I see a “real change” in the horse. I like to reward by using my hands so that the horse is reassured that my hands are a good thing.


5. Finally, letting the mistakes happen (safely). We learn from mis takes when training at liberty. Sometimes we can get frustrated when the horse leaves. The challenges are great when working at liberty so stay positive. The horse does have a choice and may leave you. When that happens, “it’s no big deal” I say to clients. Stop and start all over again.


You represented Canada as a competitor in the 2018 Gobi Des- ert Cup Endurance Race in Mongolia. Would you share with our readers what the Gobi Desert Cup Endurance Race is in detail? How you trained for that race? The Gobi Desert Cup Endurance race was created by Camille Cham-


pagne from France. She herself is an accomplished endurance compet- itor. She had visited and experienced Mongolia and decided to start up her own race there, and the first Gobi Desert race was in 2017. Then in the second year of the race 2018 I competed. I applied to become a com- petitor and was accepted. Once accepted, I did something a bit different than the other com-


petitors. I used the race to raise money for our local children’s hospital here in Ottawa. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. (CHEO) The reason for trying to raise money for the hospital was I wanted the Gobi Desert Race to mean something to myself and to my daughter Callie. In late November 2017 my daughter was diagnosed with a skin disease and had to start treatments. It was non-cancerous but still a very troubling time for her and I. She struggled with treatments. I want- ed to show her that anything was possible and that even through it was going to be a struggle and she would have to endure some things along the way, it would get better. The very definition of endurance makes me think of her and how


brave and strong she really is!! Now nearly 3 years later, she’s a sec- ond year university student studying fine arts and theatre at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I’m very proud of her. I’m very proud of both my children, Ray and Callie. They are the reason I try so hard to show them that, in life, we struggle but the rewards are amazing. The race itself was a 5 day event where you ride each day 80 km, (50


miles), for a total of 480km, (300 miles) with a Mongolian horse. I had a theory about this race and I wanted to see if my theory was correct. The theory was based on my horsemanship. I wanted to see if how I trained and communicated with my horses, and my clients horses, would work on the horses in Mongolia. And it did! Each day is a new horse. You never ride the same horse throughout


the race. As we travel through the Gobi Desert the organizers had made arrangements that the local families provide the group with horses from their herds. These horses are somewhat broke ... what I mean is they can take a rider but it’s not like your seasoned show trained, groomed AQHA horse. These are horses that rarely see a farrier or vet on a regular basis, if ever. They are semi wild. It’s different for sure, but I loved each and every one of the Mongolian horses I rode. They are truly amazing. Each day we would receive our horse from a herdsman and head


clearly communicating to them, my body language, my cues and how I handle the horse. Whether it’s ground work or under saddle, I like to be able to take the time to make sure the horse is understanding what I ask of them. Slow down and listen to the horse, watch the horse, see the horse’s response and how they communicate.


Five great concepts of liberty training start with: 1. Clear communication. Make sure before you start a training session you understand how you would like it to end. See the finished result.


2. Building on the training cues with repetition. Repetition will help you improve your training.


3. Taking the time in every situation. In each set of circumstances with a horse it is always different. You have to be “very in the moment” with a horse always.


4. Rewarding a horse when training liberty. I want to make sure that the horse has a great understanding of how well they’re doing with the training. I reward a horse with touch. I will pet and love (scratch and rub the head and neck area) for a few moments until


14 NOVEMBER 2020 I HORSE & AG MAGAZINE


to the vet check area. There were 18 riders in total. After you had your horse checked in the vetting area, you would ride off as a group at the start line. It wouldn’t be long before the seasoned riders and endurance competitors were way out in front. I was usually found in the back most times. Which I was totally fine with, except the last day of the race. Ap- parently the herdsman were so happy with how I was handling the hors- es throughout out the day, they decided to give me one of the more seasoned well prepared race horses they had ! They wanted me to have a great last day ride! Well there’s a huge story here about that day I love to tell at my clinics to all my participants and it gets them all laughing. Let’s just say I will be forever grateful for one of the riders from New Zealand, Pete, for having my back that day! It was the fastest I had ever ridden a horse, for such a long stretch of wide open desert. I will never forget that day and how truly free it was to ride that Mongolian horse. We were flying!


I am not an endurance professional, so I was not really prepared to do such a long endurance race. My thought was “well I ride and train horses all day, what’s the difference if I do it for 5 days straight?” Uh!!! A lot different. I was not prepared for what endurance racing entailed! But I did my best and tried. There was a couple times I couldn’t ride though


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