Race Name:
Date:
Mileage:
Starters:
Best Condition:
Partner 1
Doyle Egger
Curt Riffle
Steven Anderson
Jackie Hill
Jennifer Powell
Tracy Evans
Shine and Shine Only#1
03/20/2004
22 miles
Total:
M/M
M/W
W/W
Majik
Partner 2
Sara Kelly
Mischa Arp
Brandi Page
Shannon Mahoney
Marci Martin
Karen Deaver
San Jose, CA
6
0
3
3
Horse
Corky
Majik
Zar Za Fire
Navajo Gray
Keiko
Rasan
Time
2:27
2:39
2:49
4:01
4:13
DNF
Place
1
2
3
4
5
The SASO
Ride & Tie:
A heartbreaking, heart-thumping, heartwarming race
March 20, 2004 – San Jose, California – The first Shine and Shine Only (SASO) series Ride & Tie event of 2004, held at Alamaden Quicksilver Park alongside a 25/50 Endurance Ride, should have been a simple, run-of-the-mill, walk-in-the-park-type race. With only six teams entered and half the humans being Ride & Tie pros, even the winning team seemed pretty predictable.
You Can Count On
That
But all the things that could go wrong did. And all the things that could
go right couldn’t have been any better. This race was riddled with gremlins.
One thing you can count on in Ride & Tie: nothing is ever predictable.
It’s that aspect of the sport that is so compelling to the competitors. (return top)
Ride a Cork Horse…
Before the race even started, Doyle Egger’s horse, Turtle, proved lame
when vetting in and was pulled from the race. Eggers and teammate, Sara
Kelly, had the luck of the Irish. The always-organized and ever-thoughtful
race organizer, Curt Riffle had brought an extra horse; his 20-year-old,
semi-retired Arabian, Corky (who vetted in with no problems, btw). Eggers
and Kelly tacked up Corky and headed for the starting line.
The Long and Winding
Road
The Quicksilver course is tough. It starts off with a one-mile, 1000-foot
climb aptly called Cardiac Hill. The race ends by going down that same
steeply pitched trail. In between, there are 20 miles of mountainous, scenic,
hot, dry, muddy, and sometimes treeless fire roads. To complicate riding
and tying matters the course is shared with dozens of co-racing endurance
riders, mountain bikers, hikers, dogs, event personnel, and poison oak.
And one squirrel. (return top)
Rumble & Tumble
The race began. It was this lone squirrel trying to cross the Cardiac Hill
trail at an inopportune time that caused a horse bolt and the rider to
go flying. Fortunately, cowboy Riffle caught the runaway horse, tied
it to a tree, and continued on without missing a beat. Unfortunately,
tossed rider Tracy Evans sustained serious scrapes and walked back down
the hill to the start.
Is There a Doctor
in the House?
Lucky for Evans, one of the frequent Ride & Tie event volunteers is
a doctor. Dr. Carl Rossi cleaned her up and she was reunited with her horse
Rasan and teammate Karen Deaver. After training for months and driving
all the way from Redding to compete, the injured Evans reluctantly withdrew
from the race. Witnesses say the squirrel died instantly and lies belly-up
on Cardiac Hill.
Can’t You Hear My Heart Beat
Vet checks can be crazy, but they don’t have to be! Corky and Riffle’s
horse, Majik, vetted right through like clockwork. However, stablemate,
Zar Za Fire had troubles. Brandi Page rode him into the vet check and took
off running. The crew watered the horse, walked him around and when teammate
Steve Anderson came running into claim him his pulse was still at 78 bpm.
And it wasn’t coming down. (return top)
You Can Lead a
Horse to Water
After 25 minutes (which is a long time in the vet) it finally got down
to the required 68 bpm and Anderson presented the horse to vet Michele
Rousch to check. Rousch detected slight dehydration and demanded electrolytes
for the horse before going on. The crew dispensed electrolytes and Anderson
finally left the vet check area. Ends up partner Page ran more than ten
miles before Anderson caught up. Note from Page: carry water!
Ready and Waiting
Not far behind team Fire was the novice/novice team of Jennifer Powell,
Marcy Martin, and equine pal Reiko from Redding, CA experiencing their
own classic Ride & Tie faux pas’. Let’s just remind everyone once
again: 1) when you get to the vet check, drop your horse with your crew
and start running, and 2) tie your horse so your teammate can find it!
Murphy’s Law
That wasn’t the end of Zar Za Fire saga. Two miles from the finish while
tied, he stepped on his reins and broke his bridle, causing rider Steve
Anderson to lead him to the finish line. Anderson has vowed to wean the
horse off the bit and do the next ride in halter only. (return top)
All’s Well That
Ends Well
So how did this Ride & Tie microcosmic fiasco pan out?
Good news is all five teams completed the course, finished smiling, and cleared final vet check.
And the Winner is…
Let’s just say there weren’t any course records broken. Anderson and Page
on Zar Za Fire came in third, amazingly only 22 minutes behind the first
place team. Ride & Tie pro Riffle, amateur teammate Misha Arp, and
Majik took second place. And much to everyone’s surprise, the dark horse
entry of Eggers, Kelly, and Corky came in first place – 12 minutes ahead
of Riffle. Who knew???!
Just How Healthy
is a Horse?
But everyone knows in equine endurance events: it’s not who wins but
how you play the game. During a Ride & Tie race, it’s the vets who keep
track of the health of the horse using a 12-point evaluation. At the end
of the race, the results are tallied and the horse with the highest score
is awarded the coveted Best Conditioned (BC) award.
Yum Yum and Ho Hum
In this race, the BC point spread was very close. Majik took BC and
won five pounds of carrots, tops on. Majic edged out calamity-prone Zar
Za Fire by only one point! Blue ribbon winner, Corky, was next runner up,
losing 10 points at the final vet check for showing “lack of interest”.
After 15 years of training and racing and winning 22-mile Ride & Ties
at Almaden Quicksilver Park, why is this not a surprise? It’s just kind
of funny it’s one of the BC criteria. (return top)
What Goes Around
Comes Around
The next Ride & Tie race is April 17th at Grant Ranch, in the east hills
of San Jose. After reading this story of the Quicksilver race I hope you
agree it’s wild, wacky, totally unpredictable and it’s not over until the
BC scores are tallied. Anyone can do it and everyone has a chance to finish.
# # #
Written by Biz
Eischen, SASO Race Director, Ride & Tie Pro, and Lightfoot Endurance
Group team member
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