***FOLLOW THE RIDE LIVE***

August 6 2017
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

Third place Tevis Cup finisher Jeremy Reynolds and the Reynolds' 7-year-old Arabian mare Treasured Moments have won the 2017 Haggin Cup award, the horse in "most superior physical condition" of yesterday's Top Ten Tevis finishers. The pair finished 1 hour 9 minutes behind the winners, Tennessee Lane and Auli Farwa.

Treasured Moments, by DA Adios X Hidden Treasure, by RD Five Star, has an 11 for 11 AERC finish record. This was her first 100 mile ride. Jeremy is a 3-time Tevis Cup and now 3-time Haggin Cup winner.

Auli Farwa and Tennessee Lane Win Tevis Cup

Auli Farwa: 8th Tevis Buckle, 74th Completion, Zero Pulls

August 6 2017
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

The amazing endurance horse Auli Farwa completed the Tevis Cup for the 8th time yesterday, finishing his 74th ride without a pull. Ridden by Tennessee Lane, of La Veta, Colorado, the pair crossed the finish line at McCann Stadium at the Auburn (California) Fairgrounds at 10 PM, in first place.

The race was a close, exciting one from Foresthill (68 miles) on, with Lindsay Graham and Monk leaving that hour hold 3 minutes ahead of Tennessee and "Far." Jeremy Reynolds and Treasured Moments, and Heather Reynolds and Grand Ku were close to the leading pair at this point, having moved steadily forward all day, but the 20 minute gap got bigger the rest of the race. Jeremy/Treasure Moments would finish 3rd at 11:09, and Heather/Grand Ku were pulled at Francisco's at 85 miles for lameness.

Tennessee and Far left the last checkpoint, the Lower Quarry at 94 miles, two minutes ahead of Lindsay and Monk, and ultimately arrived at the finish line 12 minutes ahead of Lindsay and Monk.

It was Tennessee's first endurance ride on Far. Over his 4500 miles and 11 seasons of endurance, the now-17-year-old gelding has carried 4 riders to the Tevis finish line: Kevin Myers in 2009. 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014; Jenni Smith in 2015; Rusty Toth in 2016, and Tennessee this year. 4 of those were Top Ten finishes, and all but 1 were in the top 15. Far won the Haggin Cup in 2015 with Jenni Smith.

Now owned by Rusty Toth, Far was previously owned by Kevin Myers, who took his life last year. This year's Tevis was a sweet win for all of us who remember and miss Kevin.

2017 Tevis - Who to Watch For

August 4 2017
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

With 1 day to go for the 2017 Tevis Cup, 171 riders signed up as of August 2. Who will make the Top Ten this year, and who will the winner be? Here are a few horses and riders to watch, if you're a betting man.

Last year's Tevis Cup winners, Karen Donley, of Mountain Center, California, and her 15-year-old Arabian mare Royal Patron, return to the course. Karen will be riding with her son JJ Donley, aboard his 8-year-old Arabian gelding MMF Aragorn. Karen and JJ have ridden the Tevis together 5 times, but they have never both completed the ride. Maybe this will be the year it happens.

The Reynolds, of Dunnellon, Florida are back. Jeremy (4th place last year) will be riding their 7-year-old Arabian mare Treasured Moments. Jeremy is a 3-time Tevis Cup and 2-time Haggin Cup winner. Heather will ride their 8-year-old Arabian gelding Grand Ku. Heather is a 2-time Tevis Cup and 1-time Haggin Cup winner.

Lindsay Fisher, of Napa, California, and Chris Martin's 15-year-old Arabian gelding Monk are back. The pair finished 8th in 2015 and 5th in 2016.

The Blakeley family from Terrebonne, Oregon, who consistently finish in the Top Ten or 15 of Tevis are back. This year parents Gabriela and Wasch will ride. Gabriela will ride their 8-year-old Arabian gelding LLC Pyros Choice, and Wasch will be aboard their 8-year-old gelding Ra Ares Bey. Son Barrak won the 2014 Haggin Cup.

Tony Benedetti, of Santa Rosa, California, who finished 9th last year, will ride his 11-year-old Arabian gelding TCF Arowdy Knight.

Last year's 10th place finisher, Suzy Hayes of Arlee, Montana, and her 14-year-old Anglo-Arabian Greenbriar Al Jabal, return this year to the trail.

The 'two Jennies' will ride again this year. Jennifer Waitte, of Napa, California, will ride her 7-year-old half Arabian gelding De La Cruz. Jenni Smith, of Moraga, California, will ride the 10-year-old Arabian gelding French Fry. Jenni won the Haggin Cup aboard Auli Farwa in 2015

The phenomenal 17-year-old Arabian gelding Auli Farwa, owned by Rusty Toth, will be ridden by Tennessee Lane, of La Veta, Colorado. Far won the Haggin Cup (2015 with Jenni Smith), and has a perfect 73-73 record, including 7 Tevis Cup finishes.

2009 Haggin Cup winner Melissa Ribley (riding LD Monique that year) will be riding her 7-year-old Arabian gelding Ever Ready.

