Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

At 02:11 PM 6/29/2009, you wrote:
> So I went and read the website
> about the race.................yep it does 
> seem to have some problems some veterinary control being one of them
> however each of these horses is only going 25 miles, o.k. before I get
> slammed I realize that 25 miles can be dangerous on a horse however we
> are 
> not talking galloping a horse 100 miles, we are talking about horses that
> run wild ( are going to  be in decent shape, wild horses roam about
> 25 
> miles a day in search of food and water)who are used to the weather 
> conditions.

Actually - these horses are not necessarily going to be conditioned or
even trained.  I've posted two more articles about the event and
there is still a lot of information to share.  

1) 
Horse
safety and the Mongol Derby  This includes an email exchange
between the Long Rider's and the Adventurists (the company putting on the
event)

2) 

A warning of the real dangers in Mongolia  An excerpt:  I
do not believe the race organizers have been completely clear about the
size of the horses. They
are very small and simply cannot carry heavy Westerners for any
significant distance, even at a walk.   and   
Did the organizers tell you that the typical jockeys in Mongolia are
children under ten years of age? This is a fact and as hard as it is for
us to believe, it is acceptable in Mongolia. 

I think it's great that so many people are willing to step up to the
plate in defense of these horses - and yes, even in defense of these
naive riders who have no idea what danger awaits them and their
mounts.  This is being promoted as the "toughest horse race on
earth".  The website says that some may finish in a week - in
order to go 1000 km in a week you aren't going to be going at a speed
that these little Mongolian horses will be able to handle. 

Karen