Tag Archives: Firecracker

Firecracker Endurance Ride 2023

For the first weekend in July, Rob and the kids went to Maine for an endurance ride weekend. Since we only have 2 horses competing this summer, Anna stayed home to care for the baby goats born in late June and everything else on the farm. Quinn and Alex both assisted with driving to Waterford, Maine for the Horses Across Maine Firecracker Endurance ride.

We headed up on Friday morning and set up camp. This was our third trip to this ride, so we knew what to expect. On Saturday morning, we got up at 0400 and everyone was ready for the 0600 start. Amanda rode Mojo (with our friend Mary sponsoring her) and Quinn rode Amira for a 30 mile LD. Rob and Alex were the crew. It was warm (about 70F) and very humid. Both horses were doing fine at the hold after the first 13 miles and headed out for the second loop. Quinn opted to ride separate from Mary and Amanda on the second loop and it was reported that Mojo had lots of go.

At the finish, Amira took an exceptionally long time to make her pulse of 60 required for completion. Her pulse was hanging around 72 no matter what we did, even though her body wasn’t particularly warm. Art King, one of the ride vets we see quite often suggested using some no-salt, which is Potassium Chloride. We gave Amira a hefty tablespoon of KCl in a syringe and her heart rate was under 60 in less than 1 minute! We had the same issue at New York Adventure and have finally figured out how to beat it. Mojo and Amira passed the final vet check without any other issues.

After Saturday’s ride, we took a nap and hung out around ride camp. 4 people for only 2 horses makes easy work of the chores. The horses got poultice on their legs and wraps overnight because they both had another 30 miles to do on Sunday.

Sunday morning was another 0400 wakeup and this time it was Alex on Mojo and Quinn again on Amira for 30 miles. It started raining before they even came in to the hold and basically didn’t stop until after the ride was over. Based on the lesson about KCl, as soon as we saw Amira’s pulse in the 70s, we dosed her. This resulted in much faster pulse times. This is a tool to keep in mind for any of the high-humidity rides. In the end, both Mojo and Amira did fine at the ride and looked great after back-to-back 30s. I didn’t get many pictures due to the rain.

Back at Father’s Day, we went to a local ropes course for a couple of hours of climbing fun. This was a Christmas gift from Rob’s parents. Anna isn’t a fan of heights and opted to be the event photographer. Rob and the kids had fun climbing through the courses and riding the ziplines.

Firecracker Endurance Ride 2022 (among other things)

This weekend we took 4 horses to the Horses Across Maine Firecracker endurance ride to participate in the 30 mile Limited Distance. But first, let’s catch up on what else happened last week.

Quinn went to Washington DC with the Connecticut 4-H contingency to Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF). Alex participated in the same program in 2019. At CWF, the 4-H’ers get to learn about the government in hands-on legislation workshops, tour Washington DC sights, meet CT Congressional representatives, and develop new friendships through the 4-H program. The trip started at 6am on Sunday with a bus ride to DC and Quinn got home on Friday evening. Here are some photos from the trip.

While Quinn was headed South, Amanda went North to the Vermont Conservation Camp in Castleton, VT. Anna drove her 4+ hours away last Sunday and dropped her off for a week. We heard about the camp through a hunting companion at my gun club. The camp was a great deal at only $250 and they only take 56 campers per week. It included archery shooting, .22 shooting, shotgun shooting, fishing, swimming, canoeing, overnight in the woods, and the full bowhunter and gun hunting safety courses. She has a great time and is asking to attend the advanced courses next year. Camp ended on Friday evening with a little graduation ceremony and dinner for family members.

Since we had to pick up Amanda in VT, but Quinn wasn’t getting home from Washington DC until late Friday, it was a divide and conquer approach. I took Friday off work and headed out just before lunch with the travel trailer. It turned out that the woman who got Teddy from us lived along the route between where I needed to pick up Amanda and the endurance ride in Maine. It only added about 15 minutes to stop by Sierra’s farm on the way to get Amanda and drop off the travel trailer. I even said hi to Teddy, who looked great and is best friends with Sierra’s young gelding.

