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Laura Yost Finishes Top 10 at Tevis
Idahostatejournal.com - Full Article
October 20, 2011 12:24 am
Pocatello woman makes top 10 national equine endurance race By Vanessa Grieve vgrieve@journalnet.com Idaho State Journal | 0 comments
After working with her Arabian gelding for about five years, Pocatello's Laura Yost saw the opportunity for her horse to "open up," earning ninth place in a nationally esteemed endurance race.
Yost, 36, competed with her horse, O.T. El Din RSI, in the Tevis Cup or Western States Trail Ride on Oct. 8. The race is 100 miles across the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Truckee, Nev., to Auburn, Calif., fluctuating in elevation from 8,700 feet to 700 feet.
"It was a dream come true," Yost said. "This year I changed his conditioning and workout to cater to the Tevis to handle the elevation change and faster pace. I decided this was the year to let him go."
Yost said she was on "cloud nine" after the experience. She said the morning following the race, the top 10 winners showed their horses to judges and an audience as veterinarians inspected the animals with a "fine tooth comb" for metabolic and physical soundness. Yost said El Din was quite energetic...
Read more here:
http://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/article_51f7a928-fae4-11e0-bf7c-001cc4c002e0.html
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Posted By Endurance.Net to Endurance Tracks at 10/20/2011 08:54:00 AM
October 20, 2011 12:24 am
Pocatello woman makes top 10 national equine endurance race By Vanessa Grieve vgrieve@journalnet.com Idaho State Journal | 0 comments
After working with her Arabian gelding for about five years, Pocatello's Laura Yost saw the opportunity for her horse to "open up," earning ninth place in a nationally esteemed endurance race.
Yost, 36, competed with her horse, O.T. El Din RSI, in the Tevis Cup or Western States Trail Ride on Oct. 8. The race is 100 miles across the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Truckee, Nev., to Auburn, Calif., fluctuating in elevation from 8,700 feet to 700 feet.
"It was a dream come true," Yost said. "This year I changed his conditioning and workout to cater to the Tevis to handle the elevation change and faster pace. I decided this was the year to let him go."
Yost said she was on "cloud nine" after the experience. She said the morning following the race, the top 10 winners showed their horses to judges and an audience as veterinarians inspected the animals with a "fine tooth comb" for metabolic and physical soundness. Yost said El Din was quite energetic...
Read more here:
http://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/article_51f7a928-fae4-11e0-bf7c-001cc4c002e0.html
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Posted By Endurance.Net to Endurance Tracks at 10/20/2011 08:54:00 AM
2011 Tevis: Did It! - Jenni Smith
Blogs.equisearch.com - Jenni Smith - Full Story
October 10, 2011
The motto of the Western States Trail Ride (aka Tevis) is "To finish is to win." It is truly apt. Even this year, with a significantly different route that took out a majority (in my opinion) of the more challenging trail, the completion rate only climbed to 60%. When the ride follows its typical course, that rate typically hovers around 50%. Which ever way you slice it, this is a tough stinkin' ride.
That said – we finished! And it definitely feels like a win – for us, for our horses, for all the careful preparation, time and monies spent. Whoo hoo!
Jenn and I got to McCann Stadium (in the Auburn fairgrounds), did our victory lap around the arena, and passed under the official finish line just after 10 PM Saturday evening. Definitely the earliest time I will ever finish the ride, by a margin of at least two hours. Bear and I finished in 16th and Jenn and Stella were 18th (another rider named Pam Bailie on a cute paint mare named Macy did the last four mile stretch with us and finished 17th).
The amazing thing is that the winner – Jeremy Reynolds – finished three hours ahead of us. He did the entire course in 10 1/2 hours. Amazing. We came into the first vet check just behind him and were maybe 10 minutes behind him by the mid-point of the ride. It's a testimony to an amazing horse and a fit rider (he runs quite a bit with his horses) that he could pick up the pace so much in the second half of a very tough ride.
Even though the course was largely different, I still thought of this as three rides sewn together – here are their stories;
FIRST LEG – AUBURN TO FORESTHILL (38.6 miles)
The start was something to behold. They had all of the horses muster in one open field at 6 AM (start was at 6:30) and asked us to keep moving them around in a large circle – both for safety (fewer dust-ups) and to give them opportunity to warm up. Jenn and I malingered near the start line because we wanted to get out in the first part of the herd (again for safety – we knew our horses capable of a pretty fast pace and the fewer horses you have to pass the less chance for wrecks). Then a lead rider walked us some distance in a controlled start (much like a car race, my SO pointed out). As we wound down a hillside on an asphalt one-lane road, Jenn called out to look back and it was just a sea of horses winding up the hill in the early morning light. So wished I had a camera with me.
