Red Barn Run 2014
This was my first trip down to this very popular ride in the SE region. On board, we had Eli for the 50 and my friend Sarah was going to ride her mare, Puff, in her first LD. I had worked very hard packing everything and we drove about 6 hours to get to the quaint town of Chester, GA. Upon arriving at ride camp, we immediately had the sense of belonging and the gypsies of endurance began to arrive throughout the day. The community rose up around us and new friends and old came together for a wonderful and well run event.
We spent the better part of Thursday setting up camp and making sure to get everything in the dry because they were calling for rain on Friday and Saturday. I set the back of the trailer up as an extra bedroom with a cot and I slept back there and found it quite comfy since I tend to get up to check horses constantly. The horses vetted through just fine and I prepared for my 50 on Friday.
This ride was a 4 loop 50. It started at 7:30am with loops of 15, 10, 15 and 10. The first loop started off dry and I had a handful of horse. It was a little humid that morning and I came in off the first loop at 9:42. He vetted through with a 64/60 CRI and we were good to go for our next loop which was when it started raining.
Photos from the vet check
I rode the second and third loops mostly alone and Eli finally settled into a more relaxed state of mind. He started to eat up the ground and we began to pick off a few horses.The trails were still in good shape but there were places where we had to cross chest deep water and I saw some shorter horses struggle a bit with that.
I had it in mind that I was going to do a 7.5 hr 50 and I ended up with a ride time of 7 hrs 45 minutes, so I was happy with that given the rainy conditions. At many rides this would have placed us mid-pack but at this traditionally fast ride we were near the back of the pack. We had a fantastic day though and got to ride with my friend Lisa Robles and her daughter Paloma as she finished her first 50, full of smiles.
Eli's CRIs for the rest of the day were all 54/54 and he finished in great shape. He isn't the least bit sore and looks great here at home. I had several people ask me what kind of horse he was since we were a bit further from home than we normally travel. I had a great time telling people about New Vocations and met some people with TB crosses that were interested in more information. Almost everyone at this ride guessed he was an Anglo and were surprised as usual that he is a Standardbred!
Ride photo by Jessica Willis
I can't recommend this ride enough. The Perry's are excellent hosts with wonderful comedy routines at the ride meetings and great hospitality. They made fire pits each night and provided a pavilion for riders to gather under to share their "war" stories from the day. If you haven't attended Red Barn, this is definitely one to place on your bucket list.
I'm also attaching a few videos from the starts of the Saturday 50 and 25 mile rides.
Saturday 50 Mile Start
Saturday LD Start
I'm also attaching a few videos from the starts of the Saturday 50 and 25 mile rides.
Saturday 50 Mile Start
Saturday LD Start
