By Mary Sikes Fields | Special to the Index

In Mineral Wells, Texas, a sea of Quarter Horses, there is a small Arabian island south of town. Our family moved here in 1993, when I began training my first gelding for endurance (50- and 100-mile rides). We entered our first 25-mile ride in 1995 and our first 50 in 1996.

Vincent Keis wrote the first article in the Mineral Wells Index about my Arabian gelding, Christiansen, aka, Pippy, in May of 1997. Pippy had just won Reserve Champion Purebred in the Region IX Texas Bluebonnet Classic Championship Endurance Ride, held in Decatur. My goal was to complete the Western States Trail Ride, aka, Tevis Cup Ride, in California in 1998.

Pippy’s accomplishments were chronicled in the Index by Lela Abernathy and Craig Holamon over the ensuing years. We completed the Tevis Cup ride in August of 1998. He was chosen to be part of the United States Equestrian Team, Central Zone, to compete in the North American Endurance Championship in Canada in 1999. We went to the National Championship Endurance Ride in 2000. He placed in the top five in the Region IX  Endurance Championship again in 2001. For each of six consecutive years, 1997-2002, Pippy placed in the Region IX top 10 for the year in overall miles and points in endurance, completing 500-655 miles a year.

Pippy survived many injuries and EPM, a life-threatening disease. He had surgery on his right hind leg in May of 2004. After recovery, he finished two more 50-mile rides in 2007, but I could tell that his leg was not the same. I retired him from competition. He still does pleasure rides at the Lake Mineral Wells State Park, where we have done all of our training. Pippy completed 3,840 miles in his endurance career. If we count the miles of training and the rides from which we pulled after some miles, I would guess that we have ridden close to 10,000 miles together.

The second Arabian that I trained here was a young stallion, Susar Masladan, aka, Dani. I started Dani out in the show ring, entering Arabian Sport Horse in Hand classes. He placed in the top five of the Region IX AHA Sport Horse Championship in 2005. He was my first stallion, and I experienced some unpleasant surprises from him at the shows. A local horse trainer, Travis Dittmer, later taught me a lot about how to train a stallion.

Dani made it to regional competition again in 2006, but he did not place. I started him competing in limited distance (25 miles) in 2006, entering and completing five rides. In 2007, we started 50-mile endurance rides, completing three in 2007 and one in 2008.

In 2007, Dani received a Proven Performance Award from the Institute for the Desert Arabian Horse. In 2008, he placed in the top 10 in the country for the Drinkers of the Wind Performance Award program, also given by the Institute for the Desert Arabian Horse.

 Dani was not a competitive endurance horse like Pippy, so I started him in competitive trail rides. The pace was slower, and judging was on horsemanship and performance over and around obstacles. We had found his niche! He placed in five out of the six rides we entered in 2008 and 2009. Then Dani got EPM for the second time and had to be treated. I decided to geld him in 2010.

My third Arabian is a young mare, Avalon Yasminah Asiil, aka, Yasmin. I began training her for endurance while she was 4 in the winter of 2009-2010. We entered our first 25-mile ride in December 2010. She has now successfully completed six rides. We will resume training after I recover from foot surgery, hopefully this fall. Yasmin looks promising as an endurance horse. I hope to start her on 50-mile rides in 2012.

I am proud of my three “Arabian Island” horses. Since I am now retired from teaching, I look forward to more exciting accomplishments for them.