January 31st Leaderboard

Here is the January 31st MTD Leaderboard.  

The 2013 Distance Derby is officially closed to new riders.

Here are all the teams in order starting with most miles and ending with newest entries.  

We also have 6 entries under the age of 14.  We sure wish them the best.

For all our 129 riders....May the wind be always to your back, the sun shine just right, your ride be safe, sane and happy, with lots of smiles and laughter and may your horse enjoy it as much as you do.  Have a great year riders!

Thanks for the Memories......

Sunday, January 27th was the awards party for the Distance Derby 2012.  Here is a picture of Tammy giving Juanita her award for ending with the most miles ridden or driven in 2012.  Congratulations to Juanita for spending almost all your waking hours (and maybe some not awake hours?) with your butt in a saddle :-)  We all know how fun that is.  

Juanita Serafini rode 2160.42 miles in the 2012 Great Horsetrailriders Distance Derby and won first place in the competition. 

For all the "newbies" to the Distance Derby if you look at the sidebar with all the Team names and see a *asterisk by their team name, those are the riders who completed the 2012 DD.

Go to Distancederby.blogspot.com  to read about the Awards Potluck Party.  Also, if you get a chance on a freezing cold winter day,  take the time to read some of the comments of the riders and read the wonderful blog that Tammy lovingly wrote posts for throughout the year, they are great  reading.

Now on to this year....I would love to post some of your ride stories of the DD2013 during the year, so make sure to post and send pictures of your adventures to distancederby @ gmail.com.  Remember we are all in this together.
~Diane~

Team 129 - MustangsRUs

I have been riding as long as I can remember, and owned horses for about 30 years.  Dakota is my mustang gelding, and I also ride my quarter horse mare Cassie.  

My daughter just moved to Arkansas to work at a tiger sanctuary so I it is going to be a little different riding this summer without her.  

My husband and I live just west of Pleasant Dale.

Team 128 - Scalebrand

My name is Jocelyn Payne and I live in Jacksonville, AR.I just moved here from Alaska and before that Oregon.

 I am an endurance rider, 44 years old , I have three horses and all are endurance /show horses. One Paint mare and two Arabian Geldings.

Scalebrand Livestock is my husband's Cattle Brand.

I plan on competing full blast this year in the Central region for the AERC and lots and lots of trail rides with my husband.

I can't wait to start logging my miles !

Team 127 - Frahm

    I am Mary Frahm from Amelia, a tiny town in north central Nebraska, population 7.
(I’m # 7)   Not long ago I retired from teaching, so I now have more time on my hands,
and a great little mare named Dutchess to throw my saddle on.   Surrounded by miles of
pasture, I have lots of ground to ride on, and neighbors that don’t mind if I do.  You
know, that’s a great combination.  I put it to good use.

    My husband Doug and I enjoy horse camping and trail riding, and we’re blessed to
have good family and friends that enjoy the same.  We vacation with our horses, in
Nebraska and surrounding states as well.  At home, I really like it when my husband
rides with me, but when he doesn’t, I have a wonderful doggy friend that accompanies
me.  She won’t be left behind.

    My sister issued a challenge to me last year to see which of us could ride more
miles.  I had two goals then:  beat her, or if I couldn’t, at least put in one mile
for every day of the year.  She beat me on miles, but I did make my second goal.  And
who will this year?  We’ll see.  I’ve also challenged myself to ride more miles than I
did last year.

Team 126 - Giddy Up

My name is Shelly Henderson.  I'm live north of Sioux City IA. 

The saddle is the place I dream about and the place I put myself every chance I get.  I've decided to join the Distance Derby (thanks to Tammy) because I would like to see the amount of miles I travel in a year.  This is a challenge for myself to not only ride every chance I get, but to put more time in on my rides.  My horses are my life.  We have several horses (my other half says too many), 9 horses & 1 mule.  Each one has their own personality.  I've learned from each & every one of my horses, good or bad.  I look at each one & realize the progress I've made & the progress I need to make in my Horsemanship journey. 

