The Cold, Wet Rides of Spring: Leatherwood, No Frills and NYA

The spring of 2018 passed like a blur! Fresh off his six-week rest, I planned to compete Gryphon at the March 24 Leatherwood ride near Winston-Salem, NC. Teresa wasn't cleared to ride, so we recruited my old friend Cat Carter to ride Welcome, with Teresa to crew for us. After setting up camp next to Amy Stone and her mom, the three of us took our the horses out for a quick warm-up ride so I could show Amy and Cat, who hadn't been there before, some of the super-challenging trails.

Visiting with the Stoneburners and other friends as the last rays of light faded from the sky, we nervously scanned our phones. The next day's forecast called for a return to winter with near-freezing temperatures and a mix of rain and snow, and the first drops began falling as we tacked up the next morning.

A rain/snow mix made Leatherwood even more challenging.

Amy's horse kicked out at Welcome early on the first loop, but both horses seemed fine. The rain fell more and more steadily, so by the first vet check we were all soaked. Somehow it was Amy's horse, not Welcome, who came up lame and not able to continue. Leaving my horse with Teresa, I headed to the stable bathroom, where I hung my wet coat and began drying myself in front of the propane heater before bundling up again. As Cat and I headed back up the mountain at the start of the long second loop, we ran into snow at the slightly higher elevation which began sticking to evergreen branches and turning the trail to mud. We got a break during the long flat section in the middle of the loop, but were again soaked and slightly miserable on our return to camp. Despite carrying the extra weight of our wet selves and all our clothing, Gryphon and Welcome again vetted through just fine, and I repeated the process of thawing myself out and applying dri(er) clothes.

In 20 years of competition, I've never had to steel myself to go out on trail again as that day. The last loop began with several especially steep climbs. While I usually let G-unit pick his pace, knowing momentum would be critical to getting through that loop, I used my voice to keep him moving. Cat and Welcome kept up, eventually giving him a break by taking the lead. What I remember most was getting facefuls of snow from the low-hanging branches that made my face feel as if it was on fire from  the after-effects. We finally finished just after 3 p.m., tying for 7th. I'd planned to head home, and while the others cared for the horses and took showers, I packed up camp and lined a tractor to tow us to the main road through camp (4WD can't get you out of every situation!). Once we were back on the interstate and refueled, Teresa took over driving just as it grew dark and we hit a microburst snowstorm near Charlotte. Cars had skidded into ditches on both sides of the highway, but T kept the rig slow and steady and by midnight we had dropped off Cat at her car and made it back to much my much warmer and drier home on Mt. Airy Drive. How appropriate that the Top Ten award was wool socks with the Leatherwood logo!

I'll devote another blog post to our adventure at the World Endurance Championship test event (pre-ride) in Tryon, NC on April 20, where Teresa and I helped crew for the Oman team and their French trainer, as well as Tom McGuiness of Ireland, owner of Horseware.

No Frills was cold but at least no rain!

Since I couldn't get off work that Friday, Teresa also hauled G&W to the Old Dominion's No Frills ride, held April 24 with basecamp next to our friend Lisa Green's. Temps dropped to the low 20s overnight so tacking up was a shivery experience, but the day warmed up beautifully. We decided to aim for Top Ten, and on the long second loop didn't stay an extra minute at the grassless gate & go, but let the ponies pause for a few bites in a small field about 8 miles further down the trail. Lisa happened to be driving by as we started on the long dirt road back into camp, and accompanied us part of the way back, handing us a beer to start celebrating early.

By now, Azzam had graduated and headed west to work at a ranch in South Dakota. Taking his place as our training partner was Jeannette Lazzaro, an Air Force flight technician and event rider getting ready for the Mongol Derby. Jeannette was a great match for Siena, and with Lily Kuhn again helping me make the drive, we competed together at the New York Adventure on May 27, taking our time to help ensure a completion for Siena, while Lily again used Shiloh for drag riding. So cool to have my three veteran endurance horses together at a ride!

A Siena sandwich at the New York Adventure.