This ride is held at Rancho San Fernando Rey, a private ranch on 37,000+ acres. Most of the ride is on the ranch, although some little bits venture off here and there. It's an amazing property, largely undeveloped, mostly used to graze cattle. Lots of wildlife make their homes there as well.
We arrived at camp on Thursday afternoon about 4pm, having left just late enough to miss most of the morning traffic, and early enough to miss the afternoon traffic. I got lucky to park where my trailer was level side to side right from the start. All I had to do was unhook and level front-to-back. Got the hi-tie set up, gave Demon food and water and a nice bran mash, and got the everything set up. Vetted in well before dark, then headed over for Juan and Nina's taco-fest.
It's always nice when Juan and Nina are cooking. It was extra nice that I didn't have to cook Thursday or Saturday night because they were. If you're ever at a ride and they're cooking, go. They make awesome tacos and it is their absolute pleasure to feed people. Heck, Juan scolded me for not having come over sooner!
Day 1
Ride start was 6:15am, late enough to have daylight to start in, and early enough to take advantage of as much daylight as possible over the course of the day.
At the last minute, I decided to go ahead and put Hoss's tack on Demon. This meant adjusting everything, since Hoss was larger than Demon. It also meant we started a bit late, but we don't care much about that.
We hit the trail at a smart trot, Demon more than happy to get out there. We passed some other horses as we went along and eventually came to a ranch gate.
This gate was familiar. We've passed through it numerous times in previous years. So I cheerfully hopped off and opened it, going on through. I was walking up the hill, looking for a good place to get back on, when several other riders came trotting back towards us. We'd all gone the wrong way.
Andy Botello was among those of us who'd gone off course, and he spent some time perusing his map on his phone and figured out we weren't meant to pass through that gate. We all went back through and proceeded the way we were supposed to go.
The first loop was largely on very flat land. This made for a very fast course. We were riding through large sections of pasture. At one point we were doing a fair imitation of chasing young steers.
I'd been warned by Pat Helly that there was a pasture with 20 mares in it. I wasn't super concerned about this, as in all likelihood those mares would be bred and not especially interested in the stallion passing through. Demon is well trained enough he'll continue on regardless, so we'd only be in trouble if the mares decided to accost us. When we got there, the mares were bunched up and watching as all the ridden horses passed through. They all looked varying degrees of pregnant, and decidedly uninterested if not outright hostile to the strange stallion. We were riding with a mare who was very interested in Demon, so he was certainly not worried about the broodmare band.
Fairly early on, we encountered John Parke out with one of his Pyrenees acting as guard while he marked trail. Uncharacteristically Demon spooked at the dog, despite having several just like him at home. But once other horses passed the dog, Demon decided it couldn't be that bad and proceeded down the steep, sandy hill.
We dropped down to the river, passing through a section of trail another rider aptly described as a "car wash."
After one gate, I was walking trying to find something to get up on to mount up, and realized I'd be walking awhile and the horses behind would end up catching us. So I took a chance on getting on from the ground.
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| Thirsty, but want to go with the others, too |
I was surprised to find I can get on from the ground again. Took 3 years since the last hip replacement, but it's definitely a happy discovery. It's possible taking the horse's joint supplement is helping, too.
The river crossing was rocky and slick, and finding a good place to cross was tricky. Demon resolutely headed in and plowed across. Unfortunately he slipped badly enough to go most of the way down on his knees, his head splashing into the water, before he caught his balance and finished the crossing. I managed to keep myself in the middle and stayed as out of his way as I possibly could.
Coming back down toward camp, we found ourselves back at the "wrong" gate we'd tried to come through in the morning, along with Andy Botello. After quite some swirling about, and several other riders catching up, we found ourselves trying to figure out where we were meant to go. Alison Farrin fortunately had her GPS going and was able to get us all headed the right way.
The first 25 miles went quick and we completed in about 3 and a half hours.
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| Lunch hold. |
After our lunch break, we headed back out at a much more sedate pace.
The second loop headed up to the top of a mountain. It was a long pull up. We switched between trotting and walking, just keeping going enough but not trying to go super fast. Most of this climb we spent with Gretchen Montgomery and Alison Farrin. A couple other riders joined us as well, but I don't recall their names, if I ever heard them.
