DURHAM — An electrical storm rumbled north of Durham, and the Friesian mare, Annie, nervously rushed into a canter.

Amanda Charlton Herbert of Poland, Annie’s trainer and rider, sat deep in the saddle, speaking softly. At Herbert’s voice, the mare slowed to long, fluid strides, dropping her head, relaxing, trusting her handler.

Herbert’s ability to put a horse at ease is a trait she will need next month to ride 28 semi-wild horses 620 miles across desolate Mongolia.

At 1,000 kilometers, the Mongol Derby is the longest horse race in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Herbert, 26, who moved to Maine last winter to be with family, was one of 36 riders chosen for this year’s race out of hundreds of applications. The 12 men and 24 women come from nine countries, including eight from the U.S., and range in age from 21 to 65.

With the derby, The Adventurists, the ride’s host, recreate Mongol Empire founder Genghis Khan’s relay postal system. It began in the 1200s, and similar to the American Pony Express, transported mail via fast-riding equestrians between stations.

“To me it isn’t about the miles,” Herbert said as she recently ran a brush over her own horse, Chyna, a Percheron-Thoroughbred mare, napping on the crossties at Safe Haven Farm in Durham. “It’s about the horses.”

THE ‘SEMI-WILD’ RIDE

Herbert’s partnership with each of the 28 semi-wild horses she’ll ride will begin every 25 miles as she meets each mount for the first time.

“Semi-wild” horses, Herbert explained, are horses that have had minimal riding experience, living most of their lives free-ranging on the Mongolian steppe without the constant touch of a human hand.

Starting Aug. 9, she’s going to ride three to four of them a day, for up to 10 days, from dawn to dusk.

“It’s okay, you can say it — I’ve been called worse things than crazy,” she wrote on her fundraising page.

In Maine, horses are loved ones, nickering for grain and offering therapy to a child with autism. In Mongolia, horses are tools — but nonetheless prized.

Only the fittest Mongolian horses survive. Herdsmen trust the horse to take care of itself and are minimalists in handling, riding and veterinary care; they never stall or corral horses.

The Mongolian horse is a feisty little horse known for endurance. The breed is one of the oldest and most unchanged, a native to northern Asia where the breed originated.

Prior to the derby, race officials will select around 1,400 horses from nomadic herding families. At each horse station, riders will have their pick.

“I’ll ask the herdsman who is ‘chu-chu’ — that’s fast,” Herbert said with a grin.

While an athletic horse is good, “I’ll look for a calm eye,” she said.

She’ll also take stock of their manes. A roached, or cut, mane indicates a gelding, a sexually-altered male horse, while a long mane indicates a stallion, who will likely be spirited.

It’s the horses with mane left on the withers that she’d rather not ride.

“Those are the buckers,” she said. With the rest of the mane roached, that strand of mane is where riders hang on.

Once Herbert picks her horse, it won’t be as easy as getting in the saddle and racing away.

“The first steps will be ground work,” she said, which will desensitize the horse to Herbert.

Once in the saddle, she’ll ride at a walk and trot to learn the horse before moving into a gallop. She hopes to average 10 miles per hour during each ride.

She can push her body as hard as she wants, but she will have the watchful eye of the judges — veterinarians — monitoring horses’ well-being.

She will be the sole person responsible for that horse’s welfare during their time together; there will be no pit crews.

“I’m not thinking of this as a 620-mile ride, but as riding 28 horses,” she said.

DERBY DANGERS

No riders get through this race without chewing dirt. Luckily, Herbert’s prepared for that.

Herbert regularly works horses with varying levels of experience at Hemphill’s Horses, Feed & Saddlery Inc. Recently, one of these horses, Cruise, didn’t want Herbert in the saddle.

After the fourth buck, she lost a stirrup and was in the air — with a grin plastered to her face.

Staying in the saddle of a semi-wild horse is only one danger Herbert may encounter riding the Mongol Derby.

“My biggest fear is having a distracted horse step into a marmot hole,” Herbert admitted. Marmots are a large species of squirrel that have underground dwellings, like prairie dogs and badgers.

Herbert could also encounter feral, rabid dogs. She plans to travel slowly past any.

And if she does get bit? “I’ve had my rabies vaccine,” she said.

Herbert compared the Mongolian environment to Utah. She foresees arid conditions with rain since it will be monsoon season. Temperatures may range from the 40s to 80s. Wildlife encounters may include wolves, caribou and golden eagles.

