A horse named "MONK"

Abu Dhabi hair cut...

2012-01-30T18:42:00.000-08:00

MONK getting cleaned up a little bit before Lindsay arrives to give him a hair cut..

Sounds like they do not allow blankets on the horses for his 20 hour flight to the UAE. We decided to do a very minimum clip to help keep him warm and also save a little time while we are there. So what you see will be very different then how he will race.. He will just have to suffer on the way home..

Lindsay and MONK do a test run to check tack, see video in another post.

MONK goes to Abu Dhabi....

2012-01-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

Invitation for the H.H President of United Arab Emirates CupFEI CEI 3 ¶160Km, in Abu Dhabi on 11th February 2012

We received the invitation last Friday which was the 6th.. We had until Sunday to decide if we would accept or not. The invitation said that horses would ship out of New York. We did a accept with the condition that MONK would be shipped out of the West Coast. Today we got a email giving a possible itinerary shipping out of LA on the 2nd and arriving in the UAE on the 4th, with stops and short layovers in Chicago, KY....

The invitation is for the topped ranked riders on the ranking list who have not been invited before. The invitation is for two horse and rider teams, plus one groom per horse.

Luckily MONK is in excellent condition. We are headed for Reno this weekend where he will have 3 days of sand work. Just some easy work along the shores of Lake Washoe...

Needless to say we are very excited at this opportunity and will keep holding our breath until we are on the plane.

See you in Abu Dhabi........

New Brakes or NO Brakes

2011-12-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

New Brakes!

When you go fast and look good you must have the very best equipment and that includes brakes... So, as a early Christmas gift to MONK I decided to try out his new fancy 3 ring Mylar bit, this is equivalent to the fancy brakes that you put on your Porsche, cross drilled rotors, carbon fiber pads etc... Well it took some doing to get it on a headstall and adjusted but we did.

To tell the truth I used this new setup on MONK's last outing to the farmland where we just cantered for 20 miles.. That is not really a good test as he really does not get to run. When he is a BAD horse is when you are doing repeats and you let him run some, he thinks he should just be able to go as fast as he wants. If you are strong enough to keep him from doing it, good for you, if not, you are going for a fast ride.

Today we started doing some slow repeats. I let him run a couple of times, it was almost like you were riding with nothing. I took him down the big hill where I do sometimes let him run at top speed, well he took off like a rocket and it was not easy to get him back. I got him slowed to a mild roar and headed back to the barn.

I then tried the bit that I use on all the other horses, just something simple and we went back out.. Boy what a difference...

Should of put a picture of the bit that I usually use on him, but it is just a jointed Kimberwick. He worked much better in the Kimberwick that was solid and not jointed.

River of Time.....

2011-12-17T10:29:00.000-08:00

Someone posted this on facebook. For some reason it really hit home with me, I think mainly because I am getting older and time seems to be going by so fast. I feel very blessed to have things in my life that keep me young, my wife, my kids and grand kids and of coarse my horses, especially MONK.

MONK is back in full tilt training which is hard for me, but very rewarding.... We did the farmland ride again a couple days ago and it was cold and windy, the water foul flying up out of the ditches made for a white knuckle ride, and my knees started aching pretty bad, but I rode well, which always makes me smile, I seem to have a better seat then I did a few years ago.

I actually did a whole 50 mile ride a couple of weeks ago at Desert Gold. I rode my horse Psuntana, I call him my Mini MONK. He cantered the whole first 30 miles and most of the second half. This is my first 50 in maybe 3 years or so.

Farm Land again

2011-12-11T10:19:00.001-08:00

Have a feeling that I will be doing this stretch for quite some time. Cantering for hours at a time uses different parts of your body so will try some "Monkey Butt" next time. I have just been riding along side the road, which works well, very good footing, plus I have his Easy Care Gloves on, so the few feet that we are on asphalt I don't have to worry. MONK enjoys these jaunts very much. I was reading about a comment someone made about "how do you know he likes it" when someone said that the horses in Dubai liked racing the cars... I guess you would have to of been there and done that, but a horse like MONK would enjoy that very much.

I usually will do the first couple mile warm up at about 12mph. After he was warmed up a little we end up going a little faster, I really do not pay attention too much to the speed, I just want him to be very comfortable at what ever speed he is going. I did start to chuckle, actually laugh out loud when I looked at the Garmin as we were doing 14 mph and his heart rate was 114. I kept an eye on the Garmin for another 10 minutes or so to make sure everything was working properly and it appeared to be. Towards the end of our ride, and going a little faster I did see a HR of 138.

4	4:14.4	4:14	1.00	14.1	14.2	15.0	114	125	22
5	4:14.0	4:14	1.00	14.2	14.2	15.9	118	127	25
6	4:06.8	4:07	1.00	14.6	14.6	15.7	126	135	25
7	4:25.7	4:26	1.00	13.5	13.5	15.6	124	137	23

MONK, post ride.

Rice fields on either side of the road

When I got back home and downloaded the ride information I went back to May of 2010 when Lindsay and I were training for the WEG selection in Brothers Oregon and looked at some long and fast cantering that we did. His HR for those rides was 140 to 160 range, and we did not check recoveries. We actually only did a few of these long and fast works and MONK was without a doubt one of the best at the Oregon Selection. He cantered for 80 miles in about 6.30 hours. The speed that was asked for on the different loops were 12, 13 and 14 mph. MONK completed that task with ease.

Be interesting, or more interesting to make some comparisons down the road as I gradually increase the speed. I will probably not increase the distance much, but you never know. MONK's recoveries on these jaunts are pretty much you would expect from a horse in his condition, well under 5 minutes, and that is with tack on and NO cooling, watch out KUTT. The main difference that comes to mind right off the bat is the difference in our weight. Lindsay is at about 150 pounds with the FEI saddle, I weigh in at 210 with his Freeform training saddle. But, I will have time to get some stats from Lindsay when she comes to train on him, so I will try and have her go the same speed as some of the works I have done with him and draw some conclusion as to what difference the weight makes.. But, he will be more fit by then, not that the numbers are going to change anything, but just nice to know information.

Nice grass

Cantering the Farm Land

2011-12-07T17:03:00.001-08:00

Decided it was time to do some EASY over 10 mile canters. Have been looking for sometime for some farm land with real good footing to start cantering MONK. I took the motorcycle out last week when we had some real nice weather looking for a good spot that was reasonably close. Well I thought I had found a place, but you never know until you actually get to ride it. So we saddled up and put him in the trailer.

As you can tell we are out in the middle of the farm lands, with rice fields on both sides of the rode. We just rode along side the road for the most part, did some loops around inside the fields.

MONK was intently looking at something, never really did figure out what, probably all the water foul in the all the rice fields. He was a good boy today, he just picked up the canter right away, and kept it at a nice and easy pace. He seemed very happy and he kept going a little faster but did not fuss when I asked to go a little slower. We will pick the pace up a little later after he has been back to work for a little while.

