Road to the Tevis Cup Post #29: The 300-mile rider requirement

Several weeks ago I shared an unexpectedly controversial post on the AERC Facebook page. I asked why I could not enter my horse in Tevis without a rider specified and then add myself once I had completed the 250 endurance miles I need to meet the 300-mile rider requirement. I know I will complete them before this year’s Tevis Cup if my horse and I are ready to enter on July 24th. Fantazia needs those miles to get fit, and I need them to know her in competition. Training rides go a long way, but you simply cannot rely on them alone to gauge your horse’s readiness for a major event like Tevis.

Last summer I planned a series of rides that would have earned me 250 miles by March. Then COVID-19 and the California wildfires happened, and I readjusted my plan. See it as of December 20 in my post on How to enter Tevis. When I realized that plan was also doomed (COVID), I made the post mentioned above. It received 57 comments. As usual, many of them did not answer my question. (How to discourage questioning in an online horse forum.) Many people seemed to feel it necessary to point out that the rule was there for a reason, and that they in fact thought it should be more strict.

Things I learned from the comments on my post

Before I comment on the 300-mile rider requirement, I’d like to thank everyone who responded, even those who ignored my question. As usual, I learned a lot from riders with far more endurance experience than I have. Relevant to my question and the 300-mile requirement was that Tevis is focused on the rider, not the horse. I was told that a rider could enter, and then change horses.

This is very foreign to me, partly because it’s been so long that I entered an event where the rider could substitute the horse. This has only ever happened to me when I showed in equitation as a kid. Since then, most of my horse-event-entering has been racing, and the horse is the competitor. Jockeys can be switched, but never the horse.

I still cannot really wrap my head around it. It feels counter-intuitive, when all the focus of endurance is on the horse. Horses win Best Condition. Horses must be fit to continue… horses win… but yes, the rider is essential.

I also learned that Tevis will probably not fill up. Finding lodging for Fantazia and me might be challenging, but I should be okay waiting to enter.

And I learned that some people feel very strongly about rider requirements.

What about the 300-mile rider requirement?

I understand the purpose behind putting some sort of restriction on rider (in)experience. If things had gone as planned, I would have had no trouble riding 300 miles long before now. When asked what I thought of the rule, I said 300 miles is both too many and too few.

The thing is, it’s arbitrary. 300 miles can in no way guarantee that a rider is ready for the challenges of Tevis. My only endurance ride was a gentle 50 miles at Bell Cow Lake in Oklahoma. I catch-rode a really nice Quarab mare who easily completed in 7.5 hours. It was a lot of fun, but 20 rides in similar terrain could in no way prepare me for Tevis. I do more Tevis-appropriate riding out my back gate here in California, where we climb 1000-4500 feet in a typical training ride. (See my post about riding in the Sierra Nevada foothills.)

Of course, more miles anywhere would be better. It’s just that I don’t believe 300 is a magic number. Nor do I believe it should be 1,000. I’ve been around enough endurance riders with lots of miles to know that accumulating miles does not equate with any given level of horsemanship. What’s more, many of the skills needed to get through Tevis (or any challenging ride) can be learned elsewhere. Feeding regimes, for example, can be learned in any discipline. I learned how to feed for different work at the racetrack, where I also learned how to take and understand heart rate and how to listen to respiration from the saddle and the ground. Essential skills for endurance! Identifying lameness, lackluster condition, and gastric issues is not specific to endurance…

All this doesn’t mean I believe I am ready now!

Of course, I don’t believe I am ready to ride Tevis right now. I want to ride several 50s, including two back-to-back 50/55s before summer. I wish I had been able to ride more in Oklahoma. If Fantazia’s sister Lady had not had an acute case of Sweeney shoulder and if I had not been so busy completing my doctorate, it would have happened.

I cannot even guarantee that I will feel ready to enter when I reach 300 miles. I won’t enter unless I feel 100% confident Fantazia and I will be capable of finishing. Even if I enter, if we get to July and I don’t feel we’re ready, I will scratch. But this isn’t about those 300 miles. It’s about good sense.

The truth is, even if we do not make it to Tevis this year, it doesn’t matter. I am having so much fun just riding! (and blogging, of course!)