Editor's note: Since Mary Kornwolf has elected not to compete, she will be replaced on the squad by Lynne Gilbert, the first alternate, riding GM Chagall.
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Age: 45 year old
Height: 5'7" Featherweight
Married: Fifteen years to Dan, no children, two black labs
HISTORY: I grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia and started riding at the age of 8 on wild ponies at a friend's grandparents' farm. Like many little girls, I always loved horses. My mother said I would wear the knees out of my pants because I was always pretending I was a horse. My favorite book as a child and movie as an adult was The Black Stallion. I knew someday I'd have an Arabian. When I was 12 and still horse crazy, my father bought me a 5 month old Appaloosa filly that I kept until I went to college. I rode very little during my twenties as I focused on my career in Atlanta. When Dan and I moved from Atlanta to Lexington, Virginia, he convinced me that I should get back into riding. Poor man, he didn't know what he was doing. That spring, I met Jeannie Waldron and she asked me to crew for her and Rambo at the Old Dominion 100. That was the year that Jeannie raced Debbie Gordon and set the record for the course that still stands. I was totally hooked and Jeannie offered to let me ride Chagall for her. When I started riding Chagall, I lived on the eastern shore of Maryland and he lived in Northern Virginia. For three years, twice a week, I made the 220 mile round trip to train Chagall with Jeannie. When I moved to Lexington, 4 years ago, Chagall moved with me. I owe an immense amount of gratitude to Jeannie who remains my mentor even now. This sport continues to give so much to me and I have never been involved with a more generous and supportive group of people. I have been helped by the kindness of so many - I competed 5 years without having my own truck and trailer. There was always someone willing to take me along. I am excited about competing in Washington and hope my old boy continues to surprise me.
Age: 16
Description: 15.1 hand flea-bitten gray Arabian gelding, Russian/Polish
bloodlines
Miles: Endurance - 3135 miles , Limited Distance - 30 miles
100 mile completions - 14
I purchased Chagall in 1994 from Jeannie Waldron. I had been riding and competing him for about a year while he was owned by her. Chagall was the measure by which I judged any other horse I looked at and I could not find a horse that I liked as well as him. Jeannie agreed to let me buy Chagall and I can still remember how excited I was the day he became mine. After completing eleven 50 mile rides in 1994 and 1995, Chagall was diagnosed with EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis). I was devastated and feared most that he would not live or recover sufficiently to live a normal life again. After six months of aggressive treatment, he did recover and the only lasting effect is permanent blindness in his left eye. Chagall could be the poster horse for EPM. He had not competed in a distance over 50 miles prior to the EPM, yet since that time he has completed fourteen 100 mile rides and a 3-day 150 mile ride. Chagall has been a consistent competitor over his 10 year career with 54 starts, 45 completions and 36 top tens. He is a good mountain horse and has completed the Old Dominion 100 mile ride five times. The past year has been one of the best for Chagall and me. We won the Old Dominion in 2002 and received the AERC Best Conditioned Award and the Old Dominion Trophy while riding in the cavalry division. In February we were invited to the 100 Mile President's Cup in Abu Dhabi. We had a wonderful time and completed the race in Chagall's fastest 100 mile time ever. Chagall is my buddy and even though he has definite opinions about everything, shies for fun and can be obstinate at times, I love riding and being with him so much that I feel guilty looking for a backup horse. I have been truly blessed to own such a great horse. The sport of endurance as I know it IS Chagall.
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I began distance riding in 1990. In September of 1988 I purchased an Arabian gelding , the only one at a predominantly Quarter horse auction, because I’d been told an Arabian would stand up to my all day trail rides. Two years later I heard about a local competitive trial ride. I thought I’d better find out what is was about early in the season, so I entered the January thaw 25 CTR in Vermont It was snowing and blowing but I placed and was hooked. I competed regularly and before long that horse was top ten in many 100 mile endurance rides.