This is post ride, he looked like he had done nothing but just enough for me and for where he is at right now. He probably could of gone a lot faster, but we are going to ease into the speed, no hurry. This was a nice place to ride, good nice soft footing, no cars, and easily do over 20 miles without tons of duplication. Good place to safely go fast when we get to that phase.

2011-12-07T11:13:00.001-08:00

Repeats and Hills

2011-12-03T16:26:00.001-08:00

Nice easy 6 miles, repeats and hills. First part of this video will make you dizzy, you can fast forward using the controls... You can stop the video and change the angle your looking at or just grab the screen and go exploring. <p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/59872052"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;iMapMyRUN: Dec 3, 2011 1:34 PM&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; and more runs in Penn Valley, CA on MapMyRUN. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find run&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

MONK under saddle

2011-12-01T16:36:00.001-08:00

How soon we forget.. MONK is so smooth to ride, his gates are perfect. His 18 mph trot is super nice, he is such a powerful horse. Today I rode him for the first time in a couple of months. I rode him first in the pasture next door, it is about 500 yards with a nice uphill, good footing, but that was kind of a mistake. Years ago this is where we would go and canter for 5 miles at a time, and where I am currently riding two other horses. We just walked at first, a couple of times up and down, then a nice easy trot, after about 2 times of that MONK really wanted to go MONK speed. I forget what an ASS he can be when he wants to go fast, he just runs away with you and you better be strong enough to stop him. He will get better after he has been ridden for awhile. So after the little uphills I decided that I would take him down to the lake, which is about 1 mile, with almost 1000 feet of elevation gain. We went almost to the lake but we encounter a MONK eating broken tree branch laying in the road. I thought we had long passed this silly stage, but he saw it and spun as quick as a cutting horse, luckily I stayed in the saddle, because if I fell off he would not hang around to give me a ride home. He just trotted the hill, but very quickly and was pretty pissed I would not let him run....

I do miss riding him, he is so easy to be around. But sure I will be tired of it soon, I am currently riding two other horses almost daily. It is lots of work to condition MONK. These next few weeks I will be able to get him slowly up to speed and will then be looking for special trails and locations to bring him back to the top of his game. I really think that MONK can be in better condition then his last race season but it will take lots of time and energy. Most of MONK's conditioning will be off the ranch, which will probably mean that one whole day GONE.

Back to work... World 2012?

2011-11-22T18:29:00.001-08:00

MONK has had 60 days off, R & R, no doing nothing, Nada, well not exactly, I did take him for a few walks.... One was over on the south side of the mountain where there are lots of hills and sunshine and quite a view of Lake Englebright, see picture. This is a great place for hill training during the winter, you get lots of sunshine when it's available and some nice local views. You can't do any fast work, but you can do some real steep hills, you can canter a few, but most are so steep you NEED to just walk.

Should be posting more in the next few months as I bring MONK back into the best shape he has ever been in.

Rumor has it that a test event will be held somewhere in Texas at the end of March where ALL horse and rider teams will compete for a spot on the USA team for World Endurance Challenge in England.

I have to say that March is pretty early in the year for some folks who live in snow country. I am lucky that I can train year round and do much of it right from the ranch.

I have a big decision to make about which way we are headed for 2012, but regardless MONK will be in the best shape EVER.. This horse will only be 10 in 2012 and we will be training for his best performances yet.

The saga continues....

Tevis 2011 - Winner and Haggin Cup recipient Jeremy Reynolds.

2011-10-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

This first video is of Jeremy Reynolds coming up Bath road just about to go into the Foresthill Vet Check, he is leading the 100 mile Tevis Cup race on his way to a first place finish and winner of the coveted Haggin Cup. I was a little late turning on the camera but the purpose of the video is to show how he quickly cools out his horse to reach the required heart rate before he goes to the Vet. What you don't see is that just after they turn the corner into the crewing area they grab a hose and continue to cool the horse for probably another 90 seconds or so before they go into the pulse box. The pulse box is just a small area roped off where they take the horses pulse. The horse must reach a certain pulse before they are allowed to go to the vet, it is usually 64 or 60, depending on the race, I actually do not know what the required pulse was. So, to recap, saddle is removed quickly, probably within 3 seconds, yes, about 3 to 5 seconds, then the horse is cooled using massive amounts of water with the horse always having forward motion. Usually the in timer is before you are allowed to crew, but in this case it is allowed to crew prior to the in timer. As the horse and crew approach the in timer they call out the riders number and it is documented with the in time.. The actual in time does not start until the horse has reach the required HR inside the pulse box. If they take the horse into the pulse box and the required pulse is too high the horse must exit the box and then go to the back of the line and wait for their turn again. When you race at this level, every minute and second counts, that is where a good crew is essential.

This video is of Jeremy leaving the Foresthill Vet check with about 37 more miles to go. Jeremy runs the EasyCare Glue on boots so they help suck up all the concussion from going fast on hard ground and help lots on asphalt.

This is a video of Jeremy coming off the Tevis trail and crossing Hwy 49, about 6 miles to the finish. If you notice Jeremy jumps off his horse and runs up the hill. Not sure how much he ran during this race but it could of been considerable. He did have some fast horses that were close so sometimes you have to change your game plan a little.

What I found interesting is the during the ride Jeremy was closely followed by Rachel Shackleford on her amazing horse Cody, who is 18 year old. Jeremy and Rachel rode quite a few miles together and Jeremy thought she was quite talented. Jeremy shared some of the tricks of the trade with Rachel which will help her in the future. I chatted with Rachel during BC showing about her ride with Jeremy and I know she was impressed with Jeremy.

This video is of Rachel and Cody about 20 minutes behind Jeremy approaching the Hwy 49 crossing. This was Cody's last Tevis, but you have not heard the last of this young competitor. A 2nd place finish at Tevis is quite an accomplishment for someone who I think in not even 20 years old... I think I saw the light bulb go on, best of luck to Rachel in the future.

2011-09-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

This article by Troy Smith was in this months Endurance News....

Fastest American 100-mile time set

Fastest known 100s in AERC history

Year Horse Rider Ride Time

2011 Monk Lindsay Graham Patriot’s Day at Lake Almanor 6:53

2011 A Kutt Above Jeremy Reynolds Patriot’s Day at Lake Almanor 6:54

2010 Theatric Kathy Brunjes Fun In The Sun Pioneer - FEI 7:44

2010 Syrocco Reveille Meg Sleeper Fun In The Sun Pioneer - FEI 7:44

2010 Spectacular Gold Valerie Kanavy AERC National Championship 7:55

2004 Rokket Karen Kroon Arabian Nights FEI 7:57

by Troy Smith, AERC

Unlike human marathons, endurance rides generally don’t recognize record times, since each ride has so many variables—terrain, weather, altitude, etc. A query from the first-place finisher in the Patriot’s Day at Lake Almanor 100, held July 30 in Northern California, sent the office on a search of the unofficial record book.

