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Behind Gray Walls Podcast features Idaho’s Old Selam Endurance ride
By Merri Melde-Endurance.net
December 27 2025
Podcast link: https://youtu.be/uI2P8eIy5ko?si=KKtYm3JTU2BU0JHu
Idaho’s Old Selam Endurance ride near Centerville, Idaho, has been in existence 1979. The name Old Selam comes from the Idaho Penitentiary’s most famous horse, Selam, who was used by two prison inmates to escape the prison in 1901. Bob Meeks was recaptured, but Sam Bruner never was. Selam was discovered wandering near the Snake River 6 months later. (See full story below.)
The Old Selam trails may retrace some of the escape routes, who knows, and previous ridecamps were at or near the Idaho Penitentiary.
Samuel Anderson, Research and Education Coordinator for the Old Idaho Penitentiary, visited the 2025 Old Selam Endurance ride, captivating listeners at Saturday’s ride meeting with the story of Old Selam and the hopeful prison escapees. He also interviewed numerous riders during the weekend about the sport of endurance and their experiences, for the podcast, Behind Gray Walls.
Featured in the podcast are veterinarian Robert Washington, endurance riders Carolyn Roberts, Suzanne Hayes, Suzanne Ford-Huff, Christoph Schork, Karen Steenhof, Tani Bates, and LuAnn DeYoung.
The episode is now available on YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, and the podcast app. Here is the link to the YouTube version:
https://youtu.be/uI2P8eIy5ko?si=KKtYm3JTU2BU0JHu
And here’s the full story of Old Selam, from
http://www.endurance.net/switdr/storyindex.html
The Old Selam Endurance ride is named after a horse used in two different escapes from the Old Idaho State Penitentiary on Warm Springs Avenue in Boise. Selam was reported to be one of the best horses in Idaho and had been used for both riding and driving.
On December 24th, 1901, Henry "Bob" Meeks, who was serving a 35-year sentence for a robbery in Montpelier and supposedly a pal of Butch Cassidy, was working around the hog pens in the prison complex when he unhitched Selam, then an old horse, from the front of a wagon, jumped astride, and gave the horse his head without removing the harness. About a mile from the pen, he cut the harness and left it on the road. According to prison records, he “went up the hill road by the reservoir and, turning to the left, ‘lit’ out for the mountains.” The trail went up what was known as the Hillman Trail to the Boise Ridge, 2 miles west of the Delphi mine. From there he turned east and south back to the Boise River. Tracks showed that Meeks had gotten off Selam and walked alongside him as they climbed the steep hillsides.
Trackers caught up with Meeks on December 25 at his camp along the Boise River 10 miles above Mores Creek. Selam recognized the guards who captured Meeks and nodded and neighed to them. They attached him to the buckboard that carried Meeks back to town. Prisoners were said to be glad to see Selam when he returned to the prison. The warden was glad too and said it would have been a pity to have such a noble horse “knocking around” with people who didn’t appreciate his worth. He acknowledged that Meeks had taken care of the “thoroughbred” but nevertheless threatened to charge him with horse-stealing.
A few days later, on December 30, 1901, Sam Bruner, who was serving a term for stealing sheep, escaped through the main gate on Warm Springs Avenue. The lights in the prison began to dim at 2 am that morning. Investigation showed that trusted prisoner Sam Bruner was not at his duty station in the power plant. A check of the prison revealed that Old Selam, as well as a saddle and bridle, were missing. Bruner was spotted at 2:30 am traveling southwest of Boise as fast as the horse could carry him. In January, the warden got word that Bruner had turned Selam loose with his saddle on and that Selam was wandering in the Bernard’s Ferry area along the Snake River. Bruner stole a horse from a man named Harberg. He then hung out with friends at Cow Creek and left on one of McKenzie’s horses, never to be re-captured. Prison officials thought Selam would find his way home soon, but he didn’t. In February 1902 the warden offered a reward for Selam’s return. In early June 1902, Selam was found grazing and “taken up” six miles above Swan Falls.
2025: The Year in Endurance
FEI.org - Full Article
by Stacey Stearns
Horsemanship and sportsmanship defined the year...
The 2025 Endurance season showcased the sport’s increasing depth, global reach, and renewed energy – from Europe to Asia, and from rising youth stars to the most seasoned senior competitors.
