Peter

So I’ve been putting off writing this post for a while now as I didn’t know how to start it or finish it, our ride has come to an end with flashing blue lights and a flight back home.

We were going really nicely and made it through the 4th July weekend ( for non American people it’s an excuse to have fireworks and drink copious amounts of alcohol which I definitely approve of) and we stayed at a really nice little campsite and met some lovely people. After some rejigging of logistics and a break we set off again and everything was going fine, we were making good time and covering ground well. Then an idiot child threw a firecracker and the rest is pretty obvious.

I came off and ended up in hospital at which point the ride had to be abandoned at least temporarily. I’ve gone back to the uk to heal and ringo is in Texas stuffing his face with grass.

I will go into more detail about the accident and what the plan is going forward but to be honest I don’t know what I want to do yet. I’m not ready to give up yet but I think I need to rethink how I was going about crossing America as we did run into problems ranging from where to camp to keeping ringo fit and healthy.

I’ll also add to the other sections of the blog that I’ve neglected like the equipment used and the map.

Edit: I’m bruised and broken but will heal do nothing permanent

So we’re back in West Virginia and taking it very slowly mostly due to crappy weather forecasts, it’s of thunder storms forecast so we’ve stuck around places to wait it out. Sometimes it back fires as they never really materialise but it’s good for ringo as he gets to rest and eat. The first 60 miles were pretty uneventful, far to much tarmac and roads but we met some lovely people along the way who gave a place to camp along the way.

The wildlife has changes as well from when we were in Maryland. Hundreds of damn deer that seem to be hiding behind every bush, chipmunk which ringo’s terrified of, a rattle snake as we crossed a road and a couple of raccoons. We’ve also been told there’s bears in the area.

Then we got to Dolly sods wilderness and the roads changed and we were back to dirt tracks and ringo perked right up, he wasn’t so impressed with the 2000ft ish elevation climb tho. He had tantrums where he just lies down and refuses to move (first time I thought it was colic but it wasn’t) and he also started nipping. I think we only managed 10 miles one day as it was a constant fight to get him walking even though I wasn’t riding.

Our main aim was to get to a horse motel before the 4th July and everyone’s fireworks. I’d given us 3 extra days to get to Hendricks on the other side of the Dolly but that really didn’t go to plan….

So….. we set up camp just before the paw paw tunnel which is closed and has a very steep 1.5 mile detour, we start in the morning with me riding to the first mountainous section and then walk. We were supposed to go off the canal at oldtown and follow the American discovery trail to fort Ashby, as we went over the detour ringo slipped about 7-8 feet down an embankment, I thought nothing of it as he seemed completely fine with not even a muddy knee but as we got to the toll bridge at West Virginia’s boarder he started feeling off and tried to go down then reared right up again. (The scary kind of rear not the fun kind) that’s when I realised something was wrong and he wouldn’t tolerate me on his back, we carried on with me leading him on a very busy road to for Ashby and had a vet look at him who seemed to not really have a clue but mumbled about torn muscles and cracked ribs. I organised transport to take us to a horse motel but they never turned up and a very nice waitress kindly offered her fathers services and transported us to a campsite then back to Maryland the next morning.

Since then we’ve camped out on the canal as there’s grass, water and most importantly free camp sites hoping he gets better and tried to see another vet who actually knows which end of the horse the head is.

So we’ve spent almost a week around the paw paw campground and met some amazing people, we met a scout group who I had dinner with, unforgettable I forgot to get the leaders details to thank them properly as it does get lonely with just ringo for company and the next day met a church group of fathers and sons going canoeing down the river and they also invited me for food. We also met a slightly mad cyclist who we met 3 or 4 times and talked as we were at the same camp site.

So today Sunday 25th we decided we’ve sat around enough and headed back to fort avery and ringo seems completely sound with just a tiny bit of mud fever still lingering. Unfortunately the feed store we were counting on was closed so he’ll have to cope with just grass till tomorrow. He did get a nice bath in the river which doesn’t happen often as getting down to it usually has a drop.

So to sum up ringo it’s finally good and getting better in traffic and kamikaze deer. Still terrified of rabbits tho.

Completely off topic of this post but it appears ringo loves cucumber and tinned carrots, he pretty much eats anything he’s given including last week goat feed. And yes everything is checked that horses can eat it.

I’m a bit late in updating this, in maryland we were almost exclusively on the c&o canal which goes from Washington DC to Cumberland. It’s a perfect start place as there’s camp sites with water pumps every 5 miles or so, although ringo prefers the river water.

