The Ducks do Die Hards...

What a good and fun ride we had to end our ride season...the Ducks have been head to head with the second place position with The Wild Bunch most of the year.  And this ride put us back into 2nd place just when we needed it! So it was nice to move up a slot this year.  Trying for first place is a bit beyond us Ducks I'm afraid...  But, it sure is fun to go for second...!

Mary Lynn and Brenda headed for our little ridecamp village...

None of us finished in the top ten, but we all finished our rides!!

It had been a cold clear night and there was ice on the water, and even on my step, which was a bit on the slippery side...which made for a cold saddle up on fresh horses...

Brenda rode her boy, the ever steady Elite (well, when he isn't trying to buck her off) to babysit Greg's first ride on his newbie, Buzz...and they both did terrific! Finishing in the middle of the pack on happy horses.  Mary Lynn has to get credit for Buzz's conditioning program though...so congratulations, Mary Lynn... She stuck with him and kept him going along steady all summer long getting ready for this day. Looks like Buzz is going to be a good endurance horse for Greg, as he pulsed down good and took in all the excitment with a cool head.  What a nice surprise for Mary Lynn!
Brenda was a bit sore from one of Elite's bucking sessions earlier in the week, so rode with a sore knee...but she sucked it up and ended the year with a successful ride! Sometimes we have to slay Dragons, and Brenda got them subdued. Yes!

Vickie, Paige and I rode together starting out at the end of the pack, hoping to keep Boo's tendecy to buck under control...as it turned out all of our boys were cold backed and we had our hands full getting them lined out on that open course. Looking at Noways ears standing straight up is disconcerting to say the least...My bones ache just remembering...I wanted to start late so as to keep Noways race brain to a low hum, but it was difficult because of always seeing the other horses moving along in the open fields...  But we did manage to finally get up a good trot without too much crow hopping... Although Sully and Paige have finished in the top ten a couple of times this year, we wanted to be sure Sully finished his last ride so she could get her much coveted 300 mile award. So the plan was to go at a steady pace without getting caught up with the raceing aspect. Paige had to dismount to take off her rump rug, which was adding to Sully's agitation...So Paige rode with that blanket under her seat for the first loop, which was 25 miles...

The course is easy with mostly good footing so we kept up a good steady pace all day at 10 mph.  Probably the fastest time that we've recorded for a fifty.  Even with that, we were a bit over an hour slower than the winner!!!  Cindy won it in a race off with Bill in 4:03!! Whew!!

Our ride was mostly uneventful, just a really pretty ride with gurgling creeks and even a waterfall that we had to pause by just to stare at it for a moment. The weather was cool but sunny, we took off a layer after each loop. The horses loved it and recovered well all day. When we rode along the top of the hills, the views were just perfect and we were able to see ride camp often, so it was easy to orient ourselves. Sully did pull off a front shoe during the second loop (15miles), but got that put back on at the VC...unfortunately that took up most of our hold time of 40 min.  The Vet lines were long and took up a lot more time that I like...no time for the boys to eat and drink and get in some rest time.  But, we marched back to the trailers as fast as we could after the shoe job and tied them to the trailers still saddled and let them eat there.  Paige grabbed some food and I got a spoonful of peanut butter and another bite of bananna, and off we went again to finish off the ride with only 10 miles to go.  We got that done in a bit less than and hour. All three horses looked good and we got our completions!! Yeah!!! The final ride of the year and it was a good one!  We even had a little race off at the finish...it was only for 19th position, but Noways felt great, it was the last ride of the year, why not? And the other gal, who was pretty far ahead of us, was whipping her horse to make him go up the hill to the finish line.  Paige agreed to try for it, so off we took at a gallop...boy was Noways surprised that I finally let off the brakes and even applied some gas...  It was close, as the other gals' horse perked up when he heard us coming and she applied the whip with more force...(I hate that).. But we did make it over the finish line about a length ahead of her...yeah!! Sully didn't quite make it, but she had held him back a bit going down the slope so didn't have the run I did... What FUN!!  Paige and I drove home on cloud nine all the way!!

And best of all, Sully got his 300 miles (thanks to Mary Lynn doing 60 miles on him at Big South Fork) and the extra days of work Paige did for the Rerun ride. 

So, now we are going to settle into vacation time for the boys, and make plans for next years competition.
What a ride it has been!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, the LUCKY DUCKS got to  be second place in the TEAMS Competition, this year!!!!!!!!!!!!