Karen & Chief at the Grand Canyon 2005 (left)
A great challenge, and a tremendous accomplishment, the XP Gold Medal Award is given to the same horse and rider team who complete all of the XP rides in a single year. If you want a new goal to aspire to, dare to test your limits and that of your horse give the Gold Medal XP Series a try in 2006. All Award recipients will receive a specially embroidered Jacket and Blanket.
Karen Chaton and Granite Chief+/
Karen & Chief at the Grand Canyon 2005 (left)
For the second year in a row, Chief and I completed the entire series of XP rides. It is 1060 miles – three 5-day/250 mile rides and two 3 day/155 mile rides. It was my goal last year. This year it didn't start out that way. I guess things work out the way they do for a reason. Now that the year for us is pretty much complete, I can see that now. I don't know if I'll do more rides on Chief this year. I more than met all of our goals and will only do rides now if I have severe withdrawals and can't stay away.
I started out the year riding Chief only one day at Death Valley. He had done over 2000 miles in 2004 and I wanted to give him a break. So I rode Weaver two days there and then wussed out and stayed in bed on the 4th morning, I was sick from the rain and wet and couldn't (or wouldn't) move ;).
Then we went to Mojave, a 3 day ride and I rode him there. I was going to ride Chief and Weaver there and alternate them, but at the last moment I had a junior who could go with me and she ended up riding Weaver on day 1 and 3, so I rode Chief all 3 days. After that I did the one day 50 at the Rides of March in Reno. The first 3 day XP ride came up a couple of weeks later, and I brought Chief and his baby (but larger) 7 year old brother along and had planned to ride him on the middle day. During the first days' ride, the neighbors horse got into a corral panel accident. My horse broke his halter and got loose from his hi-tie and managed to get a cut on his ankle. So I ended up riding Chief all 3 days at Cuyama.
Then I headed off to Utah for the Color Country Pioneer ride with Chief and Weaver. I rode Chief 2 days and Weaver 1 down there. It was a Pioneer ride, but not an XP ride. All this time I am still not sure what I am doing for the year as far as goals or planning anything. I just want to ride. It rained and boy did we have mud at this ride!
Pretty soon the next 3 day XP ride comes up – Mt. Carmel. I brought Chief and Rocky to that. Calina rode Rocky one day, and I ended up riding Chief all 3 days. So now it is starting to sink in a bit, hey I've just done the first two full XP rides on Chief maybe I should see about doing the next rides on him and try for the Gold Medal Award again. I also took him to the Lost Padres ride in May, and rode him one day due to the heat. I rode Rocky on the other day. The next ride coming up was a 5 day so I wanted to have him ready, but not overdo it. Plus, with the heat I am always torn over whether or not to syringe elyte Chief. So far, I haven't. I've only put plain salt or else perfect balance elytes in his feed and he eats it all so well that I have never felt that he needs to have any additional elytes given.
Riding thru snow at Fort Schellbourne (left)
In June we were off for Fort Schellbourne, my favorite ride. I brought Rocky and Chief to that one. Dave Rabe rode Rocky for me on two of the days, coming in first and even getting BC one of the days. Not too bad for a 7000+ mile horse. I should be riding him myself, I think. But then I headed out each day on Chief perfectly content and happy to be at the other end of the pack than where Rocky and Dave were. When you are out there for long periods of time you think about why you are out there and what it all means. I don't know if I have it figured out yet, but my goals over the years have changed. Now I am more focused towards riding my horse so that he stays happy as he goes down the trail day after day, and then comes home in good shape. I get asked a lot why I ride so slow when my horse is obviously so fit and strong. It's because I want to keep him sound, and if you go fast the odds of keeping the horse sound and healthy really go down.