Teddy is on the right

After I retrieved Amanda from Camp, we stopped for some ice cream on the way out of town. While waiting in line, I noticed the young woman handing out ice cream cones and through, “gosh that looks a lot like Autumn Kelly.” (Autumn is our friend Vikki Fortier’s granddaughter) She kinda looked at me then got more ice cream. After 2 or 3 times, she said “Rob?” I said “Autumn?” It turns out the camp is in the town where Autumn lives!

Hi Autumn!

Amanda and I made it back to the travel trailer and got some sleep. We had about a 3.5 hour drive through the gorgeous Green Mountains and White Mountains crossing Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine on our way to the ride. Meanwhile, Anna, Alex, and Quinn loaded up 4 horses and headed out from CT to meet us at ride camp.

There was a minor mishap while I was hooking up the travel trailer on Saturday morning. I didn’t have the truck exactly straight to the trailer. For those not familiar with weight distributing hitches that involve chains from the load bar to the bracket, not being straight results even more tension than normal on one side. It also makes it harder to get the retaining pin into the bracket. And that’s how I found myself wiggling the pipe on the bracket with one hand while trying to get the pin in the retention hole with the other. In case you didn’t know, when the the 18″ pipe flips back over under heavy tension, you will wonder if your femur is broken, or your quad is just shredded. No bones were broken, but it was a good thing I didn’t have to ride 30 miles the next day. My hand can almost cover the current bruise. I walk with a limp.

The Horses Across Maine endurance ride is held at the Waterford, ME fairgrounds. This was our second year going to this ride and they limited entries to allow a single vet to handle all vetting. While there were 2 days for competition, we could only pull off riding on Sunday. With a small field of riders, there was no shortage of space to set up. Additionally, the fairgrounds allows riders to use the cattle barns for stalls if desired. We desired. Once the horses arrived in camp, we had them settled and camp set up in about 30 minutes (definitely a Sawyer family record).

Vetting in went fine and we grilled some hamburgers for dinner. The ride meeting was at 6:30 and the kids wanted to be in bed at 8 so they could get 8 hours of sleep. The start time on Sunday morning was 0600!

Since the teenagers don’t need sponsors, and since Missy and Mojo like to move out faster than Huey and Amira, the group split into pairs for the ride. The first loop was 17 miles. While they were gone, I was a good crew member by cleaning stalls, prepping feed for the hold, taking a nap, and walking the dogs.

Alex and Quinn came in at about a 6.8 mph average and vetted through easily. Anna and Amanda were only about 12 minutes behind and also had no problems vetting. All the horses were happy to have some mash and the stalls made it easy for the family to get some snacks of their own in out travel trailer. They all headed back out for the second loop and about another 2 hours of riding. When they returned, all horses pulsed down just fine and cleared the final vet check. There were 12 starters and 10 completed. Alex and Quinn tied for 6th, Amanda was 8th, and Anna was 9th.

Wanda Clowater of Clowater Art and Photography was there to capture ride photos. Here are the ones we bought to save the memories!

Even though they were done with the 30 miles by noon, we had decided to stay over and enjoy camping with the horses. The family all climbed into the air conditioned travel trailer and took a nap. Then we hung out around the fairgrounds as all the other riders packed up and headed home. By dinner, we were the only ones left and it was just fine. Monday morning, we got up early and packed up; we were home by 1.

This ride puts Huey at 440 Limited Distance miles; he needs 60 more miles for Amanda to achieve her 500 mile target with him. The next event will be Pine Tree in August!

Firecracker Endurance Ride 2021

For the July 4th weekend, we headed to Maine for the Horses Across Maine Firecracker Endurance ride. Horses Across Maine is a Non-Profit organization that plans various riding events in an effort to raise funds for and awareness of various issues facing Maine veterans and animal awareness. We drove up on Friday, 7/2 with the travel trailer to the Waterford, Maine fairgrounds. This was a very small ride with only 10 entries in the 30 mile Limited Distance event and 7 entries in the 50 mile event. The horses were able to be stalled in cattle barns and other fairgrounds facilities, which was wonderful on the second night when it was pouring rain.

