Endurance

by Majo

A friend who came for a ride with me while I was working as a horse ride guide at El Calafate introduced me to this sport. You can find the complete story in my blog about my trip to the wild west.

In 2012, I was still living in an estancia at El Calafate and wanted to start training a horse for this sport. So first I started looking for this horse. Even though you can run these races with any horse (there are no rules about horse breeds to run) I knew the best breed was Arab or Thoroughbred with Arab, or a mix between Criollo (Argentinean breed) and Arab, but mostly always Arab. At El Calafate, which is located in the very south of Argentina, there are not many places where to find Arab horses, most of the horses are Criollos which are very good because this is a rough breed and the can handle Calafate sharp weather.

Someone told me to contact Mr. Funes. This old man used to travel to El Calafate from Buenos Aires province once every 2 o 3 months. He carried in in his truck grass for cattle and special breed’s horses. Therefore, I asked him for a Arab mare. He said he would start looking for the horse but that it would take some time. This was around 2012.

Time went by, and in the meantime, I started breaking down “Maja” a two-year black mare a friend gave me for my birthday. Unfortunately, I never finished this job because while I was working with her, I had some health problems and had to go back to Buenos Aires to have surgery. When I came back in 2013, they gave me the terrible news that “Maja” was dead, probably some cattle thieves shot her. It was a very sad news, and I didn’t want to see or be any more around horses. During those weeks was when Mr. Funes called and said he had a grey Anglo – Arab mare and brought her to the estancia. Her name was SOL. From the moment I saw her I fell in love of her. She looked so proud of herself, that’s way I ended naming her “Sol, La Engreida” which means “Sun, the consented”.

At the beginning, it was not easy. It was winter (and there is very cold and the days are short), I was recovering from a surgery and Sol was not very laid back. Everything was new to her and she was cold so when riding her, until she was warm, she always wanted to buck! The best thing about her: she loved to run, and she was so fast! While I’m writing and remembering I feel that those where among my happiest times, I never felt as free as I felt when I was running with Sol in the Patagonian Steppe.

The landscape of the Patagonian steppe is unbelievable: is vast, massive, you can ride for hours, and the sight changes all the time, you can ride the turquoise water of the Argentinean Lake, or on top of the sand dunes, or climb the mountains and get to see Perito Moreno Glacier. Going down the mountains shadowed by the condors is magical. So as a horse ride guide I always went out with Sol for the long rides and that was our main training. She had the best training she could have, because for endurance one of the best exercises is to walk. Now, I understand that walking for two hours in a place where you don’t have where to go or if its always the same trail, o if it is only a track is very boring for rider and horse, but for us it was a pleasure. When going for rides with people we had an amazing time, she was famous among all the guests of the estancia, and we used to gallop in the extense steppe and Sol was at all times the winner! Also, we used to go out alone and ride forever. However, there was a slight little problem, El Calafate is a small town in the middle of no-where, it has a very small population, the weather is very difficult, and because of that there are no Endurance competitions, and the closest place where they did these type of events was more or less 2000 km away from there.

In 2014, we moved from El Calafate to Cañuelas, Buenos Aires province. This town is located 60km away from Buenos Aires city. It was a big change for us. As we moved to a polo club, Sol now had many new friends because the club hosted around 400 horses! It was a good change for her because the weather in the new place was much more pleasant, therefor the grass has soft and green while in Patagonia was hard, yellow and there was not much. At Puesto Viejo Polo Club she had a box where to sleep and I could give her the proper care an Endurance horse need.

We started our training here, rides where different, shorter but we had so many competitions! I met a new friend, Flavia, she was an endurance professional rider and she helped me all the way for become an endurance rider. In the surroundings of Buenos Aires province there is a FEI race every month. Flavia took me to our first race, 40km that took place in Junin town, around 300 km away from Buenos Aires. Sol did so good on this race, we came out in 8th place and I remember we were the last ones starting the race. That mare really liked to run, I remember the first kilometers I couldn’t control her, she was flying, so even though we started last in just a few miles we were already in the leading groups. Her heart bit was always below 60 when getting to the vet checks. This race was a dream come true, but with out doubts she surprised me when we did out first 80 km FEI RACE.

80 KM FEI: this race took place a few weeks after again in the town of Junin. I was so afraid but I completely trusted Sol. One of the thinks I was more concerned was about the weight. One of the main rules is that the rider was to weight with the saddle and all the equipment not less than 75 km. That’s was an issue because my wight is around 45-48 kg. So needed to find a way to add weght in the saddle. I bought a 10kg saddle, but this was not enough, I had to add dumbbells in the “matra” and be sure the whole equipment was secure for me and Sol.

It was a rainy day, we started the race very early, at 6 am, Sol, as usual was running as fast as Secretariat and I couldn’t control her, but the worst thing was that with that much rain the reins were swiping out of my hands and the whole equipment was moving, I had to find the way to stop her and put everything together again. Of course, Sol didn’t understand this, so making her stop was almost as difficult as stopping a truck with my hand, but I did it! I don’t know how I managed to stop her and out everything together again and go up again. The water made everything more heavy as it already was but she didn’t care, once I got on top again she run furious reaching the leading group, I couldn’t believe it!

First vet check went great, so we started our second loop and she was still running fast. I enjoyed this second part more, because we were both more relaxed and the rain had stopped, so we could enjoy the sights. One of the best things about Endurance races is that is like going for a long ride, and you can always get to see new places and make friends in the way.

The 2nd vet check went Ok too… so now my friend advised me: “you need to control her during this loop, she will want to run but you need to save energy for the last loop, so try to go cantering slowly, get close to other riders and follow their pace”. And so we did. 3rd vet check Ok… and now 4th loop. I was waiting my number to be called in the starting point and when they call it I heard my friend shouting: RUN! I think Sol heard the command because she run as fast as she could, we were leaving riders behind, I couldn’t believe it because this was our first long race and I didn’t really know what I was doing.

When reaching the finishing line I realized we were only three riders left, I was afraid running faster, because it was never about winning it was always about enjoying the ride with Sol, so I tried not to run and we have a fantastic 3rd place! She got to the 4th vet check in perfect conditions, so proud of her self! My teams mates couldn’t believe it, first long race and she was in doing podium! What a fantastic mare! We did many adventures together which I will tell you in other posts!