08/19/2026
Wow, what can I say. On sat Believe and I went and did our first 25mile endurance ride together.
Friday we arrived at the race, got vetted in (all As for bebe!) And finished up last minute things for the race. We camped with the horses in a corral with us in a tent next to them and then got ready at 5am for a ride leave time of 7am. Ashley Cheng got Mo ready and our wonderful friends and support system that is the We Believe Family, helped get us out the start gate!
During the race we had a nice ground covering trot and beautiful controled canters. We averaged about 8.5mph.
The terrain was moderate, some long stretches in the sun around feilds that were mostly flat and great to let the horses open up a bit! Both mares did excellent! The park was gorgeous and the race was the best marked one I've ever seen. Wow. Didn't make any bad turns or get turned around.
Vet hold went very well. Bebe pulsed down fast to 54 and trotted out beautifully. She ate, drank and rested while my amazing husband and best friend got me some food and water as well. Steve Collier and Monica Przyleki mounted up on Maverick and Bonita. They were doing the second loop as their intro ride. We left right behind the first two horses all together for our second loop. We got about 3-4 miles in doing a very good pace when we decided to spit off on our own and let Monica and steve pace our other horses a bit slower since they were new to endurance. Me and Ashley pushed forward at a ground covering pace while steve and monica worked with their horses comfortable pace.
It was much hotter on the second loop. As a black horse Bebe can struggle a bit. The last two miles I noticed she was slowing down so I told ashley to go ahead with morning. I thought bebe would give me a really hard time seeing her herd mate trot away but she kept her cool and only whinnied a few times for her. She listened to my cues and didnt fight me which was nice. I was very proud of her. We came in a few minutes behind ashley. Started sloshing down bebe and getting water into her. When I thought she might be ok to go pulse we were over but she was still a bit to high.
I was a little flustered as I no longer had the amazing help of Steve and Monica to crew, but the amazing community that is the endurance community saw me trying to juggle everything and came to our aid. We had people coming over with colder buckets of water (mine were a bit warm from the sun as the shade went away) and gave me an extra hand. I was moved to tears by how kind everyone was. With their help I was able to get bebe down to 60 pretty quickly! Ashley also helped by keeping morning close by and taking her time with vetting to ensure bebe didnt get stressed. That was so greatly appreciated that she helped while also ensuring her and mo were good.
Bebes final vetting was good! Not as good as hold, she had one neg quadrant on her gut sounds, a B in hydration, and a B on impulsive but honestly some of that may have been because I was in muscle failure and struggling to run with her lol! We got 4th place and I about cried when I heard that! She didnt loose any boots, stayed sound, was well behaved and gave me her all so it was a win regardless if we got first, last, or anything between.
I cannot say thank you enough to the incredible people at Horseshoe Bend Boogie Endurance Ride . Wow they made us feel so welcomed, helped immensely, and were kind and patient as I figured things out :)
We went home with a gift card to distance depot and some goodies and all happy healthy horses! What an incredible weekend this has been. Now im nursing an extremely sore body (I need to condition myself way more before the next race), some minor wounds and rubs (my stirrup cover slipped down and the buckles cut my legs on both sides) I also had a mishap with my water vest and have a bad burn on my back. My amazing husband is helping care for the horses and dogs to let me rest. So proud of monica and steve, and of course bonita and Maverick for completing their intro ride!
Thank you ashley for being patient kind and the best support rider out there! My student has become a teacher! Ridiculously talented and blows me away with her commitment and determination! Congrats on your 3rd place and I know yall will be killing it in the 50s soon!
