Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Riders to race along Santa Fe Trail

The Raton Range
August 28 2007
By Todd Wildermuth
for The Raton Range

RATON, New Mexico (STPNS) --
Springer will host a myriad of horse riders and their mounts as they gallop along the Santa Fe Trail competing in a 13-day, 500-mile endurance ride from Santa Fe to Missouri.

The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race is scheduled to take place Sept. 3-15, with 62 riders leaving from just outside Santa Fe on Labor Day.

The first two days of the 800-mile race will take riders from Santa Fe to Las Vegas, N.M., and then to Springer, where the race participants will spend the night next Tuesday, Sept. 4, at the Colfax County Fairgrounds. The fairgrounds will be open from 2 to 6 p.m. for visitors to meet the riding teams and see their horses that are part of the first-ever event. The riders are expected to start arriving in Springer about 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Friday, August 10, 2007

USEF Seeks Candidates for Chef d'Equipe for Endurance

Release: August 09 2007

Lexington, KY—The United States Equestrian Federation is seeking an individual to fill the position of Endurance Chef d’Equipe. The successful candidate will be provided with a contract for the 2008-2010 biennium and possibly longer.

A Search Committee has been appointed:

-James Wolf - Executive Director, Sports Programs
-Mark Phillips - USEF Chef d’Equipe for Eventing
-Tony Benedetti - Endurance High Performance and Active Athlete Committee member.
-Kathy Brunjes - Endurance High Performance Committee Member, Endurance Athlete Representative to the USEF Executive Board
-Julie Bullock - Chair of the Active Athletes Committee and Vice-Chair of the Endurance High Performance Committee
-Valerie Kanavy - Active Athlete and Endurance High Performance Committee member
-Vonita Bowers – Director of Endurance

The Search Committee was charged with developing a job description for the Chef d’Equipe, conducting a search for an individual to fill this position, and making a recommendation to be reviewed by the Endurance High Performance Committee, the High Performance Working Group and the USEF Executive Committee.

The committee has met several times to discuss the aspects of the search process and to develop a job description. The members will continue to meet regularly to with a goal of selecting a candidate by December 1, 2007. The Committee requests that High Performance Committee members and Active Athletes identify and encourage qualified applicants to apply.

The ideal candidate will meet the qualities as defined in the job description; however, any candidate who generally meets the qualifications is encouraged to apply.
The search committee will begin reviewing applications after July 31, 2007.

This position is posted on the USEF website www.usef.org, specifically on either the Job Opportunities page at this link:
http://www.usef.org/contentPage2.aspx?id=jobs

Or, on the Endurance page (click on Breeds and Disciplines on the left hand menu on the homepage, then click on Endurance)

Advertisements will be placed in various equine publications. Individuals wishing to apply for the position should do so in writing, include their CV and competition history, and forward them to:

Vonita Bowers, Director of Endurance
4047 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington, KY 40511,
Fax (859) 231-6662, E-mail vbowers@usef.org.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

USA: Man rides in to the record books

Press Association
Monday August 6, 2007 7:28 PM
Richard Rodriguez overtook the previous total of nine days and 12 hours at 12.01am on Monday.

The 48-year-old broke the record on the Pepsi Max Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Not content with this feat, the American is still riding the rollercoaster to maximise his total.

He said: "It feels amazing to be the world record holder once again, but I'm not just going to give up now - I want to stay on for as long as possible and make my record a solid one.

"The ride crews and all the visitors who have come to support me have been a great help and have inspired me to stay positive during this successful record attempt so I'd like to thank them all."

Mr Rodriguez has to eat, drink and sleep on rollercoasters as he takes on the ultimate endurance test.

In accordance with stringent Guinness Book of Records guidelines, the American will accumulate five minutes respite for every full hour ridden to allow him to change clothes, shower, have a hot meal and transfer onto the Big Dipper for night-time riding.

He was going head to head with two challengers at Freizeitland Gieselwind park in Germany, but they dropped out after 36 hours due to medical reasons.

Mr Rodriguez had held the record for nearly 30 years until German Frank Rossler beat it last year.

Monday, August 06, 2007

USA: Great Santa Fee Trail Horse Race

wagon.jpgThe Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race is an 800 mile endurance ride completed over a 13 day period. It is open to all breeds.

The ride will start in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 3, 2007 and end in Missouri on September 15, 2007.

One of the main objectives of the race is to educate the public not only on the national historic Santa Fe Trail, but also to introduce the sport of endurance riding to thousands.

One Hundred teams will spend each evening in the race village where over 100,000 spectators are expected to visit throughout the entire course of the event.


The riders will complete the specified distance for the day then stop and spend the night at the race village. Each rider’s time will be recorded, and accumulated for end of the race.

The rider with the shortest time overall will be declared the winner. In addition to an individual winner, team competition will exist.

Spectators are encouraged to turn out to greet the riders at “race villages,” which will be overnight stopping points for the riders and their horses.

Santa Fe, N.M., Sept. 1-2

Las Vegas, N.M., Sept. 3

Springer, N.M., Sept. 4

Clayton, N.M., Sept. 5

Elkhart, Kan., Sept. 6

Dodge City, Kan., Sept. 7-8

Larned, Kan., Sept. 9

Lyons, Kan., Sept. 10

Council Grove, Kan., Sept. 11-12

Burlingame, Kan., Sept. 13

Gardner, Kan., Sept. 14-15.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Sweetwater horse trainer will ride in Great Santa Fe Trail endurance race

Cleveland Daily Banner

Published August 03, 2007 10:04 AM EDT

Thompson Training Center, owned and operated by John and Susan Thompson, in Sweetwater is preparing for the biggest endurance horse race, The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race.

