Day 1 Recap

Waiting for horse assignments at the Start Line - July 23, 2022

Day 1 was a demoralizing day in my race. I had an amazing rocket of a nadaam horse off the start line, which I squandered by deciding to go as the crow flies, up and over some large hills. At this point, I didn’t understand how the horses could handle (or not handle) the elevation and while the latter 2/3 of the leg were easy rolling hills, the first one was a doozie. This was not a good idea in hindsight, but Lena and I had made the choice before we started and frankly calculated that taking a risk was best to do early in the race, as we’d have ample time to make up for it if it didn’t pan out, which it did not. However, we had a lovely leg marveling at the fact that we’re were racing the fucking Mongol Derby, in Mongolia! Alex Fetterman joined us on the first hill and the three of us had a lovely ride together, coming into HS 1 after 3.5 hrs only ahead of some riders who’d been tossed in the creek and lost their horses. Not a good start.

Lena’s horse ended up colicing right there at HS1, through no fault of her riding. I was there to attest just how closely and thoughtfully this woman pays attention to her horses, it was just shitty luck. Looking at the dismal last few horses on the line, the herders selected a small fat bay thing for me. No thank you. I chose a slimmer chestnut and tacked up as fast as I could. Alex’s horse was slower to pulse down so as I mounted she told me to go and she’d catch up! I blasted off up the hill and was happy with my pick of horse - willing and easy going.

After a few hills I caught up with Nathan who’s small bay was plodding along at a jog. We rode together for a bit, abiding by the instructions to stay right of the town we were passing by. Navigating as the crow flies to HS 2 we crossed a concrete canal, a paved road and headed parallel to the town and enormous coal mine that no doubt created it.

My horse was trotting faster than Nathan’s, so I headed off slightly ahead. I came to a pond with horses cooling off and kept going by. Just beyond that was a large ditch with a clear horse path and fresh tracks through it. I crossed there and kept on keeping on. About 2km more I approached a large mound of dirt. It’s another large ditch, but this time there’s 4’ dirt piles on each side and the trench has 4’ vertical walls to the bottom. Definitely no crossing in sight. Shit. So I look to the right and down about 1km is a road. Surely near that there will be a vehicle or animal crossing. So I head that way. As I approach the road and surely a place to cross, the trench bends 90 degrees and I’m now headed back 180 deg in the wrong direction, parallel to the road, going the wrong way. F*ck. Maybe there’s a crossing further down the road. No choice but to follow. About .5 km back, another 90 deg turn right. Turning me back headed exactly to where I came into it. As I’m cursing under my breath and now pushing a tired pony at no more than a trot, Nathan appears on the other side of the trench. I tell him not to come in here and he looks at me like I’m a damn idiot, and why would he ever cross a trench in the first place?! Good point. I get back to where I came in, cross out and head towards the road to ride along it.

Back on track to HS 2 I’m out of the coal mine maze but still have a long way to go on a tired pony. In about 30 mins Kyleigh comes loping up behind me on a beautiful paint stallion. We ride the rest of the way together and I’m so thankful for a friend who is always smiling and upbeat. She also had a shitty first leg and we commiserate a little and trot the remainder of the way. We pull into HS 2 with 15 mins left in the day and get through quickly. The majority of riders have stopped here for the night, only about 10 have ridden past. Im back with the pack and ahead of where I should be with some others getting heart rate or late riding penalties. I couldn’t sleep at all that night thinking about how this was not the way I expected it to go down, but that in the morning I’d remedy that and get fast horses, make my nav choices a bit differently, and charge ahead.

Planning to do better tomorrow (Day 2).

Day 1 End of Day Leaderboard

HS 2 - July 23, 2022