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Born in NJ, BS in Animal Science from
Cook College, Rutgers University. DVM from New York State College of
Veterinary Medicine (Cornell University). Practiced 5 years in NJ, escaped
to Vermont in 1986 and have practiced happily here ever since (and yes, I DO
live on a dirt road!) My practice consists primarily of sport/competitive horses
(trail, driving, dressage, event) and pleasure horses. In addition, I am
certified in Veterinary Acupuncture by IVAS (International Veterinary
Acupuncture Society) and Animal Chiropractic by AVCA (American Veterinary
Chiropractic Association). Started trail riding (CTR) at age 16 in
4-H trail ride program, a 25 mile competitive ride. I got hooked, and my
second ride was the NJ 3-day 100, which I completed on my Appaloosa, "Ghost
of Cochise". That same Appaloosa finished the Old Dominion 100 at the
age of 22. While still at Rutgers, I attended an endurance clinic put on
by the Old Dominion in Virginia, and kept coming back for more. In fact,
my Senior Seminar presentation/paper at Cornell was on "The Exhausted Horse
Syndrome in Endurance Horses". Endurance rides were few and far
between in the east, so I did many, many CTR's, including more than 25 3-day
100's. As more endurance rides started in the east, I started doing more
of them. I did my second endurance ride with Stagg Newman, who was doing his
first endurance ride, in the Pine Barrens of NJ. I have over 4000
miles of endurance rides, and about 6000 additional miles of CTR's. I've
been lucky enough to have traveled to do the ROC in Utah, the preride for the
Worlds in Kansas, the Biltmore, OD, JD's ride, Cosequin and of course, Vermont!
In addition to riding, I also vet Endurance and Competitive trail rides, and am
an FEI Veteinarian for Endurance, Dressage and Driving. Oh, just for outside
entertainment, I love to garden (the weeds are faster than I am though)
and read Sci-fi novels. Sleep would be good too. Keeps one busy!
Bill is an 11 y.o. bay , supposed to be Arab but no papers, so is a grade, gelding. I first saw him as a scrawny 5 y.o. in a blizzard at Jan Worthington and Grace Ramsey's farm in Illinois while I was taking the Veterinary Chiropractic course. Jan had to drag my rental car up her loooong driveway with a tractor at midnight! I went back in the spring, and lo and behold, he had not yet been sold (hint, hint). He was a fun ride, so I purchased him. When I told Sue Greenall what his name was, she said that you couldn't call a horse just "Bill", so he became "Just Bill". When she saw him, she did agree that he did looked like a "Bill". When I first started working him, he was so narrow that he tipped over sideways (with me on top, of course!) several times. Can't say that I fell off of him, but it was kinda hard to stay "on top" when he was lying on his side. Six years and 1300+ endurance miles (and a bunch of CTR miles too) later Bill has turned out to be a pretty nifty guy. He likes his job and loves to be out in front of his group, with a good buddy just behind or next to him. When I first trailered him and he stuck his head out the door at the truck stop and bounced up and down, I thought, boy this is trouble. But he loves looking out the open door at the stops and has never tried to come out (although my heart still stops when he cranes his neck way around the side!) Fuss he might, but eat and drink he does!
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AERC Endurance miles: 1870
Blond hair, glue/green eyes, 5 ft 4-1/2 inches tall
Lets just say I'm not 21 anymore
Occupation - Owner of a commercial masonry company
Born and raised on a farm in
Michigan, loving all animals came easy to me, but horses have always been my
life. Other than the 10 years I spent in the army during Vietnam, I have
always owned at least one horse, and at times many horses. My favorite
past time when I was a kid was listening to my grandfather's stories about
horses when they were the only means of transportation. And he sure had a
lot of them. I started as a kid riding the plow horses around the farm,
and then got into quarter horses at the age of 12 and began the sport of barrel
racing. I did some time in the show ring as well, but never quite got the
hang of impressing the judges.
My first experience with the Arabian horse was in 1987. I was a reporter
for a local newspaper and, one day, my editor asked me if I'd like to cover a
story about endurance riding that was being held at our local trails. She
wanted photos and a story and, needless to say, I jumped at the
opportunity. I knew instantly that this was what I wanted to try. My
host at the ride was the nicest lady, and quite the competitor. I had just
sold the last of my quarter horses and was without a mount, but I became more
interested the longer I was there. As I was leaving the event, my host
told me if I ever purchased an Arabian and wanted to try the sport, I should
give her a call. Later on that summer my husband and I were in a Country
and Western band and had been asked to play at a big Arabian Class A show farm
where they hosted benefit each year for the handicapped. I think I
fell in love with the Arabian horse right then and there. Fate had brought
me to the Arabian. That fall, we moved from a cottage on a lake into our
farm, and my next horse purchase was Miss Donna Rosebud, a 3-year-old gray, 14.2
hand Arabian mare with a heart the size of Texas. That fall, I called the
lady that had been my host the previous year and, without hesitating, she sent
me to our local woods for a ride. She informed me that I was to ride the
10 mile loop, time myself (she gave me 1-1/2 hours), and take my horse's pulse
10 minutes after finishing. When I phoned her with our results, she told
me to pack for the weekend and she'd be by the next day to take us to our first
competitive trail ride. And the rest, as they say, is history!
