Treasure of the Sierra Madre: River’s 5th 50-mile completion (Road to Tevis 112)

This last weekend River and I completed the first day of the new Treasure of the Sierra Madre endurance ride. It was a beautiful ride with some fun technical trails. We rode with Heidi Helly and her horse OP for the second time, which was, again, a learning experience for both River and me!

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River’s state leading up to the Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre endurance ride
The people
Loop 1
The hold
Loop 2
Dinner at the Buckhorn
Take home

River’s state leading up to the Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Just two weeks earlier, River had completed back-to-back 50s at the 2024 Cuyama Oaks xpride, held not 20 miles west of the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Two weeks before that, she had completed 50 miles in the desert at the Western Mojave xpride. She came out of Western Mojave with a stone bruise in the toe of her left front hoof. During the final loop of the second day at Cuyama Oaks, River became intermittently lame. She would start favoring the left fore, and I would hop off, clean out all the debris, and she’d be fine, right up until her hoof got full of sand and rocks. I’d have to get off and clean her hoof out again. I ended up walking much of the final loop.

I thought that it was the same stone bruise, not fully healed. When my farrier came out, he found a different issue. The stone bruise was 100% healed, but she had a corn in the left (outside) buttress of the same foot. A corn in horses is a bruise or hematoma between the hard and soft tissues of the bar, nothing like corns in human feet! River’s was “dry” (not suppurating) and not readily apparent. My farrier found it with hoof testers, but I couldn’t see anything.

Above: River’s shoe after my farrier tweaked it to cover the corn.

Dealing with the corn

My farrier reshaped the shoe so it would protect that buttress. After nailing it on and finishing the hoof, he stuck sole packing material under the hoof. I applied Hoof Armor to the rest (and to the other front hoof). My farrier gave me some sole pack to put in when needed. He said it would fall out during the ride and I would need to put more in to protect the injury.

Corns are not a big deal. They usually come from ill-fitting shoes. River’s shoes were not too small, but she was at the end of her cycle and by the finish of Cuyama Oaks, nails were loose (I did pound them at the beginning). She probably got some stones lodged under the shoe, which would explain how she’d no longer be lame when I cleaned her feet out.

Above: River was looking great, and acting calm the day before the ride. I even tried riding her bareback in her halter to the vet check! (It didn’t work. No steering!)

In all other respects, River was looking great

I rode her lightly the weekend between Cuyama Oaks and the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. We did much needed arena-work, mostly at the walk and trot. On Thursday before the ride, we did one of my conditioning mainstays, a four-mile loop out of our back gate with 1,257′ total elevation gain. I let River lope up some of the steeper parts, then continued at a slow lope along the ridge. It was warmer than it had been since last fall (high of 86F), so she was blowing when we stopped. I then led her most of the 1.5 miles downhill and home.

It was an excellent workout that put very little stress on her hooves, joints, and bones. Afterwards I hosed River off, checked that the hoof packing was still in place, and turned her out for the night.

Read my post on How to calculate the grade of hills that features the terrain of that particular training loop.

Above: Pictures of the ridges above the Cuyama Valley, with views of the valley. It is gorgeous in springtime.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre endurance ride background

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a brand new two-day ride in the Pacific Southwest region managed by John Parke, the Sanctioning Director for the Pacific Southwest Region of the AERC. Both days offered a 50-mile endurance ride, a 25-mile LD, and an intro ride. The trails were the same for both days, which made it easier for me to decide just to ride Saturday. (River didn’t need two days in any case!)

Because ride camp is on a private ranch with restricted space, entries were limited. John asked everyone to sign up for both days… or find someone to ride the other day! I was just going to pay for both days, but Lilia Lucero reached out to me and suggested we split the weekend. Even better, she preferred Sunday and I preferred Saturday. A perfect solution!

