The trophy!!!

I was finally able to bring this trophy home! This is the one that I won when I did the 100 mile race in July with Hailey. I get to keep it for the year, then give it back so it can be taken home by the person who wins first next year. It's very large!!!

She's my favorite!

Hailey is now on her way to Montana for the endurance riding national championship on the 22nd. The Wadey family is taking her because Christy's family is not able to go, and if you can't go the next best thing is for your horse to go. I'm very sad that I'm not able to go with her, but I know that Carol and her girls will take good care of her. They are so careful with their horses. One of their horses, Kris, received the 10,000 mile award a couple years ago. He has successfully completed more than that in competition now.

Yesterday I competed in a 50 mile race on the same trails that I did the 100 mile race on. This time I rode Sakic, a 6 year old gelding that Christy owns. He's fantastic and I really like him. We rode by ourselves all day and he was good as gold. We were the last ones of the day to cross the finish line, with a time of 6:01:38, which is his fastest time yet. We planned for 6 hours, and were almost exactly on the mark! There was a photographer there taking pictures of everyone. I purchased three pictures from him, which he will be mailing to me within the week. I will scan and post them when they come in the mail.

I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday! It was so beautiful on the trails yesterday. The leaves are in full color, the mornings and evenings are crisp, and the days are warm and wonderful. It's too bad that I can't take my camera with me on the trail because I've ridden through some forest that has made me want to stop and just sit and enjoy it - but of course I can't, because then I would never get to the finish line!

The next plan is the last ride of the year in Oyen in two weeks time. This time I think I'll be doing another 1o0, but I'm not sure yet who I will be riding. I might be taking Lisa on her first 100 mile race, so we'll most likely be going slow. She bought one of Christy's horses and has been riding with us for almost two years now. She's new to the sport, and is learning a lot about pacing, speed, and taking care of her horse so that it doesn't go lame.