How The West Was Spun: Tall Pines Endurance Ride

We are back from the Tall Pines Endurance Ride. We had an absolute blast! By far, this ride was the nicest we've been to so far.

Ride camp is about 1.5 miles in on BLM/National Forest land in the Gila National Forest, near Silver City, NM. The camp is an open area where several arroyos run down out of the mountains.

Friday, we rode out on the 30-mile ride. There were two loops: One 16-mile loop that went out of camp through the arroyo and then headed up into the mountains behind us, past an old mining camp and then back down another sandy wash and headed out cross-country through a private ranch, before turning and coming back into camp. The second loop was 12 miles and a bit more technical. We headed out of camp in the same arroyo, but then turned more quickly and went up into the steeper, rockier mountains, where we rode under HUGE pine trees, before easing back down through a narrow rocky canyon, and then riding back down the arroyo into camp.

The trail was wonderfully marked, so there were no real worries about getting lost. The ride managers had water out about every 4 miles, which was great, since it was warm, and Sam and Bhen are more used to the cooler mountain temps these days.

Our goal for this ride was basically to see where the boys were in terms of fitness. First ride of the season, and they'd been off for a while with our move and then 4 weekends of snow in April. D and I agreed we would ride conservatively, which we did. We also encountered a lot of deeper sand, which the horses don't have as much experience with and can be tough on their legs, so we trotted where the footing was good, and then walked them in the really rocky sections or in the areas we were worried about the sand being too deep. I also was kind of concerned, because when we presented for our pre-ride vet check, the vet asked me if I thought I had conditioned my horse okay for 30 miles, and said she didn't think he looked very fit, and got me really worried. (Apparently, since she didn't know us, this was her way of getting me to pay more attention to my horse. Um. Not an issue. I already pay a lot of attention to Bhen. If I thought at ANY time, he was having problems, I would have pulled him and walked him in.)

By the time we brought the guys into the vet check after the 16-mile loop, the vet actually said both the horses looked fantastic. The guys had gotten into their groove and were just chugging down the trail. They both came into the midway vet check already below pulse criteria, and we got them fed and watered at the trailer, and then set out on the next 12-mile loop. Even riding conservatively, we came in 5th and 6th, and got all but one A on our post-ride vet check.

Saturday, we decided that while the horses were doing great, the (ahem) human riders needed some Advil, so we just rode the 12-mile "fun loop" that was the second loop we had ridden the previous day, as a training ride. The boys probably could have done another 30 and maybe 50 if we had ridden slowly, because they were ready to go on day 2! They zipped through that technical loop in just under 2 hours without pushing (we still walked some parts), and the vets were really impressed with how great they looked.

Bhen had settled into what I call his "Terminator" pace by the middle of day 1. You know that scene in Terminator 2 with the liquid metal terminator where he just keeps coming after them, and they shoot him, and he gets up and keeps going? That's Bhen when he's working. He's very relaxed - you can actually watch his bottom lip flop in his shadow on the ground - but basically I can set him at one pace, ride him with just enough contact on his bit that he knows I'm back there with him, and he will go at that pace over pretty much any terrain, and just keep eating up the miles. There's absolutely nothing like that feeling!

So, we and the boys had a really great time. We ran into a few people we knew from last season and of course, made a few new friends. We sat around and talked after the ride dinner on Friday and Saturday nights, and picked up a few nice prizes for completion and top-10 positions. Next year will be the ride's 30th year, and Nancy and Jeff are promising a blow-out good time, so we are definitely putting this one on the calendar for next season already!