The 2024 Crevasse Kicker is now history. It was, as they say, a good ride. I am happy to report that Pete and Tyra finished in good form, with Tyra moving fast on the last, steep hill, passing Dinni, our friend Terri’s Icelandic gelding.

I got to the ride camp shortly before the riders came in. I had decided to put together gifts for the ride judges, out riders, and ride scribes. These consisted of cards, books, and bookmarks. I was nearly done wrapping up the last package, for the ride horsemanship judge, when I looked behind me and saw the first two horses come in. One was Pete on Tyra, and the other was Terri on Dinni.

Tyra dong agility on her own

Tears of relief came to my eyes because the riders were happy and the horses were chipper. I of course fretted, fearing the worst. That they all made it back to Ride Camp in such fine form was a relief, and in fact, overshadowed their competitive placings. This was what was most important.

We took Tyra back to the trailer, tied her up, unsaddled her, gave her more water and hay, then sponged her off. She was one tired horse, for sure. I did T-Touches on her loin muscles, which were, as the veterinary judge noted, sore. I think she enjoyed the attention. I hope she equated this with doing a good job.

Pete, being the first one in, was the first to get his end of the ride veterinary/horsemanship evaluation. Tyra, on the way to the judging area, opted to roll. I thought the judges will like this because this is a way in which the horses maintain gut motility. She also got one side dirty. Oh oh, I didn’t have a brush, so this counted against her.

I had one, small shining moment this weekend, and the end of the ride judging/final obstacle was it. Tyra was asked to sidepass both ways over a pole. She did this absolutely perfectly. I crowed because I was the one who taught her this.

Terri was next. Dinni was lame in one leg, not seriously so, but enough that he bobbled when he was asked to move in a circle.

We went back to the trailers where it was again, as such things are, an instance of hurry up and wait, this time for the final awards. I don’t like this aspect of competitive trail rides because this is the competition part. Pete and Tyra got sixth, last, as their horsemanship score, and fifth, second last in their veterinary score.

When you are given lemons, you make lemonade. The competition consisted of serious riders – the rest were no shows. But what I figured out is that, yes, I will train for next year’s competitive trail ride, if there is one. And I will train consistently.

And as hoped, I do feel a strong connection with Tyra right now, who did everything, absolutely everything right. In the horse pen she’s the low horse on the totem pole. In my estimation, she rates equally with Raudi and Hrimmi.

Of course, I feel bad that I didn’t ride. Tyra had high pulse and respiration scores – my realization was that Raudi’s would have been higher. It’s not just conditioning that causes this. It’s the fact that Icelandics have very dense muscle tissue.

Well, I overdid it, working on getting books ready to send off into the world the next few days. I did my body work, so it will be okay. But I can’t ride tonight. I have planned tomorrow so that I will be able to ride. Balance is a tenuous thing. Ya gotta respect it.

Next: 206. 7/29/24: Tyra has a Conversation with Raudi and Hrimmi