Chief eating at Fort Schellbourne (right)
I guess it isn't about whether you go fast or slow, or what you do, just that you figure out what is best for the horse. Some horses do better going faster, some going slower, some not going at all. You also have to enjoy what you do. If going slow is some form of punishment for the rider, then the horse is probably not going to have fun either. I think it's all a great experience, and don't mind being out there all day. Especially since I know that by going slower, it increases my odds of having my horse do more rides, and stay sound. Chief has not had any lameness issues in his career {knocking on wood}. The tradeoff for going at a slower, consistent pace has been worth it in the rewards we get by being able to enjoy so many rides. It is a lot of work and takes more effort than going fast, I can say that since I've done plenty of top tenning and winning. Riding a fit Arabian slowly takes a lot of tenacity!
Schellbourne was a challenging ride for us. It was muddy and horses were falling in bogs all over the place. Chief, being a big wuss about stuff like that, decided that he would protect me from the mud monsters and pretty much kept everything mud free above his ankles. Good boy!
Then after that, I did two days at the Lewis' ride in Silver Springs.
All this time, I had been riding Chief with Epics and the new 2005 model Easyboots on over his bare feet. We pulled his shoes off before the Rides of March, and he has been barefoot ever since. At first I was really nervous about it, and worried about him getting footsore. Back in March I decided that since I had no goals for the year, that if he did start to get sore I would simply stop riding him and put shoes back on. As each ride went by, I found out that he was getting stronger and better in every way. His legs have always been nice, but they seemed to be even tighter and cooler the next day after even the most challenging of rides. Due to the extreme weather at some rides this year I rode him thru an incredible amount of mud, water, wet sand, deep sand and you name it. More than I have ever done. I think that this last year has been the most challenging and the most rewarding of any that I have had in this sport. I don't know if Chief would have been strong enough the year before to get thru them all, had the same conditions existed then.
After Schellbourne and the Silver Springs rides, I looked on the calendar and there really wasn't anything on in my region other than Tevis and a couple of one day rides. I figured well heck, let's go to New Mexico and I can ride 6 days there. I'm in the Easyboot Contest, and wanted to get the miles so I could at least stay in 2nd place. Dave Rabe is going to be 1st. Chief handled that ride just fine, he handles traveling well and was already acclimated to the heat, knows what rocks are and thought the terrain was the most mellow of any of the multidays he's done to date. At Fort Stanton, Chief earned his "Legion of Supreme Honor" designation from the AHA, so now his name is officially "TBR Granite Chief+/". :)
The next ride for us was the one day EHSC ride. I almost didn't go, for fear that the technical trails would be in bad shape, the water crossings high and I didn't want to risk something happening to Chief before the Bryce 5 day ride came up. I couldn't help myself, and figured heck if he can't get thru a little one day 50 then it'll be a good thing if we don't go all the way to Utah again for 5 days. He came thru that ride beautifully, and it was perfect because it kept his mind in check. He tends to get too wound up if he goes more than two or three weeks between rides. He also reached the 4000 mile mark at EHSC.
Bryce went well for us too. This was the second of the three 5-day rides I had to do in order to finish and win the Gold Medal Award. We just took it one day at a time, and rode our own ride. With Chief, the most difficult thing to manage is his brain. If I can keep his brain engaged (sort of), then we can do anything. The most difficult thing is to ride our own ride, and to pace him at a pace that he needs to go at. It is a constant challenge. People come along and want to ride with you, but they either don't want to ride at your pace, or they don't realize that they are letting their horse trot at 11 or 12 mph and next thing I know I am fighting Chief to keep him under 10 mph. I often have to stop and get off and walk on foot, as he is too strong and I can't keep him held back if another horse is next to him pulling him along. The worst is when we get into a group and everybody just lets their horse go. I figured out a long time ago that I can go faster overall for the entire day if I keep Chief at an 8.5 mph trot, when he walks fast, than if I yo-yo along with horses that trot 12 mph and then walk at a little over 2 mph. Then again, I can't make Chief walk that slow so he ends up jigging and there goes the brain…{sigh}.
