100 Miles Is 100 Miles Is 100 Miles

Wednesday June 11 2014

What is a 100-mile endurance ride? It's one long day (and often night) in the saddle: a challenge of partnership, endurance, perseverance, and focus. It's overcoming fatigue, keeping your horse's enthusiasm up when his energy flags, and perking up your own attitude when you'd rather be dozing off as your awesome horse pulls you along. It's paying close attention to your horse all day (and often night), listening to his body and feeling his motion and attitude.

It's managing his water and food intake all day (and often night), and monitoring his recoveries. It's judging pace and strength all day (and often night), judging the climate and terrain and fitting that to your partner's needs, rationing out the gas to last all day (and night). It's finishing a ride with a sound horse after 12, 18, or up to 24 hours in the saddle, with only the vet checks for rest. It's the ultimate distance challenge in endurance riding.

Just as a 50 mile ride is different from a limited distance ride and requires more awareness, concentration, and management of your equine partner than a limited distance ride, so too is a 100 mile ride different from a 50 mile ride, and requires more awareness, concentration and management of your equine partner than a 50.

I recently started noticing the "2-day 100" mile rides.They've been around a while; I only just started noticing and thinking about them. If I'm correct in this, a horse and rider who completes a 2-day 100 gets credit for a 100-mile ride on their record, i.e. if you finish the two 50-mile rides both days, you have completed a 100-mile ride. (If you pull on the second day, you don't get any mileage completion).

Say I have an endurance horse that only does 50's - I am thinking of one particular horse I have ridden. He could do a couple of 50-mile rides in a row at a multi-day, but I knew he was not the 100-mile type. He wasn't built or bred for it; 'things' started to add up after a couple days in a row (leg fillings, longer time to recover at vet checks, fatigue) and it wasn't in his best interest to ride any more or any further. I've ridden enough different horses to know he was just not a 100-mile horse. He was not made for it; and why would I try to force one out of him to prove a point?

So, say I took this horse to several 2-day 100-mile rides, and we completed them. I would then have a 50-mile-only horse who showed 3 100-mile completions on his record. Deceiving, isn't it? I know it wouldn't be technically correct, because I knew I wouldn't compete on this horse in a 1-day 100 mile ride. If I did complete a 1-day 100-mile ride on this horse, I would sure want that accomplishment acknowledged on his record among the 2-day 100s.

I don't think that showing a 2-day 100 as a "100-mile completion" on the mileage records is fair to horses and riders who do complete a 'real' 100. Two 50's in a row do not equal a 100-mile ride. The riding and pace is different. The skills of managing the horse is different. The rest and recovery time between miles 50 and 51 are completely different. The two events are not comparable.

You don't get credit for 50 miles in a 1-day 100 if you only make it that far, and you don't get credit for 75 miles if you elevate to a 100 but don't complete the 100. In a 2-day 100, if you don't complete day 2's 50 miles, you don't get credit for day 1's 50. That's fair, but it still doesn't mean you rode a '100-mile ride'.  If completing a 2-day 100 is equal to completing a 1-day 100, then every multi-day ride could be offered as a 100 mile ride (or two, in the case of 4 days!)

I'm curious: what is the rationale behind a 2-day 100 equalling a 1-day 100 on mileage records? Perhaps its purpose is to encourage riders to start thinking with the mindset of trying a 1-day 100. Or perhaps it's a benefit for ride managers to offer this option. Maybe it's a different kind of challenge, along the lines of the 5-day Shahzada in Australia where you must finish all 5 days to get a completion. Maybe it has something to do with points. Maybe it's not important anyway in which column the miles show up.

But is a 2-day 100 equal to a 1-day 100?

In My Opinion, it isn't. Not at all.

Tough Sucker II: Mules Rule!

Saturday April 26 2014

"It was a bit windy…", photographer Steve Bradley commented. "OK, a lot of wind," he appended his statement - probably as he was chasing down his "Photo Ahead" sign as it tumbled across the sagebrush flats between endurance riders.

"The wind was horrendous, felt like it was going to blow me right off my horse a couple times!" Karen Bumgarner posted in her blog about her ride on Thunder in the 50.



