[RC] The LBL Express

On Behalf Of Hickory Ridge Arabians

Hello Everyone,

As new rides become available for the endurance riders there
is always some interest on how the new ride went. To that end,
here is the LBL Express story.

On Wednesday before the ride we transported 3 horses to the LBL
ride site. Two for trail marking and of course JABASK KNIGHT aka
Irene for competition. Bianca Chevalier flew in from Oregon to ride
Irene. She did a teriffic job in taking him around the course and
finished with all A's for the day.

Back to the ride site. On Wednesday the trails were in perfect
condition. Some mud is the very low spots but generally in good
shape. On Thursday it began to cloud over, and by Thursday night we
had some good showers. There went the trail. Friday it did the same
thing with some hard showers. While marking the trail on Friday,
Truman Prevatt, Jim Holland and my husband Jerry Fruth were treated
to a royal soaking by mother nature.

There was a bit of confusion with the electrical fences. Matthew the
LBL Recreation Manager announced at the ride meeting that you could
have the fences, but during the day they would have to be turned off.
With a lot of children in the camp they wanted to be careful not
to shock one of the camp urchins. That seemed to please the riders.

Saturday began with open skies and by 10 am we had a perfect
day going. Sun and a temperature for the day of 71 degrees
made for a great ride day.
By and large the riders took the mud in stride. The mud at LBL
doesn't get deep with heavy rain. The base is a gravel, and stone
base which helps drain the soil. By Sunday afternoon the trail was
beginning to dry.

We had 53 entrants in the 50 and 32 entrants in the 25 mile
limited distance ride. ALL 32 limited distance riders completed
the ride, with an hour to spare, they didn't take six hours! They
were rewarded with a large round of applause at the
awards ceremony for taking such good care of their horses.

Vetting was done by Drs. Duane Barnett, Art King, Otis Schmitt,
and Melinda Poole. Otis was the treatment vet and had a relaxed
day. One horse on the first loop had a muscle pull or light
tie up which was attended to in speedy order because Otis was
posted about 8 miles out on the first loop of the 50 miler. He
was assisted by our ham operator at that location in notifying us
of a need for an ambulance. That was the only horse for the day
that required an ambulance ride back to camp.

As the day moved along all was going well until we had a race off
for the finish line. Two riders were booking it for home, rounded
a curve and found 6 trail riders standing in a mud hole giving
their horses a drink. At that point everyone scattered, but one the
endurance rider ran into a trail rider with each going down in the mud
hole. Both riders were covered in mud and both horses required
some vet attention. The riders are ok, and the horses are on the
mend.

We have been asked back by the Forest Service for next spring(last
weekend of April 2004), and they have asked us if we would like to do
a ride this fall. They had excellent reports from other trail riders
that our riders were very courteous when passing them out on the
trail.

The buffet before the awards cermony was one of the best. The
caterer had a vegetarian lasagna that was first rate. The dinner was
topped off with Mississippi Mud Pie and an array of other desserts.
They said our riders really like Chocolate. They will certainly be
asked back next year.

Special thanks goes to Nancy Gooch, and Jackie Mitchell as timers, Kim
Ruffin, Bobbie Dolchan and Nina Gibson Barnett as scribes, Lori Greco
and Joan Tipton as pulse in. .Thank you to Lori for helping to take
down ribbons on Sunday. Thank you to Truman and Jim for helping mark
the trail, and our crew of three ham operators that kept us informed
of the riders positions during the ride. Thank you to my good friend,
Bianca for designing the LBL logo and helping me with the ride. To
all the other volunteers who just stepped in and helped, you are
appreciated.

A very special thanks to Matthew Edwards of the USFS in helping put
the event together. As a land manager he is the very best. We are
looking forward to working with the land managers at LBL in the
future. They are definitely orientated towards recreation.
Like every place else in the nation they are short on funds for
trail maintenance, so we are going to see what can be done to
help them out.

Thank you to all the riders that attended!!! It was a great ride!!!

50 Milers 53 started, 41 finished
High Vet Score-Susan Kasemeyer
Best Condition-Susan Kasemeyer

1. Betsey Knight-1st Lightweight
2. Karen Cummings
3. Rick Melloan-1st Middleweight
4. Patricia Bullock-1st Featherweight
5. Wendy Manicini
6. Susan Kasemeyer(High Vet score & BC)
7. Linda Joyner
8. Teresa Mascaro
9. Patty Bass
10.Rachel Boyce
11.Nancy Kucera
12.Wendy Rosenbek
13.Melissa Frame
14.Sarah Hunt Engsberg
15.Joe Schoech-1st Heavyweight
16.Josie McGhee ( 1stJR)
17.Eva De Paulis
18.Judy Sandlin
19.Christina Frame
20.Chris Frame
21.Kajsa Vikman (Flew in from California)
22.Melissa Crain
23.Ronald Chapman
24.Brenda Kenley
25.Carol Ricketts
26.Ann Branch
27.Bianca Chevalier(Flew in from Oregon)
28.Cindy Laroy Young
29.Dee Dee Cushman
30.Laurie Tichenor
31.Debbie Sutton-tie
31.Alice Farrara-tie
33.Jim Barrett
34.Lisa Winburn
35.Megan Meckfessel
36.Kelli Kirchner
37.Jim Holland
38.David Bennett
39.Robin Burris
40. Patricia Harrop
41. Teresa Searcy

25 Mile Limited Distance
Best Condition-Marsha Millis
1. Marsha Millis
2. Megan Dickman
3. Dixie Hayes
4. Julie Jackson
5. Lorena Truett
6. Bruce Nagel
7. Ashley Creswell
8. Erin Darte
9. Stephen Cummings
10.Becky Spraque
11.Jerry Brown
12.Roger Abney
13.Jennifer Whittaker
14.Gwen Jackson
15.Tamara Schoech
16.Christy Wicke
17.Louisa Witten
18.Jan Shekell
19.Russell Dewitt-1st Junior
20.Rebecca Finlay(JR)
21.Robin Dewitt
22.Wendy Shields
23.Mary Ellen Shoemaker
24.Kathy Thompson
25.Eleanor Burnett
26.Tim Hughes
27.Vicki Hughes
28.Rachel Schmalzriedt(JR)
29.Shannon Cofield
30.Lisa Norris
31.Vicki Loren
32.Deb Blackburn

LBL EXPRESS 2003
Diane Fruth-Ride Manager

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