Uh, well, poor Milagro is only 16, not 18 (*please* don't make him any older
than he is already!).

And it *was* a wonderful ride - the weather could not have been any better!
We were certainly blessed with perfect riding conditions - a little sun, a
little overcast, cool temps and more importantly... NO RAIN! :-) That is,
until late in the evening after the ride. ;-) About the only surprise we
had was a huge deer bounding out 20 feet in front of us across the trail -
we immediately went from a full canter to a full stop, then Milagro let out
a long SNORT and went on his merry way as if nothing had ever happened. :-)


For those who don't know my horse or haven't had the chance to see him in
all his
nut-ball splendor at a ride, let's just say he's a little on the high-strung
side....! About the only thing he's good for is being pointed in a certain
direction and telling him it's OK to go for 25 or 50 miles. :-P He takes
his job *very* seriously and takes it personally when other horses pass him.
I'm glad he did so well - the cool temps made it easy for him to do well
(he's black). If it's not snowing, I might consider doing the last ride of
the season - the Dust Devil ride over in Bend on the second weekend of
November. I think they have a shorter distance "Fun Ride" (as if the longer
distance rides weren't fun!) there if anyone is interested.

Then it's a month off in December (no rides up here), and back to the swing
of things in January with the PNER convention later that month. It's going
to be held in Portland again and the vendors are great - I prefer not to ask
Santa for anything for Christmas in hopes that I can do my shopping there.
:-) And let's not forget the AERC convention in Reno in February...!
Speaking of vendors - oh, boy! It's the mother of all horse & rider
shopping I've ever been to (keep in mind I don't get out much these days).
What Santa didn't bring to the PNER convention, he might very well bring to
Reno. It's a good excuse to leave the grey, wet weather here in the Great
North-Wet and get a little S & S (Sun and Shopping) down in Reno, not to
mention a weekend away from the kids. :-) Then it's more riding to get
geared up for the Grizzly Mountain ride in early Spring, so everyone can put
that on their calendars since it's a "not to miss" kind of ride (even though
I missed it last year). The Prineville ride is just across the road from
the Grizzly ride, so the terrain and footing are equally wonderful. :-)

What's fun is that I've been personally responsible for getting two other
friends hooked on endurance riding! They've each done two rides this year
and they can't wait for more! They don't ride gaited horses, but I can't
hold that against them... at least they're out there having fun and riding
their horses and that's really what it's all about, right? :-)

Take care and happy trails,

~Tracey Kasten
Camas, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: terry_barrall [mailto:losvagos@...]
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 10:08 AM
To: NorthwestGaitedEnduranceRiders@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [NorthwestGaitedEnduranceRiders] Gaited endurance



Listers:

Please forgive the cross post, but I want to be sure my good friend
Tracey Kasten isn't too shy to announce a great endurance ride last
weekend at Molalla. She finished in 12th position on her 18 year old
Paso Fino gelding Milagro.

Although Milagro's done endurance earlier in his life, he took
several years off from competition and this is her first season with
him. In fact, Tracey's only got a handful of rides under her belt
herself - as she's been busy with two small children ages 2+ and 5+.
I don't know how she does it, but I'm really proud of her.

Tracey, can you post an account of the ride?

Terry B/Salem








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