The Rundown on Roundup - Cid and Gazi

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Roundup Rendevous Friday dawned snowy, rainy and cold. I went out to feed and was definitely close to bailing on our upcoming journey for my first endurance ride in Roundup. I thought I had prayed it out and went back up to the house at which point Dan looked up without missing a beat and pronounced we were going and that I’d totally regret not going and I had the sounds of chickening out. Spoken like the most excellent crew person he is. And while the motto of endurance riding is “To Finish is to Win”, I thought about revising it to “To Go is to Win Out of my head went thoughts of not going and a trailer loading we went. That in itself is a logistical exercise packing hay, feed and the equine essentials for the vet checks.

The trip to took an hour longer than planned since we had some good ol’ weather along the way. It ‘d clear up for 2 minutes followed by snow, hail, pelting rain and any combination therein. The ride managers Susie and Alan Churchill were incredible. They totally got my pre-ride nerves since it was my first ride and they and their volunteers did a yeoman job of calming me down. The volunteers who ranged from long time endurance riders to folks who’d never done rides, from the number takers to the guys who weighed tack at the end of the ride… completely selfless. Trust me, running a bed and breakfast, and a horse-friendly one at that.. it’s all about the guests needs. And having volunteered at marathons and crewed at the infamous Badwater 135, volunteering is often plum more tiring than being an actual participant. These guys were gracious and managed to maintain a sense of humor throughout (Walmart are you listening?)

My first fear of not passing the vet-check in were quickly allayed as vet Bill gave GaZi A scores on everything. One hurdle down...

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