River and I spent last weekend at the 2024 Cuyama Oaks xpride. That is, we spent April 4th – 7th, 2024, in the Cuyama Valley, east of New Cuyama, California. I make a point of this because it snowed… a lot! It rained and hailed. It was freezing. Water buckets froze. But it was also beautiful and sunny–in between the storms on Thursday and Friday, and all day Saturday and Sunday.
It was River’s third endurance event. Her first was at Fire Mountain in January. Her second ride was the Western Mojave xpride in March. She completed 50 miles at each. At Cuyama she completed back-to-back 50s on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday I rode out with the 50s… well. I led her out a mile, then got on to go another mile. Then River and I hung out and watched people pass until all the 25s were out. I took lots of pictures and some videos of other riders.
Below I will give a brief recounting of each day, and post all the pictures I took. (The ones that were decent anyway. I assumed that people with terrible pictures didn’t want them shared!) If you see a picture of yourself, feel free to download it. If you want a larger image file, let me know and I will send you one. You can contact me here in comments, or via Facebook where I will share this post.
Jump to:
Thursday
A snowy ride on Friday
Chilly morning and a sunny ride on Saturday
Training and pictures on Sunday
Take home
Thursday
It was raining at home (Springville, CA) when I loaded River into the trailer. That was not unexpected… but it the downpour of rain and hail when we got to Bakersfield was a surprise and a hint of what was to come. When I pulled into ride camp around 5:30, it was spitting a combination of rain and hail mixed in a biting wind. Ride camp was in a huge grassy field. By the time I had unloaded and set up the trailer for River, my feet were soaked.
Above: To the left (or above), a rainbow over ride camp before the 2024 Cuyama Oaks xpride. Right (or below), River’s tail braided into a “Watch out I kick!” warning.
That was when I realized I really should have brought waterproof shoes! What was worse, I have almost picked up my duck boots–which would have been very appropriate on a Duck ride! (For those who do not know, Dave Nicholson is the Duck). Instead all I had were the Keen hiking boots I was wearing, the Ariat Terrain’s I keep for rides, and the old Roper boots that live in my trailer. I exchanged the Keen’s for the Ropers to go to ride meeting. Big mistake. Now I only had one pair of dry shoes.
River was very fresh and really needed riding. But it was too cold to ride. It was also too grassy and wet for me to light a fire. Fortunately Donna and Dave had their washing machine tub fire going. (I really need to get one of those!) After warming myself their fire, I went back to my trailer early. I had to braid River’s tail (see How to braid a ribbon into a horse’s tail) and get everything ready for the next day.
A restless night
The sound of rain, hail, and sleet on the trailer roof off and on all night kept waking me up. Big gusts of wind would occasionally make it even louder.
I felt terrible for River because she was on the windy side of the trailer and it was cold. At least, it was generally the colder side. More than once, I went out and stood on both sides to figure out which was worse. I ended up moving her to the other side for several hours. Usually she is tied to the driver’s side because (a) it has more places to hang hay nets and (b) I prefer not to have a horse where the door to the tack room is. Fortunately, River doesn’t care. She stands like a rock no matter where I tie her. She eats hay all night, and really didn’t get wet. The outside of her Schneider’s blanket was wet, but the inside was nice and dry in the morning.
A snowy ride on Friday
The first thing I noticed at dawn was that the nearby hills all had snow on the top. You can see it well in this video and in the pictures below. River had only drunk about half a gallon of water, but then, it was cold. She had eaten a lot of hay (alfalfa, three-way [oat, wheat, barley], and Bermuda grass). I didn’t bother to warm up. I’d be leading her the first mile anyway,
I decided to wear my already wet Keen’s. That way my Ariat’s would be dry the next day. For the rest, I had my usual winter-weather tights (you can read about the Performaride tights I use here), thick socks, winter gloves, a neck wrap from Wild West 2021, and the scarf I always wear under my helmet. On top I was underdressed in a thin shirt, my favorite “green shirt” (lots of pockets, button down), and a windbreaker.
I led River from the trailer at 7:05, already a bit late for the 7am start.
Above: Waiting for the 50 to start on Day 1 of the 2024 Cuyama Oaks xpride. Look at the snow!
Loop 1
River was fierce at the start
River was, as expected, full of herself. She tucked her butt at me twice (a kick threat) and I had to make her run backwards for that. She bashed her head into mine several times, once so hard she broke my GoPro. (I managed to fix it that evening, but no cool snow videos!) People don’t mention head swinging when they tell you to wear a helmet, but if I hadn’t had a helmet on, River would have given me a concussion
This is why I really don’t relish leading horses. I have determined to lead River the first mile this year, but it’s not easy! On Friday I finally got on after walking just over one mile. I had to do a bit of training to mount too, which is unusual. River tends to be very good about standing still.
