What I Know About Life I Learned from Horses…and the Tevis Cup

September 21, 2018

We learn life’s lessons from our experiences. If we are open, we learn about life from everyone that crosses our paths. It is said that when you are ready, the teacher will appear. My teachers have been plentiful and have often appeared as horses.

” What I know about life I have learned from horses”

My childhood was consumed by my love of animals. I had an affinity with them that has never wavered. But horses were and are my muse. I wanted a pony every year from the time I could say the word. And although I was finally able to buy and care for my own horse when I was 18, prior to that I would do anything to be near or on them. I would literally stop on the side of the road and stand on the fence line if I saw a herd in a pasture, mentally willing them to come over so that I could smell them. For those that have this obsession, you will know what I am talking about, there is no better scent than the smell of a horses neck.

On an aside here, what I talk about with horses, became evident that the same could be said for my dogs or cats, playing golf or doing yoga, really from anything. Lessons are everywhere if we just take them in. Horses were my catalyst and yours may be something else. The truth lies everywhere if we have our eyes and hearts open.

I used to compete in a sport called Endurance which are 50- 100 mile races completed ( on a National level) in 12–24 hrs, which includes mandatory stops called vet checks. You can think of it as an ultra marathon on horseback.
This particular story takes place in a race called the Western States Trail Ride ( WSTR) or also popularly known as the Tevis Cup, 100 miles 1 day, 1 horse.

The Tevis is the granddaddy of endurance and also referred to by many as the Hardest Endurance Race in the World.
Endurance is a challenging sport, whether you ride to win or not. Sometimes someone would ask me, after I completed a race, “if it was an easy hundred”. A hundred miles is a hundred miles… Yes, some are on less challenging terrain in less challenging conditions, but easy… not the adjective that I would choose. ( smiling here)

Since 1955, the Tevis Cup has taken place yearly, on a full moon either in July or August
The sport began as a challenge to see if modern day horses were as fit as the pony express horses, which were said to go about 100 miles in each leg of their journey. You can read about it here Tevis Cup FAQ.

This story is about Steel Patriot and his first Tevis Cup.
Not only does it take stamina to compete in Endurance, but it is also imperative to have the right mind. Steel had both.

There were many hopes and dreams at the 5:15 AM start, with up to 250 horse and rider combos from many countries bustling about. Starting in the dark amongst the trees of the high sierras, the average completion rate is 43–50 %.
Many of those dreams would be shattered before the light rose again at the 5:15 am finish line the following morning.

Steel, along with one of my other horses, Bogart and I had a focus to make the World Cup USA Endurance team in 2010, so we were competing at the time in mainly 100-mile events.
I did not think it was too lofty of a goal to want to do well, it was a 50/50 chance of completion… I could surely beat the odds and do better than just finish… I had already completed this race on different horses in different years, so why not again?
However less than 15 miles into the course, everything changed.

Tevis is a tough course consisting of a lot of single track trail, very remote, altitude, heat and unpredictable weather. And very little vehicle access. You are on your own for many miles of the trail.
Optimally I like to start off in the back of the lead riders and take my time to summit the almost 10K peak in Sqauw Valley which is about 10 miles from the start. After that, we descend into an area, if the rains have been plentiful, full of wildflowers. Next, we enter the bogs. The bogs are in a muddy runoff area that gathers with the melting of the snow. It is virtually a single track muddy trail that sucks the shoes right off of your horses’ feet.

Countless stories have been shared of hooves wedged into between the rocks forfeiting their chance to finish and claim the coveted buckle.

Once through the bogs, the trail weaves in between the giant boulders called the Granite Chiefs. At this point in the ride, you can only go as fast as the riders in front of you. If you happen to get behind some slow ones it is like being in traffic at a crawl. In spite of the adrenaline that is coursing through you, you have to take a deep breath and Let it Go. There is no place to pass on this part of the trail. And then transitioning from the muddy bogs you traverse over the Granite Chiefs, slick granite boulders.

As I was jumping onto a large granite face, the horse in front of me quickly stopped. Which in turn caused my horse Steel, also to stop quickly. It is similar to avoiding a rear end collision.
Without the ability to go back due to the horses behind us, Steel and I were precariously perched upon a slippery smooth granite boulder.

Having stopped so abruptly, caused Steel to lose his footing and he began to slide backwards down the rock face. Below was a sheer canyon, I don’t know how many hundreds of feet down, but suffice it to say, it would be deadly if you fell…

Here is where a fantastic example of

“The universe provides us with all of the information we need” comes in.

Two weeks prior while at a barn that I used to train at, Don, a friend, who happens to also be a backcountry park ranger and endurance rider, pops in and asks if I had heard about a mutual acquaintance who rode endurance and was a top-level competitor. She had been training on the Tevis trail a day prior and her horse slipped on the Granite Chiefs.

