American Voices for Horses Member Megan Carter plans her 1200 mile ride
Megan' Diary
Voices for Horses member Megan Carter is travelling around Oklahoma; not by plane, not by car, but by horse ... The 41-year-old Lawton cowgirl from the United States is riding 1200 consecutive miles around the border of the state of Oklahoma. "I've always wanted to go on a long riding trip like this," Megan said. "I've always wanted to take an expedition honoring the Native American State. Now I'm killing two birds with one stone." She is living a dream that most of us are only able to think about. |  |
Megan is accompanied by her 8 year old Thoroughbred mare, Sophie. "Sophie was the last birthday present my husband gave me before he passed away. Doing this journey with her is like having Blaine with me too."
Megan's Mission focuses on the integrity of equestrian travel and as a voice for horses all over the world. "Many people out there have ‘pay to ride' scams that will take your money and you pay them to ride your horse around the country. Who gets hurt in all this? The horses do. Horses need to have a spokesperson and I hope to make some impact on those individuals who USE horses like commodities and who throw them away after they are done with them."
 | Preparing for this expedition for just over a year Megan's mentors are the Founders of The Long Riders Guild, Basha and CuChullaine O'Reilly. She says, "Without their unending support, I would have never been as prepared as I am to make this journey possible." The Long Riders Guild is an international equestrian organization that supports individuals who have ridden over 1000 continuous miles by horse. Megan will be eligible for membership at the conclusion of her ride." "Megs is all about horses," claims Dave Smith - an Oklahoman horseman with 30 years experience and friend of hers, "She is continually looking for new information that will make her a better rider, and her horse a happier ride. She's even listened to me on occasion. |
"One thing I've learned getting ready for my journey is that people are genuinely nice," Megan said. "They have been so helpful in offering me places to stay for my horse and me. " Megan has taken two- to three-week trips on horseback to help prepare but nothing compares to her upcoming journey.
| Each day, Megan and Sophie will start their day between 8 and 9 am, traveling up to 15 miles per day. She plans to be off the road by noon "I don't want to ride in triple digit heat, which is dangerous to both Sophie and me. It's best to get off the road when it's still cool outside, " On most occasions she hopes to be hosted in the barns or homes of people she will encounter on her journey, or in a tent. "Some people will offer up their homes," Megan said. "But I would like to find a good hay field to bunk down in if possible". Right now, Megan is making the final preparations for her journey which she states, "will start anywhere between the next few weeks and no later than June 23, 2009". |  |
 | About Sophie Sophie is a Therapist! Really --- she is. She helps those who are looking for emotional freedom. She is the change agent that we all need to help heal us emotionally. That makes me her loyal employee. We provides an alternative emotional healing instead of standard interventions for individuals, families and groups with the support of a horse! She helps people heal emotionally and has been a Therapist for about two years now helping at-risk adolescent girls, for the most part, get over their past hurts. I'm just along for the ride. She can take an anorexic, drug-doing, disrespectful, defiant teen-aged girl and turn her into a young lady. She has helped people over their fear of horses, fear of life and other past abuse as well. She is truly an amazing Therapist..and she isn't even a college graduate! Rescued from the Track |
She didn't have the heart to race. Her race trainers were very humane people and loved her personality and wanted her to have a good home. They saw horses as HUMANS not as money machines. With good generic downloading comes her mom's "Classic" personality and none of the desire that her grand-daddy (Devil's Bag) or her daddy (Track Rebel) had to race. Collectively her sire's side won millions. Devil's Bag was syndicated for 2.14million pounds at one point!
My friend Leslie of www.gracehillfarm.com is a horse person extraordinaire. She rescued Sophie because she wanted to give her a good home and she was in great hands! Leslie did the best thing for her before I adopted her for a mere 172 pounds: she let her be a horse for a year and let her hang out as a pasture ornament. Leslie had no idea if she was what her talents were. Leslie is to be very commended for her horse sense and re-hab that allowed Sophie to get her had back together from being off the track.
