Jasper spent all day Sunday eating and recovering. We went for many walks around camp where he was far more interested in eating the strange weeds at the side of the dirt road than walking. I spent a fair amount of time volunteering, although all of it was done in camp. Wayne volunteered to help one of our local well-known couples in the 100 miler, but when I found out it involved leaving my horse at the trailer, I had to decline. I knew that in order for us to complete the second day, I would have to stay aware of Jasper. I'm still trying to nail down our post-ride routine. I experimented a bit this weekend with wraps, ice, poultice, and sore-no-more. More on that later.
I was so relaxed for Monday's ride I came very near to oversleeping. When I did finally wake up, I was so exhausted I considered (briefly) just sleeping in and leaving early. But I did get myself out of bed, and clutching a mug of coffee (a mug was the completion prize from Saturday!) and sporting an amazing case of bedhed, I started getting Jasper ready for the day. I had plugged in my GPS so I would have HR and speed information for the day, and was curious to see what I would learn.
We once again left camp in the dignified and breakneck speed of the previous ride, although there was a bit more discussion just outside of camp. Jasper thought we were done for the weekend already and wondered if I had forgotten or was confused. As usual, though, once we rounded a hill and camp went out of sight, his ears went forward and he had forward momentum once again. We had been told the night before to follow the orange loop--I remembered because Amanda and I had whispered to eachother about it. She asked if that was the same 25 mile loop from that day, and I said I wasn't sure. She shrugged and said something about a chunk maybe being cut off to make it 15 miles. So out onto the orange loop we went. Jasper was moving out as happy as could be, and the weather could not have been more perfect.
We soon reached a creek and part of the trail went through it, and Jasper and I had a wonderful time enjoying the sounds of the water and the birds. There was also a bit of sagebrush technical trail we had a blast weaving through. Jasper has learned to follow trail quite well, so I was able to set the reins down and just ride. I knew he loved it because we were moving out at 11-12 mph and his heart rate dropped to 120. We only had once spot where he zigged and I zagged, and I quickly recovered--I thought he'd go left around a bush and he thought he'd go right!
I'm not sure when it started to dawn on me that maybe we were on the wrong trail. The orange loop was a lollypop loop, so I think it was very near the base of the "pop" that I started to get a creepy feeling. There were definitely horse tracks in the sand in front of us, but they were littered with lizard tracks and pock-marked with light rain marks. Jasper was an incredibly good sport with me, trotting happily as I backtracked a few times to make sure we were going the right way. At this point, I was thinking, "Wow, the lizards have been really, really active this morning!" I was also cursing myself for having put the wrong map into my saddle bags. I had no record of a yellow loop, and wanted very badly to follow it as it seemed to be turning back towards camp at the appropriate time. We pushed on, and I kept a very close eye on the distance on my GPS. I decided that if we got up to 13 miles and we hadn't definitely headed back for camp, I was going to assume we'd gone the wrong way. When we had reached 14.66 miles and I had no idea where we were (except that we were somewhere on the orange loop), I decided we had taken the wrong trail. I felt so dejected and dissappointed in myself. Once again, Elly had figured out how to screw it up. I pushed the negative thoughts out and reminded myself that Jasper was perfectly capable of doing a 25 mile loop and we were having a wonderful time doing it. We saw a ton of wildlife--hundreds of lizards, a baby killdeer, and a small chipmunk.
When the pop returned to the stick, I absolutely knew we'd done wrong. We plodded off down the trail in no rush, as I knew we'd be disqualified anyways so I may as well enjoy the scenery. I can't explain how relieved I was to finally spot camp again, and hoped I'd be able to keep from getting too emotional when everyone asked what had happened. As much fun as we had, paying $80 for a mere training ride was getting to be annoying. I dismounted and walked into camp in time to see Amanda walking her horse. I was so happy to see someone I knew, I forgot all about how disappointed I was and explained what had happened. She said everyone was worried and they had just sent someone out to look for me. Wayne came running over and gave me a hug, as did a few others who had been worried. The ride manager, Steph, came out of the house as I laughingly explained how I had done the wrong loop. She said she could give me a completion and that she was going to figure out how. Jasper pulsed down immediately, and Wayne followed Steph to see what could be done. She came out and said I'd need to vet through, take my 40 minute hold, and they'd send me out on a small second loop and give me a completion. I was overjoyed!
Jasper vetted through without incident and we completed our hold. We were told what our second loop was and left--there was no point in hurrying, so we did it trail horse style. When we returned for our final vet in, the volunteers kept saying things like, "Wow, that was fast!" and winking. We vetted through and completed our second ride. I was only a little disappointed we hadn't top-tenned, as there were only 7 riders entered in the 25. Ah, well. Jasper was healthy and happy.
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