Road to the 2024 Mongol Derby

Hello friend, thank you for stopping by and checking out the story we are writing together. My name is Emilie Foster, and I am training to ride in the longest, most difficult horse race in the world as a survivor of Domestic Violence and it's subsequent homelessness.

In 2019 I arrived in Oregon under the auspices of a working interview at a small boarding facility that needed a manager and trainer. I had driven more than 29 hours straight from the eastern side of Oklahoma with everything I had left in the world to my name, along with my two rescue dogs, stuffed into my tiny Prius C (not even the standard size Prius, this was the tiny one). What I hadn't revealed was that I had virtually no backup plan if this fell through - however what was most important wasn't the job, even with the promise of housing that came with it. It was the nearly two thousand miles I had put between myself and my abuser back in Oklahoma. There was no plan B, no place to regroup; I didn't know a single person on this side of the country. On top of that, I was without an ID or any formal paperwork needed just to exist because my ex-partner repeatedly stole/destroyed those items as a means of control. I didn't have a bank account, credit cards, or any way to verify my identity to replace any one of these to start rebuilding.

But.

I was out.

It had taken me two years, four states, countless moves, homelessness, bruises, broken bones, and countless police reports but this FINALLY felt like the beginning of the end of the nightmare. Thankfully we found an immediate niche to fill in Oregon - and slowly, I was able to start building a new life for myself, the dogs, and most amazingly, my horses. My ability to work with horses kept food in our bellies, shelter over our heads, and gave me a reason even to want to keep going during this period - because there were many dark nights when going on seemed too daunting. They were the one constant in my life when everyone else dropped away; when I was alone in states that I did not know...when I was told that I couldn't come home unless I sold them, got rid of the dogs, and submitted to being who I was told to be. They taught me about grace, about vulnerability, and about defying what you are told about yourself by the outside world. They taught me about resilience and redemption. They have taught me about truth.

I'm riding for the throwaways, the horses and the humans that are considered disposable, for those whose future was written for them based on circumstances out of their control. For those who have come back from the brink and are forever changed. For the ones told "that's just how it is" but wouldn't take that as an answer. For the ones who refuse to give up on their dreams.

I'm riding for the horses that saved my life and the humans who believed in me enough to Keep. Going.

I'm riding for US.

Your donations will go directly to the Derby entry fees as well as assist in the additional training that will be required to give us the best edge during the competition. This training includes wilderness survival/orienteering training, physical fitness work for myself, gear to use directly on the steppe, and hopefully, post-competition, go towards establishing a non-profit to assist DV survivors in leaving their abusers - especially those with livestock/pets that make escape difficult.

Thank you for riding with me on this journey...welcome to Team Black Horse.