Sophie was then re-trained by me to ride after being raced. She asked me to hop aboard only after 4 days! She was amazing! Leslie was tickled so much she joked that she might want to buy her back! Sophie had two gears when I met her...walk and race. She doesn't now. (More to that in a minute) I am not the best of "finishing horses" but did a great job in taking her needs into consideration and LISTENING TO HER as to HOW MUCH I could teach her on any given day.
Sophie's Health
Sophie was out of shape completely and within the first few weeks, she pulled a muscle which took about 3 months to heal. She has the picky constitution of a fine race horse, that's for sure.
Her feet have been a yearlong battle with INEXPERIENCED HORSE SHOERS (except two of them who I have here in Oklahoma). She was cut too short in Jan of 2007! She had to grow out to get straightened out. In that process of being cut too short...she abscessed - in both front feet. She caught flu (when I had pneumonia) because the abscesses got infected in Jan of 2008 (my weren't we the pair). Structurally, she was a wreck! I treated the abscesses....a different farrier WITH ALITTLE MORE EXPERIENCE finally came because she was long enough to trim her. He cut her too short TOO. Five Different states and 7 different farriers later (my hubby was a symphony musician so we moved around a lot)... and again she suffered setbacks structurally because farrier's who were convinced they had the best knowledge to straighten her out. SHOELESS and NATURAL BAREFOOT is what I prefer. She NEVER WORE SHOES her entire life until all this trouble started with her feet. I let her grow until July 2008 when she arrived her in Oklahoma. FINALLY A SHOER THAT IS WORTH HIS SALT!
Set Back
Well in November, for about three months, I lent Sophie to a friend of mine since her daughter's horse passed away to lessen the grief she would feel (again, Sophie is a therapist..so why not help her out?). Sophie would get the break she needed without shoes on nice grass..and my friend's daughter could ride and not be so heartbroken.
Well my so called "friend" (who lived about 100 miles away) didn't feed her properly. Sophie was ASHEN COLORED when I picked her up..and my friend's farrier ... trimmed her too short - TWICE. So short that there wasn't enough hoof wall to even attach shoes to her back feet! Not only was she too short...she was underweight, wormy and etc. I didn't see my friend for 90 days because she was 100 miles away and I trusted Sophie's health care to her. She failed miserably. Sophie was now.....not only cut too short, structurally a wreck because of her feet...her health took her down to her ribs shows VERY slightly in my friend's care (by the way, we are not friends anymore). Sophie would have be brought back from neglect now. Her feet were a wreck, she was pale as a ghost and her body condition score was about a 2! She came home to me in January 2008...just a mere four months ago.
Over the Worst
Finally.. someone who knows what they were doing comes into her life! I mean really knows that they are doing. Sophie never was "finished" completely as far as training goes. I became her employer with others and she became their therapist. We could ride trail anywhere, anytime, anyhow. She still didn't know much except for the basics: left, right, leg pressure, and direct reining. Well..it's time, I thought, to have her be all that she can be. One of my closest friends...who really, I feel IS A HORSE in human clothing is amazing with horses. I saw that she could train even the most dangerous horse. So I made the decision to have her "smooth out Sophie's rough edges" for me. This is the first time in my life that I have entrusted Sophie to a person for her training. The results? They have been remarkable! However, all this "correctness" earned her a pulled butt muscle this week. This is a good sign, this means she is strengthening and training like a well balanced athlete.. Not like the structural wreck she has been for over a year. I've had several people assess her and say.. HECK YA! She can do this expedition, no problem!!! She is coming out of being structurally weak on her right side.
Diary Entry 20th March 2009
Feet update with Farrier
Just finished with John... I have good news and bad, so since I prefer to get the bad news first I'll give it to you. There isn't anyway to put shoes on her back feet. There isn't enough foot there. He looked and looked and said that if he put shoes on he would have to glue them and they wouldn't last until the water got hot. So I have strict orders to keep her on the supplements and stay off the pavement as much as possible.
OK, now the good news will sound like bad at first but bare with me. Her last Farrier was "a typical uneducated farrier" (that's from John) Basically what has been going on with her feet is the shoe has been hindering growth because the back end of the shoe (toward the heel) was squared off. Her heel couldn't grow naturally, it was being pinched, that explains why she was choosing to travel more on her toes and less naturally. We were not able to get that last 1/2 inch straight, but John said after a few days she may start traveling more naturally. At this point her feet have been hindered so long that part of her movements are out of habit now.
