Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine Feb 2019 Vol 4 Issue 1

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

And so, the journey begins again… Three weeks before the Jo Tate Memorial Ride, Whitney entered Miles in an AHCA event. As Miles was backing away from an obstacle, he tripped and they both went down. Even though Whitney was hurting, she and Miles entered another class. A week later, she finally went to the doctor, only to find out that she had two broken ribs, one of which was displaced! Of course, this made Jo Tate seem even more daunting. Whitney completed the 25 mile ride with broken ribs because, after all of their hard work they put in to achieve their goal, she was determined not to be the reason they failed. The Jo Tate ride was a HUGE accomplishment for this team. All those hours of rehab in the cold and in the dark had really paid off! Miles had great vet scores and performed better than ever, after all of the consistent conditioning over the preceding months. After Jo Tate, Whitney and her mom, Terre James Labus, headed to Idle Nook Campground in the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas for a weeklong vacation and beautiful, yet challenging, mountain trails. However, Whitney was already dreaming of getting that completion on a 50 mile ride… The next ride was in September, at Kanopolis State Park. This ride also had its

challenges and they did not know what exactly to expect, considering they had never been there before. There are lots of canyons, sand, rock, and water crossings. The difficulty can be a bit deceiving because of the terrain, so they chose to ride 25 miles instead of attempting 50. Although the hills weren’t like the ones in southern Missouri, the area certainly wasn’t flat. It seemed like if they weren’t going up, they were going down, plus this was a hot, humid Labor Day weekend. Whitney was riding conservatively but Miles

was not eating or drinking well, as he was more preoccupied with trying to catch the horses he saw ahead of him. Rather than trying to push harder to make up time, Whitney slowed their pace, knowing that it was more important to have a healthy, happy teammate who was ready to hit the trail again on another day. Miles had enough gas left in the tank but there was no need to run it dry, especially when he already wasn’t eating and drinking well. They came in with good vet scores but were over time - no completion.

Everything Horses and Livestock® | February 2019 | EHALmagazine.com 6