Introduction

Luke Steele (luke.steele@fujitsu.com.au)
Tue, 8 Oct 96 14:08:35 EST

Dear world, I have recently subscribed and am enjoying reading all your
info. I now write to introduce myself. My endurance career started in 1990
and with a very steep learning curve from making many mistakes. Since then I
have ridden 3263 successful competitive miles and think I am starting to get
the hang of it! My main interest is in the longer rides - 100 miles and
longer - and think the multi-day marathons are great. In Australia our
competitive rides are 50 mi or longer. Shorter rides are classed as
non-competitive training rides.
My star of the sky is my 10yo grey arabian mare Nikita Bint Kopoola who has
now completed 2444 miles. Nikita is of Polish, English and Egyptian
breeding. We are not front-runners but consistently 'finish to win' and
often place in the Heavyweight section. Our competition season is drawing to
a close (last ride in late November) as summer approaches. I note that you
in North America are also winding down, but for winter. We don't get much of
that ice and snow stuff here, except on top of our bigger mountains. My
other horses are Sarah, a 19yo Standardbred mare with over 500 mi on the
clock and her 4yo son Shadrach whose dad is an arabian.
We live at Riddells Creek which is 35 mi NW of Melbourne, Victoria, and work
in the city. The 1hr, 20 min via car, train and tram to work each day is
worth it, just to live in the country. I was going crazy living in the
suburbs and travelling to agistment every day.
It is exciting to be in communication with endurance nuts around the world.
Not much point in talking about the sport at the office. They either think I
am crazy (probably am) or telling tall tales. 'What did you do over the
weekend, Luke?' 'I rode my horse 150 miles, and watched the sun rise from
the top of a mountain, what did you do?' Their replies are usually
incomprehensible to me and involve things like watching people play sport on
'Television', washing the car, mowing the lawn, etc... I am waffling now.
Off to Bright in the beautiful mountains of NE Victoria next weekend for a
50 miler. Love to hear from you.
Best Regards from Australia
Luke Steele
luke.steele@fujitsu.com.au