Things got a lot better once I was in the saddle. River let herself be rated easily. We passed some riders, were passed by others, played some leap frog with many. The weather seemed to clear up a bit. You can watch my first video, taken at 7:42am. Less than ten minutes later it was raining (video). It had cleared up by 8 (video). This was the pattern till around 10:30 when it started to snow. From then till River and I got back to ride camp at 12:24 conditions were fairly disagreeable to very miserable 😉 Watch one of the snowy videos I took!
I got soaking wet.
The loop was tough. It would have been challenging in any case, but the mud, the wind, and the precipitation made it even more so. But we went slow, and River’s pulse was well below 60 by the time Annie took it.
Above: Pictures of the snow! The first two include other riders and horses.
The stats:
Average speed: 4.8 mph (average moving speed = 5.0 mph). Maximum speed 9.5 mph.
Average heart rate: 98 bpm (maximum 160 at the top of a steep hill).
Total elevation gain: 3,944′. (Loss was 4,186′. Watch glitched out a bit, which is why I don’t have total mileage either. It was over 26 miles.)
Above: Slideshow of some of the beautiful views of the mountains during Loop 1.
Loop 2
The second worst thing about Loop 2 was figuring out what to wear. I ended up changing my preferred green shirt for a hoodie and down vest, and put the still damp windbreaker on top. I decided to keep my soaking wet hiking boots and socks on. Little point in changing them and getting more things wet! I did put on new gloves. They ended up wet too, but fortunately I have many pairs.
The worst thing about Loop 2 was that we rode out into a biting wind that carried a mix of snow, hail, and sleet. The first few miles were horrible. Fortunately, it cleared up after a while, and I was glad I had taken my time on the second loop and extended my lunch break by 10 minutes.
River and I took our time on this loop. Every time we came to water, River wanted to drink. We rode through a lot of tall green grass; it was very hard to get River moving out of it! That’s fine. I wasn’t in a hurry. We were going to do another 50 miles the next day! (Watch a video of us riding through the grass!)
The stats:
Average speed: 3.6 mph (average moving speed = 4.0 mph). Maximum speed 11.0 mph.
Average heart rate: 90 bpm (probably lower, because she dried off and it lost contact).
Total elevation gain: 2,405′. (Loss was 2,425′. Still glitching)
Chilly morning and a sunny ride on Saturday
Friday night had been very cold. (I could see my breath inside the horse trailer!) It had rained/snowed/sleeted just enough in the night to make really good frost. The grass was frozen and noisy to walk through, unsheltered water had a thin layer of ice on it. I was glad I had saved my competition Ariats, because thick warm socks and dry shoes made a big difference! Fortunately, the day was mainly sunny and dry. It was the perfect temperature. Just warm enough to go without gloves (after the first several miles), but not so warm that I needed to remove clothing. No sweating and no shivering!
Above: First, River waiting at the trailer before the start of the 50. She’s always very quiet. The other two photos are a few hours later, going down the trail.
Loop 1
I thought River was going to be very calm… and she was. At first. I led the first mile, and she started being quite naughty after half a mile. Still, she didn’t threaten to kick me, so I guess there was improvement. She did calm down as soon as I got on.
We had a beautiful ride. We encountered other riders frequently, and River was good about passing and allowing others to pass. (I still got far off the trail for these occasions.) We walked down the middle of the creek and did some fairly challenging hills.
Above: I rode with others off and on over the course of the day. This should give you a good idea of what it’s like to encounter others on the trail in endurance!
No, we weren’t in a hurry. I was training. I took a lot of pictures and videos. I’ll let them do the talking!
Above: Some of the many pictures I took Saturday morning and afternoon.
The stats:
Average speed: 4.3 mph (average moving speed = 4.7 mph). Maximum speed 10.3 mph.
Average heart rate: 92 bpm (max = 154 bpm).
Total elevation gain: 3,537′. (Loss was the same, miracle.)
Above: Some footage of the creek we walked down. There was a lot more of this earlier in the morning, but I didn’t think to record it. River is great in water. It’s amazing how horses can traverse very rocky places without a problem.
The hold
As usual, I took a bit longer than an hour for lunch. River was none too happy about going back out. In fact, she looked so unenthusiastic that Dave told me he wanted to see her after Loop 2. I supposed that he had noted some lameness and watched her like a hawk for miles. (I could see no sign of lameness going uphill, downhill, or on curves!) It turns out he just “didn’t like the look in her eye.”