The year’s defining themes were renewal, youth, and continuity: experienced champions continued to deliver at the highest level while a new generation of riders and nations made remarkable strides.
Throughout the season, one constant shone through – the extraordinary partnership between equine and human athletes and the global community that supports them. These partnerships remain the foundation of Endurance.
Senior and continental champions crowned
Europe’s top riders met in June at Castiglione del Lago (ITA) for a memorable edition of the FEI Endurance European Championship.
The Netherlands’ Marijke Visser and Chaitana des Chaises claimed Individual gold with a performance that blended tactical precision, pace management, and the unmistakable trust between horse and rider over a 160km track. The Netherlands also captured Team bronze.
“When we reached the last kilometres, I asked Chaitana to take the lead,” Visser said. “She knew it was showtime. I was still trying to control her speed, but she took over the game. Chaitana won the gold for us. She made us so proud...”
Read more at:
https://www.fei.org/stories/sport/endurance/2025-year-endurance-review
Back in the Saddle with a New Heart: Jessica’s ACM Story
SADS.org - Full Story
By Jessica V. and the SADS Foundation
Published December 2, 2025
Jessica swings into the saddle and heads out with her daughter for a 50-mile endurance horseback ride. From the outside, it might look like any other long-distance ride – but Jessica is doing it with a new heart after surviving cardiac arrest and years of misdiagnoses.
“Something’s wrong with my heart”
Jessica’s earliest memories of her heart go back to childhood. At nine years old, lying in bed at night, she could hear and feel her heart “skipping beats” in her ear. Her mom, an ER nurse, took her to the doctor. They did tests and told her family she had premature ventricular contractions (or PVCs) – extra beats that were brushed off as a “normal abnormality.”
“I’ll never forget that phrasing – what the heck is a normal abnormality?” says Jessica.
Assured by her doctor that everything was fine, Jessica became a track star, played soccer and tennis, earned her black belt, and competed in Taekwondo tournaments. In her teens and early adulthood, she started fainting. Once, she passed out while teaching a kickboxing class. As she went into college, she had episodes of tunnel vision and blacking out. Eventually she was told she was having panic attacks.
“For years I was told it was panic attacks. Deep down I knew something was really wrong with my heart.”
She accepted the diagnosis and kept going – even as her symptoms continued, and started to get worse.
After college, Jessica worked at a law firm in California. Her symptoms were getting harder to ignore. She was blacking out at her desk. She felt constantly exhausted, sometimes even nodding off in the car on the way home from work. Then one day, she simply couldn’t wake up fully. She dragged herself to the ER with a friend, complaining of chest pain, shortness of breath, and a racing heart.
She sat in the ER for about an hour and a half before anyone ran an EKG.
“When they finally did, everything changed,” she says. The ER staff realized she was in ventricular tachycardia (V-tach) – an extremely dangerous, fast heartbeat – with lots of PVCs and ectopy (extra or skipped heartbeats that disrupt the normal rhythm). Suddenly, the doctors were panicking...
Read more here:
https://sads.org/blog-cat/back-in-the-saddle-with-a-new-heart-jessicas-acm-story/
James (Jim) Bryant Passes Away
Castanet.net
James (Jim) Bryant, aged 83 of Kelowna BC, passed away November 15th after a lengthy illness. Jim graduated from Washington State University in 1964, served two years in the US Army, and moved to BC in 1970 and started a equine practice in Maple Ridge. In 1992 he moved to Kelowna and joined a mixed practice as a equine veterinarian.
Jim became interested in endurance riding as a veterinarian in the early 1980s. Over the years, he attended rides as a vet in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California, and eventually into Europe and the United Arab Emirates. In 1998 he travelled to Abu Dhabi for a year to assist the organizing committee in planning and hosting the first World Endurance Championship.
In 1999 he was offered a position in the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Federation. After three years he relocated to Dubai, and became veterinarian to the Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed’s stable of Arabian endurance horses. Jim travelled to several countries in search of the top horses for the Sheikh’s stables.
He retired and returned back home to Kelowna in 2015, filling in on occasion for Alex Wales in Lake Country. Jim is survived by his wife of 51 years Sandy, sons Jim and Richard, stepsons Colin and Michael, seven grandchildren, six great grandchildren and his brother Rusty Bryant. A celebration of Jims life will be announced at a later date.