Wednesday, June 12, 2013

There once was a Morgan Mare.....

A lot of folks have been following this story  and it's not late breaking news..but I keep going back to read more about it. I can't help myself. Afterall, what is Maggie???

As the story goes, its about a Morgan mare , known as Rik or Rikki and her rider who successfully finished  the Tom Quilty Race in Australia. It's the premier race held in Australia and it was the first time ever that a Morgan qualified for it. 
But there is more to the story than that. Rikki came back to her endurance career after being exported to Australia and then raising a few foals. I would say she came back with a bang and a now looks like she has  promising future in the sport of endurance.

Rikki and her rider finished the race 19th out of 111 horses in her division. Nothing to sneeze at.


Here is the facebook link to read all about it. The farm that owns Rikki is Whirraway Farm in Australia and they specialize in what they are referring to as Sport Morgans, although in my opinion that seems to be rhetorical. Morgans are known for their versatility in a wide range of disciplines. I am surprised... I am totally inspired.

Even if you are a die hard arab endurance rider/lover,  how can you not find this story inspiring?




 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I probably count as an endurance diehard, but definitely not an arab diehard . While I haven't done anything as impressive as the Quilty, my Morgan has been doing endurance rides for 3 years.She might be a bit harder to due endurance on ( spend some extra time cooling) and I don't race, but she generally is middle of the pack with all A's at vetchecks.

Jonna said...

Anonymous- would love to hear more about your conditioning and approach to preparing your Morgan. I too ride a Lippitt Morgan mare and have completed 3 LD's and 2 CTR's with her. I have not done a 50 yet. In the LD's however, she has come in with all A's and B's , despite her not eating and drinking well during competition. I also have to spend more time cooling and sponging. In her last ride, which was a 35 mile LD she top tenned and we were asked to stand for BC .. we tried for it but because her poor drinking she was a bit dehydrated compared to the other horse so we lost out.
I trained alot in preparation for that ride, probably more than a lot of arab riders would need to. I think despite her lack of eating and drinking, her toughness is what makes it doable.. but it makes me totally stressed out. Therefore I am exploring other disciplines for her this year.

I am always curious about other non arab endurance riders.. would love to hear more if your willing to share. Thanks for stopping by.

Sky King's Girl said...

I pit crewed for a friend who did the Old Dominion 100 on her Morgan mare. She was pulled at 90 miles the first year with a stone bruise. Then she jumped out of the trailer on the interstate on the way home, cartwheeled in front of a semi (which missed her) and survived with just some cuts and road rash. She came back the following year and completed :-) Very very tough little mare. She was just retired last year at 17 (or maybe 18?)