April 20 2022
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net
RJO Redhotchilipepper, aka Pepper
14-year-old gelding by Kouros X RS Summer Sage
3/4 Arabian and 1/4 Quarter Horse
owned by Melinda Guice
1715 miles
445 LD miles
Decade Team
Melinda Guice and “Pepper” achieved Decade Team in the April 2, 2022 Nevada Derby, a crowning achievement on a horse that Melinda “comptemplated throwing in the towel on.
“He could be quite the handful when he was young,” Melinda recalls. “I got him as a coming 3 year old. “The first trainer I ever sent him to sent him back unstarted, and didn’t have a very promising prognosis for him. I was lucky to find a few fantastic people to help me out with him (and most importantly, a good trainer to work with me riding him).
“It wasn’t easy for a few years, but there was always something about him that made me believe he would be worth the effort in the long haul.
“I got some great advice from a long time endurance rider to spend a lot of time walking the trails with him, just the two of us, and that’s what I did. I also ponied him a lot off my experienced mare.”
Pepper went to his first intro ride when he was 4, “which was a bit exciting but we made it through.”
At age 5, Pepper did a season of Limited Distance, and at the end of the year they finished his first 50-mile ride at the Oregon 100.
“After that things began to smooth out with him and he really got the hang of the sport and started developing into the fine citizen he is now. My son even rode him at a couple of rides, making the cover of Endurance News one year.
“He did a handful of 75s successfully, but for some reason or another we had a hard time with 100s (usually I was the weak link). Then he finished Tevis on his first attempt, and more recently Virginia City 100.”
Melinda remembers the 2016 Tevis Cup, when Pepper was 8, as one of their more memorable rides together, when she realized how solid their partnership had become.
“He was still prone to silliness. He had been fantastic all day long but I worried a bit as we made our way down the Cal 2 trail and it got darker and darker. My headlamp wasn’t working for either of us, so I kept it off.
“I remember realizing there was nothing to do but give him the reins and hope for the best. He didn’t miss a beat, trotting through the canyons flawlessly and making all the switchback turns I couldn’t even see. I realized at that point we had really turned a corner and become a team.”
Pepper’s Quarter horse breeding is working ranch lines, and his Arabian is a bit of a Heinz 57 mix of Polish, Russian, Spanish and CMK.
He still has his opinions, but he knows his job well enough to follow a ribbon when Melinda misses one on an Endurance ride.
“He always make smile when I ride him. I hope to continue to enjoy the privilege for many more years to come.”
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