It's been several years since I've done an endurance ride. It hasn't been from lack of interest but from lack of time. There are just so many things to do and so little time.
I decided to take a couple horses to this years Bryce Canyon XP and do days 2 and 3. When I arrived at the event I lucked into a spot next to Karen Chaton and Dave Rabe. Dave and Karen are two of the best riders in the sport and are well liked and respected by just about every endurance rider out there. It was fun just walking around Karen's camp site and looking at her set up. Everything was well organized and in it's place. After looking at Karen's campsite and gear it's easy to see why Karen has been so successful in the sport.
On day 2 I rode Spyder who finished his first endurance ride ever. I fitted Spyder with Easyboots all the way around as I was testing a new cast buckle material. Both the buckles and Spyder held up great. We finished somewhere around middle of the 75 horses that started. Pictured below, Spyder lost his left eye when he was young but really handles himself well despite the loss.
On day 3 I rode Cyclone. Cyclone was fitted with Easyboot Epics in the front and Easyboot Bares in the back. I was testing some new gaiter designs on both the Epics and Bares. I didn't wrap the pasterns as I wanted to see exactly how they would wear and fit the horse. The new gaiters have been working well on conditioning rides but I wanted to really test them during an event.
We got a late start in the morning but slowly worked our way into the top ten by the lunch vet stop. I did a bunch of running on the downhills and tried to really take care of him in the rocky areas. When we finished I was very excited to see the condition of the boots and new gaiters. Even better was the condition of Cyclone, Cyclone's feet and Cyclone's pasterns. His legs were cool, no swelling and not a single blemish from the test gaiters. He looked absolutely great, like he hadn't done a thing.
I removed all 4 boots and took him to the BC judging barefoot. He was the only horse to show barefoot and looked exceptional. I was super proud of Cyclone and the ability to get through such a rocky event in boots. On the way home from the event I found out that Cyclone won Best Condition!
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