After the Bryce ride, I headed back to Utah two weeks later for the Virgin Rim ride. It has the most gorgeous scenery imaginable, just like Bryce. It was only a 2 day ride, but the footing and terrain was hard and rocky. We went slow and careful and I was surprised that Chief never got footsore. I figured that I can stop worrying about him being barefoot now, the Epics are working as even better hoof protection than anything else I've tried on him. He hasn't torn a single gaiter or lost a single Epic. He does have trouble keeping 'regular' style easyboots on. So in that regard he is still and will always be easyboot challenged. Epics are sure awesome for him though!
After the Virgin Rim ride, we had a little over two weeks before the Grand Canyon ride. All year I've been really taking the best care of Chief I could and being as careful as I could on every ride. I really put a lot of effort into his post-ride care. Which mostly entails walking him regularly, both at the ride, and after we get home. We go for walks on the trail. Plus, he has his own little pasture at home now that he can graze on and he sure enjoys that. I also clean him up good, ice boot his front legs, keep Eqyss rehydrating spray on him (at least 1 full bottle used on every multiday ride), shampoo his pasterns and keep them cleaned and scratches-free. I also check his hoofs and keep the edges rounded and free of any chips or cracks. I watch him often, to get an idea of how he is feeling and try to figure out what he thinks about stuff. I know he likes the attention. He would rather I scratch and hug on him than eat, and will stop if I do that. He doesn't alternate resting his diagonals as often as my other horses used to, he stands square more often. He lies down more often, but prefers to have a full size blankie on when he does that as he doesn't like to get his belly dirty. He makes neat poop piles, and pees away from where he lies. That is until he gets home and then he'll roll as soon as I take the lead rope off! 
I decided to only bring Chief to the Grand Canyon ride. I know it's a long way to go if something happens and then I wouldn't get to ride all of the days. But in a way, I wouldn't really care if I didn't get to ride, if I wouldn't be riding Chief. I sure have grown to love riding him and sharing every day with him on the trail. We are really close, I know by how he watches me and how he comes to me in the dark at home. I haven't ever felt so close to a horse before. Chief has a double swirl on his forehead, which people tell me means that he is 'complicated'. It also makes him a challenge, but boy he has sure been worth it. I think I am probably pretty complicated too, so we are a good match.
Each day at the Grand Canyon seemed to go really well for us. I am amazed each morning at how much Chief eats every night. He is definitely one of those 'easy keepers' you hear about. I don't feed him nearly as much as a lot of people do, he doesn't need it. Between rides he will gain too much weight if I don't restrict him to hay only. It is nice to have such an easy maintenance horse. My other horses have never been that difficult either, but I think that Chief has been the easiest especially given that he's now done two two-thousand plus mile ride seasons in a row and looks like he hasn't done anything.
When you do this much on a horse in a year you worry about it being too much. I don't think I have to worry about that with Chief. He seems to love to go down the trail. He's always easy to catch, and very eager to see what is around the next bend. I think part of why he has so much fun is because I take him to the best rides on the best trails. He really thrives on the XP multiday format of large loops outside of camp with one vetcheck. He does fine at the other rides too, but he and I both (I think) like to be out there on our own, and appreciate the opportunity given to us to take care of each other. It's working out quite well.
I'm not sure what we will do next year. I will take it one day at a time and see how things go. I'd like to give Chief a break and start alternating him with my other horses. The sense of accomplishment for making all the days of a multiday on a horse that is stronger at the end than at the start is something that you don't get from anything else. At least, I don't. I no longer find one day rides a challenge. It's the multidays that keep me riding endurance. I love them all, but enjoy the XP style ones the best (nobody paid me to say that) ;)
I know as a rider, that we can never say Thank You enough to the people who make these rides possible. There are so many people out there who work tirelessly and endlessly to put on these rides and they all have my gratitude. I'd like to thank each and every one of them a thousand times over but especially to the Nicholson Family (Dave, Ann, Calina, Lavon), Joseph, Duane, Dave Rabe, Mark, and everybody who chips in to help with timing, trail marking, trail clearing, awards, etc. I can't list everybody but don't think you aren't appreciated! Chief would also like to express his gratitude to everybody who went out of their way to haul water out to the trail, as well as our crewbag so he never had to go hungry.