Meet My Endurance Horse: FYF Wasabi

December 28 2021
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net 

FYF Wasabi, aka “Wasabi”
14-year-old Arabian mare
King of Clubz X Lateef Zeda by Tarheel Traveler
owned by Amy Wallace Whelan

930 Endurance miles
85 LD miles

The Whelans got Wasabi in 2020 from very good friends, Don and Nicki Meuten, who were downsizing. They’d always admired her and were planning on breeding her in 2020 or 2021. (Wasabi was bred by the Meutens and has 2 babies on the ground.)

“She had not been ridden in 6 years due to being a broodmare,” Annie said, “but I loved her so much I decided to see if she could compete again.” Annie did many, many months of long, slow distance work to bring her back, which paid off with Wasabi completing 325 miles in 2021, including five 50’s and a 75-miler.

“She very much lives up to her name. She is a wild girl with so much energy. You can’t help but love her feisty and fire breathing dragon personality. She definitely is very opinionated, but she is also one of the most loyal and loving horses I’ve ever met.

“I am so proud of her!. She is on winter vacation now and I hope to have another fun season on her in 2022!”

Meet My Endurance Horse: Wallace Hill Sundance

December 7 2021
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

Wallace Hill Sundance, aka “Sunny D”
14-year-old half Arabian/half Saddlebred gelding
owned by Amy Wallace Whelan
ridden (mostly) by mom Amy and daughter Annie Whelan

“We got Wallace Hill Sundance, ‘Sunny D’, as a green 6-year-old from a friend in western Kentucky,” Annie Whelan says. “He is my mom’s horse and started competing in Endurance in November of 2013. I completed my first ride on him in 2016.” Wallace Hill is the Whelans’ farm in Louisa, Kentucky, that has been in Amy’s family for 150 years.

The gelding’s record currently stands at 2,015 miles, 41 completions in 46 starts, including 5 100-mile completions in 5 starts, and 3 Best Condition awards.

“I’m very proud of him, but if you have ever been around Sundance at a ride, you know he is a very strange and quirky horse. He is very spooky but also very competitive and feisty.

“He is the strangest horse I’ve ever been around, but I can’t imagine life without him. I think all the good endurance horses have a screw loose. He definitely has a screw loose (or maybe all of them).

“I’ve been lucky to have completed over 1,300 AERC miles with him and hope for many more miles in the years to come.”