Longstreet's Charge 2000

Angie McGhee

Don't know whether to call this a Longstreet's Charge Ride story or manager, truck driving story. I'm "co-manager" of Longstreet's Charge, which means Joe Harris does 99% of the managing work all year leading up to the ride, but on ride day we split it sort of 50-50.

Our ride date has sort of floated around as we desperately searched for something that "fit" after years of having late Oct. rides here. The WMA officials slowly shoved us into a slot giving us the choice to have the ride in dates between about May 15 and August 15. There's a Competitive Trail ride around May 15, so we get what's left. What that means is HOT, HUMID, DRY weather.

The word is out that this is a pretty tough course. I've had at least two riders who've done the Old Dominion 50 say ours is at least as tough.

Lots of rocks, mountain, rocks, humidity, but TONS or gorgeous rainforest type wood trails and spectacular views. Our good qualities are that the club also makes it a fun event...marks the trail well, and has good awards and good vets, but I felt the date really killed us. We ended up with about 59 entries, compared to around 100 at our last fall ride. Ride managers know there's a "break even" number of entries and practically everything above that number is profit. For our ride I think that number is about 67. Even though about 10 people from our club do practically all the trail maintenance for this entire facility (about 60 miles of it), which includes clearing hundreds of stormed damaged trees that block trails, painting markers on trails, building water bars, etc. etc. for trails that are used by bicyclists, hikers and hunters, they wouldn't give us *any* leeway on the date.

Started feeling jinxed about Wed. First, we lost Russel's horse. (which was tied with a halter at the time by the way). Next, the National Guard who had commited to haul a 400 gallon tank of water to our away vet check called to cancel. Next the farrier canceled (as you recall, this is a ROCKY ride) We called every person we knew who even knew how to nail one on and no luck. Called to check on the porto-lets and the company had been sold. They'd never heard of us. Found the new owners, but they'd only bring them to the valley, refused to haul up the mountain to the vet check. Then, on the Friday before the ride we get into our horse camp and hear LOUD noises of logging right on the hill behind camp! I'm talking about chainsaws and splitting trees falling far to the ground..."CRACKLE...CRACKLE....CRASH". They'd begun logging on the dirt road that was part of our trail THIS week! Nobody could go for a training ride until after their quitting time. :-( What next??? Oh yeah, somebody put out a very friendly pot bellied pig who loved horses up on top of the mountain at the vet check. He would run squeeling up and get all under the horse, but you couldn't catch him. >sheesh!<

A great bunch of riders showed up. Nice thing about tough rides, only the really good ones show up. Made me feel better about possible problems just seeing who had had there. Bekki Crippen (my mentally handicapped friend) was there to ride Buddy Bullseye. As usual I was very nervous about markings, and Buddy's ability to get through the ride.

He looked heavier than usual and I haven't been able to work with Bekki since I started working full time. Sort of crossed my fingers and counted on Buddy's survival instincts. Buddy is big, about a true 15.2 (what everyone calls 16 hands) sort of slightly drafty...like an English hunter, pinto. He's about 21 now but looks great. Bekki is about 4'11", sort of heavy, wears Coke bottle bottom glasses and tight stretchy turquoise from head to toe. She's pretty easy to describe to the spotters in a crowd full of Arab riders. Bekki saved her money and made $100 payments to buy my old 1979 Silverado and this year her parents would be crewing for her out of her *own* truck. She felt terribly cool about that.

It's a shame everyone who rides does't have to manage a ride now and then, just to see how many decisions have to be made. Joe was pretty much running the show, but there was one thing I stepped in on. I talked to the vets about length of hold times and they said how about 30/30/30. I disagreed. I wanted 30/60/30. I knew that last week at Liberty the main thing the heat affected was gut sounds, not hydration. One vet had told me that the horses had to pull the blood from their guts to the surface to try to cool. Since our vet check had lots of grass and huge nice shade trees, I thought it would be best for them to have an hour to get things going again. I didn't agree that we needed to "beat the heat" and get them out on the third loop before 11:00, because I'd ridden all day Thurs. and it felt like it got as hot as it was going to get by 10 and didn't change much. Also, the 2nd loop was the killer and this would come right after that loop. I think this decision may have been an important one considering some later trouble.