She was able to dismount, however, was unable to get her horse to right himself. He lost his balance and tragically fell to his death. Horrible cannot even express the feelings she must have felt. My heart sank for her and her majestic horse.

Don, then began recounting his personal story of a few years back when he too was on the Tevis trail, not in the same location, much further into the race, when his horse, too slipped.
This accident broke his femur, Don’s (not the horses), and in spite of a broken leg, Don was able to hike out, and find help. Having splinted his own leg, Don was able to go back in with a vet and others to help and to climb down to where the horse was stuck. Their intention was to humanely put down the horse to end any more suffering.

Mind you this was in the wee hours of the morning by now. I will interject here… Endurance riders are tough. Don was beyond tough.

When they returned to the sight, they were able to find the horse, and surprisingly even though the horse did have some gashes on his chest but otherwise seemed pretty intact. He had eaten everything within his reach, which is a good sign, and now came the challenge to get him off of the side of the mountain. They succeeded in doing so by continuing downhill to the American River and swim him to safety.

Hearing both of these stories weeks before I was going to Tevis, I really wanted to put those images far away from my mind.
But Don continued speaking…
He said that if he had known then what he knows now, he could have prevented what happened to him.

“When a horse is on the side of an incline and needs to go up, what they naturally do is rock backward first, to get the momentum to jump forward. Like a teeter-totter. THIS IS EXACTLY what NOT to let them do if you are in this situation! They will rock back and then continue backward losing their balance, as had just happened. What you need to do is to hold the horses head low to the ground and force them to scurry up with their hind end. ” … very unnatural indeed.

I thanked Don for his insight and thought to file it away in my brain hoping to never have to utilize that file ever.

Back to Steel and the Granite Chiefs. Steel is precariously on the side of this very slick granite rock. I had managed to jump off and have his reins over his head and in my hands.

I was holding on for dear life. The guy behind me is yelling at me “Don’t let go.” ( I know my blog is about The Let Go, however completely different context).

I don’t remember hearing anything else except for the voice in my head screaming,

“Don’t Let Go”, and then silence.

With the silence, I became ultra calm.

My mind whirled through the files and stopped on the info I had just learned. Hold the head low.

With that:

I held the reins down as close to the rock as I could with both hands. I braced myself knowing there was the possibility of me following him down to the canyon below. And I prayed my reins would not snap.

I looked into those beautiful brown eyes of his and willed him with every ounce of determination and willpower in me for him to scurry up. This was a moment, that I will never forget. And to this day as I think about it and as I write, tears well up, knowing that my connection with Steel was as deep as two souls could be. Our eyes met and he knew that we were in this together. Our minds were synced.
As with all animals, horses see the images that we think and my entire focus was seeing him safe at the top of the boulder.

Never losing eye contact, and “Don’t Let Go” screaming in my head, I gave the last pull. Steel made his move and was able to scurry to the top of the rock, standing up.
He was wobbly and not sure he wanted to take another step. But he had made it.

I don’t remember exactly what was being said by the other riders but I felt that there a standing ovation for Steel’s courage if that could actually happen while on horseback.

Don’t forget we were in a race and there were at least 200 competitors behind us. I got out of the way, the rider directly in front and behind of me stayed with me a few minutes to see if Steel was sound enough to continue or if I was going to need to walk him to the nearest help, which was about 10–15 miles in front of us.

Steel seemed ok. I told them to continue on so that I could take it slowly, to be off of him and walk for a while.
I knew once I made it to the first vet checkpoint if the vets saw anything wrong, that was the end of my race for the day. I was expecting him to show his soreness or reveal a pulled muscle and wanted to assure myself that I was not doing damage. I allowed us to recover for a few miles on foot before I decided to remount.

To my relief, we made it through the vet check, which was about 23 miles or so from the start, and we continued on to the next check which was at mile 36. I was relieved, but could not rest assured that no issues would arise as the trail continued.
Between where I was and the next check was the infamous Cougar Rock. The “piece de resistance” of the Tevis Cup. I elected to go around it and forego a photo opportunity. I did not want to risk an injury to his already stressed body.

This picture is of a prior year on Pharoah.

At Robinson Flats vet check, 36 miles from the start, I finally saw my support team/ crew.
My crew knew me well. I was normally within 10 mins of my ETA from point to point barring any problems. I was nearly 2 hours off of my arrival time and nearly at the cut off time which meant I would not have been allowed to continue if I had been 15 mins later.
I was able to clear the vet check with a clean bill of health and was allowed to continue. Whew… 5 more vet checks and 64 more miles to go to the finish.

