Meet My Endurance Horse: Gryphon

January 17 2022

by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

Gryphon
22-year-old gelding
Half Arabian, part Caspian (probably)
owned by Mary Howell

3685 Endurance miles
60 LD miles

This 14.2-hand chestnut gelding came into Mary Howell’s life as a nameless, scared, starved gelding from a Pennsylvania rescue in 2012. She gave him the prophetic name Gryphon, after the mythological cross between an eagle and a lion.

It was a long trial rehabbing her new horse. As she wrote in her blog, Mary’s Endurance Adventures, “He became quite a challenge to work with as he gained weight and strength. He clearly had been abused and was very nervous and mistrustful in certain situations, but my experience working with different horses - plus ability to stay on board no matter what - paid off.”

They completed two Endurance rides at the end of the 2012 season, and they finished 11 of their 12 starts in 2013. “As a strong bond of friendship grew between us, I recognized a puppy-dog personality lay beneath the "gangsta" behavior. Adding magnesium pellets to his diet as a calming agent helped too! By June 2013, after eight 50 mile rides in nine months, I could finally post to Facebook that my scary, defiant little rescue horse had morphed into a confident, happy endurance horse.”

They completed Gryphon’s first 100-mile ride, JD’s Carolina, in November of 2013, and they traveled across the country from Virginia to California in August of 2014 to complete the Tevis Cup together.  

In the years and miles since, Gryphon has overcome numerous health setbacks, including major surgery for a pedunculated polyp (“the recovery of which deterred him from eating for almost 2 weeks”), a large chest sarcoid, and seedy toe. He’s prone to colic, even when there haven’t been any weird weather changes, and he gets an herbal treatment for equine metabolic syndrome.

Last season, Mary and Gryphon earned their Decade Team award, given to a horse and rider team who have completed at least one 50-mile ride in each of ten years.

“He has so much heart and truly makes you feel like you’re flying despite his tiny size,” Mary says. “I think being part Caspian gives him the X-factor since he’s so unlike my purebred Arabians in temperament. I joke that there is a tiny nuclear reactor inside him since he needs to get about three times as much feed as my other horses and drinks so much on trail.

“Of all my horses, Gryphon truly captured my heart. No one else rides him but me; our relationship has been like a married couple over the years. He first scared and then frustrated me as well as amazed me. There’s no denying his courage and spunk.

“He’s 22 now and whatever he experienced in the first 10 years of his life seems to be taking a toll, so I hope we get a few more years of AERC rides together before a well earned retirement.”

Meet My Endurance Horse: HB Aur Squirt

January 8 2022
by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

HB Aur Squirt, aka “Squirt”
18-year-old Arabian gelding
Gulastras Splash X HB Samerica by Aur Samari
owned by Darcy Bean

1565 Endurance miles
215 LD miles
2021 Decade Team

“Squirt is a challenge to ride endurance,” Darcy says. “He is 18 years old and shows no sign of ever slowing down.

“He loves to go fast but then he won’t take care of himself; he has very little self-preservation. So consequently, he can be difficult to manage and prone to ulcers. But he’s never colicked and he has never been lame.

“He was born at our place in Alfalfa, Oregon, by the famous endurance stallion, Gulastras Splash and a lovely CMK filly, who is closely related to BRR Aurber Lights, the Tevis first place winner in 1999 ridden by Rebecca Fiedler.

“I’ve had to pull Squirt more than a few times when he has trashed me from holding him back, but if the ride is going well, he is a dream to ride! He is an excellent trail horse, loves doing obstacles and very fun to take horse camping.

“Squirt has just 1500 miles; I’ve never ridden him very many miles in a year. Mostly just 50’s that are close by, as he stresses out when he is in the trailer more than a few hours.

“He has given me the best and worst rides of my life and I am the only one who has ever ridden him endurance as I worry too much about him. I am happy we made it to Decade Team and hope for many more years of riding him!”

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.”

Meet My Endurance Horse (Mule): Applejack

by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

AppleJack, aka “AJ”
19-year-old John mule
sire: Mammoth Jack
dam: Appaloosa

105 Endurance miles
125 LD miles

Jennifer Leach, of Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, had wanted a mule for a long time, ever since seeing a fancy pair of tall mules in a cherry festival parade many years ago. She loved their stoic, regal bearing.

