by Jessica Black
August 6, 2021
When I shared my post about the 2021 Tevis Cup and asked for suggestions about further blog posts, many people wanted to hear more about Ticket the mule and her rider, Shane Lesher. (See their Tevis 2021 profile.) Shane isn’t on Facebook, nor a current member of AERC, but fortunately Garden Valley Feed & Hardware, the store his wife and he own, has a Facebook page. I left a message, and a manager was kind enough to reply and forward my phone number to Shane. He called me right away, on a Saturday morning, no less. I was riding at the time, and he was camping so I agreed to call back Monday.
By the time I was done riding and working Monday, it was late afternoon. Shane and I ended up talking the next day. This gave me a bit of time to prep for the interview, but I didn’t find much. Shane was not an AERC member. That made the story that much more interesting! Talking with Shane Lesher about Ticket and Tevis
I loved interviewing Shane. His enthusiasm for the sport and his love for Ticket shone so brightly I wanted to go out and get me a mule, preferably one bred for racing, like Ticket!...
Read more here:
https://jessicaeblack.org/ticket-the-mule-and-her-rider/
The gorgeous 28-year-old, Bogus Thunder, bred and owned by Ann and Hal Hall, carried one of the sweep riders, Leslie Bisharat, out of Robinson Flat.
Bogus Thunder earned 5 Tevis buckles, carrying Ann to two finishes and Hall to three finishes, winning the Haggin Cup in 2002 when they finished second.
Bogus Thunder still has an incredible presence and as he kept looking right at me, I just fell in love with him.
Bogus Thunder was always Ann's Perfect Horse. She described him a decade ago: “He makes my heart smile. Having Bogus in the barn has been a wonderful experience and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have been able to ride him, and for me he has been the perfect horse.”
10 Tevis buckles for Ann Hall. 1000 miles on the Tevis trail!
She rode Suzanne Hayes' gorgeous 18-year-old Anglo-Arab gelding Greenbriar Al Jabal (Atlas) to his 5th Tevis Cup finish. 500 miles on the Tevis trail!
That's her husband Hal Hall running alongside, handing off water - he's finished 30 Tevis Cups. 3000 miles om the Tevis trail!
He presented her with her 10th buckle the next morning.
Congrats Pete!!!
Lindsay Fisher rode 23-year-old Bucephalos (Dexter) beside his 19-year-old son Monk, ridden by Nancy Martin. It was Lindsay’s 8th Tevis completion, and Dexter’s first Tevis attempt and finish. It was Nancy’s first 100 miler, and Monk’s 6th Tevis completion (and he and Lindsay won the Haggin Cup in 2019). And it was maybe his slowest ride ever :)
Lindsay said the start was quite interesting for Monk, who had his nose buried in Dexter’s tail, as Monk is used to going quite a bit faster. Lindsay said, “Monk is not an easy ride and the poor gal [Nancy] kept a huge smile on her face all day even when Monk was trying to run away with her from foresthill to the finish!!! What a tough woman!!!”
The other family finishing together (within 5 minutes of the Monk gang) were Sirii Berg aboard the 16-year-old stallion HCC Elessar (Monster), beside his 7-year-old son HCC Tetherow Joe (Jojo), ridden by Sara Anderson. Both are owned by Kristen Grace, who happened to ride along and finish on Monster’s brother, 16-year-old HCC Symbol (Bingo).
Jenni Gomez had the ride on Susan Garlinghouse’s gelding, and Team John Henry turned out in full support...
they crossed the finish line in Auburn...
but alas, due to Tevis Gremlins, they were overtime so he did not get a completion.
so close, and yet so heartbreakingly far!
Jeremy Reynolds and Treasured Moments finished first in the August 24th Tevis Cup. Riding at the front of the pack of 133 riders, the two enjoyed a comfortable margin of victory at the end, finishing the 100 miles in 14 hours 48 minutes.
Second place was a nail-biter, as 3 riders popped up trail out of the dark 1 hour and 10 minutes later, with Christoph Schork and VA Blizzard of Oz nipping Vicki Holzer and SW Majestica, with Susan Kramer and A Ali Aseel another length back in fourth.
Suzanne Ford Huff and S D Expressa had been running up front with Jeremy leaving the Foresthill vet check, but they dropped back to finish fifth.
Finishing sixth and seventh were the mother-daughter duo of Jeanette and Reyna Mero. Jeanette rode Ozark Kaolena SWA (Lena) and Reyna rode Chndakas Eklipse SWA, with Lena receiving the Haggin Cup the next morning.
Jeremy is now a 4-time Tevis Cup winner (he also won the Haggin Cup 3 times previously).
Treasured Moments is an 11-year-old mare by DA Adios X Hidden Treasure, by RD Five Star, who received her 4th Tevis Buckle (her first buckle was a 3rd place and Haggin cup with Jeremy). Eight weeks previously she’d been in Italy where she and Jeremy won the 100-mile Italian Championship.
Jeanette Mero received her 4th Tevis buckle and Lena received her second. The mare has completed all but 2 of her 34 starts and she’s earned 7 Best Condition awards, including the 2019 National Championship 100 in California.
This year's heat wasn't particularly awful, though some riders did have to contend with the usual Tevis Gremlins out on trail (and before the ride). The riders and horses did have to contend with smoke from the start to several miles past the first hour vet check at Robinson Flat (36) miles but a top rider didn't consider that a factor.
63 riders finished out of 133 starters for a completion rate of 47%, which is more or less average for the Tevis Cup.
“It is not for the faint of heart: 100 hard-won miles of rock, dust, elevation, uphill (19,000 cumulative feet of climbing), downhill (22,000 cumulative feet of descending), imposing mountains, plunging canyons, wild Rivers, wilderness, extreme heat, suffocating humidity, extraordinary effort, and luck - good or bad, all in various doses, riding your horse across the Sierra Nevada mountains, in the dark and the light and the dark, all done within a 24 hour time limit. In 2010, Time magazine listed the Tevis Cup as one of the top 10 endurance competitions in the world.“
oh, but there’s more, so much more! Ride along with Merri Melde and Big Sky Quinn in their attempt at the World’s Toughest 100 mile Endurance ride, in Tevis Cup Magic.
Available on Amazon as soft cover
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0991346009
or e-book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G6J5EX6
winner of Best Book at the 2016 American Horse Publications Equine Media Awards.
Kyla has 915 AERC, EDRA, and WDRA miles, and she and Flash finished their first 100 in the December Scottsdale ReMarkable 100.
you can’t miss Flash - he’s pony-sized, but he’s got the personality of two horses put together and the determination of four, and Kyla has the biggest smile you’ll see all weekend!
(The two are pictured at City of Rocks Pioneer in June)
(The 2 of them are pictured at last year's Big Horn 100, where Suzie and Sanz won, and Ann and Atlas came 3rd)