My adventures lead me to nurmous places... we trail ride locally & take a few vacation a year.  We try to hit new areas each year.  We've been to the Black Hills, Colorado, Missouri & Arkansas.  It's hard to pick my favorite, can you?  We also compete in local events as well... ranch sorting, trail challenges & ranch horse competitions.  I gladly except the challenge of the Distance Derby.  This will be a new journey for me & I'm excited to participate.  Along with meeting more horse people along the way.

 

 

Happy Trails, Shelly Henderson

 

PS A big thank you to Tammy for creating this event, for being active in local riding & writing the stories about her adventures. Her stories have inspired me.  Along with all the information she shares about local rides and trail.  Thank You Tammy.

Team 125 - Frosty

Hi. My name is Shelby.  I love horses and usually ride Rocky or Frosty. I'm 9 years old. We live in central Nebraska. Sometimes we go on trail rides at Cotton Mill Park or practice in the arena.

Team 124 - Newtson

  I am a soon to be retired school teacher from central Nebraska, whose greatest passion is riding. Trail riding to be exact.  My husband and I and our good friends spend alot of quality time traveling to different places, (in state and out state) to ride new and old favorite trails. 

Of course I must also introduce my riding partner, Hoo Ha. He is a 12 year old gelding of unknown parentage. I have owned him since he was a fuzzy 4 month old orphan. We have put in alot of miles together.  We have several other horses on our farm, but Hoo Ha is my favorite. He has quite the personality.  

We also have two Corgies and a terrier cross mutt who love to tag along on home rides.  They don't get to travel with us, because they know their job is to stay home and act as guard dogs when we are away. That I say with tongue in cheek, but they sure think that is their job.

Team 123 - Savannah

Savannah is 4 years old. She takes riding lessons each week. Her favorite lesson horse is Frosty but she likes to do tricks on Rocky. Mom's schedule permitting, she also rides her own horses (Lady and Frisco) with mom,  or her pony Tango.

Team 122 - Cindy C

Hi my name is Cindy Copley I live near Aurora, Nebraska. I have 4 horses and 2 minis. I sort of retired last October so I plan on doing a lot of riding this year. I hope to get to some places I have wanted to ride and never made it, make some new friends on the way and meet up with some old ones:) I also want to get my minis broke to drive and get some miles in that way. See you on the trail!

Team 121 - Short Stuff

My name is Melinda (Brahms) Mothershead. I live outside of Massena, Iowa. 

I love to riding, my Papa had me on a horse before I could walk. With my kids, all girls, ages 3,4,5 & 7, farming and my grooming business riding usually gets put on the back burner. I love to trail ride, check cows/fence and fox hunt. My equine consist of the Mules; Mable a 16hh 6y/o and Jennie a 12 hh 14y/o. And the Horses Jesse 14.1hh 6 y/o appy/poa and Cassie 14.2hh 6y/o Haflinger.

I am hoping the derby will push me to find more time in the saddle and meets some more "hors" people.

Team 120 - Long Distance Rider

Hi all!  Connie Hoge - "Long Distance Rider" - Arlington, Washington.   I enjoy blogging @ http://hogehomestead.blogspot.com/  when I'm not riding :-) This will be my first year in the Distance Derby.

Born with horses in my blood, I grew up in Boulder, CO. Summers were spent on my grandparents farm - where I rode my first mare all over the Iowa countryside.  We moved from Colorado to Washington in the early 80's.

After our girls were grown, we found our country home - with room for the Arabians who soon joined us.  Starting with Competitive Trail in the early 90's - within a couple years I was riding Endurance (1995-2012). Last summer I sold my endurance mare to Saudi Arabia & have "semi-retired" from the sport.

Now... with my 6-year old American Warmblood mare Farah, I'm taking a few lessons in Cowboy & Western Dressage & trying some "Extreme Trail" classes. I enjoy riding & camping with friends, seeing new country & anything that puts me in the saddle! 

I'm fine, I'm Ridin~

Leaderboard Update Jan. 27, 2013

January 27th, 2013 Leaderboard.  'Nuff Said :-)

Team 119 - Hoppin Kate'nFlash

Hi, my name is Kaitlyn, and I will be riding both my geldings Hoppy and Flash. I just recently got Flash for my birthday, so I am excited to ride him in the distance derby also. 

I ride all the time including 4-H and the Two County Dusters.. so I am excited to see how many miles I can ride this summer with both horses. 

