2025 Old Selam Part I: Before the Ride

Friday August 29 2025

I learned a lot!

Originally my lofty goal was to ride three days of 50s at Old Selam. This is one of my favorite rides ever, mostly along soft-footing old logging roads, gentle ups and downs with just a few climbs/downhills, ample water, and the lovely Boise National Forest, with the occasional wildlife sightings. More to come on that!

Willie was fit, from rides and from spending several weeks at the DWA Arabians spa in Bellevue with Helen, where I got to go up and ride him a couple times on some really good training rides. So he was ready. The question was me in the heat, and as the ride got closer, and the forecast showed it was going to get hotter each day, I decided to do a 50 on day one and then play the rest by ear. I just can’t handle the heat this year.

The three days of the ride would be Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We arrived on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon ride manager Debbie asked me if I could go out with her and help mark a little bit of trail on foot that was left to mark on one of the loops (I'm always up for hiking and marking trail). 

We went out on the ATV and checked some things, but ran out of daylight, so Thursday morning we went back out. She dropped me off at a spot and I had about a 2-mile hike of marking trail, and then I would meet her back on the road.

I ambled along the lovely, cool forest, which smelled so great because we’d had a great downpour the day and night before. It was so misty riding on the ATV that my glasses stayed fogged up. I hiked along hanging ribbons, keeping my eyes out for moose, and while I was hiking along a creek thick with willows, I came around the corner and WHOA, there on the hillside was the biggest moose I have ever seen.

It wasn’t just huge, it was HYUGE, a big bull moose, up the hill about 40 yards away, and he turned to look at me. (Of course I'm on foot so it looked even bigger, but. it was HYUGE.) OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I needed the moose to leave because my trail went below him, and I couldn’t hike all the way back to where I started. but how the heck do you move a HYUGE bull moose?? 

So, I crept forward to behind a lodgepole pine that had a trunk about a foot wide, and I started yelling and whistling at Mr. Moose. I hollered and I whistled myself blue in the face, and all he did was look my way and tried to zero in on me. I figured if he moved anywhere, he was going to move down to the trail and on into the willows. At least I *hoped* he would. 

But instead, he started moving towards me! OMG. My heart started thumping really hard. I made myself very very small behind this tree and I shut up. He knew something was behind the tree. 

And then he moved closer!!! OMG!!! I looked up this tree to see if I might be able to climb it if I had to, and believe me I could have if I had to. He moved even closer to within about 20 yards of me and I stopped breathing. And I prayed a couple of times. Keep moving to the creek. Keep moving to the creek.

I was trying to rack my brain as to what I knew about moose. I knew they hated dogs. I thought they didn’t like people, but I wasn’t sure. Later, Robert Ribley told me a scary story about nearly being attacked by a moose, and then Anne told me about a moose encounter she had where (long story) she suddenly found herself in front of a moose in her driveway, and she did the only thing that came to mind, which was to drop down and curl up and play dead like you do for a grizzly bear (turns out this instinct is a good choice). The moose actually came and sniffed her face while her eyes were watching its hooves before it wandered off.

I had an idea that moose couldn’t see very well, but that couldn’t stop him from getting irritated at whatever was spying on him from behind the tree. He crept a few feet closer, and I would inch around the tree trunk, trying to stay very skinny.

Finally, thank the Lord, he turned down to the creek and trotted on into the thick willows. I waited a little bit and got back to breathing normally, then I made a big wide swerve up the hill and around where he had been. OMG!!!!!!!!!

So then, Debbie picked me up on the ATV and we continued on with her driving and me hanging the ribbons, and we came to a creek crossing, which we drove into just fine and out of, but going up the other side was a short steep, super soft few lengths of sand. I saw that and said I’m skeered, and I jumped off! (I am afraid of ATVs if the road is not completely flat .) 

Debbie tried to gun it up, but the sand was too soft and the four wheeler just dug four deep holes. So we were stuck, and stuck good. But. Debbie was smart enough to have had a winch installed on that ATV, so I got to learn about winching an ATV! 

We tried one tree and then had to get a different angle and used another tree, and then had to move the winch hook to a third tree, but the winch was two inches too short, but Debbie had two belts for padding the tree and connected them together with a steel carabiner. I stayed far away in case something snapped and broke, but by golly Mighty Red the ATV got winched up that little hill with Deb nursing/steering it along and out of that sand and we hopped back on and kept on marking trail! I may never have to winch an ATV out of a spot again, but I know how now!

