Except from email:
Photo: Linda Gasprini and Isa-Gye, second day of the Florida Horsemen’s Association’s
Three Day 100, held in March in Altoona, on the southern edge of the
Ocala National Forest.
WE DID IT!!! We just got home from the last ride of the SEDRA (South
Eastern Distance Rider's Association) season, and Isa-Gye (old HOA #B 75, foaled 1986,
by Absaroka Mouse, he by Little Bit out of _____, and out of Tse-Itse, she by Crane out of Country Club) is firmly entrenched as this season's HIGH POINT OVERALL/Grand Champion Winner!!! I can't
hardly believe this has happened! Of course, the year-end awards are
not handed out until the Awards Banquet on June 26th, but as the season
starts winding down, those in the running for high point are usually
sharing scores to gloat or groan. My neighbor and riding buddy was been
keeping scores, as she was going for this award herself, with her
magnificent Arab gelding, Fiaskko. I was routing for her, of course, as
I didn't think my little Barb mare could compete with the high scores
Fiaskko'd gotten last season, and in the first half of this season.
But Isa-Gye kept on trucking along, slow but steady. We took Reserve
Champion at the Sand Hills 25, two weeks ago, and just two weeks after
the grueling three day FHA 100, with a near-perfect score of 99.5, while
all the closest competiton for High Point were still nursing lameness
and/or dehydration issues. And this weekend, we took 1st Place
Middleweight, again with an almost perfect score.
Isa really gave me her all, too. She wasn't feeling quite right - had
had a bad week previous. First a bout of hives (she hardly ever even
shows a bug bite, despite the hordes of flies and mosquitoes this
subtropical "paradise" is filled with), then she got a stiff neck from
the antihistamines the vet gave her mid-week. Her neck was still stiff
on this last ride, and I think this was affecting her, as her working
heart rate was reading almost 20 beats higher than normal during the
entire ride. Fortunately, her recoveries were still fine.
I am SO proud of her, and my husband, George, is strutting like a
peacock (she's his baby)!
Then we got the final news! Isa had WON!
Photo 1 is from the Florida Equestrian Classic, Formerly the Sunshine
State Games, held in April at the Florida Greenways Park in Ocala. They
have a dressage event and a driving event, each on a separate weekend.
This was the last competitive trail ride of the SEDRA season, and a
tough one because it winds back and forth through narrow, heavily wooded
trails, and they never seem to measure the mileage correctly! This
year it was 28 miles long instead of the 25 miles it was supposed to
be. The error was in the last “five” miles, so it got interesting at
the end. You can see that the landscape is greener here than in other
parts of Florida, with some beautiful dense woods. We took 1st Place
Middleweight at this ride.
Photo 2 is from the Lake Louisa 25 at Lake Louisa State Park, northwest
of Orlando. It’s the first ride of the season, in the latter part of
October. This was taken early in the morning, which turned out to be
unusually cool. That’s why Isa-Gye looks so tawny-colored—she hasn’t
started sweating yet! Normally, it’s a very hot, humid ride, with a
high pull rate. There are five distinct ecosystems in this very new
state park; it has great trails and rolling hills, which we don’t’ have
in south Florida – that also makes it a bit tough for our “flatlander”
horses! We took 3rd place Middleweight on this one.
Photo 3 is from the first day of the FHA 3 day 100, which was typical Florida weather –
sweltering! Isa looks black because she’s sweating well. The first two
days are 40 miles each, the last day is a fast paced 20 miles. The
trails in “The Forest” have a lot of deep sand, making this a very
grueling ride, maybe even more so for me than for Ms. Is! My back
started to spasm at the 70 mile point, so the last ten miles of the
second day and the entire third day were tortuous for me.
Riders came from as far away as Canada to take part in this 50th
anniversary ride. It is the second oldest CTR in the country, from what
I’m told. 25% of the entries were pulled over the three day period, so
just finishing was a feat. We finished 5th place Middleweight. This
was the ride which separated out my competitors for year end high point; they
had all been ahead of Isa and me up until this ride, but all placed
lower here than we did, some by as much as 15 points. We maintained our
momentum and came in strong for the last two rides of the season and
took High Point Overall!
It was a long, but enjoyable season – a lot of hard work, but worth the
effort. During the course of the season, I learned a lot about taking
care of my little Barb, keeping her fit and comfortable, and helping her
do her absolute best. I’d say I’ve learned as much about
horsemanship/management in the last two years of competing in CTR as I
did the first thirteen years that I’ve owned my critters. But it’s her
strong physique and Barb heritage that gave me a good basis to start
with. Long live the Horse of the Americas!
Lost Eagle Acres
Back to the HOA Board Room, an email chat for those interested in our special horses.
Subject: Barb win Year End Awards !
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000
From: Linda Gasparini 
Captions and text from Linda's letter of June 24, 2000
14467 Broken Wing Lane
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33481
