Last Thursday I hurried home from my morning lecture at Bakersfield College so I could load my horses in the trailer and head to what would turn out to be the last Western Mojave xpride. We’d had a week of rain and snow, and Hwy 58 had been closed, but it was open by the time I got home. Everything was muddy. My horses had to slosh through a big mud puddle to get into the trailer. I had to put the truck in 4WD just to pull it out of its current living quarters in our old arena. It would be nice to be in the (comparatively) dry environment of the desert.
Jump to:
Thursday: pre-ride, vet-in, ride meeting, and social life
Friday: Day 1 of the last Western Mojave xpride: Fantazia
Saturday: Day 2: Jazz’s turn (another win and BC)
Thursday: arrival
I got to ride camp at the Trona Valley Golf course shortly after 4pm. There were not a lot of rigs, so it was easy to park where Jazz and Fantazia would be able to see other horses all the time. (Important because one stays at the trailer while I ride the other!) It was a relatively warm, sunny, and still afternoon. The lack of wind meant I’d be able to light a camp fire and cook my tritip… and besides, too much wind is crazy-making. It can be one of the downsides of the desert, relentless wind.
Pre-ride
Right after setting up hay and water, I saddled Jazz and used him to pony Fantazia for a pre-ride. Usually I do it the other way around, but I had ridden Fantazia Sunday. Jazz had not been worked for nearly two weeks. And he’s on the edge of fat whereas Fantazia is far too thin. Jazz is getting a Western saddle on shorter rides, and I used one for the pre-ride. The weight is good exercise and it gives me greater stability when he pulls one of his monster spooks. It’s a challenge to ride a big spook while ponying another horse! The additional weight was especially good because I didn’t have a lot of time to ride.
Vet-in and horse welfare
Fantazia vetted in with no problem. Dave Nicholson is quick, especially if he knows your horse. Fantazia and I started our endurance partnership at Laurel Mt. in 2021, and since then have completed 50s at multiple xprides, so he’s had time to watch us. Dave watches them all, even when we’re just trotting down the trail.
On the one hand, xprides are very much a -care-for-your-own horse affair. The Nicholsons expect riders to know their horses, ride responsibly, and stop riding if something is wrong. On the other hand, I’ve never seen other vets lurk around watching riders move down the trail as much as Dave does. I like that. It gives me some reassurance that if I am really stupid and fail to notice a broken horse halfway through a loop, someone more intelligent will.
Ride meeting
One of my favorite things about xp rides is that we get gpx files of the trails. I load them onto my Garmin watch (see how to do this in this post: How to add gpx files to Garmin watches). Then I just follow the little arrow the entire way. My watch beeps at me when I go off-course. Sometimes it can be confusing to find how to get BACK ON COURSE, but it’s a lot easier than relying on ribbons and instructions. I am not good at reading instructions.
Above: On the left, the map generated by Garmin Connect from a gpx file shared from Gaia (Day 1, Loop 1). You can send the gpx file to your watch and follow the arrow on its tiny screen. On the right, the second map is the output generated after riding the course (Day 2, Loop 1). Connect also provides data on elevation, speed, heartrate, etc.
I am not too good at listening to instructions either. So ride meetings, although I never miss them, are not always that useful to me when it comes to following the trail. Still, it’s important to attend. I am starting to know many people at most rides. It’s fun to see them, and meet new people. Ride meetings at the Trona Valley golf course were especially nice because we were in a warm building.
The social life of endurance rides
Luckily, I had a fire going back at the trailer. By the time ride meeting was done, I had some decent coals going, though not enough. I had to wrap my tritip in foil at first to keep it from catching fire. Then I ambled back over to socialize with Nina, Juan, Patrick, Heidi, and new-to-me people David and Donna whose washer-tub fire pit was a major attraction. (And whose wine was delicious: Cholame Vineyard; David did not mention the name, but I figured it out!) Over the next few days I met more people around the tub-fire whose names I have forgotten. What I haven’t forgotten is how interesting everyone is at an endurance ride. Especially Duck rides! Everyone has an interesting story. I am not exactly a social person, but I truly love to meet endurance people–riders and their significant others–at rides. There was even another Jessica there this time!
