100 miles and still going!

We did it! Hailey and I completed the 100 mile race on Saturday at Long Island Lake. What a fantastic day...

The 100 mile riders started at 4:30 am, so that meant we had to be up at 3 am to get ourselves and our horses ready and warmed up before heading out. Each group (different distances: 100, 75, 50, and 25 miles) start at different times. The shorter the distance, the later the start. A good ride manager can accurately judge how long the average horse will take on each loop of the race, and stagger the starting times accordingly (prevents a clog of horses and riders at the vet checks). Joan (ride manager) is an expert. She's been competing for years and has put on over 50 rides, so she's got it down to an art form. Not once did we have to wait to have pulses taken, or to see the vet at each vet check. By the time we came in from our first loop, the 50 milers were just getting out of bed to get ready to go.

We (myself, Christy - she owns the horses I train - and her daughter Jaylene) did the first two loops (22.25 miles each) very fast. On the first one we came in almost an hour before we were expected. The third and fourth loops were 13.25 miles and then we had our lunch break. It was wonderful to know that we had passed the half way point by lunch. It makes it much easier to get through the rest of the day knowing that you don't have as much left to do.

By the end of the 5th loop (12 miles) Hailey was tiring. We had set a very fast pace and she was running out of gas. I had to back off the pace a lot to get her through the rest of the race. We had 17 miles left to do and we spent them by ourselves, just moseying along while Christy and Jaylene kept up the pace. We did a lot of walking and took lots of grass and water and sponging breaks (I have to be very aggressive and diligent in sponging her at all the big puddles to keep her cool and keep her heart rate down - it's the key to getting her through 100 miles at a fast pace). The last loop was 5 miles and it was by far the hardest 5 miles of the race. It was all on gravel roads with no shade and no water. We walked about half of it because we were both tired.

When we trotted across the finish line there was no one there to cheer us in or clap or congratulate us. So I cheeered for us and the people who were in charge of keeping track of time clapped for us. It was just as satisfying as having a screaming crowd though because I knew how well Hailey and I had done. We finished the race over an hour faster than we had planned and we placed as well.

Her final vet check was fabulous. Her CRI (cardiac recovery index) was 13/13. The vet asks you to hand jog your horse to the end of the arena and back. Before and after you do it he takes your horse's pulse. If it's higher after the trot, your horse has been working too hard. It it stays the same, your horse worked just the right amount, and if it drops, you could have gone a bit harder. We were just right.

Hailey at our crew area after the race. Our crew refilled all of the buckets and water containers six times during the day! We sponged a lot!

Hailey enjoying a well-earned munch of oats and sweet feed.

The morning after the ride (the night before I put a special poultice on her legs to keep the swelling down). Our official finishing time was 11:15:45. We planned for 12 1/2 hours. We placed fourth in the open division, and I got a small trophy.

We couldn't have gotten through the day without the help of our crew, Brett (Christy's son) and Matt (Lisa's boyfriend - she bought one of Christy's horses and competed in the 50 miler and got 4th as well!). They brought us food at lunch, water during the vet checks, refilled syringes with electrolytes, refilled the water buckets, held our horses while we dashed to the outhouse, helped us untack and retack our horses, and carried all of our gear back to the trailer after the ride when we were too tired to move any more, just to name a few things. They made the day run smoothly for us and that's why we were able to do so well (Christy was 3rd in the open division and got the best condition score for her horse. Jaylene was 2nd in the junior division and got best condition for her horse.).

PS I'm very sore!