Worse still, he was on his own and the feisty little horse he was on had bucked him off and left, taking all Hugh’s camping gear.
It was only the second day of a 10›day adventure, but it was something, he says, he was prepared for.
‘‘All those years mustering up in the high country had prepared me with the physical and mental skills to overcome a small hiccup like this,’’ he said.
His options were limited: run forward over 16 kilometres to the next horse station and pick up a fresh mount to continue in the 2022 August Mongol Derby, or return to the previous horse station and start it all again.
Lucky for him a herder appeared on a motorcycle and three hours later had retrieved Hugh’s Mongolian pony from six kilometres away on the side of a nearby mountain.
Reunited with all his gear, the bruised and battered Hugh continued on the longest and toughest horse race on earth. The Mongol Derby is a 10›day adventure race for equestrians racing over 1000kms across the barren steppes of Mongolia.
Part of the Equestrianists world series of distance races, it was run in two events in 2022, to make up for earlier Covid cancellations. One race was held in July and the second in August, the one Hugh and his younger brother Ben, entered.
‘‘I read about it 12 years ago but life on the farm and family had put it on hold until I turned 40, two years ago. I applied this year and managed to convince Ben to enter as well. We were lucky to be two of the 46 competitors selected from over 400 entries world›wide, to take part in the race.’’
On August 7,after 50 hours of travel, the brothers fronted up at the race headquarters in Ulaambaatar, Mongolia, to enter the race.
‘‘We were all weighed in and medically checked over. You had to weigh a maximum of 85kgs wearing all your riding gear of boots, jackets, pants, helmet and back pack.’’
The horses saddle, reins, straps, water, and the important emergency and communications gear were all judged as free weight.
‘‘We then had to find out how the comms and GPS gear all worked. We then boarded a bus for a six hour drive west of Ulaambaatar to the start of the race.’’
‘‘We would ride for up to 10 days continuously, from 7am to 7pm, making our way along a network of 27 horse stations spaced about 35kms apart.
‘‘At each one you changed horses and continued on to the next horse station, just like they did in the old days.
‘‘At each station, vets assessed the horses we had just ridden in on, to make sure they were ok before we were allowed to continue. In all you would ride 28 Mongolian ponies, some of the feistiest and strongest horses in the world.
‘‘They were only between 12 and 14 hands high but they all had massive stamina and could run all day.’’ But Hugh says it was almost like a lottery as to which one you got at each station. ‘‘We quickly learned the fatter ones were slower but the rest were fast and hardy horses. Some bucked, others didn’t, some went fast in the wrong directions and others were awesome little horses.’’
Hugh says each night riders chose to either stay at the stations or camp out under the stars as he did a couple of times.
In all he spent eight long days in the saddle, initially riding in a group of four but when two were brought down by the minefield of Marmot and fox holes out on the steppes he was soon on his own.
‘‘Those long days of mustering prepared me well for the mental task of riding in a place that resembles the McKenzie, but is many, many times bigger and very empty.’’
‘‘The marmot holes took out many riders, and a norovirus meant it wasn’t fun for a while. ‘‘This is such a hard race that right up until the last day I didn’t know if I was ever going to finish it or not.’’ That last day was one of the best Hugh said. He caught up with another rider and the pair raced each other to the finish line completing almost 1300kms in eight day
