This was about 15 miles into the race and she had already set herself up for a problem. Fifteen miles riding with poorly adjusted stirrups will usually result in sore muscles from trying to keep a proper seat. The adjustments were made and that problem was solved. However Heathers legs were pretty sore by now, and that along with this ride being the longest distance she had ever gone, would make the remaining 35 miles a real challenge.

We were at the 45 mile vet check I could see Heather was pretty worn out. There was a 5 mile loop needed to do to finish and to Heather that may as well have been 50. She was not anxious, but willing, especially when the kind lady helping her vet Fifi through the check told her that it was only 3 miles and that she rode it in about 20 minutes. Well 3 miles at a walk is a long time and in fact was still probably 5 miles, and I was not going to walk 5 miles when we had lots of horse. So with a bit of prodding Heather we managed to trot most of it.

We finished 10th and 11th. So on her first event Heather placed top ten SUPER! Our next ride was Buck Meadows Boogie a two day ride with 50 miles each day. On this ride we had the pleasure of Sharon Campbell joining us riding Zoltaan, and again I rode my stallion SMR Garcon.

Fifi was in the most attractive part of her heat cycle and Garcon being the man he is, was a real handful for me. Once again we rode near the front of the pack and every time another horse approached Garcon was bound and determined to watch over his gal Fifi. Thankfully Sharon riding Zoltaan took on the role of running interference so I could keep fairly good control on Garcon. It was a tough ride for me but we finished the ride top ten and now Heather had 100 miles and two top ten finishes.

Next day I stayed in camp and a friend form Poland, Wojtek who had drove up from Phoenix, and I were crew for the two gals. They had a great ride and once again finishing top ten. Buck Meadows is a beautiful place to ride and we all recommend it for next year. Located not to far from Yosemite National Park the trails and scenery were only outdone by the great management of the ride. So now with 150 miles of experience Heather is starting to feel pretty confident of winning a Tevis Buckle, only 150 more miles to go. The solution was in site.      

On May 23rd-25th, near Nevada City on Hwy 20 at a place called Skillman Camp is a three day ride that would complete the task. On Thursday, the day before, I was packed up and ready to go, and as bad luck would have it, a fire broke out around the town of Cool closing the roads. My Cool Body Shop in Cool was getting hot, and there was a partial evacuation of town and that took precedence over me leaving for the ride as had been planned. So unfortunately we missed the ride the first day.

Arriving Friday with SMR Garcon and SMR Fifi d’Or we vetted in and were joined by friends from Petaluma, Nathalie Guion and Drew Buechley. Drew and Nathalie (http://www.natguion.com) earned their first Tevis buckles in 2007, Nathalie riding Fifi and Drew on his Morgan Stallion. Last year we rode across the finish line together with me riding Zoltaan. A picture of the finish is displayed on the www.tevispost.com home page. It was their first time on Tevis and now they were preparing for Tevis buckle number two.

Our troubles were not over. As luck would have it the weather turned to rain, and thankfully Heather had a large two room tent. We set-up a table and chairs and the four of us enjoyed a snack and beverages out of the rain before retiring. It rained all night, sometimes pretty hard, and the sound of the rain pounding on the roof of my van was quite disturbing. However it was not anyway near as disturbing as it was to Heather who was trying to sleep in her two room tent that started to leak big time. She eventually gathered a smaller tent during the middle of the night and set it up inside the larger one.

By morning it was flood city all around camp. The ride start was delayed one hour which gave many riders time to consider not riding.

The consensus in our camp was the same, especially when Dr Jamie Kerr DVM expounded on the possibility of injuries from the very wet slippery and steep trails. That settled it we left for home. It was cold and rainy, a hot tub at home sounded really attractive. Since we had paid to ride and there was no refunds offered, Heather and I decided that perhaps an evaluation early Sunday would provide us a chance to return for Sunday’s ride.

At 3 am I checked weather.com and a 50/50 chance of rain was predicted. Outside I could see the moon in the haze and called Heather to meet me in Cool at 5am. She did and we were off for day three. The weather treated us to a beautiful start with lots of sunshine. Once again we started near the front of the pack, this time Heather riding Fifi and me riding Zoltaan. There were two riders ahead of us that pretty much led the way till the first vet check then it was just the two of us out in front. At mile 38, Heather noticed a few rain drops. From then on the drops were more frequent and at the last vet stop about 10 miles from the finish it was a fairly steady rain. Fifi as usual had fantastic recoveries and with my urging, Heather left 5 minutes ahead of me.             

Meanwhile the riders Heather and I met at the beginning, came into the vet stop about seven minutes behind me. They remarked to me they were not intending to win, just to finish top ten. I remarked back that "I rode to get the best ride I can on the horse I was ridding". When I caught-up to Heather, and confident that Heather and I were going to finish first and second, we rode along at a nice easy pace.

About one mile from the finish, I looked back and saw the rider that claimed to be just going for top ten coming on pretty fast. It was fun to squeeze Zoltaan and say to Heather lets go kiddo! There were a lot of LD riders on the same trail and it was a bit of a task to pass sometimes but they were all very cooperative. Heather was hesitant to keep up with me in spite of the fact that Fifi wanted to. Heather had no problem holding her back as she was not comfortable at the speed I was going. Meanwhile Zoltaan was very happy to move out at a lope.

Along the narrow trail and down a few hills and we broke out on the road about 1 quarter mile from the finish. I was very impressed with Zoltaan’s desire to move on at a fast pace considering that we had just rode 50 miles. End results first place for me and another top ten for Heather in fifth place.

So now with only 100 miles left to qualify for the Tevis entry, Heather is very confident she will be sporting a Tevis buckle come July 20th.

Our next ride we hope to do is one in the Napa Valley, and I suggested to Ruth & Ron Waltenspiel (Cooley Ranch Ride) the ride managers, that they should double the entry just because it is such a beautiful ride.

That will be 50 miles and only 50 more needed for Heather. There are lots more rides between now and Tevis and I’m sure We will have one more Tevis completer here come July 20th.          - Potato -