The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race starts Sept. 3 in Santa Fe, NM and will end 800 miles later on Sept. 15 in Independence, Mo. It is broken down into 10 rides of 50-55 miles a day over 510 miles. Only 100 teams will be allowed to enter with about 500 horses dashing over the landscape. Already, 76 riders from 22 states have signed up, paying entry fees ranging from $3,500 to $4,500.

Susan has ridden, trained and competed on horses almost her entire life. Her riding accomplishments include prominence in barrel racing and endurance riding. She has endurance raced since 1996 and has completed 44 of 50 races and accumulated almost 2000 competitive miles.

Thompson is entered in the most prestigious team type, one rider on one or more horses for the entire race and is the only entry from the state of Tennessee. She will be taking two straight Egyptian bred Arabian horses, Thee Pilgram, an 8-year-old gray gelding and Thee MaCade a 7-year-old bay gelding, both sired by Thee Desperado, alternating them each day.

Thee MaCade, in 2006, his first year of competition, finished four of five fifty mile races accumulating 175 competitive miles and finished sixth in the Arabian Horse Association, Region 12 - 50 mile Championship. Thee MaCade has started the 2007 season with a very impressive fifth-place finish in the 50 mile Biltmore Challenge out of 103 competitors in the worst conditions. Rain began to fall around 6 a.m. that morning and continued throughout the day making the trails slick and dangerous. Thee Pilgram, who just began his endurance career in 2007, finished his first race/first 50 at the GERA Fundraiser under the heavyweight division with John Thompson aboard placing 10th.

After a long day in the saddle, riders will be able to rest at race villages. Each village will consist of a 30-acre area resembling a traveling fair, with food vendors, a dining tent, merchants, farriers, veterinarians and places for riders to clean up and rest. The race has already attracted several major sponsors, including the RFD-TV cable-satellite network, the U.S. Postal Service, the Bureau of Land Management, Chevy Trucks, and the Kansas Lottery

Spectators are encouraged to turn out to greet the riders at “race villages” where participants and their horses will spend the night in 11 locations across New Mexico and Kansas. More than 100,000 people in total will be on hand to watch as the competitors arrive.

The Imus Ranch, a New Mexico ranch that helps children with cancer, is the event’s designated charity and will get a portion of the entry and sponsor fees.

Some of Susan’s current sponsors are Mayfield Dairy Farms, Merita Bakery (IBC-Hostess), The Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, Valley Farmers Co-op, Farm Credit Services of Mid America, Fort Dodge, Farnam, Incor Design & Promotions and Maiden Chase Arabians.

More information is available at www.sfthorserace.com and www.thompsontrainingcenter.com.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Former superintendent on road to recovery after Tevis accident

Auburn Journal

By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Retired Western Placer Unified School District superintendent Roger Yohe is expected to recover fully after a harrowing near-death tumble down a cliff during last weekend's Tevis Cup ride.

Yohe, 64, was hospitalized at the Sutter Roseville Medical Center's intensive care unit on Tuesday after suffering four fractured ribs and spending most of Saturday night lying injured on a ledge.

On Saturday, with 25 miles to go in the 100-mile ride from near Truckee to Auburn, Yohe's horse tripped on a rock and both horse and rider fell off a cliff at the side of the narrow trail.

Yohe's wife, Linda Glazier, said he was able to claw into the loose rock as he fell to keep from traveling farther down.

Ending up about 50 to 80 feet below the trail, Yohe used a stick to crawl back up to within 20 feet of the trail.

Fellow Tevis rider Leigh Bacco of Cool watched Yohe and horse fall into the darkness and then went to get help at the next aid station after marking the trail with a jacket.

Bacco said Yohe came to a stop after his tumble on a ledge, with a straight drop of about 120 feet below him.

The fall off the trail occurred at about 9:30 p.m. with both Yohe and Bacco on track to finish in the ride's top 10. Bacco and her horse would go on place ninth while Yohe, holder of seven Tevis finisher buckles, would spend the next eight hours perched below the trail on a small ledge as rescuers worked to build a new trail that would allow him to be taken out be stretcher. A Georgetown resident, Yohe served as superintendent with the Lincoln-area school district from 1996 until his retirement last November.

Glazier, a member of the ride's board of governors, said Yohe would make a full recovery from his injuries, which also included a lacerated liver.

"He's doing just excellent," she said.

Yohe's horse - an 8-year-old Morgan and Arab - received minor scrapes after falling about 20 feet and then gaining its footing.

Yohe was helping Bacco navigate through the darkness when the fall occurred.

"He was getting me through the dark and the trail was so narrow," Bacco said.

Yohe was taken by stretcher to an ambulance and then to a helicopter near Driver's Flat, on the Foresthill Road.

Glazier said that while Yohe was injured in the fall, the finishing rate this year for participants was one of the better ones in recent years, with 91 riders out of 185 who started completing the event in less than 24 hours. The fall was the first in the event for Yohe. It's a ride that's known for its challenging conditions - even for Tevis veterans.

"It's not a ride for snivelers," Glazier said.

Auburn Journal article