Dear fans of Kalika ;)
>
> It sounded as if you're not tired of the ride reports yet, so here's
> another one for your entertainment!
>
> Last weekend we went to the Santa Cruz Fireworks Ride in, yes, Santa
> Cruz, but I don't know why it's called "Fireworks" - I must have slept
> through those ;)
> This was our second 50 mile ride and I wasn't so nervous anymore. I
> felt prepared and after the ride in June I realized that just by
> having a well-conditioned, well-fed and happy horse, using a good
> saddle and tack, and by being organized and focused at the vet checks,
> you can already propel yourself ahead of a lot of other competitors.
>
> We arrived a day earlier this time, on Thursday afternoon, because
> there were pens available on a first-come first-serve basis and I
> really wanted Kalika to be able to move around and lay down if she
> wanted. Then we had all of Friday to explore a little bit and to use
> the wonderful facilities available at the Santa Cruz Horseman's
> Association who were the hosts. For once we weren't deep in the woods
> and even had showers available and real bathrooms!  (We still had to
> camp though but I'm getting used to that.) They had a great dressage
> arena which we promptly used and a nice x-country course. I have
> recently started to jump a little with Kalika and she is loving it, so
> we practiced that and had a lot of fun before everyone arrived and
> parked their big rigs on the field between the obstacles. Then we went
> to explore the first few miles of the trail to get an idea of what we
> would be dealing with in the morning. That was actually a good move,
> and you will hear in a minute why...  The line for the check-in with
> the vets was unusually long and very slow, tons of people signed up
> for both the 25 and the 50, but that gave me time to meet new people,
> including an FEI endurance rider waiting with us. She has been doing
> this since the 80s and was a bit intimitating at first but I got over
> it and proceeded to pick her brain. She was full of information and
> great advice.
>
> We vetted in, Kalika got her starting number -- 112 -- and then on to
> evening chores, supper and to bed early. I got up again at 4:30am to
> get ready for the 6am start only to find myself in the thickest
> coastal fog and drizzle. It was horrible and I couldn't see a thing.
> But I managed to get everything ready in time with the help of my
> headlight, actually eat some breakfast, and get to the start a few
> minutes early to warm up Kalika a bit. It was another controlled start
> where no one could pass the leader until he let us go. But it would
> have been impossible to pass anyone anyway because the very first mile
> of the ride was a narrow single track leading fairly steep down to a
> brook and winding back up on the other side. I was glad I had already
> done this part the day before because I could hardly see anything! It
> was still dark to begin with and we were in the Redwoods and it was
> foggy, so you can imagine... But I trust Kalika and let her pick her
> way. Luckily it got lighter fairly quickly but the wet salty air made
> it pretty miserable, especially once we got out into the more open
> area approaching the coast.
>
> But before we even reached that area, we had to master the most
> anticipated obstacle that everyone had talked about the night before
> at the ride meeting -- the San Lorenzo River. I was told that it was
> "not that deep," "extremely deep," "fairly easy to cross," "very
> difficult to cross," and heard stories about people coming off and
> horses panicking... But volunteers form the local Large Animal Rescue
> team would be standing by, yes, very reassuring... So to say the
> least, the adrenaline was pumping as we made our way down to the river
> crossing. As you can see in the series of attached pictures, we
> plunged right in and while Kalika didn't bat an eyelid, I think I
> screamed a little (first photo) and then said "Yikes!" (second photo.)
> You can actually see Kalika's ears going backwards, not because she's
> upset but because she's listening to me, probably thinking "What
> the ?..." Of course my boots got wet, only five miles into the 50, but
> I caught myself and we made it through fairly well, compared to other
> riders whose photos I saw later ;)
>
> After that, it was off to the coast. Kalika would see the ocean for
> the first time! Only when we got there after 18 miles, the water had
> the same color as the sky, gray on gray, and it was not very exciting.
> The weather was fairly miserable at this first vet check. The hold was
> only 20 minutes as the vets were worried horses would get too cold and
> cramp up so we had to do everything in a hurry. We pulsed in, I let
> her drink and grabbed some hay which she had to eat while waiting in
> line for the vet. The vet-check went really well, all A's, and then a
> few more bites for her and hardly a couple for me. Off we went
> again... The next loop was only 11 miles and we had an hour hold after
> that. I was really looking forward to the break and knew I could push
> her little bit. After some very technical deeply rutted single track
> through the dunes, we got back into the woods and then onto some wider
> dirt roads where it was easy to make up some speed. We attached
> ourselves to a couple of riders who were going at the same pace but
> when one of their horse had a huge spook right in front of us because
> of a mountain biker, I passed them and got away. Too dangerous!
> Despook your horses, everyone!  We rode a little bit with different
> people here and there and Kalika was getting really good at letting
> horses come and go and not caring too much either way. She definitely
> likes having company though.
>
> At the one-hour hold, back at the coast, I scrambled to find my crew
> bag so I could put a blanket on Kalika. Ride management had delivered
> our bags but there were so many of them, all looking very similar,
> kind of like baggage claim at the airport... It was still foggy and
> cold and we had to take all tack off before presenting to the vets and
> there were no tarps or anything to put your things down. So note to
> self, pack a tarp! I wanted to vet her in right away so we would have
> plenty of time to rest and she looked really good but was a bit
> grouchy when I made her trot out for the lameness exam. But the vet
> liked that she had an "attitude" so I guess it was a good thing. She
> got all A's again but then worried me when she wouldn't eat and drink
> and went right to sleep! She wouldn't even eat her favorite treats! I
> was convinced she hated me and wanted nothing to do with me anymore...
