Training Camp
Caren on Ollie, Me on Majee, and Sam on Gazel (sp?)
Last weekend, Kristin and I took the 12 hour trek from Virginia to Florida to participate in Stevie’s derby training camp. She usually holds these out of her farm outside of SF, and we were signed up to participate in one last June, but Covid hit, I got stuck on the east coast, and we gave up on being able to connect. Fortunately, we follow each other on instagram and while I was staying at Kristin’s, we saw she was offering a training camp on the east coast. We realized that this may be our one shot to connect with Stevie in person, and had to make it happen.
Stevie has been amazing during this entire journey. She has a cool backstory of how she started working for The Adventurists, met her husband, and started her company, Intergalactic Equine, all stemming from the Mongol Derby. She’s an incredibly hard worker and an inspiration. I joined her November training plan and learned a ton. I was excited to meet her in person and pick her brain.
The training camp was scheduled for the second weekend in January, which meant I needed to get myself and all of my camping and riding gear to Kristin’s, and then we had to drive the last 12 hours to Florida. Fortunately, my parents are saints and are watching my puppy (a bit to my dad’s chagrin, but he’s a champ - thanks, Mom and Dad!) since she’s gotten rather naughty and putting her in a kennel as a 4 month old puppy was sad. Two 4 AM wakeups and lots of yogurt pretzels later, we had made it to Florida! The part of Florida we were in was gorgeous. I had never been to Ocklawaha before, but it’s very sandy, marshy, and full of wildlife and miles upon miles of trails. On our rides we saw plenty of deer, heron, cranes, other fowl, disturbances probably caused by alligators, and a bald eagle.
The training camp was amazing. Stevie has a plethora of her own knowledge, and assembled a crew of endurance riders and past derby riders to tell us about their experiences and impart wisdom. There were two other women besides Kristin and myself there for the camp and it was awesome to meet them and hear about their training strategies and get to know them as well. One is doing the same race we are (Mongol Derby 2021), and one is doing the Gaucho Derby 2022 (500 km through Patagonia, less about speed, more about survival). I hadn’t previously thought about the new people I would meet while training for this race, and the special network of people I would become a part of for attempting this feat. That realization was probably my favorite part of the weekend (@Stevie that’s my new rose!).
We camped out the whole time, ate and hung out by the firepit, and relieved ourselves in a lawn-chair turned toilet with a beautiful view of the marsh. Caren Risley, our host, had wonderful horses for us to ride, and Patti Long, a previous and future derby participant - foxhunter turned endurance rider - brought in three more wonderful mounts as well. Stevie had us up at 6 AM for balance board work, lunges, and sprinting to start our day. Then we had coffee and ate, tacked up, and went off on a 24 mile ride along the levy. We rode mostly at a trot, and we all held up pretty well until around mile 20...I was feeling pretty decent until the realization hit that that’s ONE LEG of the derby. You’ll do 2-4 legs per day on the ponies. We then realistically did a trot up of our horses since we’ll have a vet check when we get to each horse station. I honestly wasn’t sure I’d be able to run, but once I got off, my legs recovered a bit. The takeaway was that 1) I’m glad I have been doing as many long rides as I have and 2) I need to do way more and they need to be way longer.
After lunch, we picked Abbi Bell’s brain. She rode the Derby in 2019 with Patti, and had to pull out when she rode a horse that bucked for 15 miles straight. I can’t even imagine the pain! She’s attempting it again in 2022. She had a lot of good tips about gear and strategy, etc. After some mounting practice, we gathered for dinner and another previous Derby participant and storied endurance rider, Aimee Whelan came to chat with us with her daughter, Annie, who is also a very accomplished endurance rider and will attempt the Derby in the future. Aimee said that her time in the Derby was actually more relaxing because she’s used to having to take care of her horses and worrying about them on her hundred mile rides. Being able to switch horses every 25 miles alleviated that stress. Coming from Eventing, 25 miles seems like an eternity, but she put that in perspective for me for sure.
Day 2 started the same way (though we got to sleep in an extra half hour), we all switched horses around, and went out for our ride. The horses were very high and energized - some a bit too much. We kept running into hunters and at one point almost got run over by a truck with the hounds in it on a tiny little sand road. My favorite part of this ride was the swamp we went through on the way to the main trail system. The sun was out and hitting the water just right. It was very pretty. I accidentally had a little pill bottle of Advil in my pack, and quickly realized that it sounds like clucking - not ideal when you’re in a group of excited horses. We had to leave it on a fencepost and grabbed it on the way back. Note to self: make sure EVERYTHING you bring to Mongolia is quiet or figure out how to make it that way.
After we got back, put the horses up and ate, it was time for bareback practice. Riding bareback is a great way to figure out where you need to be stronger or more balanced. The theory is that if you work on finding your center of gravity without any assistance from the saddle, you can find it more easily with aids like stirrups and a seat. Bareback with two-point at the trot is the trifecta. I still need work in this area. Stevie kept making the point that you can make things harder on yourself without making it harder on the horses - riding bareback is a great way to do that. The goal is to be able to mount from the ground bareback and ride at all three paces at the two point. A hefty goal for where I’m starting from…
Speaking of mounting - we had done some mounting practice the day before. I had not thought about mounting the Mongolian horses, but it is apparently one of the most dangerous times of the race. They’re afraid of you and all the equipment you have and are constantly trying to kick you. They’re very athletic and can easily spin and double barrel you in the chest or some other body part, and then it’s race over. The Mongolians are much more spry and can leap on incredibly athletically. You don’t have a ton of time to heave yourself into the saddle and find your balance enough to sit whatever antics the horses get up to next - either rearing, bucking, taking off, you name it. Stevie recommends practicing mounting on a fence with one hand - much harder than it sounds. It’s even hard with two hands!
We came away from the weekend with a lot of homework, a better idea of some of our equipment (and things to purchase or try), and new friends. As I said to Kristin, it was 200% worth the trip. I’m so glad we were able to make it happen.
Now we have to put all of our learnings in action!
For pictures of the weekend, follow me on instagram @1grandadventure!