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2018 Owyhee Tough Sucker - photos and results

2017 Owyhee April Fools (Tough Sucker!) - photos and results

2016 Tough Sucker - photos and results

2015 Tough Sucker - photos and results

2014 Tough Sucker - photos and results

2013 Tough Sucker - photos and results

2012 Tough Sucker - photos and results

2011 Tough Sucker - photos and results

2010 Tough Sucker - photos and results

2009 Tough Sucker - photos and results


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2018 Owyhee Tough Sucker
Images by Merri
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The 13th Annual Owyhee Tough Sucker

Endurance Ride

April 6 at Teeter Ranch!

2019 Owyhee Tough Sucker - Merri Melde

Perfect trails, perfect weather: that sums up the first ride of the 2019 season in the Northwest region.

The 13th Owyhee Tough Sucker attracted 39 riders to the scenic (green!) high desert trails around Wild Horse Butte, along the Snake River, over the Oregon trail, all framed to the West by the snow-covered Owyhee mountains. Perfect footing made for good moving out if your horses were fit, or good training if your horses missed out on that because of the erratic winter. Cool overcast weather (but no rain or wind) meant no gnats (yay!), and easier going for some of those horses still carrying winter coats. And there was plenty of grass along the trails to boost horse morale and energy and gut sounds!

19 started the 50 miler, with 18 finishing. David Laws and his Kentucky Mountain horse Che Ole won the 50 in 5:20, with second place Kristen Grace and her stallion Monster taking Best Condition. The Big Brass wasn't taking a 'slow down' from Jessica Cobbley, (Brass might get to meet the Big Horn and Tevis trail this year), and he roared to third place in a group with Layne Lewis and Beauty's Harley, and Taladega and Jessica Huber. Huber insisted, to those who saw Dega bucking at the start, that he was good the rest of the ride.

The young Standardbred Hillbillie Willie had a great ride with his wise mentors Uncle Mal (Fire Mt Malabar and Naomi Preston) and Cuzin Hawk (JAC Winterhawk and Lee Pearce).

20 started the 25 miler, with 18 finishing. Connie Holloway and DWA Saruq finished first in 3:11, with third place Paul Hughes and Noslos Ineedaname (3:13) getting Best Condition. Paul's wife Jamie finished second on Hadban USA (3:12). This couple will be putting on their first endurancer ride, the Hughes Highland Hay-Day 25/50/75/100 - and Trail Ride - on May 18 in Mattawa, Washington. Junior Belle Albright rode and finished her first endurance ride ever aboard Jose Viola, and Junior Jacelyn Butler finished her second ride ever aboard Belesema Star Ebony.


2019 Ride Day photos!


Come join us for the first ride of the Northwest season! We'll have an easy/moderate trail since both riders and horses have had a slow start getting in shape (the Winter From Hell). Single track trails, decent footing - though there will be some sand washes and a few rocky stretches. We’ll be riding north of basecamp and across Hwy 78 - for the best footing, and the fewest cows.

Registration and vetting will start some time Friday afternoon (probably around 4:00). We'll have a ride meeting and snacks Friday evening to describe the trails, vetting, etc. If this is your first ride, be sure to let us know and we'll give you some extra tips.

We will have dinner (chile and chips) after the ride with awards. And probably some music by Picket Creek Ramblers afterward! (we tried to book the Rolling Stones, but they had other obligations). If you play an instrument, bring it along and join us.

See you there! be sure to call or email (contact info below) with questions.

Steph


Watch the Tough Sucker Video




Ride Managers: Steph Teeter & Regina Rose
Head Veterinarian: Robert Washington DVM
for more information, contact:
Steph@endurance.net
Regina Rose


Driving Directions to Teeter Ranch
  • From I-84 West (Oregon/Washington) Take Exit 35, south onto Nampa Blvd. (towards Nampa). Left on 3rd St, follow signs to Hwy 45 towards Murphy and Silver City. Right onto Hwy 45 (12th) to Dans Ferry (gas) and Snake River bridge (approx 15 miles). Go LEFT on Hwy 78 just after crossing Snake River. Stay on Hwy 78 approx. 23 miles. Turn right on Oreana Loop Rd. (past mile marker 42) Take first right past trailer houses onto gravel road. Continue 5 miles to camp. Driving time from Nampa is about 1 hour.
  • From I-84 East (Boise, Mountain Home) take Idaho Center exit (exit 38), left off ramp, left at traffic light on Flamingo Rd (towards shopping center) and then take Right onto Happy Valley Rd. Follow Happy Valley several miles, take right on Bowmont Rd, then left onto Hwy 45. Continue south to Snake River (see above)

    OR Take the Simco Rd exit off of I-84. Go south on Simco Rd until you get to the Mountain Home highway. Turn right onto highway. Follow to Grandview. Turn right past Grandview onto Hwy 78. Turn Left (south) onto paved road (Oreana Loop Rd) just past mile marker 43. Go 1.5 miles on pavement, turn right past trailer house onto gravel road, just before dumpsters, onto Bates Creek Rd. Go 5 miles to camp.

