Tuesday, July 23, 2013

2013 Tevis Cup: Vet In Day


Tuesday July 23 2013

It's that time of year again: the 100 Miles in 1 Day Tevis Cup that goes from near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, to Auburn, California, over the Sierra Nevada mountains.

This year was Hot and Dusty, as opposed to almost every other Hot and Dusty Tevis Cups. (Though this year, it was really hot.)

It was the usual frenetic, chaotic, amazing, insane ride albeit with about 50 fewer riders than normal (160 started).

Here are a few pictures from Friday's vet in day at Robie park at approximately 7500' in the Sierra Nevadas. More photos, and stories can be seen soon at www.Endurance.net.

Up top:
A veterinarian watches Gabrielle Mann trot out her horse Tiki Chaps Ku. Gabrielle and Tiki would finish 22nd, at 2:34 AM.


Karen Chaton (34,000+ AERC miles) and Bo (Pro Bono D) take a warm-up ride. They would finish 25th this year, at 2:46 AM, for Karen's 5th Tevis and Bo's 3rd.


Dave Rabe (56,000+ AERC miles) is holding a Tevis Angel that Karen Chaton got to give to another rider. Karen gave me a Tevis Angel for my 2009 Tevis ride, and it got me through. I will pass my Tevis Angel on to another rider one day! Dave has recovered from a severe head injury (fell off a horse, hit his helmet-less head). He has returned to the endurance trails riding, and he came to crew at this year's Tevis. So good to see him back!


The incomparable Barbara White (32 Tevis Buckles) trotting out Djubilee. Alas, they pulled at Foresthill (68 miles) for 'surface factors'. Barbara had a wreck on Monday that hurt her knee and bruised some ribs, which affected her seat, which affected Djubilee's back. They'll both be fine, and I'm sure Barbara is already thinking ahead to next year's Tevis!


Bev Gray (18,000 AERC miles) and Jolly Sickle warming up. They finished 9th, and Jolly Sickle is now 38 for 38 and has his second Tevis buckle.


The incomparable Joyce Sousa and LV Integrity. In short: Joyce has over 22,000 AERC miles. "Ritzy" has over 8000 miles. This was their 4th Tevis together. Ritzy is 20 years old. (To see more on this amazing pair, see http://merritravels.endurance.net/2013/05/2013-owyhee-fandango.html .) They finished in 35th place at 3:35 AM. Just. Wow.


Stablemates Far and Quake. Far (with Kevin Myers) finished 5th. Quake (with Rusty Toth) won!


Rusty Toth trotting out Take a Break (Quake). They won! (And Rusty won the Haggin Cup last year on Stoner).


Kevin Myers (9000 AERC+ AERC miles) trotting out Auli Farwa (Far). This horse recovered from a near career-ending ankle injury when he was just starting his endurance career at age 5. He's now completed 51 of 51 rides, and 11 of 11 100-milers. Wow.








Juniors had fun, though only 3 of the 12 starting juniors finished. Sanoma Blakeley (the bottom one), finished in 42nd place at 3:55 AM with her parents, riding Taii Myr. Alas, her junior brother Barrak pulled, or the whole family would have finished!

More to come!

13 comments:

  1. Thanks for the photos Merri! I was wondering what horse might have the most mileage doing Tevis this year and I bet it's Joyce's horse Ritzy. Then, maybe Bo. :) It was cool that they were both chosen to lead the 2nd pen out. Pretty cool. Thanks again!

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  2. Great pix as always, Merri! Someday, I'm gonna ride this thing....

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  3. Merri, these photos are fantastic! If I had known you were in Auburn, CA, I would have come up to see you. It's only about a 3 hour drive to there! Darn! I would have loved to meet you in person!

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  4. I really enjoy your photos! I wasn't there on Friday :) Thank you for sharing! I haven't seen many good photos from the event.

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  5. Thanks for the comments on Ritzy, I just love that horse. I have a 27-year-old Bask bred Arab, we were living vicariously through them on the ride and did not see too many pix of them on the Tevis cup website. Owning my horse has been the biggest thrill of my life, I've had him 24 years this September.

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    1. I just can't imagine riding such a warrior like Ritzy! Well, actually, I did... an amazing horse named Zayante! I did a story on him for Equus many years ago. He will have a chapter in the book I'm writing!

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  6. Amazing horses, amazing riders...no more need be said from here. Thanks for the pictures.

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  7. Great pictures! What special horses and people to compete in this ride.

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  8. I love this post. I am so impressed by all the high mileage riders. Like you said a few time...WOW! These riders are taking care of their horses and that is a great thing!! Also a great thing is Dave Rabe and that he is back. What an endurance ICON and now a helmeted icon!!

    Love the photos!! Can't wait to see the next post!!
    Diana Diana

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  9. Great photos. I wish I'd been there. Congrats to all the finishers.

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  10. My friend and farrier, April Moore, finished this year. I saw the Merri article through the the endurance.net and thought it had to be you, now I know for sure. :-) I loved following on the web site Tevis had set up this year. Wow. What a hot, long, difficult ride. I really need to get and endurance horse.... this stuff stirs me up.

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    1. Omg...stirs you up....you are screwed.....

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    2. Squishy is riiiiiiiight.... once it gets in your blood it's stuck in there!

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