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> From: Karen Sullivan greymare56@xxxxxxxxx
> and perhaps poor planning from a group who has no experience with
> horses........and perhaps should be starting with a less risky event
> for their first time out?
Actually this is a group that started out with a much riskier event their first 
time out.? The group started with a 10,000 mile car rally across half of Europe 
and Asia with providing participants nothing more than a start date the 
instructions of, in essence, "figure out for?yourselves how to get yourself and 
your crappy little underpowered car from Britain to Ulan Bator" and a party at 
the end, if you are able to make it.

For this event, because of the inclusion of horses, they have done a great deal 
more to reduce the risks for everybody including giving participants emergency 
beacons, having emergency medical staff for both horse a rider available and on 
call and an assortment of local horsemen familiar with the horses (because they 
OWN the horses) staged at 25 mile intervals along the course; and veterinarians 
at each spot checking the health and soundness of each horse after it has been 
ridden.

Trust me, this is A LOT less risky than driving a 1 litre engine car from 
Western Europe to Outer Mongolia, especially if, as is claimed by the Long 
Rider's warning letter to participants and their families, roads in Mongolia 
become totally impassable the first time it rains.

Personally, I don't see this as an event where all the participants, for the 
glory of being able to say they came in first (there is no prize money) are 
going to gallop unfit ponies across unsuitable terrain and kill the horses in 
the process.? No more than the participants in the Mongol Rally would drive 
their car into the ground.? I have ridden enough NOT at endurance rides (where 
riders complain if there isn't a pink ribbon every 20 feet telling you where to 
go so you don't have to slow down for anything) to know that when you have to 
navigate your own course, you don't do it at break-neck speed because, well, 
you can't, because you might get lost.

And I know that if _I_ were in Outer Mongolia navigating unfamiliar terrain on 
an unfamiliar horse the LAST thing I would want to be is LOST.? And you don't 
have to count on people being worried about the welfare of a horse to think 
that they might be prudent enough to want to avoid getting lost in Mongolia.? 
They might even understand the risks enough to be prudent enough to actually 
pair up or ride in groups.? I know that I would (and I know that lots of us did 
on the 2001 XP because we all figured that if we were giong to be lost, it 
would be best not to be lost alone).? 

Yes, it is true that if these people are total idiots that they might kill some 
horses, but probably not before they kill themselves.

This is an organization that advertises and promotes and sends of its initial 
excursion, the Mongol Rally, with "The Festival of the Slow."? And they brag 
about how LONG it will take, how hard it will be and how slow you will have to 
go.

I think that comparing this to Catoosa (a come one, come all no matter how 
ignorant you are, short race for a big prize) is just plain wrong.? Comparing 
it to the 2001 XP (a long, multiday, logistical nightmare with nothing more for 
a prize than the chance to say "I finished") is a far more apt comparison.? No, 
Mongolia isn't Kansas and Nebraska, but it isn't Tennessee either; and I am 
sure that the?participants know this (or if they don't, they will find out on 
the first 25 mile leg, after which, if they aren't prepared, they can quit).

As near as I can see it, this event has all the makings of being an excellent 
test of true horsemanship combined with ingenuity, perseverence, planning and 
adaptablity. This, as much as any other horse event I have ever heard of, is 
the absolute poster child for the motto "to finish is to win."? And all the 
participants will know going in (at least?they should)?that if they cannot get 
themselves and ALL TWENTY of the horses that each of them rides through the 
event, that they won't finish.? And they have been told that if they over-ride 
their horses that they will have to get off and walk and drag the horse with 
them.? I cannot speak for everybody, but I can tell you that that would be 
plenty of incentive for ME not to over-ride any horses.

Yes, the event's website is very jokey about the risks associated with all 
their events, but they are very upfront and serious about them as well and are 
quite clear that none of the risks are to be undertaken lightly (despite the 
light hearted tone).

Perhaps because it is a communication technique that I am both familiar with 
and resort to often myself (making a joke out of serious things to ilustrate 
the seriousness of it--the Duck often uses it as well), I am attributing it to 
these people as well*.? But so far, nobody has died on ANY of their adventures 
despite the fact that there are huge risks associated with them.? This tells me 
that they are probably pretty good at warning people of the risks, preparing 
them for them, and weeding out anybody who should be there.

And if you don't think that this is a communication technique that the Duck 
uses, then you haven't read all the stuff on the XP Rider website, including 
the XP Rider Oath which, despite its jokey tone is VERY serious.? And he uses 
it for the same purpose, to warn of the risks while at the same time weeding 
out those that shouldn't be there because they are unprepared to undertake them.

I could be all wrong, these guys really might be a bunch of idiot yahoos who 
have just gotten lucky for the last 5 years, but I doubt it.

Is it a given that this innagural Mongol Derby will go off without a hitch and 
that it will be demonstrated that of course it can be done?? No, it has never 
been tried before so nobody knows.

But I have been to enough of Dave Nicholson's rides to have heard the story of 
the first XP where a handful of endurance riders got together with no idea 
whether it could be done, and not much idea of where they were going either.? 
Sounds a little bit like the first Tevis too.

An adventurer is somebody with enough self-sufficiency and enough courage to 
try and find out. So far, these guys have been doing it really well

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)

p.s. It wouldn't surprise me if the reason that so many of the people 
associated with the event have stopped taking phone calls from or making 
comment to the Long Rider's Guild is that they have gotten tired of what they 
consider to be irrational diatribes from people who aren't going to listen to 
anything they have to say anyway.? _I_ wouldn't take phone calls from those 
guys either, and I am about to give up here. It certainly explains why Dave 
Nicholson said he made a point of NOT publicizing the 2001 XP to the world at 
large before doing it, because publicizing such events in advance just leads to 
the real possibility of ignorant people going off half-cocked and trying to put 
a stop to it before you have even tried.? It wouldn't surpise me?that had he 
publicized that event in advance that the Long Riders Guild, or some other 
horse welfare organization,?would have had something disparaging to say about 
it as well.

* Which they allude to in their "Warning" which states: "These adventures are 
genuinely dangerous things to do. The website is written in a light-hearted 
fashion but you cannot underestimate the risks involved in undertaking this 
kind of adventure. Your chance of dying can be very high, some past teams have 
been seriously injured. These adventures are not a glorified holiday. They are 
an adventure and so by their very nature extremely risky. You really are on 
your own. If it all goes wrong, that's it, tough."

Compare that with the XP Rider Oath which states: " I will not gripe, bellyache 
or complain about anything pertaining to an XP Ride because I realize that this 
is a low budget affair and that the management does not care if I have a 
problem. I realize and agree that anyone who would ride an endurance ride led 
by a Duck has to be crazy and would not have a worthwhile opinion anyway. I am 
here to have a good time and if I find that I am not having a good time I agree 
to pack up my things and go away, leaving the other riders and the management 
happy in their ignorance.?"


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