The locale

I love the Cuyama Valley for two reasons. It’s beautiful hilly terrain and it’s the closest ride to me. Even going slowly and stopping for diesel and ice, it takes me only three hours to get to New Cuyama with a horse trailer. The Cuyama Oaks xpride is about 15 miles past New Cuyama. The new Treasure of the Sierra Madre is even closer, just a few miles before New Cuyama.

Like Cuyama Oaks, the Treasure of the Sierra Madre ride is based on a private ranch. Out of privacy concerns, the owners asked us not to take identifiable pictures of the ranch to share on social media. This seems perfectly reasonable to me. I do most of my conditioning rides on private ranches where I cannot even take guests. No one wants somebody to see a cool picture or video on social media, extract GPS coordinates from meta-data, and then trespass in order to get there!

Some of the pictures and videos included here are from the ride, but include no location data. Others are of nearby trails though they may not have been taken during the ride. Enjoy the scenery! I would encourage anyone to visit the area and explore. The Cuyama Buckhorn has a nice website with a list of places to go and things to see in the valley.

Above: Left, or top, Gayle Pena and her beloved horse Bo. Fantazia and I rode with Gayle and Bo last year. Nina Bomar on Cheeky. Nina is our chronicler, she writes about everyone but herself. Someday I hope to interview her for this blog.

The people

Part of the reason I really enjoyed this ride is that a lot of my favorite endurance people were at it, and we were all parked together. (Thank you Pat Helly!) At the best of times it takes me a long time to get used to people much less make friends. (I am not anti-social but maybe a little bit asocial!). When I am distracted by horses, it takes even longer.

Still, I’ve finally started feeling at home with some people and most of them were at the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It was great to see those I hadn’t seen in months and those whose company I had enjoyed just a few weeks earlier. My next goal is to remember to bring food to share. Frequently I don’t have time between work and leaving for rides, but this time I had made a lot of chili verde I could have taken and did not!

Of course, I spent the most time with Heidi, because we rode together. We even got to the end of a long day that included various trials of our patience, without getting too fed up with each other… I at least want to do it again!

Above: Some gorgeous views!

Loop 1

Both the LDs and the 50s started at 7am. Normally I would bridle at 6:59, but Heidi told me we needed to be ready earlier, so River and I were actually ready at 6:55. Then we waited for most people to leave. We then led our horses about a mile and a quarter. I’m still leading River the first mile, and Heidi was gracious enough to lead with me. And then there were no convenient “mounting blocks” until we found a tractor.

John had given very explicit and accurate instructions at ride meeting the night before, and we had a good map. Both the LDs and the 50s did this loop. It started with five or so relatively flat miles. Then we started to climb. There were some rather steep single-track sections of cattle trail that wound along a slope with a fairly significant drop-off. By the time Heidi and I got there, the trail was broken up but still good.

After the fairly short single-track trail, we emerged onto a wider trail (you could call it a road in many sections). The climb continued for about two miles, until we reached a broad grassy area where there were corrals and a cabin. John had told us that we needed to ride anoth 300 yards past the corrals to get to a cattle trough where we could water our horses.

The trail was out-and-back after the single-track, and Heidi and I soon started to cross paths with riders coming back. They all said versions of “You’e almost there, but there’s no water.” Some said there was no water at all, just mud and cow sh*t. Some said there was water but you had to ride two-miles downhill to get there. Others said there was just a bog.

The water at the top of the hill

When Heidi and I got to the corrals, the two people John had sent to point us towards the water (and make sure everyone got there) told us that no one had gone to the water. They said it was boggy (though one said she had gone there with her horse).

I decided to go. River is used to cattle troughs surrounded by mud (that’s what she drinks out of in her home pasture). I prefered to take advantage of a known water while I could.

It was in fact only about 300 yards from the cabin to the trough (exactly as John had described). That makes 600 yards, or 0.34 miles (my watch said 0.36). It was about 135′ lower. So I added 0.36 miles to my distance and 135′ to my total elevation gain (and loss).

