South Bend horse rider took on world's longest race, in Mongolia

Heidi Falzon learned to ride horses when she was 4, and, she recalls, “It was the only thing I wanted to do.”

By the time she was 7 or 8, she says of her time at boarding stables near South Bend, “I’d be riding by myself, and I’d pretend I was on a semi-wild horse that only I got to ride.”

The now 29-year-old equestrian’s fantasy turned into reality, to a degree, in July.

Falzon rode 620 miles across vast stretches of grassland in Mongolia, wedged between China and Russia, in a nine-day race known as the Mongol Derby. Started in 2009, it calls itself the world’s longest horse race as it recreates a horse messenger system once developed by Genghis Khan.

She mounted a different horse each day for nine days, each raised by nomadic locals in a country where horses are revered ― sacred, in fact ― appearing in Mongolian currency and songs.

It was like a dream state for the 10-year veteran of local 4H riding, one of the “barn rat” girl buddies who’d spent entire childhood days at their horses’ stables.

“I was given a gift to ride from A to B every day,” Falzon says. “You’re very present in that zone. … It was really special to be immersed in something I love.”

Starting out

When she was 10, her parents bought her a black quarter horse named Rocket that she had until she was 16. When she entered Manchester University in northern Indiana, she joined the equestrian team, but after a year, she switched to IU South Bend to be closer to her father as he dealt with health issues. As a busy college student, she rode inconsistently.

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In recent years, she's competed in three or four shows each summer. But it was somewhere around 2019 when her mother, a horse rider herself, introduced her to a 2019 book by Lara Prior-Palmer, “Rough Magic,” about her experience as the youngest winner of the Mongol Derby. Falzon suddenly wanted to learn everything she could about the race, which is also the subject of the documentary film "All the Wild Horses." She applied, never thinking she’d get a call back. But she did. By January 2020, she was accepted to the 2021 derby, which the pandemic delayed until this summer.

Training

Falzon trained for two years. Doing long-distance endurance rides was new to her. She made trips to Idaho, Oregon and California, guided by a woman who trained her specifically for the derby. Falzon thought she was fit until a one-day, 100-mile ride in California where an excruciating pain gripped her knees. Humbled, she did research and fixed the problem by adjusting her gear.

She saved up and paid installments on the entry fee of about $11,500, which organizers at The Equestrianists admit is hefty but covers such expenses as veterinarians, medics, race crew, horse stations, herders, custom-made saddles and food. She also raised $1,125 in donations for the race’s chosen charity, Steppe and Hoof, that brings modern veterinary practices to the nomadic families on the Mongolian steppe.

Racing among culture

Mongolia is one of the world’s highest countries, sitting at an average elevation of 5,180 feet. Along with deserts and grassy mountains, Falzon rode across green stretches that were so wide open that it was hard to tell how far off mountains and other things were in her eyesight ― with no more than a handful of scrawny trees in nine days of riding.

It began with a ceremony, she recalls, where each racer walked up to a shaman sitting at an ornate wooden table and dangled their bridals over incense smoke. The shaman said prayers for the racers’ safety.

Locals in the rural areas came out.

“It’s kind of like being a celebrity,” Falzon says. “They want to give you a thumbs up, even if you don’t speak the language.”

Racers logged about 80 miles a day, staying overnight with a nomadic family living in a ger, or a round, cloth-wrapped yurt.

“We had to change some of our GPS waypoints because they moved their homes,” she says.

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If riders faced a storm or breakdown, they could inquire at any ger along the route to find food, a place to stay and care for the horse.

“That’s nomadic culture, taking care of strangers,” she says. “It’s so different from the way we see strangers here.”

The people’s horses roamed freely, seemingly mixed with wild horses.

Falzon figured that just finishing the race would be a win. She tied for 16th place out of 46 total racers and 33 who actually finished it.

Better than that, she says, she won the Vet’s Choice Award, based on the veterinarians’ examination of each horse every 40 kilometers. The vets checked for scrapes, hydration, gut sounds and other signs of health to ensure that racers didn’t ride the beasts recklessly. That included whether the horse’s heart rate stayed within 56 beats per minute after 30 minutes of arriving. Based on those criteria, Falzon never received a penalty from the vets.

“I cared a lot about the horses I rode," Falzon says. “The generosity of the people who came and let people ride their horses for miles and miles − I wanted to be respectful of that.”

About two weeks after her return to South Bend, she got to spend some final moments with her horse of the past 10 years, Irish Laddie, who’d helped her to train. Laddie was a pony, which helped since the Mongolian horses were also short. Laddie died unexpectedly from natural causes at about 22 years old. Sad moments, yes, but also grateful.

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From Falzon

∎ Your favorite place to ride: Potato Creek State Park in North Liberty

∎ Tips for wannabe horseback riders: “Find a riding stable that offers lessons and gift yourself a couple rides. Or even just take a trail ride. … Horses are amazing animals, and they can teach us so much if you are open to learn. … Set big goals. Big enough that it should both excite you and scare you. The Mongol Derby was the experience of a lifetime, but the real richness was in the journey to get there.”

Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Equestrian from South Bend races horses in Mongol Derby in Mongolia.