Due to many years of back surgeries from a fire department injury, she decided to get a mule in the hopes that it would be easier on her back. The 15-hand sorrel AppleJack entered her life on, coincidentally, and perhaps auspiciously, National Mule Day, October 26th, 2019, from Dreary, Idaho. When she test-rode him, she was amazed at how much smoother he was on her back than her friend's horses were. She was sold.

“AJ” was Jennifer’s first mule, and only the second one she’d ever ridden. She’d only owned one other equine, a Morgan, and that was over 20 years ago.

She bought AJ for trail riding, but she’d always had Endurance in the back of her mind. “When it became apparent that he was a lot faster than my friends' Quarter horses,” Jennifer says, “I started thinking more seriously about Endurance but I was starting from scratch.”

She started reading about Endurance, and the following spring, 2020, she was ready to start conditioning but she needed a mentor. Enter Skyla Stewart. “I found a great one, purely by happenstance on Treasure Valley Riding Buddies Facebook page. We met and test-rode together at Eagle foothills and then Sklya proceeded to take me under her wing.”

Jennifer and AJ entered their first 25-mile Endurance ride in October in the Owyhee Halloween ride in southern Idaho, where AJ raised a few eyebrows, and not just for his good looks.

“That morning was pretty crazy. He was so riled up, kicking, pawing and bucking, I could barely saddle him and needed help mounting him after falling while trying the first time!” Despite AJ’s antics at the start, they went on to finish well in 12th place.

“Both of us were pretty rusty and in need of some training - and bonding - so we took riding lessons over the winter with Skyla and her horse Jasper. I've learned a lot, but especially if I want AJ to become more at ease, that I need to be the kind of person I would want to be around, whenever I'm with AJ.”

The hard work is paying off; the partners have so far in 2021 completed all 7 of their rides: 4 LDs and 2 50’s. Their last feat was completing all 3 consecutive LD days at Old Selam Pioneer in south central Idaho, put on by the local Endurance riding club, SWITnDR (Southwest Idaho Trail and Distance Riders), with AJ winning the “Getaway Horse” prize.

“I love AppleJack's trot,” Jennifer says. “He has an all-day trot that is really easy on my back. He really seems to love Endurance but I also love that he will tell me when he's tired. The mule's sense of self-preservation is strong.

“His ears flop around when he's moving and happy (Happy Ears) and he often honks like a bullfrog while going downhill, which gets laughs from other riders if not some confusion from the other horses.”

Jennifer was surprised and thrilled with AJ’s Old Selam award. “Bless his big muley heart. I couldn't be prouder of the old guy.

“I love this new (to me and AJ) sport, the people in it and the friends I'm making!”

Meet My Endurance Horse: Al-Marah Triple Speed

By Merri Melde-Endurance.net

Al-Marah Triple Speed, aka “Ace”
8-year-old Arabian gelding
Owned by Suzanne Hayes

By Al Marah Swift X Al-Marah Tripoli, by AM Ben Dream

500 AERC miles
50 LD miles
1st place 2021 Big Horn 100

Suzanne Hayes, of Arlee, Montana, used to ride Al-Marah horses in endurance. When Bazy Tankersley (who founded Al- Marah Arabians in 1941 focusing on Crabbet lines) died, Jerry Hamilton, Bazy’s long-time employee who continued to manage her Arizona ranch after her death, contacted Suzie. 


“They had 37 two-, three-, and four-year-olds in a pasture,” Suzie said, “and he wanted me to come down and pick one out. So I took Lynn [Lee, Suzie’s neighbor and long-time riding friend] with me, and the first one I picked out was Ace. Jerry said, ‘You can’t have him. I’m going to give him to my wife.’

Instead, Suzie picked out another one for herself and one for Lynn. The next day, Jerry’s wife asked Suzie which horse was her favorite. “I said, ‘It’s the one that Jerry was going to give to you,’ and she said ‘Oh, you can have him, there’s a lot of other horses for me!’” So Suzie ended up bringing 3 Al-Marah horses home, including Ace, who was 3 at the time.

Suzie’s husband Mark started the gelding; and Ace was 6 when he made his endurance debut, in a 25-miler at Wyoming’s Medicine Lodge ride. Two 50’s concluded his first season, and the next year he completed 4 50’s.

After 3 50’s this season, including the 50-mile Championship at Fort Howes in Montana where they finished 21st out of 59 starters, Suzie took her gelding on his first 100 in Wyoming at the Big Horn.