We had 4 entries in the 30 mile event: Rob on Mojo, Alex on Amira, Quinn on Eli, and Amanda on Huey. We arrived early on Friday afternoon and quickly got camp set up since we didn’t have to prepare paddocks for the horses. While they do have electric hookups at the fairgrounds, we decided to park our travel trailer next to the barn where the horses were stalled and the electric was off there. Luckily, we had decided to bring our Honda generator just in case. It was a little wet on Friday so we vetted in the horses, hung out around the trailer, attended the ride meeting, and went to bed early. We did drive out to the away hold location so Anna wouldn’t get lost on Saturday.

We got up at 4:30 on Saturday because the ride start was at 6. Everyone was a little slow getting moving and we felt a little time crunched for the start, but I don’t think getting up earlier would have helped. Temperatures Saturday morning were in the low 50s and light drizzle with a high around 60, which made it tough to decide what to wear. I went with short sleeves and the kids all opted to wear a lightweight rain jacket.

The course was about 14 miles to an away hold, 40 minute hold, then back to camp on a slightly different route. The trails were flat relative to what we are used to (less than 50′ of elevation per mile on average) and sandy in sections. With such a small ride, everyone started together, but it wasn’t crowded at all. Since the temperatures were low for the time of year and the trails were very forgiving, a number of riders were going much faster than us. We had a very comfortable first loop averaging about 6.5 mph. The horses were drinking and eating fine, so we really didn’t have any concerns on the first half of the ride.

At the vet check, Mojo and Eli were under the required 64 bpm pulse as soon as we arrived. The family has become accustomed to the fact the Amira and Huey will require more time and cooling, so we have gotten in the habit of splitting into pairs for the vetting instead of trying to get everyone to the vets at the same time. This allows us to get 2 horses through the vets quickly and then assist with sponging and holding horses if needed. It took less than 10 minutes for Amira and Huey to be cooled off and they passed the vet check just fine. The 40 minute wait allowed everyone to eat some snacks and take a break.

The second loop was relatively uneventful. Mojo is quite fit, but if he doesn’t have horses to compete against, he gets lazy. To combat that, we took turns having Amira and Eli lead the group some. At one small creek crossing, the horses enjoyed the fresh grass and drank their fill.

We did slow down some on the second loop. At the finish, my watch showed 27.5 miles in 4:37 for an average of 6.0 mph. There was no need to race to the finish, so we walked the horses in the last .3 miles. Again, Mojo and Eli were ready for the final vet check immediately and Amira and Huey were ready in about 10 minutes. Everyone passed the final vet check without any drama or issues. Mojo and Eli were both certainly doing well enough they could have been in the 50 mile ride that day, but we don’t want to rush Eli’s first full season of competition.

Since there were only 10 entries in the 30 mile ride, we all qualified to stand for Best Condition. We don’t make the kids compete for BC, but it is a good opportunity to get some experience with that portion of the sport in a small ride. Standing for BC requires weighing in with all the weight the horse carried (saddle, rider, helmet, bridle, etc.). The horse is returned to the vet 1 hour after finishing and given another evaluation for heart rate, gait evaluation, muscle tone, gut sounds, and the other portions of a vet check. The trotting portion includes trotting in circles instead of just a straight line. After all the evaluations, there is a formula the vets use to determine who wins BC that accounts for the amount of weight carried relative to the others who stood for BC, time factor compared to the winning time, and the vet exam. Alex opted to not do BC with Amira, but Mojo, Eli, and Huey were all entered for BC.

In the end, Mojo was awarded Best Condition for the 30 mile ride!

After the horses were settled in to recover, everyone showered and the kids took a nap. We had planned to stay over Saturday night because we didn’t need to rush home. Amanda got out our hammock and decided to sleep in it all night next to the horses.

It rained all night and into the morning, so it was a soggy mess getting out on Sunday morning. We hit the road and made the 240 mile ride home in good time. Overall, the Horses Across Maine group put on a good ride, the facility was nice for a ride camp, the trails are forgiving, and everything went well for our weekend. I’m sure we will be back for more miles in Waterford, Maine in the future. Next on the ride calendar: Pine Tree in Fryeburg, Maine.