A weekend of trails, boots, and unofficial plans

On Saturday and Sunday I tested out my boot modifications.

I have it (mostly) figured out

On Saturday I started out with a 1 and 2 on the front, and a 1 and 0 (later switched out for another 1) on the hind. It looked as mismatched as it sounds - each boot was a different color. I found with dismay that not one piece of my tack actually matched.

What a dismal excuse for an endurance rider. A blue halter, yellow boot, red boot, bronze boot, black boot, brown saddle pad, pink water bottle, and camo water bottle holder.

So how did it go?

I won't bore you with the details of the ride - the crazy, lunging, bucking, scramble up a soft embankment (I had wisely dismounted), the grass that was taller than my shoulders when mounted that obscured a familiar trail, and my success of riding with a hackamore all weekend. Instead I'll give you the bottom line (aren't you grateful?):

After refitting the boots properly (and remembering to tighten those D*MN set screws) they DO continue to work very well. I'm not confident enough to use them at Wild West or Tevis as my primary boots without time to fine tune the fit, but will do very well as a solid Plan B.

Of course, after glorious trail rides all weekend, my aunt (and "horse-sister") and I couldn't help talking about Tevis.

I know I know I know!

Official Tevis season doesn't start until AFTER Wild West.

But, but, but.....can you really blame us? We watched the video documentary my brother produced on my ride last year and there it was....our favorite conversation topic just hanging there.

I've decided that unofficially talking about crew plans is perfectly fine prior to the start of official Tevis season (June 1st) as long as nothing goes in writing, I don't actually start e-mailing instructions to my crew, no ride strategies are discussed, AND I don't start writing long winded blog posts.

So....in that spirit, no official details yet. But unofficially I'm excited to have even more family members joining my crew, I'll be better organized than last year (which is hardly possible), AND I'm hoping to convince my brother to once again document the journey even if he doesn't get paid this year (does my everlasting love count?).

And with that, I'm DONE discussing Tevis.

I promise.

Until June 1st at least, in which I will bore you with 6 weeks of preparation, worst case scenarios, plans, sub plans, contingency plans, and when-all-else-fails-plans.

In other news....I've started my vet school application. Online application opens June 3rd. although I could technically wait until as late as September to apply, with Tevis and Virginia City 100 planned, it will be the prudent thing to get my application done in June. Hence having a rough draft personal statement done NOW, and my employment information (must be a complete history since high school) gathered PRIOR to the open date for application. Wish me luck!