Day 1 of the last Western Mojave xpride: Fantazia’s turn
I always start with Fantazia because she does not eat while alone at the trailer. Jazz pitches a fit (Pat Helly told me he was rearing up to look over the top of the trailer this time because Fantazia and I departed on the other side…), but he also eats and drinks well. Fantazia is also easier to ride; she might get tiresome and pull, but she doesn’t spook (much).
Loop 1, 3,150′ total ascent, rocky and steep
The first loop was about 30 miles. You can view the map above. We rode straight up the north part of Searles valley, then east and up to the top of the ridge. We then followed the ridge south past Manly Gap before winding west and down into the valley back to ride camp. It was a wonderfully technical ride full of beautiful views.
Fantazia likes to start out in front and let people pass, as long as they actually pass. On this ride, Gayle Pena passed us fairly quickly, but then didn’t ride off. Nina and Scott were close behind, so I held back and let them get between Gayle and me. That definitely helped, but Fantazia was still pulling more than I like, because all of them slowed down to our pace as soon as they were in front.
Oh well. Eventually I managed to fall further behind by walking a long way. Michelle Roush trotted past us. Unfortunately for Fantazia’s calm, the terrain–steep and rocky and open–kept the other riders in sight much of the time. At one point I had to get off, face the other way, and wait ten minutes. I set my timer. Both Fantazia and I needed a time out of the setting-the-pace battle.
Our pace?
You might wonder why, if we were that close to the leaders, I didn’t just let Fantazia go ahead. We weren’t going that fast. On the flat (or gradualy uphill) trail in the valley, we averaged around 8mph. Later we had to go much slower because of the rocks. (See the video below). Fantazia is certainly capable of going much faster in terms of cardiovascular ability, and she wants to trot around 9.5 mph. However, she also has arthritis, and suffered a still undetermined injury last spring. (Read about it here: Figuring out Fantazia’s lameness.) So I do not let her go as fast as she would and could.
Our average speed for Loop 1 was 5.8 mph (6.1 average moving speed).
We finished the loop in fifth place. I hopped off and led Fantazia the last 3/4 of a mile. She had pulsed down before we got to ride camp.
Above: Fantazia is generally a pleasure to ride! I took many many videos. I haven’t had a chance to upload them all, but will add here as I can.
The hold
One of the best things about xprides has always been Annie’s sandwiches. In recent rides, Juan has been making tacos too. On Friday I arrived between crowds, but Juan fired up the plancha to make me tacos–and a yummy chunk of jalapeno! I had a beer and sat and chatted for a while, resisting the urge to fall asleep.
In the meantime, Fantazia relaxed and ate a bit of grain and lots of alfalfa alongside Jazz. She does much better eating with company. I’d taken off the saddle and bridle, and when I had about 10 minutes of hold left, I curried her, checked for soundness issues (she was fine), and saddled back up. Then I had to find Dave so I could vet before heading back down the trail.
Fantazia had started limping twice during the first loop. Both times there was a huge stone stuck in her frog. That happened at Laurel Mountain too. Every single time I have a brief panic, then hop off to check hooves. She always trots off perfectly sound after I remove the stone. Still, it is always a good feeling when she vets through successfully.
When I can, I wait to vet till the end of holds. At the beginning, the horse may trot soundly even with an issue. After an hour at the trailer, after cooling down, any important lameness should be evident.
I don’t want to start down the trail on a lame horse, and since I always walk out of a hold, I could miss something. Fantazia trotted sound Friday!
Loop 2, 944′ total ascent, much easier
The second was shorter (not quite 20 miles) and much flatter. I let Fantazia go a bit faster–6.2 mph average (6.4 average moving speed). It took us just under three hours, and we had company!