The good part about the chilly windy day was that it wasn't blowing hard before the start. It's much easier to saddle up when it's calm, then get blasted with wind when you're already out on the trail and going, than it is to try to get motivated to saddle up in a gale.

It was so windy out on the trail, even when we were trotting and cantering in the same direction as the wind, the dust kicked up from the following horse's hooves blew past the lead horse.



The hurricane didn't slow down the Mules! Six mules started the Limited Distance ride and they finished first through sixth, the winner Jill Hedt riding John Henry in a smoking time of 2:52. John Henry also won Best Condition. Three of the mule riders were Juniors. A total of 21 riders started the LD with 20 finishing, and the only pull being a Rider Option.



Twenty riders started the 50-mile ride with 19 finishing, with that only pull also being a Rider Option. Dean Hoalst riding Pay Attention, and Layne Simmons riding Beauty's Harley smoked through the 50, with Dean just edging Layne at the finish in a time of 4:41. Pay Attention won Best Condition. Third was another Mule - Calvin Gordon riding Restless Hanna, who won the Tough Sucker I 50 mile ride on April 5. Finishing 15th was Nance Worman on Big Sky Quinn, who reached his 4000 mile plateau.



The Owyhee Desert was particularly green(ish) this spring, with abundant(ish) desert grass for snacking on throughout the two loops. A good rain on Friday left the scenic trails - particularly the Hallulujah Rim Trail and the Snake River Trail around Wild Horse Butte - dust-free. When the hurricane did kick up dust, it blew away so fast you hardly noticed it. We were slammed by one gusting whirlwind (distinguishable from the other 25 mph wind by the wall of brown flying at us at 35 mph) that passed through us before we could react.



The Tough Sucker I and II rides, both managed by Regina Rose, were a good (brisk!) start to the 2014 Northwest endurance ride season in Idaho.

"Trail's Open!"

Ride photos and results and stories are at:
http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2014ToughSucker/

Destination Virginia City 100: Gina Hall and Fire Mt. Destiny

Wednesday April 9 2014

He still unloads her once or twice a year. He'll bolt. He can "spook like no other." He can trip and fall when he doesn't pay attention, because "it's not real important for him to stay up on all four feet." You could say Fire Mt. Destiny has "a few quirks," admits owner and rider Gina Hall, of Carson City, Nevada. Even now at 17 years old, Gina always respects Destiny, because she doesn't put anything past him. But the 15.3-hand chestnut gelding has more than made up for his quirks with his extraordinary accomplishments on the endurance trails.

Gina's friend Wanda Myers told her about Fire Mt. Destiny when he was for sale as a two-year-old. Bred by Jackie Bumgardner of Ridgecrest, California, Destiny is by Sierra Fadwah +/ (1992 AERC Hall of Fame horse, 7280 AERC miles, 87 for 87 record) out of a L.a.s. Talasman+/ mare.

Wanda had owned L.a.s.Talasman+/, an extraordinary endurance horse with a 4850-mile, 86 for 86 record, who traces back to the Bezaleel line (sire of Bezatal, 1987 AERC Hall of Fame horse).

"I had been riding a Talasman daughter," Gina related, "and Talasman and Sierra Fadwah were half brothers (both out of Judhi by Bezaleel), so I went and looked at him with Wanda."

He was a rather unlikely looking super horse then. "When I saw him, I thought - really? He was so gangly, at that awkward two-year-old stage - big pot belly, ewe neck. Wanda kept saying, 'Yep! Yep! You're buying him for his bone and his bloodlines' - so that's why I got him!"

Destiny had been introduced to saddle and rider just a few times; but Gina took him home and turned him out and left him alone until he was 5, other than just trimming his feet and hand-walking him on hikes in the hills.

He was good-tempered and charmingly mischievous those years. "He started this thing that he still does to this day," Gina recalls. "When I'm leading him down the trail, he fiddles with my coat, or my hair. He used to grab at the hood on my coat. He kind of nuzzles me as we go down the trail."

