Tevis: The Granddaddy of Them All

Tuesday July 21 2009

It's 11 more days till the 54th Tevis Cup Endurance Ride: 100 Miles - One Day.

First held in 1955 by Wendell Robie, who set out to prove that any modern-day horse could cover the rugged 100-mile trail from near Truckee, California to Auburn, California in a single day, it has become an institution in the US. It's a ride against which all other endurance rides are measured; it was the inspiration behind the 100-mile Tom Quilty in Australia.

It is a goal and a dream of US and international riders; it is an obsession of most who do it. Witness the 28 finishes (!) - the record - held by Barbara White. (She is riding again this year.) Hal Hall is second with 26 finishes. Julie Suhr, Barbara's mother, is third with 22 finishes. (That obsession obviously runs in the Suhr family. Julie's husband and Barbara's dad, Bob, did his first-ever endurance ride in the Tevis cup - at age 58. He finished.)

The trail cuts through the heart of the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains, following part of a historic route of the Placer County Emigrant Road built in 1855, passing through the Granite Chief Wilderness area, passing historic mines and old toll trails, and crossing the American River.

The ride is not for the faint of heart. It is hot, dusty, exhausting: there is approximately 19,000 feet of climbing and 22,000 feet of descending in the ride. There are steep rocky trails to traverse, cliffs to fall off, and the heat can be staggering. If you start, you have only a little better than 50% chance of finishing.

If you do finish, you'll get that coveted silver belt buckle: 100 MILES ONE DAY,

although that is just a reminder of the incredible experience that you and your horse have accomplished.

There are 177 entries so far.

It begins at 5:15 AM on August 1st.

Glory Days

Friday July 17 2009

He's retired. He's lazy. He's an ornament. His only Real Jobs are to pose, and to mow the lawn.

But on the rare occasion, Stormy recalls his glory days on the racetrack.

He leads the herd coming down the homestretch from up the canyon.




He puts his head down, and for a few strides bolts into a first-to-the-wire Thoroughbred racehorse sprint.















He prances and struts, like he did leaving the racetrack after a win.


...then retirement calls again.

Back to mowing the Owyhee lawn.

Sisters, A Horse, and Robert Redford

Friday July 17 2009

I have a sister, not related by blood... but by horses. It all started with a horse.

I got my first 'real' job on the King Ranch in Texas during high school, working with the quarter horse division. One day a broodmare stepped on my foot and crushed it. Maggie's Tinky Que was auspiciously owned by Robert Redford.

For some reason, my high school friend Susie, who I wasn't particularly close pals with, and I got together and wrote a letter to Bob at his Utah ranch. This was right about the time that The Electric Horseman movie came out. "Dear Robert Redford. Your mare ran over me, broke my leg, and I am incapacitated.

"Actually, she just stepped on my little toe, and she probably didn't even break it, and I can work just fine with a little limp, but my toe would feel a whole lot better if you sent my friend and me each an autographed picture of you."

He actually did! (Or probably his publicist did.) Either he had a sense of humor or he was afraid I might sue.

Anyway, the photo is long lost, but Susie and I are like sisters.

I partook of the benefits of her being a contract nurse after college, visiting her in different states as she travelled around. Now she gets to reap the benefits, of which I can't think of any at the moment, of my travelling around when I visit her.

Susie's not a horse person, but she knows that's all I'm made of. I covered the Bandit Springs endurance ride in Oregon, close to where she lives, and she came to watch. There she astutely observed, "This is a Culture all its own!"

After the ride, I stayed on in Oregon a while, and one day we hiked in the eastern Cascades, in, coincidentally, the Three Sisters wilderness (with the Raven), near the town of Sisters.


The Tam McArthur Rim trail led us up above Three Creek Lake, above the Ponderosa pine and silver fir forest, above the sub-alpine firs, up onto a rim overlooking the lake. We stopped on a ridge at 8000' below the base of Broken Top, and South Sister, a dormant volcano that last erupted about 2000 years ago. We had a view of a line of more snow-covered dormant volcanos shrinking into the northern horizon: Mount Jefferson (latest eruption about 15,000 years ago; last debris flow in 1955), Mount Hood (last eruptive period 170-220 years ago), Mount Adams (latest eruption about 3500 years ago).

If it hadn't been for that horse and Robert Redford, nearly thirty years ago, I wouldn't be up in the Three Sisters Wilderness, and I wouldn't have this extra sister now.

Anything worth its weight in gold always starts with horses.

2009 Bandit Springs

Monday July 13 2009

If this is what basecamp looks like, you can figure it's going to be one heck of a 2-day endurance ride.

Two of the stars of the endurance sport, LV Integrity and Joyce Sousa. The horse: 11 seasons of competition, 5805 miles, 94 starts and 92 finishes, 23 out of 25 100's completed (one of those he finished, but was lame at the finish, where it was discovered he had cactus spines in his leg; the other was a Rider Option), 8 Best Conditions. Joyce: nearly 20,000 AERC miles. Wow, and wow. And they are still going strong. They finished 2nd in the 100 miler here at Bandit Springs.

A future endurance star. "Next year I get to ride," she said. (It's Joyce's granddaughter.)

Across the meadow.

Trotting out at the vet-in.

Many different breeds of horses come to this ride! I believe this one's a mustang.

Big dandelion.

Trotting out at a morning vet check.

Another couple of stars of the sport, Gabrielle Mann and CM Big Easy. "Big horse, little legs," says Gabrielle. And big heart. They won the 100.

A good drink!

Onto the next loop.

One of my favorite Pacific Northwest horses! Dick Root and Rocky, a huge mustang-something cross (has to be some kind of draft horse). He's about 17 hands. Hard-headed, and tough! Rocky did his first hundred here, and finished 5th. Go Rocky!

Nance and Quinn did the 80 miler.

Michelle Roush and PR Tallymark (an Arab-Standardbred cross), another couple of top ones in the sport. Tallymark: 10 seasons, 2990 miles, 53 starts and 51 finishes, and 17 (!) Best Conditions. Michelle has over 12,000 miles. They finished 4th in the 100 and Tallymark got Best Condition again. (OK, make that 18 BCs!)

The race is on for the finish of the 50!

If you look closely, this horse is stuck - reared up in the trailer, got her front legs up on the manger, which collapsed - and trapped her front end in the manger. Many people worked for over an hour to try to get her out. I couldn't watch; I sent Nance up there with my camera. They had to tranquilize the mare a couple of times, and they used sledgehammers and crowbars and a truck and tow cable to pull the trailer apart. Eventually they got the mare out, and she was alright but for a cut over her eye and a scrape on her hind end. whew!

I bet somebody is going trailer shopping!

At a vet check.

This gal has taught her horse to stretch out and lower himself so she can get on easily.







Food ALWAYS tastes better when it's hand fed.

Real Men Wear Tights. (That's what his shirt says.)

This dog thinks he is still a little puppy.

What's this?

It's...

Darwin!

Darwin LOVES to be scratched. And share your Cheez-it crackers.

Be-ribboned ribbon puller!