| These from “roaming ears”,
Nina Vasiliev:
The morning of the ride, as the rigs were pulling out of Robie Park, one driver felt it was too dusty - he couldn't even see the brake lights of the car in front of him. So he stopped until the dust cleared, only to see the rig directly in front of him; truck, camper, trailer, overturned down a bank. (Good thing he stopped...). [There was an added twist to this story when it turned out to be Chuck and Nancy Gabri's rig, and it was realised that the glo sticks to mark the last part of the trail from hw-49 onwards were in it. Emergency scrabbling around to replace them - by Echo Valley Ranch - ensued, until someone was able to retrieve them.] Once again a Japanese TV crew are here and filming Tevis. They spent a
lot of time with a local Junior rider, Lindsey Grizey, #229. Prior to
Tevis, they came over to her house and asked to be able to film how she lived. So
they took shots of her room, of Lindsey trail riding, about 12 hours of background stuff. [Lindsey and Darryl made a valiant effort, only to be pulled at Francisco's. To come so close to finishing, I'm sure they'll be back next year] Trainer, Janine Esler hobbled about at Foresthill on crutches with a cast and external fixators on her right leg thanks to a prior injury from a bucking horse. She braved the rocky terrain to see her sweety, Bruce Anderson, #71, riding for his 10th buckle. Another regular rider who was out of action this year was Dolly De Cair and AAA Amadeus. Dolly lost an argument with a falling bale of hay and broke her wrist. [Unfortunately Bruce didn't make it to get his 10th buckle] Vickie Testa had to borrow a friend's horse for Tevis this year after her own mount, Curly Joe, got tick fever the week before the ride and had to bow out. Instead, she's riding Red a 10 year old gelding on his first 100. He rode 6 days of this year's XP. [Red made a good effort on his first 100 and he and Vicki got as far as Foresthill before pulling. Because of being a last minute replacement, Red had seen none of the trail - with the exception of the river crossing, prior to the ride.] In the front, one of the horses in Potato's group came into the vet check with a large rock wedged into the heel of his left front. It took the vet several tries to pull it free of the shoe. That horse, (I think it was #4,) had to trot out twice and then return later for a vet recheck. [If this was #4, then it was Haggin Cup winner, Fayette de Cameo, ridden by Cathy Rohn] Rider # 70 Lila Abdul-Rahim is riding the Tevis this year for the fourth
time on her arab gelding, Clancey. Her crew says that each year her times
improve. [Lila Abdul-Rahim got as far as Deadwood this year, while Masafumi Tanaka reached Foresthill along with Peter Rich]
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