There was no bog, but the slope leading down to the trough was muddy. The trough itself was full of vegetation, but good water. River drank, though not a lot. I let her play I the water for a while then headed back. It added 10 minutes or so to our time. It was worth it. (See a video of River at the trough.)

The way back to ride camp

The way back was about four miles further than the way out. (This was especially true for Heidi and me, because we did a little off-trail detour.) It was downhill almost all the way though. Heidi and I led our horses whenever it was steep. After dropping down off the ridges, we came to a water crossing, and then followed that creek for a long time, crossing back and forth. Once the trail flattened out, Heidi and I made up some time trotting. Our horses were hungry and ready for a rest by the time we got back.

Some stats

River and I rode about 24.10 miles with 3,570′ total elevation gain in six hours with an average temperature of about 73F (max 85F). Slow (average moving speed = 4.4 mph), but I do believe that is harder on horse and rider in many ways! River’s average heart rate was 80bpm (max 188bpm at the top of a steep hill).

This was a tough first loop. My watch recorded 23.10 miles. I forgot to start it until we had walked just over a mile (fortunately Heidi had started her GPS device). Then I had gone to the water (+0.36 miles that in fact John expected everyone to do). After that, Heidi and I went two tenths of a mile off-trail (+0.40 miles). I figure most people rode around 23.5 miles. Some of the hills were quite steep (25-20% per Strava). The horses (except River) went over 14 miles without water in temperatures that were at least high 70s for most riders.

Above: River during the hold. I rinsed off her legs and belly, but didn’t take the saddle off (should have!). She ate really well, even her pelleted feed.

The hold

River and OP had pulsed down by the time we got to the vet. We were officially into the hold at 1:03. We had an hour to get back to the trailers, feed the horses, eat, drink, rest, get back to the vetting area, and vet out for the second loop.

I hosed River’s legs and belly off, then tied her to the trailer. I offered her carrots, mash, and grain; as usual she didn’t want mash, but she did want carrots and her Purina Active Senior feed. For myself there was a peanut butter and jam sandwich and two big cans of Hoptea.

I completely forgot to repack River’s hoof to protect the corn–and regretted it later!

Both horses vetted through with no issues and we were back out on the trail at 2:03.

Above: A slideshow of some of the pictures I took during the second loop, starring Heidi Helly riding Optimus Prime.

Loop 2

We started Loop 2 at a much quicker space, trotting the first several miles. It was warm, but there was a nice breeze to keep the horses cool. This loop followed the same trail as Loop 1 for the first five miles before branching off.

The creek crossing

Not long after this point, we had to cross a creek. It was, according to Heidi (and some other riders) a bog. That’s just because OP was being difficult so she got off and led him through it. Not a good place to do this. The crossing was good as long as you followed the trail John had left… very precisely! But the creek is surrounded by brambles. Horses and people do not like briars! OP got stuck in them, and then Heidi stepped in a deep boggy part and got thoroughly muddy.

The lollipop

After the crossing we followed a gentle trail along the canyon until branching out and up. The trail was a lollipop loop that led up to a beautiful grassy ridge. I thought this second loop was easier than the first, but there were definitely steep bits! It was so amazingly pretty at the top, with tons of wildflowers, that it was well worth the climb.

Heidi and I like to dismount and lead our horses down steep bits. The trail back to camp had successive steep trauils followed by gentle slopes where we could trot, so we got on and off many times. OP was being a bit of a brat. (Heidi and told me he could be difficult but I didn’t believe it till this ride!) Eventually Heidi got tired of “training” him just to get in the saddle, and rode the rest of the way. River was being very good, so I got off. At one point I was leading her being Heidi when OP looked back and saw us. He immediately stopped and loopked sideways at Heidi as if to say, “Well? Why aren’t you getting off?” It did’t work. He’d lost his leading privileges for the day!

The final miles

On the way back we wound back down the canyon, riding back on the same trail we had gone out on. We crossed in an easier part a bit upstream, to Heidi’s relief. (Though she still wasn’t happy with it!)