Keep an eye on Leah Cain, of Gypsum, Colorado, and her homebred 10-year-old Arabian gelding OT Dyamonte Santo. This pair won last year's AERC National 100-mile Championship.

Another Championship pair are Christoph Schork, of Moab, Utah, and his 15-year-old Arabian mare GE Stars Aflame. This pair have won numerous national awards, including the 2013 50 mile championship, the 2011 100-mile championship, and the 2010 War Mare award.

You might also want to watch out for young Bryna Stevenson, from Newton, New Jersey, and her Arabian cross mare Whisperstreams Atropine, winner of the 2014 100-mile Old Dominion, and the 2015 AERC National 100-mile Championship. I'm just sayin'.

If you're a Mule fan, Frank Smith, of Grass Valley, California, is riding his 16-year-old gelding Raptor. Jani Collins, from Sheridan, California, is aboard her 7-year-old mare mule Wide Awake. Brian Reome of Grass Valley, California will ride his 15-year-old gelding Hondo, all mules doing their first Tevis.

Horses, Art, and Tevis Cup Fever

July 27 2017
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

It's funny, this Tevis Cup Fever. It can grab hold of you before and twist you and turn you in directions you'd never have imagined. What really got it started for Diana Hiiesalu was a magazine cover in the 1980's, of a horse going over Cougar Rock. "I thought, What is this!!!???" Diana related. "I read the article, and was like, What is this ride!? I have to do this! I thought that this ride was made for me, that it was ingrained someway in my very soul, of who I was. It was a given, to ride it."

She owned her first Arabian at the time ("who I was kind of terrified of"), and she could picture herself doing Tevis and going over Cougar Rock with him. It didn't work out with that horse, and in fact she went through many horses before she got to her Khemali'i, but he was the one that fulfilled a long-time dream, after 27 years. She and Ali'i finished Tevis twice, in 2011 and 2012.

All those years, the Fever burned. "I was such a Tevis groupie. I lived in southern California, and every year I came up here to Auburn, and I sucked it in for the 3 days.

"And then once I moved here [to Auburn, in 2009] and I started getting involved with the people that live and breathe this every day - I became really obsessed with it. There's meetings you can go to; there's the Tevis Christmas party; and of course I met Bill [Gore, her boyfriend], and that changed everything for me."

For years, Diana had volunteered for Tevis, as crew, horse transporter, and vet scribe, and then she worked as a photographer for Gore/Baylor photography. (Rene Baylor and Bill Gore shoot the Cougar Rock photos for the ride.)

Bill was voted onto the Tevis Cup Board of Governors in October, and Diana was at that meeting to support him. This was when retiring long-time BoG member Kate Riordan proposed the Wendell Robie trophy for Tevis horses who have finished the ride 10 or more times.

Diana doesn't remember exactly what she heard - sculpture, or bronze - but she immediately raised her hand and said she'd do it for free, if someone paid her expenses and the foundry costs. "Right," Kate Riordan remembers thinking. "Everyone thinks they’re an artist." She didn't know Diana nor her artwork...

More at:
http://tracks.endurance.net/2017/07/horses-art-and-tevis-cup-fever.html

Tevis: The Wendell Robie Trophy

By Kate Riordan
July 26 2017

I’ve been involved with Tevis since 1968. Long time.

Tevis has captured my heart and my sense of discovery, and the people of Tevis have become my tribe.

But ever since 1968 one question has banged around in my mind.

Why isn’t there a Wendell Robie Cup? After all, he’s the extraordinary man whose vision and determination created the Western States Trail Foundation and the “One-Hundred Mile One-Day Trail Ride” known around the world as the Tevis Cup Ride.

In 1991 I was asked to become a member of the WSTF Board of Governors. I was elated beyond measure!

After a few years of careful listening and arduous study of what made the members of the board tick and what the overall mission of WSTF was, I presented the idea of honoring Wendell with a sterling Cup much like the Tevis Cup and Haggin Cup. I was voted down.

In 2016 I resigned from the board because of my health (Lyme disease that led to a rare neurological disease).

But by gosh, I was determined to close my board tenure with a presentation I had prepared. I led with a philosophical statement about always keeping the integrity of this remarkable ride first and foremost, and not letting any kind of “carnival” overture descend upon the ride I so loved.

I followed with a few fundraising ideas, and closed with The Big One. The Wendell Robie Cup...

More at:
http://tracks.endurance.net/2017/07/tevis-wendell-robie-trophy.html

The Tevis Board of Governors: A Year-Round Labor of Love

July 24 2017
Story and photo by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

Tevis Cup fever peaks every summer, but for many people, it's an all-year - or lifetime - obsession. Riders, crews, volunteers, and Board of Governors members all look forward to this annual weekend in July or August under the full moon when horses and riders carry out the tradition of following the 100-mile Western States Tevis trail from Lake Tahoe to Auburn, California.