We started the riders at 6 AM when they almost couldn't even see the markers. One rider knew the trail, so we told them if in doubt, follow her until full daylight. Seemed to work fine. Learned a new trick. Needed to cut a root on the trail, nobody had a saw. Vets rigged us up some OB wire with two little handles at the end. It ripped right through the root. That might be handier to carry in a pack than a camp saw.

I had given myself only one assignment for ride day. HAUL WATER. The only water hose was 6 miles down a steep gravel road with switchbacks and enough dust to choke you. Did lots of driving and everybody, including riders, had loaned me every muck bucket and garbage can they owned. Rather than do like rides that have the luxury of huge tanks we staggered the containers down the road that was out in the sun, putting them out every 1/2 mile. The riders were very appreciative. I feel like I've been putting up hay, except not as itchy.

Came into the vet check and everybody was celebrating. Roscoe Weeks had showed up with the lost horse and he was really getting fussed over (the horse...and Roscoe a little) That is the most relieved look I've ever seen on a horse's face. Russel felt good enought that by the 2nd loop he was out on the road with his water pump hooked up spraying riders as they went by.

In the race, Susan Kasemayer and Coujur took an early lead, traveling with Joe Schoech and Bogy (see what I mean about good people being here?) In the group behind them was Glenda Weeks, Suzanne Solis, Marie Threadgill, and coming from behind was Lynn Carlson, the purple streak that had blown by me at Million Pines. Her horse LOVES heat. The front runners were setting a good pace for this course. Had a couple of riders come in with shoes pulled. Somebody found nails, somebody else had a hammer, I think everybody managed to get something back on. One rider had broken a stirrup in half right on the side. It's a long way to camp (15 miles 6 of those gravel) and we were all helping each other out and making do. Danny Herlong donated some "mule tape" a strapping material that's used to pull conduit thru pipes or something like that and it was great. We really wrapped the stirrup from top to bottom, tied it off, then wrapped the whole thing with duct tape and she was good to go. We also got creative trying to rebuild an ez boot with a broken strap, but found out it was easier to dig up a shoe and nails.

Joe was missing his electrolytes when he got there, and really wanted to stick with home mades. Fortunately, I hadn't even finished cleaning out my truck from last week's ride and had some. They must do O.K. as you'll see later. >g<

All the 25's came and went and no Bekki. We waited, and waited. FINALLY after 15 miles and FIVE hours, Bekki and Buddy came plodding into camp. Buddy's done this to me enough that I pretty much knew what to expect. His pulse was 44 but you could hardly hear it for the gut sounds. He'd apparently grazed his way up the mountain clearing trees as he went. >g< Bekki was in full competition mode and hurried thru the vet check and to her stuff which Buddy dutifully began to devour (even though the pig had gotten there first). We figured she was looking at a 10 1/2 hour 25 miler and being rational people thought she might want to pull. HA! Bekki looked at her parents with contempt and just grunted and kept saddling when they suggested it. She went out right at her out time, *slowly* walking into the sunset.

At the 38 mile mark, we'd had really no major problems. Danny Herlong had entered his mule in it's first 50, stating, "He's no Candy Ass!" but he'd started to tighten up a little so he pulled. Of course after that he was able to tell everyone he had a "Tight Ass", and since my husband who is known for being slow had to haul him down, Danny had finally found a way to get Bill to "haul ass". I've never seen anybody get more mileage out of anything than Danny's getting out of that word. It's tickling my kids to death that Mom says it's O.K. to say that word when referring to a mule and no, it's not cursing. So, EVERYBODY broke up when my 10 year old daughter who would DIE if she ever said a bad word yelled down the hill, "Danny, did you get your ass pulled?" >BG<

As we were standing around at this check, one horse who had already passed the check acted like he wanted to roll on a sandy patch of ground, he started walking in a circle, and the owner unhooked his lead. As I fussed at her not to let him escape like Z, he circled, and circled, and then almost layed down, then just started walking aimlessly. He just walked, up and around the check, then back to that spot, then around, then back cruising like a shark in the water, just walking and turning. VERY strange. At first it was funny, then not so funny. The vets were sitting in the shade watching, and he just kept walking. Finally, he laid down to roll, but then just lay there still a second and the vet said, "Let's get him up". The horse looked good. He'd had good scores all except gut sounds. He was running in the 2nd group of horses and was accustomed to that pace. They took him over and after a while ran a stomach tube on him and LOTS of water came out. He'd been drinking well, but it wasn't going anywhere, the gut wasn't moving.

