The "Race Across Mongolia" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a fantastic story in my Sunday newspaper titled Race Across Mongolia.  The story tells about a young woman who lives in nearby Honey Brook, Pennsylvania who won a bronze medal in the 9-day test of endurance.  The Mongol Derby Race that Callie King recently finished 4th in is an endurance race that was more than 620 miles in distance as the crow flies.  It actually follows the 2,500 mile horse messenger route that Genghis Khan created in 1224 when he conquered half the world.  Deploying a network of horse stations, called urtuus in Mongolian, his messengers rode nonstop to deliver key communications between the capital of Kharkhorin and the Caspian Sea in a matter of days.  The derby recreates this ancient travel route, the horse riders traveling between urtuus 25 miles apart and changing horses at each stop.  With GPS coordinates, the riders know where they are supposed to end up each evening but how they get there across open and barrier-prone country is up to them.  The route decisions help determine the outcome of the race.  Callie spent grueling days that left her muscles aching.  She slept on the ground in goat shelters where she was fed a diet of goat pie and fermented, alcoholic horse milk.  It took her from August 10 to August 20 to travel the distance.  She won a bronze medal as the fourth of 46 riders to cross the finish line.  The riders were hand-picked from around the world and each had to pay $15,500 to participate in the competition.  It took more than 500 support staff to make sure the native horses and riders remained safe.  Mongolian herders were paid for rounding up the horses.  Half of those that entered never finished the race.  Some became lost while some had to be hospitalized due to heat stroke, hypothermia and gastrointestinal distress.  Temperatures varied from 80s during the day to 40s at night.  Most riders were thrown from their barely broken horses at least once.  Callie was thrown from her horse one day when it stepped in a marmot hole and tumbled on top of her.  Callie said the race changed her, but it was the kind of experience you can't formulate the words for.  She operates Honey Brook Stables which is a hands-on campus of her Horse Class business which is a mostly online, international learning platform for horse riders, equestrians, horse owners and horse lovers.  She focuses on connections between horses and humans and has had more than 86,000 students in 41 countries since 2012.  She has been living on a ranch in Azxaca, Mexico where she trains endurance horses and rides her Azteca stallion, Canelo.  The Mongol Derby was a perfect meld for her love of riding horses, thirst for adventure, riding in wide open spaces and experiencing new cultures.  Her love affair with horses never wavered despite being attacked by a stallion when she was 13 years old.  She was knocked unconscious and received severe injuries.  If it hadn't been for a neighbor she may have died due to her injuries.  She still loves the special bond that can be forged between a rider and her horse.  She was one of 45 riders whom were accepted for the Mongol Derby out of more than 250 riders whom tried to get a spot.  She reported that she really enjoyed her participation in the Derby.  She rode to be competitive, but not at the expense of not enjoying it.  She really wanted to do right by the horse.  She said she could have pushed the horses she rode, but if it was past the point of being fun for her or her horse, it wasn't worth pushing hard.   Callie first applied for the race in 2019, at a time when her life was in upheaval.  She had ended a long-term relationship, been involved in a motorcycle crash and was looking for the next phase in her horse-training business.  Then the race was suspended in 2020 and 2021 because COVID-19.  She credits her fast start in this year's race to her first horse which was a fast performer who proved to be a "lucky" choice.  Her horse just ran and ran.  The horses in the race are closer to horse ancestors.  They haven't been overbred by humans, and they're an older genetic variety of horse.  Mongolians have a sacred relationship with their horses.  They take pride in their horses.  More than three million horses wander the unfenced land.  Each year, herders round up about 1,500 horses for use in the race.  During the race, she had to quickly chose her next horse when she came to the changing stations.  She looked for lean and fit horses.  Horse welfare is paramount with all horses pre-checked by international vets.  During the Derby she would bunk with families of herders in round tents.  She ate a lot of goat and sheep meat cooked with fat and noodles.  A very different culture than she is used to.  She said that if there's one takeaway from her journey to pass on its this, "I want people to get out and do the things they dream of."  I certainly agree with Callie, but I'm not ready to get on a horse and do what she did, unless it maybe a carousel horse.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.