NV Derby LD 2015

Howdy all.

Sorry this took so long to post. I was waiting for ride photos!

NV Derby LD on Saturday April 4th was my very first AERC ride. How exciting right?! Exciting and nerve wracking!

My biggest concerns going to this ride were overnight camping with Huckleberry (a dream come true) and how he'd do at the vet checks as far as recoveries.

Short and sweet version...no worries! He camped just fine. Such a good boy. Of course I woke up at every noise and looked out the window to see if he was still there. Every time he was eating or drinking!

He did poop in his hay bag once in the morning. Weirdo. He had all that room and just had to drop some apples on his hay. Goof.

I arrived about 10:30-ish on Friday and parked behind Karen Chaton who saved some spots for Susan and I. I'm glad I got there when I did not only to get a good spot but also to take my time unloading and setting up.

My setup! You can see Whisper's pretty face across the way in between my van and trailer.

Packed in, baby!

Friday I took Huckleberry for a couple walks to let him see and smell everything. I put him in the large arena at the park and he DID NOT want to leave! He thought all that space was great! Moments like that make me feel like a horrible horse-mom because before I bought him he had acres and acres to roam on 24/7. My husband and I are working on finding a new place with a few acres just for Huckleberry though. Patience is a virtue. Or so I keep telling myself.

Settled in. No issues eating or drinking. He gets comfy quickly :)

I mostly hung out with Susan and her husband Bruce. They are great company! Never a dull moment. Their dog Hoss is a total love. He reminds me of my dog. All he wants is hugs and love!

Karen came over and hung out with us several times too. Her dog Maya is an absolute doll! So sweet! And a ninja too! Anytime I had food she was there. She was so quiet about it. Staring up at me with those cute eyes. And no I didn't give her any food. I never give anyone's dog food. I don't even ask if it's ok. I just don't do it!

Susan and I went for a little preride before check-in. We found an obstacle from the recently built obstacle course. It was a bridge. Both Huckleberry and Whisper walked on it like champs!

Check-in was at 3pm. While in line Susan, myself and another woman embarrassed a lady a bit with our talk of tattoos and their locations. I'm a bit of an introvert myself so I felt for that woman! Sorry! Huckleberry got a lot of attention because of his curls and at times I felt a little overwhelmed with people talking to me. That's the socially awkward introvert in me! Other than telling myself to stop feeling uncomfortable and being a baby it was really nice to meet fellow horse people! Everyone was so nice (well, except for one individual but more on that later). It was fun when people knew my name or recognized Huckleberry. Growing up I never felt like I belonged anywhere and making friends was hard so Friday and Saturday were awesome. I felt welcomed and like I found my place :) My soul was happy.

Vet-in was supposed to be at 4:00 or 4:30 but ended up being quite a bit later. His trot out was great. Heart rate and recovery great. He got all A's! He got a 7 for BCS. Little Chublette. We're working on it. It's hard to control feeding situations when boarding a horse.

All A's! Woot woot! Do you know how exciting it was to hold my first vet card? I bet you all DO know! Eeeee!

All numbered up! Every little step in the process was so exciting to me!

I saw Crysta Turnage at the vet checks and man was that nice to see a familiar face! Instant calm. Hi Crysta!

Ride meeting was at 7pm. I think. I'm not good at remembering exact times. There were a few people having conversations near us while Beth was speaking and that annoyed me a little. Some of us want to hear what is being said at the ride meeting (first timer here) and it would be nice if those not interested in the information would take their conversations elsewhere.

As soon as the sun went down it got COLD. At least I was cold anyway. Brrr. I blanketed Huckleberry and made sure he had plenty of food and water. Then off to bed in my van I went! I slept in my riding clothes like so many before me have suggested. Great advice. I tucked other clothing down in the bottom of my sleeping bag like my jacket that I was going to put on in the morning. I'm glad I brought two comforters and a blanket to put on top of my sleeping bag. It was friggin freezing! I had to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and discovered 6 piles of poop! I was wide awake so I cleaned it up then. Nothing like midnight poop scoopin'. When I got back in the van I tried to close the door quietly and thought I had closed it all the way...nope. A couple hours later I noticed I was way flippin cold. Then I saw the sliver of light by the door. Damn!

Home away from home. First time I camped in the van. Other than being cold it was comfortable!

I had set my alarm for 6am but was wide awake around 5:30. I was glad for that actually because I got to see some of the eclipse. The blood moon! It was neato!

The start of the ride put me in a bit of a sour mood. Not sure if sabotage or the wind or just bad skill but after about an 1/8 or 1/4 mile (I suck as judging distance) the trail split in two directions and there were no ribbons indicating which way to go. We looked at our map and it said right so right we went. Wrong. We were supposed to go left. Some guy on a quad rode up and told us we went the wrong way. I pointed out there were no ribbons indicating left. He was a bit rude about it. Like we cheated. Yes. We're totally cheating. Because we green bean LD'ers are so competitive *eye roll* What made me a little more grumpy was a group of people who followed us and one of the women in the group just had to voice her thoughts and say it was our idea to go that way. Lady...I did not ask or tell you to follow us. Some people need to learn to shut up.

