Great Florida Cattle Drive, Day Two

Day two was when we were still figuring out how things worked.  Once again, we were some of the last to be packed even though we thought we were doing good. 

This day we were not with the cattle. The Great Florida Cattle Drive has so many riders that it splits them up into circles and we take turns on what groups are with the cows.  We were in the back today. 

Almost every day was a testament to how the riders’ had prepared their animals. The day before had been shocking with the behavior and one of the horses that was too much did end up colicking. This day saw what animals were conditioned for the heat and tack fitting issues started emerging.

We are riding 15+ miles a day and averaging 80 something miles across 5 days.  That’s a whole heap different from riding an hour or two.  One of the main reasons I became involved in endurance racing was to make sure not only were we thoroughly conditioned for this ride but that our tack had been thoroughly tested as well.

Looking for just the video? Click here! But you should still read the post.

Numerous riders and horses had come out of state to take part and underestimate the unpredictable nature of Florida winter weather. The previous cattle drive had been raining with daytime highs in the 40s.  This year was dry with daytime highs in the low 80s and humidity on top of that. For a horse not clipped and coming from a northern climate, that is a very rough transition. Some horses did have trouble that day and one rider also had profound heat trouble that needed assistance.  Even us Floridians were making sure we had our electrolytes and hydrating.

This was also one of the days my temper frayed. I had two bad days in total with my temper, and this was one of them. The campsite was incredibly frustrating and our gear trailer was parked in a small area that made camp set up incredibly difficult.

Combine this with the fact that I’m a tired, hot, hangry, anxious introvert with chronic shoulder pain, and well, it was not my best day. I definitely yelled and this was the day that I cried. Each of us cried on the trip, this day was my day. This was also the worst day of my shoulder pain that just subsided into weakness for the rest of the trip.  By the end, I needed assistance in getting Roach’s saddle on.

Due to the complications of our camping set up (read day 1), I could not set up Roach’s enclosure until everyone else had decided how to set up because of having to connect the paddocks together. We needed to make sure they had the space they needed and Roach and I fit in where ever after. Therefore, I sat on the sidelines doing absolutely nothing holding Roach with all his gear because I could not yet untack and set him up since I did not have a place to do so, getting more tired, hangry, and in pain (since I couldn’t get my pills that were packed up) all the while. I just wanted to set him up, set my tent up, and chill out by myself.

Most important rule: You don’t get to relax until your horse is settled. So even after setting the horses up, we still had to get hay, feed and water and any maintenance the horses needed.

Lesson Learned: As a result of this frustration and the same issue on another day, I’ve decided if I do this ride again, I will just set up my campsite somewhere else that works for me and then just bring a chair and socialize where the rest of my companions are. The stress wasn’t worth it and I feel bad because I know it put a strain on our relationship during the ride. horse is settled. So even after setting the horses up, we still had to get hay, feed and water and any maintenance the horses needed.

This day Dolly had thrown a shoe, so that was an adventure to get her shoe back on with the farrier there. Who she hated. It was apparently quite dramatic and Skeeter, our extra horse that we were not able to condition as the other horses, was showing signs of saddle sores. He took a walk down to the vet tent and Amy made the hard decision of not riding him the following day to give him a day to recover. Mocha was being sent home the following day because she was tying up and another horse was being dropped off for her rider.

As if all this wasn’t enough, we’re all settled in our tents thoroughly emotionally disturbed. I’m still embarrassed about my outburst and angry about the situation. I have a hard time letting things go. I’m a lot better now then I was then and it’s something I consciously work on.  I’m woken up in the middle of the night by Roach braying. Normally, I would immediately be up and check it out because he’s very quiet. However, he had been extremely vocal this trip so I just rolled over and went back to sleep.

A couple hours later, I hear a bunch of rustling from the girls and the unzipping of tents and frantic whispers of “Where are the horses?” 

I unzip mine and I can see the light of Roach’s collar in his pen as he should be (I put a runner’s light on his collar at night so I could easily verify his position at night). I look behind my tent where the other horses are and I see Spyro and Mocha… And that’s it. No Remy, Dolly, Royal or Skeeter.  

Duuuuuuucccckkkkk. As if this camp couldn’t be any worse.

After walking around in the pitch black for who knows how long, we find all the horses tied up to the feed trailer. I honestly can’t remember if we put them back or left the dummies tied. I think I might have gone back to bed.

What we think happened is there was a bale of hay for breakfast set close to the fence and Skeeter decided to hell with the shock of the fence and leaned on it to eat the hay until it came down. Since the fences were linked together, when one went down, they all went down. They left. Roach snitched but I treated him as the boy who cried wolf.

This was camp hell. The end. Stay tuned for Day Three.