The daily ride time is 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Riders will wear GPS trackers to assure they stop at night.

Nomadic families will accommodate the riders at horse stations with shelter, food and hydration (including mare’s milk), and Herbert hopes to stay there.

If she’s unable to reach a station, Herbert may camp. In 2016, she lived alone, off-grid, in the Williams Fork Mountains in Colorado, 10 miles from any amenities — but it’s not the camping that concerns her.

She said Mongolians are generally peaceful, however, settlements of nomadic people, primarily bachelors, have stolen horses and gear.

Although rare, “female riders have been abused sexually,” Herbert said.

FOR HORSES AND EARTH

The Mongol Derby is a test of horsemanship, endurance and survival.

“I feel prepared,” Herbert said.

She worked for a black Angus ranch as a wrangler herding cattle and working horses when she lived off-grid in Colorado. She learned about the derby when a rancher told her that the previous wrangler had ridden it.

Herbert wondered, “Could I ride it?” She decided, “Why not try?”

The first step was the application. “It had questions about horsemanship and my riding history and I had to provide a reference list,” she said.

Herbert began riding at age 8 and worked her first horse in the role of a trainer at 12 on Long Island, New York. Since then, she has been on the backs of more than 200 horses, practicing disciplines from endurance riding to dressage.

She was selected to ride for the U.S. in the Mongol Derby “out of hundreds of horsemen,” she wrote on Facebook.

She’s already raised the entry fee, $12,995, along with travel expenses and equipment costs, and Herbert’s now using the ride, via a GoFundMe page, to raise money for charity.

She is first riding for Cool Earth, an environmental charity that works with indigenous communities, like the Mongolian people. She’ll also race for the Mustang Heritage Foundation, which unites wild horses, who are herded into federally funded, overcrowded captivity, with adoptive families.

Herbert said, “I figure that if I’m going to put my arms and legs on the line, well, I might as well do it for a purpose that is bigger than me.”

In physical preparation, Herbert has been constantly on horseback. She rides her own horse, Chyna, and Annie, a horse in training, both at Safe Haven Farm in Durham, along with the five or six more horses at the sale barn in North Vassalboro.

Out of the saddle, to build her stamina for the derby, Herbert runs and cycles. She recently completed the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust’s summer trail marathon on June 3, finishing in second place among women and third overall.

“That was emotional training more than physical,” she said. “The endurance mentality applies across the board. It can always be harder.”

Herbert already feels like a winner just for the opportunity to enter the derby. “This is where my life brought me; it’s a culmination of my horsemanship experiences so far.”

aaustin@sunjournal.com

Follow Amanda Charlton Herbert as she rides the Mongol Derby:

Track the riders (select Mongol Derby): tracking.theadventurists.com/#

Mongol Derby website (sign up for Email updates): mongolderby.com

Twitter: twitter.com/mongolderbylive

Facebook: facebook.com/MongolDerby/ or facebook.com/wranglermandy/

Equipment

While most equestrians have their favorite saddle, it’s more important for the horses to have the right fit.

The horses participating in the Mongol Derby next month will have their own tack, including custom endurance saddles made by the Franco C Saddlery in South Africa.

Amanda Charlton Herbert can supply her own stirrups and leathers, so she’ll bring wide, thickly padded endurance stirrups and sheepskin-covered stirrup leathers.

She also hopes to bring a leather cushion for the seat of the saddle. “Saddle sores have taken riders out because (the wounds) didn’t breathe and the sores became infected,” she said.

Since the Mongolian horses are small, usually around 14 hands high, riders are limited in weight to 180 pounds for themselves and gear.

What gear Herbert will carry? That list includes:

* Bear mace;

* Hunting knife;

* Antibiotics;

* Probiotics;

* Prednisone (to treat inflammation associated with injury);

* Seamless riding tights;

* Wool clothing;

* Rain jacket;

* Medicine kit;

* Suture kit;

* Medicated tape;

* Vet wrap (for Herbert or horse);

* Duct tape;

* Zip ties;

* Paracord;

* Photographers vest (this has many easy to reach pockets for storage);

* Hydration reservoir (and spare);

* Electrolytes with caffeine;

* Peanut butter and almond packets;

* Water purifying tablets;

* GPS; and

* Souvenirs.

To show her gratitude to the Mongolian people who will assist her and other riders, Herbert will have postcards with her art, EssentiaEqui. She’ll also offer pocket knives, cigarettes and lighters.

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