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Speaking of the team- It seemed lucky if we would even get our horses to
the ride. Team member Heather Bergantz from San Jose was hauling her
horse Tyler up to the ride when the transmission let go in her truck
somewhere near Mt Shasta- It really let go! Her trans caught fire-
lucky for them they were prepared enough to carry fire extinguishers and
knew how to use them. Barbara Sanchez (another team member) was
pulling her big horse Tor up from their home somewhere down near Paso
Robles (I think) and gave Tyler a ride to Bend. It took poor Heather
about three days to get to the ride! Shirley Delsart from Berkley
brought her incredible horse Dusty (K.J. Destination) up for the ride,
and made it to Bend, but had her transmission burn up while out
pre-riding the course! Her groom Merrick had to fight the fire with
the shirt off his back! All these fires! What miserable luck. Gary
Ceragioli made the drive from Nevada to join the team with his family
for support, and made it without losing any valuable engine parts.
Connie Creech of Northern Nevada fame came to crew for Gary, and to help
take care of Gary's neat horse Czar. I think the horses name is
something like Desert's Roses' Raz, but whatever- it was a cool horse
who I believe is a Mustang / Arab cross. Jack Endere and his wife made
the drive from the Santa Cruz mountains to join the team- he brought his
horse Fad's Silver. Kirstin Bernstien (I HAVE to keep spelling that
wrong, just because it's a tradition now!) came up with her husband
Mike to enter her horse Kid, also known as W.S. Calisto. The team was
rounded out by Wendy Lumbert and her horse named Wip. Wendy was the
only alternate to make the trip with a horse, and would have her share
of ups and downs during the week. More to come on that.
We arrived at the camp late on Wednesday night, and woke Thursday to a
wet Oregon. It had rained on and off for a few days, but the sky seemed
clear enough that day. Thursday brought the opening ceremonies complete
with a pair of huge black Freisan horses being ridden by one rider.
That was neat. We ran into lots of familiar faces- Steph herself from
Endurance Net fame was on hand to report on the ride as it happened.
All we have to do is get her set up with a cellular modem and palm top
computer, so she can strap the thing to her back and report while
actually riding in a race! Next year at tevis? Marcus Hoff from Idaho
was there displaying his fine Horsin' Around portable corrals. Dom
Freeman from Go the Distance had a booth set up with a rainbow of
biothane glowing in the flickering lights. Several other vendors were
set up in the large barn / dining hall. And there was the raffle! It
seemed like everyone won a ton of stuff. I bought 12 tickets, and won 8
prizes! Including a complete servicing for my truck in downtown Bend,
which I took advantage of. Jack from our team won 9 shirts, a couple of
buckets, some grain, some feed, a pile of little bottles of stuff, and a
horse! Yep- he won the baby Arab. We spent part of Thursday
pre-driving to the vet checks to make sure we knew where they were
located. A Thursday night banquet ended the day with a meal which was
probably not worth quite what it cost, but hey, this is a championship!
Most of the team riders went out to ride their horses to keep them
limber for Friday's vet exam and check in.
Friday brought more surprises for our team. We went out on the last
driving tour with our team vet Susan McCartney, who brought along her
two best buddies- Dave Cootware, and her Beagle Heather. (not to be
confused with one of our team riders. Dave did!) We were greeted upon
our turn with the news that Heather's horse Tyler had tied up while
riding in the morning. He wouldn't be going now, so Wendy's day was
changed from a relaxed alternate to a team rider! She took the quick
change in stride and got her horse ready for the vet in. The horrible
luck continued when Wendy trotted Wip out for the vets- he was declared
off and was excused form the ride before it began. Heartbreak! Now we
only had five horses starting the ride. Teresa announced the team would
be Barbara, Jack, Gary, and Shirley, while Kirstin would ride as our
only solo. Friday night was sort of relaxed as we loaded the trucks for
the 4:00 am departure. The camper kept the light sprinkles off Judy and
I, but we were certainly outdone by the boat that Steph was driving!