As best as we can tell, Monk—ridden by Lindsay Graham, DVM—ran the fastest-ever 100 in North America, with a time of 6:53. (Jeremy Reynolds and A Kutt Above crossed the finish line just a minute later.)

The previous fastest time in AERC’s searchable history was a 7:44 tie finish by Theatric, ridden by Kathy Brunjes, and Syrocco Reveille, with Meg Sleeper, DVM, aboard at the March 2010 Fun in the Sun 100 in Florida.

A 7:55 finish was clocked by Spectacular Gold and Valerie Kanavy at the 2010 AERC National Championship 100 in South Carolina. In 2004, Rokket and Karen Kroon finished the 100-mile Arabian Nights FEI in 7:57.

Lindsay and Monk, the 100-mile National Championship winners in 2009, were only trying to make FEI “elite” status at the ride: a finish in under nine hours. But right from the start, Monk, A Kutt Above and No Repeat, ridden by former World Champion Becky Hart, were vying for the win.

Lindsay always pays strict attention to Monk’s pace. “Monk’s welfare is always of the upmost importance to me,” said Lindsay, who has been riding Monk for owner Chris Martin for nearly three years. “As an endurance rider for seven years now, as well as being a veterinarian, I know where my boundaries are and know how to ride the line when needed.

“I am always riding a guarded pace, never a ‘Monk’ pace,” explained Lindsay. “At the Patriot’s Day 100, we went a Monk pace. We even put it into a whole new gear for the last loop which I was very hesitant to do but Monk kept telling me to just let him do his thing. The last loop, flying at 18.5 mph, I felt a bit out of my comfort zone, but at the same time I had a smile on my face. If Monk could, he would be smiling too.”

Lindsay uses a Garmin heart rate monitor while competing. At his record-setting ride, Monk ran between 120 and 130 bpm at a 14 mph pace after his first “amped-up” loop. On their final loop, riding at 18.5 mph, Lindsay was pleased to see Monk running at around 140 bpm.

At the rest stops, Monk typically recovered within five minutes, although the first check didn’t go ideally. “I made the mistake of having water poured on his neck and part of his back first thing in the morning,” admitted Lindsay. “As soon as he got cold, he began shivering, his heart rate spiked, and we had to return to the pulse box, losing six minutes at that hold. I told my crew to let me know what the temp was really like as I came into the holds, as Monk and I come in hot and I get a little jaded sometimes on how cold it really is.”

Strategy at the holds was instrumental in their win. Lindsay said, “For a majority of the ride, I was riding with Jeremy and Becky, and their horses recovered faster than Monk, so I had to change my strategy and come in a few minutes ahead of them, to give me that buffer.”

The ride’s 30-minute holds were at 25 and 87.5 miles, with 50-minute holds at 37.5, 62.5 and 75 miles.

Ride conditions weren’t necessarily conducive to fast times. The course was pretty rocky, with some ups and down, and the temperatures were in the low 90s. “Since Monk has done a lot of training barefoot, he can pick his way through anything at any speed and miss all the rocks and ruts,” said Lindsay.

Not only did Monk finish first, but he was also awarded best condition. “The following morning I took Monk for a walk. Normally in hand he is a slow walker and usually lags behind,” said Lindsay. “That morning, Monk had a nice fast walk right beside me with ears forward and all. He soon drug me over to the water trough and took about 15 gulps of water. He was yanking me all around, eating the bits and pieces of old mash, carrots and anything else he could find.”

After pigging out, Monk—as he does after most every ride—used Lindsay as a scratching post. “He always works hard and deserves to be spoiled,” said Lindsay.

Training for the ride is done under the supervision of Monk’s owner, Chris Martin. “I found a nice 20-mile trail with about 2500 feet of elevation gain that Monk could easily canter about 70% percent of,” said Chris. “This was our mainstay training ride for this 100. Monk could easily do this course in the 1:30 range, getting a little faster and recoveries being a little better each time.”

Monk’s rider credits their crew for their work during the ride. “When it comes down to winning by a minute, you come to appreciate how every second counts in this sport, and having a crew like the one I have really made it happen,” she said. “Thanks to Chris Martin, my parents Susie and Steve Seibert, fiance Erik Fisher and good friend Bob Spoor—go Team Monk!”

All in all, Lindsay explained, “I know I did my job right if Monk is a happy horse the next day, whether I came in first or last place.”

“The highlight of my day,” said Chris, “was seeing my horse being ‘raced’ for the very first time and all the valuable information and knowledge we gained from that. This ride was also a valuable learning ride for Lindsay. She will be able to ride with even more confidence in Monk’s ability.”

Reprinted with permission from the October issue of Endurance News, official publication of the American Endurance Ride Conference, www.aerc.org, 866-271-2372.

NAETC

2011-09-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

North American Team Challenge

MONK pulled after 100 miles. Hind site being 2020 consensus was that he seemed a little tight in the rear end which may of changed the way he moved a little causing his pull for lameness. He was totally sound while under saddle, and a Equine Vet who loves him was in the saddle, he was sound the next day after being checked by 3 Vets, and when we got home he was sound... Hate not knowing exactly what was wrong, it can come back to haunt you.

NAETC photo link in the left hand column.

He looks fast! Thanks for the picture Nancy...

Out of all the pictures that we took I like the one above the most, it was taken by my wife Nancy. She just does not click, she actually has an idea of what she might get when she click the shutter...

I want to thank my fellow competitor Jeremy Reynolds who while following Lindsay and MONK on one of the loops jumped off his horse to retrieve Lindsay's stirrup which had fallen off. Now this was just not your ordinary ride, there were about 5 top horses, hours ahead of the rest of the field, and ALL vying for a medal at this competition. Seems like each of the horses had let the race at some point in time, they were all within minutes of each other.

http://www.reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog

This is Heathers blog, Jeremy's wife, and am sure she will write something about this event when she has time.

http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2011NAETC/

More race info here.

http://www.endurance.net/merri/

Very nice Story by Merri...

http://napavalleyregister.com/search/?q=lindsay+graham+monk

Some local newspaper stories about Lindsay and MONK....

We had a couple new crew member on this trip, Ken Cook, and Lindsay's sister Allison. Ken forgot more about horses and racing then I ever knew and was a valuable asset. Out standby crew of Eric, Steve, Susie, Nancy and I rounded out the crew.... Of coarse we were hoping for a repeat of the Patriot ride and we things were going according to game plan.

Nice body weight, prefer a little meat on my horses ribs.

Steve holding the Monkster...

First Vet check, 15 miles into the ride.

Amazing day with another blazing fast ride.

