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LEFT: We used bright orange tack on the horses to increase our visibility on the trail. It was nice being so visible as Dave (husband/crew) could see us coming for miles. While everybody that drove on those country roads in Kansas and Nebraska was friendly and waved when they drove by, they very rarely slowed down. Needless to say, my horses are very well broke to traffi c!


was a bit of a challenge. T is is something we got bet er at during the course of the ride. We didn’t know it yet, but we were going to be spending weeks riding through severe weather that included tornado warnings and severe thunderstorms as well as heat and humidity. Never mind the mud. Lots and lots of mud! Our horses ate well at lunch even though


it was pouring the entire time. It was no small amount of rain either—this was a heavy downpour. I leſt lunch with two other riders and we sludged and slopped through the thick goopy mud together. Earlier in the day many of the shod horses were slipping and even going down on pavement; now they were leaving long slip marks in the mud. Our booted horses were doing great. It was quite enjoyable riding through the countryside and seeing Kansas from horse- back. I loved seeing old farms, barns and his- torical buildings plus a couple of Pony Express


stations through Chief ’s ears. Children waved at us as we trot ed through farm country. Folks in this neck of the woods are quite social and if you aren’t careful, you can easily spend an hour just saying hello. T e trail consisted of some really thick,


slick mud and then sections of gravel roads. We found ourselves actually wishing for the gravel sections so that we could trot. We knew we had to make time or we wouldn’t fi nish our 50-mile ride in the 12 hours of allot ed time. My husband/crew Dave met us on the trail about four times on most days. With the huge amount of rain, watering the horses wasn’t a problem. T e horses were all drinking quite well and enjoying the beautiful green grass that grew alongside our trail. About 35 miles into the ride we encoun- tered two loose stallions. Apparently they had followed other riders aſt er escaping from their home pasture and were now coming towards


us quite aggressively, especially towards Red, the mule my friend Dave was riding. Chief and I charged them with my romal rein waving and whooping at them, and they backed off . T en from the other direction came my husband with a pitchfork and a second driver/crew person, and together we were able to herd the stallions into a pasture and close the gate before they reached the highway. We later learned their owner had retrieved them with no harm done. A couple of rigs had to be pulled out of the


mud both get ing into the new camp and out on the trail. My husband’s computer has street and mapping software that let him detour around the muddy back roads and intercept us to crew on paved or good gravel roads. We sure didn’t want to get stuck! The oilskin raincoats saved the day. I


wore mine most of the way in aſt er lunch and another rider used the other one. One day at noon straight up, during heavy rains, an alarm went off , which many riders thought was a siren signaling a tornado. It wasn’t, it was just noon! Many had heard the tornado warnings in St. Joe and Elwood, making us all a bit on the antsy side.


MORE ADVENTURE AWAITS! Each day riding through Kansas and then


Nebraska brought new challenges. Function- ing on so little sleep made things difficult as did the severe weather conditions. One evening around 9:30 p.m. we were evacu- ated to a tornado shelter in Oak, Nebraska.


ABOVE: In preparation for each day’s ride, I made up gallon-size baggies ahead of time with the feed I wanted made into a mash for the horses. All Dave had to do was add water and stir! T e horses loved this mix of bran and various grain or complete feeds with salt or electrolytes added. I also included a scoop of Platinum Performance in each baggie. T e horses loved it and ate very well!


72 | December 2011 • WWW.TRAILBLAZERMAGAZINE.US


BELOW: I never had to worry about my own com- fort with Kerrits clothing. Everything fi t perfectly and was so comfortable. T e hi-tech materials dried quickly and breathed well so I didn’t over- heat or melt in the warmer weather and humidity.


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