Wednesday afternoon, D and I loaded up the boys and hauled way up into the Jemez Mountains for the 2010 Valles Caldera ride. Our friends, Bob and Debbie Bulcock, hosted the ride, which is held on the Valles Caldera National Preserve. This is a really unique and special pleasure, as the preserve has a very strict user policy. Even for those of us who are local, you have to buy a 1-day pass for fishing and they only allow a certain number of users into the preserve on any given day. They issue only two overnight camping passes PER YEAR. So the fact that Bob and Debbie were able to get us access to this really pristine area was, I am sure, a lot of work, and they did a fantastic job as ride managers/hosts.
The preserve is stunning. Think all the golden sunlight scenes from A River Runs Through It or the Horse Whisperer. The caldera is filled with stream-fed grassland that supports a large elk herd (yep - we saw a bunch of elk. D even saw one of the calves), as well as bears (yep - thanks to Bhen's quick eyes - we also saw a big-butted cinnamon-brown bear), coyotes, lots of birds, fish and so on. The caldera itself is bowl-shaped and ringed with the remnants of the volcanic cone before it collapsed to create the caldera itself.
This pretty little stream ran alongside the road into base camp. We arrived to absolutely perfect weather - 75 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. We got the boys set up in camp, watered and fed.
The next morning, we got up to frozen water in the dog bowls and a skim of ice on the horses' water buckets. (It was in the 20s each night out there!). We got the boys tacked up, and we started out around 7:30 a.m. for the first day's 35-miler. We had decided to ride limited distance, since Bhen was just coming off his 2-week injury hiatus with his knee. The first loop out on day 1 was just under 20 miles and we got to come back into camp for our vet check. The boys were moving out nicely with the cool morning temps and we zipped back into camp in great time, went through the vet check without a problem, and got them their mid-race feed and electrolytes, as well as us.
The second loop went out of camp and then dove down into the lush grass pasture just to the east of base camp and then out around one of the mountain peaks. I had walked Bhen out of camp for a few hundred yards and we started to pick up our trot, and I could tell he was off. D was looking for it for me, but he couldn't really see it, but he sure FELT off. So we turned around and went back into camp. I had the vets immediately look at him, and while it was hard to catch - maybe every 5th or 6th step at the trot (not at the walk at all) - that same leg that he had injured was obviously bothering him. So I pulled him. I wasn't taking any chances with his leg and while I suspect he had gotten stiff standing at the trailer, it definitely was bothering him, so that was that.
D, who had never ridden solo at a race before, took a deep breath and I sent him off with Sam hollering for Bhen the entire way. I shouldn't have worried at all - they did great together! Banged through that loop and came zipping into the finish line. They did SO great in fact that they won Best Condition prize for that day.
Next day, I had Kristi, one of the vets check Bhen out. His swelling, after some icing, had completely disappeared and he was 100% sound at the trot. She and the head vet cleared him to go out, but I opted to give him the rest of the ride off. I didn't want to compromise his long-term leg soundness for 2 days of riding. Just not worth risking that, ya know? But I think y'all can probably guess I was very bummed, even though I was sure it was the right decision to make for him.
Day #2 of the ride was a 25-miler for the limited distance riders. A slightly more technical ride that climbed up just above 9500 feet on one of the peaks near the elk-calving areas (the ride didn't go thru any of the actual calving areas. Although all the babies should be on the ground by now, the ride managers didn't want to disturb those areas, but D said they did see a lot of elk up in the trees in that area). Both the LD and the regular endurance riders started out at 6:30 a.m. in one big group, so D held Sam back a little bit to let the fast-trackers go ahead and not try to race. Here he is hanging out with our friend Lisa and her new horse at the start.
Since I wasn't riding, I told Bob and Debbie I'd give them a hand, so I went out to the vet check (which was outside of camp this day) to do pulse/respiration checks for the riders. This also meant I could help D with his break since this was where the halfway vet check was too. The riders were a little late coming into the check, compared to what we had expected. Turns out the elk really like the taste of trail flag markers and the wooden clothespins used to attach them to the trees. Yikes! D and Sam actually did pretty well - going slow and looking for the correct trail - although some riders added a lot of miles to that loop that day. They came into the vet hold looking pretty fresh and perky, and got some calories into them.
D was the second LD rider to come in, so he and Sam headed out to finish the loop into basecamp, while I stayed out to wait for the rest of the riders. The last group, who were moving really slowly, came through several hours later, so the volunteers and the vet packed it up and headed back into basecamp.
D and Sam were already in and Sam had gotten a bath and his post-ride grain. Unfortunately, it turns out Bhen had met them at the finish line with a nice lady after he snapped (IN TWO PLACES) the heavy-duty fiberglass Hi-Tie pipe he was on and wandered around camp snacking at other campsites and looking for Sam before she found him. (Luckily for me, he's not a very spooky horse. He's been on that tie-line TONS of times and not a lick of problem. Not sure why there was one this time, but a lot of other horses would have left camp completely after a scary thing fell from the sky onto him and then dragged along behind him attached to his halter. Yikes - a potentially very scary situation!). Sam came in second and was beat out for Best Condition by only a few points by a vet who was there for the day, riding his horse.
In the afternoon, D and I sat around while the boys (now sharing Sam's big panel pen) had their dinner and we watched the smoke plume from the fire just to the north of us (about 12 miles away) flare up in the heat of the late afternoon.
And that's the end of day #2. Or almost.... but you have to come back tomorrow to hear the rest of the story.
All for now......
You know how to make the rides very adventures. The scenery around you is beautiful as is the sky. Yay for Dave and Sam! You and Bhen are smart to rest one more ride.
Posted by: margene | June 21, 2010 at 05:50 AM
I guess Bhen got a bit restless being left behind. But it was for the best, I'm sure.
Posted by: Cheryl S. | June 21, 2010 at 05:56 AM
Congrats to Dave. Sounds like such a blast. I hate that we can't go up and use the Caldera on a regular bases. Glad you guys got a little break from the heat as well :)
Posted by: Christina Scovel | June 21, 2010 at 07:19 AM
OH my...today is the day for gorgeous photos. First Margene's blog and now yours! That first shot is spectacular!
Posted by: Kristin | June 21, 2010 at 07:21 AM
You mean there's MORE? It sounds like a beautiful place, that's a bummer that you weren't able to complete the rest of the ride.
Posted by: Yarndude | June 21, 2010 at 07:33 AM
Lovely pix - and yea for D for finishing 2 rides solo - now you have real competition. That 1st BC is begins an addiction. Or another one.
Posted by: Cathy | June 21, 2010 at 08:39 AM
It's already been an adventure and there's more to tell? What a bummer you only got to ride the one loop, but I suppose it's better than riding NO loops (at least you got to see some of the scenery).
Posted by: Toby | June 21, 2010 at 08:43 AM
It's a bummer you didn't get to ride much, but the pictures are pretty!
Posted by: Kristi aka FiberFool | June 21, 2010 at 10:43 AM
Poor Bhen. He clearly hates not being a part of the action. It's too bad, but I'd hate to think of him getting hurt so I'm glad you made the choice to pull him. Even if he used the opportunity to go a-snackin'....
Posted by: Sheepish Annie | June 21, 2010 at 05:50 PM
Sometimes you just have to sit one (or two) out, bravo for using good judgement!
That first photograph of the stream ~ beautiful ~
Posted by: cyndy | June 22, 2010 at 03:41 PM