Eight weeks to Tevis 2002, A journey from Pasture Puff to Tevis Cup in 8 weeks time

by Chris Martin

Eights weeks before Tevis and I find myself without a horse. I had been conditioning my 8 year old gelding for the Tevis Cup for 4 years. During one of our training rides he kicked himself in the sesamoid bone causing a fracture. After xrays and a chat with the vet, it was decided that he needed some time off to heal, and that eight weeks would not be long enough for the injury to heal.

I remembered that my neighbor had bought a nice looking Arab gelding at an auction in Healsburg the year prior. That horse, Bo Stegicc, a 12year old, 15 hand, had a serious injury to his hip, chest, and left rear hock when he fell off a cliff when a saddle slipped back on a steep trail. My neighbor’s daughter had not tightened the cinch enough, when it slipped back, the horse spooked and went over a small cliff and down into thick brush. The horse had some medical attention and was then turned out to pasture on a 1,000 acre ranch for a year to heal and fend for himself.

I had my wife, Nancy, drive me down to the ranch were he had been turned out on the quad to take a look at him, I brought my saddle just in case. I found Bo in a heard of about 15 horses. His right hip looked like it had been crushed and his left rear hock was a mass of scar tissue. You could see the big scar on his chest and where the stitches had been. He was probably 100 pounds overweight with a big grass belly. I doubted seriously that he was sound but I should a least give him a try.  Could I get him ready for Tevis in only 8 weeks?

Nick Warhol and Holly, 2002

Tevis 2002- What is it about this ride?

Another Tevis has come and gone, and with it around 216 stories of adventure, excitement, and unfortunately, problems. But what is it about this ride that keeps people so committed to getting through it? I don’t know, but I know how I feel about it. Remember in the second Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Kahn, how the bad guy, Kahn, felt about Captain Kirk? Kahn was so driven to destroy Kirk that he gave up the chance to take over the universe, just to fulfill that personal drive. When Kahn is on the bridge of the Enterprise, one of his crew asks him why, why, why is it so important to get Kirk? Kahn looks at the crew guy with venom in his eyes and says: “Because he TASKS me!”

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