Team 118 - Blue Sky

My name is Eloise.  I am 11 years old and have always had a love for horses.

My horse's name is Benjamin and he is a nine year old Arabian.

I enjoy jumping, trail riding and distance riding with my Mom;Team 117 - Apple Treat.

Team 117 - Apple Treat

My name is Crystal, I love spending hours with my horses and riding for miles and miles....

We have 4 horses.  My gentle TB  lead mare Kitty Kate, Benjamin my daughter's horse (that I steal from her when she is in school) : )), my sweet Anglo-Arabian Luna and Baby Ozzie our 2 1/2 year old Arabian.

I enjoy competing or just camping and riding with friends.  Happy trails.

Team 116 - Basketball

I'm Eleanor from Kearney and I take riding lessons once a week in Elm Creek, Nebraska, and when I'm not doing that, I'm playing basketball, reading and I like computer games. I'm eleven.

I love my lessons and the horses there.

Team 115 - Erin

Sioux and I have been a team for ten years. We haven't been on too many trail rides but hopefully this year all that will change! I'm aiming for 300 miles this year. 

Skip and I have been a team for the last ten years. We been to a few trail rides recently and hope to make it to more this year. I hope to ride 300 miles this year.

Team 114 - Legend

Hi, my name is Kayla Unick. I am 12 years old. I live in Pleasanton, Nebraska. I have 1 dog, 3 cats and 1 horse.

When I am not riding horses I am either reading or drawing about them. In the spring I am looking for a 2nd horse. 

During the Summer I show jump and go on trail rides.

Leader Board Updated Jan. 20, 2013

January 20th Update Leader Board.  It is only the 3rd week for 2013 and the Distance Derby and we are amazing!  We have 112 Riders now and 75 of those are on the Leader Board.  So far as a group we have ridden 1896.24 miles.  Wow!  Whether you are at .65 or over 100 miles, you are doing great this January of 2013!  GO RIDERS GO!!!

Team 113 - Comet

I would like to enter the distance derby.  My teacher, Christine, encouraged entering.

It has been on my "bucket list" to learn to ride, so at not a young age, I am taking riding lessons.  I am riding, Comet, one of my teacher's horses. My goal is to keep riding and keep learning.

Miriam--team "Comet" 

Team 112 - Riker

Hi my name is Marlynn Riker.  I live in Powell Wyoming.  I love riding it renews my energy and my soul.

I have Henry an arab/saddlebred cross and Benji Morgan/arab cross.  They are great companions and my trustworthy camp and trail mates.  We have done endurance, pack trips and just great trail rides.  

Looking forward to many miles this 2013!  Thanks for the opportunity to do Distance Derby!

Best Laid Plans of Woman & Horse

Here is a short story from Team 71, who had the best laid plans...well you know how that goes, but it ends with a happy note.  You go girl and you never gave up!!!  We like that in a rider :-)

Team 111 - Mare on a Mission

My name is Leigh Ann Engdahl. 

My team name is Mare on a Mission. My horse is named Honesty.

My goal is 100 miles.I live in SW Iowa.  

Opps - first ride of 2013 for one rider

Team 95 had a wonderful 1st ride of the year in Michigan.  Sure hope they are all better for the rest of 2013.

Team 110 - Daly

I am from the United Kingdom and live in Wyoming. I am a professional farrier and ride as often as I can.  My back ground is Thoroughbred racing, for several years I have participated in Endurance Riding. I ride several mustangs and Arabian horses. My favorite is  French Fyr, a great Arabian gelding. 

Wyoming offers wide open spaces to ride in. The winters are often very cold and very long. I am joining this group to get encouragement to ride a lot more during the winter.

I am looking forward to meeting Distanz Derby riders on line.

Darren Daly

Team 109 - Moonlight Mustangs

My name is April Sanders.  I live in the cute little town of LeRoy, KS.  Horses (mustangs) are my all time passion.  I ride every spare moment and when not riding I am training my other mustangs.

 

When I heard about this DD 2013 of recording my miles and time in the saddle, I knew I needed to sign up.  My goal is to ride and have fun recording the actually miles I ride.

