Sisters hosts tough horses and riders

Endurance racing in its various forms has always been the tested the true mettle of the athlete, be it the 24 hours of Le Mans for the sports car set or the drama of the New York marathon for the fleet of foot.

Sisters had a chance to join the elite when it hosted an endurance race for the horsey set. The race began and finished at Sisters Rodeo Grounds. The longest loop for the Sisters event was 80 miles, and there were seven entrants. The 50-mile event had 84 competitors, and there were 36 competitors in the 30-mile event.

Held in conjunction with the endurance race was a ride-and-tie with seven teams entered. Ride-and-tie features partners who alternate running and riding on a single horse.

Mark Yoakum of Sisters, who partnered at the last minute with Ben Volk who lives in Pasco, Washington, won the 30-mile ride-and-tie.

"What an experience!" Yoakum said. "Bill Mintiens e-mailed me on Thursday morning, and two days later I showed up at 6:30 in the morning to fill in for a guy whose partner couldn't make it. He is a dynamic athlete. He is going to another ride-and-tie in about two weeks, and I couldn't imagine doing anything like that again in two weeks."

On the Sisters course, the runners did a lot of work.

"We both ended up running more than half," Yoakum said. "The course was pretty technical, and our horse was having a bit of a tough time on the course, so we got off and ran along with Bezi, our horse. The course was pretty soft, and there was a lot of hidden rocks, and he (Bezi) didn't like it. It sounded like he had a loose shoe on the right rear. It seemed like his hip on that quarter was bothering him, also. When we got back, we had to wait the hour to see if it settled down so that we could get an official finish. Fortunately, it did, and we ended up winning," said Yoakum.

Mintiens succeeded in placing fourth on the horse Cinder with his partner Don Betts, who is the president of the ride-and-tie association.

Rebecca Harig from New York also competed in the ride-and-tie, but her horse was disqualified and didn't prove as fit as the rider.

"I have ridden since I was seven, but I haven't really ridden much since I was in high school. I have only been riding about once a year, usually only when I come back to visit the Mintiens here in Sisters," she said.

Although endurance riding may conjure up images of lean galloping horses racing till they drop, nothing could be further from the truth. This is a family sport that has stringent requirements that keep the horse from being abused. There is a qualified veterinarian who checks the horses every 15 miles. The horses have to recover to preset, stringent criteria, including a target heart rate, before they are allowed to continue.

A horse must be fit to continue at the end of the race to score a completion. The conditioning of the horse is usually the deciding factor in a race, as the fittest horse passes vet checks first and that usually makes all the difference.