Anyway, we moved on. Not too much further after that we ran into the same group of people. They had stopped right at the top of a hill and created a bit of a jam. Susan was in front of me on Whisper. Whisper has a little issue with passing horses that are not moving. So Huckleberry thought he would put his head between Whisper's cheeks. Not good. Whisper kicked. Not a nasty kick. Huckleberry has big chest boobies and was totally fine. But what made me so f'ing mad was that same lady just had to open her mouth and say "RED RIBBON! RED RIBBON! DON'T YOU SEE THE RED RIBBON!". Bitch, please. Yes I see it. But what are we to do when you have your whole posse clogging the trail right at the top of a mountain? We moved on and I was fuming. I was ready to turn around, slap that large mouth bass and go home. But instead I carried on quietly behind Susan and Whisper and let my anger out through tears for a minute or two.

Look at those ears. He likes it!

The rest of the loop was super fun! It was marked fairly well. LOTS of wind. Holy cow was the wind whipping. My face hurt that night and next day from the wind. I had also realized I wore way too many layers. I got hot. So hot. A couple miles in I had to take my jacket off and at the end of the first loop I had to take my sweatshirt off because I felt I was going to pass out.

Susan and I walked our horses in to the first vet check. I got off and I loosened the girth (a bit too much, the saddle slid sideways, and no Huckleberry didn't care) and took the bit out. Huckleberry would not trot for his trot out. Ah! The vet told me to practice trot outs at home. I politely pointed out that we do and he's great and Huckleberry is trying to tell us he is tired. Poor guy was pooped. I also had the thought of "maybe loosening the girth and taking the bit out is making him relax too much." Who knows. It was our first ride. Experimentation is in order. His recovery was just fine (yay!). All A's except on impulsion and attitude. While the vet was doing the check I started getting lightheaded and dizzy. Uh oh. Pretty sure I got way too hot and didn't drink enough water during the ride. Once we were done with the vet I had to stop and just sit down. So I sat for several minutes. I felt awful! So drink, people! Seriously!

Then I heard the bad news. Whisper got pulled. Lameness. NNNOOOOO! I was devastated for Susan! My riding buddy! I had mixed emotions about doing that last loop. I didn't want to leave Susan and Whisper. Not fair! Talk about being torn. I know it's "Ride Your Own Ride" but dang it that still sucked. I'm still allowed to be sad about it.

The hour hold went by so fast. It was insane. I felt I barely had time to do anything. Before I knew it I had to saddle back up again. Huckleberry managed to snooze for a little bit in between watching what I was doing with his eyes half open. He's such a doll. I drank a lot of water but only got a piece of bread down. I still felt like crap and was fighting the urge to vomit. I also took some elyte capsules Karen Chaton gave me the night before. Holy wow. Those helped a lot! Amazing. I bought a bottle of my own the next day! Made me a believer for sure.

Susan walked with us to the check out for the last loop. I was still excited and sad. She's a great friend. I couldn't imagine how she felt and she still supported and encouraged us. Also, who was going to entertain me with their sarcasm and jokes?!?

The last loop was uneventful. Easy 7 mile loop. I could tell Huckleberry wasn't entirely in the mood but he still had his ears up and moved out for me. His way of telling me he'd rather be napping is shaking his head a little every time I ask for more gusto. But nothing more than that. I LOVE HIM. I really felt we bonded throughout this adventure. He was always watching what I was doing. When I was at our camp site he would come over and nuzzle me <3 LOVE LOVE LOVE.

We finished with 39 minutes to spare. Woot! I still loosened the girth on the last vet check but left the bit in. Huckleberry did a little better but wanted to pace instead of trot. Dude was tired. Impulsion and attitude score low and B on guts but good elsewhere.

I decided to hang out for a few hours to let Huckleberry eat and drink and rest before we went home. It was only a 50 minute drive but still. If I were him I would have wanted a break. Susan headed home not too long after we got back from out last loop. I had no idea how much Huckleberry liked Whisper until she left. He threw a fit for about 20 minutes! Can't blame him. Whisper is entirely too beautiful.

Karen gave me an orange cream popsicle and congrats for finishing my first ride. That popsicle was ssooooo good. Mmm! Thanks, Karen!

Susan and Karen said I could go pick up my completion award before leaving but my social anxiety got the better of me. I couldn't bring myself to go get it. I felt like a turd leaving before awards time. Susan had asked Karen to pick it up for me and she did. Karen is so sweet!

How cute is this award? It's about 5 or 6 inches long. Tiny and adorable.

I definitely learned a lot of things on this ride. Like drink during the ride. Don't wear so many layers because you will warm up. Fast. And next time I know I will pay more attention to those around me and converse more. I had tunnel vision! But next time I definitely want to meet more people and chat more.

Well that's all folks. Again, sorry for it being late. And so long.

Adios for now!