 

Nevada is my 16yo mustang mare who will be my main mount.  We have ridden many trails, competed in rides, rode parades, and rode with a mounted drill team.  Learning and trusting each other has been a rewarding adventure.  My husbands 9yo gelding will get a few rides as well and I have a little mustang pony under saddle training.  I look forward to getting a few rides in on her this summer.

 

Nevada and I love our weekend camping, trailriding and especially the moonlight rides with our friends.  Those moonlight rides are awesome and I always wear a helmet during those night rides for safety.

 

In 2012 there was a "Ride to Remember" to help raise funds for a veteran's therapuetic riding center in NM, and we continued the ride for the whole month of November.  For 30 days I rode a horse to honor our veterans.  Nevada and I even rode our 5 miles into town to cast our vote.

 

I love riding my mustang Nevada Girl and look forward to recording how many miles we can actually ride together.  The Moonlight Mustangs, 48 and doing great.

 

April Sanders with Mustang Nevada Girl

"God does not promise an easy Journey,

just a safe place to land"

Team 108 - Riding High

I am Doris Roesch from Cody, Wyoming. I have been riding Endurance since 1976. I love to ride the trails. My mounts are Kardra-Arabian, All in good Time “(Timex)”-Arabian, Raven-Morab , French Fyr- Arabian and Onslo-Mule.

Living in rural Wyoming gives me the opportunity to ride in the Mountains without having to trailer. Another plus is, that I am retired and have lots of time to be on horseback. Weather does not affect my riding much. I have warm clothing. My 8 rescue dogs share my love for the outdoors.

I have been reading about this program last year but did not get around to join. Here I am. Ready to ride.

Thank for having me.

Team 107 - Livin' Large

I'm Heather Crispin, I own Livin' Large Farms located in North Central Texas. I'm a proud breeder of the rare Sugarbush Draft Horses. My trusty steed and best friend, Sugarbush Harley's Classic O (his fans just call him O) enjoy trying all sorts of new things and we are up to this challenge!

Team 106 - All That Jazz

Bobbie Jo Lieberman-Weber lives in south-central Texas with her husband Kenny, nine horses, two cats, one dog and assorted farm animals. 

She’s ridden endurance for over 30 years and also enjoys being a ride photographer. As Managing Editor of trailBLAZER magazine, she loves bringing the latest advances in nutrition, hoof care, saddle fit, conditioning, horse camping and more to a national audience of recreational and competitive trail riders.

Her current main ride is Jazz (Dancers Southern Princess), a 7-year-old Tennessee Walker mare. She also rides a Morgan named Annakate and an Arabian named Rushcreek Caribou. 

Already in the habit of using a GPS on every ride, Bobbie Jo looks forward to this new virtual adventure and salutes all those who participated last year and are back in the saddle for another season!

Jan. 13th Updated Leaderboard

We now have 105 DD2013 Riders!  A new entry came in today, welcome Team 105.  We have 68 of those 105 riders with rides entered.  Cumulatively those 68 riders have posted  1171 miles so far MTD!  Wow!!  Awesome ya'll

What GPS do you use?????

What GPS do you use????  Do you use a Garmin wrist type, a hand held, a Magellen, an Iphone, or smart phone or other???  Inquiring minds want to know :-)  Please put a comment at the end of this post and let us know who you are and what type of GPS you use.

Now on to the lesson.....nope there won't be a test.... this is for FYI only :-)

On the top of this blog is a menu which shows Home, Rules, Entering your Miles, etc., added new today is a wonderful post "GPS Basics" by Tammy about the GPS she uses, the Garmin Foretrex 301.   It really shows the basics of the Foretrex GPS wristwatch series.  She also talks about her Iphone that has a GPS Fit app that can also be used for tracking derby miles.

After reading a very similar such post from Tammy a few years ago, I purchased a Garmin Foretrex 401 because I figured it was a newer model.  Nope, not newer, just more options.  Options that I won't use to the fullest, probably should have just got the 301 and saved the money, but I digress.....

A few of my friends have the same model as I do and when we ride together my GPS tracks more miles then theirs :-) .  We all figured with Jordan having such a long stride, I actually went farther, but after some research I don't think so.  I think it is because I have set mine up with the WAAS GPS Mode and not the normal.