> But then, just like that, after a ten minute power nap, she snapped
> out of it and started munching away and I could finally give her
> electrolytes (in apple sauce...) I have to learn to let her decide how
> to take care of herself and trust in her instincts, But let me tell
> you, I was kind of upset for a minute there.  This was actually the
> first time I really would have loved to have some crew to help me. I
> needed to eat myself (and it's still very hard to get anything
> substantial down) needed to sit down, go to the bathroom, refill my
> water bottles, reorganize my saddle bags, change saddle blankets, tack
> up again and be ready to leave on time. Thankfully there were some
> nice young girls volunteering and that really helped. They were
> totally into it and loved the horses. But believe me, this hour went
> by way too fast!
>
> Then we trotted off again. Things somehow got easier as we repeated
> parts of a previous loop and then headed "home" which is always great
> for the horses once they realize that. Wherever we could, we rode at a
> nice pace of about 9-11mph, switched back and forth between trot and
> canter to give us both a break and after another 13 miles or so came
> into the last vet check at UC Santa Cruz. We rode through their campus
> for quite a bit and it is gorgeous! It would have been even nicer on a
> sunny day... This was another 20 minute hold, so we had to rush again.
> A few people got pulled here, including the FEI rider whose horse was
> lame, but Kalika passed with flying colors and off we went on the
> final seven miles. She knew where we were headed and did not let up.
> Of the whole day, she had the most even pace, lowest heart rate and
> greatest attitude on those last few miles. It was beautiful! After
> crossing that silly river again -- this time a lot easier because the
> entry was a lot less steep from this side -- it was up up up for a
> while, through the woods, then another hard climb in fairly deep sand
> and then some fast trotting, back down to the brook, up to base camp
> and a final fun canter across the finish line with lots of hooting and
> hollering! We arrived at 2:05pm, so we had been out for eight hours,
> including an hour and forty minutes of hold times.
>
> When they yelled "tack of, weigh in!" I couldn't believe it as that
> means you are Top Ten!  Turns out we came in 10th which was a complete
> surprise because all day long I felt there were so many riders with me
> at the vet checks and I didn't think I had passed all that many. The
> whole field was about 60 competitors and I really didn't think
> lightning would strike twice after June's very successful 8th place
> finish. But here we were, with people fussing about, me almost falling
> off the scale (from joy and shaky legs ;) and then off to the vet
> check one more time. She looked very good and the vet told me to
> definitely come back and present for Best Condition.  I only had 30
> minutes though and really wanted to clean her up and make her look
> good, clean up myself and change, and eat a little bit. So once again,
> I was in need of help, and I almost didn't go, but in the end we made
> it. After last time's BC presentation I knew I had to practice
> trotting in circles with Kalika which I had managed to do exactly once
> in six weeks, oops... But we did our best, and it worked fairly well
> in one direction. The second circle, however, was extremely egg-shaped
> and we all laughed.  Luckily Kalika was trotting really fast, almost
> dragging me behind! While that certainly would not be ideal in a
> halter class, after a 50 mile ride the vets like to see that kind of
> enthusiasm (I believe she just wanted to get it over with and go to
> sleep ;)  The vet took her heart rate before and after trotting, which
> is called the CRI, the Cardiac Recovery Index. The idea here is to see
> if the heart rate comes back down within one minute after a short
> "stress test," the trot, to at least the previous number. Kalika
> started with 44 and ended with 44, very good!  Still the vet was very
> tight-lipped and didn't give us much feedback so we went off to
> finally relax. I cooled her legs and put bandages on and changed and
> ate and waited for Connie to come in to help her with her horse,
> Khajun. They took it easy and he did really well and was a good boy
> the entire ride.
>
> And then, insert drum roll here, we got a big surprise at the Awards
> dinner: Even though we were "only" 10th, Kalika won Best Condition!!!
> I could not believe my ears and jumped up and down!  The head vet was
> smiling at us and now I realized why he had been so quiet earlier, he
> didn't want to give it away... It was the most exciting news and such
> an honor. The Best Condition award can go to any of the Top Ten horses
> but rarely ever goes to Number 10, but I suppose she just looked and
> recovered the best compared to the nine horses that came in before us.
> What a great and successful day!
>
> So where do we go from here? Now that I know even more about Kalika
> and she is learning to handle this distance, we will keep striving for
> the best grades from the veterinarians and keep aiming for good
> placement. Depending on the other competitors and the trail conditions
> that may not always mean Top Ten but it is feasible and I don't
> believe anymore that these last two rides were just "good luck." Our
> next ride is in four weeks on Labor Day weekend and until then Kalika
> will have lots of rest, sprinkled with some swimming and a couple of
> dressage lessons and maybe a trailride or two. I need to do more cross-
> training myself and pick up yoga again. My ankle was better this time
> because I wrapped it and took some painkillers before and after but I
> might still go and have it checked out. I also need to get sheepskin
> stirrup covers to avoid bruising my calves and then I really should be
> all set and pain-free ;)
>
> So once again, I am grateful I ended up with this amazing horse and
> picked up this exciting discipline!
>
> To all of you, happy trails,
> Ines & Kalika