Hillbillie Willie's Bandit Springs

July 16 2024

Willie is a traveling Houdini this year. He's been to three rides that are new to him, first Mary & Anna Memorial ride in Oregon then sleeping Giant in Montana and now Bandit Springs in Oregon. 

We were ready for a hard hot ride, though we knew it would be 10 to 20° cooler up in the Ochoco Mountains between John Day and Prineville than it would be at home.

We decided we'd do a 50 on day one, and play day two by ear.

The drive to ride camp was hot for the horses in the trailer, though as long as we were moving it wasn't too bad. We tried the trick of adding a couple of bags of ice to the shavings in the trailer; that's supposed to keep them cooler. Does it work? I don't really know. I can't see how it would help when the trailer is moving and all the hot air circulating through it, although when the trailer is stopped, it might actually help with cooling a little bit.

We did have a bit of excitement on the way. On highway 26 in Oregon, we saw smoke from a new fire to the north, called the Cow Valley fire and it was starting to come over a distant ridge. It looked big and bad. We had also passed two other fires on the way, one which had closed a road we were going to take. But this one look pretty serious. And by the time we got to ride camp a couple hours later, the highway was closed. (And by Saturday, the fire had raced East along the highway, heading for Vale, where they were put under evacuation orders after the fire grew to 120,000 acres with no containment; we would have to take a different route home.) 

Then about two hours from ride camp, we had a flat on the trailer. Fortunately we had just pulled over in a pullout to let traffic go by us before we entered the narrow wind-y canyon that goes to John Day, and we happened to notice the flat so we were able to fix it there on the side of the road and not be caught in the canyon with that! We got it changed pretty quickly, didn't have to unload the horses. As we were finishing up, a truck pulled up behind us, and the person sat in there for quite a while, and then he finally strolled out of his truck while yapping on his phone, and finally walked up to us and said, you girls need any help? Oh, thanks, we've got it. But when Regina asked him if he could do the last tightening on the nuts, he launched into a story about how he'd been out riding his ATV and blah blah blah, so he didn't really want to help anyway. But that's okay, we got it. 

Anyway, on to ride camp. Willie was traveling with his BFF DWA Barack and his BFrenemyF DWA Papillon. The plan was to ride Willie and Barack together on the 50 on day one. We tried that a couple of years ago and it was a bit difficult, but we thought we'd try it again. Barack would be happy and Willie would be in heaven.

And Bandit Springs ride camp is in a big meadow with plenty of delicious grass, and wild horses that run around the area and come close to camp and sometimes chase riders on trail. Our horses loved the grass, because all we have at home is dry weeds and cheatgrass. 

Our ponies are watching the wild horse herd in the meadow

At ride camp Willie had to practice leaving his BFFs in camp to go for walks, because this year, he's so Bondo-boyed to both of them that he forgets everything else and how to be more than five feet away from his BFFs. So we kept practicing that. 

Willie had a pretty good calm start Saturday morning, though he's just longer legged and bigger striding and faster than Barack, so I had to work on keeping him under wraps, and Connie had to work on pushing Barack a bit to keep up. 

Connie and I both swore we were not going to miss any ribbons on the loops today. Loop 1 was 30 miles with a vet check and 30-minute hold at 12 miles, in a nice grassy meadow. 

Of course Willie wanted Barack's food and Barack wanted Willie's food

The rest of the loop was pretty tough, lots of ups and downs and it got pretty hot. At one point Willie really wanted a drink from a stream, but we just couldn't get down to it. And then about the same time, we missed a turn, totally did not see the obvious three ribbons, and we went downhill about a mile and a half until, duh, we realized we hadn't seen any ribbons for a while. I mean really, duh! So we had to turn around and the horses had to work that hot mile and a half back uphill to get back to that creek. I felt so bad we’d made this big mistake! And they were so thirsty, we found a way to get down to the creek and they really tanked up. 

I always ride Willie with a heart rate monitor, and I was really glad of it because even after that long drink at the creek, we had another hard climb uphill, and he was quite hot with a high pulse at the top. Fortunately we soon had a water trough not long after, and I sponged him down well, and also dunked my own cool vest in the water, and that really helped him come down and stay down the rest of the day though we sponged off at every creek and water trough we came to. It was probably in the mid-90s.