When the lead horse stepped aside, the pace exploded. Jenn had been concerned about Stella in this setting – she's young yet, a little inexperienced, and has a tendency to lash out with her heels at other horses. But she was good – only aimed two retaliations at horses that crowded her from behind and didn't cause any damage (it does help that she isn't wearing steel shoes). There was some jostling and Jenn and I had to make an effort to stay together in the low light as we sped down a dirt fire road, headed toward the Tevis trail to Foresthill. But things shook out pretty quickly and we landed in a good space...
Read more here:
http://blogs.equisearch.com/jennismith/2011/10/10/did-it/
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Posted By Endurance.Net to Ride Stories at 10/15/2011 10:20:00 AM
October 10, 2011
The motto of the Western States Trail Ride (aka Tevis) is "To finish is to win." It is truly apt. Even this year, with a significantly different route that took out a majority (in my opinion) of the more challenging trail, the completion rate only climbed to 60%. When the ride follows its typical course, that rate typically hovers around 50%. Which ever way you slice it, this is a tough stinkin' ride.
That said – we finished! And it definitely feels like a win – for us, for our horses, for all the careful preparation, time and monies spent. Whoo hoo!
Jenn and I got to McCann Stadium (in the Auburn fairgrounds), did our victory lap around the arena, and passed under the official finish line just after 10 PM Saturday evening. Definitely the earliest time I will ever finish the ride, by a margin of at least two hours. Bear and I finished in 16th and Jenn and Stella were 18th (another rider named Pam Bailie on a cute paint mare named Macy did the last four mile stretch with us and finished 17th).
The amazing thing is that the winner – Jeremy Reynolds – finished three hours ahead of us. He did the entire course in 10 1/2 hours. Amazing. We came into the first vet check just behind him and were maybe 10 minutes behind him by the mid-point of the ride. It's a testimony to an amazing horse and a fit rider (he runs quite a bit with his horses) that he could pick up the pace so much in the second half of a very tough ride.
Even though the course was largely different, I still thought of this as three rides sewn together – here are their stories;
FIRST LEG – AUBURN TO FORESTHILL (38.6 miles)
The start was something to behold. They had all of the horses muster in one open field at 6 AM (start was at 6:30) and asked us to keep moving them around in a large circle – both for safety (fewer dust-ups) and to give them opportunity to warm up. Jenn and I malingered near the start line because we wanted to get out in the first part of the herd (again for safety – we knew our horses capable of a pretty fast pace and the fewer horses you have to pass the less chance for wrecks). Then a lead rider walked us some distance in a controlled start (much like a car race, my SO pointed out). As we wound down a hillside on an asphalt one-lane road, Jenn called out to look back and it was just a sea of horses winding up the hill in the early morning light. So wished I had a camera with me.
When the lead horse stepped aside, the pace exploded. Jenn had been concerned about Stella in this setting – she's young yet, a little inexperienced, and has a tendency to lash out with her heels at other horses. But she was good – only aimed two retaliations at horses that crowded her from behind and didn't cause any damage (it does help that she isn't wearing steel shoes). There was some jostling and Jenn and I had to make an effort to stay together in the low light as we sped down a dirt fire road, headed toward the Tevis trail to Foresthill. But things shook out pretty quickly and we landed in a good space...
Read more here:
http://blogs.equisearch.com/jennismith/2011/10/10/did-it/
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Posted By Endurance.Net to Ride Stories at 10/15/2011 10:20:00 AM
Tevis - Heather Reynolds
Reynolds Racing Blog - Full Story
Monday, 10 October 2011
This year Tevis was a really different experience for everyone who attended. The week leading up to the ride there had been a storm that had left the sierras covered in snow. It would be extremely dangerous to attempt to cross through the Granite Chief wilderness area. On Thursday I called the Tevis office and was told that it would be fine but that I should wait to drive to Robie Park on Friday to let the snow melt a little. This looked really bad to me as I knew there had to be a lot more snow up in the high country if basecamp was hard to access.
