Thee MaCade Wins the AHA Region 12 55 Mile Endurance Championship Race

Thee MaCade, a straight Egyptian bred Arabian owned by Dr. Matthew & Wendy Roberts of Maidenchase Arabians in McDonald, TN, begins his third year in endurance with a very impressive start claiming the AHA Region 12 - 55 Mile Endurance Championship title.

On Sunday, March 16, 2008 the Region 12 - 55 Mile Endurance Championship race was held in conjunction with the Sand Hill’s Stampede 55 Mile Endurance Race in Patrick, SC. After heavy thunderstorms Saturday night, race day was a beautiful 60+-degree sunny day made for racing.

The race started at 7:00 am with a controlled start until daylight. The first loop was 23 miles with sandy roads and trails – needless to say we did not lope along at a leisurely pace. We galloped and I mean galloped the entire distance coming into the first vet check in 2 hours.

The second loop was 17 miles and the sand was a little deeper so we slowed our pace in those areas. We came into the vet check in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

The last loop was 16 miles and had some deep sandy climbs. After winding thru the woods and down roads about 5 to 7 miles from the finish, Kathy Neunzig of Dallas, NC came up behind me. We continued to ride together towards the finish and had a very exciting run off for the win with a finishing time of 5 hours and 17 minutes.

It is a long slow process that takes a lot of commitment to condition a horse to be able to perform long distances at such a physically demanding pace. It is twice as hard to not go for it when your horse wants to and you know you should wait. The biggest mistake most people make is going to fast too soon when you know you have a horse that is a winner and Thee MaCade is such a horse.

He began his endurance career in 2006 and has a very impressive record for such a short time, 2006 Biltmore 50 – 13th place, 2006 AHA Region 12 - 50 Mile Endurance Championship – 4th place, 2007 Biltmore 50 – 5th place, 2007 The Great Santa Fe Trail 800 Mile Horse Race – 2nd place, 2007 Southeast Region Points – Top Ten and is qualified for the AERC and AHA National 50 Mile Endurance Championship Race to be held in Henryville, Indiana on October 18, 2008.

Susan & John Thompson owners of Thompson Training Center LLC in Sweetwater, TN originally broke Thee MaCade for the Roberts for the race track. After a few months of training we decided Thee MaCade’s heart was not in track racing so he returned to Thompson Training Center and Susan began to retrain and has been campaigning Thee MaCade for the Roberts in endurance.

Check out the winning photos of the race @ thompsontrainingcenter.com