The Kenlyn Urban Challenge, 2009

Hey, I'd love to get some comments just so i know people are reading my blog.And don't forget to click on images to enlarge them. R
Super Crewer Chris Compton took these photos. Here I am just changing the oil and doing regular maintenance after a long ride. Everything seems to be in good order. The blanky was a big hit and serves to conceal nicely what I'm really doing!!
Looking and moving out nicely at the end of 50 miles plus probably more than that the night before! Scroll down for more details about the latter!! Don't forget to comment and click on images to make them larger.
Quietly standing the evening before the ride minding his own business.

This year's Kenlyn Urban challenge Endurance Ride in Aurora Colorado was fantastic as usual but certainly not uneventful. Well not the evening before anyway. I arrived Friday about 2.30 pm with plenty of time to set up and relax. Bonnie Swiatek arrived around the same time and we hung out together before each returning to our trailers to endure the damp cold night. I finally got warm by pretending to tread water in my sleeping bag and nodded off around 10pm about the same time I heard a CRASH! I leaped up and looked out not fast enough to see what had happened.Through the darkness i thought i saw some horses racing off and know i saw........NO FLAMBEAU and a torn down electric pen. There was to be no sleep tonight! I grabbed a halter and some grain and trekked off meeting a few others and Tennessee Mahoney, the other marauding horses' owner. We headed off down the road and found her electric coral strewn along the road by the golf course. Bad sign! That horse was probably frenzied. No horses insight but more bad signs. A heavy cable fence had been practically ripped out of the ground and knocked over with horse hair all over the place. Grey horse hair!!! Someone said there was blood but it was dark and i was hoping that information was erroneous.
Ken Fisher came along on his four wheeler ( Linda was convinced this was all a horrible dream so thought it best to stay in bed and send Ken instead .Good thinking on Linda's part.) I hopped on the four wheeler then Sophie, a Kenlyn trainer hopped on and we searched the area along with Dave in his vehicle and I think a lady called Karen was kindly helping too. Remember it's dark and everyone is dressed for the cold so excuse me if i get the names and faces mixed up.
So we all wandered around walking, wheeling, whistling and wailing in the darkness. Within two hours we found one of Tenny's horses and Flambeau amazingly in one piece. I was expecting to pick up all the pieces and take him home in plastic bags. Tenny's horse was lame with road rash and her one other horse Magnum was still at large.The police were informed and apparently alerts and road blocks set up. By this time four of us had saddled up horses and were riding in the darkness. It was passed midnight. The weird think is, they had split up. Flambeau was spotted racing up and down a fence line whooping it up in true Falmbeau style while the other horse was found somewhere else. Goodness knows where the third horse was! We rode for hours with no sign of him. At around 2.30am we called it quits. (Oh and somewhere in there the lovely big horse Gus, I was riding got caught in barbed wire but was sensible enough to let me untangle him diverting another potential wreck. Lovely well behaved horse in spite of the fact he could knock your fillings out with his trot. ) I went and collected my wayward Arab and tied him to the trailer where he happily, and noisily ate for the small remaining hours before daylight. It was around 3am by this time and I dosed off thinking there's no way we are going on the 50 tomorrow.
Then as i tried hard to sleep though the bumping of Flambeau's big nose on the trailer as he savaged his hay I thought, ya know that bugger is doing that 50 miles and if he tells me he's tired i don't want ta hear it!!
The vet passed him and we went, had a fantastic ride, came in 2nd in my division and 4th over all. The best news is Tennessee's horse was found during the ride and although lame I don't think it was seriously injured. I need to find out more.
As for what started it, it's still a mystery. One person thought they saw two horse plough through, or at least come very close to ploughing through, Flambeau's coral and the rambunctious Arab went whoopee!
Someone else said they saw a grey horse plough through Tennessee's horses' coral and they all went whoopee!! Anyway, they ran amok and any one who has horses knows to expect the unexpected at any minute.Poor Tennessee, she's really had her fair share of incidents lately and I'm wishing for a big change in her luck for the better here on. (I emailed T and her horses are fine and she's off to the next ride. She actually considers herself 'lucky' under the circumstances and would like her luck to stay where it is. Good way of looking at it)
As Mernie has always said horses, from the time they are born they are bent on committing suicide. We just have to make sure they don't take us with them!

All this aside. Thanks to those people who helped us find our horses and thanks to Linda, Denise, her family, the vets and all those volunteers for putting on a great ride as always. See y'all in September.

More pics and editing to come.
Leg injury. Only took the hair off.
Shoulders . Not much more than scratches.And he has a few more little nicks and bumps.NO BLOOD!