Of course I worried and fretted about everything I could think of, including feeling terribly guilty about the horse flies that attacked Willie’s face as we rode across an otherwise lovely meadow. I’d fly-sprayed him at the out vet check and even rubbed some on his face, but had left his face mask back at camp for the second loop. He’d walk and fling his head, trying to get rid of them, but they’d land and bite, land and bite. I tried to teach him to rub his head in bushes as he walked by.

Connie took this one in the meadow

We had an hour hold back in camp, then went out for the 20 mile loop 2. It was hotter, and the boys were rather less than motivated, though we did have a good breeze. We swore we weren't going to miss any more ribbons, but we did once or twice, but at least we didn't add another three miles to our total. We both had to admit that we are terrible at following ribbons. 

We had more climbing and descending, because it's in the mountains, but both of our horses did really well. We saw two herds of wild horses, one herd with a couple of running bucking foals, and one that was probably a bachelor herd. 

Willie's staring at the wild horses in the trees

About 5 miles from the finish, we caught and overlapped Simone and her friend, and the rest of the way in we duked it out for turtle. Connie and I stayed behind them, so that left me and Connie to duke it out for turtle. I insisted on turtle because Willie has never gotten one, and because Connie made me let her get turtle a couple of years ago when she was riding Phineas and I was riding Dudley and we came in last. So, Willie got turtle for the ride! Which won me and Willie some lavender bath salts. I don’t think he’ll have any use for them, and I figured they would really come in handy after all the dirt I accumulated at the ride. 

I'm so proud of the Hillbillie, this was a hard, hot ride for him and he handled it well, much better than I did. I couldn't choke down enough food during the day, though I did stay plenty hydrated, though the water I was drinking was about the temperature of a boiling teapot which makes it taste terrible. Coming into camp for the second vet check after the 30 mile loop, it only took him about a minute to pulse down, and at the finish, by the time we took a drink at the finish line water trough and I sponged him down, and we walked to the pulsing area, his heartrate was already down to 60. In that heat!

His back was a bit sore after the ride (and it's more his sides, not the top of his back), and his legs were a bit puffy, which is not unusual, but still puffy, so we weren't going to attempt day two. I think with all his big movement and his size combined with lots of climbs and descents, it just irritates his back at times and the pounding makes his legs fill. 

I’m rather in awe of Willie (and all the horses who rode and finished Bandit!), in how well he handled the heat and hills. Standardbreds Rock!

Hillbillie Willie and the Sleeping Giant

June 22 2024

Sleeping Giant, the new Montana ride, is only around 8 hours from Oreana, so we loaded up Regina’s trailer with 3 horses and headed there on Thursday. Of course, “8 hours” is by car when you’re on a mission, and our adventuresome trip took 11 hours. 

But when we pulled into Ridecamp in a field of yellow flowers on a private ranch north of Helena next to the Missouri River where the Nez Perce people lived and roamed, and where Lewis and Clark once floated by, it was worth the journey. The scenery is gorgeous, just the kind of country that makes you want to jump on a horse and ride into. I’d never ridden in Montana before so I couldn’t wait to hit these trails. “Sleeping Giant” comes from the mountain ridge above ridecamp, which resembles a giant sleeping on his back.

Hillbillie Willie was of course traveling with his BFF DWA Barack, and his frenemy DWA Papillon, and after Willie's unexpected wacko antics at Eagle Canyon this year, I wasn’t sure quite how he was going to behave at the ride. We’d be doing the 50-miler on day 1 (and possibly day 2) and one of his buddies would do a 25 each day. Willie and I practiced leaving them at times to walk around camp on Friday, and he seemed to handle it well. Maybe Saturday’s start wouldn’t be so bad!

I was hoping for that perfect spot at the start of day 1’s 50, not too many people strung out ahead of us, not too many people close behind, not too fast, not too slow. Who could I ride with that might match Willie’s pace? Willie was pretty calm as we warmed up before the start (yay!), and I ended up talking with Teresa from Minnesota aboard her seasoned 18-year-old gelding Aaz. “You want to ride together?” She asked. I said “Sure!” but with the caveat I always add, “We can try,” because I just don’t know anymore if my horse is going to be on crack or not, and if he is, my plans are out the window.

