Tell us about your horse. When/how did you come to get him/her?  Bred and raised him

What is your horses breeding?  Arabian, mainly Egyptian.

Sex:  Stallion
Horse height:  15"1
Approx. Weight:  950
Color:  Gray
Shoe size:  0

Why did you decide to purchase this horse (or if you didn't purchase, why did you choose to use this horse in endurance)?  Because his sire Wazir's Karahty was a champion Endurance.

Did you do endurance with any other horses before this horse?  Yes.

How many different horses have you ridden in this sport?  4.

Do you participate in any other horse sports or activities?  No.

How many years have you been involved with horses? In endurance?  Had horses over 30 yrs. Endurance 20 years.

What got you interested in endurance riding? What was it that kept you interested?   Moved from Washington to California across the street from Virl Norton. When you really like to ride and love horses, nothing can beat Endurance riding.

How old was your horse when first started? First ride?  Did one 25 miler when he was 4.

How many rides did you do the first, second, and third ride seasons?  I can't remember.

What mileage distance did you start with?  Only one 25, then 50,100's.

How long till you top tenned or 'raced'?  Quite quickly.

How much time off do you give between ride seasons?  Several months.

If you have done 100's, how much time off do you give after doing one? What is your schedule in the month leading up to the ride?   Ride about 3 times a week and nothing the week before. Maybe take him out mile or so few days before to see if all looks ok.

If you have done multidays, how much time off do you give after doing one? What is your schedule in the month leading up to the ride?  I have not done any with Amadeus as my husband changed jobs and didn't want to go alone and hard to get away during breeding season.

What kind of tack do you use?   Orthoflex, and Australian.

What kind of shoes do you use on your horse?  St Croix Eventers, pads on front.

What kind of problems have you encountered?  Had a problem for several years no one could find. Amadeus would go lame at a walk about 20 miles out, in an hour he'd be fine. This went on for at least 2 seasons. Someone finally turned me onto the right vet and after much testing he found what he thought was the problem--compared it to carpal tunnel in human. He did the surgery for cost, said if it worked I could tell everyone how great he was. It worked- Amey's only ride that year was Tevis and he was 11th Never took a bad step on it since. He was 2nd in Tevis few years later. He also had it done on rear foot a year ago.

What was the worst or most severe injury your horse has had?  Puncture wound he got one year in wilderness area on Tevis, all A's at Robinson Flat, but in a hour or so infection set in, and pulled at Dusty Corners, where they gave him Penicillin, ect.

How did you work thru it?  Just short time till infection cleared.

Describe the best ride you ever had on your horse?  Probably 2nd place Tevis.

Describe the worst day you ever had with your horse?  That would probably be the Tevis with infection, had high hopes, he was 4th year before, now in better shape, pulling at 10:30 in the morning waiting to be hauled out not till 4 or 5 in afternoon, was very depressing!

What was your most humbling experience?  The above experience.

What lessons have you learned along the way that you feel are the most important?  Learning to listen to your horse put him first.

Where does your horse live?  Large Paddock.

What kind of environment did your horse spend the first few years of its life in?  First year at boarding stable with stall and small paddock, from 2 on in large paddock with run.

What are your horse's strengths? Weaknesses?  I feel stallions take better care of themselves, pee, poop, eat and drink like pigs. Their weakness are taking longer to learn to relax at vet checks on not always being overly concerned at things going on around them and looking for pretty women, well really any women, after a few years they do learn the ropes.

What advice do you have for new riders?  Learn all you can about the horse, any little sign that could tell you all was not right, and mainly have FUN!

Looking back, what would you do differently?  I think when I first started we thought we had to ride a lot more then necessary. So could over condition.

What do you feel you did right?  Always had my horse as ready as I could get him, not ask what I had not prepared him to do.

What was your highest goal for your horse? Did you achieve it?  Sure would have been nice to win Tevis, People remember who won, not who was second, this would have meant a lot for a Stallion. I had my chance when we were second, first place horse was getting ready to leave shortly after we came into Francisco's he pulsed down right away, everyone there tried to get me to leave, knew it was my chance and he looked great, but he was so hungry I could not get his head out of mush bowl so I couldn't do it, probably blew my only chance as he is soon to be 18 and me 68, but I would have never forgiven myself had something happened to him, so I made the decision to stay and let him eat.

Describe your horse's personality? How is it like or unlike yours?  He is very affectionate to me, but when younger others had to ask his permission to enter his territory, like when he was tied to his trailer.

What kinds of rides do you enjoy the most?  Any one I feel I'm lucky enough to go to.

Describe your electrolyte protocol.  Rode Karat with very few, only give them now night before, maybe in morning, after lunch. More on Tevis.

Is there anything special about your nutrition program you attribute to your success?  Not really, Karahty raced on alfalfa and whole corn, back then we didn't know that wasn't suppose to be good. He won the majority of his rides, guess he didn't know it was bad!

Are there any major changes you've made to your nutrition program (i.e., changed from one hay to another, added something special) that you feel made a noticeable improvement or solved a problem?  Feed beet pulp now; that is nothing we knew about then.

What kind of supplements (if any) do you use?  Many years ago gave Lixotinic. or Maxsplus, oats and corn, and at vet checks beet pulp with senior feed and he loves Purina Complete Advantage, he will eat anything mixed in it!!

Do you give any kind of joint products?  Very little, he has had several Hylauronic Injections after his surgery.

How far do you usually travel to rides?  Now that I have to go alone not more than 3 hrs.

Do you go to many rides outside of your region?  Not many.

Name three people involved in the sport of endurance that you look up to, and why?   Virl Norton. He won Great American Horse Race on his Mule Leroy, who I believe Maryben has taken care of since he died, I rode many of his horses at first, he would get always these problems horses, he was their last chance before the Alpo farm! But he gave it to them. I loved that man. He went with my husband when he got my first Endurance horse, a beautiful Palomino Arab, quarter horse mix. Skip Lightfoot later bought him he was a great 100 mile horse, but he was not good in fast 50, as back then he was considered a panter, he won his first 100 miler. Ad Vandenhoogan, Who we bought Karahty from, he had 10 Tevis buckle and 20 Ride and Tie buckles before he died, He always usually rode at the back of the pack but knew how to get a horse true a ride. When I first saw Karahty I fell madly in love with him, he took my breath away. I was afraid he would not sell him to me as I had a reputation for riding hard and FAST. But when we asked he got this big grin on his face and said "I know you will ride the piss out of him but he won't want for a better home". He held him for us till we sold another stallion we had that wasn't working out. Karahty had only done a few rides when we got him. So Ad and I shared in the joy of his accomplishments as he said I would have never ridden him like you did, and without Ad buying him at Arabian sale when he was two, I would have not had that beautiful awesome horse, I was sick when he had an unexpected stroke and died shortly there after, he was a great man, did Western States Run on foot when he was 55! Becky Hart was at top when I started riding, so she was the one to strive after.

Did you have a mentor or first trail partner?  Only one I really rode with was Virl Norton.

In choosing your next horse, what would you look for?  I already have him, he just turned 4. Karahty's Karben Kopy.

Karahty and his sons have brought me the most exciting of times, and a heart full of beautiful memories.

Return to Top