But we weren’t quite done with adventure. We had one more creek to cross, but it was more like a dammed up beaver pond, and with all the rain we had, the water was quite high, so it wasn’t even possible to lift your feet high enough and keep them dry because the ATV was like halfway under water, but Deb just gunned it, and Mighty Red swam and got through there, but coming out of the pond, OMG, the wheels grasped for traction in the mud, and there was a little hill, and the ATV did a wheelie, and I thought I was going to die, but before I could get too skeered and bail off we were out. Booya!!!! I hate ATVs but I love Mighty Red!

The rest of the day was pretty much boring, just the usual, vetting in my horse and getting ready for riding the next day!

Also, there was a semi tame rooster chicken hanging around ride camp central.

Hillbillie Willie’s Crazy Daze of Summer

July 19 2025

It’s always fun to go to a new ride. Hillbillie Willie loves new trails. And Crazy Daze, near Spokane, Washington would be slightly cooler than home, and in the forest, so, shade! It was rather a long drive (around 9 hrs) for a one-day ride, but, it fit well in our schedule for the upcoming 3-day Old Selam ride on august 29-31, where my big lofty goal is three 50s on Willie. (Subject to change of course.)

This time Willie and DWA Papillon would be making the trip, Pappy being Willie’s BF (Best Frenemy), as opposed to his BFF - Best Friend Forever DWA Barack.

Our ridecamp and the ride would take place in the Riverside State Park, over 9000 acres along the Little Spokane and the Spokane rivers. We’d be riding briefly on loop 1 and 2 along the inviting cool green Spokane river.

As usual Regina Rose chauffeured Connie and me and our steeds to the ride. Chris Sprague took over the ride this year, and thank you to Chris and to the ample volunteers who helped! Unfortunately only 12 started the 50 and 11 started the LD, but there were a good number of trail riders who also rode and had fun.

It was an early 6 AM start, and Connie and I fell in whenever we found a nice bubble. We weren’t out to win, just to finish! Willie and Pappy had never ridden together, but Pappy is fitter than Willie, and I figured they might be able to match pace pretty well together. And anyway pretty much Willie was not going to let his BF get out of his sight on the trail since they travelled all this way together!

Loop 1 and 2 were the same, a 20-mile loop, with loop 3 being a smaller inner 10-mile circle. After a couple of miles along a soft single track trail, we dropped down into the aptly named Deep Creek, devoid of water but a rocky boulder-y SOB with a good rocky climb out. 

Pic by connie

The ponies took turns leading for a few miles, but any time Willie was in front, he wanted a small bubble with Pappy. He’d slow down his trot as much as possible to keep Pappy close, and he’d turn his head one way then the other, never straight, because he was keeping his Popeye eyeballs on Pappy. Pappy really wanted to be in front anyway, because he got a bit anxious following behind, so it just worked out best that Willie and I stayed behind him. Willie’s bubble was still pretty small, he did not want to be more than two horse lengths behind Pappy! He’s not like that when he rides with other new Instant Best Friends on other rides. He can go far in front or far behind them, (or solo), but when he’s with Pappy or Barack, his bubble shrinks a lot. 

BFFs when they are eating grass together on the trail

Not so much BFFs when Willie dares to trot beside Pappy

It was a fun day, hot but not too hot, working our way along the woods, through some nice grassy fields, above and briefly along the Spokane River. We did a lollipop on the first two loops where a nice couple took our numbers and re-supplied us with cold water! Water troughs were every four miles or so, and the horses really appreciated that. As did I, because by loop 2 I was dunking my cool vest in every one of them and sponging the horses off.

Low clearance

Vet check

At the second vet check, after 40 miles, Pappy had a slight hitch in his gitalong (probably found that rock with his name on it), so, oh no! Willie would have to go out and do the last 10-mile loop solo! So when it was time, I climbed aboard, and I urged him into a trot leaving camp, leaving behind his BF. The first mile or two Willie was a bit sad, but then, he just went into his efficient agreeable forward trot, enjoying some new trails in the forest. We didn’t encounter anybody except for a couple of pleasant bike riders who pulled over for us, and then suddenly we were back in camp, back for the finish and a re-uniting with BF Pappy.