My crew and everyone else wanted to “know what happened”.
At this time I had to stay quiet and focused. If I allowed myself to recount anything that had just happened I think I would have been a big puddle of mess. I could not afford the luxury to Let Go at this moment.
I looked at Steel as he was eating and drinking. He was in the moment. He knew the drill. When we stop, you eat, drink and rest. Don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. I took his lead. I ate and drank and fought to stay in the present moment. Just sitting next to him, listening to his eating and breathing, helped to calm my adrenaline filled body.

Foregoing all of the wonderful details and lessons that transpired over the next 30 miles, I will fast forward deeper into this particular story.

I came into the Foresthill vet check, which is 69 miles into the race. I was able to see my crew again. It was starting to become dusk.

Once again we had to go through the vet check… My mind was racing, “was Steel going to have any repercussions from his earlier slip?” We had made up a little time during the last section but not much. Many riders had already been disqualified, perhaps a 35–40 percent. I had to get through this vet check, two more (without my crew) and then the final one at the finish. Fingers crossed…

As I presented Steel to the veterinarians, my crew looked on. Thumbs up, we got the Good to Go and I could release my held in breath.

I had made a friend along the trail leapfrogging throughout the day and now we were in the vet check at the same time. She had asked if I knew the next section, which I did; very dark, single track, covered in trees, up and down to the river and back and long… the California Loop.

She asked if she could ride with me. I welcomed the company. I had spent most of the day riding solo so to ride together was a pleasure. It is often easier for the horses to have a companion. They can switch off who is in front to conserve energy and share the pull. We did not know each other prior to the meeting on the trail, however, through our experience together we will be lifelong friends, Daniela and her steed, Louie.

My hopes had been dashed earlier in the day knowing that to make a good finish would not be accomplished. So I moved to Plan B and that was… just to finish. To Finish is to Win is the motto of Endurance and that day was a great example of it. Strategy comes into play during any race, and I now just wanted to beat the 50/50 odds.

Steel and I were ready to head out. Knowing that we were nearly in the last grouping of riders for the day, I said to Karyne, one of my crew and also a wonderful mentor, “Karyne, with any luck I’ll finish this darn race.” BTW Karyne was in her own right a fierce competitor during her career.
She took a beat and said, “No luck needed. You go do what you do best. The California loop is your kind of trail, hard and technical. And dark.” I am one of those crazy riders that actually love to ride when it’s dark.

She was giving me permission to go kick ass. Stop the pity party and go finish what I had started.

Daniela and Louie along with Steel and myself, headed out of Foresthill and for the next 31 miles worked as a team in perfect synchronicity.
To ride through dark brushy terrain with nary a moonbeam to light the way, another Let Go is required. You must trust your horse 100%. They can see far better in the dark then we can. Let your reins be loose, keep your head down (so as not to get hit in the face with a branch), stay light in your saddle to signal to your horse they are moving correctly and breath.
Steel knew what to do. He knew that we were a team, and it was his eyes and his brawn that was carrying us through this section.

We made it through two more vet checks as the night became chilly and darker.

We had left Foresthill close to the end of the pack. Passing nearly 70 horse and riders on the last 31 miles, we finished in 20 and 21 place.
When I looked at our time splits at the end of the event ( the time that each leg was ridden) we were as fast or faster than many of the top finishers on this section of the course.

I know that if I had not listened to Steel when he needed to walk and recover from his near-fatal accident, if I had not taken the time for him to eat when he asked, or had pushed him earlier in the day when the weather was scorching hot, I would have compromised what we were able to accomplish.

For me, every “fail”, becomes a win if I can see and listen to what lessons are presented. If I had not Let Go of the original intentions of my desired outcome, I may not have had the extreme reward to finish this event. on a horse that looked like he could do it all again.

I always say that it was not my best finish, but it was at the top of my best race ever.

Here are some valuable lessons that I learned and that I cherish.

1) Set goals and be prepared to LET THEM GO if circumstances change.

2) Trust when the universe sends you messages. They could save a life.

3) The friends that you meet and face adversity with are lifelong and real.

4) Friends that stay strong when you are wavering and then kick you in the ass to remind you who you are, are priceless.

5) Let Go and trust in the doors that are opening. Not to push what doors have closed.

6) Your horse is connected to the forces of nature, they are true to themselves, they do not know how to fake anything, they have hearts forged of gold, so listen and take their lead.

Letting go of what I thought I wanted did not prepare me for what I actually received. The inner strength that I have gained not only from this event but ALL of the horse events I have been in are the cornerstones of my life.

As I always say. ” What I know about Life I Learned from my Horses”

I thank each and every one of them and to Steel Patriot, the man:)

Steel Patriot still going strong at 22 years.

To watch a documentary on Tevis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xm3Zo3y2Gs

And a longer version: I am on 7;15–7:40

Originally published at www.theletgo.com.