Cooley Ranch Ride
One of the things I really wanted to do over this summer was to ride. I had a blast on the Gold Country and Goethe Challenge rides last year, and wanted to continue with endurance riding. Obviously, one glaring issue is that I don't have an endurance horse, but that problem was easily solved because I know a lot of people who do have horses ready to go. So, I got back in touch with the Ribelys and they told me they were riding in the Cooley Ranch ride the first weekend in June and had a horse for me. I was set.
Cooley Ranch is a large (a few thousand acres) privately owned ranch up near Sonoma. Full of gnarled oaks, California's signature dry yellow grass, and startlingly green vineyards, it's an incredibly scenic area. My dad drove up with me, as he would be crewing for us, and we arrived Friday afternoon, set up camp, and vetted in.
vineyards on the way up
setting off-I'm the one in the white shirt on the grey horse
I was riding a horse called Anisa, a little grey mare who reminded me a lot of my old mare Pearl. Anisa is very sweet, friendly, has an extremely smooth trot, and, despite being a tad lazy, is a fun ride. We set off on the ride early Saturday morning, the horses eager to go, ears pricked forward, feet dancing softly over the dry dirt. Our group walked and trotted the 50 miles, scaling steep hills and dismounting to walk alongside our horses on the plunging downs. Often considered a warm up for Tevis, this ride ran a relatively tricky course, with a lot of hills and heat (though I heard this year it wasn't as hot as it has been in previous years). There were also multiple water crossings, which were fun. The crossings were a huge advantage because, if not for the natural water along the trail, I'm not sure how the horses would have had enough to drink along the tough ride. At one point during the second half of the ride, we were walking across a shin deep stream and stopped to let the horses drink. Usually, they take a few sips, maybe as many as a few dozen, and are done drinking in a minute (I learned on this ride that about 12 or 15 horse swallows makes a gallon of water). This time, though, Anisa stuck her nose in and gulped for five minutes straight. I've never seen a horse drink so much at once, and it was pretty amazing that she could actually get in that much water. Her thirst may have been partly due to rider error - at the halfway mark, I had given her grain. The grain had beet pulp in it, which you have to add water to because it's dry and expands in water, eliminating any danger of choking or of it expanding in the horse's stomach. I knew that about beet pulp, but at the half way stop I guess I wasn't paying close attention because I didn't notice there was beet pulp in the grain and stupidly neglected to put water in it. Lesson learned - I'll never do that again. That's one of the great (or not so great, depending) things about rides - at every one, I make at least one mistake which I know I'll never repeat. Luckily, someone pointed out to me that the grain needed water this time and we added some before the mare finished - no damage done.
Overall, it was a great, uneventful ride through beautiful countryside. We finished strong after about 8-9 hours. The only major disaster of the weekend was that the caterers who were supposed to provide dinner for the entire ride failed to make an appearance...
the vet check where my dad met us halfway through the ride, along with the trusty desert wolf
vineyards, mountains, and the reservoir in the valley below
the sky over the mountains on the way home
(most of the photos on this post are courtesy of my dad, David)