When Destiny turned 5 and it was time to start the breaking and riding in earnest, Gina started him. "Well, I tried riding him. The first time, I took him over to Connie Creech's place. We worked him in the round pen a little bit, and I got on him. She was leading him around, and for whatever reason, he freaked out." Gina had to bail off. "I tried riding him a couple of other times in a friend's round pen, and he dumped me, HARD. I said - 'Oh, you are going to the trainer!'"

Destiny still kind of had Gina's number when he got back from the trainer, so her daughter Carolyn Meier rode him for a while. "What helped the most with him was putting a running martingale on him, because his trick was getting his nose up in the air, and he'd bolt with me and buck. And as soon as he couldn't do that (get his head up) - and the trainer put a pretty good mouth on him - I didn't have that problem anymore." Gina still doesn't let her guard down on him though, because he can still randomly test her with his shenanigans.


Destiny's first endurance ride was a Limited Distance ride at age 5 in June of 2002 in Nevada. Gina recollects the conditions were less than ideal. "The wind was blowing a thousand miles an hour, and I had a scoop on my saddle, and I had a crupper on. He tried to buck me off. I took the crupper off, and gave Connie my scoop; and after that, he was fine for the rest of the day, although we had a bunch of motorcycles to deal with too that day."

His first 50 miler was a month later at Red Rocks, also in Nevada. "It was a tough, long ride - we took a long time to do it. And it was super hot that year, 105 degrees - they ended up starting the ride an hour earlier because it was just too hot. But he did good."

The duo only did 3 50-mile rides that year, and Destiny only got better and better. "And I'd gotten more and more comfortable on him. My friends were all very helpful and supportive, helping take care of me while I got brave on him."

After starting and completing 8 50-mile rides the next season at age 6, Gina felt ready to try a 100-mile ride on him at age 7. It wasn't an easy 100 she picked, either. It was the the Virginia City 100 in and around historic Virginia City, Nevada.

The Virginia City 100 is known for its rocky, challenging terrain, heat, historic wagon trails, its 5 AM start in front of the Delta Saloon and the Bucket of Blood Saloon in downtown Virginia City, its unrelenting elevations between 5000 and 7800 feet, its SOB's (Sons of B*tches hills you hit during the heat of the day), and for some rather legendary horses and riders who have graced its trails over the (now) 47 years of its running.

Destiny handled the trails with ease the first time. "We did it in a little over 19 hours. He was just solid. He was a trooper." And he's only gotten better and better over the years on 100-mile rides. He's gone on to start and complete a total of 19 100-mile rides, including the Virginia City a total of 9 times.

In 2012, Gina and Destiny completed 3 100-milers: the Twenty Mule Team in February; the Tevis Cup in August; and Virginia City in September. That year, their eighth VC completion was one of Gina's best rides ever on Destiny. "I rode with Ann Hall on HCC Zara RR (no relation) the last 50 miles, and I never thought I would have that kind of horse on a 100-mile ride. I don't know if it was Ann or Zara or what, but our horses did unbelievably well on that last loop. I think we rode it faster than the winning rider did. And it was just awesome to finish (in 9th place, in 16:06) with a horse that felt so strong and good," Gina recalls.

Gina does have to carefully manage her horse. He has tied up with her before (muscle cramps), so she has to carefully monitor his feeding and training between endurance rides. "I really work on keeping him hydrated during rides, and between rides, I have to be super careful with his diet and exercise. He doesn't get to sit around very often; he has to get regular exercise. My daughter says I micromanage him, and that's okay! It works, and I've been real conservative with him."


Gina has carefully planned Destiny's 2014 ride season, with the Virginia City 100 in September as the centerpiece. Destiny is poised to become only the fifth horse to earn a 1000-mile VC Buckle (the last one was Beansprout in 1987). That puts Destiny up there on the same page with Donna Fitzgerald's legendary Witezarif, 1000-mile Buckle winner in 1978.

"It's going to be exciting!" Gina said. "I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we finish. Destiny knows VC 100 - he just knows it. He knows where I want him to go, or where he knows it's okay to go - and he's just awesome. When he's 'On' for that ride, he's a ball.

