Marathon Day at Live Oak

Another beautiful day - but warm - on Saturday. A large crowd gathered early to watch the marathon, with many tailgate parties scattered around the hazards. The Ground Jury extended the time in the vet box to 15 minutes, the time on the walk section by 2 minutes, and Section E by two minutes, and gave us a 5 minute window in E instead of the normal three minute window. The vet box was shady with a good breeze and the horses and ponies seemed to be handling the heat and humidity well. I'm not sure what the actual high was forecast was for 89 and it seemed like that. We went out at 11:49 which put us in the hazards around 2:00. With the help of Dottie Paul and Sue Dougherty, Cooper cooled down quickly in the vet box. He especially enjoyed being hand fed ice cubes by Sue. The first two hazards were fast and long. We had a good go in both the water hazard and the gulch, but it was slow going in the third and fourth. The fourth and seventh hazards were quite dug up with big sandy ruts by the time we got there, which made it tough going. I made a early turn in the last hazard and had to make a quick correction which hurt our time. Not our most consistent marathon but good enough to keep us in first place in our class, with Suzy just a few points behind. I knew I needed a bigger cushion :). The cones course was complete and ready for walking at 5:00 PM, which was a welcome treat. The course is long and fast, with two multiples and some twisty turns. There is a bridge in the middle, not marked as an obstacle, which can be used as a route between two sets of cones, but I don't think it is in a place to be helpful and will go around it instead. We are eating early and getting to bed early tonight, my brain is tired from remembering those tough hazards and more remembering required tomorrow :)