07/07/2025
We are still on our drive back to CA from the Mt. Adams Endurance ride. We should reach our ranch tonight (Monday). It was such a beautiful ride and extremely well organized. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful through and through. Trails were well marked and Ride with GPS was very helpful.
On Friday, July 4th, Vera2 and I (Vera1) rode the LD with Sharif and Eqaadir “Q”, who did very well. The ride vet commented with a laugh, “he isn’t even tired, you should have done the 100 with him”! (Nice compliment for Q, who is still transitioning from having been a show horse to becoming an endurance riding horse.) We averaged 6.5 miles/hour on loop one which was 16 miles long, but for loop two which was 9 miles long, Sharif just would not move out! This is what happens with him when the mid-ride vet hold is inside of camp. He does not want to leave camp and will trot as slow as molasses! Q was not wanting to lead, we tried to have him ride in front of Sharif, like we do at conditioning rides at home. But, he only wanted to stay behind Papi Sharif. Thus for the second loop, we only averaged 4.8 miles/hour and we came in at the tail end of the ride, almost the turtles.
On Saturday, July 5th, we rode the LD night ride (thus the name “Midnight Riders” for the Mt. Adams ride). I rode Sharif and Vera2 rode Love Story. The ride started at 7 pm and the cut off time was 2 am. In the morning, Sanoma Blakeley (youngest female Tevis winner) and Bobbi Walker (ride manager) held a wonderful workshop about night riding. For a night trail ride, you can go as slow as you want, but at an endurance ride, you have to ride under a time constraint. You really need to average 5 miles/hour to make the time cutoff.
The workshop was very informative and one of the things that resonated with both of us was to “trust your horse”, because they have much better night vision than a human. Other tips were to avoid motion sickness by avoiding the usage of a rider headlamp and to also not ruin the horse’s night vision by unnecessarily using the headlamp.
We taped glow sticks to our horses’ breast collar and headlamps to our helmets and off we went! We had to ride a 12.5-miles loop twice. The thinking was that the first time you ride the loop, it was still light enough to see, thus you’d be familiar with the lay out of the terrain, etc. Then it would not be completely unfamiliar the second time that you’d ride the loop in the dark.
We rode loop one at 7 miles/hour to help with the 5 miles/hour necessary for the cutoff time. We finished the first loop and vet check mid-ride hold with some light. But we rode loop two in pretty much complete darkness. “Trust your horse!” That was the most important advice that Sanoma had given. Vera2’s night vision was better than mine. This meant that Vera2 led with Love Story who was very confident on the trail. Love Story seemed to know where she was going. The green glow sticks, attached to the breast collar, illuminated the trail a little bit. Neither of us used the headlamps at all. The trail was marked with tiny green LED lights on the right side at regular intervals. So, we rode from light to light.
Obstacles, like a big rock in the middle of trail or holes, were marked with red LED lights. That gave confidence and turns were also marked with additional yellow color LED lights. Ride with GPS was extremely helpful because we had it set to where there was voice announcements like “take a right in 1/4 miles” or “right straight for one mile”.
My night vision was way worse than Vera2’s and it also seemed that Sharif was less confident riding in the dark than Love Story. This may have also been because I was less confident as a rider in the dark. It was full moon, but riding through dense forest, it was pitch black for most of the trail.
For loop two, the we averaged 4 miles/hour. Sharif almost bolted three times during the dark loop, good thing that Love Story’s butt was in front and was utilized as brakes. The first time Sharif bolted forward was when two other riders trotted up from behind, both with headlamps on, one with white light and the other with red light. Especially the white light racing up from behind scared the crap out of Sharif. Who can blame him? The second and third time it was an animal in the bushes and trees next to the trail. He also spooked at a few of the green LED lights that were marking the trail and the shadows they threw.
Love Story, on the other hand, did not spook even once. She rode along like there was no difference between riding in daylight or in the dark. What an amazing mare!
We finished the night endurance ride in 3rd and 4th place. They were greeted by Bobbi Walker and her lovely ever present smile and welcome at the finish line.
I am not so keen on night riding, but Vera2 absolutely loved it. We definitely want to do this ride again next year. I will have recovered from this night ride by then, ready to try it again. 😊