Ok, so what is the difference you ask???  WAAS uses more satellites then the normal mode  http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html (link to read more about it).

So if you want about 1/2 to 3/4 mile more then normal mode, change it to WAAS mode.

On the GPS, use the first button and click thru till you get to the "Waypoint" screen.  Then arrow down to the "Setup" option which is highlighted.  Click your 2nd button (from the left) til you get to "System".

This is the screen for both the GPS Mode and the Battery Mode.  Just remember to highlight what you want to change; top for GPS and bottom for Battery.  Oh, the middle one is for the beeper.  I don't use it cuz I hate beepers.....

Now on to the battery option....when you highlight the battery option, it brings up this screen; which has a setting to choose what kind of battery you install.  I use the Lithium, which gives a little longer time and less drop off (lithium batteries are more expensive though).  It comes setup with the alkaline battery standard, so if you choose a different battery, be sure to change it in set up.

The AAA batteries usually last about 17 hours, so be sure to carry a spare set in your horn bag, or get in the middle of a ride and your battery dies and you loose many miles ......  just sayin'  :-(

Team 105 - Mami

Hi my name is Chanda Mami Im from Hallam Ne, and these are my boys Budrow (11) twh, and Baron (13) pqh, I've been riding for as long as I can remember. Once upon a time I participated in shows, but have found I just enjoy heading off down the road with no particular direction or trailering up with my neighbor and hitting a trail somewhere new to be so very gratifying and medicinal for me.
  
I feel like riding is my therapy and reward for all the hard work of day to day life. I look forward to tracking my miles if only just to see how far the boys and I make it. 

This is our first year in the distance derby and are excited. Hope everybody has a safe wonderful year!!

 -Chanda Mami

Team 104 - Shawnee

My name is Keith Kibler.  My wife and I raise twhs and mfts on a small farm in extreme Southern IL. We endurance race them against the Arabians. Everything we do is GPS.

Shoot if you want real real proof, here is the video I made of the ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kPUIs6ramc

btw, I am on the aerc membership committee and write for both Trail Blazer magazine and Fosh magazine.
thank you

Keith Kibler
http://shawneesunrisefarm.net/

Middle of 2nd week of DD2013

Hi, DD2013 Riders :-)  As the new DD Admin it is really fun for me to be able to read everyone's posts about their rides.  I am amazed that we have so many riders signed up.  I posted Team 103 last night and we still have over 2 weeks left before we close the entries for DD2013.  A big WELCOME to all our Riders!

It is now the middle of the second week of the derby and it is exciting that we have 56 out of 103 teams already on the Leaderboard. It is January people how crazy are ya'll !!!  Is it crazy or dedicated, not sure which :-)  But then I rode yesterday, so it must be crazy......

I was helping a friend yesterday with her new Garmin Foretrex 401 GPS.  She has the same one I do so I had a few tips for her.  That little thing has more options then I will ever use but it is fun trying.  I shared that I upload my rides to Garmin Connect after my rides to keep track of where I went and to see the actual trail I was on.  Thought I might share it with all of you too.  I also found out that Garmin Connect also has an app for smartphones too.  That means if I use my phone as my GPS (which lots of DD Riders do) I can upload those rides too.  Too awesome!!

As I wrote before we have 103 Teams so far....notice I said so far....people seem to be coming out of the woodwork around here :-)  Most of the teams are in Nebraska (as expected) but we have a team in Michigan, one in Washington DC, more then a few out on the West Coast and some down south, up north and even Texas!  What fun.  Miles so far range from .70 miles to 81.75 miles with the most at 12 miles and under.  

Every single .10 th of a mile posted has a smile on it just because we are outside with our horses whether they are good, bad or ugly(name that movie), all of them always beautiful in their own way (name that song -- am I dating myself...), doing what we love to do.....RIDING!!  

I'll be officially updating the Leaderboard  on Sunday, January 13th around 10 pm.  So if you want all your rides for the week in that update, get'em to me before 10 :-)  Have a great rest of the week!  Diane / Luvriden

Leaderboard 1/6/13 9:05pm REVISED1/7/13 12:50pm

Entries for the Distance Derby will be accepted up to January 31.  Click on the Rules tab above for qualifying miles for late entrants and information on entering.