"Chasing the Impossible Dream AGAIN"

Maggie and Jenny's 2nd 100 mile ride

Lincoln Trail 100, September 2003

by Maggie Mieske

Night comes earlier now that the summer solstice is long past yet the darkness did not come quickly but crept upon us slowly. The moon chased the sun's shadows from our path and left its own. It was not a true night but for we crazy women on horseback, it might as well have been pitch black. The only redeeming part of having done the trail for the umpteenth time that day in our quest to complete our second one hundred mile endurance ride was that the horses now knew the trail like they knew their own pastures!

The ride started out in a dark that wasn't really dark but "murky". Too dark to really see clearly and getting just light enough to make things blurry. We stuck like glue to Peggy Brush and the grey mare she rode with a red ribbon in her tail. This was another mare not impressed with a stallion's studly ways so Malik was not to have the pleasure of impressing the opposite sex this day. We made it through the first loop thanks to Peggy and her wonderful knowledge of the trail. We waited for her at the timer's station when starting the second loop because we were not certain where to proceed from there. Did we go to the ranger's house right away or did we have to cut through the woods first? Would there be a boy scout there to direct us or were we now on our own? Peggy showed up in no big hurry and we started out again, glad for her expertise and letting the glue unstick a little now.

Not too far down the trail, a huge, annoying fly started pestering our horses and flying in our faces. No one else's. Just ours. Jenny and I decided to canter ahead, figuring that if we got too confused we could slow down and wait for Peggy and hoping that the bug would decide to get lost. The trail and markings improved though we were somewhat dismayed to discover that the second loop was nearly the same as the first with very few variations. We passed some points of this trail ten times that day. Though two different lengths, the two loops were really one, criss crossing and passing over each other in many spots. No wonder some of the 50 milers got turned around. But we were determined to muddle through!

After some consternation when Malik wouldn't drink early on and Max showed some signs of dehydration early on, we all settled into the business of the ride...the horses started to drink and we stopped them to graze on some beautiful, tender clover along the trail. Gut sounds improved through the day and so did our spirits. We sang a few songs and talked a lot the way mothers and daughters do sometimes especially when they don't see each other every day anymore. Nelson and the water boy, Daniel, were faithful and true to their appointed posts while crewing for us, jumping up from their naps to hand us our slosh bottles and refill our Gatorade and water and deer hunter sausages which were sooooo good along the trail to chew on. The salt made us remember to drink more ourselves, too.

Though we went faster and the horses got stronger as the day wore on, it was not enough to make up for the slow start we had gotten earlier in the ride. Nelson and Daniel taped the glow sticks onto our horses' breastcollars long before dark so we would not get caught without them. Daniel gave Jenny a nice little flashlight to help out if we needed it. At the last pit stop, we knew we would do the last 5 or so miles in the dark.

The horses walked along quickly. We were not brave enough to trot. The wooded section of the trail was fraught with peril. Well, there WAS a lot of mud, a few downed logs and a pretty steep hill on the edge of a ravine at the bottom of which there was a nice, deep, muddy bog several feet across!!! Plus some more muddy bogs and one of those hills that Malik likes to canter up like a freight train. Jenny went ahead at first, intrepid teenager that she is, but her glowstick proved to be a cheapie and simply did not cast the light that was needed and the flashlight simply did not offer it enough assistance. So, the intrepid mother took the lead. And promptly broke the damn flashlight that had at least revealed the truth behind the shadows and the trees. There was nothing now but one good glowstick, one crappy glowstick, two brave and fearless horses and their riders who wished nothing more than to be through the woods and back in ridecamp! Even the fireflies faded into the grass and weeds near the ground as if to hide themselves from us.

My heart was in my throat (intrepid woman that I am!). I knew that steep ravine was coming up and I did not relish the thought of sliding down the side instead of walking sedately downhill. It was not an impossibility. The moon cast just enough light into the trees to occasionally spook Malik when he saw his own shadow (brave and fearless stallion that he is!). When he finally made it to the edge of that ravine, sure enough, I felt his left hind leg slip a little away from me. Thank God for our practice in leg aids and team penning. I clamped my leg on his left side and TOLD him in no uncertain terms to move BACK over to the right. I think he thought my leg was glued on there because it held him to the right side all the way down that hill. It helped me forget about the muddy bog at the bottom! Once we made it through THAT, we breathed easier. Our trusty steeds were trustworthy indeed. They had gotten us through the part of the ride we had feared most with little more than a glow stick, dropped reins and a leg glued to one's side.

When we came out of the woods, we knew it was a done deal. Soon, we heard our crew calling into the darkness for their riders. We called back. Throughout the day we had experimented with every phrase or sound or noise we could think of to encourage our horses. "Yee haw" has been getting old. "A-OW", long and drawn out and in a high voice seemed to be their favorite and would instantly set them to cantering or put a spring into their step. With the moon still casting shadows but plenty of light in our path, a whoop and a holler and a howl, the horses once again wanted to canter and we let them. Jenny and I joined hands at the finish line and cantered triumphantly across. We finished therefore we WON!

Lessons learned:

1) Buy the expensive glowsticks, not the ones you find at a bargain barn on clearance.

2) Practice with the flashlight in the daylight so you know HOW it turns on and off and BRING AN EXTRA! Invest in night goggles if you must! I'm sure they can be purchased somewhere!

3) Do not tie your ditty bag which is emblazoned with "Grand Island" on it from your first 100 to your saddle with your vet card inside. If it's dark, you will immediately lose it.

4) Ask next time before driving 400 miles if loops of different lengths are totally separate and apart from each other or if they are extensions and additions to each other.

5) Practice riding in the moonlight with your horse. It is different from simply riding in the dark with a glowstick. Things move in moonbeams that are not noticed in the black of a moonless night.

6) NEVER, EVER forget your A & D ointment in Michigan when riding 100 miles in Illinois or any other state for that matter! No kidding!

7) Don't wear a black shirt in the sun and accept your crew's offer of a long sleeved shirt when evening is falling and you must walk your horse 5 miles in the dark through forests fraught with peril. That black shirt does NOT retain the heat from the daylight hours!

8) Learn to listen to your horse's heartbeat and gut sounds yourself. What may be one vet's C is another vet's A and is YOUR B. Know what is normal for YOUR horse and care for your horse accordingly.