We let the fast riders go out first, and walked out the gate (!), before settling into a trot. Willie was amped and a bit bumpy, but not crazy (yay!). And with a calm influencer ahead of him, Willie settled into his fast trot, pulling, but not pulling my arms out of their sockets. In fact, he only pulled for 32 minutes (yes I looked) before he settled into hard work, and it did help that we soon headed uphill, up and up and up.

One of the ranch owners Cathy Campbell was present as we rode through a gate onto her land, with a view spread out below us of Upper Holter Lake, part of the Missouri River and the Lewis and Clark Trail into the Gates of the Mountains. Montana grass was green and knee high along the cow trails. 

You could call 18-year-old Aaz a mountain horse, because this 4000-mile horse has completed, among many other rides with Teresa, the Big Horn 100 6 years in a row, and the Big Horn 50 or 75 another 4 years in a row.

My Standardbred is *not* a mountain horse, but today he became one, tackling the climbs like a pro, keeping pace right with Aaz, climbing higher and higher, and higher still, up onto a ridge overlooking the valley below and the Sleeping Giant ridge on the other side, and Helena in the valley to the south. The cool and wind-less morning was perfect for hard-working horses.

Aaz and Willie were pretty perfectly matched in pace, and they seemed to enjoy each other’s company. They traded off leading and following, trotting where we could, walking where we had to on a few rocky shale-y ridges and on the hard climbs. We looped back down into the valley, then turned and climbed right back up to the ridge a different way, and the views were still spectacular. Aaz ate Montana grass the entire loop, but not Willie at first, no sir, he is all business out on the trail. But after 15 miles or so, Willie snatched a bite… then later another bite…. then for the rest of the day he copied Aaz and grabbed mouthfuls of grass as we moved along.

Back at the vet check in camp, Willie only took a minute or two to pulse down. His BFF DWA Barack was out on trail, but his frenemy DWA Papillon was in his pen so Wille was happy to hang out near him during the break. Willie is never a voracious eater, but he ate non-stop for the hour hold (yay!), and his pulse dropped to 48 several times.

NOAA predicted a 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms for the afternoon (oh boy), and the clouds were already hovering. It was too warm to wear a jacket, but I tied my raincoat around my waist as Aaz and Teresa and Willie and I headed out on Loop 2. Before we even reached the road crossing, I’d slithered into my raincoat. By the time we reached the first gate (unmanned this time), it was lightning and thundering. Oh boy. I’m terrified of lightning. I was able to open the gate on Willie, but it was a bit tricky to close on horseback, and the thought of me holding onto a metal gate on a very tall horse made me awful nervous, so I got off to close it. As we started up the road, I kept my head down and pretended there was no lightning and thunder, and when it started hailing, Willie wanted to turn tail to the ice balls, but I kept him moving forward and he put his head down and pretended it wasn’t hailing. We all got a good soaking before the sun came back out.

The two-track road took us along the interstate where we had a tunnel to get us to the other side. Willie is not usually spooky but he wanted nothing to do with this tunnel! Aaz waited behind to see if Willie was going to get eaten or not. I got off Willie and led him toward the tunnel, which he still was leery of, but I pretended it was perfectly normal to be going through a dark tunnel underneath the interstate, and so he decided it was too. 

On the other side, we started climbing, and climbing, and climbing. The sun played hide and seek with more scary and spectacular storm clouds. The higher we climbed, the stronger the wind blew. Near the top along a ridge it was blowing so hard, a gust knocked Willie and me off the trail a few feet. Since we’d gotten soaked in the rain, it was quite cold in the gale. But we kept plodding upward. I was crossing my fingers that we’d avoid the darkest storm clouds with the lightning, and as luck would have it, our trails took us right between the worst of it. 

We didn’t see a bear along the soft two-track through the forest back down to the valley, but I am sure some bears saw us! We paralleled the interstate a while, and our horses were so hungry for the delicious chest-high Montana grass, at times they’d slam on the brakes to graze. A longer tunnel took us back under the interstate (no problem for Willie this time), and the rest of the loop was a flat two-track for miles and miles back to camp, coming in on the backside of camp, with Sleeping Giant over our shoulders.

We’d had the perfect Bubble the entire day, and we didn’t see another single horse or rider on loop 2. It felt like we had the entire marvelous Montana wilderness to ourselves.

