Seaway changed the trails a little bit and took out a fair bit of road work, so they were great and fun. The weather changed from warm and sunny to wet and cold during the day, making for some challenging decisions on care of the horses. Dessia & Bailey road together, sponsoring another youth and had a practically perfect ride. Denise and Lee had a great time, with this ride being likely Denise's last Novice ride. Due to some injuries (people and/or horses) a bunch of the AES riders were unable to ride, but were there to volunteer and help us all through.

Parker got a break and Image completed his first Open CTR making a good impression on everyone there. Lovely weather for once, great trails and hospitality as always!

The AES gang had done a lot of training miles leading up to these events. With Hennessy's passing, Denise agreed to let Dessia substitute his daughter, Cabasco, into the 40 mile CTR as well as riding Parker in the 50 mile Endurance. Dessia arrived on the Monday to set up camp and start riding the horses on the trails. Learning the start and end of the rides and the final loop. Quite a few folks volunteered to help with the 100 mile FEI ride and learned an incredible amount about this level of competition. Beautiful weather right up until the Sunday and many people pulled their horses from the 2 day 80 CTR and the 50 Endurance. Those who did venture out had a pretty good time in spite of the rain and mud.

I (Dessia) had the privilege of riding for the Atlantic team "Almost East" and having their expert crew look after me and Parker. I was determined that I was going to complete a 50 finally with my little funky horse and we certainly did. The plan was for a slow 50, but someone forgot to tell Parker that. After he warmed up, he decided that the pace was much better up with Tom and Tanya and he was having a blast. The trails did dictate that we go quite slow and do a lot of walking in the mud and on the clay. Thanks to Tanya we made it into the creek without mishap - great idea of how to get the horses in and us back on without getting even more soaked! Tom's wonderful Magic kept my boy on track and we ran about 6-10 minutes behind the front runners. Tom's whole strategy was to "keep them worried" - LOL. At one point in a very very long 10 mile loop, volunteers offered us piping hot soup at a water stop. It was the most welcome pick me up that I have ever had, because by that time we were soaked right thru and it was cold. At the next vet stop, my own pit crew finally caught up to me with warm, dry tops and the Atlantic crew had more warm soup. Off we then went to tackle the rocks and hills of the next section to get to the 40 mile mark back at base. Parker and Magic were still doing extremely well at that point and although it is tough to leave home and go back out, my guy was more than willing, even without his ride partner as we pulsed thru slightly faster. Tom of course caught up with us, but Parker started to figure out that I wasn't holding him back and we were on the final stretch. He knew the trail, knew the way home and once we hit the sand started to really pour on the speed up and down those hills. I apologize to all the CTR riders that we startled, clattering up behind them and passing at speed, but I didn't want to fight him and have him do something stupid and slip. We caught the front runners coming down one of those hills, passed the crews and literally flew up that long steep hill on the 4-wheeler trail. What a rush <G>. Parker didn't stop except for a couple drinks, one pit crewing with Tom's bunch and to slow down enough to get through some of the more slippery stuff. I had so much horse left in that loop. Louise and Tanya gave us a good chase and Louise made it especially fun and challenging those last 8 miles. Needless to say, we were first over the finish line! Huge rush and truly special on a Hennessy kid (I cried all the way in, thank goodness it was raining.)

I also have to thank Lynda for mentoring me and taking us out on all the trails in St. Lazare. Our last ride up there was on some decent hills with tonnes of rock which although wasn't a "nice" ride, it was a great training ride and helped us prepare for the Championship ride. Without Scott there to adjust both myself and my horse, we would not have been able to do the ride the way we did. Thanks bunches Scott & Wendy!

The Almost East team finished with the Silver, Team Ontario with the Gold. We did the ride in 9 hours having 1 hour and 20 minutes of holds, so my own ride time was 7 hours and 40 minutes.

Dinner was great, the awards got a little mixed up, but what the hey, it all got straightened out in the end! And the band kept folks warm dancing in the mud. (The rubber boot slide.) I am just amazed at what the Northfield Challenge group pulled this off with very few problems or issues from a rider's viewpoint. I am sure there were a lot of little things that we didn't even notice, so they don't count.

