From left: Lisa Poppe, Paula Senff, Caroline Diehl, Maddie Smith, and Carolyn Nave before beginning a 25-mile endurance race in February 2009. 

Verde Valley School students have been successfully competing in endurance rides for more than fifteen years.  With miles and miles of diverse forest service land at our doorstep, VVS is set in the ideal location for endurance training.  With generous support from Ann Brainerd of Sedona in the form of money, horses, and equipment VVS launched into endurance racing and our students have loved it.  We have taken all kinds of horses to races over the years, but the Arabians donated by Ann Brainerd and the McCallum family in Flagstaff  have been the best.  At last year’s Land of the Sun Ride alone, where VVS placed 5th through 9th out of 76 riders, 2 of the horses were from Ann (Shezaada and Toby) and two were from the McCallum’s (Gaucho and Belle).  Gaucho, ridden by Kevin Warren, at the Land of the Sun Ride in 2000, received the Best Condition Award (one of the most valued awards in endurance riding) and completed that ride with VVS’s best time for a 25 mile race: 2 hours 40 minutes. 

For the first several years, VVS competed in the Flagstaff Cinder Hill Endurance Ride, The Man Against Horse Ride in Prescott, and the Valley of the Sun Ride in Wickenburg.  “Our horses stay in pretty good shape,” says Amy Warren, “and over the years we have had horses finish in the top ten in every race we have entered.  We have also received the coveted award of Best Condition twice.” It's an excellent sport as winning is based on how well the horse is prepared and how in tune the rider is to their horse; however, breeding does play an important role.  When asked to describe endurance riding, Kevin Warren says, “It is a fun sport.  You train a feisty, gorgeous purebred Arabian horse for a month or more.  Then you pack up the trailer and head out to new country to camp the night before the race.  Race day starts at dawn and the weather is always chilly or downright cold.  Imagine the atmosphere...  A cold morning, a very fit and beautiful Arabian chomping its breakfast nervously, already excited even before being saddled up.  Teenagers in their first race are also nervous.  Soon you find yourself aboard this fit horse, milling in a crowd of up to 70 horses and riders waiting for the start.  The gate drops and off you go hanging on for dear life.  It is just about as good as it gets, not to mention you have twenty five miles of new country ahead of you that you need to cover fast.”

Kevin continued to share his enthusiasm for this sport last weekend.  Although he no longer rides in the endurance competitions, he was invaluable as the VVS support crew and made the race possible by using his personal truck and trailer to haul VVS students down to Scottsdale to compete.  The Valley of the Sun Endurance Ride at McDowell Mountain Regional Park was held on Saturday, February 28 and five Verde Valley School riders competed in this AERC sanctioned race. Paula Senff , Lisa Poppe, Carolyn Nave, Maddie Smith and Caroline Diehl were among 39 riders in the 25 mile endurance race, and there were an additional 40 riders in the 50 mile race. Paula, riding Shezaada, finished in 5th place overall, Maddie, an eighth grader at Big Park Elementary School and daughter of VVS College Counselor Kendall Smith and Director of Admission Don Smith, rode Toby and finished in 6th place, and Caroline Diehl, VVS’s Equestrian Program Director, finished in 7th place on Zahaar .  All three qualified to be in the running for the "Best Condition" award. The “BC” as it’s commonly called among endurance riders, is given to the horse that the veterinarians determine was best prepared for the ride, ridden most appropriately for the conditions, and therefore in the best shape at the finish.  Paula, and her horse Shezaada, missed winning the BC by only 3 points.  The woman who won accumulated 717 points out of a possible 800, and Paula had 714 points.  

“We probably could have finished first, 2nd and 3rd, but we made two wrong turns on the trail and ended up riding about 10 extra miles - so our 25 mile race was more like a 35 miler”, says Diehl. “ Considering the extra miles we covered, I was extremely pleased with our ability to still finish in the top ten and to have Paula be that close to winning Best Condition.”  

Lisa, riding Scout, and Carolyn, competing on Redtail, both pulled out of the race after 15 miles. Redtail was cleared by the vets to continue, but Carolyn felt he was tired and pushing too hard after taking a nasty fall about 8 miles into the ride.  “I admired her maturity and horsemanship in making that decision. She trained so hard for so many weeks, but she put her horse’s best interest above her own,” said Caroline.   Lisa also rode with determination, but the extra miles in deep sand were too tough for Scout and the vets determined that she shouldn’t continue.  Both girls, and Kevin, cheered VVS on and were waiting at the finish line with huge smiles and buckets and sponges to help cool down our horses.