It was a shocker for me getting back to the finish in 5th and 6th places (out of 22 riders). We’d pretty much started out in those places and stayed there the whole day. Even more amazing, we finished the ride in 7:07! Willie was tired after the ride, his CRI being 54-60 at 10 minutes, but an hour later he was 48-48!

I’m impressed with my Standardbred! In April of this year he was 12 years old going on 2 and on crack, and we’ve progressed back to a relatively calm start, a relatively contained first half hour on trail, eating along the trail, eating at the lunch break, and getting fitter. And, I think I’ve got my mountain horse now. :)

2024 Mary and Anna Memorial Ride: Year #8 on the Way to Decade Team

May 29 2024

After Hillbillie Willie’s last ride at Eagle Canyon, where he was on crack for the start of the ride, then got pulled at the first vet check for hind end lameness, I wasn’t sure quite what to expect of him at the Mary & Anna Memorial ride in Oregon. 

I wasn’t worried about his soundness or fitness; the Eagle lameness was very slight, I gave him a week off after Eagle, and when I next rode him, he was sound. 

My main concern was his mental state! At the Mary and Anna ride, he’d be again leaving behind his BFF DWA Barack and his frenemy DWA Papillon in camp while he went out and started the 50-mile ride on Saturday. And when he gets 10 feet away from Barack, he whinnies. So, apologies to everybody in camp :) , we practiced many, many times on Thursday and Friday, leaving our camping spot by ourselves, walking away from Willie’s BFF/notBFF and walking through camp, visiting, grazing, practicing separation. He got a little better each time, but always, even while eating grass, he’s thinking about his buddies and whinnying for them.

Connie and I both wanted to come to the Mary and Anna ride, one we’d never been to, and the site of this year's AERC National Championships in August. My main goal with Willie is reaching Decade Team with him - at least one 50-mile ride a year for ten years. We’d done seven years together. 

So. Saturday. Connie would also be riding Papillon on the 50-miler, but since Willie would be going faster, I saddled him up early and took him out of his pen to ride around and warm up and loosen up 15 minutes before the start. It’s much easier taking a horse out and walking away from his buddies than to be left behind in a pen when his buddies leave.

I still had no plan; was I going to try to ride by myself? Probably not, because Willie would just want to catch every horse in front of him. Later in the season after a few rides, he doesn’t do this, but I knew he’d be raring to go and he wasn’t going to be relaxed at the beginning of this ride.

I didn’t want to start in front nor in back, nor in a big group, and I wasn’t sure of who might be riding our speed and if they might or might not want company. So I just played it by ear, and would wait for what looked like a good time to head out on trail once the trail was open. 

Willie kept his warm-up down to a walk around the other horses, but he whinnied for Barack a few times, and he was getting himself a little more wound up as the minutes ticked down. Finally the starter said “Trail’s open!” and the front-runners headed out. We kept walking around, but the more we walked, the more wound up Willie got, and I spotted a group who walked out, with another single horse or two heading out at a walk, so I pointed Willie to the trail, at a walk. This was where Williie would explode if he was going to do it, but I just hoped and assumed he wouldn’t…… and he didn’t! He was cranked up for sure, but he was not on crack. We settled into a trot as the other riders ahead of us did, and while Willlie was pulling on his reins, he wasn’t pulling TOO hard.

We quickly moved up on Lindsay Fisher and her daughter Hailey and two others, I sure didn’t want Willie interfering with their ride. We were able to safely pass them, and we continued on with a number of riders strung out on the two-track ahead of us on this 20-mile loop, with an out vet check halfway. We motored along, Willie full of beans and pulling, but not crazy (thank goodness!!!! I could handle pulling), a faster pace than I wanted to go, but with Willie, once I’m committed to a place and pace in the ride, we’re committed and I have to deal with it. Besides, it was a chilly morning, so it was okay to move out the first loop or two. 

After a few miles, we ended up matching strides with young rider Laura E; she was catch-riding a friend’s horse and it was her first ride unsponsored. Her mount Wolf turned out to be a Saddlebred, and he and the Standardbred Willie matched strides and pace, and we ended up riding together the whole ride and all four of us enjoyed the company! Willie loves the forest, and he trotted along either ahead of his new buddy or beside him much of the way. After 90 minutes or so, I could finally take one hand off the reins now and then. We still moved out, but he wasn’t pulling anymore, especially since he had good company.

