Dody and I decided to take Finn and Jazeb to the Sandhills Stampede and compete in the 30 mile ride this year. Jazeb had been battling some saddle fitting issues. He has a very short back, laid back shoulder and was tending to get loin sore. About three weeks before Sandhills, I tried a Freeform on him and he LOVED it. It took some getting used to on my part but I was willing to sacrifice for my baby boy. I ordered a knock off of the Freeform and it worked out beautifully for him and he completed the Stampede with all As on back.
New Saddle
We arrived on Friday morning and set up camp just below the arena at H. Cooper Black. The horses had corral panels and settled in to eating immediately. I was so proud of Jazeb and he ate and drank well on the entire trip. We were able to crew from our camping area and that made the ride so much more relaxing.
Jazeb in his corral
He vetted in great with all As and he weighed a whopping 880lbs! That was up 80 lbs from last year. He has lots more muscle and strength than he did just a year ago at JDs Ride. I had a plan to take him down to the pond for the start so that he could ride out of camp and it worked very nicely. He had a slight hump in his back but he walked right out of it and was super on trail from the beginning. I was sponsoring a Junior rider, Caroline Guy, and we all rode together on the first loop and had a ball. We were out at 8am and back in camp by 10:45, covering the 19 mile loop in very good time. Jazeb did it easily and drank from the beginning at the first water tank. He vetted in with a 44 pulse and had all As except a B on gut.
ND Jazeb Faserr: Photo by Becky Pearman
We were out on loop 2 at 11:44 but we had lost Caroline because her horse was unfortunately lame at the first hold. This loop was the short white loop and with only 9 miles, we were back into camp at 1:26pm. He pulsed in with a 52 and then had a 44/44 CRI. He did a fantastic job all day and rode with great enthusiasm. I am unbelievably proud of my boy and how far he has come in the past 4 years.
