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AERC Endurance.Nets
press release, June 1 2009

Tulip, a Morab gelding who will turn 21 on June 21, is endurance  
riding’s most enduring equine, with 20,805 miles to his credit. He is  
the first horse in American Endurance Ride Conference (AERC) history  
to surpass the 20,000 mile mark.

Tulip’s name? The rumor, according to Dr. Les Carr, Tulip’s owner, is  
that a bed of lovely tulips was nearby during Tulip’s birth. The 15.2- 
hand Tulip, registered as a half-Arabian by the Arabian Horse  
Association, is by the Morgan stallion Calamity’s Pizzaz, whose sire  
is from the Kingston line. His dam, Belif, is a granddaughter of Bu- 
Zahar, a son of Ferzon-Hall of Fame sire of National Champions.

Carr, of Somerset, California, has amassed 46,460 miles of his own  
during his 24 years of AERC competitions. Both Carr and Tulip  
exemplify AERC’s commitment to valuing equine longevity.

Although he has completed four 100-mile rides, Tulip’s specialty is  
the 50-mile endurance ride, especially when combined into AERC  
Pioneer Rides, which include at least three consecutive days of 50-  
to 55-mile rides. And the grey gelding’s not burning up the trail; he  
and Carr tend to finish towards the back of the pack in most  
competitions.

“The AERC motto is ‘to finish is to win’,” noted Carr. “However,  
winning can be accomplished in different ways. One way to win is for  
the rider to make the decision to ride the same horse over a long  
period of time and place at the middle or tail end of the ride. This  
approach has been my choice.”

Carr’s horse philosophy has evolved over the years, and Tulip is his  
third horse to go over 10,000 miles. Carr credits starting slowly and  
carrying a lightweight rider—in Tulip’s case, junior Lainey Porter  
rode Tulip for his first few thousand miles of competition. “I  
sponsored and accompanied Lainey who rode Tulip slowly and followed  
my strategies and lead,” said Carr.

A pace of 5.5 miles per hour is another of Carr’s tenets. By not  
galloping or cantering, Carr plans to take nine to 10 hours to  
complete a 50-mile ride. To make that trail time easier on Tulip,  
Carr spends most of his riding time standing up in the stirrups. He  
allows Tulip to eat and drink pretty much continually along the  
trail, and carefully watches both Tulip’s intake and outgo which,  
Carr says, “provide significant clinical signs as to the condition of  
Tulip along the endurance trail.”

Carr isn’t willing to take risks with his high-mileage horse. “If  
Tulip is even slightly off in his gait—even if the judges say Tulip  
could continue in the ride—Tulip and I load up and go home. Any sign  
of colic results in my immediately pulling Tulip from the ride and  
requesting immediate vet treatment,” said Carr. “My operating  
philosophy is that there is always another endurance ride to do, but  
not another Tulip.”

Most years, Carr and Tulip would complete around 1,000 miles of  
competition a year. Their highest mileage year was 2006, when they  
completed 1,970 miles. Along the way, the pair have picked up  
numerous awards from AERC, including regional mileage championships  
and Pioneer Awards, even a couple of national mileage championships  
when he was ridden by junior rider Lainey Porter back in the mid-1990s.

At age 74, Carr keeps himself in shape with bodybuilding and  
weightlifting when he’s not riding. At 5’8”, he keeps his weight at a  
trim 148 pounds. A practicing clinical psychologist, Carr considers  
riding “a mystical and spiritual experience.”

A stairway fall back in 1999 looked like it was the end of Carr’s  
riding, according to his team of doctors. But after a full year of  
recovery, he’s been back standing in the saddle for miles and miles  
every month, although his left leg remains slightly weakened. “I’m  
appreciative of Brent and Cheryl Johnson, who pitched in and rode  
Tulip for nearly 1,400 miles during my year off,” said Carr.

Carr has no plans to retire Tulip. The pair have already completed  
670 miles in the current ride season. But Carr said that he and Tulip  
will no longer be doing as many five-day Pioneer Rides (250 miles  
over five days), instead focusing on one-day 50s and the three-day,  
155-mile Pioneer Rides.

“Life along the endurance trail is unpredictable, in line with our  
universe that is inherently chaotic and unpredictable,” said Carr.  
But the septuagenarian, who rides along with his wife Jill and her  
trustworthy mule, Walker, at his side, Carr hopes to ride Tulip as  
long as possible along the endurance trails.
- - - -
For more information about AERC or endurance riding, please contact  
the AERC office, located in Auburn, California, at 866-271-2372,  
email  HYPERLINK "mailto:aerc@xxxxxxxxxxxx"; aerc@xxxxxxxxxxxx, or  
visit  HYPERLINK "http://www.aerc.org"; www.aerc.org
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