THE MANY FACES OF SUNRIVER

Photo by Tami Rougeau

I have been lucky enough this year to be able to venture to Central Oregon for two rides. This has given me the opportunity to visit with old friends that I haven't seen for a long long time! What a treat! But all day as I traveled the 100 miles of SunRiver, people kept asking, "Karen, how many times have you ridden SunRiver?" A lot! That was my only answer but once home I did the research.

One year that I didn't have to look up was 1977, my first SunRiver. It was also my very first 100 mile ride on my big horse, Sunny Spots. Nancy Cox and I rode together, it was also her first 100 on Rakar. I broke a stirrup and rode into camp at the 50 mile point, packing my stirrup in my right hand. Not to be deterred I borrowed a saddle for the next 50 miles. This first year the ride camp was in a meadow on the banks of the Deschutes River near the town of SunRiver. It was beautiful!! The 50 mile loop was uphill for the first half and down for the last half. 10 started and 5 finished. We were out until pretty late, leading our hroses down a hill in the dark, and we saw headlights. This startled us a bit and we were trying to figure out who it could be. Turned out to be ride management out looking for us. Gene Petersen took one look at us leading our horses and said, "Time to ride girls!" He picked me up and put me on my horse and then followed us in the pickup - hey now we had lights. We were tired and sore but the horses were fine.

And that my friends was the first of many more 100 mile rides. I rode Sunny on five different Sun River 100's. One of those just a couple months after Andi was born. I rode the 100 four times on Moka's Pat-A-Dott.

One year I borrowed a horse, Reno, from Jennifer Horsman, so I could ride the 100. Zap did the 100 at SunRiver/Chuckwagon twice. Yet another year I took a new horse, Jafar, on his first 50 there. It is always a great first ride of some sort.

This year it was Thunder's second 100, only three weeks after River Run. A bit closer in timing than I like but I was able to go at that time and reasoned were weren't going fast so we would be fine. It stormed and rumbled and poured and flashed Friday as we stood huddled under a small shelter for our ride meeting and dinner. We all hoped this wasn't a preview of Saturday.

I met Tami Rougeau from Nevada, a fellow Easyboot Glove user, and we talked and decided to ride together.

We left a few minutes late and they never saw the other horses leave camp. May & Thunder walked calmly out of camp and were well behaved all day! It was wonderful. It was a cool 42 degrees! We'd had 85 at home just a few days earlier and these temperature extremes are hard on the horses and riders. I layered clothes and used a rump rug on Thunder for the first time. During the day we encountered some rain, sleet, sun and fog. It felt more like April than mid-June. But the trail had no dust and it really was good weather as long as we kept moving. We'd get chilled waiting in the vet checks. The biggest thing was the horses were starving. They tried to graze on the mountain nibbles of grass but it was sparse at best. Thunder never stopped eating in the vet checks, they just needed more time to eat. We picked up another new friend, Nancy Cardosa, around 55 miles and the three horses traveled well together. Thunder and his two mares, May and Elektrika, were all troopers and we just kept plugging away to the finish. Our CRI's were great at 40/40 and Dr Bensen said Thunder looked great at the finish. So we placed 11, 12 & 13 out of 17 starters. Not that it really matters to me. I just wanted to finish on a healthy horse!

So back to the original question of how many times did I ride it? A total of 14 times, 12 of those rides were on the 100 miler. I rode it when the ride moved camp out by the Rainbow Bridge, then up to Kiowa Springs when it was also renamed ChuckWagon Express. Then later camp moved to it's present site at Wanoga Sno Park and was eventually renamed SunRiver Classic. And a classic ride is what it remains today. Thanks to all who work so hard to keep this great ride going. The management is as classy as the ride!!!

OWYHEE SPRING

Once again there I was, driving off to a local endurance ride in a big windstorm. At least I had a tailwind most of the way to help me there. But setting up camp in the wind was a challenge. I didn't dare leave a trailer door open becayse I might lose it, or get knocked over by it. Ride camp was a big ranch located just off Murphy Flat Rd. near Murphy, ID.

On Friday morning I had a plan, take Blue down to the ride and do the 60. Or maybe just putt through the 75, heck it's only 15 more miles. I figured I'd take Thunder to Prineville the next weekend. That plan changed around 3 PM because Amanda Washington's horse had gotten scraped up escaping from her pen during the night. I had a message from her, "Wouldn't you rather ride Thunder this weekend?" So after some talking and a bit of planning, both horses were going to the ride and we'd do the 60 miler. Her friend, Elly Burnett, was doing her first long ride and we were going to keep her company at tourist pace.

