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Re: [RC] The warning to Mongol Riders - Barbara McCraryThe two Mongolian horses I rode were well broke. One was terribly uncomfortable, the other was quite a a bit smoother. If the saddles don't kill the riders, the gaits might. The Mongols traditionally ride with stirrups so short that the rider's legs bend at the knees in a 90 degree angle. When I requested lengthening the stirrups for my first ride, there wasn't a way to make them long enough for me. And the stirrup "leathers" were straps of nylon webbing tied in a knot. Sheesh! Talk about discomfort....Barbara ----- Original Message ----- From: "k s swigart" <katswig@xxxxxxx> To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 12:04 AM Subject: [RC] The warning to Mongol Riders Melissa said: A warning of the real dangers in Mongolia <http://enduranceridestuff.com/blog/2009/06/warning-real-dangers-mongolia/> A very informative letter well worth the read before "choosing a position". What this letter tells me is that the promoters of the Mongol Derby event are right, this event is a serious danger for the riders and that they are taking great risks by undertaking it, but there isn't much of anything in the letter that says it is going to be a huge risk for the horses; at least not to me. If the horses are half-wild who will toss their riders or will run back to their home or run off with another wild horse at the drop of a hat, this IS a problem for the rider, but not much of one for the horse, at least no greater problem than it faces every day of its life. If the horse cannot carry the weight of the rider, then the rider will be reduced to walking along with the horse dragging it the entire way (if s/he wants to stay in the race). And if the rider chooses to abandon the horse, well...it will probably run back to wherever it came from, or will revert to the wild where it came from, or get eaten by wolves which is a risk it takes every day of its life anyway. And the owner of the horse will be compensated for its loss (as riders are required to put up a deposit on the welfare of the horses they ride). It may well be that the riders are letting themselves in for disaster; although participants in the Mongol Rally, the car race staged by the same outfit have, so far, managed to successfully negotiate the Steppes of Mongolia without killing themsevles, even though most of them probably don't know the language (but if _I_ were doing it, I would be sure to bring along my "French Phrase Book") and are in a mode of transportation even less suited to the environment, but I don't see that the horses are being asked to do much different from their regular lot in life. Assuming that their riders are not hopeless navigators, at no time are any of these horses going to be much more than about 12.5 miles from the assistance of one of the horse way stations, which will have food for the horse and human. And yes, I have been further out than that from such assistance in the middle of the desert in Nevada (also with no working communications). I am willing to bet that the two riders negotiating the PCT from end to end will be, during the course of their excursion, further out than that from assistance, right here in California. I know _I_ have been on sections of the PCT. I don't know enough about Mongolian ponies to know their specific capabilities, but I do know that people consistently underestimate the ability of ponies to carry weight. I have a 13.1 hh 600 pound pony who routinely has carried over 200 pounds on rides of much greater distance than 25 miles (in the desert with less access to food an water than it says these horses may have access to). Just this month she carried almost that much over the 23 mile Descanso ride & tie course in ~3.5 hours (most of it cantering or standing tied to a tree) with no ill effects and people at base camp telling me that (because she was dancing all over the place on the way back to the trailer from the vet check) I "needed to take that horse further." And she has been doing this for 13 years now. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if people are underestimating the capabilities of these horses to carry weight. Personally, I think the biggest problem that the participants in this event are going to face IS the food and water, but that is food and water for the riders, not the horses. The horses will probably be getting their regular fare (which may not be what we feed our horses), but I suspect that the participants themselves are going to be playing "microbe roulette" if they drink from the rivers that they cross and eat the food offered by locals. I am NOT saying that the challenges facing the participants in this race are the same as those faced by the 2001 XP riders, but I am saying that what is being asked of the horses is probably a lot less than was asked of the horses on the 2001 XP. And it is, after all, the horses that we say we are concerned about. The riders can be damned fools if they want to. AND they can cry "uncle" if they want to as well, and not be too far from assistance (I have been MUCH further than that from assistance out in the Steppes of Siberia with only a rudimentary knowledge of Russian...and my trusty "French Phrase Book"). The horses are probably pretty good at fending for themselves if need be. kat Orange County, Calif. :)
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