Six weeks before Tevis I was contacted to help a couple of UAE riders through the race. I had been preparing horses like crazy for 100 mile races for both Tevis and the North American Championship that had been two weeks before Tevis and was working really hard. I also went and picked up two of Hillorie's horses to train them as well, Jordan and Sandy, so that we could use Sandy and have Jordan as a back up. I was now really worried that all of the hard work was going to now be faced with danger.
My friend Chris Long was driving in with Andy Bown from Utah. Andy was lending Chris a horse so she could help assist me in getting the riders through. Chris called me to let me know that she had heard there would be an update on the Tevis web page later in the day.
Upon looking it was later learned that we would start from the Auburn Fairgrounds (the finish line) and do the race in reverse all the way to Chicken Hawk, then do a new trail down Gorman Ranch Road to a number check and turn around from there and go back to Auburn, the way we had come. Essentially Tevis would be an out and back. What a relief from the hazards that were out in the high country covered in 3 plus feet of snow!!
Friday we drove up to Auburn, which shortens our drive by over an hour. We found a great parking spot and unloaded the 4 horses. We had with us Marvel for Jeremy, Tiran for Mohammad, Sandy for Sultan and Bey for myself.
After setting up it was only 9 am. We had left home at 5 am to get a good parking spot. We decided to walk to downtown Auburn for breakfast. We hit up Aweful Annies. It was a great breakfast but while we were there, there were an alarming amount of Bloody Marries being bought and consumed from surrounding tables. Not sure what was up with that, I counted at least 12 and we were sitting on the outdoor patio deck!
We looked around a couple of shops then headed back to the ride site. Around noon the whole gang showed up. Almost all of the crew as well as the riders. We visited for a bit and then went to get our rider packets and vetted in. After all of this we went for a pre ride. I wanted to get the two riders on their horses and make sure the tack would work out. The ride went well. On our way back when we were almost back a super, super long train went by and all of the horses had to wait it out. They did ok with it, a little anxious but ok.
The ride meeting was at 4 pm. It was shorter than normal which was great. It left time for dinner before bed without it getting too late. During the ride meeting we found out the vet check arrangements. The first vet would be a trot by at the lower quarry, then a full vet check at Francisco's, and hour hold at Foresthill, another trot by at Chicken Hawk, then loop back to Chicken Hawk for a full vet check, back to Foresthill for another hour hold, full vet checks at Francisco's and the Lower Quarry then the finish.
We all headed into town for dinner, I must say having Tevis this way was SOOO civilized, restaurants, real bathrooms with showers and no red dirt!
Saturday morning we even got to sleep in compared to normal, the ride didn't start until 6:30. Wonderful! The two riders showed up around 5:30 and Hillorie even brought us Starbucks! We saddled up and got on at 6. Jeremy a little sooner, as he would be riding faster and wanted to get down to the start.
My group had a relaxing walk to the start. I was wearing a red glowing armband so that my riders could spot me easily in the little darkness in the morning. It worked well. We all kept together easily. It is about a 15 min ride down to the start so we got there a little over 10 mins before the start.
The ride began and we were off...
Read more here:
http://www.reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog/view/359/tevis
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Posted By Endurance.Net to Ride Stories at 10/15/2011 10:10:00 AM
Monday, 10 October 2011
This year Tevis was a really different experience for everyone who attended. The week leading up to the ride there had been a storm that had left the sierras covered in snow. It would be extremely dangerous to attempt to cross through the Granite Chief wilderness area. On Thursday I called the Tevis office and was told that it would be fine but that I should wait to drive to Robie Park on Friday to let the snow melt a little. This looked really bad to me as I knew there had to be a lot more snow up in the high country if basecamp was hard to access.
Six weeks before Tevis I was contacted to help a couple of UAE riders through the race. I had been preparing horses like crazy for 100 mile races for both Tevis and the North American Championship that had been two weeks before Tevis and was working really hard. I also went and picked up two of Hillorie's horses to train them as well, Jordan and Sandy, so that we could use Sandy and have Jordan as a back up. I was now really worried that all of the hard work was going to now be faced with danger.
My friend Chris Long was driving in with Andy Bown from Utah. Andy was lending Chris a horse so she could help assist me in getting the riders through. Chris called me to let me know that she had heard there would be an update on the Tevis web page later in the day.