Just 3 brave souls loaded up and traveled in the heat to attend this ride. They had a great trip and met all their goals. Congratulations.

Not the greatest day for the group. Rena showed up lame days before the ride, so Bailey switched to ride Parker, but got quite ill half way through and had to pull (Parker looked great!). Dessia rode Hennessy and had a fantastic ride and finished 6th or so, but had some muscle cramping at the end and didn't get a completion. Both Phantom and Cerr Andy had groin muscle pulls and didn't complete either. Very challenging trail to say the least.

A new adventure for the McGraths, Melissa got a flat tire on the horse trailer and between herself, Dessia and Nancy (and a couple of wonderful men) got it changed on the side of the road and continued onto their first time camping. Unfortunately Holly then got thrown during the ride and she and Mom felt it best not to continue and Parker got pulled at lunch for a slight lameness which disappeared by the time Dessia walked him back to the main camp. Thanks to Annie for picking up Bailey so she could continue on without Dessia. Everyone else managed to have a good ride and dinner was delicious!

Basically everyone's  first time camping with their horses and it went not too badly, considering the rain and snow. Over the two days we were entered in 4 different rides, the one day 25 mile CTR, the 2 day 50 CTR, the mileage ride and the 50 mile endurance. All went fairly well with both Marianne & Bailey completing their first open ride and a 2 day event to boot! Hennessy sailed through the one day 25, glad to be out and about at age 22. Then came the Sunday and Parker's first endurance ride. We were riding with Lynda Townsend just for experience and to complete it and as planned left about 10 minutes after everyone else - in the drizzle. As a result we missed a little talk that explained that the loops had been changed in the order that they were to be ridden. We merrily went on our way and rode a steady slow pace. On our third loop, riders started to pass us and we were wondering just what had gone wrong... there was no way that we should be riding with the front runners! Well we got in to base after the 3rd loop and were all psyched up to do the last "easy" loop really fast to get it done and that was no problem with the ride management. As we were headed out, someone started yelling and calling for us to come back, it seems that the ribbons had already been taken down for that loop and we would likely get lost! So we got a completion and tried to find a dry set of clothes before dinner and heading home.

Perfect weather, great trails - we couldn't ask for a better day. Evchen stayed on Naaj, even doing the "Seabiscuit" thing through the hay fields. Denise took excellent care of Wadja for the mare's first CTR after only riding her for a week or so. Bailey & Pixie helped keep everyone on track while Marianne with Cerr Andy led the way. Dessia rode Lil, competing in both the Regional CTR as well as the OCTRA ride. She forgot the ribbons to mark in case some were taken down, so had to do a mad dash back to base to get some as a critical turn's ribbons had disappeared. Cathy Nooyen riding her second open ride had a fun time keeping up to Dessia & Lil, but considering she was still nursing a "fractured" back - she did just great! Hennessy cut himself fairly seriously in August, so missed the fall CTR season :-(

Top 5 in the Regional 18 CTR

With Hennessy off lame, Dessia took Pixie on the ride for milage and to look out for the Novice bunch from the farm. Other than one mishap with Evchen picking up some grass stains, it was a good ride. A tad soggy with all the rain had the days prior and all the horses learned about mud, water, puddles and more mud.