Training

2011-08-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

MONK is getting ready for the North American Endurance Championship. This is where horses from all over the United States and Canada will come to compete in the 100 mile event in Greenville CA. This coarse is the same one where MONK won the AERC Championship ride in 2009 so we have a home town advantage. MONK is listed on the USEF training list as number ONE and will ride for Pac North. Looks like we will have at least two teams of four.

MONK has had several training rides since his win and BC at the Patriot 100 ride. This coarse at Greenville does have some hills which we prefer. MONK is a great hill horse but does well on most courses, but the tougher the better is our preference.

The Map My Run is a program that is on my iphone4 and I use it instead of the Garmin when I am not recording Heart Rates.

What you are looking at is a route that I use when I pony MONK and am looking for some speed. There is about 2000 feet of elevation gain so it is definitely not flat my any means. But I have lots of slight uphills, slight downhills where we can get the speed up a little.

This is a fun program, you can stop it and change how you look at the whole thing, you can even go off exploring by using the two controls top right.

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Monk Bath

2011-08-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Patriot FEI 100 Helmet Cam Videos

2011-08-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

HELMET CAM VIDEO'S

Cooling out pre vet check

Maybe 3rd loop, Jeremy Reynolds 1st, Becky Hart 2nd, MONK and Lindsay 3rd.

Finish line helmet cam....

Best Condition showing.

Patriot FEI 100 - MONK wins plus Best Condition

2011-08-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Monk and I arrived at the Patriot ride on Thursday afternoon and set up camp with enough room for our crew rigs. Our crew consisted of myself, Susie and Steve, Bob Spoor and Eric. Lindsay and Crew arrived about 3pm on Friday. I did ride MONK on Friday morning at about 8am, he was quite as usual, seemed very relaxed on controllable. We went out on loop two for about 4 miles and then turned around and came back. The trail was somewhat rocky but was nice enough to cantor. Since Lindsay would be cantoring most of this ride, that is what we did. MONK and I have been working on some pretty tough training rides, all envolving cantoring in preparation for this ride.

Our goal for this FEI ride was to obtain the new "Elite" horse status. The rules say that if a horse does a sub 9 hour 100, then they are considered a "Elite" horse. So, with the ride starting at 5:30 am, I calculated that we needed to finish by just before 7PM to make the sub 9.....

MONK, I think he is checking out the Porsche

View from the Living Room.

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Lindsay braided MONK and we went to vet him through. All A's of coarse so we returned to the trailer where we saddled up for a short test run and tack check. All was good, Lindsay was very happy with his attitude, he is a happy horse, not very friendly but happy, he loves what he does and you can tell, especially when you see him on the trail. He pretty much does not make a real good presentation to the vet, but that is just him, he just chills.

After Vet in, 105F (F is for FEI)

MONK getting the girly stuff done.

This is going to be my next Tow vehicle.. it is a Porsche Cayenne.

Ride meeting was at 6:30PM, lots of rider. I think there were 30 in the 100, 10 of those were FEI. Lots of the FEI horses are trying to get back on the training list so they can ride the North American Endurance Team Challenge on Sept 24 th of this year which will be held in the same general area but different location. Actually it will be held on the same trail where MONK won the 2009 AERC championship ride.

Not being the rider I pretty much space during the ride meeting and just hear what I want to hear. Criteria was 64 all day, tack off on the 50 minute holds and can stay on for the 30 minute holds.

We had decided that we would pull tack on all holds, as cooling is critical. MONK does well in the heat and can get chilled easily.

Lindsay was up at 4:30 AM Saturday morning, taking MONK for a walk and let him graze a little. She is always in the saddle warming him up 30 minutes before the ride. We did have a pre ride conference to make sure we were on the same page, no racing non FEI riders, try and get MONK by himself so he can relax and not pull her arms off...

We did walk the 1/3 mile out to the start line and watch them all take off in a cloud of dust, too dark for photo's, could not even tell where Lindsay was, but only 30 or so riders. Loop 1 was 25 miles, first rider in was a FEI rider, Deanna by a minute or so, the rest showed up quickly. MONK was probably in the top 5 or so, we pulled saddle and walked him to the water trough, we had talked about probably NOT using water on him on the first check knowing he chills, but for some reason I think we got a little frantic when it looked like we getting seriously behind, so we started using some water on him. This mistake cost us 6 minutes as he chilled and then was not at criteria when we went into the pulse box. You have to go out and get a new pulse time and then go back in. Hopefully a lesson learned. MONK drank well at the water trough pre vet check and really ate good during the 30 minute hold.

Lindsay left 6 minutes after the first 3 or 4 horses... Actually quite a bit changed on the first loop. First rider in was way behind Lindsay, another of the front AERC riders was pulled.

Lindsay going out on "maybe" the 3rd loop.. Jeremy was first, Becky Hart was 2nd and MONK about 3 minutes behind in 3rd. The rest of the loops MONK was first to the Vet. Lindsay knew that both Jeremy and Becky's horses could out pulse MONK, so if she wanted to stay in front she had to be a couple of minutes ahead of them at the Vet check.

MONK going in for one of his Vet Checks.

They always chat, not sure what about...... must be a Vet thing.

Vet line again, Becky's horse to the left.

Hour hold, MONK is hand fed for the whole hour....

Lindsay getting ready to mount, going out in first place.

Candid shot, otherwise she would be hamming it up....

She saw the camera.... Vet line again.

Last loop and the most important one. Lindsay and MONK first out. Jeremy 2 nd 1.5 minutes behind, Becky's next, 1.5 min behind Jeremy. Becky had been running tough all day long, she was always there, she even came in first on at least one of the loops. This last loop was 12.5 miles with the finish being about 1/2 mile from camp. We have a 20 minute CRI and weigh in right after the finish line.. Jeremy's crew, Skip, had headed out to a approved crewing spot to help cool Jeremy's horse. Both of their horses left with a vengeance with a very fast cantor. My heart was in my stomach as we loaded up the stuff we needed to cool out MONK at the finish line. We waited while some 50 milers came through, of coarse we all thought it was Lindsay and Jeremy. After awhile here comes a vehicle, and Skip is driving, he stops at the finish line and says "Were going to have a horse race".... I started feeling a little sick as the waiting was horrible. Every time a 50 came down the road my heart would start to race.... Finally here comes Lindsay and MONK on the horizon and she appears to be by herself. I can see her turn and look behind her. Will have to look at the video, I cannot remember if was in a trot or a cantor. One minute later here comes Jeremy all smiles. He said that he tried like heck to catch her, riding 18mph to catch Lindsay, he was asking all the 50's in front of him how far ahead she was.. So, 18 mph cannot catch 18 mph...