When we got back to the roads, we picked up a good trot. It was at this point that I remembered that I hadn’t repacked River’s hoof. I became ultra paranoid about her getting lame, and walked on every rocky portion. (It was good terrain for most horses. It just had tiny stones that could get into her hoof.) River had trotted soundly the entire ride, but as if by the power of negative thinking, a few miles after I started worrying she started to favor that left fore.

I got off, picked out her hoof, and rinsed it with wter from my hydration pack. After that she trotted soundly again, but I wasn’t taking any chances. We were only about 2.5 miles from ride camp, and we walked all the way back. Heidi was kind enough to walk with me. I got off about two miles out, because River was starting get silly. She wasn’t very tired and wanted to get back fast.

Even walking we were back well before seven. Both horses vetted through easily. They had pulsed down a long time before ride camp and River trotted out perfectly.

Some stats

There was a total of 2,020′ elevation gain. River’s average heart rate was 80 bpm, max 147bpm. Our average moving speed was 4.4. Average temperature was ~79F, max ~87F. We completed at 6:37pm.

Above: Ride with me along a ride above the Cuyama Valley!

Dinner at the Buckhorn

John had scheduled dinner at the Buckhorn in New Cuyama. I didn’t want to unhitch the trailer, so I had asked John for a ride. I rushed to change out of my sweaty clothes and comb my hair and we headed into town.

It was a fun evening. Many riders went, as well as some people from the ranch, and Dick Gibford, the resident Cowboy poet. Gibford recited the Man from Snowy River and several of his own poems for us over the course of the evening. They were well-chosen for the audience and very well-read/recited. (Listen to him recite The Painted Gate)

I had a Buckhorn hamburger and IPA, both of which were good. I should have gotten pie though, because I know their pies are good. When I was a child, we would drive the the Region VII Morgan Horse Show at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara via the Cuyama Valley. We always stopped at the Buckhorn and got pie.

Sadly I was too full for pie, and quite tired, so I headed back fairly early. It had been a great day.

Above: Decor at the Buckhorn bar. DInner Saturday night was held at the Buckhorn, with poetry readings by Dick Gibford.

Take homes

The ride

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was a great experience. Our hosts at the ranch were gracious and friendly (I chatted with the manager several times.) Dick Gibson, besides being a great poet, is a nice guy; he even opened a gate for Heidi and me on the first loop! The trail was just what I like, steep, beautiful, and just challenging enough. I’d like to thank everyone who made it possible: John Parke for managing, the ranch for allowing us to enjoy their beautiful property, and the vets and volunteers that helped out. Crossing my fingers it happens again next year!

River

River did great on the trail. She was so much more well-behaved than the first time I rode with Heidi, at Fire mountain. She crossed all water willingly. (Well, she went in to all water willingly. Sometimes it’s hard to get her out.) She went up the steepest, most narrow trails without hesitation. River even went the extra “mile” down to the water at the top of the hill. She drank at every opportunity and snatched grass non-stop.

River has also gotten smarter at the trailer. She drank as soon as I poured water into her bucket after unloading. She ate tons of hay. For the first time, she even ate her senior feed and rice bran. (She still refused beet pulp/oat/alfalfa pellet mash.) Because there were long ears parked in front of us (mules and a donkey), River moved around a lot more than usual. She had to keep and eye on them! This was probably a good thing, as usually River parks herself in one place and only moved her rearend enough to poop away from her feet.

I was not such a good partner to River though. I forgot to repack her hoof to protect her corn. When I took the saddle off at the end of the day, her skin was reactive everywhere the saddle pad had touched her. (Her muscles were fine.) By the time I got her out of the field Friday, her skin was peeling. I should have taken the saddle off during the hold, and I will need to change her pad. I’ll make a felted wool one this weekend.

See my later post on How to make felted wool saddle pads.