Category: Endurance

Cold and wet – but great to be up and going.

The first day of the Mongol Derby we were met with rain. My original horse for the start line turned out to be lame, so he was swapped for a red stallion who bucked with the herder. A lot. I was nervous but he turned out to be brilliant and we flew to the next station in no time.

I quickly transitioned to my next horse, one I decided to call Frosty because of his frost-bitten ears. He was a firecracker and galloped flat out for most of the leg. As we came into the next station though, he lost some steam, so we walked in for a while. I wound up nearly hypothermic from the cold and had to spend a lot of time at this ger trying to warm up.

Time was ticking and I really wanted to make three stations, so I finally dragged myself out of the warm ger and out into the cold. The rain was subsiding a little. I didn’t have much time to make the next station, so the herder gave me one of his fastest horses and we flew out of the station. We galloped faster than I’d ever been in my life, and made it to the station only 9 minutes late. I felt on top of the world.

Life Lesson 1 : Navigation

Navigation of the course is a seriously important skill to nail down for the derby. There is no marked trail out there; all you have is a GPS and your wits.

Prior to everything I had used a GPS unit only once, with Sarah Cuthbertson. And I kind of cheated because there were flags up on the trail that I could follow.

Luckily at start camp they give us a crash course of how to use the GPS, and we got to do a training ride in which we navigated to a set point. That ride was possibly the most important bit of training I received! I learned so many things:

• A straight line is not always the fastest way between two points.
• The horses hate to go through the hills.
• Watering your horse makes a HUGE difference in heart rate!

Last August, Kelsey Eliot from Upstate New York embarked on the challenge of a lifetime; The Mongol Derby. Over the next few weeks we will be sharing her blogs as she confronted the daily challenges presented by this gruelling event.

Introduction

My name is Kelsey Eliot. I like to think of myself as the “everyday equestrian.” My equine resume is modest, but my experience is scrappy and practical. I’ve been trail riding in the hills of Upstate New York since I was about 8, and from there my passion has grown. I’ve guided riding tours in Iceland, I’ve played arena polo for the past three winters, and recently I started competing in Limited Distance endurance rides all over the eastern United States, which left me wanting more. Way more.

So I entered the Mongol Derby, a 1000km (621 mile) horse race across Mongolia on the backs of semi-feral horses. There is no marked trail, no comfy camp, and no support. It’s just you, your horse, and the endless steppes of Mongolia. If that sounds crazy to you, that’s because it is! The race has only about a 50% completion rate, and riders often suffer from illness, heat exhaustion, and broken bones.

It was clear to me from the get go that I wouldn’t be able to prepare for this behemoth alone. I enlisted the help of past riders, dear friends, and one cranky craigslist pony. I learned a lot and grew as a horsewoman with their help, and I was able to face the Mongol Derby head on.

Start camp: August 3-5

I don’t know why but I expected to be roughing it the minute we hit the steppe. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. There were wonderful clean and cozy gers (yurts) for all the riders, a bus with hot showers, and a dining tent with a kick ass bar that Erik Cooper hooked us up with, which we thoroughly utilised.

We got to know the horses and each other. We learned about Mongolian culture, how to hobble the horses (I was terrible at it), and we had a couple test rides.

The test rides taught me so much and definitely helped the outcome of my race; for example, the fastest way between two points is not always a straight line. And finding water for your horse out on the steppe will help his heart rate come down faster. These lessons were essential and I was grateful to have them before the race began.

Here is an update from Suzie:

“I am Suzie Todd and I’m a 14 year old long distance rider from Buckinghamshire. I’m also an Endurance GB young rider. I have two ponies – a leopard spotted Appaloosa called Dutchdream Spetter (Spot) and a Palomino part bred Arab called Dukes Mountain Masterpiece.

I started endurance riding two and a half years ago through my pony club Whaddon Chase. I was keen to start after crewing my friends at the Pony Club endurance champs and thought how much fun it looked. I started out with the shorter pleasure and graded rides on a lovely loan pony called Echo and have steadily increased my distances over time so that this season I have completed two 80km rides. I have learned so much through endurance riding: how to train and develop a horse’s fitness, how to ride safely outside an arena and across different terrains, all aspects of horse welfare (including diet, the importance of correct fitting and good quality tack, keeping your horse happy and mentally engaged, spotting lameness or discomfort to name a few!).

Spot and I have just completed our second season together. After lots of hard work, I’m proud that this season we’ve gained our FEI 1* qualifications and were selected for the England squad for the Home International competition in Wales. I was very proud to wear my Just Chaps England chaps as part of my kit.

Duke MM and I have only been a partnership since July but we have already competed in the inter-regional champs this year and have big plans for next season: building up to a 120km and attempting to gain our FEI 2* qualifications.

As part of our training, I love to do dressage with the ponies to strengthen their core and improve their way of going. We’ll be doing that over the winter to keep the ponies ticking over for next season. Spot is a dressage demon!

I absolutely love my sport of endurance and so do my fabulous ponies. We get to ride through amazing countryside, we learn so much about horse welfare and how to train and look after our horses properly and I’ve made great friends. Roll on next season!!”

Just Chaps has been designing and manufacturing neoprene half chaps for Endurance riders since 2003.

Our Endurance Chaps are designed for maximum comfort, minimum rubbing and durability.

Just Chaps-sponsored Abbi sent an exciting report of a challenging competition in the Welsh mountains, wearing her favourite Endurance chaps:

“Djelanza and I put our names forward for the Welsh Team at the Home International and Celtic Challenge to be held on 5-6 October at Red Dragon in Builth Wells.

The Red Dragon course starts at the showground and heads out across the mountain in a large loop. It was a very large event for Djelanza to attend plus he had to be stabled away from home for 2 nights. Friday, we had the opening ceremony with a parade and of course all of the national anthems. All teams then had vetting that afternoon. Djelanza was a little bit excited but coped well trotting up in the large barn. As Wales is notoriously known for it rained all of Friday night. The fog on Saturday was thick and we couldn’t see two metres in front of us on top of the mountain. It was very eerie. Despite Djelanza’s constant pulling to go faster (the terrain would not allow for this) we made it through day 1 and caught up with fellow Welsh Teammate, Julie Abbott.

Day 2 with no fog fortunately and a calmer Djelanza. Julie and I decided to ride together as the boys had gone so well on the last stretch. Djelanza very much likes being in the lead and Julie’s horse prefers to be behind. Despite having done 40km up and down mountains the day before Djelanza was still full of running. He stormed round day 2 and we cantered together across the top of the mountain which was really thrilling. We finished the course together with Julie and both of us passed at the finish.

It was a brilliant weekend and so nice to have the camaraderie of being part of a team again. Plus a good way to spend a 30th birthday!”

Photos from Red Dragon, Day 1 credit to David Saunders and Day 2 credit to Kerry Dawson.