So we walked MONK back to the Vet area where we to have our 20 min CRI. We had lots of water so we cooled MONK while we walked. MONK had a great CRI and we asked for the completion exam at the same time and he passed with flying colors. I have some videos and more pictures which I will add at another time.. Look for a photo link in the left hand side of blog. I was also wearing a hat camera so have lots of video... Gotta go feed my boy, so come back to see the extra stuff....

We won BC, I know he had the best CRI but Jeremy did such a great job showing KUT that I was for sure he would get it. If you are going to loose a race, no better person to loose it to then Reynolds Racing, first class professionals with real values.

Ride time is recorded as 6 hours and 53 minutes.... not a misprint....

I have to say that this ride was probably the most valuable learning ride that we have done to date. This is actually the first time that we have had to RACE Monk and a race it was, it was fast. But being MONK's trainer and my big belief is that you always train faster then you race, so he was well prepared for this speed. He looked fantastic for most of the race, he does get a little hound dog look at the vets, but that is pretty much the norm for him. If his recoveries are good and not swinging, he is ready to go. I think it was also a very valuable learning lesson for Lindsay to be able to ride that LINE without going over the edge... and boy did she find that line this weekend.

MONK loaded up for the ride home after the BC presentation. He weighed in at 825 when we got home, down at least 75 pounds, but had to wait in the hot sun while I changed a trailer tire, about 5 miles from home, this morning he had gained another 10 pounds. He looks great you would never know he lost a pound if you did not have a scale.

Next ride is the NAETC, North American Endurance Team Challenge...

Video of MONK's race boots.

2011-07-26T17:46:00.000-07:00

Training Ride

2011-07-12T21:55:00.000-07:00

MONK has done this training ride a couple of times. Each time he gets just a little faster and recovers a little quicker. Actually his last run on this coarse was 10 days ago, he reduced his overall time by 10 minutes, and a 1 mph average over last time and his recovery was 5 minutes quicker. The finish to this ride is on the uphill, so MONK's heart rate upon reaching the trailer is around 160. I do a separate file for the recovery logs. Please notice the elevation gain, this is not a flat ride. With the change of the Tevis cup ride we had to switch our training from hills to more flat and fast coarse. We are training for the Patriot ride at the end of September which is a FEI 100. This ride will be pretty flat and fast.

This training ride is done on a mountain road that gets very little traffic, has recently been graded and the hills are pretty short, meaning that we can run most of them. The downhill portion to the turn around point is rolling, with short uphills, and you can canter about 70% of it. After the turn around, you can canter probably 90% and fast trot the steeper downhills.

MONK will have one more hard ride, probably this same coarse, along with some smaller trail rides.

Overall

Time:	01:33:38
Distance:	20.07 mi
Elevation Gain:	2,446 ft
Calories:	755 C

Timing

Time:	01:33:38
Moving Time:	01:31:00
Elapsed Time:	01:39:44

Avg Speed:	12.9 mph
Avg Moving Speed:	13.2 mph
Max Speed:	18.9 mph

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	2,446 ft
Elevation Loss:	2,440 ft
Min Elevation:	3,347 ft
Max Elevation:	5,306 ft

Heart Rate

Avg HR:	145 bpm
Max HR:	209 bpm

Zones

% of Max

bpm

Laps 21

View Splits

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Speed
Summary	01:33:38	20.07	12.9
1	00:05:44	1.00	10.4
2	00:05:47	1.00	10.4
3	00:04:51	1.00	12.3
4	00:05:08	1.00	11.7
5	00:04:23	1.00	13.7
6	00:04:26	1.00	13.5
7	00:04:23	1.00	13.7
8	00:04:30	1.00	13.3
9	00:04:11	1.00	14.3
10	00:04:19	1.00	13.9
11	00:04:16	1.00	14.1
12	00:04:09	1.00	14.5
13	00:04:18	1.00	13.9
14	00:04:25	1.00	13.6
15	00:04:10	1.00	14.4
16	00:04:10	1.00	14.4
17	00:05:10	1.00	11.6
18	00:04:49	1.00	12.5
19	00:04:50	1.00	12.4
20	00:05:09	1.00	11.6
21	00:00:21	0.07	12.6

NASTR 75 - MONK "First and BC"

2011-06-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

NASTR 75

Well any race starts at home in your horse preparation. We have been conditioning hard, with lots of rest and even more nutritional support. We use the EasyCare Glue on boots applied with just Goober Hoof Pack..., these are applied most of the time at least a week in advance of the ride. MONK gets weighed everyday with a digital scale to make sure he is maintaining he weight.

Everybody wants a horse like MONK. If you think campaigning a top horse is fun, take another think. Everybody is watching, everybody is waiting for you to fall on your face, and everybody has an opinion. The vets give you very special attention, and rightfully so, and for the most part do a wonderful job. We listen to them intently and try and adjust. We all try to do the best that we can for our equine athletes and we do talk about those who excel, and especially those who over ride their horses. We are trying hard to do the very best for MONK, and those who have seen him going down the trail with that big SMILE on his face will know that he likes what he does.

Pre ride weight......

Pre Vet check-in....

Vet Abuse, caught on camera!

Just another day at the office for MONK, all business. MONK had Shannon Constanti on board for this training ride, as Dr. Lindsay Graham DVM had to attened her little sisters wedding. We always have a game plan which we try and follow but also to be flexible and change things on the fly as they come up. Shannon has only a 25 mile training ride on MONK so her experience on him is limited. Bob Spoor on Logistric were also riding the 75, Bob and Dr. Lindsay had ridden the Cache Creek ride together and the horses seemed to go good together, so after chatting to Bob we decided that we would at least try and start out together. Well that did not happen, Shannon could not find Bob at the start and after talking to Bob he said that for the first 10 miles or so he was having a control problem with Logistric.

Not sure what I expected but was totally shocked when Shannon and MONK showed up on the horizon leading the pack into the first 25 mile Vet check, she was followed closely by another lady who I did not know.

Chris and Jay, doing all the work!! Jay is Shannon's Dad.
We are missing MIKE, the picture taker, Shannon's better half, thanks for all the help and support.

MONK pulsed quickly to criteria of 60 and we moved him to our crew spot for a snack. We let him eat for a few minutes and then grabbed some hay and grain and walked and fed him while on the way to the Vet. Hold was for 40 minutes with tack on as it was on very warm. MONK ate like he has never ate before at an endurance ride. We had 3 different kind of hay, plus carrots and 3 different grains and a mash, which he did not touch.
.

One of many VET checks, sponging lightly, not too warm out.

Shannon mounted and headed for the out timer for the next 25 miles. As we got to the timer the lady that was running 2nd was told my the timer that she could go. She took off down the trail. Now I know that we pulsed down at least 2 to 5 minutes ahead of her, we were in the pulse box while she was still at the water, and there was only ONE pulse box... Kim, the ride manager was close by so I told her what had happened. As luck would have it the lady forgot her helmet and came back down the trail where Kim told her that they had given her the wrong out time. Actually the time they gave her was her in time, not her pulse down time.