“I just felt like it was a good first 100, because you have to go slow. To me it’s a very metabolically kind course for a horse. Because of the footing - there’s a lot of rocks - you just can’t go very fast. And there’s tons and tons of grass for the horses to eat, so to me it’s a really good course for a first time.”

Ace aced the ride, taking first out of 9 starters. Their finish time was 18:40, “probably the slowest winning time every on that course!” But the gelding handled it beautifully, receiving the Best Condition award.

“He’s just such a really, really nice horse,” Suzie said. He does have a lofty trot that gets him down the trail. “He’s the sweetest, kindest horse you’ll ever be around.”

He could turn out to be one of the best one day, too. Suzie’s long-time endurance friend Barb McGann sums it up:

“I’ve never seen a Suzanne Hayes horse that I didn’t instantly love. She’s got a Helluva eye, and an unbeatable training protocol.”

Top photo Suzie and Ace at Antelope Island; bottom photo Suzie and Ace, Lynne Lee and Al-Marah Fastnfine at Antelope Island

Meet My Endurance Horse: Sizedoesntmatter

by Merri Melde-Endurance.net

Sizedoesntmatter, aka “Dakar”
15-year-old Arabian gelding
owned by Gwen Hall

• 2605 AERC miles
• 3 Top Ten Tevis finishes (4th in 2014, 2nd in 2015, and 8th in 2019)
• 2017 AERC National Championship 100 in Colorado
• USA team starters for the 2018 World Equestrian Games Endurance Championship in Tryon North Carolina
• AERC Decade Team.
• 2021 AERC National Championship 100 in Montana

Some 11 years ago Gwen Hall was looking for a horse to buy for endurance, though she hadn’t sat on a horse in 20 years. “I was that typical middle-aged female-getting-back-into-horses kind of thing,” Gwen says. “I was a former ultra-marathoner, and I’ve been through 2 knee arthroscopies, and various other things, so I knew my time with that was probably done. And I’d heard about Tevis, because of the Western States Run, and thought that looked really cool.”

Joanne Pavlis helped Gwen get back into riding, and then took her to Arapahoe racetrack in Colorado to look at Arabians. Gwen walked into the stall of the gray 4-year-old Sizedoesntmatter, and that was pretty much that. “He was just so calm and we just clicked. So I brought him home, and we haven’t looked back.”

Gwen credits his trainer at the track, Jerry Partin, with Dakar’s easy transition from the track to the trails. “Jerry was just a fantastic horseman, and just did such great work mentally with him. The horse had a brain.”

Gwen spent much of that winter getting to know her new horse and working on their partnership. “We would go out on hacks with a halter and a lead rope.

“But then I discovered at his first endurance ride that I really had bought a racehorse. I thought I was going to die! If it hadn’t been for two now very good friends who parked one horse in front of me and one horse behind me, I think I would be dead.

“But once we kind of got that initial partnership, then I worked with a trainer, Taffy Plaisted, who is a phenomenal dressage trainer. She did a great job training horses. She doesn’t focus on the rider, but she teaches you how to teach your horse. And it made such a huge difference in his way of going, and all those pieces just came together for us.”

From Dakar’s first endurance ride at age 5 through his 11th season at age 15, Gwen and Dakar have reached the top rung of the sport. Their record includes 3 Top Ten Tevis finishes, 2 AERC 100-mile National Championship titles, and making the USA Team for the World Equestrian Games Endurance Championship in the fiasco that was Tryon, North Carolina.

When asked what makes Dakar so special, it’s hard for Gwen to put into words.
“It’s hard to verbalize, honestly,” she says. “We just click. We’re a good team. Any challenge I have put in front of this horse in the time I have owned him, he not only meets but he exceeds my expectations. It doesn’t matter what I’ve done with him. He tries. He wants to do well.

“He’s lucky in that he’s naturally gifted as an athlete. And he really has a very calm demeanor. He’s a thinker. But he has that spark within, I guess the heart. I’ve had the pleasure of riding a lot of horses over the last 10 years, but he’s just got that special something, that at least with me, it works.

“I thank Dick Reed, who sold him to me off the track, for working with me on his purchase.

“And if little things like that hadn’t happened, I never would have bought Dakar.

“I really don’t have the words to express what works, what I’d look for in another horse like him, because I don’t think I’m ever going to find that. To use a cliche, he is my unicorn. And I thank god every day that he’s part of my life.