I am going to ride in the Mongol Derby 2027, a 1,000 km horse race across the Mongolian steppe! Last month I received and accepted an invitation from the event organizers. This blog post will be brief! Just some background on the event and my decision to participate, a quick note on funding, and to-do list. I will go into more detail on everything over the next twenty months leading up to the race, as I chronicle my preparations.

I had a great time at Sesenta Años last weekend despite having yet another issue with River. Full disclosure: I made the drive and started the 50 on Friday fully aware that River might not finish. The main hint had been her reluctance to do carrot stretches last weekend after months of flexibility. That suggests a flare up of EPM…

Three months ago, I asked about weaning a foal at five months on the Equine Wellness and Nutrition group on Facebook. (Read my post and the responses.) At the time, Scheherazade was not quite two months old. I was hoping to wean her at around five months. Well, now she's going on six months old and not weaned. This is not because I've decided that it would hurt her to be weaned now.

Last weekend River completed her first 50-mile ride since being diagnosed with and treated for EPM. She did great! The new Fall Fiesta endurance ride proved to be a perfect event for River. A full 49 miles with a total of around 5,000' total elevation gain, the ride proved challenging despite having no really steep climbs. Part of the challenge was that I felt very unmotivated...

When my vet diagnosed River with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis, I had to learn a lot about treating EPM in horses in a very short time. (Read my post on detecting subtle signs of EPM.) Dr. Marquez recommended two FDA-approved treatments. After some frantic research, I chose an alternative option. I will describe these and other options below.

Though I still haven't made it to the start, I had a much more personal experience with Tevis this year, as a volunteer at Francisco's! (Read my blog post about it: Volunteering for the Tevis Cup.) I watched the Haggin Cup judging on Sunday, and have some pictures of the top ten to share. As usual, this post will be a summary of the essentials.

I had hoped to ride Tevis in 2021. (Read my very first Road to Tevis post!) Although I didn't have the prerequisite 300 miles by that time, the real problem was that I overtrained my mare Fantazia (which is why we hadn't completed my planned rides). Since then, volunteering for the Tevis Cup has been a persistent goal. I finally did so this year, as a in-timer at Francisco's.

Last weekend River completed two back-to-back 30-mile LDs at the Feliz Cumpleaños Endurance Ride. Normally, I would have done at least one 50-mile ride, but River was recently diagnosed with and treated for EPM (equine protozoal myeloencephalitis). (Read my blog post Detecting subtle signs of EPM in horses.) My vet encouraged me to keep conditioning and competing; it would allow us to better gauge River's recovery.

Nearly two years after I bought her, River was diagnosed with EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis). The diagnosis was based on high titers of Sarcocystis neurona as registered on UC Davis's Sarcofluor test. (She was negative for Neospora hughesi on the NeoFluor test.) My vet ordered the test based on River's wellness exam and my description of a series of symptoms.

This post is about three weeks late; Scheherazade was born in the early hours of May 3rd. It's been busy; the end of spring semester has combined with familial events. Better late than never, and I want everyone to meet Scheherazade before my next competition-centered post. Jump to: Breeding for ScheherazadeWaiting for ScheherazadeWe meet Scheherazade in the early morning of May 3rd!

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ride at Huasna was absolutely gorgeous! See my many pictures & videos and read a brief account of our ride.