So, MONK out first by at least a few minutes with a rider hot on his heals, Bob Spoor and Logistic were out 3rd.

What did I forget?

I would not have a clue as to how you would build this "MIND SET" into a horse, but MONK does not need another horse to keep up his interest in going down the trail. I have ridden enough horse in races to know that it is INDEED a very special and important factor in having a top endurance horse. This ability alone is so important that it would be a top seller if you could bottle it.. Could be that almost all of the training is done solo, but I seriously doubt it. My best bet is that either you got it or you don't.

The other factor is his ability to dance through the rocky sections almost like he was floating. Part of that could come from being a barefoot horse, not sure, but I think they learn the best spots to put their feet. Of coarse that does not mean that you can go racing through the rocky sections, but what it does mean is that he will have the ability to dance through those sections a little better then the competition. I have pretty much learned in training that I give him FULL discretion as to his path through rocky sections of trail, and for the most part he makes different decisions then I would...

MONK's ability to climb hills, short, long or forever, is probably one of his best assets, which is mostly just his athletic ability but has to be backed up by training.

Tack on vet check! All day long.

Just another day at the office, MONK all business!

That "vet card" sure tastes good.....

Waiting for 10 MIN CRI, Good Job MONK

Jay, on the job, MONK's personal "feeder", waiting to show for BC

Come on DAD, you can run faster then that!! Showing for BC

No way this horse did 75 miles!!!

Can't believe I have to do the running!!!

OK OK, MONK is the Best Conditioned horse...

Elevation gained on this ride was 7500 feet, not bad for a desert ride. Our average speed was 9.6 mph with a moving ride time of just over 7 hours. Not sure what official time was as all this info is off of the Garmin.

The weather was cool, in the high to mid 50's for the most part, a little wind but not gale force. This is the perfect weather to keep your horse well hydrated.

It has been awhile since I have shown for BC and I am not so nimble these days. I do have to say that I have some opinions on the 10 min CRI. Shannon pretty much almost walked the last 1/2 mile into the finish line as the Garmin even shows. You only have 10 minutes to get the Heart Rate as low as you can and they use this criteria for BC, so unless your racing to the finish line it is best to come in as slow as you can to keep the HR as low as you can. The 10 min CRI can be a problem if you have close competitor's with horses that pulse quickly, but not today, it was MONK's day.

What is also means for me, and I may be wrong, but I think it give me the opportunity to WAKE Monk up a little prior to showing as I do not have to worry about the CRI. I think when he is wide awake it makes for a much better presentation, he is paying attention and is much more animated giving the Vets a better presentation as to his fitness. I also do the BC showing a little different then most, more of a lunging exercise on the circles. MONK works well on the off side as that is the side he gets ponied on.

I thought that this was maybe one of his best BC showings, but maybe it was because I was doing it. He looked absolutely fantastic, just how I like to see him.

If I was not a bred and born California boy, I would move to Nevada just to be apart of the Nevada States Trail Riders wonderful organization. I have been doing the Nevada rides for years and they consistently step up to the plate and put on the VERY BEST run rides put on anywhere. MONK will wear his NASTR 75 BC blanket proudly.

Chunky Monkey - just kidding.

2011-06-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

Chunky MONKey....

Actually pretty happy with his weight and his rapid recovery back to weight after work. We are going to NASTR 75 this coming weekend, which was supposed to be a good TEVIS prep ride, but since they changed the date, it won't be that, but maybe a good prep for his next 100. Maybe a good ride to work on his mind set, we will see. Dr. Lindsay Graham DVM is attending her little sisters wedding so MONK will have a new pilot for this adventure, Shannon Constanti. Shannon has only ridden him once before on a 25 mile training ride and he behaved himself pretty well as there were no other horses to chase down.

MONK and stable mate Montgomery

MONK and his rather large freind, Sammy, who looks like a draft horse but is actually a Arab.

Equine Ulcers

2011-05-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

MONK has ulcers. He has had them on and off for years. That is what probably makes him such a finicky eater, and hence the name of that OCD detective Tony Shaloub who plays the TV detective MONK... Afraid I have not always managed them in the proper way. I guess if you have unlimited funds and can have them checked on a regular basis and can afford the recommended coarse of treatment then you could "manage them properly" According to the information that I have read is that a horse can get ulcers in less then a week, now that presents a problem when trying to keep them fit and in proper weight.

So, in the beginning I did have him scoped to confirm ulcers. We did do the expensive 30 day treatment with Gastrogard. It did help. I never did have him scoped again.. My figuring is that if he can get them back in as little as 5 days, what is the use. Being a social security recipient the $1000 month is a real hardship. I absolutely resent being held hostage by mega drug company who holds a alleged one of a kind coating for a generic drug. You can ask any Vet in the country and they will tell you that they will only RX the patented drug which has been proven to them by the manufacturer that it is the only cure. As you know the drug companies spend mega dollars in marketing.

I think that as things evolved with MONK and I got his weight back up to where I thought he looked and felt the best that is where I tried to keep him. I bought the digital scale and weighed him daily for over two years. I tried to feed enough carbs and fats to keep his weight where I needed it to be. I would back off on the work if he was not within the limits I had set for him. When that was not working very well and I could not see any weight gain I would start him on the ABLER 700mg blue coated Omeprazol granules top dressed on his grain. I would give him three packets a day for the treatment phase for maybe 30 days and then the rest of the order at one a day.... I never purchased more then a 30 day supply, which is 100 packets, until recently.

You can ask any vet in the country and they will tell you that the only ulcer meds that they RX is the patented one. The patented product which is a coated Omeprazol runs about $1000 a month for the treatment phase for a 30 day period. They hold the patent on the coating which keeps the product intact until it hits the small intestine where it can inhibit the stomach acid from doing more damage and give the ulcers a chance to heal.

Where I am at today is a little farther down the road. What I have found is that by using one ABLER 700mg daily seems to really help, cost can be as low at $1.50 to $1.75 cents a day. I have been a little hap hazard in the past but NOW am make sure I give him and he eats his daily dose. The results have been amazing in several regards. One of the first things I noticed besides the weight gain, was his ability to hold his weight much better. On a typical hard conditioning ride it was pretty common for him to loose one pound per mile, which might take him at least 5 days to gain it back, depending on the ride. During the last month, while on the ABLER he has consistently lost less weight, 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound. He has been back up to starting weight within 3 days, which is where I want to be at.

MONK will be doing the Western States Trail Ride "TEVIS" this year if they can ever decide on a new trail. The coarse, which is undecided at this time, will more then likely not be a very fast coarse, more of a technical ride. In my experience a TEVIS horse needs to have a little more reserve then the faster paced FEI type rides so his starting weight is somewhat important to me.

Here is some information from the Abler Web site about their enteric coating.

What is enteric coating?

