Meet the Owyhee Fandango 100-Mile Team

Saturday May 12 2012

3 girls, 3 horses.

Carol gathered a few quick pictures to give you an idea of who we are:

Connie & Finneas

Carol & August

Me & Jose

I'll flesh out the characters in another blog entry.

Connie's gone till next weekend, so right now I'm keeping two horses fit - Jose and Finneas. We also put Finneas on a diet!!!! He needs to lose about 20 pounds before the ride. As Steph pointed out, it's the heat that will affect him most - he doesn't pulse down fast anyway (probably that appy blood in him, plus he's a black horse), and the more fat he carries, the harder it will be to dissipate that heat in his body. Finneas is not fond of dieting. He can scream like a girl horse when he's starving, which, when he's on a diet, is every time he sees me walk by. I tell him it's for his own good, but he does not believe me!

Connie is having some trouble with counting, as, for the last week, she's been thinking we have 20 days to go till the ride, when it's really only 15 days left!

Steph is considering having a teams competition for the ride, and regardless, we three girls on the crick need a team name. For some reason, the "F" team seems to have come up, from some of the emails Flying between us:

Ferociously FABULOUSLY Far-freaking-out FAMOUSLY FIT 'n FABULOUS FEMME FATALES on Flying horses…

and right now Fiiineas is Fabulously Fit and Fabulously Fat (and Fabulously opinionated)

And don't any of you add "funky" and "flatulent"!

Maybe readers will have some better suggestions than "Team F" … how about it? 

Suggestion anybody?

P.S. I wish I could say I did the artwork, but Carol found them online! They fit us each so well, don't you think?

The Owl Tree

Thursday May 10 2012

He's been driving me mad. 

A male screech owl, uncommonly hooting during the day, for the last couple of days. He's very close, but I've been unable find the little hooter.

One daytime hoot - the sound of a pingpong ball bouncing - sends me flying outside to try to pinpoint his location… but he does not make another sound… until hours later when I'm back inside. I jump back outside with camera and binoculars, and begin to scan the trees. He must be somewhere within 40 yards, in one of the trees along the creek.

The leaves are starting to grow thick on the cottonwood trees, but I peer through them, raking every trunk, every branch with my binoculars, walking slowly up the creek and back, but I see nothing except for leaves and bark. The owl doesn't give a clue - doesn't move a feather, doesn't blink an eye, doesn't utter another sound. I cross the creek and study the trees from the other side, but I can see nothing but leaves and bark from a different angle, a jigsaw puzzle with a million green leaves, white bark of cottonwoods and brown bark of locusts, and an invisible bird. I know he is watching me. Half an hour I spend, methodically searching the trees - but I come up empty. 

The screech owl hoots again during the next day, and I resume my search. As I'm scanning with my binoculars a particularly tall and gnarly locust tree, one in which I would be roosting if I were an owl, I realize my lenses have focused right on an owl! He is so well camouflaged, I almost miss him. It's not the screech owl; it's a larger great horned owl, perching like a knot on the tree branch, his eyes sleepy slits, as he barely acknowledges this owl-hungry human wandering below his Owl Tree. 

But there is no sign of the screech owl, who I am sure is still watching me.

The screech owl hoots once again on the third day, but the only owl I find is the silent great horned owl, perched in a fork of the Owl Tree.

The screech owl hoots once again on the fourth day, and I leap outside, armed with camera and binos, and I swear I will not go back inside again until I find this mysterious owl. Today he gives me one more clue as I'm outside: a single sound - a high pitched 'Wop!' - which narrows my focus to an area twenty yards wide, ten deep, a tree on either side of the creek, maybe 30 feet up.

Again I comb the trees with my bare eyes and the binoculars, up the creek then back down the creek, one side, then the other side of the creek, analyzing every branch. Time passes, water tumbles down the creek, wind sighs in the trees - but the owl holds his silence. 

I am drawn back to the Owl Tree. There is something about this tree. I scan it with my bare eyes, and again with my binoculars - and suddenly I find I am staring right at him - the screech owl, looking in every way - shape and size, streaked markings the color and direction of the bark - like the Owl Tree itself. 

