Call it Dr. Meg Sleeper’s version of the trifecta–or maybe just a self-styled hat trick.
Last weekend, the veterinary cardiologist rode three different home-bred horses, who are all related, to win 75-mile, 100-mile and 50-mile endurance competitions over the course of three days.
Meg Sleeper and Syrocco Madrigal, her up-and-coming horse. (Photo by Becky Pearman)
It was a total of 23 hours, 27 minutes and 27 seconds worth of riding for the 51-year-old equestrian from Kingwood Township. She was, understandably, “a little tired,” but had no after-effects from her long hours in the saddle, except for slightly sore abdominal muscles. And that was a good thing, she said, because it was proof she was “riding fairly balanced. I felt better than I thought I would, that’s for sure.”
Of course, she’s in fine shape, riding every day, as well as working out with weights and doing yoga to stay fit.
The event was former endurance world champion Val Kanavy’s Fun in the Sun FEI (international equestrian federation) fixture in Williston, Fla. Followers of the discipline suspect that no one has won endurance competitions three days in a row, but the records aren’t geared to searching for that kind of information.
At any rate, you don’t need the record books to know what Meg and her mounts did is a special achievement.
“I thought the horses were competitive and might go well, but I didn’t necessarily expect to win,” Meg revealed.
“I’ve done a 75-mile ride and a 100-mile ride back-to-back once before. That’s a lot of mileage, and I wasn’t sure could I do a 50 on the third day. But that’s what I did.”
She won the 75 with Syrocco Cadence, a 15-year-old. In the 100, it was Syrocco Rimbaud, a 13-year-old who is a veteran of the 2016 world championships in Slovakia, and for the 50, her winner was 8-year-old Syrocco Madrigal, “the horse I hope will be my up and coming horse,” said Meg.
Meg and Syrocco Rimbaud, her 100-mile winner. (Photo by Becky Pearman)
“This was the first time I asked her to see what she could really do,” she observed about Maddie.
“She has done 75-mile rides twice before, but I never asked her to do much more than trot. She was great. It was a really hot weekend (in the low 80s) down here. It required some pacing and being cognizant of the humidity (which was 100 percent one day). She cantered the last loop and was happy to do it, so I was really pleased.”
Meg noted it was interesting “when you compare it to something like Tryon,” the aborted 2018 world championships at the FEI World Equestrian Games in North Carolina.
These are unsettled times on the endurance scene, following the disaster of that WEG endurance, which eventually was cancelled because of weather conditions but had all sorts of problems, beginning with mass confusion at the start.
In terms of the weather, in countries such as the U.S., Australia and South Africa, “We’re used to these conditions, the heat and humidity, and you ride accordingly,” Meg observed.
“One of the things that happens in those kind of events, depending on the country, some riders are used to cantering from point A to point B. Then you give them a rest and go from Point B to Point C. You really can’t really do that in the Southeast. Most U.S. riders don’t ride that way. To me, the goal of endurance is to ride as fast as you can, safely. Depending on the conditions, it may be mostly walk-trot. I think it’s interesting how different the sport is depending on where you are in the world.”
Syrocco Cadence, the 75-mile winner. (Photo by Becky Pearman)
There were three loops. For the 75, riders did two of them twice and for the 100, they did three of them twice .
“We’ve had a very wet year here, so there were sections of trail that were wet, and then a lot of sections that were quite nice,” said Meg.
“Val designed the trail and did a nice job making it as good as it possibly could be.”
She added, “There’s a lot of luck that goes into it. Each horse had a good day and it doesn’t get any better than that. I had a lot of support and a lot of well-wishes since, and that’s been really mind-blowing.”
Meg is usually pointing toward a world championship, but with the current uncertainty in the sport, it’s a different story. The FEI has a “temporary committee” that is trying to figure out what to do with endurance, while the American Endurance Ride Conference has voted to terminate its affiliate relationship with the U.S. Equestrian Federation at the end of the year.
Meg Sleeper’s immediate goal is to enjoy her horses. (Photo by Nancy Jaffer)
So as Meg sees it, “Right now, my main goal is just to enjoy the horses and have fun riding and competing. I’m just going to sit back, at least for the next few months, and see what happens.”
However, she was just named to the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Endurance Sport Committee. That appointment will remain in place until, or if, a new endurance affiliate is approved by the federation’s board, at which point the it would revert to the affiliate.
Areas of focus for the committee include clearly defining pathways for athletes within the sport, growing the sport of endurance within the U.S., and building a strong base at the national level for endurance athletes to expand into international levels of competition.
Meanwhile, USEF announced it will offer its inaugural Endurance National Championships at the 2019 North American Endurance Championship, hosted by Central Florida Horse Shows Nov. 14-16 at the Broxton Bridge Plantation in Ehrhardt, S.C.
Top U.S. endurance combinations will vie for USEF national champion and reserve honors at the event, which offers open 1- and 2-star competitions, along with junior and young rider divisions at those levels. There also will be an unofficial FEI team competition open to squads from the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