At Willie’s last ride, City of Rocks, it took him a while to pulse down at the vet checks and finish, and his pulse was a good 10 beats higher all day. Here at Crazy Days, it took him a few minutes to pulse down at each vet check, so I wasn’t going to show for BC, because I knew he wouldn’t have a good CRI. I got talked into it though, so we showed. And I was right, his CRI was 54-72. But everything else was good, so another 50 miles in the books for Hillbillie Willie!

Willie pacing along!

Pic by Adrienne

Holy $hit Bullwinkle

July 26 2025

Hillbillie Willie loves riding new trails. He is also loving staying the Spa at DWA Arabians in Bellevue ID. Helen was kind enough to give Willie and Connie’s 3 horses refuge from the Owyhee heat for a while, and between my work days I’m able to come up for a few days at a time. Willie LOOOOOOOOVES walking around the farm sampling all kinds of GREEN GRASS (of which there is zero at home), green weeds, green alfalfa, green lawn grass, etc. Not to mention it is cooler here and the bugs aren’t so bad.

Today DWA Papillon and Connie, Willie and I went out for a ride on the BLM foothills near Bellevue for a good uphill workout on great footing. We were far away from the busy Ketchum/Sun Valley trails that are inundated with speedy bikers and loose outtacontrol dogs which make riding some of those trails on horseback impossible (and can sometimes make for scary hiking).

Willie led the way for a while, trotting up a soft 2-track road alongside a creek lined by aspen trees. 

Then Pappy took over the lead, cruising along, then - BRAKES! Pappy wheeled a bit, and Willie just braked behind him.

It was a giant moose! Holy $hit Bullwinkle! 

We’d startled him and he certainly startled us! He watched us and we watched him. Big daddy! There are moose in this area, Connie has spent plenty of time hiking and looking for a moose, but she’d never seen any, and when we least expected it, we came across this giant moose! Willie wasn’t worried at all (he has seen moose on the Old Selam ride, though not on the trail and not this close!), and he just curiously watched the beast.

Luckily Monster Moose was more interested in avoiding humans, and we were just fine with that. He went up and around a stand of trees and ended up back on the trail in front of us. We gave him plenty of space and kept walking upward (we wanted to stay on this great trail), and eventually he disappeared, probably back down in the brushy creek. We made plenty of noise as we rode along so any other moose would know we were on the trail!

The horses got a good uphill workout till we ran out of road/trail, and we walked back down. Pappy was all amped up from the moose, while Willie was the one mostly lingering and enjoying the great grass along the trail (he’s usually all business and won’t eat).

Then we headed up a harder steeper hill toward a ridge, trotting much of it to near the top. When we reached the ridge, the road went onward and upward, but that was a great workout and a great wildlife encounter for our boys today!

City of Rocks: Year 9 on the way to Decade Team

 

June 10 2025

Planning a ride season nowadays is pretty much a crap shoot, with work and other commitments and the West now always prone to exploding in fire and changing your plans for you. 

My main Endurance goals for Hillbillie Willie and me are to have fun and maybe, just maybe achieve Decade Team, which is equine and rider teams who completed at least one 50-mile+ endurance ride each year for 10 years. This is year nine for Team Hillbillie Willie and Me. 

We rode and finished a 25-miler at Eagle Canyon in April, but that is one hard hilly ride, and Willie is not a hill horse, so I wasn’t about to attempt a 50 there for his first ride of the season. It was a good hard training ride for him.

So along came the 3-day City of Rocks in Almo, Idaho, a ride we have put on, or helped put on, the last 15 years. This year I’d shoot days 1 and 2, and Cat would shoot day 3 so Willie and I could attempt a 50. 

Heat, heat, heat, was in the forecast, though Day 3 was the kindest of them all. A small chance of thunderstorms were in the forecast, which I either prayed wouldn’t happen or just pretended they weren’t going to happen. City of Rocks can have some doozy storms on those hot summer days (oh, wait, it’s not even summer yet.) and boy am I scared of lightning.

I was hoping we’d find someone to ride with. While Willie can go alone or in company, and he appears to enjoy the 25 milers solo, I didn’t think he’d much like blazing 50 miles of the hot trails alone. We ended up starting out with Danielle and Huey, and companionably rode with them the entire day. Willie pretty much instantly makes best friends anybody he rides with and he of course thought Huey the Quarter horse was the Bomb.