Our first 50! I didn't know what to expect and with the weather being pretty cold and miserable packed enough layers and winter type clothing to hopefully keep me warm. Winter blankets for Henn, lots of feed, electrolytes and whatever might be needed. Annie St Denis trailered her horse, Lightning, over on Saturday morning and we transferred all her stuff to the motor-home and my trailer for the trip. We were on the road around 10 am and proceeded to just North of Mansfield (up towards Barrie area). After 7 hours of off and on again rain combined with gusting winds, we pulled into the camping area for the ride. Luckily the skies sort of cleared and we set up, checked in and then had a bite to eat. It was a quiet night as most everyone stayed "indoors" with the cold and damp. We were early to bed and up before 6 to feed and start to put on layers of clothes for our 8 am start time. There was just a little bit of confusion at the start with the first loop being incorrectly marked and the "pack" went down the wrong trail - twice! We all decided to go back to camp and get it sorted out. Several riders had managed to find the correct trail out and were long gone, so they just started the rest of us out on a new time. Hennessy & Lightning settled much quicker on this second start - the first one was quite hairy with horses all hot and eager to go, racing and pulling (my shoulders are quite sore!) and we were out on the first loop. The trails were beautiful, although the trail markers were a tad tricky to follow and you really had to pay attention. Several times we stopped and milled around looking for ribbons to point us on the correct way. I seem to have a real problem with turning left on blue ribbons, often going straight or turning right - luckily Annie was there to keep us going the right direction! We finished the first loop in 1h12m and took just 5 minutes to reach parameter and vet thru. The 30 minute hold went very quickly and before we knew it we were headed out on the second loop. Poor Hennessy hasn't seen hills like those since he was brought from Utah about 13 years ago! He was using muscles he probably didn't know he had and I could feel him figuring out how to properly go down a hill and surge up several others. There was one very steep and long incline near the end of the second loop that you really needed to do at a walk, which he figured out quickly. But then the horses caught wind of camp and ended up racing in a little quicker than we had wanted to. Second vetting was excellent too and after a short break to refuel ourselves and horses, off we went. The 3rd loop was the same as the 1st and now we "knew" the trail and even with the horses being a little more tired, completed it in about the same amount of time. This time Hennessy's CRI wasn't quite as good and his gut sounds were diminished. The vets deemed him fit to continue, but wanted to see him before we headed out for the final loop. At the trailer he drank and ate improving his gut sounds drastically and we were allowed to go out.  The final loop found Hennessy and I quite tired, but not exhausted and we all clipped along at the pace we had maintained all day. Hennessy wasn't eating tree leaves like Lightning and Jazz so I fed him apples and carrots when we stopped for water to help him along. We came to that long steep hill and Sue jokingly said "Now if we were good endurance riders, we would get off and walk our horses up this hill". Hennessy must have understood that statement, because he quit and wouldn't move about halfway up. I laughed got off and led him up the hill. It was the breather he needed for he finished the rest of the ride without any more protests, trotting and cantering willingly with the others. Final vet check everything was fine with improved gut sounds and all As. His CRI was even improved and he trotted out fairly smartly once he got going. All in all a very good experience and once we did the math, were very happy with our finish in 5.5 hours (minus the hold times). The second place horse & rider (well 1st & 2nd finished together) received BC and vetting completing the ride in 4 hours and 2 minutes - they were flying!! To finish is to win and we didn't get the Turtle award either <VBG>.

It poured rain all Saturday night and was drizzling Sunday morning. We donned all our rain gear and loaded up the 6 horses for the ride. Bob rode Lil with Lori & Lindsey on their mares, Cathy Nooyen once again piloted Lysa taking under her wing both her daughter Chelsea and Bailey on Chanel. The girls managed to keep Cathy on track and they did the ride in fine form. It was a great day even in the damp. The trails got a tad greasy, but not too bad with a bunch of road work and the Open riders (myself & Hennessy being one team) doing a new 5 mile loop thru brush and fields. I was very proud of our Junior riders, it being their 1st and 2nd rides. They conditioned their horses well and looked after them on the trail and at base with a love that is grand to see.

After tying up over night in the barns at the Spencerville Fair grounds, Lysa, Hennessy, Lil and Chanel trailered up the the road to Oxford Station and the lovely farm of the Turpin's. Bailey had hockey, so Chanel trailer sat for the day, while Hennessy, Lysa and Lil hit the trails. The heat was a major factor for part of this ride, then we got rained on several times making for an interesting ride. The trails were well marked and just lovely thru mostly fields and bush. This was Bob Jamieson's first CTR and Lil's 2nd and they had a really fun time. Cathy Nooyen rode Lysa and unfortunately she and her daughter, Chelsea, missed the Novice turn loop and did an extra 12 miles! Then incurred a pile of time penalties, but brought the horses thru in great shape. Poor Lysa was some tired, not to mention Chelsea!