"He's so awesome; I'm so blessed! I'll probably never have another horse like him. It's been a journey for sure, getting him to where he is, but he just seems to get better and better and better. I'm sad that he's going to be 17, but I think he's still got quite a bit of miles left in him, and time. And he loves it. He really likes the work."

You just might want to mark September 20th on your calendar, the day of the 47th annual Virginia City 100 ride, where a 17-year-old endurance horse with a record of almost 6500 miles, and a 108 for 109 start/finish record, an AERC Decade Team Award, and 19 100-mile completions, stands to make a little endurance history.

Merri Melde photos

2013 AERC National Best Condition: Lori Windows and Ella N Fires Jane Doe

Sunday March 30 2014

Lori Windows of Wyanet, Illinois, and her 13-year-old mare Ella N Fires Jane Doe were the recipients of the 2013 AERC National Best Condition award. "Ella" and Windows finished the 2013 season with 12 completions in 13 starts, 7 first places, and 10 Best Conditions.

Highlight of their season was winning Best Condition at the 2013 AHA Distance Nationals, held in October near Chandlerville, Illinois. The ride almost didn't happen for the pair. Originally entered in the 100-mile AHA National ride, Windows woke up that morning to find her horse gone. She'd escaped from Ridecamp, and was found later in the day in someone's front yard twenty miles away, with her lead rope still on.

Ella didn't have a scratch on her, and officials allowed Windows to switch to the 50-mile ride the next day. Not only did the pair win the Half-Arabian/Anglo-Arabian Division, but they won Best Condition - the 10th BC of Ella's season (and 22nd of her career), contributing to her National Award.

Ella N Fires Jane Doe is a 3/4 Arabian, 1/4 Saddlebred mare, by the Arabian stallion ChariotsoffireNVF, out of Bay Ella-Gance.

Windows got Ella from a girl who was going to college, and she didn't have time for the then-5-year-old mare. "She was broke," said Windows, "but she was a handful, and the girl was afraid that somebody would get her and not be able to handle her."

Ella did one year carrying one of Windows' friends in novice (CTR) rides, and then the next year Ella and Windows started doing endurance.

Now, with four seasons of endurance and over 2600 miles under her girth, Ella is an experienced endurance horse, but she's still a horse for an experienced rider. "Some horses love to run but they don't know when it's time to slow down, or when it's time to stop. This horse loves to run, but fortunately she's smart enough that she never hurts herself." And she takes good care of herself in the vet checks and on trail, eating and drinking, which Windows feels is why she does so well at Best Condition.

"She just takes care of herself. I feel I am just a passenger on this incredible horse!"

American Endurance Riders Set the Gold Standards

Friday February 14 2014
by Merri Melde

This is why I'm proud to be an endurance rider in America:

In light of the FEI endurance racing scandals over the last year, which center over the Group VII (Middle East) countries and their shocking rates of alleged rule infractions, dopings, and fractures on the flat-course 50-mile, 75-mile, and 100-mile races, endurance riders and horses from the country where the sport of endurance riding originated - here in America - shine and carry on the original tradition of the sport.

Honoring horsemanship and longevity, and embracing the motto, "To Finish is To Win," the AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference), rewards riders and horses who reach impressive milestones throughout their long-lasting careers.

Riders receive patches for their benchmarks of 250 miles, 500 miles, 750 miles, 1000 miles, and every thousand miles after that.


Limited Distance horses (35 miles and under) receive certificates and medallions every 500 miles. Endurance horses (50 to 100 miles) receive certificates and medallions every 1000 miles, a blanket at 5000 miles, and a plaque for 6000 miles and further 1000-mile increments. The Decade Team award is given to the horse and rider pairs that complete at least one 50-mile ride every year for ten years.

American endurance riding encompasses all levels of riders and competitions, from beginners to old-timers, from the Limited Distance rides to 1-day and multi-day endurance rides (of 50 miles each day), from the international rider who rides to win, to the national rider who wants to finish mid- or back-of-the-pack and rack up miles with their horse over the decades. AERC includes them all.

The longevity is the primary facet that sets American endurance riding far above the rest of the countries around the world. Without question, longevity takes skill: skill in riding, and in managing a horse day-to-day and year-to-year-to-decade.

