Thursday, September 22, 2022

Meet My Endurance Horse: HCC Elessar +/

by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

HCC Elessar +/ aka Monster
17-year-old stallion by MMF Faramir X HCC Sharzara, by Koszar
Arabian
owned by Kristen Grace

6140 miles
14 100-milers
12 Best Conditions
2 Virginia City 100 buckles
2 Tevis Cup buckles
3 Big Horn 100 buckles

To see him now at Endurance rides, HCC Elessar is so mellow and uncomplicated that it’s hard to believe he’s a stallion and that he’s ridden by Juniors. But in the beginning, nothing was easy with him.

In 2007, Endurance riders Lew and Hanne Hollander recommended that Kristen Grace go look at an unhandled 2-year-old colt owned by Cheri Briscoe in Tehachapi, California.

“I drove down to see him, and I was like - what?!” Kristen says. “He was tiny. He was the size of a greyhound! Never handled. Nothing.

“They called him Cookie Monster because the only way they could get near him was with cookies because he has a sweet tooth. I thought, I can’t call him that because that’s silly. I’ll call him Monster because he’s so little.

“We couldn’t catch him or get near him, so we backed the trailer up, and hazed him in. I drove him to Grants Pass, Oregon, to my boyfriend’s at the time.”

Between the two of them, they got Monster haltered in the trailer, got him out and tied him to a tree. They would go out several times a day and hand feed and water him, and get him used to being around humans, and depending on humans for sustenance. After all, he did have a sweet tooth.

It took a week before Monster was tame enough to be petted. When he started trusting them more, they hand walked him, and taught him to lunge. They were able to load him in the trailer again, and Kristen took him home and commenced with the next part of his training.

“It took me a full year to be able to put a blanket on him. He wouldn’t let me near him with one. He freaked out about anything being on top of him. So then we taught him how to carry a pack saddle with panniers, and I used him as a pack horse. We went up in the wilderness and did overnight trips. He’s never bumped my knee on a tree, ever, because he learned to carry panniers.

“So then I started him under saddle for riding. It took FOREVER. He was very, very, very difficult. Any time I moved a hand on top of him, then he would bolt and spin and run off. And I fell off A LOT.

“I fell off so many times, I used to use what I call a stallion strap. It’s a parachute cord and it went from his bit to my pants, so that when I fell off, I had something to hang onto. One year at Bandit Springs [ride], it ripped my pants off!”

Monster started in Endurance as a 6-year-old, and over the years they eventually eased through his reactivity with a lot of practice of Kristen raising her hands/arms/feet while on board. Now he’s pretty bomb-proof - safe and fun, and he’ll take care of you.

Kristen and Monster were involved in a rescue of a fallen Endurance rider a few years ago. Monster had to gallop up and down the trail for Kristen to reach cell reception and relay the rider’s vital stats to 911. When the helicopter flew in, Kristen had to signal where they should land. “And Monster stood there and let the helicopter land right next to us. Even with the blades going he stood there. The EMTs said they’d never seen anything like this, like why isn’t your horse freaking out? He knew it was an emergency.

“So Monster is really cool like that. If it’s in a pinch, he’s got you.”

After exclusively riding him for his first seven years in Endurance, Monster mellowed out enough for other riders. In 2021, he started carrying two Juniors on numerous rides.

Sara Anderson, who’s ridden Monster in three rides, says, “He’s so cheerful. And when the kids ride him, and they canter on ahead, he’s just like - happy. I don’t know how else to describe it. He knows his job.”

Through his dam, HCC Sharzara, 14.2-hand Monster comes from the Hyannis Cattle Company breeding stock. HCC of Nebraska selectively bred great working horses from the 1960s to the 1980s. They were mainly Crabbet/Kellogg Egyptians Arabians crossed with Polish breeding and were known for being rugged, and for possessing good legs and good bone, strength, and stamina. Ann Hall rides Monster's half-sister, HCC Zara RR, who has 3700+ miles, 11 100-mile completions (3 Top Five finishes in the Virginia City 100) and 11 Best Conditions in 12 seasons of riding. Monster and Zara rode the 2020 Mary & Anna Memorial 100 together and finished 4th and 5th. "Zara and Monster were like identical twins," Kristen says, "except one is white and one is black."

Monster also traces back in three lines to Witez II, the famous survivor of World War II Poland who was brought to the US and became a show champion and super sire. “When you look at pictures of his great great grandsire, they look like twins. Monster’s the spitting image of Witez II.”

Kristen had an idea early on that Monster would be a good horse, and she started selectively breeding him at 3. He has numerous proven offspring on the Endurance trail, several who have also completed 100-mile rides. “His offspring are amazing. They all have good minds.”


Top photo: Monster and Kristen at the Idaho Autumn Sun Pioneer
Bottom photo: Monster and Kristen at the Wyoming Big Horn 100

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