Dear RRR Rangers,~~~

Indy and I had a great day at the Chamberlain Creek 50 yesterday... we WON the race (by about 40 minutes in front of the 2nd horse) and he took Best Conditioned Horse Award. Thank you very much to all of you who have helped exercise him, fed him his Safe Choice and selenium, kept him safe while tied and trailering, shod him, crewed for him etc, etc, etc. This was really a team effort.... I really feel like Ricochet Ridge Ranch and friends (Kyala and Forrest!) won this race.

It's been a great run for these last three races. In August, we placed 2nd to one of the top competitors, a guy named Brad from Oregon on his feisty grey horse, who placed 2nd themselves at the AERC 100 Mile Championships two weeks ago. (And then he crewed for me at the first vet check at the Championships) Indy and I rode in the 50 mile Championships, coming 14th out a field of 91... with me pulling back on the reins for the first 35 miles! My heart was in my throat. Indy was a maniac. Kyala was crew extraordinaire!

Yesterday, Indy was much more sane... so I could safely let him move out a bit more. We rode with Linda Klee on her spectacular Trakaener/Shagya mare, and another woman named Linda from Santa Rosa on a fabulous grey gelding for the first 20 miles. We had been told it would be in the high 90's with about 75% humidity, which is a potentially killer combo... anything over a combined total of 150 is potentially very dangerous for horses during competition. (We were later told it got to 102 F. at the top of the ridge on the last loop.....) At the first vet check, Forrest was there to help me with everything. Cynthia Le Doux was taking pulses, and convinced me to stop on my way to the crew area to let her check Indy... He was already at 64! (Criteria was 60 b.p.m.) So we paused for literally one more minute, and he was down! Two minutes to recover after an extremely fast 20 miles on some very steep trails, going faster than I think I've ever ridden that loop in past races. (Maybe Marianne knows if that's true) He got all A's except on skin response, which is normal for him. Indy pulsed down minutes before the other two horses, so we left on loop 2 by ourselves, and never saw another horse for the rest of the race. (Actually, it's a lot more fun to ride with other horses... 30 miles by ourselves and Indy was getting a bit bored. So was I. I tried singing to him.....)

At the 2nd vet check, Forrest was again there to meet me as we came across the line. We pulled the saddle and splashed water, and Indy was down. Forrest had brought all my crew gear, and Indy ate like a fiend. He was clearly having a good day. We enjoyed our hour hold. The Linda in 2nd place was pulled for lameness, and we left 10 minutes ahead of Linda Klee. Marianne called out to me, asking how long it would take us to go the 7.5 miles uphill to the next vet check.... to which I replied "It depends on how fast we go"... but we agreed, we could conceivably be there shortly after 30 minutes. Indy and I were walking around warming up, and then paused right in front of Steve Eliason (the out-timer) just as he yelled "Go!". Indy must know the meaning of the word, because he took off in a canter, just as Mike Witt, the vet, yelled out "How long will it take you to get to the next vet check????" I grand-standed for a moment and yelled back "Hey... depends on how fast we go!" And it was pretty clear how fast we were going!

Of course, we soon pulled down to a trot, but we did gain the vet check in 35 minutes, which was amazing, considering how hot it was. Marianne had thankfully hauled water to the top of the hill, about a mile before the vet check, and Indy drank copiously. We walked the last 1/4 mile into the check, with me using all of the 7 bottles of water I was packing to cool him off. He recovered again, within about 2 or 3 minutes. We left after a 15 minute hold, and experienced the hardest part of the whole race... 7.5 miles down hill, much on very hard packed road, due to a recent logging operation. Indy hated it. We broke to the walk, then jitterbugged a jog, then walked... for about 5 miles. It seemed like it took hours. We finally turned off on better footing... normal dry dirt log road... and were uplifted by Marianne's 20 signs on the way to the finish ...."You're nearly there!" "Don't quit now!" "Keep smiling".... etc. Thank you, Marianne!

We came across the finish line, with Indy looking like he hadn't even been ridden that day. Forrest was there to greet us, helped me get my saddle off and weigh for Best Condition (you'd have to know how much my saddle weighs with all the weights I carry to know how hard this is... we weighed in with my personal best of 185 pounds! Hey... drink more beer! A pint's a pound, the world around!)

Indy and I walked the mile back to base camp, and I went into high gear to prepare him for his 1 hour vet check. I put ice boots on all four. I held two ice packs to either side of his jugular veins. I scooped cold water over his entire body for the entire hour. I knew that cooling him off safely was going to be the key. He again ate like a fiend the whole time. I actually wondered if eating so much would keep his pulse up, but I didn't want to deny him anything!

We walked the 1/8 mile to the vet check (with me again, wondering if this would elevate his pulse). He did a CRI of 52/44.... it doesn't really get much better than that. He got A's on gait and impulsion.

At BC two hours later, Mike Witt noticed that he had knocked open an old interference mark on his RH, so he received a 7 on "lesions", but he had 8's and 9's on everything else. The heaviest rider in Top Ten weighed in at 245, so my measly 185 lost us 30 points (weight difference divided by 2) , but our decisive win time, plus excellent vet score earned us BC.

I took Indy for a little walk today, and he strided out like he was looking for the starting line. We trotted a few strides... totally sound. Good boy, Indy!

Again, thanks to all.

Happy trails, Lari