Endurance rider one step from Mongolia
KYALAMI - endurance rider Inge Rall-Behm's final race before the Mongolian Derby was cut short.
Rall-Behm was loaned a horse, Mahlik for the three-day 200km Fauresmith International Endurance Ride but was pulled out of the field on the second leg of the second day on 3 July when Mahlik went lame.
Rall-Behm said it was a great sadness that she had unfinished business at the race. “This sport it is about the animal and not the person. Thank you tremendously to my unbelievable grooming team, husband Kurt, Johan and Henta Greef and Connie, to Lucia Jacobs for her horse Mahlik, and Ami de Wet Senior for letting me ride with him today. Without all of you I would not have come this far!”
Rall-Behm had hoped the ride would be an indicator of how prepared she is for the Mongolian Derby.
The Fauresmith Endurance ride first started in 1964 after there was an argument about which horse breed has the best endurance ability which was argued in the Landbou Weekblad magazine. A route was planned from Hanover to De Aar, to Richmond and back to Hanover, and in this race the Arabian breed emerged as victorious.
The following year the ride took place again but some people put up opposition to the competition and poisoned about 60 of the horses that participated.
The ride, which was cancelled until 1973 when the ride was organised in Fauresmith, has continued to be a ride that shows good sportsmanship.
Rall-Behm said on her blog before the ride that her horse Mahlik was settled, eating and drinking well.
The horse-and-rider combination participated in the parade day and revised the course planning, performed vet checks and performed grooming.
“The weather has been extremely kind to us and yes the electrical blankets and blow heaters in the tents are on at night, but we cannot complain that we have been freezing,” said Rall-Behm.
She said that Mahlik and her bonded quickly would be a good team on both of their first experience on the endurance race. “We have an understanding that we will look after one another and we will have fun,” said Rall-Behm.
She leaves for the Mongolian Derby, dubbed the toughest horse race in the world, on 28 July.
Details: ingerallbehm.wordpress.com
