High Desert post-ride

Like EG said, this is the first ride where I really felt like I belonged. Not because I finished a 50, just because I've finally been to enough rides that I'm not a stranger in a sea of people who all know each other. When we did finish, it was even better, of course - people were so happy for us.

Loot: I got a brush with a cool hair-on leather handhold with the ride logo stamped on it. It's in a box. When I open the boxes I'll get a picture of it :)

I ate a ton - some of the quiche (it was too cold!), a couple of Clif Bars, all the potato salad and steak at lunch, and BBQ tri-tip and bratwurst at dinner. I drank FIVE LITERS of electrolyted water. I must really be an endurance rider because I'd stop and pee behind a foot-high sagebrush whenever I needed to.

Dixie ate and drank adequately. I'd love to see her pig out even harder, but I really think she's getting the hang of it now. She has gotten very adept at spitting out elyted applesauce, but I got enough in her.

Her Renegades stayed on once they were on right. After I stuck the front left back on, I didn't have a boot so much as twist. She stumbled over rocks a couple of times in the last five miles, but she was pretty tired and just wasn't picking her feet up high enough to clear them. After two stumbles, she put her game face back on and started watching her feet again.

No tack galls, no sore back. I still can't quite believe that my $300 saddle still works but it does. I mean, yall, I bought that saddle before I even bought Dixie. When I decided to buy her, I sorta eyeballed her back and thought my saddle would fit ok, but that was the extent of it.

Dixie's tired but fine today. Her legs look exactly like they always look, not even a bit of fill. She's napping and eating, and she's not mad at me. After our first 30, she was very tired for a few days then rebounded to a previously unheard of level of fitness, so I'm hoping that happens again. :)

I can't believe how much we've both changed. I was completely cool about so many things that would've been impossible 18 months ago and would've worried me silly a year ago. Like when the boot fell off - ok, I'll ride back and get it then hop off and stick it back on then get on and go again. That all sounds very simple, but it would've been completely impossible in 2009. She did the (very pleasant) gaited horse jigging pulling thing for three miles at the start, and all I thought was "I hope she's this fresh for the whole ride." It didn't even occur to me that she'd win the fight or that I'd overstress her little brain and send her into a meltdown. Just check her to a walk, let her try again, feel her gather up and start to go too fast, repeat.

I didn't even really worry about me. When I got back on after lunch and realized how bruised my thighs were, I did worry a bit that I'd ride poorly and sore her back. But Dixie's trot and pace are so gentle and daisy-cutter that it takes just the tiniest effort to post, so I just ignored the pain and forced myself to go with her.

My thighs are bruised and everything between my knees and neck is a little sore today, but it's not very bad. I managed to injure myself after the final vet check - I was using Dixie's reins as a lead rope and I somehow smacked myself in the lip with the scissor snap on the end of it, and that still hurts! I am, of course, woefully sunburned. Lots of people at the ride got totally burned - we were all so excited to see the sun again.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to take 2 minutes and put on CLEAN DRY SOCKS at lunch. Endurance is one of those things that makes everything else feel so fucking amazing - when you stop to eat, eating is so wonderful! When you sit down post ride, sitting is magical! When you collapse into your own bed again, it's the best bed in the universe! Clean socks at lunch are just as important as anything else.

I need a new overall plan. I've been so focused on Completing a Fifty that I have no idea what to do now. I will hopefully go back for the next two High Desert rides in October and get a cool horse blanket - but I am not sure how to get there from here. I have read literally everything online about how to get started in endurance - but I never bothered to read any further than the "your first 50" section. How do I keep conditioning her? How much time off between rides is optimal? I don't even know what kind of conditioning rides to do - it's been years of "a little faster or a little longer but not both at once."


You know what's the most disappointing thing about this weekend? No ride photographer. There were so few entries it wouldn't have been worth his time to come.