80-Mile Endurance Ride At 2001 USET Festival Of Champions Is Full of Mud
By Diana DeRosa for Horsesdaily®.com

When the day dawned on Saturday, June 23 for competitors in the 80-mile Endurance Ride at the Festival of Champions, it was clear they would have a run for their money. The ominous sky made it clear there were to be rough times ahead for the next 12 hours, 35 minutes and 53 seconds for the ultimate winner Sue Greenall aboard Aleser and the three other competitors: Wendy Bejarano on Bie-Kin, Darolyn Butler-Dial on DJB Bab and Elena Witton aboard DJB Cytron. Aleser also won Best Conditioned Horse honors.

In fact, during much of the day the skies opened up in a fury sending huge bursts of rain down on the Gladstone, NJ grounds turning a good portion of the route they were riding into a muddy mess. But no matter, both the horses and riders faced Mother Nature with a fury.

"The route was mud, mud and more mud. We walked a two mile section that was nothing but four foot deep mud," commented Greenall. "It was discouraging the horses, so you had to push them. We all had a strategy planned to the first vet check but with the mud that all went out the window. It was only an 80-mile ride, but it seemed like 100 miles."

On the one hand, the rain was a horror, but on the other a blessing because it did cool them off for a ride that is often done under blistering sunshine.