First 50 mile race

Check out the video of Rifle on the ride: http://youtu.be/789vNjbs5_k

We did it, Rifle and Kate completed their first 50's and Bob his first endurance ride. It was a long ride, 55 miles in 11.5 hrs but everyone came through looking great. The ride was about 3hrs from home. They both traveled quietly and as normal Rifle ate his whole hay bag and Kate ate maybe one bite. We arrived and parked then let the horses loose in the arena to run around and roll. We tried to get everything ready the night before but of course had a few hang ups in the morning. It was a controlled start and was about 10 min late. We left about 5 min after at a walk on a loose rein, just out for a trail ride :). After a extra warm up walk we started to move out when Bob and I both noticed how calm Rifle was. Now he is normally calm on trail rides but the last race he was prancing and did not want to settle down for several miles. The calmness was actually un-nerving and we took the first 15 miles quite slow. There was a vet check for the 30's then and after we checked and did a few tack repairs while the horses ate we went on. At this point we had been getting passed quite frequently and Rifle seemed to perk up and realized we were on a ride so we started moving out. For the next 15 miles he looked and acted normal, willing to slow down but happy to move out as well. So beside a few pictures stops and water breaks we trotted back to camp. About a mile out we hopped off and walked in as my mare is hard to pulse down. It did the trick as Rifle was way down and her just down as soon as we entered camp. We went back to the trailer and un-tacked letting them eat for a few minutes before back over to the vet. Both looked great at the vet check, Rifle had A's and one B. My husbands knee is in recovery so I trotted them both out at the same time to everyone's amusement. Rifle ate all his bucket and ate grass hay till we were ready to go. For the first time my mare actually ate decent too!

Back to the trail we had another 14 miles till the next stop which was a pulse and 30min hold. We made good time trotting along with a few water and grass breaks until we came to the HILL. Ok now to explain, steep downs used to be one of my biggest fears. Probably since I broke and trained my youngster who had very wobble legs and almost fell down a few with me. As we came up to this one I saw it was quite steep but as my mare is very sure footed I decided to give it a try. I told Bob he had to stay on too as on a previous hill he was constantly slipping on the gravel and had slightly hurt his ankle. At 15+ miles to go we could not afford for him to twist it. Down we went, and down, and down, then down some more. Now Kate's style is to barrel down the hill at a fast walk. She actually did quite well even that fast and did not slip once. Rifle prefers to take little steps and tip toe down so I had time to take video and pictures.

After we started down it was not too bad until the second down when my mare started refusing. We went a bit sideways and had several balks but eventually made it down. Not Rifle, he just kept on trucking down one step at a time. Between the hill and the footing down to the vet check we did not make good time. Right before the check was a small pond and after Rifle led in as Kate's not fond of water they got a good drink and their feet cooled off. When we came into the check it took a minute to come down after leaping out of the pond, they said since we were at the tail end it was up to us how long we stayed. At this point I knew it was a really long day and there were only two riders behind us. As 11 hrs is long 11.5 is long too so we might as well stay. The horses enjoyed eating a small bucket and we relaxed for about 20mins as they ate hay. Still 11 miles to go though so back up on the horse and out to the trail we went. We relaxed on the way home alternating trotting and walking. I knew the horses had another ride coming up in a few weeks and did not see the point in shaving off a few minutes by rushing home. Both horses looked great coming into camp, the riders not so much lol. Rifle was A's and two B's on his final vet card. We spent the night and let them out in the arena in the morning while we packed up camp. They felt fine the next morning as my mare did not want to be caught and Rifle followed trotting circles around me. Had a safe trip back home and they were happy to see their green pasture and went straight to grazing. Next race is Cooley Ranch 50 in CA and it will be interesting to see if Rifle is calm or excited.