22/ OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 THE RIDER


Canadian Horsewoman Takes on the Mongol Derby


The Mongol Derby is the longest, most grueling horse race in the world. The annual 1,000km trek across the wilder- ness of the Mongolian Steppe retraces the route of Genghis Khan’s legendary postal system via a network of horse stations similar to the pony express of the wild west of North America. The Derby offers no prizes and no medals but all participants can be guaranteed an adventure of a life time and plenty of blood, sweat, tears and some very sore bottoms!


Canadian Katherine Fried- ley has just returned home after enduring this year’s “Derby dash” complete with cuts, bruis- es and memories for a lifetime. “I’ve always had an adventurous streak and have never been afraid to go out and find the whacky types of adventure holi- days,” Katherine explained, “I reasoned that I had a decent rid- ing background, not necessarily racing or organized equestrian sport, but I had ridden my share of mountains, crossed rivers and plains, had chased down cows who were trying to escape up mountain cut lines, and I consid- ered myself to be in decent enough shape. I had the resources, the time, the confi- dence and perhaps the quirky slight disregard for the needs of personal comfort over short periods of time, so why not? I thought it would make for some pretty cool stories to share back home.”


As with many of her past adventure holidays, Katherine entered the Derby on her own. “I didn’t know anyone who would be interested or able to commit to the adventure or to preparing for it. I’ve never let the lack of a like-minded com- panion deter me from my adventures! And it turned out


that I was the only Canadian (and first Canadian woman) to enter the race.”


An avid runner for the past 10 years, Katherine started training for the assault on the Steppes by running 5k cross- country daily plus a 10k run at least once per week. She had also been doing quite a lot of strength training prior to signing on as well as day hikes on vari- ous elevations prior to the race. She had started yoga earlier this year so her preparations were thorough and all-encompassing. She knew that riding exposure to many different types of horses would be very beneficial, so Katherine set


sturdy, fearless, wild and incredibly tough horses belong to local nomadic herding fami- lies and breeders. They are small horses so riders must trav- el light with just 11 lbs of essen- tial survival kit and nobody weighing above185lbs fully dressed is accepted on the trek. Horse welfare is the primary concern of the Mongol Derby and strict rules have been put in place designed with the horses in mind so they can be returned to their owners in fine healthy form afterwards.


The Mongol Derby is no simple pony trek. Riders have no marked course, no catered meals, no showers or flush toi-


comfortable, safe life beyond the saddle. “I put together a lit- tle bag of good karma, full of what my daughter and I call “Whack and Sorts” as in: If you are out of whack or out of sorts, these are the things you need to get yourself back on track. In this bag I had a bracelet from my daughter which says “Beau- tiful Brave Mama”; a bracelet from my best friend Dawn; horse hair from the tail of the paint gelding, Domingo, I ride out here on Vancouver Island (when deciding to take the hair with me, I remarked to my friend Marion that given Dom’s slightly less than racy nature, this probably wouldn’t guaran- tee me to be fast; she responded “No, but you’ll be safe!” which turned out to be very true); and a couple of “good luck stones” I have had forever, one black and one white, inspired by the Paulo Coelho book “The Alchemist”…and a good luck bandana from my endurance riding mentor Miki Dekel.”


Arriving in


Ulaanbaatar (also know as Ulan Bator), Mongolia, this year’s participants from


about leasing and sharing a paint gelding and two Arabs out on Vancouver Island, riding these three different horses 4 times a week. There she met endurance rider Miki Dekel who put Katherine on one of her mares she had been training for the endurance circuit. Before leaving for Mongolia, she was putting in more than 5 endurance rides per week. Half a world away, the diminutive Mongolian horses also underwent a pre-Derby training programme; race orga- nizers selected 1,000 of the feisty little beasts, many of whom were ridden daily to pre- pare for their Derby dash. These


lets, no cocktails at sunset! It’s just the riders, their horses and the Mongolian wilderness…and possibly a GPS. Riders change horses at every station and they must deliver their mounts in healthy condition. There are teams of veterinarians at each change-over post and watering station checking the horses’ hearts, breathing, and general wellbeing. But how riders navi- gate between the stop-overs is the real adventure – you must find your own way.


To help ease the emotion- al stress of such a wilderness adventure, Katherine took along a few little mementoes from home to remind her of a more


around the world rolled up to the start camp in a luxury tour bus which must have looked a bit ridiculous to the local herds- men: a big shiny bus rolling across the Steppe on a dirt track into their remote “off the grid” camp. I deleted the reference to goats on the roof in this para- graph – I was quoting what she wrote for me but she emailed me during the fact-checking process to tell me she was only “joking” – don’t think she’s ever done an interview before. Katherine’s fellow riders included a couple of Swedish horsemen, one of whom was a former equestrian eventing champion, an American furni-


ture designer, several fun ladies from Dubai, an Australian vet, a chain-smoking Dutchman, an American volcanologist, a UK documentary filmmaker who was shooting the entire adven- ture for TV, a doctor, an invest- ment banker, a couple of jock- eys, a freelance writer/cowboy, a lawyer and several other assorted characters.


Her first day of the Derby was cool and rainy, which was perfectly fine with Katherine. “I much prefer cooler weather than hot, dry and windy. I felt my experience with the extremes of Alberta weather, along with the dampness of the West Coast had prepared me for pretty much anything the weather could throw my way on this race.” But it was mayhem at the horse line; the plans to draw numbers for the riders’ first horses had


gone awry and there was gener- al confusion with the humans throughout camp but all the horses were jazzed up and eager to be away. They knew some- thing was up.


Katherine eventually chose a small bay and handed over her tack to one of the nice local boys who proceeded to set up her horse, ready for the first day of training. “I got on the bay thinking I am NOT coming off of this horse, no matter if I have to cling to his brush-cut goofy mane! I have already crashed and burned – not hap- pening! And it was with this resolution in mind that I rode to the start line, a couple of kilo- meters away, alongside of Mat- tias, one of my new friends from Sweden.”


Continued on page 23.


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