It also turns out he might have been on to something, as River began to act sore-footed in the middle of Loop 3. During Loop 2, she moved well. However, I was still nervous.
Here’s the thing. Dave Nicholson can assess a horse with a quick glance at its expression and a few strides at the trot. He rarely says anything, so when he does, I immediately believe that something is going on. He’s not going to bother with trivialities. If Dave notices something about your horse, you need to pay attention.
So I went really really slow for the rest of the day, even when River was rarin’ to go and moving beautifully.
Above: Getting ready to vet out for Loop 2. Allan Horn and Andy Botello (top picture) were two of the first people I met at California endurance rides. (Well, technically we met at xprides that were WDRA but not sanctioned by the AERC due to COVID.) I met Andy first, at the 2021 Laurel Mt. xpride. It was Fantazia’s and my first ride (read about it here); it was also Andy’s first ride. We met when he was doing his pre-ride with Our Quick Chick and I with Fantazia. Allan and I met on the trail. His Ruby is of the same general temperament as Fantazia, so we often found ourselves riding together. (Until Allan and Ruby left Fantazia and me in the dust.) In the pictures above. both men have new horses! Allan has an off-track Arabian mare (Derby Rose) and Andy has the cutest little mustang (need to find out the name!)
Loop 2
For River and me, Loop 2 was mainly watching other people pass. I took a lot of pictures and videos (below). OK, so I also obsessed over River’s well-being at first, but since she showed absolutely no sign of lameness and ate grass nonstop, I stopped worrying.
Above: It’s always nice to run into friends on the trail! Katie (left or top) and I first met when we rode together at Lake Success. Her mustang gelding Tonka was just beginning his career as an endurance horse then! Sabine and I met at the Western Mojave xpride in Trona last year (read about it here). Sabine seems to be around when interesting things happen in the sky. At Trona, we had spectacular views of the moon and Jupiter. At Cuyama, there was the weird incident of the rocket during ride meeting.
The stats:
Average speed: 4.1 mph (average moving speed = 4.3 mph). Maximum speed 10.7 mph.
Average heart rate: 85 bpm (max = 152 bpm).
Total elevation gain: 1,611′. (Loss was 1,562. I stopped recording at John’s place, so missing the last mile.)
Loop 3
A minihold
The hold was basically a pulse down and go, but I took about 15 minutes. I wanted Dave to look at her as per instructions, but he was doing BC so Donna did. She said River looked fine, which concurred with my own impression. If anything she was more energetic than she had been after lunch.
I let River play in the water and chatted with Scott Lucas, with whom I’ve ridden several times. The first time was at Laurel Mt. last year. That was when, looking at Scott’s western saddle, I decided that I wanted my own!
Above: Top/left: Scott Lucas watering his horse. Right/bottom: Riders coming in to ride camp just as River and I were heading out on Loop 2.
The last loop
Loop 3 was almost the same as Loop 2, with one cut off which I missed. So River and I did Loop 2 twice. I was in no hurry, so I let her amble along eating while I spoke with my eldest son Ian on my cell.
About 2.5 miles in, I decided we’d better trot if I wanted to get in before dark. River was very reluctant to trot. I started looking at her heart rate, because on the Western Mojave ride, it had started spiking when she because reluctant to trot, just before she started favoring her left fore. That had been a stone bruise, and only three weeks earlier. I was afraid it was acting up again.
This time however, her heart rate was very low. Right up until, at the walk, it shot up to 180! I freaked out and dismounted… just to find that the sensor strip has fallen sideways and the top was against her stomach. Apparently changing the reference like that messes things up!
The stone bruise
Still, I wasn’t happy with her reluctance to trot. Sure enough, about 1/2 of the way through the loop, she showed a slight but regular limp going downhill. Yes, it was the left fore, where the stone bruise was. I got off and lifted her foot, to find it packed with hard dirt. After picking it out, she no longer favored the foot. Unfortunately, every time the hoof filled with dirt/rocks, she started limping.
I started feeling pretty angry with myself. I had put Hoof Armor on Thursday, and I should have reapplied it Friday or Saturday morning. I’d like to say I forgot, but honestly it DID cross my mind Friday evening… I was simply too lazy to do it.
It was a long last loop. I led her most of the way, jogging and walking. Well.. at the jog I led her. At the walk I dragged her. River does not like to walk fast (or even at a normal pace) at the best of times. After having completed one 50-mile endurance ride and most of a second, she really doesn’t like to walk fast. When she saw grass–every time–she would dive for it.