Not long after leaving ride camp, we came upon Gayle Pena and her horse Bo. She had left a bit late and was taking it easy after what she felt was a too-fast first loop. Gayle asked if I minded if she rode with me, and I said of course not. I do prefer to ride alone in the morning, and I don’t like to ride with someone who is being competitive (or whose horse is rushing). That’s mainly because my horses can get stupid on me and I really try to keep them calm. And there’s the thing that I am grumpy in the morning. But by noon I usually feel much more sociable.
It was a pleasure to ride with Gayle. We talked about a lot of things. We were in agreement on taking it easy. I did tell her to feel free to go ahead when I was being particularly lazy about trotting. Fantazia got in a hurry and was wearing me out! Bo, on the other hand, was happy to follow Fantazia or trot calmly along side, so it worked out well. We finished easily with plenty of afternoon left for relaxing at the trailer.
A note on vetting Jazz in
Not long after I had untacked Fantazia and rubbed her down, I took Jazz to Dave for vetting. Jazz is being really naughty at the vet-ins. After a day at the trailer he is always impatient and rude. He has reared at every vet in since January. I need to work on training (and maybe lunge him first; I’m generally not in the mood to ride after 50 miles!) Fortunately he knows Dave by now so isn’t being overly pushy. But Jazz is suspicious of strangers so I need to work on this before we do a non-xp ride.
Day 2, last Western Mojave xpride: Jazz’s 3rd win and 2nd BC in a row
Loop 1
And I had no intention of winning! I waited until everyone else had disappeared down the trail before I even saddled Jazz. Then we walked for nearly a mile. But… no one was in a hurry. Jazz and I caught Heidi Helly and OP quickly, and passed carefully. Then, because Jazz was calm, I let him trot at will up the slow incline with which Loop 1 started.
On the first loop of Day 2, we did much of Day 1, Loop 1 backwards. First we rode east and climbed up to the ridge, which we followed north. Then we dropped back down to the valley before heading west and south back to ride camp. There were important differences–we went up by some old mines (see them through Jazz’s ears in my video) and came down by slightly different trails. But we did do most of the hairy rocky steep stuff in the opposite direction. I was glad then that I had ridden Fantazia first and Jazz second. Fantazia is very sure-footed. She is not going to trip or fall off a steep place. As long as I keep a leg on each side of the horse, I too will be safe.
Jazz doesn’t always pay attention to where he puts his feet. He gets distracted… so I was happy to be going UP and not DOWNhill with him. I still made sure that we were riding the scary parts of the trail alone. We had caught up with everyone before the scary parts, and I made sure to put enough distance between us that Jazz wouldn’t become distracted by his herboundedness.
And somehow, we ended up in front
At the time, I did not know that no one was in front of us, so I didn’t hurry (not that I wanted to) or tarry. Jazz did well, though he had a few times when he got overwhelmed. He just stopped and refused to move for several minutes. I thought he had to pee… then I thought he was hurt. Nope. He was just resting his brain from all the intense attentional effort required to not trip or fall off a cliff.
We were both of us relieved to reach the easy downhill roads. I let Jazz trot out a bit, and when the trail left Friday’s course to cut down new, track-free paths, I realized we were in front.
No, we did not go fast. In fact, on the first loop Jazz went exactly the same speed Fantazia had the day before: 5.8 mph overall, 6.1 mph average moving speed. The loop was slightly shorter and quite a bit easier than Fantazia’s had been: only 2,979′ total elevation gain. But the real reason Jazz and I were in front was that nobody else went faster. As usual, I was simply riding my own ride.
The hold
After leaving Jazz at the trailer with a lot of food (he will always eat what I give him), I went to get more Tacos-by-Juan. By that time the other riders had shown up, so I ended up waiting a bit. That’s all right, I drank my beer and enjoyed the respite from the wind. It had been a very windy morning ride and I was tired of it!
I don’t take the bridle off of Jazz during a ride, because he refused to open his mouth for the bit at Sesenta Anos. That was undoubtedly because I had given him electrolytes, but I am not taking any chances. It took me over five minutes to ge tthe bridle on then! Now, I don’t give Jazz any e-lytes with a syringes. I just put some in his feed in the morning. I’ve tried various e-lyte options, and they all result in teeth-clenched and refusal to eat and drink for at least an hour. So he’s on his own. He seems to do fine without any help from a syringe.