Highlights of the ride:


Only 7 of us started, including the famous Christoph Schork, riding GE Haatra for her third day in a row, and we got to ride with them for the first 15 miles or so of loop 1. That a was a first for me!


The Arrowleaf Balsamroot/Mules Ears were out of control this year


We leap-frogged throughout the day with Tricia and Bentley. 
 

 

Wait… we’re approaching our pristine spring water trough at 7500’ at Indian grove where our horses have climbed and climbed and are sweating bigly and need a drink here… what is this!

 
It’s one of the nearby campers! She has found the perfect place to read her book in an inner tube in her bikini! 

She kindly got out and removed the inner tube because our beasts did *not* want to drink while she was in there!


On the first part of the 12.5-mile loop three (which was a repeat of loop two), Huey was leading the way along a single track beside a small creek, when we all heard a strange but familiar honk… both horses spooked and stopped because a baby sandhill crane was in the trail ahead and mama crane was honking startled and frantic! We stopped and watched while the baby ran to the creek to the left (good) but mama ran off to the right (not good), then back and forth across the trail as if she’d lost her baby. We tried to walk on past, but mama kept going further away. Finally when she bolted to the right again, we scooted past her, hollering apologies over our shoulder.

With five miles or so left to the finish, along this long fun two track road in the park, Danielle asked Huey if he wanted to canter. Canter he did, and Willie broke into a canter. He won’t usually hold it too long before he shifts to a pace (which he did), but as long as it’s smooth, I let him do it. Then Danielle says, you want to gallop? And Huey broke into a gallop, and Willie broke into a gallop, and he galloped alongside Huey for an exhilarating quarter of a mile, wheeeeee! I’d never galloped that long or fast on Willie, and I was so proud of him for holding that gait for so long! Willie was pretty proud of himself too. Tricia and Bentley were in sight ahead of us, and Danielle hollered, “WE’RE GOING TO CATCH YOU! BETTER PICK IT UP!” (They heard us yelling but didn’t know what we said.) And we giggled and slowed our horses down. 

As we were walking back along the park road to the finish (Willie was practicing his fast walk!), a rattlesnake suddenly slithered across the trail in front of us. Danger danger! Willie saw it and planted himself. He knew it wasn’t a good snake! We let it slide on off the trail before we moved onward. Successful snake encounter!


It was a hot day, and while Willie felt great all day, his pulse did run 10+ beats higher than it normally does in a ride (I ride with a heart rate monitor). It took him several minutes to pulse down at each vet check and the finish, even though each time we walked in the last mile or three miles and I sponged him down.

At one lunch break where he just nibbled (he’s never a voracious eater) when I sponged him off, his pulse dropped those 10 beats. He didn’t drink well from water troughs on the trail, but at one of the small creek crossings with the teeniest puddles to siphon from, he took a good drink. 

Willie’s CRI was 60-72 ten minutes after his finish, so we didn’t show for BC. But the rest of him looked great, and we finished our 50…

Year nine on the way to Decade Team!

This Standardbred Can Canter!

March 6 2025

I’ve let Hillbillie Willie pick the gait he wants going down the endurance trail, which, despite him being a pacer on the racetrack, is mostly a nice trot on the trail. Over the years he’s rounded up and balanced out to have a smooth trot, and even his pace now is a smooth gait.

One of the conditioning methods I use if for some reason I can’t ride, or for a change of routine, is liberty in the arena. Willie works hard solo, but he can be especially enthusiastic if he’s competing in the arena with/against his bromance bro DWA Barack. They both get some serious workouts in, because Willie always has to be in front, and sometimes Barack will sneak-and-squirt by him just to mess with him, and Willie has to work hard to get ahead of him again.

With the round circles in the arena, Willie’s started shifting into a canter more, (and often some other gait like a spinaroonie pacealope - oh, if I could just bottle that!), so over this winter in the arena (when/if it was dry) I started asking him for a canter. He’s gotten the right lead canter down so well he can do several loops in a canter and even slow it down. We’re still working on the left lead… I figure that since pacers on the track are discouraged from breaking gait, and they race to the left, it’s just harder for him. That’s my theory anyway.

The other day we had a good conditioning ride out on the trail, and at two different places, where Willie likes to pick up speed anyway, he slipped smoothly into a right lead canter, and both times he held it easily (and not speedy) for at least a quarter mile. I swear that horse was so proud of himself that he could show it off so well!