Tevis Cup (100 mile endurance race USA)

[Landcruiser]

I happened to come across this on YouTube last night (OH is away so I get to watch what he calls horse porn ). Anyway, if you can get past the rather portentous commentary and the Chinese (???) subtitles and background commentary, it's quite a good watch. The 14 yr old and her mentor, and the old guys with the mules were my particular favourites. It looks bloody tough on the horses and only half finish, but the vet checks etc look to be rigorous. Anyway, enjoy.

 

[stangs]

Thanks for sharing, I find everything Tevis Cup fascinating.

(It's Japanese, not Chinese though.)

 

[janem_g]

Funnily enough I was helping at an endurance ride this weekend and was paired with someone wearing a rather impressive Tevis buckle. They said it was amazing, a real bucket list thing.

 

[ameeyal]

My wish list was to do the tevis ( ok I’m daydreaming) I would love a photo of me and my horse riding up the rocks with the wilderness in the background ,stunning photos, anyway I’ve gone off topic, I’m now off to watch your video.

 

[Prancerpoos]

Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed it. An amazing achievement for a 14 year old.

 

[TTK]

The organisers run the Virtual Tevis Cup prior to the actual race. I entered this year & it was great fun. 100 miles in 100 days, with chat groups all over the world, all sorts of media sent at each checkpoint and a really good t shirt & badge as a prize. I was so invested, I watched the race on live stream. It was brilliant & tough. Respect to the riders.

 

[TheHairyOne]

That was a lovely watch! Thanks for the link.

 

[Tarragon]

I have been following the Tevis Cup on facebook for a while now. It is an amazing feat of endurance. The people who came first and second this year were mother and daughter!

 

[planete]

I used to be a fan. Now I know horses die coming off the trail or collapse from exhaustion I am thinking again.

 

[Lulwind]

I used to be a fan. Now I know horses die coming off the trail or collapse from exhaustion I am thinking again.

The Tevis Cup – 100 Miles – One Day Western States Trail Ride – 100 Miles – 1 Day – Trail Ride

The Western States Trail Ride, popularly called the Tevis Cup Ride, is the oldest modern day endurance ride, having been held annually since 1955. As such, it has been the inspiration and model for the most challenging endurance rides worldwide.

teviscup.org

2 horses died this year

 

[paddy555]

hope it's OK to post this LC.

Endurance yes but this is as far from cantering up Cougar on an Arab as you can get.
A fascinating study of the past (just come up on my FB) They bred them tough in those days

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[Prancerpoos]

Yes, @paddy555, I saw that too. And she does not look that young either. Very impressive.

 

[Landcruiser]

I used to be a fan. Now I know horses die coming off the trail or collapse from exhaustion I am thinking again.

I'm absolutely with you in having some reservations - those rocky trails look SO tough on the horses, as do the big climbs. That's why I mentioned this and the vettings in my OP.

 

[planete]

I'm absolutely with you in having some reservations - those rocky trails look SO tough on the horses, as do the big climbs. That's why I mentioned this and the vettings in my OP.

The gradients and the terrain are extreme. I find myself once again questioning the ethics of submitting horses to such gruelling tests. Once upon a time I was full of admiration, now my perspective has changed and I could not do this to any horse.

 

[JenJ]

The gradients and the terrain are extreme. I find myself once again questioning the ethics of submitting horses to such gruelling tests. Once upon a time I was full of admiration, now my perspective has changed and I could not do this to any horse.

I agree with the above.

Looking at the photos, most horses look pumped and sweaty, like a racehorse that has just run a race, but that state for them lasts for many hours. As someone who runs ultra marathons for 'fun', I know how much of a mental battle it can be to keep going when you're tired, but to MAKE a horse go through that? It doesn't sit comfortably with me. There's a reason it's called 'endurance'...

endurance
noun
1. the ability to endure an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.

 

[EstherYoung]

I agree with the above.

Looking at the photos, most horses look pumped and sweaty, like a racehorse that has just run a race, but that state for them lasts for many hours. As someone who runs ultra marathons for 'fun', I know how much of a mental battle it can be to keep going when you're tired, but to MAKE a horse go through that? It doesn't sit comfortably with me. There's a reason it's called 'endurance'...

endurance
noun
1. the ability to endure an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.

Re the comparison with human ultra marathons - I think if the humans had to pass strict health checks eight times throughout the race and had to return to their normal resting pulse and hydration parameters at each check and only got awarded their final completion if they passed a final medical check as having returned to their resting pulse and hydration parameters and being sound enough to run another 15% of the distance, I think the completion rate would drop somewhat

Re Tevis, the 'health and safety' challenge isn't the steep climbs and the rocks, it's the narrowness and the remoteness of the trail. If anything does happen out there, rescue is an extreme logistical challenge, and it also blocks the trail for anyone coming up behind as there is nowhere to pass. An additional challenge for this year was that forest fires had destroyed a lot of the tree cover and vegetation meaning that the drop offs at the side of those narrow canyon trails really were straight down with nothing to break a fall. So a really minor thing like a saddle slipping and the horse stepping sideways on a narrow trail could cause a fatal accident. I organise a remote ride in the UK, so I get the appeal, there's something about wild remote places which gets into your very soul both as an organiser and as a rider, but knowing how much we work through every inch of our trail and think 'if someone got into trouble here, what would we do?' (and even with all the careful marking and mapping and risk assessing we will still end up with someone going off piste....), we still have nowhere near the safety challenges of organising something like Tevis. NB Cougar Rock may make for dramatic pictures but from a different angle it's just a rocky bit of hill and it's not the most dangerous part of the Tevis route by a long way.