Thursday, May 8, 2008

Ride Camp for Dummies

This Saturday, the Eagle Extreme endurance ride is being held less than an hour's drive from In the Night Farm. In addition to the usual 50-mile endurance ride and 25-mile LD, they're offering a 10-mile pleasure ride. A lot of ride managers around here include these trail rides because they're a good way to introduce more people to our sport. In my case, the trail ride is a perfect opportunity to introduce Aaruba to the hustle and bustle of ride camp without the pressure of being an official LD entrant.

Trail riders can't start until after 9:00 a.m., when the endurance and LD riders are long gone, so we'll haul Aaruba over Saturday morning rather than spending the night. He hates trailering despite many hours of loading and unloading practice, so that could be an adventure all by itself. Upon arrival, we'll take our time introducing him to the camp atmosphere, then tack up and do the 10 miles like any other training ride.

Hopefully.

Aaruba is smart, but he can also be very emotional. I have no idea how he'll react to the unfamiliar surroundings, strange horses, and miscellaneous noisemakers like generators and 4-wheelers. It would be like him to take these things in stride. It would also be like him to jump out of his skin and zip around naked on the end of his lead rope, eyes dancing on springs three inches out of his skull...especially if there are any carnivorous cows from Planet Horseflesh in the vicinity.

So, you can see why I want to do a trial run. Travis and I are bound to learn a few things so we can better prepare for the Owyhee Fandango LD, which is only a few weeks away. Wish us luck!

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3 comments:

Kessira said...

This is a wonderful opportunity. I'm glad that you get to do a "dry run" as it were. Hopefully there will be a decided absence of horse eating cows.

Anonymous said...

Lucy is emotional too. I hear ya. I'm going to bring up the pleasure ride idea over here. I like it! have fun and be safe. can't wait to hear how it went.

Mrs. Mom said...

That sounds like a lot of fun. Great training idea for a new horse- hope he settles right in like a champ for you!

LOL at Planet Horseflesh..... First good giggle I have had in a week here! ;)