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Fifty Miles at Wolverine -- a ride story I'll
be the first to admit, I'm no endurance rider.
I've always preferred the more sedate (...um, "sane?")
pace of CTR and, quite frankly, I enjoy having afternoons free to relax
and play after a ride. But when Nelson and Maggie Mieske offered me
their stallion, "Malik", to ride on the 50 endurance at the
Wolverine this past August, I jumped at the chance. Malik is an awesome horse with lots of ability and I was
eager to see how we'd get along as a team. I've had my eye on him as a
prospective boyfriend for my mare, and this would be a chance to see
what he was like as a riding horse.
Besides, 25 miles was beginning to feel like a short ride. I was
ready to do more. Maggie
and Nelson assured me that, after a month of rest, Malik was ready for
more too! The
morning of the ride dawned muggy and warm; many of the riders started
the ride in a tank top. It wasn't supposed to get really hot, but
the humidity was going to be a challenge for the horses on this
challenging trail. We began
in the gloom of "almost light", twenty horses trotting up the
LOOOONG, steep two-track that has become known over the years as
"Bitch Hill". I got Malik right out in front for a few short
minutes, and then joked with riders as they passed that I wanted to feel
what it was like to be a front runner!
I was pretty certain that we'd finish the ride - assuming that we
DID finish -- somewhere in the rear; I was too afraid of hurting Malik
to go fast. I was going to try to listen to my mount and gauge my speed
according to how he was doing. This
was a horse that I'd only ridden twice before on very short pleasure
rides. I would wait for my crew -- Nelson -- to tell me how Malik was
doing and how I should be riding him. Well,
despite my good intentions, Malik had his own ideas about how the pace
would go. From the beginning he was always a gentleman, but remained
insistent that we would keep up with the early runners. Rather than
fight him to hold him back, I decided to keep our speed down to a dull
roar and we sailed merrily along. We arrived at the first checkpoint
somewhere around 4th or fifth in line out of the twenty starters. Malik recovered quickly, ate like a hog, and before I was
ready, our 40 minute hold was gone! Back in the saddle, out on the
trail, and away we went. Malik was strong and eager but I tried to slow
our pace a little... in spite of Nelson's repeated reassurances that
Malik was doing fine, I wasn't going to override this horse. We had a
lot of miles to go! I
barely remember the stretch of trail from Howard back into camp, it went
by so smoothly. We passed a couple of horses and Malik was going strong.
At one point he was doing this huge trot, on the bit, neck
arched, and snorting with every stride ... I'm sure it would have made a
dressage judge smile. Nelson was right, this horse just kept getting
stronger as we went on. I
got off and jogged up King Hill to try to save some of his energy (ha!)
and as soon as my foot was in the stirrup, off we galloped. Soon Malik's
ears pricked up and his stride lengthened .... before long I could
faintly hear Nelson calling, "
Maaleeeeeeek! MaLEEEEEK!!"
We galloped up to the crew truck where Malik happily ate some hay
and drank and Nelson swore that his horse was smiling. He DID seem to be
having a good time. I sure was! We
came into camp just a few minutes behind the first two riders, and Malik
was at criteria almost immediately. In fact, he came down before the
first two horses...we would be the first team out after the hold. Malik
and I were in first! Wow! Malik
was still strong and ready to continue, and Nelson again assured me that
I was riding him just fine. I could see that he was getting competitive
and excited about how we were doing.
He told me before the ride that he knew Malik could top 10; now I
could see he was tasting the possibility of his horse coming in first!
Poor Maggie just looked worried about Malik; I'm sure she was wishing
she were able to ride her horse instead of manage the Wolverine.
One look at her face and I reminded myself that, exciting as this
was, I was going to bring her horse back to her safe and sound.
We were doing well, but we were only halfway. Anything could
happen in the second half. After
our half-way break, Malik and I left camp in the lead. He was reluctant
to go -- after all, why should he be the only horse leaving camp?!
We went up B---- Hill slowly. It was getting hot and the sand was
deep after a herd of horses had churned it up.
Myra Fleming and her daughter, and then Bonnie Tobias &
Mercury passed us to take the lead again, and their presence ahead
boosted Malik's enthusiasm for the trail. Once again we sailed along,
ears pitched forward, and headed for Howard check for the second time.
Somewhere after the gravel pit we caught up with Mercury and rode into
the check together. (Thank you , Bonnie, for sharing your crew with me!)
