OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 THE RIDER /23 Continued from page 22.
All went considerably well on that first day, but Katherine suffered a serious crash on the second day of train- ing camp which instilled in her a healthy respect for the speed of these little horses, and for the roughness of the ground over which they raced. “I also remembered, with a bit of fright attached, how it felt to be on a bolting horse with no hope of making him stop. He was a live- ly gelding (all the horses were either geldings or stallions) capable of cantering for 30 min- utes, then flat out galloping, then cantering for another 30 minutes. It was quite a thrilling ride; we were up and down the dirt road, across the prairie, up and down some hills, and it was all going smoothly until I felt my saddle girth come loose. The saddle slipped further up on his withers, then off to the side. We were racing one of the Ameri- cans at that point, and there was absolutely no stopping my horse. One thing I learned very
about embarrassing!”
tion of the previous number of months had finally paid off – I was exhilarated to be on my way, and so very happy I had survived the start line!”
“It was actually a peaceful and uneventful first leg. I met up with and passed a number of competitors, each doing his or her own thing. The vastness of the steppe started to become very evident though, as I would
summit one hill, expecting to see a crowd of riders on the other side, only to see a few lit- tle dots in the distance as the riders spread out. Then we would be over another hill and through another valley, and soon I rode entirely alone, out of sight and sound of anyone else. I was completely alone on a horse in the middle of nowhere Mongolia – how cool was that!” The initial fall Katherine suffered during the training period was the worst injury she received throughout the entire race, but she encountered a great deal of trepidation getting on each new horse as she had no idea what tricks each horse would use to test her. “I was bucked off on day 9 after my horse spooked, and I landed on my head. That actually shook me up – literally and figurative- ly. It had only been a couple of days prior when one of my fel- low competitors had broken his neck, so at that point I decided I had tempted fate quite enough!” “Aside from that, I remember being so fatigued on one particularly hot day when we were watering the horses in a river, standing in one of the slow-moving spots, belly deep in the water. I was looking down at the river which was swirling and washing past my horse’s legs… it was mesmeriz- ing and had to grip onto the pommel to keep from falling into the river. I was so tired that the river nearly hypnotized me into falling off my horse. Talk
quickly is that these horses love to race flat out given the chance and there was nothing you could do to stop them. I hit the ground, bounced on my right side and then skidded on the left side of my face through the rough prairie soil and grasses. I came up with a split lip, a bloody nose and road rash that lasted for half of the race. This wasn’t the last bolting horse I encountered throughout the Derby but it was the last one that put me on the ground. My official race portrait, which will live in Mongol Derby infamy, was taken on day 3 of training camp, the day after my fall. I took extra-strength analgesics for the next three nights just in order to sleep with my bruised ribs.”
With the wind blowing and a bit of drizzle falling, the Derby was finally got under- way. Based on recent experi- ences, Katherine decided to find her own pace behind the main pack of riders, gaining control of her horse and heading off on her own route in a direction dic- tated by her trusty GPS. “It felt like all the training and anticipa-
Upon completing the Derby and returning home, Katherine told me that she returned with a great sense of accomplishment. “I not only took part in one of the toughest endurance challenges in the world, but I did it on my own terms. I knew going into the race that I wasn’t the least bit interested in racing at all costs, but was very interested in the journey itself. I am so proud of myself for coming home rela- tively unscathed, for riding to the best of my ability, for respecting the horses and the Mongolian horsemen at all times, and for sticking it out to the end.”
And when asked about any future long-distance riding plans, she added “Once you have finished something like this, all you think about is the comforts of home, of get- ting home to see family and friends. But now I’ve been home for almost a month, and I’m already plot- ting my next adventure. I’ve actually set myself a goal of having a major adven- ture on each of the continents, so I am think- ing that South America is next. I have been meaning to hike the Cir- cuit in Torres
del Paine in Patagonia; and now that I am infatuated with horse adventures, I understand there are some epic horse treks in that part of the world, too.
Aside from more adventures in the saddle, I plan on furthering my education, possibly enrolling in an MBA program out here on Vancouver Island early in 2013. On a personal note, I hope to help round up my dad’s cattle in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in
October – this will be the 51st year of cattle round ups for him, and quite likely his last, as he turns 89 in November. Time for a change for him and maybe I’ll take on the dangers of the
ration Viterra Inc., Millard’s Contracting, Mason Farms Ltd., Hand Hills Holdings Inc., Skin & Bones Cosmetics, Herman Kloot & Co. and West Stitch Advertising. She also received
mountain pasture for him!” The Mongol Derby was just as financially challenging as Katherine’s adventure itself with an entry fee of approx. $10,000 plus an additional $5,000 to cover international travel and accommodations, vaccinations, and insurance. Fortunately, she was able to enlist funding support thanks to the generosity of local business- es, friends and family including Canadian grain handling corpo-
coffee from Kicking Horse Cof- fee Company which certainly helped get her “up and at ‘em” each morning.
If you would like to read more about the Mongol Derby and Katherine’s amazing adven- tures, check out her blog at:
www.outlawkate.com
Glenda Fordham
The Rider’s armchair adventurer & columnist
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