His eyes are sleepy slits, and like his bigger great horned cousin, he knows I'm there, but barely acknowledges this human who can't hardly tell an owl from a tree.

Now I have a friend. Even when he doesn't hoot during the day, talking in his owl sleep of his good owl dreams, I check the Owl Tree, and I can pick him out with my bare eyes. Now he is obvious to me, because I know his secret now. I can see.

Monster on the Crick!

Tuesday May 8 2012

There she was, gangly legs, wobbly knees and all, by the time we got up this morning.

She's light brown, but will likely turn gray like her mama.

She nursed, she pooped, and was soon looking for a way to fold those long legs to lay down and take a nap. It would take a structural engineer to figure that one out - which she hadn't figured out yet, while I was watching.

A nice morning surprise, a new little monster on the crick!

The Big One Hundred

Sunday May 6 2012

Let me preface this by saying, It Was Not My Idea.

I was ready and able to help on the 100-mile day at our upcoming 3 day Owyhee Fandango at the end of May. And I was ready to help crew for Carol and Connie.

Carol hasn't done a 100 since 2007. If she finishes, she'll get her 6000 miles! It will be her horse August's first 100. Connie has never done a 100, nor has her horse Finneas, but they both have the gas and gumption to git 'er done.

Connie and Carol have been sending psyching-up-encouragement emails to each other. Connie has a little good luck present for Carol. I've been sending both of them a few inspirational emails, such as, 

"The Moon Phase on 27 May, 100-mile ride day, will be waxing crescent (36% illuminated), which in this desert will be bright enough so you can see to comfortably pick your nose."

Today, Steph sez, "Why don't you wear the helmet cam, and ride Jose on the hundred with them?"

WHA……..?!?!!?!?!??!?!??!?!?!??!?!

I've been quite content to do 50's on Jose. To some 100-mile gurus, that's not 'real endurance' and I'm a wimp. I'm here to say that I am not a wimp, but you can call me lazy, if you must. To me, 50 miles is just dandy - I get good pleasure and exercise (and sometimes sore) from 50-mile rides (multi-days are my favorites), and I have time to post pictures and report at the end of the day. I haven't done a 100 since 2009. Jose's never done a 100. If Jose completes, he'll get his 2000 miles.  

Oh dear! I was cruising through life all happy and lazy, taking on little challenges like 50 mile rides now and then, with nothing piled on and spilling over my plate to worry about. Now I have a LOT to chew on. Now I must begin a major mind shift. I have to think about things like, how to optimally train Jose? He's fit, having done 2 50's this month, 3 weeks apart, but… now what? a few short rides? a long ride? both? a lot of short rides? Walking? Trotting in sand? Hills? What am I going to eat? I don't like to eat on 100's, but I must. It'll take me weeks to figure out what to eat! I better start cooking many things now, so that I have a variety to choose from! What to pack for the vet checks - some of them will be out-vet checks. In fact 3 out vet checks; 2 of them will be in different places, so I'll have to pack 2 different bags for each hold (and double the goodies in one vet check bag). What to put in the bags for me, and what for Jose?? Jose will need a variety of grain and hay and a change of saddle pads and cinch and grooming brushes and brushing boots and extra horse Easyboots and a blanket in case it's cool or wet or windy, and a variety of food and frozen water and gatorade and Starbucks coffee drinks and a change of clothes and bandaids and Ibuprofen for me… Do we (Jose and I) each need a bag at each vet check, and what, now I have to pack 4 bags?? What about the weather - will it be comfortable, or will it be hot? Too hot? What if it's too hot?? Ohmigod what if there are thunderstorms???? And now I have to look at maps! Now I have to charge lots of batteries for the helmet cam… and decide which vet bags to pack them in and decide on what 8 hours of footage to shoot. And what about that starting time - 5:30 AM!!! I don't like that side of the morning!

Steve Bradley photo!

