Living the Dream: Don't cross that bridge until you come to it

Just two days until 2015 Tevis!  I am living vicariously through several riders I know who will be on trail Saturday morning. Especially Lancette who was at the Tevis Ed ride too! Ride like the wind, Lancette and Jantar!

Soul Sisters. Foresthill, Tevis Educational Ride 2015.

The theme of today's blog is, "Don't cross that bridge until you come to it".

The earliest recorded use of this expression is in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Golden Legend (1851): "Don't cross the bridge till you come to it, is a proverb of old and excellent wit."

Basically, don't worry about things that haven't happened yet. Just deal with them if and when they happen.

Probably my biggest fear about the Tevis trail has always been the Swinging Bridge. I am not scared of heights, but I do get seasick. So the thought of being on a suspended bridge that sways from side to side and up and down is just not my cup of tea!

Thanks to my hosts, Steve and Pat (who let me ride her sweet gelding Chuy!), I got to ride the trail from the finish line across the No Hands Bridge to Lower Quarry and back the day after I arrived. And by serendipity, we ended up riding with Lancette and Steve, as they were camped near the Overlook!

Look Ma, No Hands Bridge!

Posted by Tevis Cup (Official) - 100 Mile One Day Western States Trail Ride on Thursday, July 30, 2015

Don't cross that Swinging Bridge until you come to it

Swinging bridge was on the menu for the first day of the Tevis Ed Ride, after the Last Chance check point.  My mentor, Jennifer, and I did most of the steep downhill on foot, leading the ponies. At the bottom of a hill after umpteen switchbacks, we headed down to the river to cool before heading back up to the bridge.

From the river, we watched a few horses and riders make their way across the Swinging Bridge - some mounted and some leading their horses on foot. The bridge bounced a bit up and down, but to my relief, did not sway too much from side to side with only one horse going over at a time.

When the way was clear, Jennifer announced we were going over mounted, so we headed up to the foot of the bridge and got on the horses. She and Crimson started over and suddenly Scorch started to wig out, dancing on the spot. Jennifer and Crimson were already half way across, so she suggested I get off, which I did asap!

Suddenly, a riderless horse comes barreling down the hill towards the foot of the bridge! I stepped into the trail to block his way waved my hands to get him to stop. Luckily, he had a red lead rope looped around the saddle horn, so I grabbed that. Now I had two excited horses spinning circles around me on a very small space between the hill, the foot of the bride and the narrow trail down to the river!

This is the small space where I caught the loose horse and held on to both horses, while Jennifer and Crimson already on the other side!

I managed to get them settled with both of them facing away from the bridge and up the trail. By this time, Jennifer and Crimson are on the other side and Scorch really wants to be with his buddy over there!  

I call up the trail to say that we have caught the loose horse and soon a horse and rider come down the trail. They were in front of the group that lost the horse, so he must have blown by them on his way down. I was very grateful when she agreed to take the horse with hers down to the river to wait for the rider.

Now it was time to cross that bridge! After all the excitement, I stayed on the ground and led Scorch over. Uneventful and pretty anticlimactic given the recent turn of events. I ditched my half chaps, which were soaked and hanging around my ankles from wading in the river, and we mounted up on the other side to start the steep climb to Devil's Thumb.  Which leads me to my final piece of Tevis advice.....

Leaves of three, let it be! 

And wear chaps or socks that cover the bottom of your breeches. No exposed ankles!

I inadvertently came into contact with poison oak, which is EVERYWHERE on the trail, on my right ankle. Finally healing up 3 weeks later :)

So for all of you who will toe the starting line of Tevis on August 1, 2015, I leave you with the words of Julie Suhr:

Ride your horse well. 

Dare to try. Risk failure. 

Be poetry in motion on that one day of the thousands before and the thousand to come.

From the Tevis Facebook page -  Julie Suhr (considered the Grande Dame of endurance, 22 Tevis Buckles and 3 Haggin Cups): 

I have never regretted a Tevis Cup start. I have been pulled at Robinson Flat, at Michigan Bluff, and Franicscos and Echo Hills. I have been in first place at the Quarry, six miles from the finish and because I was too physically exhausted to go faster, I had two people pass me. The first, the winner, said "we will tie", and I said 'No, you and your horse are a better combination than my horse than I am today, go for it." She did and won. She is one of my best friends to this day.
I have never regretted a start. If I never got further than Emigrant Pass and looked back at Lake Tahoe with the first rays of sunshine glimmering upon it it was worth every minute of training, churning stomachs and sleepless nights. The best Tevis Ride I ever had was on a little grey gelding named Rumadi in about 1969. We did not finish. He still gave me the best Tevis Ride I ever had, even those that resulted in Haggin Cups. I am too old to worry about bragging rights. Rumadi and I simply had it together that day and though trite to say, we were poetry in motion on that one day of the thousands before and the thousand to come. I never rode a horse that well before or since.
So we all go risking failure. Those who successfully finish the ride should realize it took more than their horsemanship, but included finding a depth in a horse and yourself that maybe you did not know existed, and then always, of course, the unknown....Lady Luck.
And now, having spoken my piece, I will wish all who dare to try, a successful journey.
Julie Suhr