I do curry and do a lameness check as usual. Jazz looked great, vetted great (behaving better now he was tired), and we were ready to leave ride camp at our out-time (a rare occurence).
Loop 2
Jazz and I were alone for the entirety of the second loop. It was shorter and flatter than the first loop, so we went faster. For those that were touting the value of negative splits on the Facebook AERC page recently… well, we did them. Jazz’s speed for the second loop was 6.6 mph on average, 7.0 average moving speed. The footing was great, with most of the downhill stretches soft sand. Total ascent 1,352′. Jazz’s average heart rate was 101 bpm; it had been 97 bpm on loop 1. (I didn’t put the HR monitor on Fantazia.)
It was a fun loop because we rode out to a waterfall in the Great Falls Basin… and there was running water! In the desert! (And it wasn’t flooding from rain as it had been during Fire Mountain.) Jazz drank deeply from the fresh water in the creek and we headed out of the basin. From there we trotted south towards Trona and a white cloud of minerals. Luckily the course turn back towards ride camp before we had to test our affinity with ants (that cloud looked like boric acid to me).
Jazz finished easily. I didn’t lead him in because my watch was saying I had another few miles left. I still don’t know what was going on there, as I had followed the course the entire time on my watch. Later I verified that I completed it, but at the time, I was confused. Luckily, Annie told me that I had completed properly. Good thing too. I would probably have had to carry Jazz out for another mile. By that time, seeing the trailer, he was not willing to go back down the trail, even just to the Nicholsons’ trailer!
Above: Riding up to the falls on the left, and back down to the valley and ride camp, on the right.
Final ride meeting
The ride meeting brought mixed news. I was delighted to find that Jazz had won Best Condition… and very sad to hear that Dave and Annie would not be coming back to California to put on rides again after the coming Cuyama Oaks ride. My first ride in California had been one of theirs, Laurel Mountain during the COVID pandemic. It wasn’t AERC sanctioned, but I didn’t care. I was just so grateful that someone was putting on rides. I have enjoyed every part of xprides, from Dave’s hilarious emails and gpx files to the wonderful locations and challenging trails.
Now I am going to have to win the lottery so I can travel to their rides in Utah, Colorado, etc.
Sunday: home with two sound horses
If I could possibly have done it, I would have ridden Sunday as well. Fantazia could have done another 50. (So could have Jazz, but I’d rather wait a bit for back-to-back 50s.) But I work Mondays, and my lecturing week is pretty intense. And I had to sort things out at home in preparation for the work week in Bakersfield. So I got up at six, packed and loaded the horses, and headed out.
One of my trailer windows keeps falling open, and did so after I closed it… causing Jazz (who already mistrusted the entire operation) to make a serious go at escaping. He’s not a panic-pull-back horse, but he WILL try his hardest to escape, rearing, jumping, and when all else fails, leaning all his weight back on the rope. Thank goodness he did not escape, or he’d be pulling back for the rest of his life. (I always use rope halters and serious ropes with him, but you never know.) Then the window fell open as we were driving away. I hammered it in. I hope I can open it next week at Cuyama!
And the horses?
With the exception of Jazz’s experience with the attack-window, Sunday was an easy day. Both horses had cold tight legs in the morning. Both unloaded sound at home. The next morning I turned them out in their 33 acre pasture and they galloped off.
Today Jazz had his well-horse check-up. We put a new fancy computerized gait analysis rig on him, and according to it, he trotted perfectly balanced. On the straight he also looked perfectly balanced. On tight circles lunging, I thought he looked less than perfect behind, both ways. A teensy bit off on the strike of the outside foot, which I noted through the inside hip and SI. However, he went exactly the same both ways. The readouts are mirror images. (I will have to share them at some point.) So… nothing to worry about (except I always do) per my vet.
Fantazia didn’t get a check up, but she’s trotting well too. They’re both full of energy and eating well, so we’re good to go for Cuyama. Let’s just hope we don’t get rained out.