Seven hundred seventy-five endurance riders have reached the 5000-mile threshold. Thirteen of them have over 30,000 miles (to give you a rough idea, if you rode around the United States, from Miami to New York to Seattle to Los Angeles to Miami, that would be about 8,000 miles). Trilby Pederson, who did her last ride in 2004, is at the top of the list with 60,500 miles. Behind her in second, and still riding, is Dave Rabe, with 58,192 miles. Dave's career is all the more impressive when you take into account the serious head injury he sustained just a year ago. Of the forty 20,000-mile endurance riders, five of them are international riders, showing that they, too, excel in their riding competence and in managing their horses while competing at the top levels.


While it's impressive for an endurance rider to last many decades in the saddle - even through life and family and career changes, with different horses and opportunities - it's the high career mileages of the American endurance horses that exhibit the true epitome of this American sport of endurance riding over all kinds of challenging and technical terrain, from sand to mud to rocks, through canyons and rivers, over hills and mountains.

Nine hundred sixty-five horses have reached 3000 miles (to give you perspective, New York to Seattle is about 2900 miles; at a high average of 500 miles per year, an average endurance horse would take roughly 6 years to reach 3000 miles). One hundred twenty-four horses have reached 6000 miles. Twenty horses have reached 10,000 miles. At 22,280 miles, Les Carr's Tulip is at the top, lasting a 20-year career. It's almost incomprehensible. Additionally, at least 232 horse-and-rider pairs have achieved Decade Team status.

There are horses in this sport that do win, often, and still continue on to long endurance careers. They set the standards for winning, finishing, and durability. Two of them are legends: Witezarif and RO Grand Sultan+//.

In the 1970's, the incomparable Witezarif and Donna Fitzgerald won the 100-mile Tevis Cup six times. The pair won the Virginia City 100 five times (Witezarif won it again with another rider). Witezarif's mileage record stands at 5044. He started on the endurance trails at age 5 and retired at age 20 - 16 years of endurance.

In the 1980's and 90's, Becky Hart and RO Grand Sultan +// won the Tevis Cup twice. They dominated the world: they won the World Endurance Championships three times (1988 - USA, 1990 - Sweden, 1992 - Spain). "Rio"'s
record stands at 10,005 miles, and his career spanned 17 years, from age 5 to 21.


Part of AERC's mission is "to attract and reward members who act to insure the highest priority for their horses' immediate and long-term physical and emotional health and well-being."

All of these high-mileage horses (3000 miles and up) and high-mileage riders (5000 miles and up) represent exactly the success of this mission. Their accomplishments - the quintessence of our endurance riding sport in America - exhibit the extraordinary horsemanship and teamwork needed between horse and rider to accomplish such high mileage over long-term careers.

Jaziret Bey Musc, 1991 - 2013

January 24 2013

The endurance trails are short one mighty endurance horse. Jaziret Bey Musc was put down Friday after a bout with cancer.

Owned by Steph Teeter, Rhett was sound and snorty and fit to the end, with his final endurance ride being over his Idaho home trails, in November's Owhyee Chills No Frills ride, where Steph earned her 15,000 miles on him.


By Scooter Bey Musc out of Justy Karliya, by Witez, the 23-year-old gelding takes with him a record of 6520 AERC endurance miles. Always pulling on the reins and always carrying his tail like a flag in the air, Rhett conquered the old Outlaw Trail, the Pony Express Trail, and earned a Tevis buckle (at age 19), and a cover shot on the Endurance News magazine. He takes with him the admiration of those rode him and the hearts of those who knew him.


Story on Rhett:
Jaziret Bey Musc: Too Much Horse

Videos on Rhett getting his 6000 miles with Steph in Idaho:
6000 Miles for Rhett, Part I

6000 Miles for Rhett, Part II

Mustang Extraordinaire: Lady Jasmine

November 18 2013

Whatever you do, don't call her little.

This 13.2-hand originally-wild now-17-year-old mustang mare has already accomplished more than most horses have in their entire careers.