At this point we were well ahead of most of the other riders, and
about 10 minutes behind the two leaders. Malik and Mercury recovered
well, ate and drank, and when our time came we were ready to go. A lost
shoe had narrowed the time between us and the leaders to 6 minutes.
I was tempted to go after them and try to overtake them, but
Malik was riding very well with Mercury and I didn't want to push too
hard in the last 12 miles. Maybe I could have caught them, maybe not.
At this point I was content to ride my own ride and not worry
about it. (See, I just don't have the endurance mentality :)) The
rest of the ride went quickly, even though Bonnie and I were just
"cruising" to hold our 4th and 5th place positions. We were
pretty certain that no one would catch up this late in the game. WRONG!
Out of nowhere, 6 miles from camp, Wendy Maas and her stallion
came flying up behind us! She really turned it on after the last vet
check to over take us like that, and her horse was going strong. We
picked up the pace once more to keep up with her. OK, so now I was in
fifth place...not bad, I thought, considering that I thought I'd finish
in the back of the pack. Still, there was a bit of disappointment that
we got caught like that. I wanted to do better and Malik could have if
I'd let him. I could feel it in him, the desire to go after that
stallion and leave Mercury behind. He was strong and pulling. Wendy was
getting out of sight. I let
Malik out a little at the two mile point and he nearly bolted after
Wendy. Afraid that Bonnie would be mad at me for skipping ahead of her,
after she was nice enough to share her crew with me (see, I really don't
think like an endurance rider!) I reined him back in and waited for
Bonnie. "Go get her!" she shouted at me. "What are you
waiting for?! Catch her!" So
I tried. As most of you reading this know, the last two miles of this
trail are down...down...DOWN....and we galloped all of it. It was the
most exhilarating race in my life and the whole time I'm galloping Malik
heading down this mountain I was in some sort of state of shock that I
could do such a thing. Malik didn't care, he was gonna catch that other
horse. After almost 50 miles on this wonderful horse I trusted in his
strength and balance and sure-footedness to get us down the hills.
Disbelief and no small amount of trepidation became joy as I let him do
his thing. We caught up with Wendy about halfway down and raced for a
while before Wendy reined in a little and we discussed terms for a fair
finish. We
both knew that we couldn't continue to gallop like that down to the
road, it was too dangerous. We slowed a bit, trotted down the rest of
the hills, walked across the paved road, and lined up for a final race
to the finish line. It would be the stallions, side by side, for that
last few hundred yards, ducking it out for the glory of third and fourth
place. With a final warning to keep them from fighting each other (would
Malik fight another stud at a run? I had no idea, but I had a feeling
his mind was on the finish line and nothing else) Wendy pointed out
where we would begin the race. Trotting together, side by side, I waited
for her to give the word. It was a rough but fair start, as we had to
negotiate a boggy area, but at last we were off. Wendy's horse jumped
ahead of Malik at first, because I had just pulled him up to keep him
from starting early -- but when I asked him to give me everything, he
did. Muck and pasture flew from his hooves as he launched his assault on
Wendy's horse. Two strides, then three, and he was even. The finish line
was in front of us, and blurry people were yelling and cheering us on. I
gave a yell and booted Malik once more, and he turned on the
afterburners, diving in front of Wendy and her horse in the last few
feet to flash past the finish line. We did it! We WON! Well, we crossed
the line in third place, anyway. The point is, we finished, and finished
a fun, fast 50 in great shape! What a blast! It
took a long time for my legs to stop shaking and my heart to slow after
the dismount. Malik vetted through just fine, and we went ahead and
stood for Best Condition. I gave him a grateful pat and turned him out
into his paddock for a well deserved rest and dinner. Later, at the
awards dinner, we were awarded "Best Vet Score" in addition to
third across the line. Wendy's
stallion won Best Condition, which I hope took the sting out of losing
to us at the finish line. That
race in to the finish line was a memory I'll always cherish and my
thanks go out to Wendy for being a real sportsman (-woman?) for making
it a safe, fair contest. Thanks to her, and to Nelson and Maggie for
allowing me to ride their great stallion Malik. My mare Scarlett has his
phone number and will be calling him in the spring....:)
It
can never be said enough ...thank you Nelson and Maggie and Jim and and
ALL the hard working volunteers that made this ride possible!!
This ride and all the others couldn't happen without the
dedication and energy that these people pour into what is mostly a
thankless job. Thank you everyone, for keeping the rides going. Without
you we'd all just be pleasure riders that ride too fast and too
long...... Happy Trails,
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