The Tevis Cup Board of Governors of the Western States Trail Foundation (WSTF) works tirelessly year round to continue Wendell Robie's tradition of this ride that he started in 1955. "The Tevis Cup 100 Miles One Day Ride represents the Foundation's commitment to the ideals of a pioneering experience along historically significant trails that traverse the scenic wilderness of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from east of Squaw Valley to Auburn," the Teviscup.org website states. "The founders of the Tevis Cup event offered their vision of a majestic riding trail penetrating the wild beauty of mountain peaks and valleys hallowed by the Washoe and Maidu tribes and later crossed by explorers, settlers and gold-seekers. These founders declared that the virtue of such a trail would lie in helping preserve the historic significance of its route and would encourage people to return to a simple life perhaps furthering their appreciation of nature, history and the outdoors through the humane use of horses. Horsemen can trade the hectic world of traffic jammed freeways and skyscrapers for a realm of natural splendor while passing through cathedral-like groves of virgin forests that shelter vast numbers of wildlife. Therein lies the essence of the Tevis Cup Ride and the historic Western States Trail."

The name Barbara White is synonymous with Tevis: familiar to many as the person who has the most number of Tevis finishes (34), and of course as the daughter of Julie Suhr (22 finishes) - often called our First Lady of Endurance. The Tevis Cup fever runs high in their family.

What you may not know is that Barbara has been on the Tevis Board of Governors for 11 years. And you may not know what that means to Barbara, and you may not understand what being on the BoG means for all the members. It is a labor of love...

Read more here:
http://tracks.endurance.net/2017/07/the-tevis-board-of-governors-year-round.html

July 19 2017

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February 15 2017

2016 Tevis Cup: Part 1 by Merri Melde

This year's Tevis Cup was different from the beginning - it seemed quiet, less frantic… a bit subdued. Last year when we drove into Robie Equestrian park in the Tahoe National Forest - basecamp for the start of Tevis - with a horse trailer Wednesday evening (Steph and I were crewing for Nance Worman and the Levermann girls), we couldn't nab our usual place to park in the Back Forty, because everywhere was full of rigs.

This year, driving into Robie my car on Wednesday evening, I saw a whole two, count 'em, two parked trailers. In fact, I wondered briefly if I had arrived for the right weekend.

Read more here:
http://tracks.endurance.net/2016/07/2016-tevis-cup-part-1.html

Tevis Cup: Part 2 by Merri Melde

There is a whole 'nother science to crewing for the aspiring top 20 or so Tevis finishers, which I discovered inadvertently, when, on Friday evening, I drove up to Sailor Flat - closest spot you can get to Robinson Flat, the first hour hold vet check at 36 miles. I thought I'd camp close by Robinson in the cool mountain air, instead of staying in hot Auburn or instead of getting up at o'dark:30 Saturday morning at Robie Park and joining the 5:30 AM 3-hour race down the mountain, to Auburn, (and Starbucks), and up to Robinson.

To my surprise, I discovered many crews already set up to camp at the bottom of the hill, loaded up and ready to get in the morning line to drive up to Robinson to drop off the crew gear. One man discussed with his crewmates, "Should we be ready to go at 5:45? 5:30?" I said, "What, 5:30 in the morning?"

"Well, yes, the line-up of cars starts before 5:30, and the first ones allowed up the hill started at 6 AM." Seriously?

Read more here:
http://tracks.endurance.net/2016/08/2016-tevis-cup-part-2.html

The Board of Governors of the Western States Trail Foundation (WSTF) welcomes you to an endurance riding event of distinction, recognized as one of the world''s best tests of true horsemanship.

The Tevis Cup Ride is the founding modern-day equestrian event of its kind in the world. Today, there are hundreds of endurance riding events throughout the nation and in many countries overseas that are based upon the methods and standards originally established by this event. This includes the modeling of national organizations which sanction similar endurance riding events.

The WSTF has long recognized an obligation to continue the tradition that began decades ago. The Tevis Cup 100 Miles One Day Ride represents the Foundation''s commitment to the ideals of a pioneering experience along historically significant trails that traverse the scenic wilderness of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from east of Squaw Valley to Auburn. Since the origin of modern day endurance riding that started with this event in 1955, thousands of horsemen and their athletic steeds have sought the challenges of the Tevis Cup Ride. The event counts among its alumni many experts of American and International horsemanship.

The founders of the Tevis Cup event offered their vision of a majestic riding trail penetrating the wild beauty of mountain peaks and valleys hallowed by the Washoe and Maidu tribes and later crossed by explorers, settlers and gold-seekers. These founders declared that the virtue of such a trail would lie in helping preserve the historic significance of its route and would encourage people to return to a simple life perhaps furthering their appreciation of nature, history and the outdoors through the humane use of horses. Horsemen can trade the hectic world of traffic jammed freeways and skyscrapers for a realm of natural splendor while passing through cathedral-like groves of virgin forests that shelter vast numbers of wildlife. Therein lies the essence of the Tevis Cup Ride and the historic Western States Trail.

We want you to consider what others have found to be an experience of a lifetime. We sincerely look forward to seeing you at the full of the Riding Moon.