Janet Tipton, of Erda, Utah, didn't even pick out the 3-year-old at the Logan wild horse adoption in 1999. The mare who was destined to become Lady Jasmine picked her.

"I didn't want a mare - I'd never had a mare before," Janet said. Her husband Cliff had his eye on a different mustang, "but she kept watching at me as I walked around the building." That's how Lady Jasmine, who'd come off the Antelope Valley Herd Management Area near Ely, Nevada, came to be part of the Tipton family.


She'd been rounded up about 6 months earlier, and was unbroke. Janet and Cliff started working with her at home, and the first thing they noticed was not her size, but her big attitude: "She was kind of very dominant!" Janet said. "She ran over the top of me the first day I worked with her. Her attitude was like, 'I don't care how big you don't think I am!'"

Cliff started her under saddle, which went fairly well, at first. On the third ride, she bucked Cliff off. Twice.

"So, we went back to square one with her. We worked on some things, fixed some things that needed fixing." Cliff rode "Ladybug" for a year before Janet started riding her. Those two spent a lot of time and a couple of years trail riding, getting to know each other; and meanwhile, Janet had cast her eye on the sport of endurance riding.

"I did a ride on a friend's horse in 1999 and was hooked on the sport, but spent the next 5 years reading and studying everything I could get my hands on. And also to build my nerve up." Janet figured Ladybug would have the right attitude for endurance.

The pair finally debuted together on the endurance trails at the Strawberry Fields Pioneer ride in April of 2004. They completed the 30 mile ride on Day 1 and the 25 mile ride on Day 3: "We barely finished in time, but Ladybug had all A's" on her vet card." The rest, you can say, is endurance history.

In the October 2013 Moab Canyons endurance ride in Utah, Ladybug became the highest mileage Limited Distance AERC endurance horse ever, with 3985 miles.

And a few weeks later on November 9, in her last ride of the 2013 season, the Owyhee Chills No Frills, while finishing 4th on the 25-mile ride, Ladybug reached 4010 LD miles, and won her 20th Best Condition award. (Her first Best Condition award was in 2007 at the Owyhee Fandango.)

finishing the OCNF - Photo by Sandy Smallwood

Her record currently stands at 154 completions in 156 starts (the pulls were a rider option, and an overtime).

The pair has done 1 60-mile, and 4 50-mile endurance rides over the years. Since Janet is a heavyweight rider, and Ladybug is not "little," but 13.2 hands, Janet is careful to pick the longer distance rides out for her.

Ladybug has about an 8 miles-per-hour average trot. She'll willingly go alone or in company, in front of a group, or in the middle, or behind, though she doesn't love being last. "Everybody knows the last horse will get eaten!"


But Ladybug is not only adept at the sport of endurance. She's also competed and participated in Extreme Cowboy Challenges, dressage, drill teams, and parades; she's been a lesson horse, a pony horse for kids, and she's pulled carts, "though she doesn't like that much. Ladybug LOVES to chase cows too," Janet said. "I have done cattle sorting on her and she is awesome. Always seems to know the cow we are after."

The mustang breed has become the centerpiece of the Tiptons' lives. In 2003, the Tiptons formed the IWHBA (Intermountain Wild Horse & Burro Advisors), an adopter support and mentoring non profit for people with mustangs. Over the years the organization has gentled, trained and placed over 200 mustangs and burros.

It was all thanks to Ladybug. "Ladybug was our try first mustang and the start of so many wonderful adventures for us. Not just the distance riding trail but in the wonderful people we have met along the way and the amazing places we have visited.  She has given and shown us so much that we find ourselves wanting to pass that along.

"The ultimate thrill for me is when someone comes up to me at a ride and says they adopted a mustang because of Ladybug. What an ultimate compliment and so very awesome."


Over her 10 seasons of endurance competition, Ladybug has done rides in Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and California. "She tends to do best at multi-days. She just gets stronger every day." Janet's goal over the coming years with her mustang is to make the Decade Team - riding your horse in an AERC-sanctioned 50 mile+ endurance ride for at least ten ride seasons.

This big-hearted mustang with the Big Attitude will surely accomplish just that.


Photos by Merri Melde