She calls this thing a motorhome, but it looked more like a cigar shaped
motel to me.
Saturday morning- off to the first vet check in the cold, cold, cold
mountain air. It was freezing up there before the sun came up. The
ride started at 6:00, and at 7:30 here comes the horses! Shirley was up
in the top 5 or so, with Gary and Kirstin close behind. Jack and
Barbara made it in soon after, but more disasters! Barbara's horse Tor
was pulled for a slight lameness. Now the team was down to three
horses, the number needed to finish for a team placing. The rest of the
horses made it through fine, and the check was quickly deserted. We
dashed off to the fourth check to set it up while the horses climbed up
to the high part of the course. Check 2 was way up in the mountains in
a weird little lava field. More disaster! Kristin's horse was pulled
for a metabolic problem which ended up being a gas colic which worked
itself free later on. Out ream was down to 3 horses- the team was still
in it. Check 3 was hard to get to, so we waited at Check 4 for the
riders. The Pacific North team was dominating the ride- they had
something like all 4 team horses in the top 7, plus 3 others. They
looked unbeatable! Shirley came into check 4 at about 50 miles looking
good- they were in fourth, I think. Gary made it in the top 20, and
Jack was near the end of the pack, but still going smoothly. Shirley
left in 3rd, and looked great bolting out of the check. A nice mare
from Canada west left the check in 12th, and was moving up!
We packed up the check and drove to check six- located in the same place
as check one. We were expecting the Pacific North team to come blasting
in, but what's this! It's Shirley! She and that mare from Canada came
in together in the lead! All Right!! It turns out Pacific North
suffered as much bad luck as our team. Their horses running in first
and second were out, and both were on the team! That eliminated them
from the team results. Shirley got her Gray gelding vetted through
quickly and efficiently, and after a short hold was back out leading the
ride, with Canada right behind her. We waited in anticipation for the
rest of our team, knowing we were one of five or so teams with three
horses still in it. Gary came in right on schedule- he and his horse
were still looking very good. They vetted through, had a nice break,
and took off at a nice big trot in 16th place, about 80 or so minutes
behind the leaders. Just then we heard the news from the finish-
Shirley had won! The mare from Canada West was about 30 seconds behind
her, but Dusty had cruised in looking as strong as ever. We sat back
again to wait for Jack who was now our anchor man, and the key to the
team finishing. We lit a big fire as the sun started to go down, and
just at dusk Jack popped into the check. He and his horse were still
moving along, steady and sure. He rested up a bit while the sun went
down, and was off in the dark after his hold. We packed up camp and
drove the long dirt road back to the highway and to the camp. It was
after 11 when we made it back to camp. Gary had come in in 15th place
(I think), and Jack was due an hour or so later. We really tried to
stay awake, but the 22 hour day took its toll. We crashed in the
camper, and woke up the next morning to the news that Jack had finished
just after midnight, near the end of the pack, but he made it in a time
good enough to give the Pacific South team the bronze medal! That was
a superb feeling for the team given all the disasters and frustrations
everyone had felt during the week. It was a huge relief to have the
event over, except for the Best Condition judging and closing
ceramonies. The Canadian Mare got the coveted BC award to a huge round
of applause. Not bad- this horse took its rider to the team gold, a
silver medal for second place, and the BC award. It was neat to see the
bronze medals hanging from the team riders from our region. (Shirley
had the gold hanging there as well!) A strong USA East team took the
silver, being the only team to finish all four horses. Brazil was the
fourth place team.
All in all it was a long week with lots of driving and disasters, but
the overall gold and the third place made it all worth it. These FEI
rides are a whole different breed of event which take a lot of getting
used to. We heard the World Championships will be held in the UAE next
year since Ireland dropped the ride, but the rest of the World
Equestrian Games will be held somewhere else? Who knows.
Congratulations to the Pacific South Team who hung in there and showed
what Endurance riding is really about.
Nick Warhol
Hayward, Ca.
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