A proposal

A friend asked me to train for a distance ride today.
She asked "Isnt there some kind of medicine that they can give you to make you strong enough to stand up to that kind of thing?

Wow. I wish.

Sometimes its just a matter of human will and toughness. This is my proposed partner for the ride; Baikhan. Hes my Diablo Horse. But i do love him. If one is going to keep a pet demon, one hopes it would always be a creature as charming and handsome as this guy is. He does some really oddball sh*t, but he obsessively loves in a weird control-freak-stalker kind of way. He thinks I am his little two leggity mare, and his other wife, besides Ankara, who got bred to him last year. And since I am his only mare who actually loves him back, (Ankara detests him) who better to take up a personal challenge with?

His full brother is still owned by the breeder, Jas Shearer-Mc Mahon. That horse is Patrickhan. Pat looks like my Khan's doppelganger, and likes to stand in wheelbarrows. Which is nearly as odd as Baikhan's penchant for scrubbing the walls of his stall with his water-dunked toys. (Please dont ask why, I am clueless.) They are both bred for endurance. My Khan is a joker and an eccentric, and probably would be a charming serial killer, with a cleanliness fetish, if he was human.

I can almost hear him protesting: "But I only kill the tedious people!"

There is nothing I would like more than to ride Tevis with Jas. Would it kill me? Today i am inclined to answer: Probably. If there was a drug to make me strong enough to withstand it, I think every pro athlete today would be taking it.

Would I like to try anyway? Yes. Without a doubt.

But that means there would be fears to conquor, and things to do, and horses to ride, and trails to brave, and prolly help to entreat from others who know more than i about such things as riding far and fast. Dear God, an entire laundry list of recovery to accomplish...! I have several friends who have ridden Tevis, and its no kid's trail ride. It is a grueling race over a mountain and through valley terrain. It kills horses and riders every year. Rocks, sand, cliffs and harsh time requirements to make, getting in and out of checkpoints, combine to give this race a reputation as the world cup of distance racing. One horse. One rider. One hundred miles. And you have to do it all in one day!

Certainly a worthy goal for a Turkmen horse. This is what they were bred for. It would be an act worthy of Beychobar, Tarlan, and my Khan's other ancestors. Would his tengri look upon him and bless him for following in their footprints? Would Yilki Atta, the Turkoman horse saint, help him to complete the race like Beychobar, in Alpymish? Do we have it in us to even get there?

Would I collapse in the saddle and stroke out, or have a heart attack, if I tried to do this?

It is a goal worthy of contemplation. I would have to think about it. Even if I never get all the way there, or get there but never complete, I could call myself a success just for trying. It would give me all kinds of reasons to conquor my fears of being hurt, and just get out there and TRY SOMETHING, and tempt failing, but do it anyway. Perhaps I will not succeed, but in trying I will get somewhere. Who knows where?

Well, first step is to get Khan out and get him going back under saddle again. Since recovering from his wound, he thinks hes been left in a state of permanent retirement.