Upon looking it was later learned that we would start from the Auburn Fairgrounds (the finish line) and do the race in reverse all the way to Chicken Hawk, then do a new trail down Gorman Ranch Road to a number check and turn around from there and go back to Auburn, the way we had come. Essentially Tevis would be an out and back. What a relief from the hazards that were out in the high country covered in 3 plus feet of snow!!
Friday we drove up to Auburn, which shortens our drive by over an hour. We found a great parking spot and unloaded the 4 horses. We had with us Marvel for Jeremy, Tiran for Mohammad, Sandy for Sultan and Bey for myself.
After setting up it was only 9 am. We had left home at 5 am to get a good parking spot. We decided to walk to downtown Auburn for breakfast. We hit up Aweful Annies. It was a great breakfast but while we were there, there were an alarming amount of Bloody Marries being bought and consumed from surrounding tables. Not sure what was up with that, I counted at least 12 and we were sitting on the outdoor patio deck!
We looked around a couple of shops then headed back to the ride site. Around noon the whole gang showed up. Almost all of the crew as well as the riders. We visited for a bit and then went to get our rider packets and vetted in. After all of this we went for a pre ride. I wanted to get the two riders on their horses and make sure the tack would work out. The ride went well. On our way back when we were almost back a super, super long train went by and all of the horses had to wait it out. They did ok with it, a little anxious but ok.
The ride meeting was at 4 pm. It was shorter than normal which was great. It left time for dinner before bed without it getting too late. During the ride meeting we found out the vet check arrangements. The first vet would be a trot by at the lower quarry, then a full vet check at Francisco's, and hour hold at Foresthill, another trot by at Chicken Hawk, then loop back to Chicken Hawk for a full vet check, back to Foresthill for another hour hold, full vet checks at Francisco's and the Lower Quarry then the finish.
We all headed into town for dinner, I must say having Tevis this way was SOOO civilized, restaurants, real bathrooms with showers and no red dirt!
Saturday morning we even got to sleep in compared to normal, the ride didn't start until 6:30. Wonderful! The two riders showed up around 5:30 and Hillorie even brought us Starbucks! We saddled up and got on at 6. Jeremy a little sooner, as he would be riding faster and wanted to get down to the start.
My group had a relaxing walk to the start. I was wearing a red glowing armband so that my riders could spot me easily in the little darkness in the morning. It worked well. We all kept together easily. It is about a 15 min ride down to the start so we got there a little over 10 mins before the start.
The ride began and we were off...
Read more here:
http://www.reynoldsracing.us/heathers_blog/view/359/tevis
--
Posted By Endurance.Net to Ride Stories at 10/15/2011 10:10:00 AM
A few more Tevis videos
From: merri melde
Date: Sat, Oct 15, 2011
A few more Tevis videos are up on
http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2011Tevis/
including another of the start, and 2 of crewing at Foresthill.
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www.endurance.net/merri
www.TheEquestrianVagabond.com
http://www.endurance.net/international/USA/2011Tevis/
including another of the start, and 2 of crewing at Foresthill.
--
www.endurance.net/merri
www.TheEquestrianVagabond.com
Lynne Glazer Tevis Proofs Up
From: Lynne Glazer
Date: Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 12:43 PM
If you're not tired of hearing about Tevis or viewing pix, my proofs are up (well, the awards are still uploading but everything else is there):
<http://www.lynnesite.com/tevis>
I left home expecting something completely different this year, and maybe even an adventure, especially from the plan to ride into Lyon Ridge on the back of an ATV in freezing conditions. Kudos to ride management, volunteers and vets for pulling off the monumental task of the trail reroute and staffing. I was digging in my bag for tank tops! It was fun to experience fog for the morning shots at about 7 miles, and especially cool to be able to shoot Jeremy, Rachel and Dennis in the vestiges of light at No Hands bridge.
Lynne
<http://www.lynnesite.com/tevis>
I left home expecting something completely different this year, and maybe even an adventure, especially from the plan to ride into Lyon Ridge on the back of an ATV in freezing conditions. Kudos to ride management, volunteers and vets for pulling off the monumental task of the trail reroute and staffing. I was digging in my bag for tank tops! It was fun to experience fog for the morning shots at about 7 miles, and especially cool to be able to shoot Jeremy, Rachel and Dennis in the vestiges of light at No Hands bridge.
Lynne
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