On the other hand, I'll get to make a special video of a 100-mile ride, of a special place (the Owyhee desert) with Big Things on the horizon, and hopefully not the sunrise 24 hours later! I will discover one hundred new ways to admire the Owyhee desert. I will soon share a new experience with Jose Viola.

And, a big motivator is that I'll now be in on the little prezzies Connie is creating. My prezzie for the three of us will be beads for our horses' manes.

Daily emails have begun flying. Here is Connie's from today:

we are strong , fit , smart gorgeous and ready , and have excellent crew and steeds . 

I may have to shave my legs and paint my nails.

and 

so 21 days and counting? steeds and gals stupendous fabulous ,willing and ready for anything. 

I have 21 days to psyche myself up! Don't know if I'll inform Jose about it yet or not. : ) 

Let the psyching begin!

[If you missed them, videos that I made of our Tough Sucker I ride, and videos Steph made of the Tough Sucker II ride are here on Endurance.net.]

(And, if plans change and I need to help during the 100 miler, instead of ride, it's because I need to help, NOT because I am chicken or wimpy or lazy.)

The Bag

Thursday May 3 2012

Perry's big as a house, foal parts poking on all angles of her belly. She's due today!

Her nipples have enlarged, and she's started to 'bag up', and while often the udder will get round and full, and the teats will start to wax, that's not always the case. Maiden mares (and experienced ones), I'm told, don't always follow the rules.

The pelvic ligaments around the tail will relax in preparation for the stretching during labor and foaling, but I can't tell if that's happened or not. It's more common for a mare to foal during the night, but the last mare Princess that gave birth here foaled middle of the day during a busy riding clinic.

So if Perry doesn't give us these obvious signs, we might just wake up to a surprise one morning.

Catch-All Catch Up

Wednesday May 2 2012

A busy week!

There was the Owyhee Tough Sucker II where I got to ride Jose, and I wore a helmet cam, stalking Steph and Rhett like the paparazzi, as Rhett went for his 6000 miles. I made a video of the vetting in on Friday, and Steph made a video of loop 1 of the ride and you can see them both here on Endurance.net.

Right after that it was off to the forest in eastern Washington where I helped with spotted owl research. That's on my resume in a past life, and I still jump at the chance to do it occasionally. The above photo is a new spotted owl known as Orange-With-Black-Dots-Left that we found and banded there last year. He and his mate raised two young. We didn't find any owls at the same place this time, but hiking around their territory, I felt they were there, somewhere. 

Now I'm home long enough to hug my horse and repack, then I'm off to the Idaho Writers and Readers Rendezvous in Boise over the weekend. Adventure author Tim Cahill (one of my favorites) is the one of the keynote speakers.

It's the same weekend that the Kentucky Derby will be run. Really, I'm not much interested in racing anymore since Zenyatta retired, (OK, except for Black Caviar), and I won't see the Derby anyway, but I'm mildly interested in the Parma, Idaho-raised horse, 50-1 Rousing Sermon, and one of the favorites, Creative Cause. He's trained by Mike Harrington, who was the veterinarian for our barn at Longacres in Washington 20 years ago when I was a groom. I won't be leaving any of the lectures to watch the Derby, but it'll be something to watch a replay of when I get home.

The Best Tough Suckers!

Saturday April 28 2012

Saturday's Tough Sucker II 50-mile ride was one of The Best Ever! Jose is just The Coolest Horse Ever! 

We rode with Jose's buddy Rhett and Steph. 

Rhett finished the ride and got his 6000 miles. Think about that: it would be like riding from Seattle to Miami. And from there on to Los Angeles. Oh yea - and he's turning 21 this year, and still looks fit and powerful going down the trail.

Steph's making a video of the ride from the shots from the GoPro helmet cam I wore; I'll put the link on here. Meanwhile here are a few shots from the ride.

Following Karen and Rusty, and Amanda and Nero to the Snake River (they tied for first).

Steph and Rhett.

Jose, The Best Horse Ever, also known as The Coolest Horse Ever, calm as a cucumber at the vet check.

Always like the shadow shots : )

more pix from the ride, and videos of Friday's vet in, and the Tough Sucker I ride here:

http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2012ToughSucker