No one was more shocked than me when my husband, Richard, and I sat down to talk about which rides we’ll try to hit for the remainder of the season.
Certainly the WV ride on August 7th is a no-brainer. Not too terribly far from home (~7 hours), lots of friends attending, and Sarge’s type of course — hilly and rocky. So we’re there.
When he told me, however, that he wanted to go to the GMHA CTR in Vermont, well, I almost fell out of my chair.
Of course, endurance and competitive trail riding are both distance riding sports, but endurance is the libertarian, laissez faire, loosey-goosey wild west sort of make-your-own-rules sort of sport, whereas CTR, and particularly CTR at Vermont where there is a long and rich tradition, there are RULES. Written rules and unwritten rules.
It is the 75th Anniversary of the GMHA 100, and we know most of the written rules. Minimum and maximum pace on trail. No interference boots. No “substances” to be used, like desitin or Body Glide — two of my favorites (for the horse, that is; no one has gone so far as to create a drug rule for the riders yet, thank heaven). No artificially cooled water. No help from a crew.
And then there are some additional rules at GMHA. Some about parking and camping and stabling. Others about riding THROUGH the big white arena as you come in from each day’s segment of the ride. Mounted awards ceremony. And last but absolutely certainly not least, PINNIES. <shudder>
Photo of me being strangled by my own pinnie, GMHA 100 2009 courtesy of Nick Goldsmith
I reminded Richard of all these rules, and still, he wants to go. I’m excited to have his company but concerned he will have deep regrets about his decision to compete. Rich is not a rules sort of guy.
So today we headed to Allegany for a hilly conditioning ride, to loosen up Ace and check that he’s firing on all cylinders, and to off load some ballast from Sarge, known recently and very affectionately as ”the Staypuff Marshmallow Man.. ”
The heat and humidity have decreased dramatically in WNY in the last 36 hours so it was in the high 50s as we set off and not a cloud in the sky.
However, the deer flies were a force to be reckoned with, and apparently they are being bred faster these days to keep up with demand, so we did the 12 miles as fast as we could, largely to avoid their swarms. Managed to spot a Baltimore Oriole along the trail, and no bears. Good news on both fronts.
All systems go, the boys felt grand, the truck seems to be running just fine, so we’ll be sending in our entries!