The main event for us was the 6 mile Ride and Tie. Charlotte's intense black belt training schedule meant missing most of the rides so far this season. Now that she is Sempai Charlotte, she is back on a more regular routine at the do-jo. And has time to travel to riding competitions with her mother :)
Summer's End Ride also offered a 25 mile set speed after the RnT, so this was bonus training for Luba and I before the 75 at Stormont. I was a bit concerned about doing the RnT *before* taking the wind out of Luba's sails, but I was also glad to run before the day got too hot.
Miss Luba was a perfect lady. She has settled right in to the routine of travelling and competing. No fuss trailer loading. No fuss about tying to the trailer in a field away from the main ridecamp. No fuss trotting out for Charlotte, even during the educational component of the vet check, when Fred coached her about how to trot back to the vet in a straight line. No fuss at the shotgun start. And no fuss settling into a pace that I could keep up with on foot.
This "no fuss, no muss" attitude carried on during the 25 mile Set Speed ride, which came to be known as the Cinderella Set Speed. Although the trail was quite barefoot friendly, I didn't want to take a chance with a random stone wreaking havoc with our plans to ride 75 miles two weeks hence. So with the encouragement of my friend, Chrystal, I booted up with Renegade strap-ons for the ride.
I am a big fan of Renegade hoof boots and have had much success with both strap-on and glue-on models. I currently have two sets of strap-ons that are between 3 and 5 years old. The tread is starting to wear on one pair, but the great thing is that you can order spare parts! So it is pretty easy to repair and rebuild the boots to get extra life out of the good parts.
About 1/4 mile out of the start for the 25, Luba blew a front boot cable. Sarah and Bentley, our starting partners, kindly waited for me to dismount and assess the damage. Since we were so close to the start, I decided to go back and get a new boot, and they continued on to win the Bronze division!
Luba and I had a great first loop, riding on our own together on the beautiful sandy and mostly shady forest trails. By the time we got back to the vet check at noon, it was decidedly hot and humid. It took Luba an uncharacteristically long time (nearly 10 minutes) to pulse down to 56, the set speed parameter. However, once she cooled down, she was all As, so we went back to the trailer for the rest of our half-time hold. I removed her boots, washed them and put them back on before heading for the second half.
A few miles out, Solstice and Angel caught up with us. The mares paced well together so we happily flew through the bush. We were half way up the road to pick up a playing card at the turn around when Bang! We blew another front boot cable! Luba stood quietly so I could remove both front boots, even while Solstice and Angel carried on. I tied the boots to my saddle, but as we started out, one of them fell off. I decided to collect my card and pick up the boot on the way back. I left both damn boots with Rick at the water stop, set off at a canter, hoping to catch up with Solstice and Angel.
We were making good time, when Bang! We blew a rear boot cable. Luba stood quietly while I took both back boots off. Now we were riding naked!
Despite all the Cinderella shoe-throwing, we completed the 25 miles in a respectable 2:51:50.
No fuss, no muss, no bother!
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