Thursday, July 19, 2007

Turner competes in Extreme Cowboy race in Kansas City

by Carolyn Kaberline

It’s been called Survivor on horseback—and for those who entered the Extreme Cowboy Race held at Saddle and Sirloin in Kansas City, Mo., June 22-24, that description seemed pretty accurate. During the three-day test of riding skills, 60 riders from eight states tried to successfully negotiate an obstacle course and perform typical ranch tasks.

“You have no idea what it’s really like just by watching it on television,” Dwayne Burgess, Meriden, said after watching his wife, Jo Turner, compete in the non-pro division. “Television can’t begin to do it justice.”

While Turner took only a little over six minutes to complete the mile course, it took months of practice to get there.

Burgess and Turner had seen the race on RFD-TV several times, so when Turner first heard of the popular event coming to Kansas City, she decided to give it a try. The first step was to complete an application asking such questions as the number of years she’d ridden, how often she rode, the type of riding she did, whether she’d ever competed in the Extreme Cowboy Race before, and why she wanted to enter.

Photo by Louise Brainard

Turner is interviewed by Craig Cameron at the end of her race.

She later found out that more than
300 people had submitted
applications; however only 30 professional riders and 30 non-professional riders were accepted
for the actual competition.

Since the goal of the race o
rganizers was to find the top
riders in the area, Turner was
elated to find that she was one
of the 30 accepted for the non-pro division. After paying a $350
entry fee, Turner, well known for
her barrel racing expertise, began
to train in earnest. The first step was deciding on a horse to use. She decided on a 9-year-old appendix mare named Flying Miss Flit or “Kitty” as she’s better known.

“Kitty is actually Dwayne’s trail horse,” Turner said. “He warned me that I better hadn’t hurt her.” Turner wanted to use Kitty—even though the mare is 16.3 hands tall— because she was a good trail horse and didn’t mind crossing water, one of the obstacles that could be included. In addition, this was a horse that Turner was very familiar with since she’d raised her from a baby. Her mother was Kachina Flit, the mare Turner used to win the ABRA World Championship barrel racing title several years ago.

“One of the first things Dwayne and I did was to take off for Palo Duro Canyon and Caprock in Texas for some trail riding,” Turner said. “In fact, we did a lot of trail riding.”

While Turner felt the trail riding was a good way to start, she also began preparing for individual obstacles that could be included in the race. Among these were roping, jumping, loading in a trailer, dragging logs, and all other types of ranch chores. And since the event was to be judged on time, completion of obstacles, horsemanship, cadence (steady pace), and the attitude of the horse, the two had to learn to work as a team.

That meant attending clinics and working with other amateurs and trainers in the area.

“Rich Jones from Lawrence, who’s been in the equine industry for a long time, invited me to train on his course,” Turner said. Jones had competed in several Extreme Cowboy races in Texas and had built his own course on the west side of Lake Clinton for practice. Jones had applied to ride in this one, but wasn’t accepted at first. Later when an opening came up, he was invited to enter the professional division.

Turner said she went to Mark Gratny, a reining horse trainer in Leavenworth, for help with opening and shutting gates and a horsemanship tune-up. She also traveled to Hoyt to practice on Terry Champagne’s trail horse course, and Turner’s husband also built a bridge for her at home so she could get the mare used to standing on it. In addition, she attended several area clinics.

“Chris Mensch and Maureen Landing from Foxeye Ranch put on a clinic,” Turner said. “One of the things we did at Chris’ was the ‘Pit of Death.’ ”

Turner explained that the ‘Pit of Death’ was made up of landscaping timbers and swimming noodles that the horses had to walk over. Turner said there was also a ‘Radioactive Snake Pit’ which made use of a blue tarp with sand placed on it in various spots. Rope lights were then tossed on to it so that the lights and sand would move as the horses crossed the tarp. Turner also found the clinic was a good way to meet other area riders entered in the race. “We formed a group called the Extreme Friends.”

Finally after many weeks of practice, the date of the event arrived; the non-pros were scheduled to compete on Friday, the pros on Saturday, and the finals for both divisions were planned for Sunday.

“We drew for the order we were to go in,” Turner said. “The horses were not allowed on the course before the actual event, but we could walk it on foot once before we rode. This was to really show the trust level between us.”

Turner said the course began on a hill. Everyone had to begin on a right lead and make two circles at a canter, then go down hill and jump over a post and rail jump. The jump was set in such a way that the horse landed on ground that was lower than where it took off.

“Then we went down through a wooded trail, through a meadow, and across a wooden bridge,” she said, “then it was up a hill to an extreme ravine.”

Turner said the ravine had steep sides and was filled with rocks and logs, so that the riders had to pick their way through carefully. Next it was a run uphill to the cowboy curtain which was made up of ropes hanging down from a pole. “The wind was really blowing, but Kitty went right through it.”

Riders were then to go around a group of trees, followed by a swim through a pond. “Kitty wanted to stop and drink, but we had to keep on. After that, there was a series of four logs set in a row for jumps. Then we went straight down a hillside, came to a flat spot, then went downhill again, over four logs set in a row for jumps, went around some barrels, and raced up hill to the start. Once we got there, we had to grab a card from a pole, go back to the barrels, then over the jumps again, this time changing directions. After that we had to go down a hill to a trailer, get off, load the horse into the trailer, shut the door, and run about 40 yards uphill on foot.”

Turner said one of the worst parts of the race was being interviewed right after running the 40 yards uphill. “We were all gasping for breath.” After the interview, their horses were brought to them for a mandatory vet check. “We had 10 minutes to walk our horses before the vet check. The heart rate had to be below 64 or we were disqualified.”

Although she didn’t place in the event, Turner was very pleased with her time. “The fastest time was four minutes. You didn’t dare make a mistake. There were no time penalties, but you were only allowed one minute per obstacle before you had to move on.” And since all obstacles had to be completed, there was no room for error.

She also said that while the race was fun and provided a good challenge, it was also very sad: Rich Jones, whom she had practiced with, died during the course of the race. “He had just loaded his horse in the trailer, shut the gate, then fell out of the trailer dead.” She said it was believed that he had a massive heart attack.

In looking back, over her preparation for the race, Turner said, “I didn’t have to do everything I practiced. It was more like a cross country steeplechase. The pros had to do a lot more of the ranch stuff.”

Would she do it again? “I’d love to do it again,” she said. “I really would.” Turner went on to say that she believed races like this would be a new trend as evidenced by special clinics and trail ride challenge events springing up.

“Anyone can do this,” she said as there were riders from 19 to 65 entered in this race. “Any breed of horse or any discipline of rider can do this and have fun. I look forward to these events popping up everywhere because it makes you a better rider, and it makes your horse better too.”