An enteric coating is a barrier applied to oral medication that controls the location in the digestive system where it is absorbed. Enteric refers to the small intestine, therefore enteric coatings prevent release of medication before it reaches the small intestine.

Most enteric coatings work by presenting a surface that is stable at the highly acidic pH found in the stomach, but breaks down rapidly at a less acidic (relatively more basic) pH. As Omeprazole is acid-unstable, it must have an enteric coating added to the formulation to avoid the stomach's acidic exposure, delivering the Omeprazole instead to a basic pH environment (intestine's pH 5.5 and above) where it renders the desired action.

For example, the enteric coating will not dissolve in the acidic juices of the stomach (pH ~3), but it will in the higher pH (above pH 5.5) environment present in the small intestine. Materials used for enteric coatings include fatty acids, waxes, and various cellulose polymers.

Abler® granules are enteric coated

The cellulose will not dissolve in acid media but does dissolve in neutral media.

The granules are easy to administer mixed with a treat or apple. A preferred method is to mix them with corn syrup or molasses and then mix this with your animal's feed.

Abprazole 700™, Abprazole Plus™ & AbActive™ enteric coated granules must all comply with stringent dissolution parameters: Here the granules are immersed in a solution of pH 1.2 at 37°C for 1 hour. They must remain intact for this time.

They are then removed and placed in a buffered solution of pH 6.8 again at 37°C. They must then completely disintegrate within 60 mins under these conditions.

What is the pharmacology of Omeprazole?

Omeprazole is a gastric acid pump inhibitor that regulates the final step in the hydrogen ion production & blocks gastric acid secretion regardless of the stimulus.

The H+K+-ATPase inhibitors, also referred as proton pump inhibitors, interact specifically with parietal cell H+K+-ATPase because of their chemical structures & uniquely highly acidic environment of the secretory domain of the parietal cells H+K+-ATPase.

H+K+-ATPase inhibitors like Omeprazole are substituted Benzimidazoles that are transferred rapidly from the blood into the acidic secretory canaliculi of the parietal cells. Substituted Benzimidazoles are weak bases, so they become charged within the acidic canaliculi & vesicles of the parietal cells, consequently trapping & accumulating the drug within the parietal cells.

The drug then undergoes a series of chemical transformations that require a highly acidic solution resulting in a cationic sulfonamide, this forms covalent disulfide bond with sulphadryl groups of cysteine molecules, which are part of the catalytic subunit of H+K+-ATPase & which face the acidic secretory canaliculi.

The H+K+-ATPase inhibitors become bound irreversibly to the catalytic portion of the H+K+-ATPase enzyme system & block the activity of the enzyme until new enzyme is generated.

Because of this mechanism of action, Omeprazole inhibits acid secretion.

About Abprazole 700™

Abprazole 700™ is used for the treatment and prevention of equine gastric ulcers.
Equine gastric ulcers are potentiated by stress, transportation, intermittent feeding, racing, illness and management changes.
The most successful treatment regime is the use of Omeprazole. Omeprazole is the only treatment for EGUS currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Omeprazole in not an antacid. It decreases the gastric acid secretion by blocking the H+, K+ - adenosine triphosphatase (acid pump) enzymes, shutting down acid secretion by knocking out the acid pumps - as opposed to competing with the stimulant.
The administration of Omeprazole allows horses to stay in training, as they heal quicker.
Abprazole 700^TM contains enteric coated granules of Omeprazole (for the treatment of ulcers) in a single dose sachet.

Cache Creek Endurance Ride

2011-05-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

Cache Creek Endurance Ride

This is a great ride, one of the best we have been too in a long time, great ride for Tevis training, well run ride with great top ten awards....

Cache Creek is only 110 mile away for me, so that is pretty close to some of the rides that we attend. MONK had is boots glued on with just Goober Glue and Goober Hoof Pack on the Monday prior to the ride. That way I can keep him limber with a short ride or a pony. Actually I usually do a short 3 mile pony before he goes into the trailer if it is going to be a long haul. Because I could leave late for this ride he got his pony and then his bath just before being loaded into the trailer. I also did a race trim on MONK on Thursday, first time with the clippers in my hands, I usually let Lindsay do it. I layed out the trim with masking tape like i was painting a car. It turned out OK, at least Lindsay did not re-do it when she saw it.

Trip to Cache Creek went quickly, we found a nice spot in knee high weeds/grass and tried to save a spot for some friends. There is NO CELL in this ridecamp but it is a nice big area with lots of room.

Ride Camp

Turn out for this ride was spectacular, this ride is a very good ride for those planning on competing at TEVIS as most of the ride is either up or down.... I think they had about 150 or so riders for both the 50 and the 25, plus a whole slew of ride and tie people. Friday was quite warm with a expected cooling for ride day which happened.

Lindsay and MONK, pre ride tack check.

Fifty milers started at 6am, Clocks were off by 5 minutes so that caused some confusion if your one of those that don't show up to the starting line until the last minute. Lindsay was in the saddle by 5:30am at was at the starting line early so not a problem for us.

5:30AM ride morning...

Lindsay and Bob, 1/2 hour warm up pre ride.

Lindsay had made plans to start off the ride with Bob Spoor and his spectacular Asgard gelding and see how they went together. I told Lindsay I was not a big fan of riding together but since Bob was since a good friend and if really needed MONK to pull his horse up all those hills then they could ride together (I don't LOL, but that was a joke). So they had a controlled start to the first creek crossing, which looked more like a river, and then they were turned loose.

Mark and Chief, ready for the start

Our game plan for this ride was to work the hills a little and just keep a nice steady pace and make the ride JUST a good TEVIS conditioning ride and come home with a sound horse with just a little more conditioning. We were actually a little nervous after his minor problems at Nevada Derby.

Ride was divided up into four 12.5 mile loops. First vet check was only a 15 minute hold and you had to walk a mile or so to get too it.

Vet Check 1, across road and river

I did go to the first Vet check and parked on the Highway and looked across the river where they had a flat spot to Vet in. I could see the very top of the hill that had a cut into the top where you could see the riders as they crested the hill and started the decent into the check.

The first rider to appear was Jesse on his White or Gray mare, the next rider was on foot as they crested the hill. As they approached the Vet area, Jesse pealed his saddle and started cooling his horse. 2nd place rider Dennis Tracy was 30 seconds behind, 3rd place rider Mark Montgomery on his mustang Chief were about 4 minutes or so. Jesse cleared Vet probably 2 to 4 minutes ahead of Tracy. Mark and Chief did not pulse near as quickly and had to go back to the water when turned back by the Vet. Lindsay and Bob were 15 minutes behind the leaders, they cleared VET and waited for their out time.... Jesse left at a trot up the steep switch back to the top of the mountain they had just come down... Tracy left at a canter in second place probably about 4 minutes behind Jesse. Lindsay and Bob left together at a trot, both horses looking great.

