Dave Rabe

2011 Gold Medal: Dave Rabe and Red

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The Duck looks on as Dave Rabe kisses his Ass!

Rider and horse name: Dave Rabe and Red the Mule

Horse Barn name: Red. Ass. My Ass.

Breed: Ass.

Ass & rider years in endurance & # of miles Dave: started in 1984 and around 53,000 miles. Red did 1175 in 2011 which was his first year of doing 50’s and up.

Which XP ride did you enjoy the most this year? 2011 XP

Which ride did you find the most challenging, and why? 2011 XP. It took a lot of planning and was quite an ordeal to pull it all together. It was challenging to bring a mule to a ride like this that had done only one 50 prior to the start of the long XP.

What do you feel is the most important thing you learned about yourself and your ass this past year? I learned that he is very stubborn and hard headed. He has a real sweet disposition when you’re not riding him. I learned that he did a lot better by going every other day or every third day. Trying to ride him every day to start with took too much out of him. He was dead ass tired the first week.

Is there anything you did this year that you would do differently next year? (or, if you had a chance to do this last year over again)? I would have brought White Cloud instead of Red, if I could have.

What do you think was the best thing that you did do? Give him days off in between riding. It also helped to ride Red with Max and his two ass’.

What are your ass’ best qualities? He has really big ears and a hard head. He was very conservative which was great. Once he got going down the trail he went great and took care of himself very well.

Did anything funny or strange happen on any of the rides this year? Red pulled my hamstring one day when I was attempting to trot him out and he decided it would be more fun to trot me out and drag me a long like a flag on a pole. He took off on a dead ass run and didn’t’ even trot. I went ass over teakettle and was left lying on the ground on my ass and left in the dust by my ass. My hamstring was very sore for the next two to three weeks. Lynn Rigney bandaged me up and that allowed me to keep riding.

I’d like to thank Dave and Annie for putting on another long XP ride, as well as my sponsors (EasyCare and Select).. Thanks also go to everybody else that chipped in and helped along the way. I want to thank Charlie Gaucci for giving me Cocomo Joe at the end of the ride. I had one of the best drivers on the ride – Dwight deserves credit for getting my horses and rig moved safely and without any mishaps. Also, thank you to Les and Jill Carr for letting me take Red on the ride and making it so challenging. I do love Les’s Ass!

2011 Gold Medal: Dave Rabe and Midnight Melody Marie

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Rider and horse name: Dave Rabe and Midnight Melody Marie

Horse Barn name: Emmy

Breed: Anglo Arab mare

Horse & rider years in endurance & # of miles Dave: started in 1984 and around 53,000 miles. Emmy has 3600 miles and ten years in endurance.

Which XP ride did you enjoy the most this year? 2011 XP

Which ride did you find the most challenging, and why? 2011 XP. It took a lot of planning and was quite an ordeal to pull it all together.

Death Valley Encounter 2011. Photo by Steve Bradley.

What do you feel is the most important thing you learned about yourself and your horse this past year? I learned that I can make Emmy go slow, even though she doesn’t like it. I learned I can get along with a mare.

Is there anything you did this year that you would do differently next year? (or, if you had a chance to do this last year over again)? I’d probably put shoes on my horses. (because Chris Herron said so). Just kidding.

What do you think was the best thing that you did do? Slow Emmy down.

What are your horses best qualities? She has good recoveries and has the ability to go fast and run up front if I were to let her. I’m happy that I have her, she is a sweet mare.

Did anything funny or strange happen on any of the rides this year? I didn’t bring a raincoat with me on the first day of the XP and had to borrow one from Dave Chaton, which saved the day. That was probably the worst thing that happened. I almost drowned out there!  It was great that Chris Herron was a little weenie that day and quit at lunch, so I finished riding using his raincoat that he had also borrowed from Dave Chaton!

I’d like to thank Dave and Annie for putting on another long XP ride as well as my sponsors (EasyCare and Select). Thanks also go to everybody else that chipped in and helped along the way. I want to thank Charlie Gaucci for giving me Cocomo Joe at the end of the ride. I had one of the best drivers on the ride – Dwight deserves credit for getting my horses and rig moved safely and without any mishaps. Also, thank you to Claire Toomey for giving me such a great mare!

2010 Gold Medal: Dave Rabe and White Cloud

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Rider and horse name: Dave Rabe and White Cloud
Barn name of horse: White Cloud
Breed: Arab
Horse & rider years in endurance & # of miles

White Cloud: 3 years and approximately 4500 miles

Dave: Nearly forever and like a gazillion miles

Which XP ride did you enjoy the most this year?

I liked Mt. Carmel because of the new days and new trail. The new trail up on top of the mountain was fantastic, great scenery and it really made it worthwhile to go to the ride. The scenery is different than a lot of rides with mostly good footing.

I really like all of the rides and think that the XP rides are the best rides in the sport with the nicest trails and best scenery.

Which ride did you find the most challenging, and why?

I think that Bryce is probably the most challenging because of the climbs, rocks and technical trail. It is also a pretty ride with really beautiful scenery. It is probably the most colorful ride with the oranges from the mountains, green from trees and blue skies.

What do you feel is the most important thing you learned about yourself and your horse this past year?

How to finally get White Cloud to stand still when I get on! Thanks to Kerry for the help. I’m getting older and sometimes get cold at rides so I have to wear gloves. I do a lot on foot so that I can stay warm.

Is there anything you did this year that you would do differently next year? (or, if you had a chance to do this last year over again)?

I ordinarily would not ride the same horse as many miles in a year as I did this year with White Cloud. It was just luck that White Cloud ended up doing so many of the rides, partly due to other horses not making it to the rides, etc.

What do you think was the best thing that you did do?

Riding conservatively with White Cloud so that he could come through the rides in good shape. He didn’t do any fast racing on rides this last year at all. Sometimes I’ll do a short little burst of speed, usually for the ride photographer. White Cloud has done all of his rides to date using boots over bare feet. He has really nice hooves.

What are your horses best qualities?

It’s not his mind. He has good conformation and legs, he floats like a cloud. He’s good and sound plus very tough. He keeps on going even when he’s done something stupid like fall down in the trailer or on a trail because he has attention deficit sometimes. White Cloud takes really good care of himself and is an excellent eater and drinker.

White Cloud hasn’t kicked me for awhile and he is better about handling his front feet, at least.

Did anything funny or strange happen on any of the rides this year?

White Cloud dumped me twice during the year and stayed with me both times and didn’t run away. I was hanging on for dear life. Usually it’s other horses that beat me up. Only one horse fell on top of me this year. It was a pretty good year.

I want to thank all of the people who help with these rides because without them we wouldn’t have them. The Duck does an excellent job of finding new trails and putting it all together to make the rides turn out really great. Thanks to Duane, Duck, Annie, Karen, Lavone, Dwight, Joseph, Al, Tom and anybody and everybody else that helps. You are much appreciated.