So on with the good news... we decided to pad her, I didn't put in wedges-- I just put light pads partly because it will apply even pressure to the foot like walking on the ground without shoes and give her foot more "room" to grow out. When he put the new shoes on he left the heel of the shoe wider then her foot so that the heel will start to flare out and grow into a more natural state. So what the actual good news is that pretty soon she should be squared away enough to put shoes on her back shoes and her front feet should have good enough growth to set her back on her heels a little more. I asked him what his opinion was of her making the 1200 miles and he said that at 12 miles a day or a little more she should be good to go. He didn't see anything to really be afraid of. He even said that her soles are only a little weak and if it wasn't for the long ride he was actually going to suggest taking her shoes off all together and letting her feet just grow.
When he set her shoe, he lined her back out and made everything straight and even she isn't pigeon toed anymore and her legs are perfectly straight in the front. So how does all that digest? I know it's a lot of information, but she is headed down the perfect road now and in the 4 weeks she's here I'll be able to tell if she is hindered or being helped. I'll keep you posted on it.
| Diary Entry 6th April 2009 This weekend was an amazing weekend. I'm pretty certain I was more scared than Sophie. We accomplished something that most trail horses can't even comprehend. Long Rider horses on the other hand, are used to such things...after a hundred miles or so. The water was RAGING below us. Built in 1926 by the Muskogee Iron Works, this bridge consists of four 189-foot modified Parker through trusses. It creaked when you stood on it, the winds were blowing gusts up to 60 miles an hour which defines why the strings on my hat are called "tornado strings". I was with two others.. at first. This is what Sophie and I conquered this weekend... you are not gonna believe this... I certainly can't! |  |
We crossed it four times -- twice by ourselves - twice with two others. This Thoroughbred girl seriously has more grit than I do... She was lead horse...she had to be so she could see where she was going! :) We are about 150 feet up in the air...no side rails, rushing swelling river below us... trotted across like she was a pro... only hesitated for a millisecond the two times we did it alone.
 | The first time across was very scary FOR ME. The other two horses were having some very minor trouble. All the horses were good! The second that one her equine friends put her hoof on that bridge after being asked... Sophie trotted forward and ahead of the other two. I thought, like I had heard, she would want to gallop all the adrenaline off after the bridge. She just looked at me like, "What's the big deal". |
I really appreciate her other two friends being there with us...their riders, Steve and Archie, gave ME the reassurance I Needed to get across! I was scared to death...and thrilled at the same time.
Best Long Rider Advice that I ever received about bridges... DONT LOOK DOWN!!!
Big thanks to wes winkler for these images!
Megan is taken ill
On the 17th April we were notified by The Long Riders that Megan had been taken seriously ill. Today the 20th April she is a little better but still in hospital. We will keep you up dated. In the meantime Megan is very much in our thoughts.
Brave Message from Meg 22nd April 2009
Dear All,
Where would I be without your support???? Alot more in deeper and darker spirits. I am on the 8th day here in my new home, Room 269. Had a IV and PO Contrast Cat Scan today to see why food is so much trouble for me. I have fluid build up in my peritineal cavity as a result of the surgery (which is within the range of normal). I am HUNGRY but food still is not liking me AT ALL. It's as though I have straight plumbing from mouth right out to tail (I sound like my horses). Anyway, my sense of humour is returning, I am up and down emotionally and I feel as though I am progressing. The doctors also feel the same way.
It's excruciating to eat. However, physical mobility is also 95% and feel as though, if I hoisted myself carefully, I could get on the back of a horse. I got the news today that my full recovery will take up to 12 weeks... which is 4 weeks longer than my launch date. Doesn't matter, however...I am still doing the expedition...but have to be realistic as I fight this internal infection and care for myself before I make the journey.
We will keep you in touch with Megan's progress in the meantine our thoughts are with her.
For more information on Megan's Ride ride, or to help out on her expedition please visit: http://www.buffalomoonexpedition.com/
For more information about the Long Riders Guild please go to:
http://www.thelongridersguild.com/
Added on: 28/03/09.
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