Willie usually doesn’t drink on a ride until after 20 miles or so, and he didn’t drink at the 20-mile vet check. I knew this was normal, but you sure wish they’d just take a drink already. He isn’t a voracious eater either, and he didn’t eat much at the 45-minute hold. This isn’t unusual either, but just eat something already! He did prefer the communal Horse Crack (soaked rice bran, carrots and oats) to his own grain, and when we could find some, he wanted alfalfa. 

We had five minutes left of our vet check when Connie and Pappy arrived; Pappy was getting his pulse taken and Connie shaded Pappy’s eye from Willie, and I stood between Willie and Pappy so they wouldn’t see each other and start whinnying! Pappy walked on to the vet, and I climbed on Willie and was just about to head back out on trail when Willie saw Pappy and whinnied, but we started out onto the trail with Wolf, and Willie quickly forgot about Pappy and got back to business.

The next 20 miles back to camp passed by easily and quickly through the Deschutes National Forest. Willie *finally* drank at the second water tank after the vet check, dunking his nose in and gorging like a thirsty camel. We had a climb up to the crater a few miles out of camp, circling the rim and looking down into the pit (full of ATVers zipping around.) Wolf and Willie cruised into the second vet check back at camp just behind some of the 100s coming off their 40-mile first loop. (We started at 5:45 AM; the 100s started at 5 AM.)

Willie’s gut sounds got a C…. Not good but not surprising, since he didn’t eat much at the first vet check, and no grass along the trail, as he is all business on the trail. But I wasn’t worried because his pulse was 56, and I knew he’d eat back in his pen beside his BFF Barack. I watched his pulse back at camp while he ate (nibbled the whole hold, as usual), which stayed below 60, (when he’s fit, it will stay below 50), and once dropped below 48.

We picked up Laura and Wolf back out on trail for our final 10 mile loop. Five miles into it we had a good climb, up and up a sandy road, and up again to the rim of the crater, around it, and back down into camp. We took a different path to the official finish line…. A finish banner stretched out by the trail, with Jala waiting with her camera, and a finish timer off to the side. Laura said, “You go ahead, my horse is going to spook at the banner.” I said, “OK, Willie won’t spook at it,” but as we got closer, the banner turned into a long wind-flapping stretchy monster, and Willie got bigger and taller like a giraffe until he finally spooked 20 feet to the left! Fortunately my long-legged Standardbred can’t throw an Arab spook, so I rode him to a stop, got off, and escorted him to the banner so he could see it really was just a banner, and he touched it with his nose and sighed, and we walked across the finish line.

At the final vet check, Willie trotted out sound (and smartly, we’d been practicing at home not to dog it!), his gut sounds had improved a little, and his final CRI was 44-44! Icing on the cake of the day! 

This was Willie’s kind of course - pretty flat, with no steep hills, just a few climbs, and dreamy footing, 90% soft two-track with very little rock under foot so he could move out in his big Standie trot. Darlene and Max Merlich had the trails so well marked, and water everywhere we needed it on course. This will be a fun, fast course for the National Championships in August. 

And so, we now reached year 8 of our 10-year Decade Team quest!

Connie took this one!

2024 Eagle Canyon: Help, My Horse is on Crack!

April 26 2024

For all you Hillbillie Willie fans who’ve been following his Endurance career, you all know that all I really want out of an Endurance ride is a calm start and a sound horse at the finish. At Eagle Canyon, I got neither!

I always underestimate Willie’s fitness in the first ride of the seasons, but I still opted for caution in doing the 25 on Day 2 (I shot Day 1’s ride; Steve Bradley shot Day 2 so I could ride!), particularly because Willie is not a hill-climbing horse, and this ride is *full* of hills. It’s a tough ride for your horse’s first one of the season.

I had no indication Willie would suddenly become demonically possessed at the start of this ride. We’ve been working on calm starts the last 7 years, and last season was pretty much perfect, going out calm every ride on a loose rein, either in a group or riding solo. 

I took him on a long uphill walk on Friday, and he was perfect. After shooting on Saturday, I rode him on a solo warm-up trail ride (I tried this at Autumn Sun two years ago, and he was a total freak riding by himself leaving his buddies in camp; I felt like I was on a half-broke 2-year-old); he was perfect.

