NEDA New Year's Day Ride

NEDA New Year's Day Ride by dreammakker at Garmin Connect - Details
This was the maiden voyage for my new Christmas present GPS.  I bumped the timer and stopped it first thing in the morning after leaving, and didn't notice until 3.5 miles or so later...

Had another wonderful time this past weekend at the NEDA New Year's Day Ride, hosted by Steve Thompson out in Silver Springs, near Lake Lahontan.  Diego and I have done several of these rides now.  They're a great local and inexpensive way to introduce a horse to the sport of distance riding.  A very fun, low-key group that is totally focused on having a good time.  In November, I brought my friend Ronda and her new Quarter Horse gelding Quik out to join me for their first ride.  We did the 9-mile "short ride" loop together and then Diego and I went on to complete the 11-mile loop for the "long ride" solo.  That worked out well for everyone and was a perfect start for Ronda and Quik into the sport.

This weekend, Ronda wanted to try doing the full 20 miles with Quik.  We've done quite a few shorter rides together, and as long as there are no big hills, Quik keeps up very well at a moderate pace.  Luckily, Silver Springs is nearly totally flat, so Quik wouldn't have to worry about anything much resembling a hill to go over.  ;)  We actually had a few people over for New Year's Eve, including Ronda and her hubby, so she brought Quik and we all had a sleep over and they spent the night, since she lives across town.  Got up in the morning and made breakfast for all the crew, and then we headed out, getting a bit of a later start but still feasible on time.  Arrived and got checked in and to the ride meeting, and were fiddling with some last minute stuff when the ride actually started, but no rush or worry.

Diego has been handling these starts very well recently.  They're not "small" rides, the past two have had between 40-50 people/horses and everyone pretty much starts at the same time on the same loop.  Once we were ready, we headed on down the road, only to make it about three houses down before we heard the jingle of harness behind us.  Turning to look, a 4-wheel cart pulled by a pair of cute mules was headed our way.  Not 100% sure on how Dig was going to react, and knowing from last time that Quik doesn't like the carts, we quickly pulled over and dismounted.  Thankfully we did, as Quik's eyes got huge and he bolted backwards as the cart continued to approach.  Ronda was fast on her feet and determined to hang on, running with him as he went.  The cart stopped and we all stood around for a bit, before we encouraged them to continue on.  The plan would be to catch up to them and hopefully ride behind for a while, to give Quik some more moderate exposure and hopefully let him get over his fear.

Dig was doing great and still walking along after remounting, until a group came of 8 riders came along and passed us.  He got worried and tense, wanting to rush along as they were approaching.  We pulled over to let them by, and to Dig's chagrin I insisted that he continue to walk jig WALK (or attempt to) until he could/would actually walk on a loose rein, which only took a bit over a mile or so.  Once he proved he was indeed capable of walking on a loose rein, we picked up the trot and passed 5 of the horses that had initially passed us.  We continued down the beach and had our photos done by Kitty with Projections Photography.


Mr. Diego cruising along



Ronda and Quiksilver aka Quik

From there we continued on until catching the evil-mule-wagon having a potty stop at one of the restrooms along the beach.  We waited behind until they got moving, and then used the rest of that loop to slowly work Quik closer and closer to the wagon.  At one point, Diego would have happily trotted along next to and past it, but I looked back and Quik was debating if it would be worth possibly running through a barb wire fence or not.  We decided not to chance it and just continued along behind.  In fact, that team of mules was moving out so well, that eventually they got ahead and then out of sight.  Diego went past a crazy chained up snarling dog like it ain't no thang, then decided the cavorting mini-horses in the corral next to the dog were the devil incarnate and had to wait for Quik to come lead him by.  Made it back into camp from the 9 mile loop around 1:30 pm as I recall, so 2:15 total time for that loop.

Both horses met the pulse criteria of 64 and had a good drink of water at the trough.  We took them back to the trailer and let them eat for another 15 minutes or so before leaving for the next loop.  We left the same time as Dr. McCartney DVM and her group of 4 (5 total) so were a fairly good sized pack heading out, bringing up the tail-end of the ride.  The next loop was a series of 90-degree turns that wound us back out and along the perimeter of the lake property along some sandy/dirt rural roads before turning and taking a fairly straight course back through the neighborhood and around to camp.  Both horses were still moving well, but Quik was starting to slow some so we took it easy and only trotted a moderate pace and took several walking breaks as needed.  There was one point where we were trotting along, and I think I was scolding Diego for something, when he suddenly let out one huge giant buck!!  I got after him a bit and then Ronda and I both laughed, he was SUCH a teenage boy at that moment "But I don't WANNA do that!!!" 

We did have a short cantering session once we turned towards camp.  Quik, who normally has awesome "this direction is home/the trailer" radar and goes 2x as fast when pointing that way, was too confused (or possibly tired) by all the right-turn, left-turns and didn't seem to catch on to where we were.  He actually did very well, only really slowing down the last 3 miles before camp.  I had told Ronda that Diego pretty much did the same thing I took him that far.  Dig even stopped a 1/2 mile out from camp, where we could SEE THE TRAILERS and insisted that he needed a break.  Once I got him to actually look up and notice where he was, he happily decided he could make it that far.    Quik did better, happily plodding along and even trotting a bit to catch up and finished in fine shape.  We managed to pass two people in the last few miles, who finished about 30 seconds behind us so we weren't dead last, something Ronda was happy to avoid.  ;)  I didn't look, but I think it was a bit after 4 when we finished, maybe even a bit before, so a total of about 5 hours to do the full 20 miles, including the 25 minutes or so we were stopped in the middle.  Not to bad for a first venture!!!

Bringing new people into the sport is probably my # 1 most favorite thing to do, so I'm glad that we all had such a great time and that everyone (well... maybe not Quik, LOL) is looking forward to doing it again!