Saturday morning the horses were saddled, Easyboot Gloves on all fours, the wind was calm. Looked like a good day! And it was a good day, with some wild Idaho weather added into it here and there. We had a bit of everything but for the most part, as long as you were riding and keeping warm it was OK.

The first loop out was 25 miles and this took us down into the Snake River Canyon near the Swan Falls dam. The views were spectacular, the rock formations awesome and the petroglyph rocks were fascinating. Thunder had to check them out! Thank you Steph and Regina for this great treat!! The river was smooth and mirrored the rocks sticking up in the middle. As we climbed up through the rocks to the top plateau, again the views were amazing. You could see for miles and miles!

Back to camp for an hour hold that was shortened to 45 min thanks to the cold wind and the hailstorm that we'd missed. Good timing! Loop 2 was 21 miles and we hit portions of the Oregon Trail and the horses had lots of grass to eat. Blue was just sure we were going to be out there forever and he was in a hurry to get going. Some places had nothing to tie marking ribbons to - and Steph hung ribbon from a cow skeleton - yeah that's Idaho! After another 45 minute hold we had a 15 mile loop. Great trail and beautiful views of the Owyhees. One snowy mountain top would have blue sky, and another would be covered in a storm. Then we could see camp - and we were done!! And it started to sleet just as we were trying to get horses vetted and unsaddled. The horses were buried in blankets to keep warm.

Regina had barbecued pulled pork sandwich fixings and cole slaw for everyone and the rancher's shop gave us a warm place for dinner!! What a great ride and fun day!! Then I loaded up the boys to get them out of the wind, and headed for home.

BOOTSCOOTIN'

Walk into the back door of most folks houses and you'll find an old pair of shoes, maybe some dirty boots. But I had to chuckle yesterday when I walked in and realized there were four horse boots along side four of my own, just waiting to welcome folks that might come in. :-)

Since I have been riding the horses in Easyboot Gloves rather than shoes, the easyboots have come in the house. They are easier to put on when they are a bit warm. Hey I did wash them before I brought them in.

Most folks have never seen such a thing, either in the house or on the horse. Often when I ride people will say something like "Well now I've never seen shoes like those!" So I have to give them the whole story on the boots. And those that have horses often look at me with disdain and ask why do I bother and not just shoe?

Well I've always believed that horses are better off barefoot. The frog makes good ground contact, pumps the blood and the hoof is healthier due to better circulation. Look at the hoofprints on the trail and with the shod horses all you see is the shoe imprint. But the barehoof leaves an imprint of the hoof outline, the frog, and perhaps even the detail of the bars and cleft of the frog. You seldom see contracted heels in a barefoot horse and the walls are often thicker and stronger. For years I have ridden horses barefoot as much as possible, shoeing only when necesary. Usually that meant shoes on about a week before the first ride and off right after the last ride of the season. Last summer in a gap between endurance rides I pulled Thunder's shoes and gave his hooves a break for a month. Because of this transitioning my horses over to a bare hoof lifestyle wasn't too difficult.

In past years I tried to just use Easyboots, Epics or Bares. But I never could quite solve the problems with them. So I'd end up shoeing just before ride season began again. The boots would go in the cantle bag as my spare tire if I lost a shoe. The new Gloves however have solved a lot of the previous hang ups of booting (rubbing, losing them, forging), and with help from some friends I got them working on both the boys.

When I first started using the Gloves I was forever looking down to be sure that all four were still on. Now I don't really think about it too much. I know I "can" lose one but so far they have stayed on through rocks, washes, sand, water and silly behavior from my horse. I did worry a bit about that first endurance ride in them but even that went just fine. So, just like when I was a kid, I can go out and trim the hooves and keep them at a consistent length and in good condition. If I get behind I can still get my farrier to come help me out.

Admittedly, booting and bare feet aren't for everyone. Because some folks don't like to trim or fiddle with hooves and boots. They just want to saddle up and ride, which is fine. But I like knowing what is going on with my horses and so far the boots aren't that time consuming. I can pick out the hooves and put on four boots in less than ten minutes. Now later on when I try to glue some on, that theory will probably change. But in the long run I still like the idea of bare hooves and letting the horses go "bootscootin'" down the trail!