After using my first four years for learning about the sport, myself, and the
horse by doing over 1,000 competitive rides, I stepped into the world of 50-mile
endurance rides. Five years ago, I decided 50's were cool, but 100's were
where I wanted to be. I began looking for, and eventually purchased, my
100 mile beauty, Mercury's Rahina. There are no words that truly express
the feeling you get when you finish a 100 mile ride and the vet congratulates
you for a job well done. Knowing that I did 100 miles on my horse and
completed with a sound mount is definitely the greatest feeling I have, or ever
will feel in my lifetime. And hopefully with God's helping hand and
guidance we will enjoy many more miles down the trail. My dreams are for
us to be chosen to represent the Eastern Time Zone at the Pan Am, and to be
selected for the USA Team for the World Endurance Championship.
Born May 4, 1989
Arabian Bay Mare, 15.2 hands
1170 endurance miles and 25 competitive miles
Mercury purchased me in November, 1998. I
had been searching for a 100-mile endurance prospect all year and had just about
given up, when a friend called and told me about a bay mare that might be for
sale off the race track. She had been off the track for that year. I
had already looked at 65 horses, and while I'm sure most of them could have
become very good endurance horses, none of them had, shall we say, reached up
and grabbed me. Mercury did grab me when, while she was in cross ties for
me to look at, she turned her neck to where I was standing beside her and laid
her head on my arm as I was reaching for her withers. You know how
sometimes when you get on a horse you have never ridden before, you get
butterflies in the pit of your stomach? Well, the first time that I
climbed up on Mercury, it was as if we had been together all of our lives.
It seemed as though we were meant to be together right from the start.
Our first endurance ride was in the spring of 1999. Even though quite a
few people criticized me, and in most cases I would have agreed with them, I
entered her in a 50 mile ride. There were two major things I wanted to
work on, besides the normal new things of camping, P&R people, vet checks,
etc. These were things that I didn't feel we could accomplish on our
neighborhood conditioning rides. The first concern was that she had to
learn that when I got on her, it might be for quite some time....not just a ride
around a track as fast as she could go and then back to the barn. My
second goal was that she find the "walk" gear. It took us 35
miles of double stepping before she finally decided to flat walk on that
ride. It was her first experience with long trail riding. We took 10
hours to go 40 miles before we decided to pull, as she was showing a slight bob
at the vet check. She learned a lot on that ride, and she and I became as
one. Since that first endurance ride, she has become quite the
traveler. She loves to be going down the trail, and traveling to other
states with different trails to conquer. To mention a couple of her
accomplishments, in 2002 we did the AERC National Championship 100 Mile Ride and
finished in the top ten. We also completed a 60-mile ride in 4 hours 6
minutes.
While we are still (at times) trying to screw all the nuts and bolts down tight
that loosened during her race track days, we have come a long way. We have
bounced back after a fall in Montana this year at the Ft. Howes ride, and are
ready to compete. I feel very strongly that Mercury possesses the stamina
and ability to be a world class champion. So does her fan club.
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Lana began riding and foxhunting as a
child and made equestrian history as the first woman to compete in the Olympic
Sport of Eventing when she rode for the United States Equestrian Team on the
Three Day Event Team that won a team silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games in
1964. In 1991 competing in another sport she came to love, Lana was a member of
the Pairs Driving World Championship Gold Medal Team in Austria driving her
Connemara crosses.
Her first distance riding was a three day
one hundred mile competitive ride in 1957 in Vermont, but her first “real”
endurance ride was early in the 90’s on her Connemara stallion, Thor of
Greystone. Her time for the 100 miles was twenty two hours and ten minutes, a
time neither she nor her horse ever wish to repeat! The Connemara stallion has
retired to breeding and Lana immediately flew to Wyoming and bought her first
Arabian, L L Stardom. Lana and Stardom competed at the Pan American Endurance
Championships in Winnepeg in 1999. Unfortunately, after coming in second in the
Pre Ride a year earlier, Stardom jogged lame after completing the Pan Am race in
sixth position.
“My daughters, Beale and Lucy have grown up, married and moved to other parts of the country. I live in Chesapeake City, Maryland with my husband who is a retired veterinarian and my best friends “Hanna” a yellow lab and my new Jack Russell puppy “Wiggles”. I just love to ride and train and I love this wonderful Arabian ex race horse, Nathan’s Pride. Nathan is fourteen and has a very successful endurance record. It was just unfortunate that he took some bad steps at the Biltmore, which was to be his demonstration ride for these championships. We will travel to Washington as an alternate to support the USA East Team and be there to fill a rider,s slot if we are needed. If we don’t compete, we will have seen some beautiful country along the way and will be thrilled to cheer for the USA East riders who will undoubtedly bring home a medal!”