I left for Vet check 2 and the lunch stop for this ride. They vetting for this check was down by the river which had a very nice spot.

Lunch

I took lots of pictures so you will be able to get a good feel for this great spot. I waited for MONK down by the rider crossing with a bullet (jug of water to hand to the rider to cool the horse as she walks to the vet). First horse across the creek was Jesse, my first close up look at him and his horse.

First place rider

I don't know him and maybe have never seen him before so I was very interested in any horse and rider that is Kicking some serious ASS..... Jesse jumped off his horse in the water, grabbed his bleach bottle scooper and started throwing was on his mare, mostly on the underside. He spent probably 3 or 4 minutes cooling and then walked up to the vet area.

Cooling

Next rider, Dennis Tracy was about 9 minutes behind, at least at the river crossing, Dennis had a little trouble getting his horse across the creek but managed. He just trotted up to the Vet area without cooling.

My kids, Monk and Lindsay

Vet Check area

Chris and Lindsay

Lindsay and Bob showed up and crossed the creek, I handed the bullet to Lindsay and ran up the hill in front of them as she cooled MONK on the way up. They had a large tarp on the ground where you could put your tack, we stripped saddle and I put the heart belt on and handed Lindsay another bullet. MONK was 70 on the first reading and within seconds he was 53, by the time we got to the PR person he was in the high 40's. I had been stressing over his recoveries since Nevada Derby so that was a big relief. After a great Vet check the saddle was left on the tarp and we walked up the hill to the lunch area. I had 4 bowls of food for MONK, which I don't think he even looked at. There was some good grazing and both horses had a whole smorgey of things to eat, 3 different kinds of hay etc...

Lunch, lots of green stuff.....

Bob Spoor, ready for out time....

Bob's horse, looking very intense at something..

Ready for the next 25 miles

Bob and Lindsay left about 15 minutes or so behind the leaders in 3 and 4th position. As I was walking out I saw about 20 or more riders lined up to cross the creek to head for the vet check. I started to take a few pictures, I switched too video when I saw the first 3 or 4 riders trying to walk their horse through the creek, which is more then knee high and almost belly deep for the horses. One rider slipped and went under.

I loaded up and headed for Vet check 3.

Last vet check

12.5 miles to go, 20 minutes behind the two racing for the lead.....

Another photo of Lindsay and MONK....

Horses pulsed down quickly at vet check 3 and we tried to get them to eat for the remaining few minutes. Mark and Chief had come into the vet check with Lindsay and Bob, but Chief took an additional 5 minutes or so to pulse down. I took a video of Mark trying to give Chief his electrolytes, Mark won, but not by much, Chief put up a good fight...

First and second place horses left the last vet check together, as soon as they left Lindsay, Bob and Mark showed up. After my crewing duties I took off back to camp for the finish. First place horse and rider showed up at the canter, with two 25 milers on his butt, not sure if he knew they were only 25 milers... I held his horse while he weighed in for BC. His horse look great, fantastic actually, hard to believe at the pace he was going. Jesse saddled up and he was off to the vet. Ride and tie people and 25 mile horses were coming into the finish line all at the same time. All of a sudden one of the 25 mile riders announced that their was a horse down just a few hundred yards down the trail and that they needed a vet. The rider went into camp to get a vet and I took off on foot down the trail to see if I could help. As I approached I started a video but as I got closer I had to stop so I could help. The horse belonged to the second place rider Dennis Tracy. Another young lady and Dennis were trying to get his horse up as it was laying on its side. The video will speak for itself. After just a few minutes the horse stumbled to its feet, almost falling again, but regained its footing. Dennis led the horse back to camp for treatment.

After a few minutes Lindsay and Bob showed up with big smiles on their faces and happy fresh horses.

Dr. Lindsay Graham DVM, gets MONK vetted...

Post ride, 2nd place finish.

Thanks Jennifer for the picture... I stole it off your Face Book.

Overall

Time:	05:43:33
Distance:	42.47 mi
Elevation Gain:	7,463 ft
Calories:	1,842 C

Timing

Time:	05:43:33
Moving Time:	05:10:20
Elapsed Time:	07:35:11

Avg Pace:	08:05 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	07:18 min/mi
Best Pace:	04:07 min/mi

Speed

Pace

Elevation

Elevation Gain:	7,463 ft
Elevation Loss:	7,454 ft
Min Elevation:	653 ft
Max Elevation:	2,168 ft

Heart Rate

Avg HR:

128 bpm

Max HR:

201 bpm

Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	05:43:33	42.47	08:05
1	00:08:43	1.00	08:43
2	00:07:20	1.00	07:20
3	00:08:34	1.00	08:34
4	00:07:37	1.00	07:37
5	00:08:13	1.00	08:13
6	00:05:58	1.00	05:58
7	00:07:24	1.00	07:24
8	00:06:41	1.00	06:41
9	00:06:34	1.00	06:34
10	00:07:59	1.00	07:59
11	00:08:52	1.00	08:52
12	00:09:24	1.00	09:24
13	00:07:29	1.00	07:29
14	00:08:10	1.00	08:10
15	00:07:47	1.00	07:47
16	00:06:59	1.00	06:59
17	00:07:09	1.00	07:09
18	00:07:18	1.00	07:18
19	00:08:59	1.00	08:59
20	00:07:42	1.00	07:42
21	00:07:08	1.00	07:08
22	00:07:53	1.00	07:54
23	00:10:24	1.00	10:24
24	00:07:56	1.00	07:56
25	00:08:32	1.00	08:32
26	00:06:43	1.00	06:43
27	00:08:10	1.00	08:10
28	00:07:58	1.00	07:58
29	00:07:42	1.00	07:42
30	00:07:06	1.00	07:06
31	00:07:46	1.00	07:46
32	00:07:39	1.00	07:39
33	00:06:16	1.00	06:16
34	00:07:43	1.00	07:43
35	00:10:18	1.00	10:18
36	00:06:28	1.00	06:28
37	00:10:26	1.00	10:26
38	00:09:20	1.00	09:20
39	00:08:10	1.00	08:10
40	00:08:54	1.00	08:54
41	00:09:09	1.00	09:09
42	00:07:54	1.00	07:54
43	00:08

Nevada Derby, 2011

2011-04-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Nevada Derby 2011

MONK and Ambrose attended the Nevada Derby on April 2nd. Very interesting weekend which could of been disastrous. MONK left with his perfect record intact, and by the skin of his teeth. See the whole story on Equine Athlete

Equine Nutrition - (Carbohydrates and Fats)

2011-03-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

Very interesting post about Equine Nutrition (Carbohydrates and Fats) which the lay person needs to have a understanding of to help their Equine Athlete.

http://equineathlete.blogspot.com/2011/03/equine-nutrition-carbohydrates-and-fats.html