100's and more!

Whew am I behind on my blog or what? It's been a whirl wind of a spring and now hot summer! Plans keep changing and to be honest I really don't even like making them. But I am goal oriented and like being busy.

Andi Sorrell, myself and Beth Nicholes finishing Owyhee River Challenge

Photo by Merri Melde

I needed my head examined I suppose but this spring I decided to be a ride manager again. Plus some where amid ride planning I found the time to put on an Endurance 101 clinic!

The endurance ride became a 3 day event of ride and tie, endurance, running and trail riding! It was crazy fun! The events of running and riding, Owyhee River Challenge, were successful and raised funds for little Tristen Thomas. She is getting close to three now and had her heart transplant just before the ride, and the little rock star is doing great! And even though helping others is good, the BEST part of this deal was that I got to do an endurance ride with my daughter Andi. This was the first ride she has ridden in 14 years! She, Beth and I had a great time and placed Top 10!

Putting on a ride meant lots of riding all spring to find trails, hook it all together into one big loop which got bigger, and to get it marked. And then it all had to be unmarked. Thank goodness for good friends who were willing to help! All that riding meant I needed more energy, enter the "It Works" part of my life. Andi became a distributor of It Works' many products and got me started on the Greens. With just one day I could feel a difference in energy. So she signed me up as a distributor too and I love the Greens and all the good things they do for me. But mostly I have more energy and a lot of my chronic back and hip pain are gone! YAY that means I can walk more and ride more. A BONUS is I can make money selling the products that you can view here.

Thunder and I at SunRiver 100 photo by Cassidy Rae

 

All that "feel good" had a second bonus effect, I rode the SunRiver 100 mile endurance ride a week ago! Yes 100 miles for Thunder and I that I doubted I could do two months ago when Beth was saying that she wanted to ride her first 100 on Brass. The SunRiver ride was on my calendar because my BFF Colleen was coming to visit and ride. Our 2015 Adventure got put on hold though when she couldn't come as planned. I couldn't find anyone to trailer pool over there with and decided to just go anyway. At the last minute Beth wanted to go too. I'm like why not, Brass looks good. And our choices for 100's are very few. However I had just trimmed him not knowing he was going anywhere and that turned out to be a bad thing. Tamara Baysinger, Beth and I started in the dawn that morning, and the horses looked great on the trail. But in the vet check Brass took a couple off steps and pulled with a very slight inconsistent lameness. Turned out to be a stone bruise. Tamara and I continued, through the day and into the night. Eventually turning on the head lamps and trotting our way to a finish shortly after midnight! We watched the sun come up and go down, there was zero moonlight in that dark forest! We were happy to get in!

 

And for those who wonder, this is one reason I do it all. This magnificent view is unbeatable!