Sandy was always into animals. Dogs, cats, birds, whatever. Then it was horses. I was into long distance human competition. First it was running. Then it was biking. Then marathoning came and raised it’s head. Then triathlon came along and started calling my name. After that the grand siren of sport started singing a song to me. The song was alluring. The singer was the Ironman.
Ironman is the sport where you swim 2.4 miles, then you bike race 112 miles and then you run 26.2 miles. You have to do this in 17 hours or less. I dreamed of this challenge. I got fast as a runner in my 40’s. I was able to open up a 3.1 mile run with a starting mile under a 5:30 pace. Then reality hit me. Actually, it fell on me.
A trailer with a defective jack stand full of music equipment fell on me and crushed my left foot. I was told I would never run again and would end up in a wheel chair. They told me most people would have their foot amputated. I decided to believe that God still healed people today. I decided that I would be one of those people. A few years later I completed Ironman Florida in 14 hours and 36 minutes. I then found out that no man from my area had ever done two Ironmans. I recoved for a year and then trained for another year. I went back and beat my time by 5 minutes.
I made a quality of life decision. I decided to spend more time with Sandy and that horses were the way to do that. I learned about horses and although I had owned quarter horses for a while I realized I did not really know very much about horses or riding. You see, Sandy had a Missouri Foxtrotter. That was a gaited horse and it sure did move in an odd way. But, it sure was smooth.
I saw the movie “Hidalgo”. Now, that movie was not true but it got me wondering if a gaited horse, which by the way the supposed mustangs in the movie were all gaited horses, could in fact compete with Arabian horses in long distance endurance racing.
I had a gaited trainer, who I would later become very good friend with, by the name of Rick Hayes look for a horse I could race endurance. He found me Blues Golden Lad W. Blues was a handful to say the least. His previous owner got tired of him running away when he was on his back and jumping between trucks and their attached trailers without being asked to make the jump. Rick said his only concern was that Blues and I had the same personality.
I bought Blues in May of 05 and started riding him. To say that he was quirky would be an understatement. To say I had a lot to learn would also be true. We learned together and I sat my goal of the nearest endurance race which was in May of 06. The ride was only 60 miles away in Salem IL. I did not know how to train a horse for endurance and could not find any one to tell me how to train a gaited horse for endurance. So, I went with what I knew how to do. I used my schedules for training a human for long distance running or triathlon training. After completing over 80 triathlons, I knew how to train myself.
With 5 months to go to the race, I started keeping a calender of long slow distance, speed work and hill repeats. I studied equine nourishment. I studied other types of race training such as thoroughbreds. From January of 06 until race day in May of 06 I put 450 miles on Blues in preparation for the first endurance event of both of our lives.
I was prepared for the ride and so was Blues. I was not prepared for the reception I got at the ride.
You Should Go Home
After I showed up with my “new to me” live aboard trailer and my conditioned MFT horse, I payed my money and showed my brand new AERC card. The race director took my check and then told me I should not do the event. I was shocked. We had spoken several times on the phone and she had only encouraged me. Now that I was there, the tune was different. I was clearly not welcome. The icing on the cake was when I was asked if I was sure I could sit a horse for 50 miles. My longest training ride was 32 miles. I had raced under my on power for 142 miles twice. I thought I could sit a horse for 50 miles.
By this point they would have had to pull a gun to run me off.
Linda, a woman I had never bet before from Evansville Ind was in the pre-vet line the night before the race. She complimented me on my horse and said she liked him but did not know what he could do. She asked me if I had a crew. “Crew”,I said. I told her it was Jesus, Blues and me. She said that she was shocked at the way Blues and I were being treated and that she wanted a hand with helping to stop some arrogance. She offered herself and her daughter in law as my crew and to teach me. I told I figured God had sent her.
I saddled Blues the next morning as a local vet rode up to me with two other woman with her.
They were all on Arabians. In fact everyone seemed to be on Arabians. Where were the other gaited horses? She told me that the small, older woman was a world famous rider of international esteem. She told me how many miles her horse had on her. She told me how many miles the woman had raced. She told me to do anything the woman said. I figured the only way to do that was to stay with her.
The Trail Is Open
I was waiting for a pistol shot or a drop of a hankey to start the race. Some of the Arabian horses were just plain nuts and were spinning around and causing quite a scene. The race director said, “the trail is open” and evey one went into a small trail opening. One rider went like the wind and none saw her again for 50 miles. The Fei rider had a rider from Dubia that she was mentoring. I got a respectful distance behind and trailed behind. The Fei rider let me know from the beginning she did not care for me, my horse, his breed nor my profession.
The verbal jawing I got to listen to got so bad I finally asked her if we could just get on with the racing part of the day. The only kind words I heard during those first two loops was when she discovered Blues would drink on verbal command and she asked me how I trained him to drink.
Blues was 4rth at the first vet check and the same at the second vet check. With 15 miles to go, I decided to let the Fei rider go on as Blues was now entering into unchartered waters. An Arabian rider from St Louis named Joe asked if he could ride along as he had gotten to the ride late. He got permission from the race director and off we went. Joe asked me if all gaited horses moved like Blue. I told him some but not all moved like Blues. He seemed interested in Blues as he asked me his price. Blues was not for sale.
Entering camp for the last time I pulled Blues into an easy rack and let his even four beat cadence ring. He vetted in just fine and was 3rd overall and 1stt in weight division. My crew gave me high fives and Blues got an apple.
The ride manager did a classy thing. He came over and said that we had won major respect.
I learned a lot and had decided that gaited horses, at least this gaited horse could do endurance and do it well. Much thanks was given to my crew and new friends. I then went home to train.
I also decided that if this gaited experiment worked, I would spend it encouraging others, no matter what breed of horse they rode.
This is Blues after his first endurance ride.
