June 9 2026
This is Part II .
Part I is here.
Day 2 City of Rocks:
After I vetted Willie in on Friday, I found out Erin was riding Ivan on the 50. IVAN!!! Many of us lust after Ivan, the 17-hand gorgeous chestnut hunk of 1/2 Akhal-teke, 1/4 Dutch harness horse and 1/4 Arabian. Many of us threaten to load him up in our trailers after the rides. When Erin agreed to try riding with us I was thrilled! I figured we’d match pace pretty well. And I’d get to ride with Ivan! (And Erin.)
Erin said, “Ivan just likes to be adored.” Well no problem there, because Willie becomes instant BFs with most anybody he rides with, and from the start, he did indeed adore Ivan.
And so it was that we started out relaxed on a loose rein at 7 AM the next morning. Ivan was so calm it rubbed off on Willie. Nothing to get excited about, just a 50 mile ride ahead of us. The thunderstorm forecast was completely gone and replaced with partly cloudy skies and 65* temperature. Perfect! And it was rather odd, being on the shorter horse for once!
Julie Bittick joined us for the first half of the first loop on her friend’s Almurath SFF, doing their first 50 together. Julie’s kind of a badass, she rode in and finished the Gaucho Derby in Argentina in February, and she’s going to ride the Quilty in Australia in July.
The original plan for the 25-mile loop 1 was a new trail down from the top of North Fork Circle Creek, down the back way into Castle Rocks State Park, which would cut off at least one way of that 5-mile straight road to Castle Rocks. Alas, at the last minute, we were told we couldn’t use that trail, so, after riding up into and through City of Rocks National Reserve, we had to do that 5 entire miles of road, each way. But with the long strides of Ivan and Willie, those ten miles were a nothing burger. When Ivan upshifted to his big trot, Willie set down into his racing pace, which gobbled up that road in no time.
The loop through Castle Rocks State Park took us up almost into low hanging clouds over Cache Peak. It was cool enough to slip on my extra rain jacket!
After a vet check back in camp at 5500 feet, where Willie’s pulse dropped to at least 44, the second 25-mile loop took us back up into City of Rocks, all the way to Indian Grove at the top at 7500 feet.
Though the mountains and the area around Almo were unseasonably dry, in the higher elevations there’s still some nice grass along the trails. Normally Willie is all business on a ride, but he copied Ivan and devoured what grass he could, all day long.
Creeks were dry, (no snow pack from the warm winter; only the one creek in Castle Rocks State Park had any water), but ride management (John and Carl!) put out ample water tubs, and the three troughs fed by natural springs up top were delicious for the horses (and for filling water bottles).
Descending from Indian Grove on North Fork Circle Creek trail, Erin the badass got off Ivan and ran the several miles down the mountain. I am not a badass, so I stayed on Willie, who was extraordinarily sure-footed. Going over some tricky rocky sections of the trail, instead of rushing and stumbling along to keep up with Ivan ahead, he would stop, put his head down, study where to put his feet, take a few steps, stop, and look carefully again before placing his feet thoughtfully. What a smart Standardbred!
I was able to open most of the gates on Willie, who’s such a good ranch horse, unless the chain was so low on the gate I couldn’t reach it. Erin got off to get a couple of those gates, and Ivan is so tall that unless there was something to stand on, she had to use her hands to lift her foot high enough to reach the stirrup to mount!
Both of us riding rather tall horses, we often had to duck flat on our horses’ backs as we went under some tree branches hanging over the trail. On the Boxtop trail as we trotted through a grove of trees, I must have glanced down at something and then got a WHACK on the front of my helmet so hard it snapped my neck back and almost knocked me backwards off Willie. That’s a PSA Public Service Announcement to WEAR A HELMET! Had I not had a helmet on, it would have whacked me square in the forehead and would have knocked me out, not to mention landing on my head on the trail.
All throughout the day I was amazed at what magnificent athletes these endurance horses are. Ivan and Willie traded off leading, and we just let them set the pace. I didn’t ask Willie to trot up hills, he just did it because he could and because he wanted to. We kept up our easy pace all day and finished in 10th and 11th, and once the vet gave Willie the final thumbs up…
We got our Decade Team!!!!!
There are so many people to thank for this and for this year’s ride, and if I miss you, consider yourself thanked!
Thank you to Hillbillie Willie!!!!!! He’s an amazing horse, fun, smart, hilarious, sometimes naughty, always entertaining.
Thank you to Steph Teeter for giving me this horse when she retired from Endurance and horses!!!!! Thank you to Nance Worman and Debbie Johnston for taking this epic ride on again as managers. Thanks to Regina Rose for hauling us there, and Connie Holloway for her support and for supplying DWA Barack, Willie’s BBFF as a traveling companion. Thanks Erin Hafla and IVAN for super fun company on our 50-mile ride! And Julie Bittick too who rode with us on the first loop. Thanks Veronica Stanley for the saddle fitting, and thanks to Cat for shooting Day 2 so I could ride!
As far as we Standie people can figure, Willie’s just the second Standardbred in endurance to achieve Decade Team status. Of course, there aren’t that many Standardbreds doing the sport, which is a shame, because they’re a super versatile breed. And if they’ve raced, they come with a solid fitness foundation.
*Cat Cook photo up top
Connie Holloway photo of Willie opening a gate*
Standardbreds rock !!!
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