Arrival, January 2011
We got know each other over the next 3 1/2 months and then, at 11 pm on April 14th, 2011, Sheza Blazunhaat Xpres was born in the corner stall of our little barn. I found Desire with Sheza's forelegs just popping out and my husband and I helped deliver the filly and wiped her off:
I started riding Desire in the fall, ponying Sheza off of her
Riding momma Desire with last year's pumpkin crop:
After a very mild winter that allowed for lots of training, Desire and I traveled to Cuyama Oaks XP for our first 50 mile endurance rides together. We rode days 1 and 3 and were foot stomping and bit chomping all the way to the finish both times. Phew, okay, lots of horse under me, time to work on the brain a little!
Cuyama Oaks XP 2012, Day 3, photo by Lynne Glazer
On Sheza's 1 year old birthday, April 14th of this year, we completed and Top 10'd the very rocky Whiskeytown Chaser ride in Redding, CA. We had a fantastic solo ride and I had no idea we were near the front of the pack. I just enjoyed flying along my mare and was completely surprised to be asked to weigh in and show for BC after finishing. Desire rocks!
Whiskeytown Chaser 2012:
We've had 2 more successful 50s since then followed by an unfortunate lameness pull at Day 2 of Hat Creek Hustle in June. Seems in the end she was just footsore after lots of rocky roads but after a perhaps conservative 6 weeks off she is back in fantastic, trail grabbing, tail flagging shape. I am looking forward to many more years and miles with my White Wonder mare! Happy birthday Miss D!
Hat Creek Hustle 2012
Happy birthday to Miss Desire! Here's to many more happy miles with her and many more birthdays!
ReplyDeleteHappy B-day Desire! What a great story...so glad you guys are both doing well.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Desire! What fun adventures you've had already, with more to come. When you bought her was it more for the filly, or the mare? Did she already have endurance experience? Maybe you answered already, time to look through the archives!
ReplyDeleteI had to think about that one, but really I'd say it was more for the filly, since I did try out Desire when I was at Global but didn't get much of an impression since she had Scratches and I didn't want to push her. They got back in touch in December 2010 and said she had checked out pregnant. Her only endurance experience was top 10'd 2 50s at a Moab ride, 6 months pregnant with Sheza--and ridden by a 12 year old junior! (they didn't know she was pregnant at the time, they only covered her once). So really I was excited about the filly and then turned out to be very in love with the mare :)
DeleteThat's so sweet! What a lovely 2 in 1 package you got!
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