Jessie's 2025 Gaucho Derby
Spende geschützt
In my life’s journey to find my true purpose on this earth I stumbled across the quirky new sport of long distance horse racing. In August 2023 I completed the longest horse race in the world, the Mongol Derby, it was ten of the absolute best days of my life. I find I enjoy my life more when I set goals for myself so I now have my sights set on the Gaucho Derby which commences in Patagonia Argentina in February 2025.
About the Gaucho Derby:
It’s a 500 kilometer race in the mountains of Patagonia Argentina, it’s touted as the world’s toughest horse race, the terrain is more mountainous than Mongolia and there’s less galloping and more survival and navigational skills needed. It’s the ultimate test of survival and horsemanship, I’ll be riding Criollo horses, the native horse of the South American Pampas.
Learn more about the Gaucho Derby here:
About Me:
For the past 17 years, up until 2022 my life was solidly planted in being a farmer and cheesemaker dedicating all my time and energy into growing the local food movement. I put my heart and soul into the Maine Cheese Guild, worked to strengthen the cheese industry in Maine, started a wholesale distribution business comprised of Maine Cheesemakers and other artisans food producer and helped bring back the Maine Cheese Festival. In 2021 a series of too close to home farmer suicides really impacted me, it made me think a lot about life, about dairy farming, and really looking at what my purpose on this earth is and how I really want to spend the short time I have here. I started to spend more time with my horses and going to horsemanship clinics and meeting other equestrians and reading everything I could find on a plethora of horse related topics. During one of these clinics, I had an awakening that my true purpose is working with horses. I started to really feel the capacity horses have for healing and soon learned that if you want to work on your horsemanship you must first work on yourself.
Training:
The year I spent training for the Mongol derby was arguably the best year of my life so I’d like to continue the trend and make 2024 just as fulfilling. My 2024 training plans includes:
- February 2024, riding two 50 mile races in two days in South Africa with Weisman Nel, who came in 2nd place in the Mongol Derby in 2019 and runs endurance horse races, training, and tourism at his game reserve Moolmanshoek.
-May 4th , Maine Coast 1/2 Marathon
-May 25th, competing in the Mary and Anna 100 mile AERC endurance ride in central Oregon
- Summer 2024, conditioning and competing on my three horses in limited distance and endurance rides in the north east over the summer
-TBA, pack trips on horseback practicing navigation (currently looking for where to do this so please holler with suggestions)
-Fall 2024 Gaucho Derby Boot Camp with Stevie Delahunt
-GPS navigation/map reading courses (looking for suggestions)
-Weekly Spanish classes (looking for suggestions, 1 on 1 zoom)
-running regularly, competing in a half marathon
-daily yoga
-January 2025, Gaucho Derby Academy
-working on being the best version of myself. I feel like one of the most important pieces of training for these races is mental preparation. Doing deep inner work and cultivating self-love is actually a huge piece of preparation for these races and also to better my horsemanship in general.
Fundraising:
Fundraising to make a difference in the world. One of the catalysts that led me on this long journey of finding my way back to horses and training for the Mongol derby was a series of farmer suicides in my community. When I heard about the Trail to Zero program organized by BraveHearts therapeutic riding aimed end ending veteran suicide I knew it was the organization I wanted to partner with.
BraveHearts is a therapeutic horseback riding center in Illinois that offers equine-assisted services and therapies for both children and adults, in both recreational and medical services. What really caught my attention about BraveHearts, is their Veterans Program, which is the largest veteran equine-assisted services program in the nation. BraveHearts runs a program called Trail to Zero, in which they ride through cities, including New York City, bringing awareness to the staggering suicide rate amongst veterans. The programs available at BraveHearts show how the healing power of the horse can be a factor in aiding mental health issues and that is why I have chosen this organization to fundraise for.
My goal leading up to the Mongol Derby was to raise 100,000 for BraveHearts, I ended up raising a little over $12,000. My Fundraising goal leading up to the gaucho derby is to reach that $100,000 mark, so I’ve got about $88,000 to go!
You can donate to BraveHearts here:
If you'd like to contact me directly my email is [E-Mail ausgeblendet]
Follow my adventures on Facebook and Instagram @jessiehorselove
Organisator
Jessie Dowling
Organisator
Whitefield, ME
