with the impact force at the trot was too much torque for the cable.  At the first hold I repaired and tightened the front boots -- I had recently trimmed Sunny and the boots were actually a little looser than normal.  During the rest of the ride the front boots didn't budge.  During the second loop the boots were doing great, until Sunny got excited about catching up to some horses during an area of deep boot-sucking mud.  He powerfully lunged out of a mud hole and left both back boots behind.  When I went to fetch the boots I almost lost mine! And I realized just how slick the footing was when I slipped and went straight down into the mud;  it was very deep (mid-calf) with powerful slick suction.  Thankfully Sunny was somewhat patient with the whole process (even though there were horses in front of him that he needed catch up with!) and I replaced the boots, remounted and proceed down the trail, complete with mud-covered pants and squishy-sloshing shoes! At the hold I was able to change into a fresh pair of tights, socks, and I commandeered Graham's shoes.  At the end of the 3rd loop I finally had a cable break on a hind boot and quickly replaced it with fresh boot.  Overall the boots performed better than expected given the tough conditions.  I wouldn't use them if trying to race, but I was able to easily complete the ride in time and saved the costs of shoeing.  I also noted that if I was slow in the mud I didn't have any problems; I only broke cables at a trot when he slipped or lunged through the muddy footing.. hmmm.

Drying off during the 2nd hold

During the 3rd and final loop I didn't see another horse or rider!  Sunny wasn't very motivated without any buddies and we had plenty of time, so we just mosied down the trail.  We stopped to eat grass when he wanted, carefully walked through the deep mud, and walked the big climbs and descents.  At the radio-checkpoint I enjoyed some delicious watermelon moonshine which made the rest of the ride very relaxing!  During the last mile we picked up a steady canter, I let go of the reins, closed my eyes, spread my arms and flew down the trail!  And at the very finish I caught up to the last riders, but savored my turtle award of last place, 50/50 (54 started, 4 pulls).  Sunny looked great at his completion check, all A's and moving well.

Fritzi and myself enjoying the RBTR swimming hole post-ride!

Sunny and Poptart reuniting post-ride