Notes: A little buggy in spots but not terrible. We rode in the evening to avoid the heat of the day. Left the dogs at home thinking we might long trot/lope but ended up at a good brisk walk most of the way. The dogs would have been fine.
The girls made up stories as if they were transported to 1867. One was an orphan riding the trail of revenge in search of outlaws who killed her family. Two fur trappers turned in their snares for masks and took to robbing banks. I guess by 1867 the fur trade had dwindled. The other, a former pony express rider turned gambler after decommission of the Pony Express in 1861.
There really is something about the WRT that sparks the imagination.
Notes: Expanded our team by two guest riders – Teri M. and Kathy. Teri became a member and we look forward to seeing her at future races. We placed second – finding all five markers in 4 hours, 14 minutes and 44 seconds. Circle 4 rocks! The ride managers (Christine and Lee) put on a super fun and creative ride with a cowboy theme complete with Roy Rogers, cowboy boots, hats, bandanna’s and an empty bottle of Jack Daniels as bearing points. The best part was a cooler full of Icy-Pops free for the taking at marker #5 for hot and tired IMO’ers.
Trail: Weiser River Trail – Midvale section off Shoepeg
Miles: 6.31
Ave speed: 3.1 mph
Max speed: 12 mph
Riders: Self – Jones – Dusty
Horses: Jack, J’Lo – Shooter – Zeke
Dogs: Hank and Shade
Notes: I’m calling this the “repair and ride.” Stopped at Jones and Dusty’s to fix their computer. Windows 10 wasn’t recognizing the CD/DVD. Registry hack solved the problem. Rode a section of the WRT a few miles from their house. Zeke was a little tender footed so Dusty took him back to the trailers while Jones and I rode on. Gorgeous evening for a quick ride.
Notes: Quick ride after work around Jones and Dusty’s place in Midvale. Took J’Lo to get her out of the arena. Horses can get arena sour. Teaches them confidence and to pick up their feet. She would much rather be a trail horse than a shooting horse anyway and just looks happy out on the trail. Hank got himself a fat gopher – he was proud.
Dogs: Hank – Shade – Dealer – Savannah – (stayed in camp – too hot)
Notes: An IMO ride along a section of the Oregon Trail. A challenging course in beautiful country. Only three teams found their markers – of which we were one of them. We may not be fast – but we are determined. Technically speaking – we took 2nd. as we helped the rider who came in 2nd find markers. That’s what it’s all about though – helping each other and having fun doing it. The team that took first helped us find 1 of our markers that was incorrectly tagged. Who knows if we would have found it on our own or not. We took it pretty slow. Jack started out a little gimpy from new shoes and Shooter is an older horse. We opted to not take any shortcuts down the steep draws and stay on more level terrain. Jack did awesome. I swear, even tender footing that horse just loves being out there.
Notes: It was quite the adventure. Dusty had open heart surgery 9 weeks prior to the ride. He’d been riding a few times since surgery – 5 or 6 miles max. We ended up riding 21.1 miles on the first hot day of the year. Raycine tied up due to dehydration. We got her through it and Dusty back to camp without further incident and still ended up with 3rd place! We would have taken second if we had not helped another team heading in the wrong direction. Out of 8 teams, only 3, including ours, found all the markers… and we were taking it easy! We Rock… 🙂
Notes: A little stormy at times. On the way back the wind picked up and it started to blow. Jack flipped around in the trail and turned his butt to it like horses do. Aside from a little storm here and there – a really nice day to ride and we made it back to the trailers before the big thunder storm rolled in.
Notes: Took the horses for a quick ride after work. Trying to get them in shape. Only rode 8.2 miles but loped/long trotted most of the way. The snakes are really out. Fortunately for the rattler that buzzed us – he wasn’t very pretty and wouldn’t look that great on my saddle.
Dogs: Hank, Shade and Dealer (stayed in camp during ride)
Notes: IMO ride (Idaho Mounted Orienteering) north of Mountain Home. Finished the ride between thunder storms and found all our markers. Jack did well without getting too chargy on the trail. The dogs stayed in camp during the race since you don’t know the water situation.
What is IMO?
Mounted Orienteering is a competitive, timed sport. The object of the sport is to use a map, compass and clues to find five hidden markers while riding a trusty steed. Competitors may ride individually or as a team of two or more. The person or team who finds all five markers in the least amount of time places first. Extra points are given to the first six competitors or teams finding all five markers in the least amount of time. At most rides there is a non-competitive short course. This course covers less distance than the regular course and landmarks and markers are easier to identify and locate. Everyone gets two points for each marker they find.