By now the front runners were headed down the mountain and I needed to go down. They've been logging on the "good" road off the mountain which is the way we haul horses that pull out. There was one section with a hill that was all rutted out and riders had to unload the horses while a 4x4 got the trailer to the top, then re-load (just one more exciting managerial thing to deal with). Russel needed my 4x4 to get his horse out, so I just grabbed somebody else's Ford to drive the rest of the day. They all looked the same under 6" of dust. Remembered why my family doesn't drive Fords. Could barely reach the pedals.

At the finish line, Susan Kasemayer edged out Lynn Carlson of Fla. for the win (two middle weights) and Joe Schoech was third. Other top 5's or so were Nina Murphy and Glenda Weeks, (forgot the order) Adele Dennard was up there somewhere, Kati Walker.... can't remember the rest. Two big black bay Bask horses in the heat, I remember that.

Can't remember the names on the 25. Sorry. Just worn out.

At the awards it was down to Susan Kasemayer and Joe Schoech for BC.... I recalled Susan laughing while passing me at Hahira once and happily presented it to Joe. >eg< Well....there's ya a heavyweight riding in a HOT, humid, tough ride and using home made electrolytes again. >g<

The horse they were treating was brought down the mountain and put on fluids. He looked fine, except for the distracted look in his eye, but no matter how much they put in, it just came back out the nose tube, not going anywhere. No gut sounds to speak of. Finally, have no idea what time, maybe 11:00 they loaded him up to go to UT. Talked to her today and she said they have *some* gut sounds and he drank a little water on his own, but he's not out of the woods yet. I've ridden with this horse in competition, and she's done plenty of rides on him. When you're trying to put together the clues to see what you missed it's hard. She said she'd been double dosing him with electrolytes in camp, but not giving them on the trail. I'm getting more and more sold on giving them on the hour. He'd been drinking well as evidenced by the amount of water in his stomach, but for some reason the gut shut down.He hadn't eaten much, but never really does. I think there's something to this idea that the blood is out at the surface trying to cool itself. I think the 1 hour hold was good. I only know of one rider who was pushed for time only because of the long hold, and she'd done a ton of walking because she kept loosing shoes. The others told me it had helped.

Bekki Crippen finished with a ride time of 8:38 for the 25. Seems Buddy was headed down the mountain when the front runners of the 50 came by and he thought he was in for the win and picked it up. Bekki thoroughly enjoyed saying hello to everyone as they passed her.

At the ride meeting our ranger was there. I told the riders that I know there's a fine line between wanting to see what your horse can do, and not wanting to hurt him, but that I didn't think this was a place where we should have a summer ride and that if we couldn't get a better date we should move to another site. By the end of the conversation the ranger was talking to Joe about March. :-)

Finally, I enjoyed this ride. After the ride we had a great cookout with all the club members bringing great home made deserts, dads of riders grilling burgers and everybody just laughed and visited under the big tent. Would you believe that when we had the ride meeting EVERYONE was there????? I mean, EVERYBODY came up to accept their award, and swapped stories. Several people said "this is how it used to be". I even enjoyed the size of the ride. 59 was a nice number to deal with. I'm very tempted to check into making it a "no frills" kind of ride where we won't go broke, and just put on a ride for the kind of people who like this kind of competition. I think that every person will wear that shirt with pride, because they didn't just "gallop another 50 miles", they endured.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

Copyright 2000, Angie McGhee

The Saddle Shop carries a full line of Circle Y Saddles, Big Horn Saddles, Tex Tan Saddles, English Saddles, Australian Saddles, Western Saddles, Show Saddles, Roping Saddles, Barrel Racing Saddles, Custom Saddles and used saddles and equestrian tack. Many are 30 to 40% discounted from list price, and shipping is always free.

For an additional 2% discount, use coupon code ridestories

BuyACar Accept credit cards on your website Website hosts HTML for beginners Advertising on your website Privacy statement