Ten minutes before the start on Sunday, he was walking around mostly calmly, grazing, watching horses, a little squirmy, but nothing unusual. I expected everything to go smoothly, because he gave me no indication that a dragon was about to erupt.

As Regina hollered, “Trail’s open!” I tried to find a little bubble. I didn’t want to be right in front of a bigger group, but I didn’t want to be near the faster starters. I found a small bubble but as soon as we hit the road, a crazy demon took over my horse. All his brain cells went out the proverbial window and he morphed into Secretariat (he is an ex-racehorse after all). Oh my lord. Worst start I’ve ever had on him. Instant freight train wanting to run away, legs spinning, feet plop-pounding the road, trotting, cantering, prancing sideways (he’s never done that!), pacing, pogo-sticking, pacelope-i-don’t-even-know-what-those-legs-were-doing, snarling, snorting, bowing his head in a pretzel to his chest, walking that tightrope just this side of exploding, simply demonically possessed and planning to win the Kentucky Derby. Holy crap.

I prayed my reins or snaps wouldn’t break as I had an anchor hold on him, trying to talk him into just not exploding, just ease up a bit, chill out Buster Brown, eeeaaassy, and when we got to Layne’s house and turned left onto a climbing trail, he hobby horsed in place (he’s never done that!) and was snoring blowing pounding wanting to sprint up the hill, doing the work of 12 horses and already we were right behind Vicki Nichols who was in third, with her lovely gelding Rio just trotting steadily and business-like up the hill with Jennifer and Tamara just in sight going over the hill. No way was I letting Willie get his way and sprint up to the front and on to the vet check 15 miles away, I kept him behind Vicki (but not up their butt), and then Cat and DWA Haffir joined us, and finally, after a couple more hills and miles with Willie watching Rio still moving steadily and calmly, Willie started calming down a bit. Good thing as my fingers were going numb on the reins.

Eventually the real Hillbillie Willie, the horse I knew, came back to earth, forward and strong and bowing his head but not pulling, (he looked good by the time we got to the water tower where Steve was taking pictures), and if he did start to pull, just asking with my legs brought him back. I was even able to take one hand off the reins now and then to take pictures. He felt smooth and fit and effortless, handling those hills like they were nothing.

It’s been years since I rode at Eagle Canyon. It is a beautiful ride, in the green (this time of year) foothills rolling off in the distance, with snow-covered Bogus Basin ski area off to the east. We had perfect weather - not too cold or hot or windy, which, at Eagle, can have all of those in one weekend! Willie and Rio and Haffir cruised along the two-track roads at a sensible pace, up and down hills, on the flats, passing cows, passing the canyon with the cross.

(Proceeds from this ride are donated to the Women and Children's Alliance in honor of SueB, a victim of domestic violence, whose husband pushed her off the cliff.The WCA hopes to help other successful, smart, beautiful women like SueB leave these abusive relationships before it’s too late.)

After 15 miles we trotted on into camp for our first vet check. Willie pulsed down right away, and we trotted out for Jessica. But wait - she asked me to trot again with Mel watching! Willie was off behind! I was rather astounded, as I had not felt anything. Mel agreed he was off a bit. She trotted him out for me (I couldn’t see it), Jessica trotted him out for me (I still couldn’t see it), then Jocelyn trotted him out for me and I finally did see it on the right hind. I was glad it was caught before I went back out on those hills on the second loop.

It was only a slight lameness, but I was a bit concerned, because I have gotten good over the years feeling even one bad step, and I had not felt this at all. But, horses can be running on adrenaline in a ride, and when they get into a vet check, they can just let down and relax, and it hits them. It was a bit cool with a bit of a breeze, so standing around would also let a horse stiffen up a bit. I untacked him and purposely let him stand around and cool off even more and eat for half an hour, had Jocelyn trot him out again, and I could detect it a bit more.

Like I said, Willie’s not a natural mountain horse, he’s a flat-lander, and maybe those hills got to him, or, in the exciting drama of the wild start he tweaked something. 

And that wild start - just when you think you have things figured out with your horse, you don’t always! Sometimes, even after seven years of good starts, your horse can lose his marbles, and you just have to ride it out a while until he comes back to you.

Hopefully our next start will be drama free with a sound finish!

top photo by Steve Bradley!