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| Making our way up the mountain |
It's a really good thing Demon is such a well mannered fellow. He simply turned his head and stopped until that mare could be convinced to continue on her way.
Once we'd hit the top of the climb, we were able to make better time going downhill.
Demon chugged along nicely. I started just letting him pick the pace. He'd trot along for some time, then slow back to a walk, picking up the trot again not long after. We even had a few good canter stretches.
We completed the second loop in about 3 hours and 45 minutes, for a little over 7 hours completion time.
We came into camp with Alison and Gretchen.
I was surprised when we were asked if we wanted to show for best condition. Turned out we'd placed 7th! I went ahead a presented Demon for best condition. I figured you can't win if you don't play, so might as well play.
I was very pleasantly surprised when Demon was awarded Best Condition at the ride meeting that evening.
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| Best Condition! |
Day 2
We saddled up and hit the trail again at 6:15am, Demon feeling much less energetic than he had on Friday. Our trot stretches on the road out of camp were much slower and shorter.
This time, we were supposed to go through the gate. So of course what happened was we (as well as many others) turned instead. When I saw the group of horses ahead, I quipped to the riders we were near that there was either water or a conference ahead.
It was a conference. We'd all gone the wrong way.
Once back on the correct trail, Demon and I were rapidly left behind by the majority of the other riders. Demon was happy to go pretty slow, and I was fine with that. This loop was more elevation change than the prior day's first loop.
Demon definitely wanted a lot of water. He dragged me off to every stock tank we passed and drank at least a little. He also wasn't especially interested in going particularly fast.
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| Tanking up under the rising sun Photo by Karen Stilwell |
Then we got off course. And we were off course for a while. Demon was *not* pleased, especially since I was reasonably sure we were going the right way and he was sure (and right) we weren't. Eventually we turned back and found where we went off trail. We turned up that way and kept going.
Demon continued to breathe pretty hard, eventually stopping for a rest. I hopped off and checked his heart rate. 64. Not super high at all. But it wasn't coming down, either. And Demon just wanted to stand there or turn around.
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| I think we were off course... |
I concluded he was somehow overheated, which would be a first. He's never overheated. His winter coat is pretty thin as winter coats go, and the temps were maybe high 70s or low 80s. But he was breathing hard, and he wasn't happy.
I had no idea how far we'd have to go to get to the next water, where I would be able to pour water on him and help him cool off. I admit I kinda freaked out about the situation, having never encountered it with Demon.
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| Making our way back to camp |
I elected to turn back to the last stock tank rather than try to continue on and possibly be too long before we got to water.
We arrived at a tank and Demon started drinking. I hopped off and started scooping water onto him with an empty water bottle. His breathing slowed quickly and he perked right up, ready to go to work.
At this point, we'd already added at least 4 or 5 miles to the 25 mile loop. Had we proceeded on course, likely we would have had another 2 extra miles. I decided to hang it up and we moseyed back to camp to pull. We could have finished, but I didn't see much point in slogging on.
Back at camp, Demon vetted fine and we went back to the trailer to eat and rest up.
Day 3
Demon was alert and happy on Sunday morning. Before brushing and saddling, I walked him to a good roll spot outside the gate to camp, where he proceeded to roll enthusiastically enough to pull the lead rope out of my hand. He must've turned side to side 5 times before standing and shaking himself off, pleased to go back to saddle up.
Then there was a problem.
While I was brushing him off, I noticed he was subtly avoiding my touch across the middle of his back. I ran my fingers down the sides of his spine lightly and elicited a strong negative response. His back was sore.
It's not in me to saddle up and ride a horse who's already telling me something is wrong. We did not ride and instead headed home.
Lessons
By the time we arrived home, Demon's back was much better. I gave him a bath and looked him over. Found that the injury on his nostril was bigger than it had looked once his face was clean.
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| Demon's bloody nose. He'll live. |
A couple days after we'd come home, I noticed Demon had been licking his salt block, which is unusual. Usually the things just gradually erode away without him bothering to touch them. This leads me to conclude it is likely I did not get his electrolytes correct for this ride. I'd gone into without enough tubes of his usual electrolyte concoction, but had felt comfortable between what I had of the syringes and the powder I had on hand there was adequate coverage. Clearly not. I'll be assuring he has enough of the usual stuff on hand in the future.
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