Tuesday

As of Monday I was on track for ride preparation. Let's dive into Tuesday.

Clean Saddle

• ummmm....forgot? My defense was it was raining. Really raining. I hate rain. I went to the stable, gave Farley her buckets, and got out. Cleaning/oiling my saddle was the LAST thing on my mind. I do this weekly so I'm thinking I'm going to just skip it....it might happen Friday at ride camp if I'm bored, or Sunday after the ride.

Pack Crew Bag

• Well....I have a confession. I ALWAYS have good intentions of prepacking my crew bag and saddle bags at home. BUT I never do. Just not motivated. For some reason, I can *only* pack crew bags at ride camp the night before. I confident (well...pretty confident) everything is in my crew box in the trailer because the equipment only goes out of it during rides and then goes back in...and if I need refilling on anything, it gets written on a list. And I don't have a list so I'm thinking I'm OK. I did glance in the box when I was finding my renengades earlier in the week....it *seems* like most of the essentials are there. :)

Start Electrolyting

• Yep - in a new complete feed mash that I'm going to try. Farley is notorious for not eating at rides that which is perfectly fine at home....she REALLY seems to like this stuff and I'm actually pretty happy with the label ingredient statement. It's called "stable mix" and is produced by a local milling company. I like to start elytes 3 days before I trailer to a ride to make sure she's well hydrated. Once at the ride I give 1/2 dose in the morning and evening the night before, then use the elyte protocol I've described before the day of the ride.

Vaulting practice/schooling

• Did NOT happen. Remember the rain? I'm not too bummed - I have a lesson today which will get her moving. Any activity I do this week is just to get her moving - no conditioning, no real training - just rest and relaxation.

BTW - one thing I forgot to mention in Monday's update is I switched the hind boots (left to right and vice versa). The wear patterns on the fronts are equal side to side, but I noticed the hinds are wearing on the outside faster. I've switched them so the problem doesn't exacerbate itself over time.

But there's more! Because of the rain, I decided to do my cooking and gear staging on Tuesday! That's one less thing that I have to do on Thursday and even with my lacadaisial (this word is spelled so bad, even my spell checker ain't pickin' it up!) attitude toward crew bag preparation etc., I still count myself on track.

I have finalized my food list - I will be modifying and using this list for upcoming rides. I think the biggest lesson I learned at 20 MT 100 was - it's important to have the right kind of food, not just the right amount of calories. Everything is prepped and made and I just need to exercise self control and not eat it between now and Friday....

Melinda's Food List

• Pudding (NOT pudding cups. They are gummy. Instant is OK. Put into several small containers and 1-2 larger containers)
• Jello (cut into bite size squares and put into 2 containers)
• Pasta salad with protein (for this ride the pasta salad has crab, olives, sunflower seeds. I tend to find fish/seafood based protein more digestable during physical activity or when I'm hot)
• Egg salad and hard boiled eggs still in shell
• Box of cold cereal (some put into sandwich sized ziplocks)
• Jar of pickles
• Bag of potato chips (lays originial in yellow bag only)
• Sandwhich - sub style (cut into slices that are ~2 bites big)
• Nature valley granola bars and quaker chewy granola bars

For camp I have some additional items:

• Coffee
• Can of soup
• Can of fruit (pineapple chunks perferable)
• packets of instant hot cereal
• Easy mac packets
• Tuna no-drain packets