  • From I-84 East (East Idaho,Utah/Wyoming) Take Exit 112 at Hammett. Follow signs to Hwy 78 West, towards Bruneau and Grandview. Continue west on 78 past Bruneau and Grandview (approx 50 miles), turn Left (south)onto - paved road, just past mile marker 43. Take first right past trailer houses onto gravel road (about 1.5 mi. from turnoff onto Oreana Loop Rd) Continue 5 miles to camp.
  • From Hwy 95 (Nevada, California): continue north from Winnemucca, turn right on Hwy 55, then right on Marsing/Murphy Rd, this becomes Hwy 78. Follow 78 east along the Snake River, past Murphy. Turn right on Oreana Loop Rd. (past mile marker 42) Take first right past trailer houses onto gravel road (about 1.5 mi. from turnoff onto Oreana Loop Rd) Continue 5 miles to camp.




  • 2018 Tough Sucker - And The Band Played On

    by Merri Melde
    April 9 2018

    Seriously - does nobody read the weather reports? Who would even want to come for an endurance ride with a deluge and a hurricane in the forecast? The weathermasters have been pretty inaccurate with the precipitation this winter, but they've been spot on with the wind, and we were in for a big blow on Saturday, if not at least some of the 100% chance of rain they predicted Friday night and Saturday morning.

    But 42 riders still showed up for the first Owyhee ride of the season. Some were here because they haven't been able to ride much elsewhere (I've been riding most of the winter, but not everybody else has), or they have just been itching to get going, and weather simply didn't factor into it. But mostly we're all here to ride because we're all, in some form or another, Tough Suckers.

    The live band booked for entertainment arrived with instruments in one hand and horses in the other. Endurance rides are really the excuse that gets the bluegrass Pickett Crick Ramblers together. Friday night audience included 2 members who stayed till the very last song, and even clapped after a couple numbers!

    It wasn't till morning that I finally decided on a plan for myself: get Hillbillie Willie a good training ride in the 25, and finish before the hurricane hit. (And we timed it just about right; when we rode down that last draw for home we were in strong a wind tunnel, and when I was bandaging Willie's legs up in camp afterwards, the gale force gusts hit.)


    You know how it goes with the rain: if you're already out riding when it starts raining, it's not so bad, but it's a shade short of miserable if you have to saddle a wet horse up in the rain. But the overnight and morning rain never materialized, so that was an added bonus to the day. Dark skies glowered over the 14 riders who started the 50. The forecasts were right about the wind though; it started picking up around 10 AM (and there were even some spots of thick fog that we rode through), and the wind was strong and hurling some mean gusts by the time the 50's started arriving at the finish in the early afternoon.

    The race for first place in the 50 was a tight one, but Dean Hoalst and Pay Attention were familiar faces who got the win in 5:20, and Best Condition. The actual first place finisher was eliminated when the horse didn't pulse down. Kristen Maholland and Two Carat Diamond ended up with second place in 5:44.

    Connie Holloway on DWA Saruq and (first Junior) Sarah Holloway aboard Noble Desperado finished 3rd and 4th in 6:35. 11 completed the 50 mile ride, with the turtles, Roz Cusack on DA Nejwah and Heidi Skerratt on Gold N Beaudayshus squeezing every bit of enjoyment out of the hurricane ride, finishing in 10:05 while the Pickett Crick Ramblers were in the middle of their Saturday evening concert.

    28 riders started the 25 mile ride with 27 finishing. Long-legged Hillbillie Willie won the 25 in 2:59, with Karen Steenhof and WMA Proclaim finishing 2nd in 3:05 and getting Best Condition. Linda Kluge and Ted, and Abrie Church (one of our fiddle players) on Ultra Sonnic finished right with Karen in 3rd and 4th. There was only 1 pull in the 25.

    The riders out on trail survived the winds and hurtling tumbleweeds just fine (really, the wind was worse on Sunday), and the band played on in the evenings, and we've decided that in 3 years of jamming together, we've gotten good enough that we sometimes sound pretty darn good! Anybody need to book a bluegrass band? Our next gig is City of Rocks on June 7-8-9.