It will be very hard to describe the journey of a lifetime in few words but here goes. Taking a horse from birth to racing the deserts across the world will never happen for most endurance riders nor did I believe it would happen for us. When Cairos Summer Romance loaded on to the horse transport truck at our farm on November 28, that dream became reality.
The sand in Abu Dhabi was white as far as you could see. The drive to the barns was magical everyday, watching the parades of camels and their riders exercising these magnificent creatures morning and night. Dipping our feet in the ocean on the other side of the world made the past 12 years of endurance highs and lows worth every second.
Summer was very ready for this race from the moment she arrived. She travelled beyond our greatest expectations and adjusted to the 50 degree change in temperature with amazing ease.
Ariel MacLeod, 17, from Fort St. John, BC, was entered to compete in the World Junior Young Rider Endurance Championship — the only youth to represent Canada at this most prestigious event. Her crew included me, Tara MacLeod (mom), other mom and groom, Joan Harris, horse doctor and entertainment Dr. Glenn Sinclair, and team leader and group Mom, Maura Leahy.
On race day, Summer knew it was time to go. She is a fierce competitor and wanted to show the world what Canadian-bred horses could do. Warmup proved to be an extreme challenge as she was not content to sit tight and take it easy. She was worked up and had to be controlled by leading her with no rider. Ariel mounted moments before the start, was led through the check in point and held while riders positioned themselves to start. Hanging at the back of the pack, 87 horses were released onto the trail — so were about 200 vehicles.
It’s hard to explain the emotions. For myself it was concern, pride, hope and fear all rolled into one. Then the tears came, I sobbed to myself for a few moments before regrouping, pulling myself from the cloud of dust and honking, and went on to wait.
We got a call about 45 minutes from trail that Ariel had broken her stirrup. Everyone jumped into action to find another one. Then the call came that she was 2 km from camp coming in from the first 20-mile loop. We met her at the entry point and noticed something was not right but chalked it up to no stirrup.
While cooling down Summer, we looked down and saw a huge gouge in her heel. After vetting, it was all over — Summer was eliminated. She stepped on her heel in the deep sand in the excitement of it all. It was not a serious or career-ending injury, but hurt none the less. Summer would be fine to race again soon, just not today. It was almost a relief, yet disappointment — the journey to race was over, but the memory of the experience will last forever.
We will never regret what it took to get there, not finishing this race was another stepping stone in the life of the endurance rider and support crew. We are thankful for this experience, this opportunity given to us by many.