We’ve had a mix of hot weather and thunder storms where we get soaked to the skin and take days to get the equipment dry.

Ringo started off a bit hesitant and stopped dead if he saw anything other than a cyclist in front of him but got a lot better as the week went on, now he ignores the deer that jump out 10 ft in front of him. The only thing he’s actually freaked out at was a tiny rabbit but that was one terrifying rabbit. I’ve been trying to get photos of some of the animals I come across but anything faster than a turtle has been difficult. He still tries to spin every now and again and trots very broken stop and start.

We’ve met some amazing people who have helped with a stable for ringo and a bed for me or some horse feed. Even just someone to speak to in the evenings as it gets a bit lonely with just ringo to talk to. We’re to fast for the walkers and far to slow for the cyclists. Every now and again we see the same person and say hi but that’s not very often.

We’ve had a few detours for supplies but generally stay on the trails, we got followed 5 or 6 miles in total by a police cruiser in shepherdstown to slow down the traffic for us which was awesome and there’s the park ranger who jumps out of bushes pretty much as soon as I’ve got my tent set up in a no camping area, especially early on we camped in a lot of places campings not allowed but having a horse makes it far more difficult to find a large enough area of his tether. We also got assaulted in a campsite and the police took 2 hours to come and just said that as they didn’t see it happen they can’t arrest anyone which I find ridiculous as his family were also saying he did it. But I’m not injured so I wasn’t going to press charges, I just wanted him out of the camp site so it didn’t happen agains.

We’ve finally set off on the c&o canal with just a few days delay due to transportation but ringo made it here finally. Firstly I should thank Cathleen and Richard for letting me stay with them in Maryland and all the support they’ve given me.

Ringo’s got a new set of shoes and an embroidered saddle cloth so we’re ready. First day on the canal we only did 5 or 6 miles as we started late afternoon and I was more concerned with finding a good camp site, best place we found was right next to the no camping sign. We had a few bucks but settled down after a mile or so.

Second day was a long hot day. Ringo was going really well but put his foot through the good water container so I was on the back up which needs held open otherwise collapses so that was fun. We had planned to camp in harpers ferry but turns out there’s a winding metal stairs to get up to the bridge and that was a no go so ended up going and extra 10 miles to find a place to camp. We found an amazing bit of grass by one of the locks which was full of firefly’s as soon as it got dark. I think even ringo enjoyed it. Total approximately 23 miles today.

Todays been wet, I started as soon as I’d taken everything out of the tent and didn’t stop. We detoured into shepherdstown to find some hot food and ran into some of the nicest folk around. They called around and found a stable and grazing for ringo and a bed for me. I learnt that light weight doesn’t equal waterproof. Ringo completely lost his cool over a rabbit on the trail but completely ignored a turtle so I don’t know what’s going on in his head. We still probably managed 14 miles today even though we stopped early.

Ringo arrives tomorrow and I’m finally starting to get nervous, my leg hasn’t healed as much as I’d hoped wit the bruise is still coming through. It now goes from ankle to knee and there’s still a lot of swelling. But I really don’t want to delay the trip so I’m going to start and see how it goes but I might end up stopping if I can’t walk. Riding doesn’t seem to hurt that much.

Since ringo takes 5 days to get to Maryland and all my kits travelling with him I’ve had lots of spare time. The lovely family that offered to let me stay with them play polocrosse and there grown up children are really good. So I’ve joined them in practice a few times and it’s quite funny how bad I am at it compared to them but it’s great fun and I’ll definitely learn to play properly when I get home.

Riding copper at the house to exercise the horses.

i’m currently a week away from starting riding across america and it’s been a busy few days, i flew to houston from the caribbean on friday and sunday went we took 2 horses up to round up Ringo and take him back to the ranch for some last minute training.

Ringo went really nicely on Sunday in walk trot and canter, he’s definitely the right horse for this with just the right level of curosity and attitude to still be fun…. and that’s where i stopped typing last night, todays a different story.

this afternoon we tacked him up after being stabled and i got on very briefly, he was being a d*** and reared and went right over back onto my leg. Pretty sure there’s no permanent damage just swelling and bruising, i firmly believe that you should always get back on but i could barely stand let alone get back on.

Tomorrows jobs going to be getting back on as i dont have time to be injured

Welcome to my blog, i’m riding my noble steed Ringo coast to coast across america. I will be starting in delaware and riding across to california approximately 5000km away.

I will be riding alone with no support but i have a group of very knowlegable people including vets, trainer’s and long distance riders to call upon for advice.