[Another sidebar from the Tevis pursuit, except that Tosca is our ‘back up’ horse this year. If anything were to go wrong with one of Jenn’s mares, Tosca would step into the gap. Not as competitively, of course, but when you have the Tevis bug…well, there it is.]
So Tosca has done her first post-partum 50! We did try another, and were unable to complete because she came fully into season at ride camp and spent the whole night flirting (=not eating or drinking). This time was the charm. I hauled her (all by myself!) in a borrowed rig (thank you Dr. Cory Soltau) to the Cache Creek endurance ride in Northern California.
She was awesome. Great vet scores all day. She never threw an Easyboot Glove – despite not-insignificant creek crossings – the whole day long. And at the end she brought me home at a fast canter across beautiful grassy meadows in style. I definitely agree with my friend Jennifer Rader: becoming a mom has made a better athlete out of little Tosca. She’s always been willing, but now she thinks she’s competitive. Well, perhaps she is – she did finish 15th out of 87 starters in the distance. Not too shabby for a middle-aged (she’ll be 16 in July) dinky (sticks at 14.3 but rides like 14.1) show-bred (Bey Shah and Aladdin) Arabian mare.
Extra-special thanks to my excellent crew, Cris Jones. Makes the ride twice as fun to have a friend rooting you on the whole way :).
It was a blast and I’m very proud.
Now back to the ‘real’ horse. Stella and I (along with our bosom buddies Czoe and Jenn) are headed to the NASTR 75 in Dayton, Nevada. Wish us luck!