On the bright side, I got a lot of exercise and she wasn’t lame when we got back to camp at 6:10.
The stats:
These are not entirely accurate! I didn’t start the course will John’s place, and then my watch battery died. Because I was worried about River’s stone bruise, we walked most of the loop, and I led her the final three miles. But here are the stats for the bit I recorded:
Average speed: 3.2 mph (average moving speed = 3.6 mph).
Average heart rate: 76 bpm. Maximum recorded was 180bpm, as I mentioned above, due to the reference electrode moving. Her true average heart rate was probably even lower.
Total elevation gain: 1,398′. (It was actually identical to Loop 2. Loop 3 was supposed to be a bit shorter, but I missed the cut off…)
Training and pictures on Sunday
Saturday evening I signed up for the LD but wrote “MAYBE” on the paper. I told Annie I’d see how River was and let her know.
River was not lame Sunday morning, but she was definitely stiff. I decided the best thing would be to saddle up and ride out with the 50s, then hang out at the crossroads where the 50s and the 25s went separate ways until the LD riders passed me.
Above: Ride camp right before the start of the 50, 7am Sunday morning.
It was a good decision. River got worked up as I led her down John’s driveway, but once again she relaxed after I got on at one mile. We crossed the creek and rode up to the crossroads. There several riders were debating which way to go. The directions handed out at ride meeting said one thing, the pie plate said another. Unfortunately I had not loaded the gpx on my watch.
They ended up going the wrong way, and I followed for a while. Then they came back, giving me an opportunity for a good video. Once they had gone I rode River off-road for a while, and then let her eat. When the LD riders came, I took a few more videos and several pictures.
Above: Pictures taken Sunday morning. The last was on my way back. The second and third to last are of Allan… I thought I was taking a video!
It was an excellent lesson for River, who ate a lot of grass and relaxed. On the way back I trotted her and she moved well.
Take home
River
I believe River will turn into a nice, calm endurance partner. Oh, she’s always going to be ornery. She’ll be wearing that red ribbon for life. But she’s really smart about trails, not at all spooky, goes through anything (doesn’t mind branches whipping against her), and takes care of herself. River eats tons of hay at the trailer, and drinks well. She won’t eat mash or her usual pelleted feed or even rice bran, which she usually loves. She will eat lots of carrots.
Her only issue so far (other than wanting to kick) has been the stone bruise. According to my farrier (who yes has seen x-rays), she’s got quite thick soles and her feet will eventually be up to standard. (They look pretty good already, but he says a couple more shoeing cycles are needed before he’s got them where he wants them.)
She gets reshod Monday, and if all is well, we’ll do the new Cuyama ride next weekend.
The McCall saddle
The saddle is great. I’ve now ridden 150 competition miles in it. Zero hip pain. My lower back was a bit sore, but I don’t think it’s the saddle. I am thinking of shortening the stirrups a bit. We’ll see.
It fits River very well. I have a breast collar on it, but I probably don’t need one. We can go up or down steep hills and it doesn’t budge. Even with the girth so loose that I pulled the saddle over on me when I tried to mount from the ground Saturday.
Above: The McCall saddle on Friday, middle of Loop 2 . Saturday morning, Loop 1, and Saturday during the hold. In the last picture, you can see how the rough out is already getting smooth.
The 2024 Cuyama Oaks xpride…
is a fun ride in a gorgeous place. Even with weather! I’m going to share all the rest of the pictures below. You can find the videos not linked here on my YouTube playlist Footage from endurance competitions. I’ll be adding videos as I upload them.
First, some more pictures of other riders:
Above: Many pictures of riders and their horses on Saturday!
Above: Typical scenes at the Cuyama Oaks ride. Towards the bottom you have Ride Camp and Dave at a ride meeting.
As Donna and Dave Dubois will testify, I really want a fire pit made out of a washing machine tub. Well, I found one in the middle of nowhere on Day 1, Loop 1:
Now for some nature pictures. Keep scrolling down for more riders!
Above: Lots of vegetation! Anyone who knows me knows that I do a lot of amateur botany on rides. It’s one of the main reasons I get lost!
Above: Riders far away in the distance!
Above: A slide show of gorgeous between-the-ears shots!
And finally, below… I didn’t even know a horse’s ear could do this!
Above: River really didn’t like the snow!
Just a quick mention as I begin to read your nice post, the “watch my video” links that you have early in the post show up with “private video” and requiring some kind of login. Thanks for your post!
Uhoh. I must’ve copied a wrong one. Should only be one. I’ll fix it thanks for the heads up
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