February 21, 2010

MY LAST TEVIS RIDE by Chris Martin (MONKS owner)

MY LAST TEVIS RIDE

At Chris Martin's FreeForm Treeless Saddle Blog. Scroll down it is about the third or so entry on the blog. I laughed and I cried. It was a six week journey to riding the Tevis..

1 comment:

  1. Chris captures very well what it's like to ride the Tevis. I went through many of the same emotions, although at a much lesser degree, when I saw the horse fall this year and watched/heard the man's grief. Everyone was very sober and much more careful on the second canyon. I am elected NOT to preride the canyons this year because now Farley has doen them twice and I feel I am risking too much each time I do them. She remembers trail well and we dont' need to them again except in a ride.

    I will preride the california loop,where this incident happened. I think it makes a difference if the horse is familiar with an area that they have done before. Farley has only been over this portion once, so definately will do it again a couple weeks before the tevis.

    The scariest part of the tevis for me is the other riders on race day. I HATE it when someone is going super slow and holds up a bunch of people behindthem. It's AWFUL. People start to bunch up, horses get antsy and they start to get stupid on the edges of those cliffs. And there's nothing you can do, you are stuck. I thought I was going to be pulled overtime becuase of someone like this (fortunately I had my times off) and after a while you just accept that that's the way it's going to be.

    Tevis really is like no other ride.

    I'm lucky to live in the part of the country where these amazing rides and riders are. I had heard this story second hand before, but hearing it told personnally adds a very emotional element to it.

    ReplyDelete